Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

Chapter 53: Time to Choose a Faction

Now he was in an area where several hospital beds were lined up on either side of the ward, separated only by curtains that seemed to be made of some synthetic fabric.

In the small 5-square-meter area where Mary was, Liam sat in the only chair there, looking mostly at the artifacts on the side of this bed where his companion now slept peacefully.

After some minor emergency surgery, Mary was fine, as far as that was possible, of course. She was in no danger and should recover well after a few days of rest.

If it was on Earth, Liam was pretty sure that she would be left with permanent damage, and even if she managed to live minimally well again, she would have to go through a tough recovery for a few months.

However, since she was a second-realm cultivator and had been treated by a Healer who could use mana, she could leave the hospital the next morning and return to her normal activities in no more than three days!

As per the Healer who conducted the surgery, she would fully recover within a week at most, returning to her previous state before the attack. And within two weeks, the scar would completely vanish, leaving no evidence of the incident.

Because of it, Liam was relieved, as he had unexpected this after leaving his room in a hurry earlier.

As he sat in front of Mary's bed, he couldn't help but look at the therapeutic instruments around her, which were, of course, very different from the ones he knew.

'Are these items that also work with runes?' He asked himself, saving a series of questions to ask Ann when he returned to the Runes Hall.

But as he watched the artifacts vibrate with mana and act under Mary's body as if blessing her, Liam heard the curtain in this small wing being moved and turned to see a trio of Officers.

From the special identification on these men's uniforms, they were Law Enforcement Hall guards!

Liam stood up and made a gesture of greeting.

"Liam Porter, right?" The first man asked, while the other two looked at the woman sleeping in the bed.

"Yes."

"You recently joined the sect, correct? You passed the Promotion Exam and reached the rank of Initiate, correct?"

"Correct, Officer."

The man closed the small notebook he had with him and turned his mask towards Liam in such a way that it was clear that this Officer was watching the boy.

After a brief pause, the officer inquired, "You mentioned to the previous Officer that someone assaulted you. Please provide me with a detailed account of what occurred."

"I can only recount what occurred after I woke up, as I was asleep at the time. It appears that an assassin infiltrated my room with the intention of ending my life. Just as she was about to strike me, I abruptly woke up and swiftly dodged her attack. Unfortunately, she managed to harm my companion instead.

Seizing the opportunity, I swiftly retaliated by launching an attack at her, targeting her heart and successfully striking her from behind." Liam provided a precise account of the events that unfolded.

The men looked at each other, feeling that his account matched the crime scene they had found in Liam's room.

One Officer took Liam's badge and handed it back to the boy. "Here's your ID. We have removed Initiate Phila Bradshaw's body from your room and sent someone to clean it up for you. After Aspirant Mary awakens, we'll collect her report and that should close the case. If she cooperates with you, you'll be able to collect Phila Bradshaw's belongings from the Records Hall in a couple of days."

As soon as they arrived, the three men abruptly departed, leaving Liam with a peculiar expression on his face. However, it was not a startled one.

He hadn't expected the rules of Demon Gate to work so perfectly at the very beginning of his journey in the sect. For a moment, he even thought that maybe the sect wasn't so bad after all.

However, he thought it would be safer to run away from the sect than to accept it as his actual organization.

'How interesting... The rule system in this place is very efficient. I thought I'd be unable to perform my duties for two or three days, but it wasn't even a full night.' He glanced at his badge before putting it back into his spatial ring.

'As for this award, I'll consider it an advantage for now. They've given me the name of the enemy, so I'll be able to find out who's behind this assassination attempt. Their possessions and rights are also better than nothing.'

Demon Gate had very simple rules. If you tried to assassinate another disciple of the same rank and failed to cover your movements, the punishment for such a crime was death!

With Initiate Phila Bradshaw, Liam had killed her himself in self-defense, but he would have the same rights as if he hadn't killed her and only escaped from her. Aside from the right to claim her life, everything that belonged to Initiate Phila Bradshaw would become his. This included the possessions of spatial storage items, as well as her merit points.

Did this mean that the sect encouraged disciples to kill each other in order to steal each other's belongings? Not exactly.

Initiate Phila Bradshaw's death was considered a legal death under the sect's rules. Liam had that right because she attacked him in the first place, in a place where murder wasn't allowed.

Initiate Phila Bradshaw had violated the sect's laws!

In ordinary murders, the killers couldn't take more than they could steal from their victims' bodies.

Even knowing that, Liam didn't want to have to face others like Phila. With his badge back and the investigation into Phila's death almost complete, he left a letter for Mary and set off.

'The most important thing now is for me to make my decision. The next enemies to attack me will be more cautious than Phila. They may not be a woman, and I won't be able to influence their body and mind as well.'

He made his way to the Missions Hall, one of the many halls in City Thirteen that was open 24 hours a day, just like the other halls.

Despite its name, the Missions Hall wasn't just a place where Demon Gate disciples could get extra quests to gain merit points and resources. It was also a place of trade, where disciples could create their own quests, trade on special stations, buy information, and more.

It could be dangerous for disciples to do business with each other, but the hall offered its intermediation, which helped to give sellers and buyers reliability.

Liam needed information right now, information he could gather himself if he had the time, but he would rather pay someone to help him quickly.

After entering the large hall, he went straight to the 'negotiation' area, following a corridor that led to an area with many transaction rooms, but also an advertising wing.

The way this place worked was not complicated. Special magical devices displayed the rooms in the wing, showing whether they were occupied.

One could use one of these devices to find out what the occupant of one of the occupied rooms was looking for or offering, and thus decide to do business with one of them, or simply choose one of the free rooms and leave on that device what their business aim was.

'I don't have to occupy any of these free rooms, even if I get the key to one of them. The system behind this area will keep the room occupied for up to six hours. If someone shows an interest in doing business with me in the meantime, my badge will vibrate, showing that I should come here.'

Liam read the instructions on the device in front of him, a very convenient system for staying out of the way of interested business people.

It wasn't always the case that those capable of making such deals were available the moment someone like Liam arrived in the area. But with such a system, the chances of getting what you wanted within the 6-hour time limit were almost 100%.

Liam didn't see any occupied rooms that offered what he wanted, so he selected one of the available ones.

As soon as the device confirmed his action, he left the area, intending to do something else while he waited for someone interested.

But before he even left the Missions Hall, his badge vibrated, indicating he should return.

'That was fast!' He immediately turned around and headed for the negotiation room the device had showed.

There was no key to the room. Since he had registered the negotiation with his badge, his badge was the key to the place, as was the badge of the person who had agreed to negotiate with him.

So he soon entered one of the many rooms in the "negotiation" wing and found a dark-haired woman with a sharp look in her eyes waiting for him.