A Scientific Urban Detective

"Forget it, I have no choice but to answer the call." The now-calm Mugino Shizuri said, "Even if it's troublesome, she pays well, so let's not dwell on it."

"Mugino Shizuri, emergency mission." Without any greeting, the voice on the phone went straight to the point, "You must complete it before dawn the day after tomorrow, and there will be no reward for this mission!"

"Huh?" Mugino Shizuri shrieked. The beam of 'Meltdown' was already aimed at the phone, as if she couldn't wait to blast it to smithereens through the radio waves.

"Do you want to recall what you just said?" Frenda also yelled at the phone from the side, "How dare you deduct our reward?"

"There's no deduction, it's just simply no reward." The voice on the phone was very calm, "In fact, I'm already taking good care of you by notifying you now. You should be grateful!"

Frenda was so angry that she jumped up and down, already taking out a bomb from under her skirt, ready to blow the phone to pieces.

At this point, Mugino Shizuri was not so angry: "Your hiding place isn't that hard to find, if you can't give me a reasonable explanation..."

"Besides you, there is another 'ITEM' in this city." The voice on the phone convinced Mugino Shizuri with one sentence.

The four members of "ITEM" simultaneously thought of the email they had received earlier.

"Continue," Mugino Shizuri said.

"Eh? Are you so calm? I'm not lying." Instead, the voice on the phone was a little surprised, "Could it be that you already know this news?"

"Stop talking nonsense!"

"Oh, I see, it seems you have your own intelligence channels besides me." The voice on the phone said, "Anyway, according to the original plan from above, the two of you 'ITEM' are in a competitive relationship, whichever side performs better will retain the name 'ITEM'. As for the losing side... you should know, right?"

"Get to the point!" Mugino Shizuri urged.

"That's the situation. In fact, as your direct supervisor, I only learned about the existence of the other 'ITEM' not long ago—to ensure fair competition." The voice on the phone said, "However, fortunately, the other side screwed up!"

"Screwed up?" Kinuhata Saiai curiously interjected.

"Yes, that 'ITEM' messed up on their own." The voice on the phone said, "Perhaps they were carried away, or perhaps their reason was blinded by money? In short, they were addicted to playing a game called 'Underground Arena'."

"Underground Arena!" This keyword once again attracted the attention of the girls.

"Although they did make a lot of money using this game, as an 'Dark Side' organization, isn't this putting the cart before the horse?" Perhaps because he was in a good mood, the voice on the phone was much more cheerful than usual, "And the most fatal thing is that the shady underground competition has recently been exposed!"

Both the Anti-Skill and Judgment organizations have set their sights on the 'Underground Arena' case. In this situation, even the identity of an 'Dark Side' organization cannot save them.

Not to mention that the actions of the fake 'ITEM' do not conform to the interests and principles of the 'Dark Side' organization.

So, it was only natural that they were abandoned.

The competition and contest between the two 'ITEM' came to an abrupt end in this way.

"But until now, they still have the identity of an 'Dark Side' organization. It will be troublesome if they are exposed to the public." The voice on the phone said, "Therefore, you must take the lead and eliminate them before the Anti-Skill reacts and takes action!"

Only then was the reason for this mission explained.

"There is no reward, or perhaps, eliminating the other 'ITEM' is your reward."

"Heh, what a calculation, you want us to work for you, but you don't want to pay, and you still want us to be grateful to you?" Mugino Shizuri sneered, "It's a waste of talent not to go into business."

"What do you want?"

"One hundred billion—even if it's just a fake, the name 'ITEM' is worth that much." Mugino Shizuri said.

"Wow, a huge demand!" Frenda exclaimed in a low voice from the side.

"Heh, you dare to say that." The voice on the phone said, "But do you know that the champion prize for each season of the 'Underground Arena' is one hundred billion, and it's an anonymous debit card."

"They earn that much?" Mugino Shizuri was slightly surprised, "Then that means..."

That is to say, the 'Underground Arena' must have anonymous debit cards with more than 10 billion on hand. These cards are even more convenient than cash, and can be used directly as long as they are obtained.

"In fact, there is definitely more cash stored at the 'Underground Arena' site." The voice on the phone said enticingly, "As long as you can resolve the incident before the Anti-Skill, no one will pursue you no matter how much money you take."

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"You're really cunning, in the end you don't have to pay anything." Mugino Shizuri shook her head, "However, for the sake of that hundred billion or even more in spoils, we'll take this mission."

Although she kept complaining, in reality, Mugino Shizuri and the others were not at a disadvantage.

Defeating that fake 'ITEM' was something Mugino Shizuri wanted to do in the first place.

Now, with the official endorsement, they can take action openly; and they have also been promised that all 'battlefield spoils' will belong to them.

Although even without this promise, Mugino Shizuri didn't plan to hand over her 'spoils', doing so would still cause some trouble—the 'voice on the phone' might deduct the money little by little from future mission rewards.

The voice on the phone also expressed satisfaction with the results of this negotiation: "Very good, I will register this operation as an official mission and include it in the file—this will be very beneficial to your rating and evaluation."

As he spoke, the voice on the phone sent an email: "The people on this list are VIPs invited to watch the competition on site. You should be able to find one or two people to sneak into the competition venue, right?"

"Then, good luck." With that, the voice on the phone directly cut off the communication.

Opening the email, Mugino Shizuri glanced at it twice, and couldn't help but want to smash her phone again.

Frenda leaned over to take a look, and couldn't help but complain: "Is it really just names?"

It turned out that the so-called 'mission information' provided by the voice on the phone was just a dozen names, with no other clues whatsoever.