015: The System’s Mechanism: The Great Forgetting Technique
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As for the time trade, if the problem had not originated with Mary herself, Li Cha would probably still be grinding missions.
Yet knowing there was a problem and still coming back to ask Li Cha to do it again was utterly baffling.
Freya said, “I’m busy every day, and my sleep is terrible. Your ability to put people to sleep is rather strange, but it’s actually very friendly to patients suffering from insomnia.”
Li Cha said, “Exactly. When I don’t have any missions, I can work as a sleep therapist. That would also help me conceal my identity as an inspector.”
Freya rose and sat down in the single-seat sofa beside them.
Then she folded her hands over her waist, closed her eyes, and said, “Go ahead. It’s five in the afternoon. Wake me at eight tonight.”
Inside the Maple Detective Agency, Freya had specifically been forbidden from wearing her military uniform.
A pair of long boots, a deep-purple skirt, a lightly cinched waist, a bosom so ample she could barely lie flat, hair that had originally been straight but had been dyed and permed into curls, and a face of exquisite beauty.
Put that way, as long as she did not wear that cold, aloof expression, Freya truly looked like an aristocratic young lady.
Was this… another test?
Li Cha had no idea.
But since his superior had already made the request, all he could do as her subordinate was silently accept the deal.
With a clatter, six silver coins appeared in Li Cha’s pocket.
Bright and heavy.
“If I can give her a sleep treatment every few days, I’ll qualify to move into the inner city within a month.”
Unfortunately, time trades did not grant experience.
Otherwise, after three hours, Li Cha could easily have gained a level or two.
Freya fell asleep, and she slept soundly.
Her breathing was steady, and the faintest smile touched the corners of her lips.
Li Cha could kill Freya now.
That would very likely cause the trade to fail.
But for the past two days, Freya had been threatening his life at every turn.
Kill her. Take revenge.
Then there was also a chance he could sell the corpse of a high-tier elite to the system.
That would clear him of all charges. After killing Mary and the other two, he would be free!
“Phew…”
Li Cha exhaled. “Impulsiveness is the devil. Even if I’m going to take revenge, now is not the time.”
During the three hours Freya slept, Li Cha planned to stand guard beside her.
For the moment, the work of interrogating people for MI6 seemed highly suited to him.
It would be a far more reliable way to survive his period of weakness than endlessly grinding gathering missions.
When he opened the trade interface, several more pages of items had become available for sale.
They were all intelligence-related trade items, and most of them were worthless.
What?
Li Cha’s original intention had been to study the system’s new mechanics in depth.
Instead, he discovered that every piece of valuable intelligence had been devalued.
Take those two names, for example.
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They had originally been worth three silver coins and thirty silver coins. Their current sale prices, however, were one and a half silver coins and fifteen silver coins.
They had been cut in half.
And only ten minutes had passed.
Li Cha frowned. “Could it be that intelligence items follow the principle that scarcity creates value? Originally, I was the only one who knew who was backing the dwarf Hutton. Now that there are two people who know, the intelligence is worth half as much.”
He checked the information obtained from the dungeon.
In four words: utterly惨不忍睹.
Aside from “[Hutton did not betray MI6],” everything else—Sir Mirage being his accomplice, the time of the betrayal, the reason for it, and so on—had been slashed down to bargain-basement prices. Even the most expensive item was worth no more than ten copper coins.
“So the more people who know something, the less it’s worth…”
Sir Mirage is Hutton’s accomplice: sale price, five copper coins.
Its original sale price had been one silver coin.
Its drop was the largest of all the intelligence items.
“Is it because… Mirage was arrested?”
Once an accomplice had been captured, MI6 could easily extract everything from him, and the intelligence had essentially lost its value.
Li Cha thought it over carefully. It did make sense.
If he were an information broker and had a piece of intelligence worth ten silver coins, he could sell it to MI6 first and earn ten silver coins, then sell it to the system as well.
That way, he would be getting two profits from a single piece of information.
He could even sell it to multiple parties. After all, the system would provide a safety net.
“What would happen if I sold the intelligence directly to the system?”
Li Cha selected the relatively unimportant item “the time of Hutton’s betrayal” and clicked Sell.
The next moment, two copper coins appeared in his pocket, but nothing else happened.
He could stand, sit, speak, sing, and even do dozens of push-ups right where he was.
“Damn. I sold the intelligence to the system, and all that happened was that I got paid. There was no side effect at all.”
This deal was profitable. Li Cha suspected that he had discovered a system loophole.
From now on, he could sell the intelligence to the system first, then sell it to someone else… sell it to…
Li Cha froze.
“What was the intelligence I just sold to the system?”
He had forgotten.
Since he had found the key clues in the Hutton case, Li Cha had brought the interrogation records back to the Maple Detective Agency.
He spent several dozen minutes flipping through them and comparing the details, but he still could not remember what he had sold.
“Heh. I understand now.”
Anything sold to the system became the system’s property. If he wanted the system to return it, there was only one way: pay for it.
When it came to Li Cha’s physical strength, completing the trade forced him to collapse and lie motionless.
Other people’s time was exchanged for forced unconsciousness.
The new mechanic worked like this: when intelligence was sold, Li Cha immediately forgot its contents once the trade was complete.
Some system loophole.
What a joke.
In a trade, one hand gave the money while the other handed over the goods.
Li Cha received the money, while the system he carried with him forcibly took away the “goods.”
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Interesting. Very interesting!
Li Cha felt that this mechanism, which resembled a grand spell of forgetfulness, might have many more tricks to offer.
He switched to the purchase tab, where a new item had appeared: “[Hutton’s Intelligence, No. 3].”
The price of this piece of intelligence was thirty copper coins.
Not too expensive.
Li Cha’s total wealth was already striding boldly toward the gold-coin mark, so he purchased it without hesitation.
As expected, once the trade was complete, the memory returned.
At the same time, Li Cha also remembered that “[Hutton’s Intelligence, No. 3]” had been worth two copper coins.
Two copper coins versus thirty—a fifteenfold increase…
“Damn, what a rip-off…”
When Intelligence No. 3 was put up for sale again, its price was still two copper coins.
“I’ll just consider the twenty-eight-copper-coin difference tuition.”
…
Elsewhere,
Freya had once again entered the dream world. A wooden sword was held in her hand, and she stood in the opening stance of basic swordsmanship.
That strange yet familiar voice sounded again.
“Freya, as a qualified swordswoman, the basics should be your greatest strength.”
Six words:
“Hold this position.”
Freya did not move.
Day broke, night fell, and day broke again.
Her body had grown so exhausted that it no longer felt like her own. At last, Freya could not help asking, “When will this end?”
Crack!
A resounding whip lashed across Freya’s back.
She collapsed forward.
All she received was a single sentence:
“As expected, women will never accomplish much with a sword. You cannot even withstand one little whip.”
Freya rose, trembling.
Crack!
Another blow knocked her back down.
Freya refused to be mocked.
The result was one lash after another.
It reminded Freya of learning swordsmanship as a child.
She had been a girl—small and weak, ranked dead last in strength, and favored by no one.
But with nothing more than a little wooden sword, she had defeated everyone at her school, including her teacher.
Freya glanced at the sword in her hand.
It seemed to be the only companion she had possessed during those six years.
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