127: Chapter 127 Detective Cheng Yu

Wild Dog Cheng Yu didn't leak any secrets; he wasn't that stupid. He used the excuse that he was still occasionally working in the grey market to temporarily appease the Centaur Nun. The two of them were lovey-dovey in the employee breakroom for a long time, only coming out when a customer arrived to renew their membership.

"Why are you only topping up a hundred this time? Have your family fortunes declined recently?" The Centaur Nun's face was flushed, and she was in an exceptionally good mood.

"How can you not know, Madam? The property prices around here have dropped. I'm planning to move in a couple of days and will be going to other shops to use their terminals from now on," the customer replied casually.

In the Hive City of the Imperial Capital, Upper Hive real estate belongs to high-ranking officials and nobles; it's not something you can buy just by having money. There's no such thing as real estate in the Underhive; you can build a shack wherever you want, and nobody cares. Only in the Mid-Hive has a real estate industry truly developed.

The prices of Mid-Hive real estate are basically only affected by the local security situation; prices are inversely proportional to the crime rate. As for why other factors don't affect it, it's because the Mid-Hive is packed with people everywhere. Things like population density or convenient transportation simply aren't issues; as long as you open a shop, people will come.

"What?!" The Centaur Nun's voice rose by eight decibels. This shop was their flagship store; if the value of the flagship store shrank, it could easily be surpassed by other branches. "Honey, go buy a newspaper!"

After all, the contract that Wild Dog Cheng Yu had signed with the Slaanesh church stipulated that... the further down the line the branch was, the smaller his shareholding ratio would be. It was entirely possible that the tail would become too big to wag.

Wild Dog Cheng Yu also jumped off the bed in a start. Nowadays, to survive in the internet age, Hive City print media had stopped caring about anything. They dared to report any news, regardless of whether it had been verified. So, if people wanted to see firsthand news, they had to learn to buy newspapers again.

"Rainy Night Maniac, stabs sixteen people in a row, all of them clones. Who has such great malice toward clones?!"

Recently, near Wild Dog Cheng Yu's flagship internet cafe, a mysterious figure in a raincoat who liked to stab people on rainy days had appeared.

Of course, it rains in the Hive City, just like how in a basement with a very high ceiling, you can even see clouds and mist floating above during the rainy season.

This raincoat-wearing mysterious figure was very fast; often, before the clones could even react, they had already been stabbed several times in the stomach.

In that situation, people actually can't react in time. They have to take another step or two forward before they feel a warmth on their stomach, and only then does the intense pain strike.

Fortunately, the shared consciousness has an automatic emergency response plan for such terrorist attacks. Once a clone suffers such fatal injury, the nearby clones will immediately be possessed by professional medical clones to provide emergency treatment. Therefore, no clones have died from this incident yet, but several are lying in the ICU with serious injuries and are not yet out of danger.

It was because of this indiscriminate criminal that the surrounding property prices plummeted. Some clones with a bit of financial means chose to sell their homes and move, while others who were originally renting simply packed their bags and left. The real estate agent Cheng Yus had already started switching careers to open so-called "green" chess and card rooms, which would sooner or later end up being shut down by the Security Forces.

"You should go out less often lately. This criminal only targets clones. It must be that some conscience-less individual among you did something morally bankrupt, and now the person wants revenge but can't find them, so they can only strike randomly," the Centaur Nun analyzed.

"I object. That's victim-blaming!" Wild Dog Cheng Yu said disdainfully. "Besides, I used to hang out on the streets. When it comes to using knives, that criminal might not necessarily be my match."

As he spoke, Wild Dog Cheng Yu took out the butterfly knife he used to carry with him when he hung out in the Underhive from the breakroom drawer. Although it was already rusty, the blade still flashed with a cold, cyan light. "If I run into them, I'll definitely… Ah!"

Wild Dog Cheng Yu thought he'd show off a few moves for his partner, but he hadn't played with the butterfly knife in a long time and his skills had grown rusty; on the second move, he cut his own hand.

"Oh, you," the Centaur Nun said, putting his finger in her mouth to stop the bleeding. Slaanesh Nuns had this ability to treat wounds; after all, one of their practices was self-harm. "Go get a tetanus shot quickly, and remember to buy two bottles of Freon on your way back; the freezer's cooling isn't working!"

"Got it." Wild Dog Cheng Yu tucked the butterfly knife into his pocket. Just like how if you're bitten by a snake, it's best to show the snake to the doctor, if you're wounded by a knife, it's best to show the knife to the doctor.

This wasn't any scientific principle; it was Wild Dog Cheng Yu's own simple, twisted logic. What if tetanus was like snake venom, categorized into all sorts of different types? Surely you couldn't use the same vaccine for utility knife tetanus and fruit knife tetanus, right?

"Ah, it's raining. Annoying." What a rough man Wild Dog Cheng Yu was; he went out straight into the rain. A real man never uses an umbrella, let alone wears a raincoat. Light rain is a facial moisturizer, moderate rain is a post-meal shower, heavy rain is cryotherapy, and a downpour is a free log flume ride.

Unfortunately, this was a thunderstorm today. Hive Cities don't normally have thunderstorms. If they do, it means the Hive City central control console is using the substation to generate ozone to disinfect the ventilation system.

You ask why they need to generate ozone? That's because this is the Mid-Hive. The Underhive just gets flooded with chlorine gas directly.

"Greetings, respected citizens. I am Cheng Yu, a host at Yucai Hive City TV station. Today, we have specially invited the renowned Great Detective of the Imperial Capital, Cheng Yu. Although he is not officially employed, he has relied on his keen observation and meticulous logical reasoning to assist the Security Forces in cracking many major cases, although he is still not officially employed."

On the way, Wild Dog Cheng Yu even stopped for a while to watch the big-screen television program in the Mid-Hive commercial street, grinning and laughing like an idiot in the rain. It wasn't because the TV show was funny, but because the host was wearing a suit on his upper body and beach shorts on his lower body. Of course, the camera didn't capture the host's lower half; Wild Dog Cheng Yu had imagined it himself. Regardless, if it were him, he would definitely dress like that.

"This… Rainy Night Maniac, I speculate that his stature should be between two meters and two point two meters, because you need such a tall frame to ensure that when attacking, this blade…"

The Great Imperial Detective Cheng Yu was earnestly explaining forensic science, while a group of Cheng Yus Clones watched him and giggled, because next to his "Great Detective" title, the words "No Official Status" were always displayed.

This wasn't the TV station insulting him, but rather imperial law requiring that if an individual or legal entity's scope of work sounds like it's related to the imperial court but actually has no public authority, it must be clearly labeled. Individuals must be labeled as "No Official Status," and companies must be labeled as "Non-Governmental," to prevent these people from operating in a grey area.

But the vast number of clones just found this whole thing hilarious. Well, you can't help that; grinning like an idiot isn't against the law.