Note Intelligence Equipment Store "You have really good taste. This pair of ’Bounty Hunter’ special edition glasses is a standard accessory that every bounty hunter must buy," the smiling store clerk said to He Ao. "Coming to see these glasses, I’m sure you already understand the bounty hunter organization," She carefully took the glasses out of the cabinet to show He Ao. "As the only partner of the Federation’s 26 City Police Bureaus in the northeast region, you can get tasks from various police bureaus or other security organizations on the official website, fight against evil, capture criminals, and receive generous rewards. Bounty hunters annually earn tens of thousands." She raised the glasses in her hand and smiled, "And these standard bounty hunter glasses are essential help in your bounty hunter work; they can help you identify criminals’ crimes and bounties, record your task completion process, becoming your greatest aid on the path to earning rewards, while also possessing all the features of flagship glasses." She lifted her head, gazing at He Ao, "Buying it isn’t buying a pair of glasses; it’s getting a high-paying job." He Ao lowered his head and glanced at the price tag on the glasses. He could clearly feel his heart constricting for a moment. The bounty hunter organization in the northeastern Federation only operates in 26 cities in the northeast. To be blunt, it’s an external mercenary organization with an identity. Registration doesn’t cost anything, but you must buy special equipment to take tasks. The cheapest are the special glasses from Note Intelligence. Alledgedly, ’helping bounty hunters reduce work difficulty and complexity, enhancing efficiency.’ No need to guess, this organization directly hangs ’Thanks to Note Intelligence’s sponsorship’ on their homepage. According to Eve searched data, Note Intelligence is very strict about these glasses. They aren’t sold in underground markets and can only be bought in stores. At this point, seeing He Ao looking at the price tag, the store clerk’s smile didn’t change, "Sir, if you don’t have that much cash right now, we support credit card installments too," Her tone paused, "Of course, if your credit card limit isn’t enough, we also have special installments from Note Intelligence Finance, with daily interest as low as one thousandth, starting with 24 installments, payable monthly. You won’t have to worry about repayment issues—bounty hunting is a high-paying job." Seeing He Ao still silent, she continued, "If you worry about your credit score not being sufficient for Note Intelligence Financial installments, we have some small installment companies to recommend. The interest might be slightly higher, the daily interest possibly reaching one point five-thousandths, but you can certainly get approved." She smiled at He Ao, "Of course, you don’t need to think about repayment issues, since bounty hunting is a high-paying job." "Daily interest of one point five-thousandths, wouldn’t the annual rate be almost 55%?" Hearing her words, He Ao froze. "Alternatively, you could consider Note Intelligence Financial’s installment loans. With 24 installments, you only need to repay 53 federal coins monthly, which you could earn from a few bounty tasks. It’s quite worthwhile." The female clerk continued to smile. "Daily interest of one-thousandth, that would be an annual rate of 36%," He Ao glanced at the glasses in her hand, "Selling this makes more than gangs?" "Oh, look at you," the store clerk laughed, "That loan with an annual rate of 55% is offered by gangs." In her training, actively revealing gang information isn’t considered bad. It can make certain ’customers’ abandon extra violent thoughts while also scaring off those intending to default, reducing bad debt rates. "No wonder you can guarantee approval." He Ao sighed helplessly. "Have you reconsidered our glasses?" The female clerk smiled as she raised the glasses in her hand, "Opportunities for a high-paying job aren’t common now." "No rush." He Ao glanced at those glasses. Then he raised his wristband and dialed a number. Not long after, the call was answered swiftly, "This is Reid, Loren? What’s up?" "Do you know about bounty hunters?" He Ao directly asked. "You’re joining the bounty hunters?" The other side seemed surprised but quickly adjusted his tone, "Our association just so happens to have a collaboration with bounty hunters; you can directly enter the process from F-level to E-level by registering with us. F-level and E-level are levels of bounty hunters." At this point, he paused his tone, "But have you understood bounty hunters? Joining bounty hunters definitely requires buying the necessary equipment, at least a pair of Note Intelligence glasses." "I know," He Ao quickly asked, "I’m calling to ask, do you have any discount channels?" "You’re asking the right person," Reid chuckled, "We have batch purchase cooperation coupons. Using this coupon, you only need 249 federal coins to buy a pair of Note Intelligence glasses, as long as you register with us." "Through Abnormal Association registration, are there any requirements?" He Ao quickly asked. "There aren’t any requirements, but once registered successfully, you can see some abnormal tasks we post on the bounty hunter website. You can also receive rewards at our association for taking these tasks. The task taking is all by your own willingness; there are no mandatory tasks." Reid quickly replied. In a sense, becoming a ’peripheral’ member. "Alright, then I’ll trouble you." He Ao laughed. He knew the other party wanted to recruit him, so he sent out a probe, and the other party clearly noticed it, showing sincerity. "OK," Reid continued, "I’ll register you now. Send me either your social security card or driver’s license." He Ao raised his wristband and sent it over. The sound of keyboard tapping echoed from the other end quickly. Soon, Reid’s voice rang out again, "Done, I sent you the basic account and password, remember to bind a security number or security question." He seemed relieved, "Are you still financially comfortable? If there are issues, the association can pre-pay for the smart glasses and directly send you the pickup code." "No problem, just send me the coupon," He Ao smiled. Loren isn’t someone who likes owing favors. "Alright, sent you the coupon redemption code," Reid said without much ado, "You can redeem it on Note Intelligence’s official website. After redeeming and paying, a pickup code will be generated. You can opt for home delivery or pick it up offline from a store. When searching, be careful of the links you click; the first ones might be ads, avoid entering wrong sites." He explained very detailedly. "Okay, understood," He Ao smiled and nodded, "Thanks." He hung up the phone and then lightly tapped his wristband. Eve automatically searched the site, entered the official page, redeemed the coupon, then paid, choosing the pickup from the store he was at, generating a pickup code. And He Ao’s account balance became: 1606.37. Money really flies away fast. But the procurement price from the Abnormal Association was surprisingly as low as 249. Based on He Ao’s knowledge of the consortium, this price should still have a slight profit margin—not much, but still profitable. He Ao turned his gaze and looked at the 899.99 price tag. No wonder bounty hunter registration is free; this is cutting ordinary people looking to profit as bounty hunters like grass. Sell jeans to gold diggers, make money from those wanting to earn, and conveniently sell a loan product. "Have you made up your mind?" The female clerk smiled at He Ao. He Ao raised his wristband, showing his pickup code, "I bought it online." The clerk’s smile faded for a brief moment, but she quickly verified the pickup code with an instrument, took out a new pair of smart glasses, packaged it, and smiled while handing it over to He Ao, "Thank you for your patronage. If you need anything next time, feel free to come to us; we can repair any accidental damage." "Alright." He Ao took the bag. He could sense the clerk’s ’thinking’; whether it’s normal sales or pickup codes, clerks have basic commissions. It’s just that if they can pitch a loan product, the commission will be higher. Note Intelligence provides clerks with a very low basic weekly wage. Then they set a ruthless high price of 899.99 federal coins for smart glasses. He Ao carried the bag as he walked out of the store. Loren went to underground boxing matches to earn money with his life; a gig pays about 300, and key matches pay 500 with basic medical expenses self-covered. Note Intelligence is really shady. He Ao opened the packaging box, put on the smart glasses, quickly completed activation, and bound the bounty hunter account. These glasses can’t be sold second-hand or borrowed; one device can only bind to one account. To be a bounty hunter, you can only buy a new pair from Note Intelligence. Note Intelligence is really shady. He Ao sighed inwardly. Soon, the system activated, and it entered the boot page. He Ao took out the data cable from the packaging box and connected it to his wristband. This system is custom-made for the bounty hunter organization, but judging from the boot screen, the underlying system still seems to be Note Intelligence’s own ’Note System.’ From Vian’s memory, it’s apparent that there are some small bugs in the Note System’s foundation, but they are not critical. Fixing them would be costly, so they haven’t been fixed. Not sure if they have been fixed now. But Eve should know where the loopholes are. The data cable connection did not interfere with the glasses’ booting. Quickly, accompanied by a stream of code flashing by, the entire glasses flashed a radiance, and the emblem of Note Intelligence appeared. He Ao raised his head and looked around at the environment. Nothing seemed unusual. Then, the next moment, a message popped up. [Thank you for choosing Note Intelligence smart glasses. You can try the bounty hunter system’s premium package for seven days. After the trial ends, a fee of the basic package price at 19.99 federal coin/month will be charged. Upgrade to a more advanced package to unlock more features.] He Ao directly opted for the trial. Try it for free, deal with it after the free trial ends. The moment He Ao clicked finished, his field of view changed suddenly. When he looked at the pedestrians on the street, an ’option box’ flashed over each of them. When He Ao’s gaze focused on a specific person, a popup naturally appeared beside that person. [Criminal Record: None] It’s just like playing a video game. The style of this place is getting weirder. "Is this thing real-time networked?" He Ao looked up, scanned the street, spoke softly as if talking to someone beside him, "Can you disconnect it from the network?" "Yes!" A small hand clutched the lower edge of the right glasses frame, and immediately, a little girl in a white dress jumped out from beneath the frame, appearing in He Ao’s field of view. Then she gingerly stood on the lower edge of the frame, reached out her hand, as if grasping some imaginary rope, like pulling a curtain, she gave it a tug and a control panel displaying a wireless signal was ’pulled’ down from the frame’s upper edge. The girl tapped on the wireless signal, but couldn’t toggle it manually. Then she directly reached out and took the wireless signal icon out of the control panel. She held this wireless signal icon and looked at He Ao, "Now there’s no network!" He Ao shifted his gaze, looking at the surrounding pedestrians, his eyes locked onto them. After a simple flicker, a notification popup appeared. [Network connection failed, please return to a city area or an area with network access.] "After reconnecting, it will return with blank data," Eve had somehow moved in front of that notification and poked it, then lifted it up, and quickly shook it in front of He Ao, "These blank data will make the system server think the user removed the glasses during that time and made no operations." Seems like Eve has indeed found the system loophole. "Alright." He Ao smiled and nodded, "Help me control the timing of signal interruption and judge what data should be returned when." Eve ran to the frame edge, gingerly stood on the lower edge of the frame, and saluted He Ao, "Got it!" Her figure then disappeared into the glasses, and the wireless signal icon jumped once before returning to the control panel, and the glasses signal was restored. He Ao smiled, raised his wristband, and hailed a vehicle. The vehicle quickly arrived, He Ao got in the car, and opened the Black Wolf Gang’s information compiled by Eve on the wristband. The Black Wolf Gang is the largest gang in Xiluo City, with headquarters in the Monte District in the West District of Xiluo City. In this district, they control three connected 26-story slum buildings. And rely on these three buildings to build a central gang territory. The upper echelons of the Black Wolf Gang all live on top of the middle building of the three buildings, according to the information collected by Eve. The one who instructed the underground boxing organizers to murder ’Loren’, ’Sharp Claw Koro’, should also be in that building. Having read through the information, getting a basic understanding of the Black Wolf Gang, He Ao looked out the window. The vehicle’s shaking became more pronounced, the road deteriorated significantly, he was rapidly approaching the ’West District.’ The sound of gunfire was already echoing at the street edge. He Ao raised his wristband, accessed the bounty hunter’s official website, logged into his account, and began viewing the bounty hunter information. Then he discovered that F-level tasks are generally some minor tasks like finding cats and catching dogs, and the commission usually does not exceed 30 federal coins. He then checked the forum and found it’s full of complaints. Saying the bounty hunter organization is purely a scam, working hard doesn’t earn much money. Tasks with slightly higher bounties and criminals are basically extremely dangerous individuals, needing to risk life to catch them. Working hard for months, sometimes not even enough to meet the withdrawal threshold, just a ploy to get them to buy the glasses. This forum requires an account registration, verifying at least one smart device to view. In other words, you need to buy at least one 899.99 smart glasses before you can see the forum. This approach is really shameless. He Ao sighed lightly, touched his glasses, and looked into the distance. After passing a series of old buildings, three old skyscrapers standing in a row appeared in his view. "The destination ahead is unreachable, please continue on foot. Thank you for using Vidal Travel services, looking forward to your next ride." The cab stopped about one or two hundred meters from the high-rises. He Ao pushed open the car door and stared at the chaotic street edge, then his gaze paused. A red-colored, silver-streaked old car was parked at the edge of the street. That car was so familiar. It’s the coach’s car.