As they moved closer to the statue, the golden patterns on the shield and sword glowed even brighter. The golden light reflected off Caesar's hands, radiating a gentle warmth.
At that moment, some of the nearby citizens who had come to pray noticed the stone sword in Caesar's hand. They quickly realized that the patterns on the sword were identical to those on the statue.
One of them suddenly shouted, "Look! Someone else has received the statue's blessing—it's a shining golden sword!"
The commotion erupted instantly.
All eyes turned toward Caesar and the sword in her hand.
"The patterns are exactly the same as those on the statue, glowing with golden light—it really is a divine blessing..."
"She's so lucky. Just got here and already received the statue's gift..."
"I've been praying here for three days, and the statue didn't give me a damn thing! Why'd she get a sword right away?"
...
The crowd buzzed with excitement, convinced that Caesar's sword had been gifted by the statue.
Some even stepped forward, trying to buy it.
"Miss, name your price... 300,000 Dennies? 500,000? I'll buy that sword."
Another chimed in, "500,000? That's a joke. I'll give you a million."
Then someone else shouted, "Three million!"
It turned into a full-on auction.
People threw out offers, whether they could afford them or not—no one wanted to lose face.
As things got more chaotic, some stared at Caesar's sword like they were ready to snatch it by force.
Lucy quickly warned, "Something's wrong. Caesar, we need to get out of here."
She wasn't afraid of the citizens themselves, but with so many people packed together, if things got out of hand, it'd be a disaster.
Caesar nodded. "Let's head back to Calydon."
With that, they forced their way through the frenzied crowd and pushed their way out.
...
Back in the truck, Lucy was still puzzled.
The shield and sword were clearly forged by Sam Li—so why did their golden patterns match the ones on the statue exactly?
Even more strange was how quickly Sam Li had produced them. Caesar had only just handed over the blueprints when, mere seconds later, he brought out a fully completed set.
It was as if he'd made them in advance.
Though she didn't fully understand what was going on, Lucy was sure of one thing:
That statue in the Federer District had to be connected to Sam Li in some way.
Before she could dwell on it further, Piper fired up the engine.
The truck roared to life and sped down the wide road toward the Outer Ring.
Lucy nearly lost her balance. "Why'd you take off like that?!"
Piper replied helplessly, "Look behind us. Those people are like they're possessed—they're chasing us."
Lucy glanced in the rearview mirror. Sure enough, a dozen or so citizens were running after them.
But just a few seconds later, they vanished in the distance, left behind by the truck's speed.
In no time, they burst out of the Federer District and entered the Outer Ring.
The view instantly opened up.
In the distance, they could see massive hollows, towering mountains, and the ruins of forgotten cities from a bygone era...
...
Time slipped by quietly.
Nearly a week passed in the blink of an eye.
During that time, Sam Li remained the same—walking his bird each day to Sixth Street and sitting outside Master Tingman's coffee shop, waiting for clients to approach him.
Every day, he met with seven or eight people.
But the requests were always bizarre.
One person wanted Sam Li to move the statue from the Federer District into their house—because they couldn't lift it themselves.
Another asked him to find a sparkling golden gem—what they called a Vision.
Someone even hired him to kidnap Officer Seth and steal the golden gem from him.
One particularly frustrated person asked him to smash the golden statue.
Of course, Sam Li rejected those requests without hesitation.
So while it seemed like plenty of clients had come by, actual business was slow. He'd only taken on two or three real jobs.
One of them had come from the Public Security Bureau.
Even so, Nicole wasn't worried.
They'd made a decent profit recently, and Hare's House still had some funds left over, so there was no need to stress about money for the time being.
More importantly, Nicole was still waiting to hear from Caesar.
If they could bring back Perlman from the Outer Ring, they'd not only get a million Dennies in bounty, but almost another million from Vision Company's compensation.
That would be a huge payout.
Sam Li, of course, didn't care about any of that. He sat outside the café as usual, quietly enjoying his coffee.
Then...
A familiar figure appeared on the street.
It was Soldier 11—someone he hadn't seen in days.
This time, she didn't try to recruit him into the Obol Squad. She got straight to the point.
"Golden Knight, thank you for saving me last time."
She had meant to visit him sooner, but chaos within the Defense Force had kept her occupied.
Only now had she managed to come.
"You were my client. I wasn't about to let you die," Sam Li replied calmly, as always.
"Um... about that request... you didn't tell Anby, did you?"
"Don't worry."
Hearing his response, Soldier 11 finally let out a breath of relief.
After that incident, her relationship with Anby had softened a bit.
More importantly, she had secured a promise from the Defense Force's top brass: they would no longer pursue charges against Anby. She was finally free.
That also meant Soldier 11 no longer had to pretend to be hostile toward her.
From now on, she could drop the act.
Taking a deep breath, she said, "After we wrapped up the last mission, the commander gave the entire Obol Squad a week off. Golden Geo Spear warrior—what do you think I should do?"
A normal person might be thrilled about a week of vacation.
They could go sightseeing, hang out at arcades, catch a movie, or go shopping.
But Soldier 11 wasn't into any of that.
She had grown up in the military, and aside from training and missions, she had little experience with anything else.
Now that she suddenly had a full week off, she found herself completely lost.
The only things she could think of were staying in camp to train or wandering around the Hollows.
Sam Li thought for a moment and said, "Maybe you could try something different."
Soldier 11 looked at him, puzzled. "A different job? Like what?"
Sam Li gave a faint smile. "Come intern at Hare's House. Try being an agent for a week."
Just as he said that, his phone buzzed.
Sam Li picked it up—it was a message from Piper.
They'd found Perlman.
"We're heading to the Outer Ring. Want to come with us?"