The Special Service

After some time, Freya, Nolan, and Reina returned to the police station and went straight up to the third floor. Nolan said, “This entire floor is where the Special Service usually works.”

At the end of the day, these special agents were still police officers, so they naturally worked alongside the regular police in the same station. It was just that the focus of their work was somewhat different.

Nolan led Freya to his office. He rummaged through a cabinet, muttering, “Hmm, I remember putting it here. Where is it... Oh, found it!”

Then, he walked over to Freya with a sheet of paper and said, “Sign this contract first.”

Freya took it and read it carefully. The contract didn't contain much. It essentially required her to keep the existence of extraordinary powers a secret, forbidding her from talking about them to anyone. It also stated that after drinking a potion and obtaining supernatural abilities, she could not use them for malicious purposes or act against the interests of the Special Service. The contract was valid for one year.

However, Freya noticed that the writing on the contract was entirely gold. If she looked closely, she could even see faint wisps of flowing light shimmering through the letters. It was incredibly beautiful.

Nolan explained, “This is a product of the Law Pathway. It has a binding, self-enforcing effect. In other words, once you sign it, even if you want to tell an ordinary person about extraordinary powers, the words won't physically come out of your mouth.”

Freya asked, “Why is there a one-year limit? Can I talk to other people freely after a year?”

Nolan replied, “No. It's because the extraordinary power of this contract will dissipate after a year. When that happens, you'll have to sign a new one.”

Well, that was a remarkably simple and blunt explanation. Without hesitation, Freya picked up a pen and signed her name on the contract. The next second, she felt as if some kind of power had formed a golden lock within her consciousness.

Honestly, she wasn't sure if signing a contract in the simulation would affect her real self. But even if it did, it only required her to keep secrets and refrain from doing bad things, which wasn't a big deal. Compared to that, the veil of the extraordinary world was gradually being lifted before her eyes. It was far more important to take this opportunity to learn more about supernatural powers!

Seeing that she had finished signing, Nolan took the contract and put it away, saying, “I know you are currently attending classes at 【Cobdo National Academy】, but from now on, you must come here every day after school. Furthermore, if any situations arise in the Special Service that require you to take a leave of absence, you must do so. This work takes priority.”

“Then, depending on how things go, I'll evaluate which pathway's potion suits you best.”

Saying that, Nolan sighed. “But having said that, it seems the only potions we currently have on hand at the Special Service are for the Law Pathway and the Destiny Pathway. The last bottle of the Mind Pathway was already taken by Reina.”

Freya asked with some confusion, “So, as long as someone encounters an extraordinary event and their memories are too deeply engraved to be hypnotized, they'll be dragged straight into the Special Service? And they even get a free potion?”

Hearing this, Nolan gave a brief explanation of the situation. When they encountered someone who couldn't be hypnotized, they would bring them in to sign a contract. However, these Law contracts were extremely precious and scarce. It was impossible to just let someone go home after signing, using it merely as a non-disclosure agreement.

Therefore, they would normally be drafted into the Special Service and given a free potion, because an entry-level potion was actually worth less than one of these contracts.

No matter what the newcomer's character was like, they would have to work wholeheartedly for the Special Service during the first year due to the contract's restrictions. And because various extraordinary events were highly dangerous, in reality... many newcomers didn't even survive a year.

If it were any other captain, they might have made Freya drop out of school immediately. What did a bright future at 【Cobdo National Academy】 matter? You had to survive the first year first.

Nolan sighed and said, “To be honest, I recommend you choose the Destiny Pathway. The direct combat capabilities of this pathway are relatively weak, which means you can avoid most combat situations. You'll only need to stay in the rear and provide support when needed, just like Reina. The safety factor is much higher.”

Freya nodded. After gaining a rough understanding of this world's extraordinary system, she suddenly realized that her simulation system was incredibly useful. For instance, in this simulation, she could drink the Destiny Pathway potion to obtain supernatural powers, and then save this slot.

Then, in the next simulation, she could go through the exact same sequence of events but firmly choose the Law Pathway instead. Once the simulation ended and she exited to save, wouldn't she possess the supernatural powers of both pathways at the same time?

Moreover, she only had two save slots right now, but that didn't mean she would only have two in the future. These kinds of save slots could usually be increased, right? If so, once she had more save slots, couldn't she walk every single pathway by simulating repeatedly?

When the time came, in reality, she could wave her hand and summon a dozen “saved clones,” with each clone possessing different abilities from different pathways. Just thinking about it was incredibly awesome, wasn't it?

As she pondered, Freya looked at Nolan and asked with some excitement, “So when can I get my potion?”

Nolan said, “Don't be in such a hurry. Your physical condition is too weak right now. Eat more, exercise more, and I'll train you in basic combat and marksmanship. Let me think... I'll give you an evaluation in a month. If you pass, I'll give you the potion.”

“Huh?” These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Freya's head. Her current simulation time limit was exactly one month. This meant that even if she trained diligently, by the time the evaluation day arrived, this simulation would be forced to end, and she wouldn't get to drink that Destiny potion at all!

Unaware of what Freya was thinking, Nolan said, “It's very late now. Go back and get some rest. Come back tomorrow after your classes, and I'll officially start your training.”

Freya frowned slightly and left the office. Outside the door, Reina was still standing there, her expression still filled with self-reproach. The moment she saw Freya, she actually bowed her head to apologize, “I'm sorry...”

Freya quickly waved her hands and said, “There's no need to apologize! I actually really like this supernatural stuff!”

Reina said, “But it's really dangerous. Captain Nolan is actually one of the nice ones. I've heard that some captains don't even try to avoid ordinary people when handling extraordinary incidents. If they don't have a Mind Pathway user in their squad, they won't even bother with hypnosis. They'll just drag the witnesses back to the Special Service, force them to sign a contract, and feed them a Law potion, giving them some combat capability on the very first day.”

“And then they're thrown into extraordinary incidents as cannon fodder, treated like mere consumables. Their survival is entirely up to fate...”

“Captain Nolan is a good man, and because of that, while other squads might have seven, eight, or even over a dozen members, Captain Nolan only has the three of us. However, this also puts a lot of pressure on him. Now that there's another person in the squad, I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing...”

After chatting with Reina for a while, Freya returned home accompanied by a regular police officer. The next day, she still didn't go to school. Instead, she went to the hospital first, wanting to visit Amy.

However, shortly after arriving at the hospital, she received the news: Amy had passed away due to excessive blood loss, as resuscitation efforts had failed.

Instantly, Freya fell silent for a long time. To be honest, she wasn't particularly close to Amy yet. However, looking through the original owner's memories, she knew that Amy had been very kind to her, often looking after her and helping her out in daily life. To have such a caring, kind-hearted, and sweet girl die because of her was something she could not accept.

Freya rested her chin on her hand, tracing the chain of cause and effect. Because she had reported the stalker, Nolan's trio had come to help her. Because she hadn't gone to school, Amy had come to look for her. Because Amy had stayed for dinner, she had left late, ran into the stalker, and was killed.

And because Amy was attacked, Nolan had rushed to save her, which led to Freya seeing too much to be hypnotized, ultimately allowing her to join the Special Service.

So, was there a way to optimize this chain of events? For example, by not hosting Amy and urging her to go home immediately? But if she did that, Freya would be forced to stay home, unable to witness the scene, and would ultimately just end up being hypnotized by Reina.

In other words, if Freya wanted to join the Special Service, did Amy have to die?

Though Freya didn't seem to react strongly to Amy's injury yesterday or her death today, it was only because she knew this was a simulation. She had already made up her mind that once she returned to reality, she would absolutely not choose this “route.”

But not joining the Special Service also meant she wouldn't be able to access the potions for the Law and Destiny Pathways. She would completely miss out on this opportunity to obtain extraordinary power.

Still... if she couldn't get extraordinary powers from the Special Service, perhaps she could approach this from a different angle. Freya immediately set off for the Special Service. When Nolan saw her, he couldn't help but look bewildered. “Aren't you supposed to be in class right now?”

However, Freya got straight to the point and asked, “Captain, what exactly is Obsidian? Amy didn't make it... and it's all because of that stalker...”

Nolan fell silent for a moment, then explained, “About a month ago, a large number of Rank One extraordinaries started appearing all over Auxerre—that's the name of this city. Although these guys aren't very strong, they've caused a lot of trouble for the Special Service. We've been completely swamped lately.”

“Then we discovered that every single one of these extraordinaries carries a black envelope. Inside is an address and a contact code, and it's different in every envelope. Someone is secretly distributing potions to these people.”

“We've also captured many 【contact persons】, but before we could get any information out of them, they all died suddenly without any warning. This has completely stalled our investigation. The mastermind behind this is extremely cautious. This is the 【Obsidian Incident】 that all Special Service branches are currently trying to investigate.”

Perhaps worried that Freya's grief over Amy's death would turn into hatred for the killer and a reckless obsession with the case, Nolan said, “I know you're very sad right now, but your top priority is to focus on training, pass the evaluation, and drink the potion. Only then will you be able to help.”

No, actually, I want to ask you for the black envelope that was on yesterday's stalker. Her plan was simple: if she couldn't get a potion through official channels, that stalker was also an extraordinary. Could she obtain a potion through the villain's channels instead?

According to Nolan's description, if someone was secretly distributing potions, why couldn't she be one of the recipients? If she could get that envelope, go to the meeting location, and meet the contact, wouldn't she be able to get a potion from them?

But Freya thought about it. If she asked for it now, Nolan definitely wouldn't give it to her. After all, what else would she want it for? To go to the meeting place and use the secret code, of course. This would undoubtedly arouse Nolan's suspicion.

In that case, she could only obtain the envelope through other means. For example... not reporting it to the police in the first place, dealing with the stalker herself, and then looting it from his corpse.

Once she figured this out, Freya was in no hurry to end this simulation. Instead, she looked at Nolan with a determined gaze and said, “I want to start training now. What do I need to do?”

Nolan asked, “You're not going to school?”

Freya said, “I'm not going anymore. I want to work hard to become stronger and avenge Amy.”

Of course, this was merely a “reasonable excuse.”

After that, Freya woke up very early every day in this simulation. She went to the Special Service to work out, practice close-quarters combat, and train in marksmanship. Just like that, a month flew by in the blink of an eye.

During this time, the Obsidian Incident seemed to grow increasingly severe, with various attacks by extraordinaries occurring frequently throughout the city. However, today, looking at Freya's various training results, a rare smile appeared on Nolan's face. He said, “Excellent. The application for the Destiny potion has been submitted. This time tomorrow, you'll come with me to headquarters to collect it.”

“Tomorrow?” Freya murmured. It would only take one more day for this save slot to become an extraordinary. But unfortunately, today was already the final day of her simulation. Although it was a pity, there was nothing she could do about it.

As the minutes and seconds ticked away, a prompt quickly appeared before her:

【The time limit for this simulation has been reached.】

Immediately afterward, a sensation like finally breaking the surface of the water after holding her breath for a long time washed over her. Freya snapped her eyes open and realized she was back on the day she had first crossed over—standing right outside her front door, at the exact moment she was preparing to report the stalker to the police.

“Overwrite save slot 00,” she said without hesitation.

...