"Caesar? What brings you to the city today?" Mo Wang was a little surprised to see the girl who had just walked in.
This wasn't the idiot who only thought about women, nor was it the troublemaking, dark-skinned loli. This was the new overlord of the Outskirts, Billy's former boss, the leader of the Sons of Calydon, Miss Caesar.
"Caesar! I didn't expect to see you today, come on in," Belle said with a smile, ushering her in.
"Hey, it's been a while, Belle, Mo Wang."
"So, what brings you to the city? I thought you were busy with things in the Outskirts," Mo Wang asked. He knew that since the Sons of Calydon had taken over, they had been swamped with work. The last time he had invited Caesar for a meal, Lucy had shot her down before she could even agree.
He still remembered how exasperated Lucy had been. "What? You want to go out to eat?! I've been pulling all-nighters for three weeks straight, living on pre-made meals! And you want to go to the city for a nice dinner?! No way, absolutely not! Damn it, Caesar, as the boss, are you trying to sneak off and have fun while your subordinates are slaving away?! Have you no shame!"
Caesar, who was the boss, had been rendered speechless. Looking at Lucy's dark circles, she couldn't bring herself to argue.
"So, have you forgotten? We were supposed to deal with Pullman, weren't we? And I came all this way," Caesar said, pressing a hand to her forehead.
But even at the mention of Pullman's name, Mo Wang couldn't remember a thing.
"Who's Pullman? Do I know him?"
"Brother, have you forgotten? He's that fat guy who's been causing us trouble ever since the Belobog Heavy Industries incident. The one Lycaon caught, and then he escaped," Belle said, exasperated.
"Oh, so that's why we went to those places?" Mo Wang said, rubbing his head. "Haha, sorry, I've been so busy lately, I completely forgot about him."
"Hah, well, I only just remembered myself, so I'm in no position to judge," Caesar said, scratching her head sheepishly.
Poor Pullman. He had been a puppet chairman, then captured and almost silenced by his own organization. He had escaped to the Outskirts, only to be caught by Caesar and left to rot in a cell for over a month. If Nicole hadn't remembered and asked about him, he might have been forgotten completely.
"So? Did he finally spill the beans? Did he tell us who's behind all this?" Mo Wang asked, not particularly interested. He had already learned a lot from his sisters-in-law.
"Yes, he did. And he told us about a very powerful figure who is one of their members," Caesar said.
"Who?"
"The legendary peacekeeper. I'm sure you've seen him on the news lately."
"D-don't tell me you mean... Bringer?!" Belle stammered.
"That's right. It's him. This is a big problem."
The other big news story lately, besides the Defense Force scandal, had been the election for the new Chief Peacekeeper of Janus District. And Bringer was one of the frontrunners.
"Brother! What do we do now?! Even he's one of them!" Belle said, panicking.
"Calm down. He's not the Chief Peacekeeper yet," Mo Wang said, and gave her a light chop on the head to quiet her down.
Even if he was, Mo Wang wasn't too concerned. He had just dealt with a bunch of military officers. He could just as easily get rid of this guy and put Zhu Yuan up as a candidate instead.
But he was interested in Bringer. According to Cui Ji, while the organization was powerful and had infiltrated many industries, high-level members like this were rare. If Bringer was really one of them, he might know more about what happened in the old capital.
Mo Wang's eyes narrowed as he thought back to that day.
...
In this world, Mo Wang and Belle were not blood siblings. They were more like senior and junior disciples.
Mo Wang had arrived in this world as a teenager, with no knowledge of where he was. It seemed that for all the Mo Wangs, wandering was a common experience.
One day, while scrounging for food in a garbage can, he met the legendary researcher, Carole Arna.
"Young man, would you like to be my student?" she had asked, holding out her hand.
For the first time, he felt that this world was a wonderful place.
He learned a great deal from her over the years, including research on HDDs, Hollow observation, and Bangboo development. In a way, he was the source of much of the advanced technology the other Mo Wangs possessed.
The following year, his teacher brought home a girl a few years younger than him. That was Belle.
And so, they became brother and sister, learning the ways of the Proxy from their teacher.
He had thought that his life in this world would continue on this path. As the disciple of a senior research director at the Helios organization, perhaps he would follow in his teacher's footsteps and become a researcher himself.
Until that day.
The day the entire city of Eridu was engulfed by a Hollow.
The day his teacher was taken by a giant hand.
The day their lives were changed forever.
No one knew what they had been through that day. It was a miracle that they had survived, having been at the epicenter of the Hollow outbreak.
For years, Mo Wang had been investigating the truth of what had happened. It was perhaps because of that unforgettable memory that he had not become a follower of the Path of Erudition, which focused on knowledge, but had instead caught the attention of Fuli, the mysterious Aeon of Remembrance, who was believed to have been born at the beginning of the universe.
For him, other memories might fade with time, but the events of that day would replay in his mind over and over again, a constant reminder of how powerless he had been.
"Brother, are you okay?"
He was pulled from his reverie by a gentle tap on his shoulder.
"Hmm? What is it, Belle?" he asked, his expression returning to normal.
"Nothing, it's just... your expression just now was really scary. It was like..." she said, her voice filled with concern. It had been a long time since she had seen him look like that.
Before they came to Sixth Street, she had often seen him with that look of pain, anger, and boiling killing intent when he was alone.
She knew he was thinking about that day again, but she didn't know how to comfort him.
But after they came to Sixth Street, she had noticed that he rarely made that expression anymore. Perhaps he had finally let go of the past.
But today, he had that look again, and it had frightened both her and Caesar.
"Ahem, I never thought you could make an expression like that," Caesar said, clearing her throat to break the awkward silence.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something," he said with a relaxed smile. "I'm just a little surprised that the peacekeeper is a dangerous person."
"Your expression just now didn't look surprised at all," Caesar said. The killing intent he had just exuded was on a completely different level from any of the crazed desperadoes she had encountered in the Outskirts. It was as if he wanted to destroy the entire world.
What could he have been thinking about that was so terrible? she wondered, a newfound curiosity about the normally placid man piqued.
But she knew he wouldn't tell her.
Only Belle looked at him with worry, a feeling in her gut that this time, her brother was going to turn the entire city of New Eridu upside down.