“I’ll go first. I owe you all an explanation.” Charles Griffin was especially gentle today, like a teacher facing students who may not have the best grades but are diligent and hardworking.

“The reason you were placed here was to lure the snake out of its hole. Last night, it finally showed itself.”

“Which snake are we luring?” Samuel Lincoln asked.

Charles Griffin glanced at him, and Samuel Lincoln immediately fell silent.

“The assassin is already being watched. We’re going to use him to catch a bigger fish.” Charles Griffin placed both hands on his legs and smiled again. “That’s all I can tell you for now. You’ve done very well. Hang in there for a few more days. You’re lucky—your very first mission and you already have a chance to earn merit. Many investigators work for years without such an opportunity.”

“Lucky?” Samuel Lincoln had always admired Charles Griffin, but when it came to his own life, he had to speak up. “Last night, I almost died on the street. If it weren’t for Old Lincoln… I really was just a hair’s breadth away. The bullet could have ended up in me instead of the wall. I don’t mean anything by it, but at least give us a warning next time.”

“As rookies, the less you know, the better. If I warned you, would you still go out shopping so casually?”

Samuel Lincoln blushed a little, struggled internally for a moment, and decided to back down. “You’re right.”

It was Samuel Lincoln who asked the question, but Charles Griffin looked at the silent Henry Lincoln. “The way I treat you is the same way my superiors treat me. In the future, you’ll treat others the same way.”

“Yeah, that’s the rule. Both Evelyn Carter and I understand.” Henry Lincoln admitted that what the other said was true. That’s what the instructors taught in training, too.

“That’s why the Griffin family insists on training their own spies. It’s hard to make outsiders understand this. With them, you can only deceive and stay on guard. But us—we’re family, we’re brothers.” Charles Griffin even glanced at Samuel Lincoln. “We’re destined to become the core members of the organization, recruiting and managing peripheral spies together. Outsiders will always be outsiders.”

Henry Lincoln grunted in agreement, and Samuel Lincoln chuckled twice. “I’ve been following you two since I was a kid, and I’ll keep doing so, especially you, Old Charles. You’ve always been our leader, and you always will be.”

Charles Griffin stood up, moved his chair aside a bit, and said solemnly, “Don’t worry about anything else. Just focus on leveling up your game characters to the max. Soon, you’ll get new assignments. Also, you’re now probationary employees of ‘Weiji Entertainment Co., Ltd.’ All the paperwork is done, and your first weekly salary has already been deposited into your personal accounts.”

“Thanks, Old Charles, you’re so thoughtful.” Samuel Lincoln stood up, wanting to shake hands in gratitude, but Charles Griffin didn’t respond. He just said goodbye and turned to leave.

Samuel Lincoln watched his boss go, then ran to the living room window and gazed outside. After a while, he said admiringly, “Old Charles got a new car again. The old one is still parked there. I hope he’ll give it to us.”

All of Samuel Lincoln’s complaints vanished. He immediately used his internal chip to check his account.

Every resident on Zhaiwang Star has a bank account from birth—free and never changed for life. Only after reaching adulthood can they apply for more accounts.

“Three thousand points.” Samuel Lincoln curled his lip. “That’s not a high weekly salary. A set meal on the street costs about a hundred points, and a drink is twenty. The cost of living in the city is really scary. What about yours?”

“Same.” Henry Lincoln had already checked. “I guess that’s the standard wage.”

“It’s just a cover anyway. The organization won’t shortchange us.”

“Do you know anything about that company?”

“Weiji Entertainment? I know it’s a game boosting company. They’re in a lot of games, including ‘Mother Planet Territory.’ Some big guilds are actually controlled by them behind the scenes. Players pay, the guilds fight, and attack minor lords.”

“Why would players pay?”

“It’s all about grudges in the game. Play for a few days and you’ll get it.” Samuel Lincoln was in a much better mood. He hesitated between catching up on sleep and logging into the game, but decided to be a model employee. He sat on the sofa, put on his display glasses, but quickly took them off again. “The stuff about planetary heirs and orphans is definitely a story the organization made up to lure the snake out. It has nothing to do with us. Since Old Charles didn’t mention it, we don’t need to bring it up again, right?”

“Right.”

“Aren’t you coming in to level up? Your character is still way behind.”

Henry Lincoln put on his glasses. He still hadn’t fully emerged from the vast “Sea of Ruins,” feeling there was much left to do, and he wasn’t interested in this old game at all.

Not long after entering the game, a selection box popped up on the screen. Samuel Lincoln said, “Click agree, we’re switching guilds.”

“Huh?”

“I just got an invitation from another guild. The message had the words ‘Weiji’ in it. That’s the organization reaching out to us.”

Henry Lincoln chose to agree, then checked his mailbox. Sure enough, among a dozen or so messages, he found the invitation. The “guild” Samuel Lincoln mentioned was just a nickname; the official term was something like “Grand Lord,” with standard prefixes, clearly system-assigned.

Henry Lincoln assigned jobs to the farmers, then handed all the warriors over to Samuel Lincoln’s character as mercenaries. Leveling up was slow, but at least it was hassle-free.