Unable to repay my student loans, I had no choice but to work part-time as a demon hunter.

Gordon returned to 9 Knightsway.

On the first floor of the Johns Hopkins Dental Clinic, a dentist is torturing a patient with a foot-operated dental drill.

"Ah ...

Gordon walked upstairs amidst groans, but was in a rather good mood.

He opened the door humming a tune, wondering if Vera was cleaning weapons, preparing food, or something else.

She was reading a book.

Vera sat in an armchair by the window, her short, dark brown hair edged with gold in the afternoon sunlight.

The clothes were washed and clean, the polished boots were placed next to the chair, and the person was standing barefoot on the chair with knees bent, squatting in the sunlight, making them very clear.

She was reading a book.

[The Anatomical Atlas of the Otherworldly Demons. So thick it could be used as her secondary weapon.]

The book was very interesting to her. On the one hand, she was concerned about whether the monsters drawn in the book were exactly the same as the demons she had hunted; on the other hand, she was very interested in the anatomical structures described in the book, as these monsters seemed to have hidden treasures that she couldn't miss in the future.

"It's beautiful," Gordon thought. "So this is what it's like for a piece of wood to begin to understand the world."

"get out of class is over." Vera didn't look up.

"As far as I know, this kind of thing happens all the time in college." Gordon closed the door. "What have you learned?"

"There's a word I don't recognize." Vera flipped back a few pages, pointing to an image of a storm eagle demon. "What's a cloaca?"

Gordon paused for a moment as he poured the hot water.

This is a scientific question, and he can only teach it in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

"Scientifically speaking, how many openings do you think you have below your belly button?"

"What does it mean?"

"Just count them."

Vera glanced down and did some calculations.

"Three."

"Some birds and lizards only have one."

"What do you mean? Which one is it responsible for?"

  

"It's now a three-in-one."

"My God." Vera was shocked. "They use one for both inbound and outbound traffic."

"These words are indeed true."

"That must be a very busy hole." Vera flipped through the book, finding it increasingly interesting.

Gordon blew on the hot water to cool it down and then recounted what had happened that day.

He started by talking about rabies, then about how he became a junior supervisor with a recorder, then about Martin Hott producing samples of the Blackwater River found in human lungs, and finally about how the agency was preparing to recruit trainee investigators from university students.

"So you'll have to wear the octagonal badge." Vera finally put down her book, looking somewhat surprised.

"How useful is this?"

"Very useful," Vera said. "The Demon Affairs Bureau is the oversight body of the Hunter Management Bureau."

"For example, if I'm an investigator now and I go to Arthur Gray's firm, do I have to pay them?"

"No need," Vera said firmly. "He has to cooperate with the investigation, and he also has to pour you some tea."

"Incredible." Gordon stroked his chin, where stubble was now growing. "What I lack is precisely this kind of power to barge into someone's house and have them pour me tea. Just imagine how many detours we could have avoided if I had been the investigator before."

Vera suddenly smiled.

It's like the left brain telling a joke to the right brain.

"What?" Gordon rarely saw Vera with such a natural smile.

“No,” she said. “…I’m an apprentice hunter, and you’re an intern investigator. That’s interesting enough.”

Gordon figured it out.

"Yeah, yeah. Neither of them combined got promoted," Gordon said, "yet they managed to wipe out a bunch of otherworldly demons, investigate a ton of cases, and are even preparing to study the capital's largest river."

Vera thought about it and thought the combination was good.

While their combined experience may not be extensive, their potential for ability can be very high.

"How do I get it?" she asked.

"First, we have to submit a substantial final paper," Gordon said. "It's not just for Professor Winslow and a bunch of classmates; the administration, the president, and the military will all be watching us college students mess around."

"What is a thesis?"

"Write thirty pages of something that can be said in three sentences, and twenty-nine of those thirty pages are copied from other people."

"University is such a hassle," Vera commented.

After she finished speaking, she picked up the chart again.

"That 'Shadow of Aston Street'..." she recalled Gordon's account of what he had seen and heard that day, "I think I came across it about half an hour ago, it's about the Dragon Lizard Demon."

"What characteristics?"

"Super strong, super big, super violent," Vera said. "If it were in Lundnim, we'd have a fierce battle."

Gao registered this matter.

"Did you find any otherworldly creatures that look like black goats?"

"No." Vera had no recollection of it at all.

"Okay. This time, our luck wasn't very good."

Then, Gordon drew a blueprint on the table.

His hand speed was incredibly fast, yet the lines were perfectly neat. What would take a normal person two hours to draw a construction drawing, he could finish in ten minutes, without even needing to make any changes.

"Going out? I need to go to Bell Tower Street." Gordon blew the ink off his face and prepared to head to the next stop.

"what?"

"Custom-made uterus."

"Oh my God." Her tone was exactly the same as when she was talking about the cloaca.

It seems that Gordon, like birds, has some inexplicable physiological structure.

……

Clock Tower Street is also located in the East District of Lundnim.

This street was lined with printing presses, instrument shops, and small machine workshops; it was a hub for craftsmen, and every ten steps you'd find a small clock repair shop. Along the way, printing presses hummed, constantly pumping ink into novels, textbooks, and newspapers.

The Sinclair Spiritual Workshop is tucked away in an alley on Clock Tower Street.

The storefront wasn't spacious, and the sign featured a crucible, a thermometer, and the name Sinclair.

"I've been here before." Vera looked up. "He sells things."

"Of course he sells things. He also makes things," Gordon said.

Before the two even pushed open the door, a dispute broke out inside.

"Mr. Sinclair," a man said gruffly, "we'd like to borrow your blueprints to take a look."

"Taking something without permission can hardly be called borrowing," Sinclair's voice came from within.

"We've decided to give you one last chance to work together..."

"You've said that six times already."

Gordon listened for a moment and it didn't seem like a robbery.

These people were clearly educated enough to know that they couldn't resort to violence against someone as prominent as Sinclair.

Gordon and Vera pushed open the door and went in.

Sinclair stood behind the counter, wearing an overcoat, facing three well-dressed men, each holding a cane and an agreement.

"Private business, this is none of your business..." The leader, wearing a gray overcoat, had been quite forceful when he saw Gordon, but upon seeing Vera, he immediately focused and his tone quickly calmed down. "...And this is..."

"What do I look like?" Vera said coldly.

The three of them whispered to each other.

Gordon caught the word "Source Hunter".

They reached a consensus in seconds.

If a conflict breaks out, Sinclair's next concern will be how to wipe the blood off the ground.

"We don't want any trouble, we're just here to talk business." The business representatives tipped their hats at them. "If you two also have business to discuss, please feel free to do so."

"Yes, we're here to discuss business too," Gordon said with a smile.

This statement provided a way out for both sides.

But she remained standing there, motionless, showing no habit of making way for others.

So they had no choice but to put away their canes, nervously turn to the side, press themselves against the wall, keep their distance from Vera's sword, and leave Sinclair's workshop.

Goodbye.

The workshop has returned to the tranquility that a small shop should have.

"Welcome." Sinclair stroked his beard, nodded to Gordon, and then glanced cautiously at Vera. "...Miss Hunter."

When he went to university, Gordon taught him the correct way to use a source substance.

He only knew that Gordon was Winslow's student, but he didn't expect that he also knew Vera Cartrett.

There are many rumors about Vera.

Overeating, uncontrolled pollution, lack of concentration, living under a bridge.

Vera visited several times to buy things, sometimes forgetting to pay or even forgetting she had been there.

But now, she looks ramrod straight and has a cold expression.

Sinclair was baking a meat pie in the house, and the aroma was wonderful, but she wasn't distracted at all.

This reminded him of an even older rumor… the top student at Logris Hunter School. It seemed Gordon was bringing something extremely dangerous back to the world.