On the way to Cornando City, his watch chimed repeatedly, delivering several crucial notifications he couldn't afford to ignore:

The location of the shortlet apartment he was to stay in, as well as permission to take off his X Guardian Coat during the mission.

They must have recognized the need for him to remain discreet during the mission and issued that.

The flight only took about three hours before he felt the sharp descent of the jet.

{"Congratulations, you have successfully arrived at your destination, Coranando Airport."}

{"An automatic fly-back will initiate in seven days. Good luck on your mission!"}

The AI voice echoed out as Everlearn stepped out of the jet.

After receiving permission to remove his uniform, he stepped into a restroom, stored it in the system's shop space, and changed into his spare clothes: a hoodie and trousers, both of matching color.

Quietly, Everlearn left the Cornando port and found a taxi.

It was driven by an older man, seemingly in his fifties or sixties, and he got into the cab at the passenger seat next to him, his bag on his lap.

"Me head to Lorianor House, yeh?"

He spoke in the accent he had quickly copied from the array of taxi drivers outside.

The man looked at him with surprise.

Everlearn clearly wasn't from here, yet he spoke the local accent, one even the upper-level citizens of Cornando City often struggled to understand.

"Me get you to Lorianor House. 5 Nvdollars me pay."

He replied, and Everlearn reached into his pocket and paid the fee. Good thing he had withdrawn some cash at the airport.

"Thank you," The man said before driving off the airport.

He appeared to be a jovial man, and as he drove, he talked, and Everlearn listened.

"You not from around here, yeh?" he asked him.

"Used to be with auntie, then go Mechron city do some reading, but me back now," Everlearn replied.

"Mechron. Me don hear about that city. Nice place, yeh?"

"Me survive well, so… yeh, nice place," he replied as the man laughed out loud.

"You sound like a hard time there."

"But everywhere hard now, no?" he replied to the man, who nodded this time seriously.

"Lorianor, you going to now, hard too, you know?" he asked, as Everlearn displayed quiet disbelief.

"Lorianor me remember peaceful. What happened?"

"Them bad men from Big Group don enter Lorianor trynna move funny. Talk some big project, but they don't wanna settle them thugs from the area."

"That's why them thugs show them who get them papa land, fighting with them bad men from Big Group."

"Very ghastly shit happening for Lorianor, yeh?" he explained.

"For real? Why dem Big Group not trynna pay?" Everlearn asked, trying to sympathize from the locals' viewpoint.

"You know that's how them Big Group be working." The man replied.

"Entering into our papa land, trynna do something with their fake promise and shit, yeh?"

"But it ain't even worth it no more, cuz them many thugs be dying cause them kill one of them workers from Big group."

"Now, Big group wanting revenge. Them be blowing up houses, ratatatatatatata gun all night."

"Crazy shit man. Crazy shit."

The ride continued for about 30 minutes before Everlearn finally reached the Lorianor street junction, where the taxi parked.

As he got down, the man gave him some advice.

"Imma just tell you, if you get some cash, move your auntie from Lorianor, maybe come stay in Torin or Houra."

"These places more safe. Lorianor very bad now, I swear you," he said, and Everlearn nodded.

"Me appreciate you, man. Thank you."

"No problem. We cool man," he said, and Everlearn rose upright, watching the taxi take a turn and disappear back the way they came.

"Finally here," Everlearn mused to himself.

Since his mission was tied to Lorianor Street, the base had arranged his residence there as well, and he walked through the street gates.

As he continued his walk, he saw everything the man was describing.

Many of the streets of Lorianor had been filled with rubble from houses broken down, and some of the houses that remained standing had their windows missing, with gunshots decorating their walls.

Interestingly, there were still children playing in the streets, along with a few men and women going about their day.

They may look like death-courting idiots, but Everlearn knew the deeper reality:

Most likely, these were people born and bred here, without enough to move out, and hence have no choice but to remain, even amidst the danger.

As he followed the map on his watch, he eventually reached the house where he would be staying.

Surprisingly, though the other homes were either in rubble or covered in gun holes, this house was actually still standing properly.

Although the outer walls were cracked, the gate looked fine, and the walls hid the building itself.

When Everlearn walked through the gate, opening it with his X Guard card, he found the house in decent condition, with no gun marks anywhere.

Once inside, he saw a basic bungalow with two bedrooms and a living room. It had a gentle, family-like feel, and it made him wonder.

Just how rich was the X Guardian Tower?

They seemed to have houses in every city for every mission, giving them out for free to X Guardians to complete their mission.

That must have cost a lot of Nvdollars.

Especially since the missions they gave out didn't seem to earn them any profit.

A good example was his own mission to stop the fighting.

How would stopping the fight of some local gangs in Lorianor City help the X Base?

It sounded more like a noble quest than some real money-making quest, but whatever that was was none of his business.

He looked at the time on his watch. It was 7:40.

Soon enough, it would be night, and according to the taxi driver, bad things come at night.

For that reason, Everlearn decided…

He would be out tonight.

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