After giving the instructions, Vivi left.

Although the secretary’s attributes as a tool character were quite ordinary, Vivi noticed that her [Obedience] attribute was extremely high. Even if she might not be smart, she was sure to be useful.

Interestingly, the NPCs on the map didn’t have names!

No names, only titles. Secretary Millie was marked as [Secretary], and on the distant map, there were identities like [Vagabond][Robber] and so on… The inconvenience was that if there were more than two vagabonds in front of her, they would all be displayed as vagabonds on the map, making it difficult for Vivi to distinguish between two individuals by just looking at the map.

The mayor’s office, envisioned to be reinforced with steel bars, still only existed in the mayor’s imagination. Opening the map, Vivi could see several small dots representing the construction team making their way to the city hall, although their pace was quite ordinary.

Does this place really need to be so realistic? Shouldn’t the construction team immediately appear in the room after she spent her money?

With no other choice, she decided to complete the next task while waiting.

The task of touring the city hall wasn’t difficult; she just had to follow the path outlined by the system.

However, it still took her quite some time because she was trying to pick up side quests along the way —

She stood in front of each NPC, attempting to interact, but the symbols above the NPCs’ heads on the map changed only from “confusion” to “unease”.

It seemed that these NPCs didn’t come with their own tasks.

And their levels weren’t great either — as their employer, she could check their attributes — basically, there were no talented individuals with special skills, which was disappointing.

Vivi wandered around the city hall, her gaze sharp.

Millie followed behind, her heart pounding.

She was hesitating whether to mention the former Chief of Staff Shelk to the Mayor — her native Gotham instincts subtly made her feel that something was off about Shelk, possibly related to the death of the previous Mayor.

And why were the windows of the Mayor’s office broken when she first entered? What had happened inside the office?

Lost in thought, the Mayor in front of her suddenly stopped and crouched down.

The Mayor picked up a dusty brooch and then expertly navigated through several doors to hand it over to Mr. Hawk in the finance department.

Millie remembered seeing the brooch before; it was given to Hawk by his deceased wife and he must have accidentally dropped it on the floor.

The Mayor personally returning his lost item caused a flash of surprise on old Hawk’s face, who then thanked her respectfully.

But the distinguished lady didn’t leave immediately; she silently observed him for several seconds, making the old slickster sweat on his forehead before finally turning to leave.

In the next thirty minutes, Millie watched in astonishment as the overly young mayor found various employees’ lost items throughout the city hall, such as Mary’s beret, a love letter Hans wrote to Mary, the chocolate Joel left half-eaten on the sink…

At first, Millie was puzzled, but unlike the other employees who were inexplicably surprised, she witnessed the Mayor miraculously discovering these items and then, without asking her, accurately returning them to the right people —

Even Millie wouldn’t have known to whom each item belonged.

“Mayor Anna… Did she investigate everyone before coming?”

Impossible, right?

“By the way, were you a clerk before? Would you like to return to your original position?”

The system panel showed average attributes for the secretary and also recorded her transfer from one position to another at a certain time, but it didn’t record the secretary’s name — so Vivi assumed this construction game wouldn’t name NPCs.

Makes sense; as a construction game, having an identity and profession for the Mayor to arrange would be enough. Names are superfluous.

Anyway, changing the other party’s position… for Vivi, it was just a matter of manipulating the system panel.

The Mayor thinks I’m not respectful enough!

Millie’s face instantly turned pale: although she had been careful enough, she couldn’t help but look down on the Mayor in her heart, considering her someone without backing, who would soon leave or… die.

“No!” Millie immediately bowed, “I am very satisfied with my current position, please don’t transfer me!”

Clearly: if she was not satisfied, then she would have to leave.

Vivi: Just respond. There’s no need to exaggerate like that.

However, she nodded: “I thought so too.”

A secretary’s salary, of course, was higher than a clerk’s.

And as Millie breathed a sigh of relief, no longer daring to hesitate, she leaned in close to the mayor’s ear and whispered in a low voice —

Vivi’s RPG-like behaviour yielded nothing; these errand tasks had no rewards, only a bunch of non-committal thanks.

No, there seemed to be something, as every time she received thanks —

【Your unknown attribute 1】

【The current ‘Prestige’ module is not activated, unable to view】

【Please improve the recognition of Gotham’s citizens towards you as soon as possible, the prestige module will activate when over 50% of the population knows you are the mayor】

Not knowing what the attribute was, she needed to find a way to activate the prestige module.

She wasn’t too disappointed, considering it a way to familiarize herself with the map, and at this time, her secretary, who was given to her at the start, told her something.

After she finished speaking, a task naturally appeared.

【Series Mission: Killer from ■■】

【The mysterious assassin shattered the windows of your office. You feel you should find this person. Listen to the message brought by the secretary.】

On the map, the red dot representing the assassin had already disappeared, likely merging into Gotham’s sea of red.

Vivi: …

She didn’t really want to zoom out the map to see the scene of so many people opposing her.

The inconspicuous, free NPC secretary brought her news of a new character — “the former Chief of Staff.”

“The former Chief of Staff? So he’s not the Chief of Staff anymore. What’s his current position?”

Currently, Vivi didn’t have a Chief of Staff, only the ordinary secretary Millie. But the deposed Shelk was still spending his working hours at the city hall.

Millie pursed her lips: “The former Chief of Staff is currently on paid leave.”

In fact, when the previous mayor was still in office, there were rumors that Chief of Staff Shelk would become the future Deputy Mayor. After the mayor’s misfortune, before Mayor Anna’s arrival, Shelk had taken charge of most of the city hall’s affairs. Even now, the new Mayor was still being overshadowed by Shelk — otherwise, why would Mayor Anna be so idle, even having time to do small things like helping employees find their belongings?

Millie could guess what those guys were saying: they definitely wouldn’t think the new mayor was easy to get along with. They just looked down on her, thinking she was pitifully squeezed out.

But Millie believed the mayor must know everything!

She must know!

And she already had a plan!

Sure enough, the mayor in front of her frowned, her gaze sweeping casually through the air as if thinking of something, a cold smile hooking on her lips.

“Paid leave”?

A Chief of Staff involved with an assassin should just retire — the system had already hinted to her.

She immediately searched for this position on the map and quickly found a small dot — unsurprisingly red — not far from the office. But this little red dot hesitated at the door, moving back and forth without pushing the door open.

A symbol representing [Confusion] appeared above the dot.

With a glance, Vivi realized why:

The construction workers had arrived, and new steel reinforcements were being installed in the office.

She remembered the game’s high level of freedom and NPC intelligence —

She turned to her secretary and said, “Call the workers for me.”

*

Shelk had already received news that the mayor hadn’t died. He had sent a message to the big man Black Mask, but Black Mask wasn’t his online love interest. Black Mask was a big figure in Gotham’s world, not someone who would immediately reply to his messages.

“Black Mask” was, of course, just a codename, not a name, and no one dared to mention his real name. He was the founder of the “Mask Society,” the largest force in Gotham’s underworld, currently overseeing the gang forces. Black Mask himself was an expert in interrogation and was rumored to have several perverse hobbies.

In his dilemma, Shelk moved towards the mayor’s office, deciding to meet this new mayor and “chat” on behalf of Black Mask.

The door was closed tightly, but the room was noisy. He had no idea what was happening inside.

— This office should have been his!

He was immensely annoyed, hesitating for a moment before putting his hand on the door. Just as he opened a small gap, the office door suddenly pulled open from the inside.

A group of muscular, tall men pounced out like hungry tigers, overpowering the physically average Shelk, and immediately stuffed a handkerchief in his mouth, gagging him and blocking his upcoming words.

Shelk: ?!

Help!

What’s going on with these guys? What are they doing? Why are they in the mayor’s office?

Before the former Chief of Staff could figure it out, the men who had quickly gagged his mouth tied him to a redundant steel bar nearby and then leaned against the wall.

Through the conversation of the several strong men, Shelk finally understood what was happening —

Why were the construction workers here building a wall and a pure steel one at that?

Why, as soon as he opened the door, did the mayor seem to have predicted this and called these men, and even deceived them that he was a thief stealing files? And what did it mean by “That guy is very cunning, you must gag his mouth the moment you catch him, otherwise, he will surely deceive you”? God knows there wouldn’t be a single valuable piece of paper in the office, all the files were in Shelk’s own office. Did he need to steal a bunch of air?

Wait —

Shelk’s face turned slightly pale.

Wouldn’t the mayor know something was wrong in the office?

Any normal person would realize… all the files were with Shelk, the “deposed” Chief of Staff. And as long as she had normal intelligence, this young female mayor would associate them with him, so it wasn’t strange for her to take such an ambush action.

Why specifically mention “files”… perhaps, this was a warning to him?

A warning that Shelk already knew he had overstepped his duties, advising him to choose sides immediately — but Shelk knew, having chosen to cooperate with Black Mask, he could never turn back.

Does she want to threaten or entice? Women are indeed naive.

With a handkerchief in his mouth, hands tied behind his back, and legs forced to curl up, but Shelk’s eyes were filled with disdain.

“Did that thief’s eyes twitch?”

“I don’t know, maybe he’s crazy,” after all, Gotham isn’t short of madmen, another construction worker shrugged, “I just hope he doesn’t eat my towel.”