“Let’s put the video aside first,” Vivi said, surveying the few girls in front of her. “Tell me your purpose.”

Checking their occupations on the map, as expected, they were Gotham’s bottom-tier nightingales, evident from their thin, revealing clothes. It was surprising that these women sought her out.

Nightingales, the lowest level of sex workers in Gotham, weren’t to blame for trading their bodies for survival. Often they contracted diseases or addictions in the process. Sex work being illegal in Gotham, Vivi could arrest them, so their approach was risky.

“Ha…” The girl tasked with negotiating struggled with her words, took several deep breaths, and suddenly grabbed Vivi’s hand, pleading, “We want to report a crime, please… we’re coming to you, as a woman, because of that video, please…”

Unable to finish, she broke down in tears, her hands trembling. Vivi gently held her hands, steadying the girl.

“You can tell me about the case now.”

They headed to the back door of a nearby bar, girls both older and younger than the negotiator trailing behind her like ducklings.

“You must understand, our work…” The girl began with a bitter smile, “This happened ten days ago. My younger sister was strangled to death by a client in bed.”

Her name was Riti. After being abandoned by her parents, she was taken in by an older nightingale and naturally followed in her footsteps. The older nightingale’s 14-year-old daughter was the one who died during her first client encounter.

Life for these nightingales was never stable, and they often died young. The older nightingale, only 30, was now critically ill from shock.

The other women, helped by her in the past, had pooled money for her medication, but it was barely effective.

Having seen a video about Bella on a client’s phone, Riti decided to approach Vivi for “reporting a crime” impulsively.

“I just wanted him to pay a little compensation,” Riti trembled, “just a bit, as we don’t have enough to hospitalize Kuri’s mother. Just a little…”

Tears streaming down her face, she said, “Isn’t it right to pay for killing someone?”

【You have received a side quest: Tears of the Nightingale】

【Riti’s wish is for “a little compensation.” Will you help fulfill her wish by capturing the “client”? More clues are needed to uncover the case’s truth.】

【Quest Reward: 1000 Gold Coins】

After a month in the game, Vivi understood her panel’s money was gold coins, while others referred to “money” as dollars. She could only convert dollars to gold coins unidirectionally, and the exchange rate fluctuated. Sometimes 70-80 dollars equaled one gold coin, sometimes 40-50, without any pattern.

Even by the lowest conversion rate, the quest reward equated to 40,000 dollars. And these nightingales might die before earning that much. Their “little bit of money” was less than forty gold coins.

“Child,” Vivi said, touching her hair, “do you know? Sex work is illegal in Gotham.”

Riti looked bewildered. With her education level, she likely only knew to avoid the police, not understanding why, to them, police and gangs were the same.

Some women around seemed to understand, retreating hastily, scared to scream or run, worried about their companions.

“Relax, ladies,” Vivi said, raising her hands harmlessly. “I’ll take your report, but can’t file a case without evidence, right? After all, I haven’t seen a body or know the killer’s name.”

This was the normal procedure in the real world, but Vivi only said it for effect, planning to investigate but needing a bit of rhetoric first.

Under Riti’s anxious gaze, Vivi continued, “If you take me to the old nightingale now, maybe I can lend you some money to hospitalize her first, then we’ll talk about the case—of course, it’s a loan, not a gift.”

This was enough to make Riti jubilant!

The others relaxed too. Vivi reached for Riti’s hand, but the girl who had clutched her arm earlier dodged.

She shyly smiled, “No, no, it’s too dirty.”

Leading the way with more spring in her step, she soon took Vivi to a crowded, low-house area in the Boiler District, a civilian area within the civilian areas. Before entering, Vivi hung a silk ribbon bud, adult-palm-sized, on the roof without explaining, then ducked inside.

The ribbon flower, blooming from a Colourful Street Tree — the Crime Alley version hadn’t bloomed yet — was purchased by Vivi from the Gold Coin Shop. Named 【Evil Thought Flower】, it didn’t glow and was inconspicuous, often overlooked. Only when nourished by evil thoughts would it bloom, an eyeball appearing in its center, acting as a monitor transmitting images to Vivi’s system panel—turning red if new “food,” or evil thoughts, appeared nearby.

Vivi wasn’t just strolling around aimlessly; she was also planting flowers along the way. Now, there were thirty flowers on her mini-map.

These advanced surveillance devices were quite affordable, only 100 gold coins each.

In the shabby house indeed lay a woman. Although she was only 30, she appeared much older, her hair half grey.

Facing this woman, who let her daughter be a child prostitute and was devastated by her death, Vivi used a different tactic, knowing she might not get any clues using a simple approach.

So, she whispered into the woman’s ear, “I know what happened to your daughter, and I can put that man in prison. Would you like to see him face justice?”

The woman’s pupils dilated, coughing and gasping as she stared at Vivi, “He can just pay some money… cough, and get out…”

“Maybe in the past,” Vivi replied, “but now I’m the deputy warden of Blackgate Prison.”

Oh, she was actually an assistant, with a superior, tall and fat… Joseph or something?

—Well, that guy’s not important.

The old nightingale gripped her wrist, her cloudy eyes flickering, and Vivi held her back, “Now, you need to go to the hospital. I will pay for the treatment, but it’s not for free. You’ll have to work to repay the debt.”

“Let me finish,” the woman began, speaking in bits and pieces as Vivi lifted her, “She didn’t know… the man’s name… They always disguise themselves, I never saw that man… but I heard him, he told… to call him—”

“Daddy Martin.”

Vivi took her to Gotham’s best hospital. Just before lapsing into unconsciousness, the old nightingale asked Riti to follow Vivi.

The case had occurred ten days ago, and the body was already burned. But Riti knew something—the houses here hardly had any sound insulation.

“That man, he might have been on drugs, maybe stimulants, and then, he strangled my sister to death,” Riti, perhaps unaware that being a nightingale was illegal, was all too familiar with the drugs used in bed, “We found it all in the morning, her neck had clear handprints.”

Vivi pondered for a moment, “Come with me to the police station.”

This was her first time stepping into the GCPD… well, in a day.

The station was as busy as ever, but her former colleagues couldn’t help but glance at her as she passed—

Was that video really so popular?

Vivi decided to check it out later, the game’s easter egg seemed fun.

Since she had professional support, Vivi didn’t need to struggle alone—she could simply have Riti help make a “suspect sketch” and then catch the culprit.

Familiar with the place, Vivi went to find Joe. In his office, besides him, was an unfamiliar handsome man with a very shapely backside, causing Vivi to take a second look. Other NPCs had randomly generated appearances, but this man seemed to be meticulously drawn by an artist, every hair strand carefully crafted.

After hearing her story, Joe frowned, “If we can’t open a case, we can’t use the machine.”

“No evidence, no body, no concrete suspect,” he said. “I’d like to believe, but even with a sketch, we can’t issue a warrant, and it wastes police resources. Who can prove this isn’t just a prostitution dispute?”

Hearing this, Riti, who had been hiding behind Vivi, peered out indignantly, but could only sob without words.

Joe sighed, “Let’s make the sketch, but you can’t take the photo… it’s the rule.”

Joe could have refused even the sketch, but he made a concession.

“Wait,” the silent man approached, eyeing Riti, “Girl, you just said he took drugs… maybe we can issue a warrant then?”

He shrugged, “Actually, I’m working on a case related to drug trafficking, and this case might provide some leads…”

It was obvious to everyone (except Riti) that he just wanted to help.

Riti hadn’t been clear about the drugs, possibly just stimulants, but the man’s intervention turned it into a combined case, now eligible for an investigation.

“I’m at a dead end with my current case,” he said, “Hello, Officer Bettywen? I’m Richard Grayson from Bludhaven. I’m here on a drug smuggling case and need Gotham PD’s cooperation. I hope we can work well together.”

“Hello…” Vivi half-extended her hand.

Richard added, “You can call me Dick.”

Vivi withdrew her hand.

Dick: “…?”

“Oh, right,” Vivi said, “I’m looking forward to working with you, but I’m not with the GCPD anymore.”

She introduced herself with a smile: “As of yesterday, I was promoted. I’m now the deputy warden of Blackgate Prison.”

—Assistant, and hadn’t actually started the job.

—But that’s a detail, not important