At ten o'clock in the evening, Shireen Marron left the company building, completely dejected.

Because she was convinced that she was about to be expelled from the city.

The evening wind whistled in her ears. She walked along the narrow sidewalk of Seven Oaks Street towards the bus stop on Central Street. Like most streets in the old city, it was in disrepair and the street lights were dim enough to pass for fireflies.

There are also piles of various waste and debris on the side.

However, in the past two years or so, she has taken this road to get off work almost every day. Thinking that she was about to say goodbye to it forever, Shirin couldn't help but feel sad.

Maybe there is no place for her in Huoyin City after all.

Three days later, at six o'clock in the evening, it was the deadline for her to pay the citizen tax. In order to raise the money, Shirin had tried every means, but six Fra silver coins were still a huge amount of money that was out of reach.

According to the law, if the tax cannot be paid in time, Shireen must leave Fire Seal City... In fact, if the company can advance the next two weeks' salary, she may be saved.

However, this small hope was planted in her heart two weeks ago. Now ten days have passed, and not only has it failed to bear fruit, but it has gradually withered.

Her footsteps echoed in the empty streets, sounding unusually lonely. Shireen passed through the last pile of crates and torn canvases, and the bright lights of Central Avenue were just a few dozen steps away.

At this moment, her peripheral vision spotted something reflecting light in the alley on the left side of the street. Shirin subconsciously stopped, and the echoes in the street suddenly stopped.

There was silence everywhere, and the wind stopped at some point. For a moment, her breathing became the loudest noise in the vicinity.

Shireen turned her head and looked at the alley on the left side of the street. The ground at the entrance of the alley was in a mess, and there were some bright reflections in the innermost part of the alley.

Unreasonable hope suddenly surged in her heart. The last train would arrive in a few minutes, so it seemed harmless to go in and take a look?

Trying to pick up money on the street in a desperate moment seems like a daydream... but it is night after all.

She quietly walked sideways into the alley, not letting her body block the light of the street lights. There was a smell of rust in the air, and the flashes in the depths of the alley became brighter and brighter.

In fact, she vaguely sensed that something was wrong, but those small flashes looked too much like coins. What if... There was a sudden sound of liquid splashing under her feet, and Shirin woke up from her fantasy.

She found herself breaking into the scene of a murder, and her boots just stepped into a pool of blood of the deceased.

Oh no no no, she thought in a panic, what should I wear to work tomorrow?

However, after a moment, the round sequins scattered around the deceased captured all her attention. She breathed quickly and squatted down to take a closer look... Gods, this is true!

The shiny objects she saw at the entrance of the alley were all silver coins.

A wave of dizziness hit Shirin and she almost fell down. She finally restrained her desire to scream. The money on the ground helped a lot.

If she shouted now and attracted the city guard, the money would probably become evidence in the murder case.

That won't work. Because she needs the money, very much.

It was not difficult to make up his mind. The canvas did not cover the face of the deceased. He looked very ordinary, with a plain appearance and a medium build. He should not be more than forty years old. Of course, these are not the main point.

The point is, Shireen doesn't know him at all.

Why was this man in the alley of Sevenoaks Street? Why was he killed? Why didn't his killer take his money?

These questions entered her mind one after another, and then slipped out again after a while. She didn't care.

She needed money, and there was plenty right in front of her...

Of course, she couldn't take too much. Money at a murder scene often meant trouble. Shireen needed the money, but she didn't need the trouble. She was glad that she still had some sanity.

Okay, relax. You can do it.

She took several deep breaths and tried not to let her hands tremble. When she felt that she was qualified for the subsequent work, she took out a handkerchief from her pocket, unfolded it and put it on her left hand.

Then she started picking up silver coins on the ground.

Because the light was so dark, it was almost impossible to tell which ones were not stained with blood. She could only pick them up as far away from the pool of blood as possible.

After getting ten silver coins, she stopped decisively. Continuing to take them might arouse the suspicion of the murder investigators, and she did not dare to bring too many silver coins with suspicious origins on her body.

Besides, ten coins are enough. With this money, she can pay the citizen tax in time, make up for half a month's rent arrears, and maybe there will be some money left to pay back to the bank.

You've been given a valuable opportunity, she told herself, don't let greed ruin it.

Suddenly there was a whistle on the street not far away, and Shireen remembered that she had a carriage to catch. She found more self-control, stood up and walked out of the alley quickly.

The blood on her boots did not arouse any suspicion because the passengers on the last bus were too tired to pay attention to her. By the time she got home, the blood had dried.

That night, Shireen was so nervous that she couldn't sleep, so she finally knocked on her roommate's bedroom door and asked her for half a glass of sleeping wine.

However, she obviously underestimated the power of sleeping wine, and as a result she was almost late the next morning. When she rushed into the auditor's office lobby out of breath, the quartz clock on the wall just struck the ninth time.

She squeezed her way through the office area filled with cardboard boxes and finally reached her desk. There were two piles of insurance policies piled on the table, one of which she had not finished processing last night, and the other

Just arrived this morning.

And this is all her fault. In order to get more performance bonuses, Shirin applied to the team leader for additional jobs. Now those insurance policies have turned into little monsters with amazing reproductive capabilities, chasing after her.

Her job is very simple. It may be more appropriate to say that it is "monotonous" to evaluate whether the insurance application is in compliance with the standards and calculate the specific premium and compensation amount.

The only interesting thing about her daily work is that almost all the insurance policies she handles are related to magical disasters. The Avon Insurance Company where Shirin works is the only magical disaster insurance company left in the kingdom. The so-called "magical disasters" refer to "adventures".

The unintended devastation wreaked by heroes and warriors while trying to save the world."

Not only the Fire Seal City, but also the entire kingdom is suffering from magical disasters. The most terrifying thing Shirin ever experienced was when the corpse of a giant dragon fell from the sky and crushed half of the city. The wizard who finally killed the dragon became

The hero of the kingdom, and Avon Insurance Company, which was responsible for the compensation, suffered a lot of blood.

No matter which financial expert came up with the idea of ​​"magical disaster insurance", there is no doubt that in his day, heroes would try to lure the dragon to a sparsely populated area before killing it.

In the first few decades, the Magical Disaster Insurance Company did make some money. But it soon turned from a profit to a loss, and in the end it could only rely on state treasury allocations to maintain operations.

Shireen sat in her seat and absentmindedly picked up the insurance application form at the top. It was hard for her to concentrate all morning, partly because the remnants of the Quaalude were still reveling in her head, and partly because of the

She felt guilty for stealing the deceased's money.

As soon as she closed her eyes, the face of the deceased would appear in front of her eyes. Is he still in that alley now? When will the body be discovered? What mistake did the man make to end up dead in the streets?

What will happen?

She hid the stolen silver coins in a secret compartment under the bed. Shirin planned to wait and see for a day before using them. If the news was too tight, she might have to find a broker... In short, now was not the time to act rashly.

"Good morning, Miss Marron." Clarks' voice woke her up from her reverie, and Shireen was so frightened that she almost knocked over the ink bottle.

"Gods, you're scaring me to death."

"Sorry, I didn't expect you to be so focused." Her team leader shrugged. He was wearing a slightly old-fashioned uniform and had a strong and burly body. Although he had a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose, he didn't look like a scholar.

More like a thug.

She patted her chest gently and tried to regain her dignity. Clarks never idled around, and he must have a task to assign to her. If she still wanted to keep her performance bonus, she had to behave professionally.

"I don't blame you, I overreacted," she said.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure I'm as good as usual."

"Great, that's all I need. I have an urgent mission here and I need you." Clarks always got to the point. "Two receptionists called in sick today, and the front desk is a bit understaffed."

She raised her head, waiting for him to continue.

"...So we need you to go to the front desk to receive customers. You should have been trained as a receptionist when you joined the job, right?"

Shirin opened her eyes involuntarily, "Yes, but"

"I have talked with the leader of the front desk team, and you can borrow their dressing room. Before work officially starts, you still have..." He looked up at the quartz clock on the wall of the office lobby, "It will take about fifteen minutes to tidy up.

My own face. I know this is a bit overwhelming, but you are the only girl I can assign as a receptionist."

She looked at the insurance policy on the table, "Okay, but"

"I will reissue the new insurance policies sent to others today. Your performance bonus will undoubtedly be reduced, but as compensation, you can earn double your salary today."

She blinked, realizing that this was a rare opportunity. "Can I make a request?"

Clarks raised his eyebrows, as if he didn't expect that a girl like Shireen Marron had the ability to take advantage of others' misfortune. It was true that Shireen didn't have the ability in the past, but since she just stole a dead man's money last night... well, never mind.

"As long as it's not a request for a salary increase," he said in the end.

"I need an advance on part of my salary." She said carefully, "My citizenship tax deadline is in three days."

He looked shocked, "Only three days left? What on earth did you do?"

"I sent a large sum of money home last month." She answered hesitantly. "My father...had some debt problems."

"Okay, your family affairs are not my business." Clarks raised a hand, "But a salary advance? Hell, you know how miserable the stock price has been recently, and there is a batch of corporate bonds due next month.

It is probably more damn difficult to ask the Duke to allocate funds to repair the old city than to ask the Duke to spend money in advance now."

Shirin didn't have much hope at first. She knew that the company had also encountered a financial crisis recently. But no matter what, at least she tried. "I understand." She lowered her gaze.

"I can only help you think of a solution, but I can't make any guarantees." Clarks glanced at the quartz clock again, "There are only thirteen minutes until the official opening of business. In one word, do you want to do it or not?"

"Of course."

"Very well, take your things and go to the dressing room. You are in charge of window nine."

It only took her five minutes to finish. Most of the drawers in the dressing room were locked, and there was not even a lipstick outside. She found a rope to tie up her hair, and then simply wiped it with alchemical water.

Her face and dark circles under her eyes definitely couldn't be covered up. Fortunately, she found a pair of plain glasses that no one wanted in the junk pile, and it seemed to improve after wearing them.

When she changed into the uniform of the receptionist and sat down in front of window number nine, she happened to catch up with the opening of the company. Customers who came to handle business early in the morning poured into the lobby. Shirin straightened her back and tried her best to look good.

Like a professional receptionist.

However, she never expected that the first customer she received would scare her out of her wits.

The man had an average appearance, a medium build, and looked to be forty years old at most... Yes, the dead man she had robbed in the alley last night was sitting in the armchair in front of her, smiling at her.

"Welcome to Avon Insurance Company, sir." She managed to squeeze out a sentence, "Can I help you in any way?"
Chapter completed!