Ultimate Series, Past Lives Revealed

155: Hidden InvestigationThis time, Hao Jiaqi’s investigation into the Future Orphanage was not as high-profile as the first time.

Instead, she chose a more covert approach.

After some in-depth investigation, Hao Jiaqi discovered that there seemed to be an unknown force secretly manipulating the Future Orphanage from behind the scenes.

This discovery made her realize that she could no longer naively expose herself in the dark like before, becoming a target for others.

However, years of experience also made Hao Jiaqi understand that the reason no one had paid attention to her investigation was likely because those people believed she simply didn’t have the ability to unravel this mystery.

This attitude of feeling secure, while making Hao Jiaqi feel somewhat helpless, also gave her more room to maneuver.

Thus, Hao Jiaqi decided to take advantage of this point and quietly begin her investigation in secret.

She wanted to figure out exactly what the Future Orphanage was doing, whether it was an illegal institution, who the mastermind behind it was, and where other orphans like her had gone.

To better conceal her identity, Hao Jiaqi specifically changed starships, brought along disguise tools, and then ’openly’ returned to Planet F.

After arriving on Planet F, she rented a house near the Future Orphanage as her base of operations.

Once everything was settled, Hao Jiaqi finally had time to log into a dark web on her light computer.

This dark web was said to allow the purchase of all kinds of information, even including hiring assassins, as long as one had money.

However, Hao Jiaqi wasn’t sure if there would be traces of those large Families or the people behind the scenes here.

Hao Jiaqi stared intently at the light computer screen; the dark web address displayed was one she had learned through connections accumulated over years as a Mercenary.

Although this address wasn’t completely secret, it was still a relatively unknown secret.

Because in the Mercenary world, everyone was aware of this dark web’s existence, but for non-Mercenary groups, everyone tacitly chose to keep this secret.

Hao Jiaqi’s gaze shifted to the leaderboard, which was ranked based on the number of completed tasks and their Rank.

She carefully observed the name in first place—a hunter with the codename ’Madman’ at SS Rank.

’The appearance fee, task completion fee, and even the fee for failing a task are all charged!’

Hao Jiaqi couldn’t help but exclaim, her eyes wide with disbelief as she looked at these numbers.

She helplessly looked at her ’wallet,’ which contained the hard-earned money she had saved over the years.

This money was earned with her life and sweat—how could she spend it so easily on this dark web?

’Sigh, the first place is just too expensive; I can’t afford it!’

Hao Jiaqi sighed helplessly, feeling somewhat disappointed.

However, she didn’t give up and continued looking down the rankings, hoping to find someone with a relatively reasonable price.

This time, Hao Jiaqi decided to first check the commission fees.

She carefully browsed the numbers behind each name, mentally calculating her budget.

However, when she reached the end, she couldn’t help but feel a wave of despair.

’How could this be...’ Hao Jiaqi widened her eyes, looking at the numbers on the screen in disbelief.

She found that she could only afford the lowest-ranked tenth place!

This made her feel extremely frustrated; she had originally held a glimmer of hope, but now it was completely shattered.

What made Hao Jiaqi even more helpless was that the dark web’s ranking rules stipulated that anyone beyond the top ten was not eligible for ranking.

In other words, she couldn’t look further down for cheaper options.

Looking at these exorbitant commission fees, Hao Jiaqi couldn’t help but exclaim, ’These people make too much money!’

Just the appearance fee, task fee, and failure fee combined already exceeded 100 million star coins! To her, this was simply an astronomical figure.

She also had a few hundred million star coins, but that was her retirement savings for the second half of her life!

At this point, Hao Jiaqi even began to consider whether she should take on some dark web tasks, as the rewards were simply too tempting.

However, she also clearly knew that dark web tasks often came with huge risks and uncertainties; a single misstep could lead to irreparable consequences.

[Iron Time Dimension A Kou: Wow! This disguise is too high-tech!]

[Wang Dadong of the Gold Time Dimension: Jiaqi really has it tough!]

[Sun Shang Xiang from Silver Space: When you’ve been alone for too long, you want a home, but you don’t want to settle for just anything!]

[Silver Space Lü Bu: She has no friends, so she wants her home to be lively, to have someone waiting for her when she returns!]

[Copper Time Dimension Yi Xiaofeng: How pitiful! Her birth was a conspiracy, and she grew up alone! She wants a home but can’t find the right person to fall in love with!]

[Gold Time Dimension Ding Xiaoyu: Jiaqi, from now on, I’ll be here for you. You won’t be alone!]

[Gold Time Dimension Hao Jiaqi: Yes, I have Xiaoyu!]