"Sir, would you like a paper?" the boy pushed the newspapers from his embrace slightly forward.
"Give me a copy of the Jeddy Brothers paper," Chaoyang reached for his change.
"Right away!" The other's face lit up with joy and hastily pulled out the requested newspaper with one hand, handing it over to Chaoyang.
Now he could see it even more clearly.
The spot imbued with wishing power was a column the size of a block of tofu, featuring a search notice—under Lingxi's vision, the language barrier posed no obstacle, and he could easily understand the text.
"Missing journalist: Kort Dane. He has been missing for three days, male, thirty-seven years old, last seen wearing a flat cap and a linen colored shirt with a gray fur coat. A substantial monetary reward will be offered by the newspaper to anyone who can bring him back or provide detailed clues. If interested in learning more, please come to the newspaper office to talk with me in person, address as follows."
"Registrar: Judy."
This registrar seemed quite anxious, Chaoyang thought to himself; otherwise, she wouldn't have created the effect of wishing through typing and printing. Although the wishing power attached to the newspaper was quite weak, considering it appeared on every copy, the amount was certainly significant when added together.
But to say it was much greater than Shidong's wishing power seemed unlikely.
After all, considering the nature of the incident itself, neither party involved was particularly prominent figures, which limited the potential magnitude of the wishes.
If the other party were a person of high status, why would they resort to seeking help from the public for finding someone?
However, having said that, he didn't have better options at hand, and he was in urgent need of a new contract, so why not look into it?
"Hey, kid," Chaoyang called out to the newsboy who was about to leave.
"Sir, is there anything else you need?"
"This newspaper office—," he pointed to the Jeddy Brothers header, "I presume you know where it is?"
"Of course, there isn't a place in this city I don't know about!" the newsboy said, wiping his nose.
"Good," Chaoyang took out another five cents and flashed it before the newsboy, "Take me there, and this money is yours."
...
The Jeddy Brothers' office wasn't too far from here.
After weaving through the crowd for about fifteen minutes with the newsboy, Chaoyang came to a five-story building.
"Sir, this is the place," said the newsboy.
"Nice location," Chaoyang surveyed the building, which stood prominent at the head of a row of structures, flanked by streets on both sides. The ground floor was packed with various shops, a prime spot in the city, "I just go in through the main entrance, right?"
"No, sir..." the newsboy pointed, but his direction was towards a small door next to the main entrance, "You go up there to the top floor, the first room out of the door is the one."
"Uh..." Chaoyang couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, if not for the boy's guidance, he would have thought it was a public restroom or something similar.
Passing through the rusty iron door, the light dimmed instantly, and the noise of the street was also shut out.
The stairwell was not only steep but also filthy to a certain degree; he suspected it hadn't been cleaned since the building was constructed. What was more disgusting was the faint smell of urine in the air, heavens know how many vagrants actually used this place as a spot for relief.
There were no other side doors in the stairwell, as though it was built specifically for the ascent to the top floor, and upon reaching the top, the sign for the newspaper office came into view.
Chaoyang felt a slight sinking feeling inside.
This was far from the "media company" he had envisioned, and even the office address was so shabby, how much could the "generous reward" mentioned in the newspaper possibly amount to?
Demons feed on wishing power, but that doesn't mean they can subsist on wind and dew. In any world, money is indispensable—if one wishes to reduce the expenditure of wishing power, a most effective method is to replace ability with money to achieve one's goals, or as the saying goes, money talks.
The applicant's expectations of the anticipated reward plummeted before even seeing it, which wasn't a good sign at all.
Chaoyang sighed lightly, adjusted his appearance a bit, and took a step forward to push open the wooden door of the newspaper office.
The inside of the room turned out to be much more spacious. What first met his eyes was a large hall of more than thirty square meters, with five or six tables haphazardly arranged, each piled high with several stacks of thick paper, the strong scent of ink instantly overpowering the dirty smell from the hallway.
"Good day, sir. May I ask if you are here to..." A young man came forward to ask, his gaze also sizing up Chaoyang.
Chaoyang took out a copy of the newspaper, pointed to the missing persons section, "Is Judy here?"
"I see," the other party immediately replied, "Please wait in the guest room, I'll call her over."
The guest room was right next to the hall; the room was furnished only with a coffee table and two loungers. Judging by the casually strewn blankets and pillows, it also seemed to double as a resting area.
"...What? There really is someone who showed up?" A faint voice suddenly pierced the wall and reached Chaoyang's ears.
Obviously, the soundproofing effect of the walls pieced together with wooden boards wasn't perfect, and the talkers were unaware that they had a demon with extraordinary hearing in the next room.
"Boss, isn't this good news? Without Mr. Dane, there isn't enough content to fill the newspaper."
"Nonsense, do you think I don't want him back? But that girl insisted on writing 'generous reward,' where am I supposed to get that kind of money..."
"But she insisted on writing it that way, saying that if the reward isn't raised, no one would be willing to search..."
The voice on the other side paused for a moment, "Anyway, don't worry too much, even the police station doesn't have any news. How could ordinary people find him..."
The dialogue faded away gradually until it completely disappeared.
Chaoyang rolled his eyes. Things seemed more troublesome than he had imagined. Not only was the "generous reward" a bluff, but there also seemed to be a disagreement about the search itself. The missing person notice wasn't the newspaper boss's initiative but Judy's presumptuous act?
But fortunately, wishing power didn't lie.
At least regarding the search, the intentions were genuine.
Before long, the door was pushed open with a noise, and a girl with twin tails hurried in.
"Hello! I'm Judy!" She bowed deeply at once, then grabbed Chaoyang's hand, "May I ask how to address you?"
"Chao," answered Chaoyang briefly, "a detective."
He looked completely different from a few minutes ago; roughly thirty years old, with sharp features and dressed in a leather trench coat and a wool fedora, he was the picture of a vigorous professional.
"It's Detective, that's great!" Judy said excitedly, "I tried looking for a private detective before, but no agency in the city was willing to take on the job..."
It's not that they weren't willing, but perhaps you didn't offer enough money, thought Chaoyang, though he replied with sincerity, "I'm a bit different from them, in both methodology and style."
"That's okay, as long as you can help me find Dane," Judy said, her eagerness apparent.
"Well then... tell me more about this journalist... Kort Dane," Chaoyang said softly.