"What are you planning to do next? Are you going to stay here?" Raymond asked David.
"I'm not sure…" David looked a little lost.
Ever since his other personalities pushed him to the front to fight the Shadow King directly, the power he could use was already as strong as the Shadow King's. Otherwise, the Shadow King wouldn't have backed down earlier.
So for David, leaving the hospital was something he could easily do if he wanted to.
But in the end, he chose to stay.
There were many reasons for that—like not wanting to worry his family, or not wanting people to think he was a runaway mental patient. But most of all, it was because he didn't know where else to go.
Trapped by the Shadow King since childhood, he hadn't dared leave his home. He was sent to the Clockwork Psychiatric Hospital before he was even an adult, and had been cut off from the outside world ever since.
Even though he had seen changes in the world through the hospital's TV, watching and experiencing are two very different things.
Deep down, he was still afraid of the world outside, even though he now had terrifying powers.
The Shadow King was gone, taken care of by Raymond, and his biggest threat was gone too—but still, he never thought of leaving the hospital.
Maybe this was the only place where he felt safe.
"I just opened a detective agency in D.C.," Raymond suddenly said. "If you're interested, you could come help me out. Want to think about it?"
"Help you? Are you sure I can do that?" David doubted what he was hearing.
"Why not? It's not like you're missing an arm or a leg."
"But I don't know how to do anything. Won't I just be a burden?" David said hesitantly.
Still, just by saying that, it was clear he was already tempted by the idea.
"Nobody is born knowing everything. You can learn. And I'll be there to guide you—just come without worry," Raymond said with a smile.
David was already interested, and now that Raymond had said so much, of course he agreed right away.
He was afraid to leave the hospital because he didn't know where to go after.
But now that Raymond was offering a hand, he didn't want to miss the chance to step into the outside world. He trusted Raymond, one of the few people he could truly call a friend.
"Dr. Beth, I'll need your help with David's discharge," Raymond said as he turned to her. "You've seen his situation. If something happens again while he's still here, nobody at the hospital could handle it. It wouldn't be fair to the other patients either…"
This time, Dr. Beth didn't make things difficult like before. She nodded quickly and said, "Leave it to me."
"No problem… By the way, Doctor, are you still short on people over there?"
When the elevator stopped on the sixth floor, a woman dressed like a professional office worker stepped out.
She paused for a moment when she saw how empty the whole floor looked. Then she took out her phone and made a call:
"Vincent, are you sure this is the right address?"
"The room at the end?"
Following the directions from the person on the phone, she walked a bit farther down the hall and soon saw a room at the very end with its lights on.
As she got closer, she noticed a simple sign on the door:
Money Talks Detective Agency
She lowered her voice and questioned the person on the phone: "Are you seriously saying that someone even S.H.I.E.L.D. can't find might be found by a place ?"
"…Alright, I'll ask anyway."
She ended the call and shook her head a little, clearly disappointed.
Just as she stepped inside, a blonde woman with a calm and friendly look walked up to her with a smile.
She noticed the name tag on the woman's chest, which read: Psychological Consultant - Beth.
"Hello," the woman greeted politely.
"I'm Beth, nice to meet you," the blonde woman said with a smile and offered her hand.
The woman shook it briefly and simply said, "Pepper."
As a psychologist, Beth could easily tell that this Miss Pepper was a bit distant, but she didn't mind and led the way.
"Please follow me, Miss Pepper. Detective Raymond is inside."
Pepper nodded and followed her in.
When they entered the inner office, Pepper saw two young men, probably even younger than her, deeply focused on playing video games.
Beth cleared her throat loudly.
Only then did the two men notice someone had arrived. One of them quickly put down his controller and walked over a little awkwardly.
"Sorry, didn't notice you came in."
Beth pointed at him and said, "This is Detective Raymond, the owner of the agency." Then she turned to him and said, "This is Miss Pepper…"
What Beth didn't notice was that the moment Raymond saw Miss Pepper, he froze for a split second—before quickly returning to normal.
"Nice to meet you, Detective Raymond. I'm Pepper, Vincent sent me here," she said clearly, explaining who she was and why she was there.
"Vincent? That guy's really got my back—already sending me clients. Please, come in, Miss Pepper. Let's sit and talk… David, go get something to drink, will you?"
Raymond smiled as he greeted her, and called out to David, who was still standing there blankly.
Because he knew—a big client had just arrived!
Just her visit alone had earned him 50 exploration points from the system.
Yes, just like the Shadow King he had dealt with earlier, Miss Pepper had been rated as an A-rank character by the system.
Raymond definitely knew that name.
Tony Stark's girlfriend.
Even though they weren't married yet, Pepper was basically the lady of Stark Industries, and one of the few people who could keep Tony, the playboy, in line.
Raymond hadn't expected the first client of his new agency to be her.
But no matter what, a rich, high-profile client —he was more than happy to welcome her.
After all, one reason he started this detective agency was to earn some extra spending money.
"Detective Raymond, do you know me?" Pepper suddenly asked after they sat down.
Raymond paused for a moment, then quickly realized his earlier excitement must have seemed a bit too obvious.
But it wasn't a big deal. He just smiled and admitted honestly, "I've heard of you. The personal assistant of Mr. Stark—how could I not?"