The normal people barely noticed what was going on.
The only thing they knew was that water had become quite a bit cheaper.
Sadly, that didn't change anything for the truly poor. 50 credits and 25 credits were equally unobtainable for them.
Meanwhile, the elite were under immense stress and alarm.
No matter what they did, somebody important was getting killed every five days!
They even kept the probable targets guarded inside their headquarters.
And yet, they were still being killed!
More and more accusations were being flung around, and people nearly started to attack each other out of suspicion and panic.
That was until the Governor decided on an extreme measure.
Every single Hero had to be present on the fifth day of the last victim's death.
Additionally, every potential future victim was placed in a Containment Unit, which was guarded by one Specialist from every major Manufacturer.
The four Specialists would keep track of each other, while the Heroes kept track of each other.
Every other Specialist was also supposed to stay in a single room.
Anyone who was not accounted for would be executed!
Naturally, if it were only the Governor demanding something like this, this would never happen.
However, due to the desperation, all the Manufacturers agreed.
When it was time for the next victim to appear, everyone did exactly as planned.
Four Specialists were guarding the entrance to one of the strongest Containment Units, which held all the major leaders of the water trade.
Meanwhile, all Heroes and Specialists gathered in the same big room.
Then, they waited.
For an entire day, the biggest Manufacturers basically didn't do anything.
That was how big the threat was.
After 24 hours, all of the Heroes of the city left the room together and traveled to the Containment Unit with the elite of the water trade.
Dead!
All four Specialists were dead!
When they looked into the Containment Unit, they saw the people staying near the walls.
They were avoiding the corpse lying in the middle of the Containment Unit.
On top of the corpse was a sheet of paper with a message.
"Make water affordable. Anyone resisting will be executed. If you are not for humanity, you are against humanity. Resistance will be equivalent to rejecting humanity and embracing Specterdom!"
Naturally, the actual message was longer, but that was what it essentially boiled down to.
In the message were also detailed policies that the terrorist demanded to be put into practice.
A huge shouting match broke out between the Heroes.
Every Extractor had been accounted for!
It was impossible for any of them to be the culprit!
So, who was it?
In the end, it could only be a Specter.
There was no way that this was a human.
Someone with such incredible power had to be a Peak Specialist, at least. Most likely, they were a Hero.
Yet, someone like that was searching for a way to reach the next level of power, which was only possible by joining Aegis and becoming an Agent.
Doing such terroristic acts would not help them in that regard.
Therefore, it had to be a Specter.
But then, what was the Specter's goal?
What was the point of making water more affordable?
What did the Specter gain from it?
"It's not about the water!" one of the Heroes shouted. "The water is only a front! It probably grows stronger by instilling fear in us!"
This became the consensus among the elite.
In the end, the Heroes worked together.
They would protect their people!
As soon as the elite of the water trade left the Containment Unit, they lowered the water prices significantly.
They were even selling water at a loss just to survive.
The biggest Manufacturer of the city controlled the Water Pillar, which was almost the only source of water in the city.
Buying water from that Manufacturer was not cheap.
The common people felt like they were living in a dream.
Why was water suddenly so cheap?
Sure, they still had to spend quite a bit of their income, but they could actually buy enough to survive without any adverse health effects!
Naturally, as soon as the prices dropped, some semi-rich people bought up all the water to resell it for more.
The people realized that everything had been too good to be true.
Of course, something like this couldn't keep happening.
But then, they were thrown back into a dream when all of the resellers were killed and pinned against the tallest buildings with huge messages plastered across said buildings.
"NO RESELLING!"
The big water companies immediately put in a maximum purchase limit for water to make sure that nothing like this happened.
Sure, they were not at fault for someone buying all of their stock and reselling it, but they did not want to take any chances.
Water returned to the poor people.
But that didn't mean that the killings ended.
An Expert from the biggest Manufacturer was killed, and a message was left behind.
This message had the biggest impact so far.
The terrorist demanded that the water had to be affordable for the water sellers as well. They had to make some profit to survive and sell more water.
If they refused…
The CFO of the company would be killed.
The CFO was an Initial Hero.
The Manufacturer refused, and they decided to never leave each other's side.
The biggest Manufacturer had four Heroes, and at least one of them was always beside the CFO from this day forth.
The fifth day arrived, and…
Nobody died.
However, another message arrived.
"I am still here."
The Heroes narrowed their eyes.
As long as they worked together, the assassin couldn't kill them.
The assassin was powerful enough to kill a Peak Specialist or a group of Specialists, but they were probably not powerful enough to instantly kill two or more Heroes.
Weeks passed.
Nobody was killed, but every five days, a message arrived that said that the terrorist was still there.
After three months, the first water seller took the risk and sold all of their assets.
They didn't want to make such a huge loss anymore and closed the company.
This was different from refusing to do business.
And sure enough, the risk had paid off.
The previous owner was not killed.
Naturally, Nick didn't demand that the person keep living at a loss.
It was important to remember that Nick didn't make rich people poor. He simply capped their income. The wealth of the rich people in Crimson City was still increasing, just slower.
Nick did not demand the rich people to jump into poverty and join the beggars.
They were allowed to live their lavish lifestyles, but since they had more power, they were also required to support the weak and poor much more.
If the water seller had retained their assets and refused to do business, Nick would have killed them.
But since they completely sold everything and jumped out of the market, Nick didn't do anything to them.
As soon as the other water sellers realized what was going on, many of them did the same thing.
The water being sold was reduced dramatically again.
The poor people suffered again.
The rich people became more fearful.
The government and the Manufacturers received numerous requests from the city's elite to lower the price of water.
They just wanted this to be over with.
They didn't want to live in fear anymore.
While the rich were putting pressure on the Manufacturers, the Manufacturers put pressure on the Governor.
"Call Aegis!"
They demanded the Governor to call Aegis.
For months, they had been guarding that one CFO.
How long were they supposed to continue guarding him?!
Naturally, the CFO was also under immense stress on a daily basis.
He felt like someone was constantly watching him.
The city had not managed to find the terrorist, and the Heroes demanded Aegis' help.
What were they paying taxes for if Aegis didn't do anything?!
However, the Governor refused again and again.
He didn't say why, but it was quite obvious.
If he called Aegis for something like this, he would never become an Agent!
He was supposed to be able to handle things like this!
Also, what was he supposed to tell Aegis?
Was he supposed to tell them that some Specter was trying to lower the prices of water?
The first thing Aegis would say would be to lower the prices of water and see what would happen next.
If the assassinations stopped, the Governor would be in a lot of trouble.
Calling Aegis was not a small act, and Aegis was more interested in solving the problem than in finding justice.
The just thing to do was to find the terrorist and kill them, but the resources and manpower required to do that were more than the city was worth.
Aegis didn't have resources to spare.
Lowering the water prices was something that the Governor had the power to do, which meant he could solve the problem.
If he didn't even manage to do that, there was no point in keeping him in Aegis.
Most likely, he would be turned into some kind of stronghold guard or thrown out of Aegis.
In that case, he would never advance another level in his life.
"How about you just lower the cost of water?" the Governor asked the CEO of the Manufacturer controlling the Water Pillar.
The CEO gave a long answer but in short…
"No."