“A local ex-convict named Edward Lee, with a record of drug use... The file is here. We saw him on the surveillance footage at the club earlier.”

All the files were sent to Evelyn Allen’s phone.

First, a repeat drug offender died in an alley after soliciting a prostitute, then the entire nightclub was massacred, and even the police station storing the evidence was attacked.

In the end, the attacker took away a small box...

Evelyn Allen rubbed her brow in frustration.

“Another border relic?”

She tapped the armrest irritably. “What do the border customs people even do? Why do they keep dumping this kind of trash into the present world? This is the sixth case like this this year... And, if that’s the case, the explosion at the port during the day must be related too, right? Why wasn’t I informed?”

“...”

The middle-aged man on site was stunned for a moment, then his expression turned bitter. “I’m not sure, maybe it’s still going through the process?”

“If you love procedures so much, why didn’t you follow them a bit longer when such a big mess happened tonight?”

Evelyn Allen’s tone was tinged with mockery; she’d long been aware of the local distrust toward the Astronomical Society. “It’s fine, I can understand if I put myself in your shoes. Who would like a crippled girl under twenty bossing them around?”

“...”

The middle-aged man could only force a smile, cursing out his superiors in his mind.

After ordering someone on site to buy her a hot coffee, Evelyn Allen took a sip with a frown, then tossed it aside in disgust.

“Instant.”

“It’s really too late, we couldn’t get the one you wanted...”

“Alright, stop acting pitiful.”

Evelyn Allen glanced at him disinterestedly and tapped the screen. “There’s not much surveillance from the time of the crime, but there must be some from before, right? Who reported it when the first body was found?”

Soon, the footage at the main entrance rewound quickly, finally freezing on a disheveled-looking teenager.

On the screen, he turned to glance at the police station behind him, revealing his face.

In silence, Evelyn Allen bit her finger, saying nothing.

“Tsk...”

As if it were an illusion, the middle-aged man heard her extremely displeased voice.

.

.

The morning after the torrential rain.

You could faintly hear birds chirping outside the window and smell the fresh scent of grass and trees wafting in through the cracks. After a night of nightmares, Henry Parker finally woke up from his long-lost otaku bliss.

He opened his eyes.

And saw the dark muzzle of a gun.

The room was already packed with soldiers in bulletproof vests and face masks, armed to the teeth, all aiming their guns at his face.

“Bro, don’t shoot, I’m one of you...”

Henry Parker stared blankly for a long time, swallowed hard, and slowly raised his hands.

Who the hell is “one of you” with you.jpg

The leader didn’t say a word, but his eyes were full of undisguised disdain. Then, Henry Parker felt someone jab a needle into his neck.

And then, everything went black...

.

“Name.”

“Henry Parker...”

“Age.”

“Seventeen...”

In the interrogation room, Henry Parker sat slumped in the chair, handcuffed, head hanging, wondering if this hellhole was also recruiting male escorts.

What the hell!

What’s going on?

What am I supposed to do?

Henry Parker felt like his face had become a classic meme display, finally turning into a thick, unresolvable black question mark.jpg.

What the actual hell is this?

A whole group of people took turns questioning him, asking the same things over and over: where he was yesterday, what he did, who he really was, what kind of criminal organization was behind him.

They were clearly treating Henry Parker as some kind of vicious criminal.

The interrogators took turns, from solo to team play, threatening, coaxing, chatting, good cop bad cop, and all sorts of intimidating “painless” interrogation techniques...

In the end, Henry Parker was about to break down.

“Come on, heroes, just give me a quick end.” Henry Parker lay on the table in tears. “I’ll confess, I’ll confess to anything, but at least tell me what I did? I’m a good citizen, a really good citizen! Yesterday I even called the police when I saw a murder scene! You can’t frame me...”

Behind the one-way mirror.

Evelyn Allen watched the whole process expressionlessly, only speaking up when the commanding middle-aged man grew impatient and waved for harsher measures.

“If this really involves border relics, even if you torture him, he probably won’t say anything. Besides, can’t you tell if he’s telling the truth or not?”

“But this is the only lead we have...” The middle-aged man was helpless. “So what do we do?”

Evelyn Allen shook her head, pulled out her phone, opened her contacts, and finally found a number. “There aren’t many registered Ascendants locally, but there are still quite a few willing to cooperate with the authorities. However, since the case happened because of your internal delays, the Astronomical Society won’t be covering the hiring costs. You understand that, right?”