“Ms. Cecil.”
A playful male voice rang out abruptly deep within Cecil's mind.
Cecil's beautiful eyes widened for a moment.
She knew exactly what this method was.
The signature spell of a Moon Lord believer—【Mental Message】.
“As a distinguished investigator for a royal law enforcement agency,” the voice continued slowly and deliberately in her mind, “instead of catching those cultists who are performing sacrifices everywhere in the middle of the night...”
“You’ve insisted on setting up a trap here to watch me, a mere ordinary citizen.”
“Doesn't that seem a bit inappropriate?”
Following this last question, laced with heavy mockery, a tremor shook the black-and-white tuxedo stray cat on the square.
The 【Mental Channel】 was disconnected.
The cat's eyes, which had been radiating spiritual light, instantly regained the clarity and confusion of a normal animal.
It looked at the menacing Cecil standing before it in terror, its fur standing on end.
“Meow!”
With a shrill cry, it scrambled into a nearby sewer gap and vanished without a trace.
As the stray cat departed, a slender figure gradually materialized out of thin air under a dim gas lamp about twenty meters directly in front of Cecil.
The figure wore a well-tailored black trench coat, its hem fluttering in the night wind.
He casually pressed down on the derby hat on his head with one hand.
With the other, he firmly gripped a cane, leaning it against the water-stained stone floor.
“Whew—”
Elias exhaled a long breath of turbid air in his mind.
Clack.
Clack.
As his voice faded, Elias pulled up his cane and walked step by step toward Cecil in the center of the square.
The metal tip of the cane struck the hard cobblestones, producing a crisp, rhythmic sound.
On the deathly silent midnight square, the sound was like a countdown, thumping dully against one's nerves.
“Besides,” Elias said as he walked, looking up to meet the female investigator's gaze directly through the shadow of his hat's brim, “I have a question I'm very curious about.”
His tone suddenly turned cold, carrying a protective hostility.
“Why would an active Seventh Agency investigator get so close to my sister, who is just an ordinary person?”
Elias stopped just a few paces away from Cecil.
“What?” he sneered, his tone sharp and biting. “Could it be that your Seventh Agency has taken an interest in my sister's supernatural talent?”
Thump!
He gripped the handle of his cane with both hands and slammed it heavily onto the ground.
The dull impact made the surrounding air feel stiflingly tense.
A preemptive strike!
This was a tactic Elias had rehearsed countless times in his mind.
Cecil had also rehearsed numerous possibilities.
She had imagined how he would try to excuse his actions at Hastings Port.
She had imagined how he would distance himself from the incident with the infernal demon in the treatment room that afternoon.
She had even imagined he might grow desperate and try to fight her to the death.
But she never expected this.
Elias's first wave of offense after appearing completely avoided his own messy record. Instead, he attacked from a tricky moral high ground regarding his sister's safety!
Not only did he not offer a single word of defense for his crimes, but he also turned the tables and questioned the motives of an official law enforcement officer!
The initiative in this dangerous negotiation had been firmly seized by Elias the moment he stepped out of the shadows.
The atmosphere on the square froze for several seconds.
Half of Cecil's face was illuminated by the gas lamp, while the other half remained hidden in the shadows, making it impossible to read her expression.
But soon, a cold smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“Mr. Rockland,” Cecil's voice regained its spine-chilling calm.
“We in the Seventh Agency have our own methods and principles. Even during high-risk missions, it is sometimes unavoidable to get close to ordinary people to maintain a cover or gather clues.”
She looked directly into Elias's eyes, her gaze showing no sign of retreat.
“But please remember, the protection of the general public is the primary objective of all our actions. We would never voluntarily drag an innocent person into the supernatural mire.”
At this point, Cecil's tone suddenly shifted.
Her defensive posture instantly transformed into a sharp offensive.
“As for you...” Her gaze was like two sharp scalpels. “A freelance transcendent of unknown background with blood on his hands. An outlaw walking through the dark supernatural world like a sewer rat.”
“You claim to care about your sister, but have you truly considered the safety of your family?”
Cecil stepped down slowly from the low steps of the weathered statue.
Her high-heeled leather boots made an oppressive clicking sound on the stone pavement.
“I have seen transcendents who chose to stay far away from their families to ensure their safety. Because they know that as long as they remain connected, those crazed cultists and twisted monsters will eventually find them through the bond of blood!”
Cecil came to a sudden halt, just an arm's length away from Elias.
“And you?” Cecil tilted her chin slightly, looking at him with a condescending scrutiny. “You actually dared to give a supernatural brooch of unknown origin to your own kin so openly!”
“Do you have any idea that if even a trace of malignant pollution remained on that item, your sister could have mutated into a mass of twisted flesh in her sleep?!”
She stared intently at Elias's face, which was hidden under his hat, and delivered her final, heart-stabbing blow.
“I cannot help but wonder... you keep calling her your sister, but are you and her truly family?!”
This sentence yanked hard on Elias's most sensitive nerve!
Elias's heart tightened suddenly.
His identity as a transmigrator was his deepest and most lethal secret in this world.
He had occupied the original Elias Rockland's body and inherited a familial bond that did not belong to him.
Although he had been trying his best to play the role of a good brother—even risking his life to clean up trouble—the underlying guilt of being an imposter lingered in his heart like a shadow.
He understood, of course, that this was merely a psychological tactic Cecil was using in their negotiation.
It was her attempt to apply mental pressure after losing the initiative, just as he had done by counter-accusing her earlier.
Yet, he couldn't deny she was right.
They were both playing mind games with each other.
But these words were undoubtedly like a poisoned thorn, piercing precisely into his heart.
“Heh.”
Elias suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
It seemed self-deprecating. This laugh sounded abrupt in the tension-filled atmosphere, carrying a hint of morbid relaxation.
Just as Cecil thought he had been completely silenced by her words, Elias slowly raised his head and spoke again, his voice tinged with mockery.
“But... what does that have to do with you?”
He drew out his words intentionally. “My dear investigator?”
Elias gestured toward Cecil with one hand. “As you can see, since you spoke with my sister this afternoon, tell me—was there any spiritual pollution on that brooch?”
“Did it turn my sister into a mass of flesh?”
Cecil was momentarily stunned by this rapid-fire series of counter-questions.
The brooch was indeed very clean; it was clearly just a normal supernatural item.
Before she could argue, Elias pressed on, continuing his verbal assault.
“Since when has the official law enforcement of the Kingdom of Velen been so idle that they've started regulating what gifts private citizens give to one another?”
Elias let out a scoff, his tone full of absurdity. “I doubt even the Old Palace Yard has such ridiculous enforcement regulations.”
“So, tell me, Ms. Cecil.” Elias leaned forward slightly, his gaze becoming highly aggressive. “As an official investigator, what exactly is your relationship with my sister?”
“Even if you are her teacher at school, you don't have the authority to interfere with what kind of gifts your student receives, do you?”
The air fell into a dead silence once more.
Cecil looked at the unyielding young man before her and suddenly smiled.
“No, I don't,” Cecil admitted quite frankly. “That is indeed your private business. My words earlier were merely out of the habitual concern a national law enforcement officer has for the safety of innocent civilians.”
She withdrew her smile, and her gaze turned cold as an iceberg again.
“However, Mr. Rockland.” She emphasized her words, dragging the conversation back to the most lethal core. “If it weren't for that murder case you committed in Hastings Port and the stolen goods you took... If it weren't for the commotion you caused in Mester's treatment room this afternoon...”
“I would naturally have no reason to stand here in the middle of the night questioning your family matters.”
A cold aura was completely released from Cecil.
“As you said, even Seventh Agency law enforcement officers have no right to conduct an unauthorized investigation into a law-abiding transcendent for no reason.”
“All of this leniency... of course, is predicated on one thing...”
She stared fixedly at Elias. “That you haven't violated the laws of the Kingdom of Velen regarding transcendents.”
The light of judgment flickered in the depths of Cecil's eyes.
“Mr. Rockland, are you innocent?”
Those four words were like a heavy hammer striking Spark Square.
The surrounding gas lamps seemed to flicker because of the question.
Are you innocent?
Elias stood his ground, his eyes locked in a fierce gaze with her cold, sharp ones.
“I'm not innocent,” Elias said, spreading his hands. “To ordinary people, no transcendent is innocent.”
He smiled. “Then arrest me!”
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