"Sir." Jennifer entered the room and handed over the report. "This is the current analysis from the lab."

Arnie received the report and carefully read it. "So, it’s really locking up someone’s element..."

"Yes, sir."

"However, the information is somehow incomplete. How can a kid decipher all that information?" Arnie frowned.

"Do you want me to investigate him, sir?"

"I will try to figure out his identity, but he’s not a suspect."

"..." Jennifer didn’t say anything, but Arnie could see the trace of doubt in her eyes. It was not easy to believe that a kid who had just awakened not long ago was able to know all that information.

It would be easier to believe that the kid had inside information.

"It doesn’t look like you believe he’s not a suspect." Arnie smiled.

"I’m sorry..."

"Do you want me to tell you something about Maya?" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Sir?"

"Maya Relesha may look like she doesn’t care about the world. She does everything she pleases. However, whatever she is doing, she will never associate herself with a criminal. The first one to doubt his identity will be her, and the first one to confirm that he’s not a criminal is also her."

Arnie smiled helplessly. "That’s why I want to figure out that boy’s identity, but only after all this matter is over. I want to see what kind of talent he possesses. It must be his talent or power that allows him to figure out all that information."

Arnie simply spoke based on his judgment of Maya. But seeing the doubt in Jennifer’s eyes, Arnie continued, "In any case, the situation seems to be more serious than I initially expected."

"We’re still trying to break down the poison and see if there is an antidote," said Jennifer.

"Hmm..." Arnie put down the report before asking, "Have you checked the number of people suffering from this poison?"

"I’m only able to pull data on ten of them for the time being." Jennifer showed another report. "We’ve found patients in seven cities."

"They’re too scattered..." Arnie furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yes, sir. We’re trying to call other cities and check whether there are patients there as well."

"There might be." The more he looked at the report, the more concerned he became. "This doesn’t look good."

"Sir?"

Arnie asked, "After looking at the distribution of the patients, what do you think, Jennifer?"

"They are trying not to do the same thing more than a couple of times in one city so as to not make themselves stand out?"

"Not bad. Now, look at the list of targets."

Jennifer frowned, wondering where Arnie was guiding her. There were a couple of targets, but not many looked alarming. "Most of them are students. However, the most concerning one is Axel Aheron. The Aheron family is quite an influential family, so they can make this matter big."

"This time, you’re mistaken." Arnie shook his head. "Axel Aheron might be a high-value target, but he’s not the most important. The rest are actually more important than him."

"Why?" Jennifer was bewildered. It was only natural to consider Axel the most important one. With his family, he could make a lot of noise. It could mess with the investigation or create unrest.

"When you’re doing this job, to know what people want, you sometimes need to stop listening." Arnie gave her a clue.

Jennifer narrowed her eyes before she realized what Arnie wanted to say. "You mean... the real pattern can be seen in those who can’t speak up?"

"What can you see then?" Arnie smiled.

Jennifer looked closer at the report and said, "They’re using students to test their poison because people won’t care much about them. They won’t stand out."

"In that case, take a look at the bigger picture—their locations."

"..." Jennifer took a step back and viewed the whole map. "They’re..."

Jennifer pointed at one city and created a curve, which covered the targets. There were a few cities that hadn’t found someone who had suffered from the poison yet.

In that case, the poison’s sphere of influence hadn’t reached that area yet. This also meant anything beyond the curve was yet in the range of the poison’s distribution.

"We should focus on the area northwest of Florestia City."

Arnie smiled. "Now, we should go back to the specific. Look at the target. Who is the least important?"

"Axel Aheron..."

"What does it tell you?"

"If their aim is not to stand out, they wouldn’t target Axel Aheron. The fact that they hit Axel Aheron means they’re not the ones using the poison. Someone is using the poison on their behalf."

Arnie nodded, satisfied. "Do you remember the transaction?"

"Ah!" Jennifer finally figured out the situation. "Thanks to catching them in the act, we know that the poison is being traded. What if the trade itself is a feint to circulate the poison? This way, they will never come to light until it’s too late for us to stop it..."

"That’s what I’m thinking." Arnie snapped his fingers. "Do you know what to do next?"

"I will try to focus on the suspected cities. Considering the amount of vials within the briefcase, there’s a chance that there are more victims and only a few of them are alive."

"Good." Arnie extended his hand, gesturing for her to leave.

Jennifer immediately rushed out to continue the investigation.

Arnie let out a long sigh. "The top of the class, huh? Sometimes, you need to know how to appreciate talent. People with talent are often too arrogant to admit that there are people more talented than them."

He remembered the suspicion in Jennifer’s eyes when they talked about Auric. He could only shake his head. "Jealousy is a bitch. Other than that, she can probably do just fine..."

Arnie sighed, looking at the report again. "This doesn’t look good. Considering how neatly they are operating, I’m afraid that this is not the work of a single individual. It might be the work of an organization.

"If it’s a big organization that can cover their tracks like this, I’m afraid that some government officials might be involved."

Arnie shook his head helplessly. He didn’t expect the first thing he would suspect would be the government officials.

"This job really kills one thing inside, a sense of trust." Arnie couldn’t possibly get a rookie under the government’s radar yet. That was why he didn’t continue his explanation further.

This way, she could focus on her task, and he would do the dirty work.

"There’s no such thing as innocent until proven guilty." Arnie stood up and picked up his coat. "In this line of work, you’re guilty until proven innocent."

Before Arnie left, his phone rang. He didn’t expect it would come from Maya.

"Well, who do we have here? Are you ready to come back to the job?"

"No, but you may want to consider this one piece of information. The way the poison works is similar to that of a barrier."

"Is that from your student as well?"

"Yes. He didn’t tell you about it because he was not sure yet, but..." Maya paused for a moment. "He might be suspecting that they had a way to either imitate the barrier or..."

"Use the barrier of the ruins to create this poison?" Arnie widened his eyes in shock.

"That’s all I can say for now. The rest will be up to you."

"Now I’m really curious about your student. Any chance he will become an adjudicator?"

"Not a chance, not because I doubt the government or something, but because I believe in him."

"Hoh?" Arnie looked amused. "Do you think he will become someone bigger than the government?"

"Who knows? There are many people who can use the government. We just never admitted it."

"Welcome to the real world. We’re just a small fish out there." Arnie chuckled. "In any case, it looks like we have to investigate any facilities that are connected to the ruins or they might be located inside the ruins."

"Can you do that?"

"Investigating the government buildings? Well, I will just knock on their buildings politely and have a little talk."

Maya paused for a moment. As someone who had been working as an adjudicator, he knew what he meant by ’knocking politely and having a little talk.’

It looked like Arnie would bust open their doors and torture them if necessary.

It was an off-the-books record, so no one would know about it.

Maya asked, "But there’s a chance it’s wrong, or it might not be registered as a government building."

"I know. Not all ruins are registered, but we will have to make do with the leads we have first."

"Do you want me to pull the information on my side?" Maya asked. Considering her family was the biggest distributor of the artifacts, they were the most knowledgeable about them.

"No need to. Senior Mathias is the one who initiated this investigation. I guess our little guy is well loved even in your family. Senior Mathias is even cooperating with us happily."

"All right then. Bye."

"Bye." Arnie smiled wryly. "I thought things couldn’t get any bigger than this, but I guess I can’t go home for the next month."

Arnie was moving fast. He had to constantly travel to check all the leads. Because there were not many clues in each city, he could finish it quickly, but the time it took for him to travel from one city to another made it hard for him to finish the investigation quickly.

It was precisely because of this wide area that Arnie felt it was the most troublesome.

However, there was one thing he didn’t expect during his investigation. It came from the Aheron family.

"It’s good that you came here. I have heard of you, Adjudicator Chief Arnie Rostold." Dexter Aheron smiled.

"Well, it looks like you’ve been expecting me, Mr. Dexter." Arnie smiled.

"Yes. Are you the one in charge of the investigation regarding the poison?"

"Indeed, I am."

"In that case, take this." Dexter gave him a paper file.

"Hmm?" Arnie frowned and received the files. He was quite shocked by what he found. "This..."

"You should have expected that I’m not going to let anyone who is trying to harm the only successor of my family get away, right?" Dexter’s expression turned cold. "That’s why I’ve been pulling some strings to figure out the situation myself. I don’t like the fact that the government tries them, sentencing them...what? ten or twenty years? I am a simple man, I want them dead."

"That’s not something you are supposed to say to law enforcement, Mr. Dexter."

"Police, yes. Adjudicators, no." Dexter shrugged. "We all know how dirty the adjudicators can be. Since the adjudicators are the ones in charge of the investigation, you should take that information. Oh, if I were you, I would start with the police officer."

Arnie’s expression turned solemn, opening the file.

"A kid called Ray reported that he was poisoned a couple of weeks ago, but the police officer dismissed his case right away. The kid was trying to get himself treated, but he ended up dead and the case remained dismissed all this time. Apparently, the police officer seemed to be related to a local gang."

Arnie could see the picture of the police officer hanging out with some unsavory-looking guys.

"I don’t have the resources you government agents have. However, I can feel that the storm is coming."

Arnie contemplated for a few seconds. He could see where Dexter was leading him. The police officer would lead him to the gang. The gang might know about the seller. Arnie didn’t know where the drugs were sold, but he might find something through this connection.

Arnie smiled. "I understand that. I will see what I can do. Oh, by the way, is your grandson fine now?"

"Yes. He is fine. Thank you for your concern."

"How about the assassin who poisoned your grandson?"

"I couldn’t find him." Dexter smiled.

"Is that so? In that case, I guess the interview is over for today, Mr. Dexter. It’s a pleasure to meet you." Arnie nodded, stood up, and shook Dexter’s hand before leaving.

His next target was clear enough.