Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 441 - Two Hundred and Ninety-Seven: Parting Ways to Meet Again (4)

Chapter 441: Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety-Seven: Parting Ways to Meet Again (4)

The so-called swan that flies away as it nears the mouth, Zem experienced that today.

This morning, the newly established Homeland Security Bureau had just received intelligence that a recently emerged Evil God organization’s capable henchman had just led a team into Regensburg, believed to be investigating the death of a previously slaughtered member.

The Homeland Security Bureau went to considerable lengths to confirm the target’s identity. It’s somewhat amusing to say, the guy dressed like a character out of a novel, and what’s not funny is that at this time, many people in this city dressed like him.

After finally ascertaining his hiding place, Zem and another investigator were responsible for a joint operation, intending to capture this guy and his followers all in one fell swoop.

Everything had been going smoothly. Zem had Jiaxi in charge of the recent capture on the streets, while another was ready to block the other end of the alley if he ran, a perfectly executed operation where both sides believed the man had no chance of escape.

But the truth was, he had run away. At the very start of the operation, the guy seemed to have smelt disaster and fled hastily, leaving behind the innocents he had deceived to fend for themselves like a sacrificial tail, and as he wound through the alleys... he vanished.

All alley exits were blocked, but the man just disappeared like that.

Naturally, the aftermath included an extensive search of the entire block, but it was as if he had evaporated from the world—they never saw Casaman again, the messenger of the Evil God lost in the sea of people.

If they had caught the man, it would have been a happy time praising each other, and had they failed to catch him, it would be the much anticipated blame game. The leader of the seventh brigade claimed Zem’s team gave away the capture intent too early, whereas Zem insisted the sole reason for the failed capture was that they never requested a Druid’s low-altitude tracking.

Both sides had their reasons, and in the end, they were reprimanded equally. However, considering the biggest mistake in the capture was the lack of aerial support, Zem’s team ultimately remained to continue the investigation, while the other investigator’s team was removed from the operation.

Zem was quite satisfied with this, but still felt there was something odd about the capture—they had carefully timed their action with the workers’ break schedules, and even learned to assemble machinery, working there for a week until the target took the bait.

So... there was definitely a problem.

However, Zem couldn’t pinpoint what the issue was, which left him feeling somewhat frustrated.

But the young man swore, this city would absolutely not tolerate the desecration of these Evil God worshippers.

So, if someone really did leak their operation, then Zem would personally hang the traitor.

.........

Jack Dodack O’Roarke.

Was drinking with his chief and Samlan from the seventh investigation brigade.

"That youngster Zem is full of energy." Samlan from the seventh investigation brigade was a redhead from the northern Engmas, in his forties. He remarked about his two chiefs, "This time he almost caught Casaman."

"Yeah, it was a close call. If that kid hadn’t been sharp enough to spot the issue and run, and then with the help of agents 17 and 19 to get into the safehouse, we would have had to fish someone off the execution ground."

As Jack poured another drink for himself and his superiors, he laughed exaggeratedly, "That would have been real trouble. We would have needed to find a death row inmate who resembled Casaman closely, adjust his soul wavelength to match Casaman’s, then make him take Casaman’s place on the gallows, creating the illusion that Casaman had escaped death by using a body double."

"This world, tricking allies while also deceiving the enemies, is not an easy task," commented the chief, leaning back in his chair, "Thankfully, we didn’t have to resort to that. Now, the question is, how exactly did Casaman spot the problem?"

"Didn’t he say he saw the calluses from holding guns on the kids’ hands?" Jack mentioned to his chief.

"No, Zem was very meticulous. During the operation, he specifically had his subordinates sand off their gun calluses, then form new ones using tools. To speed up the callus growth, they used ointments. And while it would harm their skin, it definitely wouldn’t result in such a situation. Casaman lied," the chief said.

Samlan shook his head, looking at Jack: "The only possibility is that someone on the scene recognized Jiaxi and his team and tipped off Casaman."

"I think that’s unlikely. Jiaxi and his team don’t know Casaman. As for his identity, only five people in the entire Homeland Security Bureau know, the chief, you, Lady Anna, Lady Manli, and you," Jack pointed at Samlan. "I can’t imagine who that person could be."

"So, we’re currently sifting through it. We’re in luck, we had image recorders on both sides of the street, which caught the people who were at the scene during that time."

While they were discussing, a worker brought in a projector and projected the images on the wall.

"Wow, the images captured by the new recording Demon Crystals are really clear," exclaimed Samlan.

"Indeed, these new Demon Crystals were launched by Mage Tower and the Church of Justice to record various surgical Spell Formations, an excellent teaching tool. Our medics in the field were among the first to benefit," the chief explained, noticing a figure in the images, "Jack, isn’t that your daughter?"

"Ah! Dammit! I told her not to hang around with the Landton boy so much! She promised me! My daughter lied to me!" exclaimed the deputy chief.

Then the three old men saw another group, a redhead boy and a Highlander girl, taller than him, walking together.

This time, the deputy chief and the chief both turned their heads to look at a head-clasping Mr. Samlan.

The latter was in a state of utter shock: "My little son! The little beast! He promised he wouldn’t get together with Amelia’s daughter! He lied to me!"

The screen kept moving, and after ten minutes, the three old men unanimously agreed to speed it up by double.

Then, another ten minutes passed, and the deputy director, holding his head, turned at the same time as the captain of the seventh squad—they saw on the screen that the chief director of the Wood family’s eldest son was leading a domestic fairy through the city ostentatiously.

"There’s nothing wrong with a domestic fairy. There’s a family in Carterburg that has a domestic fairy, and it’s particularly clever."

"Yeah, I’d prefer my child to fall for a domestic fairy rather than to end up with Amelia’s daughter."

"But it’s a boy." The chief director tilted his head, then picked up the phone on the desk, "Connect me to the Dress family, this is Wood."

Jack’s hands trembled as he gave himself a mechanical mind slap. Samlan was shaking like Parkinson’s as he stuffed a large wad of cloth into his ears.

The two together began setting up a soundproof barrier.

.........

Zem looked up at the third floor of the new building. Just when he was startled by the glass windows of the conference room shattering without warning, he heard the chief director’s roar. Although it was quickly covered by the soundproof barrier, Zem still felt the pressure. He glanced at his old friend: "Jiaxi, it looks like we’re in trouble."

"Yes, big trouble. If we don’t find that guy quickly, this big trouble will soon become our trouble."

No sooner had they spoken than the two heard the sound of shattering glass. The two young men raised their heads and saw a table moving out of their field of vision.

"It seems I’ve found a good match for Malin."

"...A duel between the chief director and Malin? I’d better not bet on that." After speaking, as if by telepathy, the two young men chose to run out of the compound.

.........

The girls slept all night and still felt hungover, which made Malin somewhat melancholy—he shouldn’t let them drink anymore. He can handle his drink without a problem, but these girls can’t handle theirs. Faye is a one-cup wonder, Jessica starts spouting nonsense after three drinks, Maya can drink a fair bit, but when she’s drunk, she can’t control her elemental power, and now she’s full of static electricity. Matilda and Lillim, who slept beside her, were all fluffy like Pomeranians.

Seeing them still asleep, Malin covered them with a blanket and then left the room. In the hallway, Malin looked around to make sure no one was around, pulled out his cigarette case ready for a smoke, leaned against the windowsill, and had just taken out his lighter when he spotted something moving fast out of the corner of his eye.

It was very much like His Majesty from the other day.

Malin watched as it got closer and flew right past him.

It was a rather hefty-looking table.

...It looks like Regensburg’s list of peculiar events just got a little longer.

With a sigh, he watched as the table ultimately crashed into the wall of the castle, breaking into pieces.

Malin quickly pocketed his cigarette case, and within a few seconds, the girls, woken up by the noise, came out the door: "What’s up?"

"A table just flew by from over there and crashed into the wall of the castle." Malin pointed in the direction it came from and at the part of the castle it hit.

The girls glanced over, then looked back at Malin.

"It wasn’t me. I swear."

After herding the girls back into the bathroom, Malin reported the incident to the butler, who nodded and said he would investigate who let the table fly low over the city.

He also said that in the whole of Regensburg, there were only about twenty some people who could do such a thing.

And he had already ruled out one.

Malin felt a bit helpless—this really wasn’t his fault, and he wasn’t the type to act with violence.

Then he went back to the room, led the girls to breakfast.

Jessica’s ears were drooping, Faye looked listless, Maya kept discharging electricity, Matilda was conducting it from time to time (as she’s immune to low-damage electric currents), and Lillim kept getting puffier.

Seeing the state of the girls, Malin decided that if anyone ever dared to get these girls drunk again, he would enact an immediate and dramatic parting between them and their boyfriends.

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