“See? You're overreacting too,” Dabu shrugged.
Xia'an's reaction was clearly not much calmer than his.
The young investigator ignored his sarcasm.
She continued to receive the images transmitted back by the 【Arcane Eye】.
Inside the low-rise house, the damp stone walls, the wooden shelves lined with specimen jars, and the shriveled corpse were still clearly visible.
The sound of the crackling fireplace was still there.
But visually, they had been completely dragged into the lighthouse basement.
“Is it some kind of illusion?” Xia'an asked, slightly startled.
“No,” the tall boy beside her replied calmly.
“It's just a projection stone.”
“The agency's evidence department has projection stones too.”
“The object itself isn't dangerous. It works pretty much like a camera.”
“It's just much more expensive.”
Xia'an's attention was immediately drawn to the last sentence.
“Can it be more expensive than an Invisibility scroll?” she retorted testily, before shifting her focus back to the other side of the 【Arcane Eye】.
“Damn it, how does she have a projection stone?”
Don't forget, Ophelia was just an ordinary person.
It was impossible for her to have bought such an expensive item herself.
“Maybe Mr. Rockland gave it to her,” Dabu deduced reasonably.
Xia'an remained silent.
This was currently the most logical explanation.
Since Elias wanted Ophelia to publish the report, he wouldn't have just given her a few statements without evidence.
A projection stone that could fully record the lighthouse basement was the perfect piece to fill in the most crucial gap.
She continued to observe the situation inside the room.
Hawthorne had already recovered from his initial shock over the "witchcraft."
Supporting his body with both hands on the table, the old man was still leaning backward.
His gaze drifted slowly along the damp stone walls, finally stopping on the corpse in the center.
“Who is this?”
Ophelia stood beside the projection stone.
“My younger brother.”
Her voice was tight.
As she uttered those words, her chest rose and fell visibly.
But she didn't look away.
Her grief remained.
Yet, she had forced her tears back down.
“Ryan.”
“Wayland dispatched him to the lighthouse three years ago.”
“Then they told his family that he went missing.”
Hawthorne's face gradually turned grim.
Of course he knew about Ryan.
To find her brother, Ophelia had investigated the shipping company, the Harbor Authority, and various other Wayland properties.
She had been thrown out.
And she had been warned.
“Photograph every angle,” Ophelia pointed to the logbook by the wall.
“The corpse.”
“The journal on the table.”
“And those potions and signs of daily life.”
“Everything must be photographed clearly.”
Hawthorne looked at the flashbulb camera near the door.
He finally understood why Ophelia had come to borrow a camera despite already having the so-called "negatives."
This stone recorded a full, three-dimensional image.
But ordinary newspapers needed flat photos that could be plated and printed.
They had to take photos of all the evidence and turn them into real negatives while the projection was still active.
Hawthorne walked quickly to the camera.
He lifted the black cloth, checked the lens and the plate holder, then bent down to retrieve several spare negative plates from a wooden cabinet.
His movements were much swifter than before.
“You know that once these photos are published, Wayland will tear down my darkroom, right?”
“I know. But if Old Hawthorne stopped chasing the truth, then you wouldn't be Old Hawthorne anymore,” Ophelia answered without a shred of hesitation.
“That's why I need four copies.”
Hawthorne fell silent for two seconds, then suddenly grinned.
“Alright.”
“Four copies.”
He pushed the flashbulb to the edge of the projection's range and began to adjust the lens.
Outside the wall, Xia'an couldn't help but sigh softly:
“I'm starting to understand why Mr. Rockland chose her.”
“Because she's smart?” Dabu asked.
“No.”
Xia'an looked at Ophelia's face, which still carried a trace of sorrow, yet her tone was frighteningly calm.
“It's precisely because both of them are quite mad.”
A blinding white light flashed inside the low-rise house.
Hawthorne pressed the shutter, and the intense light from the burning magnesium powder briefly illuminated the entire projection.
The first negative was complete.
He reloaded the plate holder and adjusted the camera angle.
Ophelia stood beside him, checking the details that needed to be captured one by one.
The 【Arcane Eye】 hovered above the room, transmitting all of this back to Dabu's field of vision.
Just as the second flash was about to light up, Xia'an suddenly raised her hand.
“Wait.”
She voluntarily withdrew from the shared vision.
Dabu opened his eyes as well.
Both of them looked toward the other end of the street at the same time.
Several men were approaching the low-rise house along the wall.
They weren't wearing the uniforms of the Wayland Security Department.
They wore ordinary workers' short jackets over their clothes, with their hat brims pulled low.
However, the standard-issue leather boots on their feet, the bulging holsters at their waists, and their defensive positioning as they walked all gave away their identity.
The leading man held a compass in his hand.
There was no needle in the center of the compass.
Instead, there was only a thin thread imbued with spirituality, constantly shifting under the glass cover.
The thread eventually pointed directly at the low-rise house.
“Did Wayland's people follow us here?!” Dabu frowned.
If so, their tracking, which they thought was covert, had actually led the way for others.
“Unlikely.”
Xia'an stared at the compass for a few seconds.
“These people have some supernatural methods.”
She withdrew completely from the shared vision of the 【Arcane Eye】 and pressed her back against the broken wall.
“They have Miss Moore's personal belongings.”
“They're using the compass and the corresponding medium to find their target.”
“Since she doesn't have a transcendent with her and her spirituality is stable, it's very easy for them to find her.”
Ophelia although she was cautious enough, she was ultimately just an ordinary person.
She could check if there were any tails at the street corners.
But she couldn't detect an alchemical compass that determined her position using hair, clothing, or blood.
“Fortunately, they aren't any tough opponents.”
Xia'an scanned the spiritual reactions of the group.
There were no high-intensity fluctuations.
The other side clearly didn't think that capturing an ordinary reporter required deploying real experts.
“Go!”
The girl raised her hand and patted Dabu's arm.
“Chase them away.”
Dabu looked down at her hand, then at the security guards.
Why does she sound like she's ordering a dog around?
He complained in his heart, but still stood up from behind the broken wall.
They couldn't fight right now.
Gunfire and spell fluctuations would alert Ophelia.
They had to make Wayland's people leave on their own without exposing the low-rise house.
Dabu dusted the brick powder off his coat and walked toward the men with large strides.
“Hey!”
His call carried far down the quiet street.
Several security guards stopped in their tracks at the same time.
Their hands instinctively drifted toward the holsters at their waists.
“Old Palace Yard law enforcement,” Dabu said, pulling a police ID issued by the Seventh Agency for investigators from his inner pocket.
The ID didn't entirely belong to the police system.
But the Seventh Agency possessed temporary law enforcement authority when handling supernatural cases, and its ID looked very similar to a standard police badge.
It was difficult for ordinary corporate personnel to tell the difference on the spot.
The leading Wayland security guard sized Dabu up.
Instead of backing down, he walked toward Dabu.
“Hello, Officer,” the man said, a professional smile appearing on his face.
“I know your East Port District Police Chief.”
“I'm with the Wayland Security Department.”
As he spoke, he also retrieved an ID from his jacket.
It had a dark blue leather cover.
Imprinted on it was the crest of Wayland Capital.
Dabu took the ID and looked at it carefully.
Name.
Title.
Number.
Everything was there.
“The Wayland Security Department is not a law enforcement agency,” he said, handing the ID back.
“Ophelia Moore is a wanted fugitive across the country.”
The leader didn't back down.
He pulled out a neatly folded wanted poster and unfolded it in front of Dabu.
The bottom of the paper was stamped with the police department's seal.
“We are assisting the police.”
“The wanted poster allows you to provide clues,” Dabu said, not even glancing at the poster.
“It doesn't allow you to sneak around and pry in front of private residences.”
The leader narrowed his eyes.
“Then why are you here?”
“Because we are monitoring a suspect,” Dabu said righteously.
“If you had come any later, we might have already closed the net.”
The security guards in the back exchanged glances.
However, the leader wasn't easily fooled.
Dabu's appearance was too coincidental.
The man was neither wearing a police uniform nor carrying standard-issue police equipment.
The only thing that could prove his identity was that ID card, which was hard to verify on the spot.
“What is the operation number?”
Dabu fell silent for a moment.
Operation number?
Was there such a thing?
They were only tracking Ophelia on a whim.
The Seventh Agency hadn't even formally registered a case, let alone obtained an investigation assistance number from the Old Palace Yard police station.
The smile on the leader's face faded slightly.
The men behind him also quietly dispersed.
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
“He's referring to the Old Palace Yard East Port District Investigation Assistance Order Number Thirty-Seven,” Xia'an's voice came from behind.
She walked out of the shadow of the broken wall unhurriedly and showed her own ID to the other party.
“You can go to the police station to verify it right now.”
The leader looked at the name and seal on the ID.
He reached out to take it.
Xia'an flicked her wrist, immediately pulling the ID back.
“You can look, but you can't touch.”
The man's hand froze in midair.
Xia'an didn't give him a chance to lose his temper.
“Besides, that thing in your hand violates the Kingdom's anti-witchcraft regulations.”
She glanced at the compass in the man's hand.
“Remember to leave your name when you verify it.”
“So I can write it into my report.”
The man's expression changed slightly.
He can claim a connection with the East Port District Police Chief.
But he didn't want his name associated with "obstructing an arrest" in a nationwide wanted case.
Especially since Ophelia's case involved Wayland.
Once things escalated, the police station, to prove that their arrest procedure was flawless, might easily shift the blame to those who provided improper assistance.
“We were only offering assistance,” the leader's tone softened.
“Thank you.”
Xia'an held out her hand.
“Leave this suspected witchcraft item behind, and you may go.”
The man looked down at the compass in his hand.
“This is company property.”
“Then I'll write you a receipt,” Xia'an retorted immediately.
...
The security guards looked at each other for a moment.
The leader was clearly unwilling to hand it over.
But Dabu had already stepped in front of Xia'an's side.
His tall frame blocked half the street, and his hand rested on his tool box.
If a conflict really broke out, they might not necessarily come out on top.
More importantly, there was still no movement from inside the low-rise house.
If the so-called police had already been monitoring the place for a while, continuing to argue would only increase the risk of alerting Ophelia.
The leader finally let go.
The compass was placed in Xia'an's palm.
Xia'an inspected it, confirmed that the internal tracking circuit wasn't damaged, and casually stuffed it into her coat's inner pocket.
The leader gave her a deep look.
The men didn't linger any further, turning around to leave the way they came.
After walking some distance, the leading man looked back once more.
He was clearly planning to verify their identities afterward.
Xia'an watched him as well.
Only after their figures turned the corner did she withdraw her gaze.
“What is Investigation Assistance Order Number Thirty-Seven?” Dabu lowered his voice.
“The one used to handle smuggled kerosene last year.”
“Can that even work?”
“As long as the number is real, it works.”
Xia'an patted the pocket containing the compass.
“Let them look up the details themselves.”
Just then, the image transmitted back by the 【Arcane Eye】 shook violently.
The sound of tables and chairs colliding echoed from inside the low-rise house.
Dabu's face changed.
Xia'an also re-established her connection to the shared vision.
“We're in trouble!” she said in a lowered voice.
“That girl found us.”
Rate on N.U.
