Chapter 432 - 387: Riddled with Doubts (Part 2)

Chapter 432: Chapter 387: Riddled with Doubts (Part 2)

Shangyuan Zi realized this as well. "There’s no way Suzuki would draw... someone like this. Was she really... going insane? Or was there a problem with her memory? But she was perfectly normal when I came to visit her."

Shi Jingyi asked the doctor, "When a spore addict is suffering from withdrawal, do they experience situations like memory loss or mental derangement?"

The doctor nodded. "Indeed, we’ve had patients who were driven mad by the pain."

"Suzuki wasn’t insane," Shangyuan Zi said firmly.

"...In any case, you all understand the situation now. We didn’t want this to happen either. But please, believe us. As medical personnel, we have absolutely no reason or motive to harm a patient."

The doctor said, exchanging a glance with the nurse, "We’ll step out for now. You can have some time to yourselves."

Guan Tong paid them no mind, simply flipping through the Profile sketches. A good number of them were of him, and in all of them, he was depicted as a very sinister figure.

This baffled him. ’I shouldn’t be this kind of person in Suzuki’s eyes. So why would she draw me like this?’

"Captain, can you think of anything?"

"...This whole thing is very strange. If it weren’t for these drawings of me, I might not have thought so."

"I think so too."

"Should we go see her remains?" Shi Jingyi asked.

Guan Tong thought for a moment. "Of course. But it’ll be enough if Shangyuan Zi and I go."

Shi Jingyi didn’t know Suzuki, so there was no need for her to be dragged all over the place.

Besides, if there really was some conspiracy at play, Guan Tong didn’t want to drag an uninvolved person like Shi Jingyi into it before he had any leads.

"Alright. I’ll head back and wait for news from you."

"Okay."

After Shi Jingyi left, Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi departed from the rehabilitation center.

Before they left, Guan Tong collected all the sketch pages scattered on the floor into his Storage Ring. They were Suzuki’s last effects, but they were also potential clues in the investigation of her suicide. He couldn’t let the staff here just throw them away.

The Shadow Guan Tong left behind would secretly monitor the director, doctor, and nurses. If anyone tried anything suspicious, he would know immediately.

Guan Tong and Shangyuan Zi were silent for the entire trip to the medical department.

Neither of them knew what to say, nor were they in the mood to speak.

When they arrived at the address, someone was already waiting to greet them and lead the way. Zhang Minglu must have made all the arrangements.

In the morgue, a staff member pulled a body from one of the refrigerated drawers.

When they saw Suzuki’s lifeless, pale face, both Guan Tong’s and Shangyuan Zi’s hearts sank.

Before seeing her remains with their own eyes, they could still cling to a sliver of wishful hope. But seeing her now, that hope collapsed into a certainty from which there was no escape.

Shangyuan Zi then carefully examined the body. She found no external injuries, only distinct ligature marks around the neck, which corroborated suicide by hanging as the cause of death.

After leaving the room, Shangyuan Zi said, "I want to take her remains back to Sakura Prayer and hold a funeral for her. I want her colleagues from the Security Bureau to be able to attend and pay their respects... She told me before she died that she wanted to see her old colleagues again... Even though she’s gone now, I still want to grant her that wish."

Guan Tong nodded. "Let’s do that."

The two went to handle the paperwork. When the staff member heard they wanted to take the body, he immediately objected.

"That is the body of a spore addict. It’s scheduled for a brain dissection as part of our spore research. It’s highly valuable. You aren’t her relatives, are you? You can’t take the remains."

"In this world, just having family is an extravagant hope. Even having friends is a blessing," Guan Tong said. "We are her friends, and we won’t allow her to be dissected. Didn’t anyone tell you that we have the right to decide what happens to her remains?"

"Well... my superiors only said you could view the remains. They never said you could take them."

"Why don’t you go and ask them again?"

The staff member hesitated for a moment before going to confirm. He quickly returned with an answer.

"Alright, you can take the remains. But according to regulations, you need to sign for them."

The staff member took out the logbook, and Guan Tong suddenly snatched it from him.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Someone else registered to view these remains?" Guan Tong pointed to an entry. The signature was two words: "Wei Huo."

The staff member nodded. "Yes, a woman came to see them."

"Do you know who she is?"

"I don’t know."

Guan Tong thought for a moment, then said to Shangyuan Zi, "You take Suzuki’s remains to Sakura Prayer. I’ll follow up on this ’Wei Huo’ lead. Let’s stay in touch by phone."

"...Okay."

After completing the paperwork, Shangyuan Zi left with the remains.

Guan Tong, in turn, requested the surveillance footage to find the woman who had signed the name "Wei Huo."

The woman in the video had a short ponytail and an unremarkable appearance. Guan Tong had never seen her before.

But he was certain that this was no ordinary woman. This special medical department wasn’t open to the public. How could an ordinary person know about this place, let alone have the authority to view remains?

Guan Tong copied the video. After leaving, he contacted Zhang Minglu and asked for his help in identifying the woman.

When he got back, he contacted the hacker Mask and sent him a job, asking him to use professional tools to analyze the surveillance footage from the rehabilitation center and the medical department, checking for any signs of editing or tampering.

By the time he was done with everything, the sky had grown dark.

Guan Tong walked out of the shelter and looked up at the thick, gloomy layer of clouds in the sky.

’Suzuki’s dark, twisted Profiles... the woman who signed in as ’Wei Huo’ to see her remains... even the rehabilitation center director’s guilty behavior... all these suspicious points added up.’ He was now ninety percent certain that Suzuki hadn’t simply committed suicide. There was more to this story.

"If only I’d gotten involved sooner, perhaps..."

Guan Tong frowned. ’Saying things like that now is pointless. What matters is a thorough investigation and taking action based on what I find.’

"Don’t worry, Suzuki," he murmured. "I will get to the bottom of this for you. If you were truly murdered, I swear I will avenge you."

...

「That night, somewhere in Pinglu.」

The woman with the short ponytail sat in her car, opened her inventory, and selected a [Communication Secret Scroll] to use.

After selecting a target from her friends list, she instantly established a telepathic link with the person.

The woman with the short ponytail spoke into the link: ’That woman is dead. It’s a shame. With a little more time, I might have gotten more intelligence out of her.’

’You killed her?’ a surprised male voice echoed in her mind.

’’Shadow’ was going to look for her. If I hadn’t acted fast, I might have been exposed, and I have no desire to be targeted by that monster. But I made it look like a suicide. It should be fine.’

The male voice fell silent for a moment before sounding again. ’Idiot... Killing her is exactly what will get you targeted by ’Shadow’. Your disguise won’t fool him.’

’I’m an idiot? Then what does that make you, who doesn’t even have his freedom and can only communicate with the outside world using a [Communication Secret Scroll]? Useless?’ The woman with the short ponytail sneered. ’Hmph. So what if he senses something is wrong? Everything about me is fake. There’s no way he can track me down.’

’You...’ The male voice was exasperated. ’You’re seriously underestimating the resources a top-tier Ascender can mobilize.’

’Don’t you lecture me! Get one thing straight: you are not my superior!’

’I just wish you’d be a little smarter. Don’t get yourself exposed before I’m even free. Before you underestimate ’Shadow,’ you should remember that he’s the kind of Ascender who would dare to oppose an entire nation. For someone like that, no rules can stop them from doing whatever they please.’

Hearing this, the woman with the short ponytail began to feel a knot of anxiety, wondering if she had indeed been too reckless.

’Leave Pinglu. Now,’ the man’s voice continued. ’Find an unpopulated area and lie low. Don’t make contact with anyone in the short term.’

’What? What about my mission?!’

’Only the living can complete missions.’

’...’