Chapter 79: Keep This Private

The perspective of Angelo:

"Four of the Guardians are here—they’re coming in right now."

Scar said from the side, glancing towards the entrance before turning his attention back to us.

We had quite the busy day ahead of us, and apparently, things weren’t going to get any quieter.

"Which ones?"

He briefly paused, looked around and then named all of them one by one.

".."

"Oh—even Kairo?—I thought he was going to be away for a while."

Before he could reply, the doors began to open, and unfortunately, things weren’t going to slow down for the foreseeable future.

They came in—and left.

Before we could have a break, things just kept piling up... endlessly....

"There’s been an incident in the Bureau of Investigations: two people murdered—they believe the System Killer is involved to an extent."

"Huh..." I abruptly let out, slightly raising my eyebrows.

Then...

"Dante W. Reaper is also here—he’s on his way upstairs right at this moment."

So many things to juggle simultaneously—sigh. It was going to be one of those days, wasn’t it?

"Let’s be quick, I guess."

A few moments later, he came in, and we began discussing the situation. There was quite a bit to go over, so I tried to get straight to the point.

"Huh, that’s strange," I voiced, tilting my head slightly as I witnessed the System reject him again.

What was up with that?—wasn’t this the second time now?

Hmm...

I narrowed my eyes, observing him for a little longer.

Is everything okay with his MANA?—how come it can’t latch onto him?—did his MANA change or something?

[ANALYSIS ACTIVATED]

[ANALYSIS COMPLETED]

[RESULTS: HUMAN]

Faintly, as I witnessed the result, a strange and unfamiliar feeling stirred somewhere inside my head.

It was difficult to explain, almost as if something was trying to surface, yet I couldn’t quite grasp it.

I couldn’t verbalize it, nor understand what it was hinting at.

So I let it rest.

I wanted to have a proper conversation with him regarding the Ariel incident, but it seemed like we didn’t have the time for that right now.

I’d have to rely on someone else to handle it—or simply postpone the discussion until later.

He eventually left, and I turned my attention back towards Scar.

"Who are the victims in the Bureau of Investigations?"

I voiced, glancing at him as I waited for an answer.

"Maddy Doll and Boro Badut—there are some oddities surrounding their deaths, but they’re still assessing the situation. They don’t want to rush anything because..."

He paused for a moment, briefly looking around before lowering his voice.

"...not only did Kross involve himself with the case, but one of their Systems was deleted altogether."

Just tenderly, I lowered an eyebrow at his words, taking a few moments to process what he had just said.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.

"Deleted? What exactly do you mean?"

"No residue left from the System—no logs or anything. A complete System annihilation."

"In— interesting."

I muttered, slowly nodding my head as I leaned back slightly.

That was certainly unusual, to say the least. A System disappearing without leaving anything behind?

There were quite a few questions that came to mind, but I decided to leave them for later.

A while later...

"Kross is here, along with someone who’s part of the System Killer investigation."

I turned my head towards Scar, briefly glancing at him before shifting my attention back to the entrance.

"Personally?—why?"

"They insist on talking to you directly, Angelo."

We eventually met up in a different room, away from the others—just the three of us.

There wasn’t much reason to involve anyone else in this conversation, at least not yet.

Oh... it was the same guy who had come here earlier to request the Summon.

I recognized him almost immediately.

"Go on, Zuri," Kross stated, gently pushing the man standing next to him forward.

"Yes—sorry."

Zuri briefly stumbled over his words before straightening himself.

He seemed a little hesitant, but eventually gathered himself and took a step closer.

Then he looked directly at me, his expression rather serious, and stated:

"I believe there’s a rat in your department—the Information Center—someone who’s been feeding information to the System Killer somehow."

I stared at him for a moment without saying anything.

My eyes remained fixed on his face as I tried to gauge whether he was genuinely convinced of what he was saying or simply throwing around an accusation.

"That is... a very major accusation, you are aware of that, right?"

I finally responded, slightly narrowing my eyes.

"You’re essentially suggesting that someone within my own department is cooperating with a person responsible for multiple incidents. Do you have anything to support that claim?"

"Think I’d be tagging along just for fun, eh?!" Kross said from behind Zuri, his voice annoyingly deep and carrying a mildly aggressive tone.

"Right..."

I briefly glanced towards him before shifting my attention back to Zuri.

It seemed Kross had quite a bit more to add to the conversation.

"Furthermore, some shit happened that’s really pissing me off."

He said as he began walking forward, moving past Zuri and positioning himself closer to us.

His expression wasn’t particularly pleasant, and judging by his tone, whatever had happened wasn’t sitting well with him.

"Some entity with two MANAs entered the bureau—one dormant and the other dominant. It was bizarre and unusual."

I raised my eyebrows slightly, allowing him to continue without interrupting.

Then, lowering his voice, he spoke with a mixture of tender irritation and genuine confusion, as if he had far more questions than answers.

"The way the Maddy woman was killed... it was strangely really fucking reminiscent of Shadow Collapse, whatever that shit means."

He paused for a moment, looking between us as if expecting some sort of reaction.

Hmm...

That’s his ability—no one should have access to it, other than people with administrative System permissions.

"And according to the witness—the one that used Shadow Collapse was Boro, someone that no one in hell had access to anythin’!!"

Rightfully... he had questions...

He had no idea... I thought.

Until a faint smile popped up on his face—and he yet again opened his mouth.

"I actually have a pretty good idea on who it is—and what’s going on."

Then...

Just a single name... yet it shook my brain beyond comprehension.

"Fisk."

I knew... if it’s Kross deciding and concluding that, then I had no power in persuading him otherwise.

So I kept my mouth shut and simply listened.