Chapter 610: Gradually Closing in on the Truth

The Traveler wasn't short on money, or rather didn't care about illegal gains, so she had no intention of sneaking a few cans of knowledge left by the merchants.

Looks like the Traveler would have a hard time making the list for "Little Hands Not-So-Clean Adeptus."

There were many cans of knowledge here, but unfortunately all ordinary ones—no content related to the Court of Desolation.

Cyno told the Traveler to return the way she came, while he himself stayed hidden here.

This was why Cyno didn't have the Traveler remove the tracker—he was playing "black under the lamp."

After the Traveler left, Paimon finally found a chance to rest. She wasn't made of iron and was exhausted long ago.

After a satisfying rest, she went back and saw Cyno had indeed caught someone—and Cyno judged that this catch wasn't small fry.

[Bahari: "As expected of Cyno, you saw right through it... If I'd known you hadn't left, I wouldn't have been greedy for this bit of profit."]

He came back to take the canned knowledge here—the Traveler might not care about this money, but others drooled over it.

Merchants were like that—not just him, Dori had just been drooling too.

This merchant clearly had no sense of confidentiality—or rather, he cared more about his own interests.

So when arrested by Cyno, his attitude was quite calm, spilling intelligence without any guilt, no need for interrogation.

Truly, the wise submit to circumstances.

[Bahari: "Come to my house—in Aaru Village, it's very safe there."]

The readers didn't expect this merchant to be a desert dweller either. A desert person accessing part of this conspiracy— he really had some skills.

Bahari had a daughter at home—he was already a father.

Now it made sense why he compromised so quickly—he didn't want his daughter to lose her father. Earning some money, why risk his life?

[Bahari said: "Cyno's name—no one in the trade doesn't know it. How should you two be addressed?"]

He knew Cyno but not the Traveler—so he was someone, but not a big shot.

The Traveler could be called the gold-content appraisal standard: she might not know the gods and big shots of various countries, but the big shots of various countries wouldn't not know her.

If you're not known by the Traveler, being a hero is in vain.

[Bahari continued: "Even if you catch me, I still want to advise you... stop here, don't keep investigating."]

["Manufacturing, selling, dividing spoils... each link has at least dozens, at most hundreds of people. The huge profits gather everyone together."]

The interests were too great, too many people involved—like a Sumeru version of the "Diamond Alliance." Breaking this interest chain was very difficult, and no one would thank you.

But Cyno had his own persistence—he didn't care about others' gratitude or hatred.

Because he was a Matra.

But Bahari cared! He was just a small merchant, and his daughter had an intractable disease needing lots of money for medicine.

This really hit Dori—yes, buying medicine with money... if there was money... sister wouldn't...

[Bahari: "Her heart and lungs are weaker than normal people. A bit of intense exercise could cause fainting, even life-threatening."]

["Because of this, she had no playmates from childhood, locking herself in her room all day. She also needs lots of medicine daily—huge expenses."]

Without this interest chain, his daughter might not survive.

Morality and law—leniency outside the law, or law without mercy?

This was hard to judge. From a legal perspective, the law might not be perfect, but it can't be casually broken, as it concerns social credibility.

But humans are emotional creatures—often unable to be fully rational. Emotional conflicts affect judgment, so at this moment, some readers wavered...

In reality, Dunyarzad saw this story—confined due to illness, needing lots of medicine, no playmates—so similar to her.

Dunyarzad seemed to see her childhood self, and now she wanted to "become" Nahida.

She would be the other's "moon," become the other's friend.

This was real-world influence—the story had none. At this time, neither the Traveler nor Cyno could guarantee how this girl would survive, so they hesitated too.

[Cyno was silent for a moment before saying: "I can find someone to treat that child, but I can't turn a blind eye to smuggling canned knowledge. These are two separate matters."]

One matter per code—publicly, Cyno must uncover and resolve this truth; privately, Cyno was willing to pay out of pocket to help.

Cyno's decision let the readers breathe a sigh of relief—good thing Cyno wasn't cold-blooded. He could only be called hating evil, very friendly to non-evil people.

This differed from Alhaitham—Alhaitham had a sour face no matter who he faced.

For example, Alhaitham right now had a sour face while reading—you see, even reading was like that! Let alone facing people!

In the book, Bahari hearing Cyno's promise also sighed in relief—he had long expected Cyno to say this.

No longer hiding, he directly had Cyno check behind the house—there were all canned knowledge. If there were any secrets, they'd definitely be there.

The backyard canned knowledge was indeed plentiful—exaggeratedly so.

Keep in mind, this was just one merchant's stock—what about the others? The quantity was ridiculously exaggerated.

And among these canned knowledge, Cyno really found the issue—the cans bore the Matra clearance stamp.

Meaning this batch was inspected and cleared by Matras as "legal" goods!

Everyone immediately realized—this matter involved Matras!

They thought it was widespread, but didn't expect Matras were already involved.

This feeling was like investigating the Fubole incident and finding traitors among your own!

Good thing the one investigating wasn't an ordinary Matra but the General Mahamatra!

Cyno needed to continue investigating, entrusting the Traveler to go to the archive room for related intelligence.

He was now a traitor to the Akademiya, inconvenient to enter/exit, so he wrote a letter for the Traveler to find someone named Nabil—he would take the Traveler to the archive room.

This Nabil was precisely the Matra who originally entrusted the Traveler.

The Traveler returned to the Akademiya and quickly found this Matra.

Though Cyno had defected from the Akademiya, this matter wasn't publicized by the Akademiya, so his letter still held weight.

Ordinary Matras had no archive viewing privileges, but the General Mahamatra did—Cyno hadn't been expelled by the Akademiya yet.

So when the Traveler handed Cyno's letter to the archive administrator, they didn't question it.

Here, one-way street.