Chapter 154: Return

Jet arrived at the concealed base shortly before noon.

The familiar security personnel recognized him immediately, allowing him through after confirming his identification.

He hadn’t informed anyone of his exact arrival time, although he’d sent Adesewa a brief message earlier that morning to let her know he was returning.

His first destination was Inez’s room.

The little girl was sitting on the floor beside Nadia, arranging several colorful building blocks into what appeared to be an elaborate castle. The moment she noticed Jet standing in the doorway, her completely white eyes widened, and she immediately abandoned her construction.

"Big Brother!" Inez exclaimed, jumping to her feet and running toward him.

Jet crouched just in time to catch her as she threw herself into his arms. Her pure-white curls bounced around her face while she huggedhis neck tightly, apparently determined to make certain he wouldn’t disappear again.

"Hey, Inez," Jet greeted her, smiling as he lifted her into his arms. "Did you miss me?"

"Of course I did!" Inez protested, pulling back to examine his face. "You said you’d call more often, but yesterday you only called once!"

Jet laughed awkwardly. "Sorry about that. I was traveling through an area with terrible reception."

Nadia rose from the floor and approached them, smiling with visible relief. "At least you made it back safely. Inez has been asking about you every morning."

"I wasn’t asking every morning!" Inez objected, although her embarrassed expression immediately betrayed her.

Jet chuckled before reaching into his inventory and retrieving a small wrapped package he’d purchased during his return journey. Inside was a miniature stuffed fox with soft white fur and an oversized fluffy tail.

Inez’s eyes immediately brightened.

"You remembered!" Inez exclaimed, accepting the present with both hands.

"Of course I remembered," Jet answered, gently ruffling her hair. "I made a promise, didn’t I?"

For several minutes, he remained with Inez and Nadia, listening to everything his sister wanted to tell him about the past few days. Only after she became occupied with her new toy did he excuse himself and head toward Adesewa’s office.

---

Adesewa was still examining the investigation records when Jet arrived.

"You’re back," she greeted him, looking up from her documents. "How was your personal business?"

"Everything went well, Captain," Jet answered, taking a seat. "It took a little longer than expected, but I managed to finish what I needed to do."

Adesewa studied him briefly. He appeared healthy, and although there was something subtly different about his bearing, she couldn’t identify anything particularly unusual.

Considering he’d recently advanced to 2-Star, she attributed the change to his growing familiarity with his improved physical capabilities.

"Good," Adesewa replied. "I’m glad you returned without trouble. We’ve made some progress while you were away."

Jet’s expression became serious. "With the assassins?"

Adesewa nodded and passed him a photograph.

It showed a middle-aged man wearing a dark business suit, with neatly combed hair and a composed expression.

"His name is Lucien Veyr," Adesewa explained. "We believe he’s connected to the organization’s financial operations. Several payments made to the people targeting us passed through a company under his control."

Jet examined the photograph carefully.

The name meant nothing to him.

Although he possessed knowledge of events from his previous timeline, he couldn’t possibly remember every individual involved in Zenith’s criminal organizations.

More importantly , this particular assassination network had become active because of events that hadn’t unfolded the same way before his regression.

"Is he the person behind everything?" Jet asked, returning the photograph.

"We don’t know," Adesewa answered, shaking her head. "He’s connected to the payments, but that doesn’t necessarily make him the leader. Corvin also confirmed that he met someone who appeared to be directing operations, although the man remained concealed in shadows throughout their conversation."

Jet frowned. "So Corvin heard his voice but never saw his face?"

"That’s right," Adesewa confirmed. "He knows the man exists, but he can’t identify him. We haven’t established whether Veyr is that individual or merely another intermediary."

Jet considered the explanation before nodding. "At least we finally have someone to investigate."

"Exactly," Adesewa replied. "And we’re not going to assume one name will solve everything. The financial accounts, communication records, and captured intermediaries give us several different connections to examine."

She paused before continuing.

"Whoever organized these attacks has been careful. But their operation has suffered considerable losses, and every person we capture gives us another opportunity to understand how it functions."

Jet glanced toward the documents covering her desk.

He was beginning to appreciate just how extensive the organization might be.

The attackers who’d nearly killed him had possessed considerable strength, and the resources required to coordinate simultaneous threats against several survivors and their families couldn’t have been insignificant.

Someone had invested an enormous amount of money and effort into obtaining the Palladium Fruits.

And that person remained hidden.

---

Later that afternoon, Adesewa gathered Cassian, Marcus, and Safiya to discuss the next steps. Jet remained nearby, listening as they compared the information obtained from thecaptured intermediaries.

Their immediate objective was to establish Veyr’s actual involvement without alerting him prematurely.

Marcus would examine the company’s financial connections, while Cassian investigated its known clients and security contracts.

Safiya would continue questioning the captured operatives, particularly those who had received payments through Veyr’s office.

Adesewa intended to pursue the remaining safehouse leads separately.

The different investigations might eventually intersect, but she refused to rely on any single discovery.

"One thing is certain," Adesewa stated, looking around the room. "We’ve damaged their operations, but we haven’t reached whoever is making the decisions. Until we do, everyone connected to the expedition remains a potentialtarget."

Cassian nodded grimly. "Then we keep following the connections until someone leads us higher."

"And we make sure they don’t have another opportunity to attack our families," Safiya added, her expression hardening.

Jet remained silent, his thoughts briefly turning toward Inez.

He had returned from the wilderness considerably stronger than when he’d departed, but the danger surrounding his sister hadn’t disappeared.

The awakening of Ilios had given him another powerful weapon.

Now he needed to make certain he could use that strength when it mattered.Meanwhile, on the table before them, the photograph of Lucien Veyr remained surrounded by transaction records and the names of several captured intermediaries.

For the first time, their enemy’s network had begun acquiring recognizable faces.

And somewhere beyond those connections, the person responsible for everything continued operating from the shadows.