Chapter 165: Gray Jacket

Eren checked the service period once more before handing Rafe’s device back to him.

Marek was still staring at the notice saying that the company had moved away from the address months ago. “So if the payment was from an older period, this wouldn’t be strange?”

“It could still be strange,” Eren answered as he gathered the notes he had copied from Irial’s records. “It just wouldn’t tell us much by itself. If the company operated there when the service happened, the old address could remain attached to an older schedule.”

“And this one?”

“The service period is current.”

Marek rubbed his forehead. “Great.”

Rhovan had been sitting nearby with one leg crossed over the other. “You sound unhappy about finding the thing you came here to find.”

“I didn’t come here hoping the records were wrong.”

“Of course. You only agreed to visit the district where they’re wrong.”

Marek ignored him.

After making sure Irial had given Eren everything he needed, they left the CMS facility without taking any of the original schedules. Eren carried only the details he had copied down: provider names, addresses, service periods, registration references, and several figures he considered necessary for comparison. Silas had written his own notes about document dates, while Rafe saved the public routes they would need.

Kellan complained once more when they were leaving. Marek did not change his mind about leaving some of them behind.

Dario barely noticed because somebody had brought him another serving of food.

Around an hour later, the five of them entered Lantern Verge.

The district was not what Marek had expected after watching The Equal Standard report.

He had imagined something much worse.

There were crowded buildings and older streets, but people still filled the markets. Small businesses occupied the ground floors of residential blocks, and public transport moved through several major roads. Children wearing school uniforms passed between food stalls while workers carried boxes into shops. Farther ahead, a redevelopment project had taken over half a block, where construction barriers stood beneath a large public notice showing what the area was supposed to become.

Several newer buildings could also be seen behind the older ones.

The difference became more obvious the farther they walked. One side of a road might have a renovated clinic with a clean entrance and an electronic queue board. Across from it, another building had cracked exterior panels and a handwritten notice explaining that one of its public service counters was unavailable.

Marek remembered the news report mentioning the same thing.

Lantern Verge was not falling apart. People simply seemed to be fighting over which parts of it were allowed to improve first.

“So this is the district everyone was talking about,” he said.

Rafe checked the route on his device. “We’re still near the outer section.”

“Does it get worse deeper in?”

“Different,” Rafe replied. “The redevelopment zones are farther south. Most of the clinics we’re checking are between here and there.”

Rhovan had already stopped beside a food stall somewhere behind them, and Marek only realized it after walking several steps farther. He turned around and found Rhovan standing comfortably near the vendor as though they had come to Lantern Verge for lunch instead of checking suspicious addresses.

“What are you doing?” Marek asked.

“Visiting,” Rhovan replied while the vendor handed him a paper container filled with something fried.

Marek stared at him. “You were standing beside me five seconds ago. We’re checking addresses.”

Rhovan took one piece and ate it before answering. “And now I’m supporting a local business. You specifically said we were visitors, Newton. Visitors are allowed to buy food.”

Eren glanced at the stall, then at the people passing around them. “Technically, he’s making us look less suspicious.”

Marek looked at him. “Don’t help him.”

Rhovan smiled and held the container toward Marek anyway. After a short hesitation, Marek took one.

It was good.

He decided not to mention that.

Their first destination was the address attached to the company Rafe had found before they left the CMS facility.

It occupied part of an older commercial row between a repair shop and a small distribution office. The business currently using the space had its name displayed across the entrance. It had no resemblance to the company written in Eren’s notes.

Marek stood across the street while Eren checked the registration reference again. “Same address?”

“Yes.”

“And the current business?”

Rafe brought up the public listing. “Registered here months after the other company moved.”

Silas studied the storefront before walking closer with them. There was no reason they could not enter. The place sold maintenance supplies, equipment parts and several things Marek did not recognize.

A woman behind the counter greeted them.

Rafe handled the question since he already had the public listing open. “Sorry. Was there another company operating from this address before you?”

The woman seemed used to hearing it. “The transport support people?”

Eren’s attention sharpened.

Rafe nodded. “Yes.”

“They’ve been gone for months.”

“Do you know where they moved?”

“No. People still come here asking for them sometimes.” She gestured toward the entrance. “We had to put a notice outside because delivery workers kept bringing things here during our first few weeks.”

Marek remembered the notice they had seen online. “Do they still receive deliveries?”

“Not anymore. At least, not many. There were more before.”

Eren did not ask anything else.

They thanked her and left.

Once they were outside, Marek waited until they had crossed the road before speaking. “That confirms the move.”

“It confirms they stopped operating from that address,” Eren corrected him as they continued walking. “We still don’t know whether the company itself stopped operating. They could have moved somewhere else, and the schedule might simply be using outdated registration information.”

Marek glanced at him. “Are you trying to make the suspicious thing less suspicious?”

“I’m trying to keep it accurate.”

Silas gave a small nod. “He’s right.”

Marek sighed and started walking again.

Their next destination was one of the clinics attached to the same group of payment schedules.

It existed.

That was the first thing Marek noticed.

The clinic was not hidden, abandoned, or pretending to be something else. People moved in and out of it, several staff members worked behind the reception desk, and the public service board near the entrance showed many of the same medical programs written in Eren’s notes.

Eren spent several minutes reading the board.

Marek leaned closer to the service board. “Does it match?”

Eren checked his notes before looking over the posted services again. “Some of it does. Basic clinic support is here, medicine distribution is here, and the operating periods are roughly consistent with the schedule.”

Marek nodded. “That’s good, at least.”

“It should be,” Eren replied. “A listed service matching the paperwork isn’t evidence that everything else is accurate.”

“So Irial was wrong?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Eren ignored him afterward and moved down the list.

Patient transport was also advertised by the clinic, though a small notice beside it stated that the service was currently limited because several transport units were unavailable.

Marek read it twice. “Her schedule says what?”

Eren checked his notes. “Current transport support is listed as active.”

“Could limited still count as active?”

“Yes.”

Silas read the same notice and asked, “When was this posted?”

There was a date at the bottom.

Rafe checked it. “A while ago.”

“Before the current service period?” Silas asked.

“Yes.”

Eren then thought about something.

Marek looked at him.

“If transport has been limited throughout the current period, I’d want to know what the payment actually covers,” Eren said after a while.

“Could still be legitimate?”

“Yes.” Eren folded the note again. “There may be vehicles operating from another location. The contract could cover availability rather than actual trips. There could be subcontractors. There are too many things we don’t know.”

Marek nodded. “Which is why I wanted you here.”

Eren glanced at him. “To stop you from deciding too early?”

“Pretty much.”

Rhovan, who had been reading another public notice nearby, looked over. “How reassuring. He trusts you to prevent him from becoming confident.”

Marek ignored him and continued toward the next clinic.

They did not enter any restricted areas or ask the clinic employees about its finances. Marek made sure of that. They walked through the same public spaces available to ordinary patients, checked the service notices, and left.

The second clinic was farther south.

And the streets changed along the way. Redevelopment barriers appeared more often. One section had already been cleared for construction, leaving several empty lots between older buildings whose owners had refused or had not yet agreed to relocate. Signs from both sides of the dispute covered walls and public boards.

Some supported the redevelopment. Others accused the project of pushing residents farther from hospitals, markets and transit.

Marek stopped reading after the fourth one.

He had already learned on Earth that political signs became less helpful the longer people shouted through them.

Rafe guided them across another road and into a narrower commercial area.

Silas slowed down near an intersection.

Marek noticed. “What?”

“Gray jacket.”

“What gray jacket?”

“The man behind the street kiosk.”

Marek followed the direction without turning his entire body.

There were too many people around for him to see the man immediately.

He eventually found the man Silas meant. He stood beside one of the public information kiosks with his hands inside the pockets of a plain gray jacket.

Marek did not recognize him. “Do you know him?”

“No.”

“Then why are we talking about him?”

Silas started walking again. “He was near the first address.”

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