Chapter 194: Pixies And Puzzles

Kane leaned forward, studying the image on Ginsei’s phone.

The photo showed several small, winged creatures with iridescent blue skin and pointed ears—pixies, but something was off about them.

"These are the rogue pixies from earlier?" Kane asked, squinting at the screen.

"Yeah, caused a minor disturbance at the night market. Nothing major—knocked over some vendor stalls, spooked a few tourists."

Ginsei swiped to the next photo, this one showing a close-up of one pixie’s arm. "But look at this."

Kane’s breath caught. Thin metallic threads were visible beneath the pixie’s translucent skin, forming geometric patterns that looked disturbingly familiar.

"Those are enhancement augmentations," Kane said quietly. "Like the ones we saw at Elias’s facility."

"Exactly." Ginsei lowered his phone, glancing around to make sure no one was listening.

"These weren’t just rogue spirits acting out. Someone enhanced them. The synthetic binding patterns are identical to what we found in that underground lab."

Kane’s mind raced. If Elias was still experimenting on spirits, creating more enhanced creatures...

"How many pixies were there?"

"Six total. We contained them, but Kane—" Ginsei’s pale eyes were serious.

"These weren’t ordinary rogue spirits, Kane," Ginsei continued, his voice dropping lower.

"Pixie spirits are highly intelligent creatures. They don’t just stumble into synthetic enhancements by accident."

Kane frowned, trying to process what Ginsei was implying. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, they chose this," Ginsei said bluntly. "The enhancement patterns, the way the augmentations were integrated—it’s too clean. Someone didn’t capture these pixies and experiment on them. They volunteered."

"Volunteered?" Kane’s voice rose slightly before he caught himself and glanced around the BSA bullpen.

"Why would any spirit voluntarily let someone mess with their essence like that?"

Ginsei’s pale eyes were grim. "Same reason those rat spirits we caught at Hoshino’s had such sophisticated augmentations. Remember how organized that attack was?"

Kane’s mind snapped back to those rat spirits at Hoshino’s shop.

The synthetic binding patterns beneath their fur had been identical to what they’d found in Elias’s underground facility.

"Some spirits are choosing to side with Elias," Kane said slowly, the pieces clicking together with horrible clarity.

"His whole speech about evolution, about spirits remembering their true power—it’s recruiting material."

Elias wasn’t just experimenting on captured spirits. He was building an army of volunteers who believed in his vision of supernatural supremacy.

"What happened to those rat spirits?" Kane asked, dreading the answer. "They should still be in BSA containment, right?"

Ginsei’s pale eyes darkened. "That’s the problem. They’re all dead."

"Dead? How?"

"Unknown. They were stable in containment for a week, then they just... stopped. All of them, within hours of each other." Ginsei lowered his voice further.

"No signs of external trauma, no obvious cause of death. It’s like their bodies just gave up."

Kane felt ice forming in his stomach. "What did the autopsy reports show?"

"That’s just it—with Rina away on her ’vacation,’ nobody’s been able to properly analyze the remains. Agent Martinez tried, but he’s not equipped for supernatural forensics." Ginsei’s expression was grim.

"The bodies have been sitting in cold storage for weeks."

Kane stared at his desk, his mind racing.

Then, Kane shot up from his desk so abruptly that his chair rolled backward and hit the wall.

"Where are you going?" Ginsei called after him, but Kane was already striding toward the elevator.

He jabbed the button for the forensics level, his heart hammering against his ribs.

The elevator doors opened, and Kane practically sprinted down the sterile hallway to Rina’s lab.

"Kane?" Rina looked up from her microscope, startled.

"Back so soon? How did it go with Cyrus? You two looked tense at the restaurant—"

"Rina, not now." Kane’s voice was sharp with urgency. "I need to ask you about the Whispering Shard."

Her expression shifted immediately, professional focus replacing casual curiosity.

"The artifact you brought in from that black market raid? The one that you asked me to place in Evidence Lockup?"

"Yes, that one." Kane stepped closer, his amber eyes intense behind his glasses. "I need to see if it’s still there. In Evidence Lockup B-7, where we put it."

Rina frowned, setting down her microscope slides. "Kane, you know we’d usually need authorization from Commander Qi to retrieve anything from the evidence vaults. There’s a whole chain of custody protocol—"

"Please, Rina." Kane’s voice carried an edge of desperation. "I just need to know if it’s still secure."

Rina glanced toward the lab door, then back at Kane. Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"I’ll make an exception for you. But we do this quietly."

Kane nodded gratefully.

Rina led Kane through the BSA’s labyrinthine basement corridors, her keycard beeping at each checkpoint.

"You know, I always forget how deep this place goes," Rina murmured, swiping her card at another security door.

Kane nodded absently, but as they descended further into the evidence levels, familiar anticipation stirred in his chest.

This place was like a trophy room of his fieldwork—countless artifacts, weapons, and supernatural contraband he’d confiscated over the years.

Each secured item represented a case closed, a threat neutralized.

They passed Evidence Lockup B-3, where Kane had stored a banshee’s voice trapped in a music box. B-5 held the crystal skull that whispered prophecies in dead languages.

"Here we are," Rina announced, stopping at a heavy steel door marked "B-7."

Kane’s stomach tightened as Rina’s keycard beeped against the scanner. The magnetic locks disengaged with a heavy thunk.

"After you," she said, pushing open the door.

Kane stepped inside, scanning the shelves for the containment unit where they’d placed the Whispering Shard.

His heart sank.

The shelf was empty.

"I was afraid of this," he muttered.

Rina moved closer to examine the containment unit’s base, her enhanced senses now fully engaged.

"That’s strange, the seals are intact, and the ward signatures haven’t been disturbed."

She crouched down, running her fingers along the edges of the containment platform.

The mystical barriers that should have held the shard were still humming with power, perfectly functional.

"This doesn’t make sense," Rina continued, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"If someone broke in here, there would be traces. Forced entry leaves residual energy signatures, but everything looks..." She paused, her expression growing more troubled.

"Everything looks normal."

Kane wasn’t surprised. This wasn’t the first time this happened.