Chapter 74: A Meeting

An hour later, in the vice dean’s conference room, the Seventh Trial Ground accident had been contained within the academy. Ordinary students had only been told that an experimental magical beast facility had malfunctioned and that the freshman screening needed a new location.

The deaths of eleven researchers, the artificial Astral vessel, and the Abyss Induction Crystal had all been classified at the highest level.

Only four people were in the room: Albert, Cecilia, Victor, and Leah.

Spread across the center of the table was a magical map that clearly had not been used in years.

\[Third Enclosed Ecological Zone\]

The zone was almost half again as large as the Seventh Magical Beast Trial Ground. Its layout was entirely different, too. It was not simply a forest, but a combination of woodland, rocky valleys, wetlands, and underground caverns. Numerous old research facilities that had ceased operating were scattered throughout.

One glance was enough for Victor to understand why it had once been used for magical beast ecology experiments.

It was complex, enclosed, and suitable for simulating different environments at once.

From the perspective of a student screening, however, it also meant poorer visibility, more blind spots, and more opportunities for someone to interfere.

"How does the badge competition work?" Victor asked.

Albert checked the new proposal.

"Almost nothing has changed. Four hundred and twenty seven first year students. Six hours of survival inside the zone. Three Mana Core Badges. Whoever holds them at the end directly qualifies for the academy’s core training program."

Of course. They had not even removed that part.

Victor studied the map. "Where will the badges be placed?"

"That hasn’t been announced."

"Who places them?"

Albert turned to the next page and fell silent.

Victor looked up. "What is it?"

"The proposal requires the Magical Beast Research Institute and the safety committee to place all three badges two hours before the screening begins," the vice dean said coldly.

Cecilia tapped the table. "What if we demand another inspection of the badges?"

"We can," Albert said. "But the badges themselves aren’t the problem."

They all knew it. Once the people behind the previous incident had placed an Abyss Induction Crystal inside the Star Devouring Shadow Beast, they had proved they could change their plan whenever they wanted.

Even if all three badges were clean, they could hide something inside a magical beast, bury it underground, or leave it in one of the old research facilities.

There was no way to search every inch of the Third Ecological Zone in so little time.

"Cancel the screening," Leah said suddenly.

The others looked at her. She was watching Albert.

"If we’re sure something is wrong, why not cancel it? Won’t that fix everything?"

It was the simplest question, and the most reasonable one.

Albert was silent for a few seconds. "Because we have no evidence that the Third Ecological Zone is dangerous."

Leah frowned. "What happened at the Seventh Trial Ground isn’t enough?"

"That proves someone tampered with the Seventh Trial Ground. The board has already used it as grounds to change locations." Albert shook his head. "To cancel the entire freshman combat screening, I have to show why the new location is unsafe too."

"Tell them it’s connected to my mother."

"A connection isn’t proof of danger," Albert said. He was stating the situation, not arguing with her. "Besides, the screening isn’t decided solely within the academy. Places in the core training program, student ratings, and the resources allocated afterward have already been arranged. It can be canceled, but we need more direct evidence."

Victor understood what he was trying to say. An academy with hundreds of students could not overturn every formal arrangement based on the suspicions of a few people.

The people behind this were taking advantage of those rules. They had covered their tracks well enough that every separate incident lacked the final piece of proof.

"Then we investigate," Victor said.

Albert looked at him. "What?"

"We investigate the Third Ecological Zone."

"Now?"

"Of course. But we start with the records." Victor pointed to the edge of the map. "The last group of researchers there. Reports on the magical beast abnormalities. Entry and exit logs from the day it was sealed. Everyone who’s maintained the site over the past month."

His finger moved to the northern side.

"Especially the areas connected to Elena."

Albert raised no objection. Cecilia began gathering everything available through the royal archives.

Leah studied the dense cluster of names marking the old facilities. Then her gaze stopped.

"Here."

Victor turned. "What about it?"

She pointed to a modest building in the northeast.

\[Old Ecological Observation Station C\]

"I’ve been there."

Even Albert froze. "When?"

"When I was little." Leah frowned, searching for a memory from long ago. "I think I was eight or nine. Mother brought me to the academy once. There was no one to look after me, so she told me to wait in a room."

"I didn’t know where I was at the time." She kept staring at the map. "But I remember a white stone tower outside the window. Half of it had broken off."

Albert enlarged the map. West of Observation Station C stood an abandoned weather tower.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Leah nodded slowly. "And... I think I saw someone there."

"Who?" Victor asked.

"I don’t remember his face."

"A man?"

"Yes."

"How old?"

"I was so little that everyone seemed old to me."

"Anything else you remember?"

Leah closed her eyes. A long while passed.

"Gloves. Black gloves. On his right hand. There was a symbol on one of them."

The room fell quiet.

Victor had an idea of what she was about to describe but didn’t jump to a conclusion yet.

"What symbol?"

Leah raised her hand and slowly drew a circle on the table.

Inside the ring, six lines passed through a star.

It was identical to the mark Zero had left behind before her death.

Albert shot to his feet. "Are you certain?"

His reaction startled Leah. "I think..."

"Don’t ask her to be certain," Victor interrupted.

It was a memory from when she was eight or nine. No one could expect her to recall it as clearly as something that happened yesterday. The fact that such a distinctive symbol had stayed with her was reason enough to investigate.

"Observation Station C," Victor said to Albert. "Did Elena go there often?"

The vice dean pulled up the old records. Seconds later, the answer appeared.

[User: Elena Vane.]

[Access count: 47.]

Forty seven visits... That was no occasional stop.

"There’s someone else," Cecilia said, looking up from another file.

"Devin Hall."

Everyone turned toward her.

"His last recorded location inside the academy before he disappeared was Observation Station C."