Chapter 80: Appointed as an Observer

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...

Victor quickly took out the damaged disc in his possession and compared it with the small piece of silver metal through the evidence box.

The edge patterns, the six extending lines, and even the fractured section all matched.

"This is the disc’s missing section," Albert said. "Elena hid the damaged disc inside her storage ring, and I found this piece beside the second sealed door."

Victor stared at the damaged disc and the small metal piece.

Until now, he had assumed that the silver disc had simply been damaged during a research accident.

But now, there was at least one other possibility.

Someone had deliberately broken it apart.

As for why they had done so, and why the two pieces had been stored separately...

The answer was probably behind the second sealed door underground.

"Don’t put them together yet," Albert warned. "I’ve already had magical engineers inspect them. If we aren’t careful, we might alert someone."

"I’m not that impatient." Victor put the damaged disc away.

He certainly wanted to know what was inside.

But there was no reason to assemble an unknown research device on the spot.

Especially when they already knew this entire matter involved soul control, artificial life, and Astral contamination.

Albert continued, "Tomorrow, I’ll organize an official investigation team and return to Observation Station C. This time, we won’t use the academy’s ordinary maintenance procedures. I’ll bring imperial inspectors with us directly."

Victor nodded. This was what a vice dean should actually be doing. With the royal family serving as external oversight, at the very least, it would make things much harder for anyone who wanted to continue deleting records.

But just as the two of them were about to continue discussing the matter, the communication crystal in the office suddenly lit up and Cecilia’s voice came through.

"Albert."

"What?"

"The Safety Committee responded."

Victor looked up, a curious light in his eyes.

Albert quickly opened the communication publicly.

"What’s the result?"

After a brief silence, Cecilia transmitted the official decision.

[Third Enclosed Ecological Zone Review Request: Accepted.]

[Current evidence is insufficient to demonstrate that the ecological zone as a whole poses a direct safety threat.]

[Freshman Practical Screening will proceed as originally scheduled.]

[The three Mana Core Badges will remain.]

Albert’s expression darkened completely.

"They haven’t even finished inspecting the site, and they dare make that conclusion?"

"I already filed an objection," Cecilia replied. "But there’s another supplementary decision."

Victor looked toward the crystal. "What?"

Cecilia’s voice sounded somewhat strange.

"The Safety Committee is allowing you to send one additional supervisor into the outer monitoring station of the Third Ecological Zone. But that person cannot interfere with the normal freshman screening or directly enter the official examination area."

Victor raised an eyebrow when he heard this. At least that proved the board wasn’t stupid enough to completely ignore appearances.

But why would they reject the request to suspend the screening while simultaneously volunteering an additional supervisory position?

Albert clearly had the same question in his mind.

"Who gets the position?" he asked a moment later.

Cecilia was silent for two seconds.

"It’s already been assigned."

Victor suddenly had a bad feeling about this. Sure enough, a moment later, a temporary supervisory authorization appeared in the center of the desk.

[Third Enclosed Ecological Zone Freshman Practical Screening]

[Temporary Observer: Victor Alves.]

[Identity: Second Year Academy Student.]

[Authorization: Access to Outer Monitoring Areas.]

[Restriction: May Not Voluntarily Enter the Official Examination Area.]

[Authorization Source: Academy Safety Committee.]

Victor finished reading it, his face complicated.

Albert frowned as well. "Why would they appoint you?"

"Who knows?"

Victor put away his identity card. But an answer had already vaguely formed in his mind.

Elias had said before that even though Victor wasn’t a first year student, he would eventually enter that screening.

At the time, Victor had assumed Elias had simply seen, through some method, something that might happen in the future.

Now it seemed at least someone had already begun actively creating the conditions for Victor’s involvement.

First, give him a seemingly safe position as an outside observer.

Then, as long as something serious enough happened inside, it would be easy to turn him from a mere observer into someone genuinely dragged into the incident.

But the other side seemed to have overlooked one thing.

Victor did indeed enjoy investing.

And he certainly didn’t mind taking risks for sufficiently large returns.

But he had never said that just because someone else arranged an opportunity for him in advance, he would obediently follow their script.

Victor picked up the authorization, glanced over its restrictions once more, then placed it into his storage ring.

"Since they delivered it to me... I’ll keep it for now."

"What are you planning this time?" Albert looked at him.

"Nothing."

Victor raised his head.

"I just suddenly think the freshman screening the day after tomorrow might become even livelier than they originally planned."

...

At the same time, in the outer district of Starlight Royal Academy, on the top floor of the old clock tower.

A young man wearing a gray cloak sat beside a broken window, looking down at the newly issued notice concerning adjustments to the Third Ecological Zone screening.

This person was Elias.

He read it for a while. Then his gaze fell upon the final temporary supervisory authorization.

[Victor Alves.]

"They still included him..." Elias murmured.

He didn’t appear particularly surprised. He merely flipped the document over and looked at a tiny symbol that should never have appeared on this document.

A circle with six black lines passing through its center.

A trace of change appeared in the man’s otherwise calm eyes.

"They even reactivated the Third Ecological Zone." He slowly closed the notice. "Looks like someone isn’t planning to wait any longer."

Outside the window, the setting sun over Starlight City was gradually sinking beyond the distant walls.

Elias did not continue watching it because he understood better than anyone. The real problem this time wasn’t that the screening had been moved to the Third Ecological Zone.

It was that someone had finally begun to realize that Victor Alves, who was originally supposed to continue along a predetermined path, was becoming increasingly difficult to force back into his original position.

"Stop making decisions based on the future you know, Victor." He spoke softly. "That road... Someone prepared it for you a long time ago."