Tower

More than ten minutes later, the shrill wail of sirens tore through the silence of the rainy night. A hovering police cruiser flashing with cold blue light landed precisely before Groni Clinic.

Several officers stepped out, subdued the terrified Gos Groni, and launched a thorough search of the clinic. They uncovered records of gray-market transactions hidden inside certain Magic Guide Terminals, protected by multiple layers of encryption and disguised as ordinary bills.

The records involved shoddy counterfeit medicine, addictive drug deals, illegal weapons sales, Restricted Spell transactions, and much more. The sheer number of crimes was appalling.

With those transaction records exposed, along with the evidence supplied by a mysterious anonymous informant, Gos—who had been smug and overbearing only moments ago—collapsed as though struck by lightning. He was roughly dragged into the police cruiser and met the same fate as Regal Hoffman.

In a dark street corner outside the clinic, Rosaline stood beneath an umbrella, staring blankly at the sudden turn of events. "Teacher... was this your doing?"

Ivette gave a slight nod. "In Blackwater District, as long as someone isn't a saint, they'll be involved with gray industries to some extent. It only depends on how well they hide it. And unfortunately for them, I'm very good at digging up such things."

Like Rosaline, Ivette had been deeply interested in the anonymous informant who had reported the Hoffmans and torn their family apart.

Especially since the report had occurred one month after she joined the clinic. During that month, rumors of a "beautiful young nurse" had drawn quite a few new patients to Regal's clinic. That made her suspect that if she had not suddenly requested to stay at the clinic as an observer, that unexpected report might never have happened.

So, using her Rune Hacking Technology, Ivette directly traced the sending address of the anonymous report received by the police station. It was at Groni Clinic, only 1.5 kilometers away—completely undisguised, with no awareness of counter-surveillance whatsoever.

Combined with the information she had gathered from Mrs. Susan, the answer became obvious at once.

This had undoubtedly been a straightforward case of competition between rivals. Gos had likely known for a long time that Regal had been practicing medicine without a license. But back then, Gos's clinic had a decent number of customers, with higher income and profit margins than Regal's, and he had been more relaxed besides. So he had not bothered to report Regal and make an enemy of him.

Recently, however, because of "someone," Regal had gained many new patients. Naturally, that was business taken from Gos. Although his income was still higher than Regal's, Gos could not sit still as he watched his clinic grow increasingly deserted. He sent an anonymous email reporting Hoffman Clinic.

And that led to what happened today.

To some extent, Ivette really could be considered the trigger behind the entire chain of events.

But it was certainly not her fault. Helping the Hoffmans find the informant and retaliating in the same manner had only been out of sympathy and disgust for Gos. She could not ensure that good people were rewarded, but she could make life less comfortable for bad people.

Besides, this was also a rare opportunity for her student to grow.

After all, in that wasteland world where there had only been the two of them, circumstances had made it impossible for Rosaline to experience many of the setbacks necessary to grow from childishness into maturity.

Now, through this great dream, she had finally made up for a little of that. She had at least fulfilled a small part of her responsibility as a teacher.

The autumn night's torrential rain came quickly and left just as quickly. They had barely taken a few steps on their way back when the sky cleared. The dark clouds dispersed, revealing a silver crescent moon and scattered starlight that formed a hazy, magnificent Milky Way.

At some point, Rosaline had already become the umbrella bearer. She folded it away and followed behind her teacher step by step.

Looking at the unfamiliar starry sky, so utterly different from her homeland's, she suddenly cleared her throat and asked tentatively, in a shy and awkward tone, "Teacher, did you... investigate Doctor Gos because of me?"

"No." Ivette's reply was utterly calm, and she did not slow her pace.

"Really?" Rosaline jogged a few steps to catch up, turning sideways to look at Ivette's elegant jawline. The suspicion in her voice was impossible to conceal.

She still felt that her teacher must have done it for her. After all, her teacher was a reclusive master who had weathered countless storms and long since seen through worldly affairs. She had even specifically reminded Rosaline that everything in the dream was false. Yet Rosaline had remained hung up on it, forcing her teacher to step in personally and dispel the obsession in her heart.

"No." Ivette was unequivocal.

"Then that means yes!" Rosaline shot back just as firmly.

"No."

"Yes!"

"..."

Ivette glanced at her, closed her mouth, and fell completely silent.

Rosaline did not mind. She chuckled and strode briskly toward Wright Apartment.

A few days later, news of Gos being taken away by the police spread through Acid Street. Many people who had long known the truth behind the report, such as Susan, Hans, and Mary, could not help applauding in satisfaction.

Then, just as things had played out before, Groni Clinic also went bankrupt amid the scandal.

But unlike before, no one visited Gos's relatives to offer condolences. And in terms of sentencing, Gos was far less fortunate—his illegal activities and gray-market dealings might have been small-scale, but there had been too many of them. In the end, he was sentenced to twelve years, twice as long as Greer's six-year sentence.

On the evening of Gos's trial, the setting sun glowed like molten gold, coating the apartment's broad window frame in a soft halo. Rosaline leaned by the window, watching Mrs. Susan busily working at her roadside stall below, but her mood was completely different from before.

"Teacher, Hans told me that the reason Mr. Regal Hoffman only received six years was because a 'kind person' paid the judge and jury a sum of money. But he doesn't know who did it, because so many people came to visit the family back then."

"Mm."

"Was that you, Teacher?"

"What do you think?" Ivette sat on the sofa, reading the text on the holographic screen without looking up as she asked indifferently.

"I think it definitely was."

"Why?"

"Because you said you would buy me the newest Magic Guide Terminal, Teacher, but you still haven't saved enough money." Rosaline pulled a long face, then could not help sneaking a glance at her teacher's expression. "Um, I'm not hinting at anything. Absolutely not."

The corners of Ivette's lips lifted slightly. She lowered her eyes and did not respond.

In previous conversations with her student, she had made it very clear that her 500,000 credit points were to be used to purchase the Elemental Decay Completion Technology. So she could not possibly have spare money to help the Hoffmans.

But the truth was that Welder had found new clients in neighboring Grayport City. After buying the professional books, Ivette still had a sum of money left over. Half of it had been used to smooth over connections, reducing Regal's sentence from a minimum of ten years to six.

So where had the other half gone?

Well, considering that Gos had hired an expensive lawyer yet still received a heavy sentence, the answer seemed quite clear.

Though she received no response from Ivette, it still seemed to count as an answer. Rosaline lowered her head in satisfaction and continued watching the street scene below the apartment.

Then she saw Briel, dressed in a finely made, perfectly tailored Black Tower Middle School uniform, suddenly appear by the roadside with two followers. They looked around as if searching for someone. After finding nothing, they ran to Mrs. Susan's stall and each ordered a pancake with egg and sausage. They ate as they walked away.

The twilight fell over the three elite children as they walked and chatted, casting long shadows across the filthy road.

Rosaline smiled at the sight. Just as she was about to say something to her teacher, she suddenly saw the world before her turn unreal. The familiar wallpaper, window frame, and noisy street below all slowly rippled and melted away like an oil painting submerged in warm water, becoming swirls of hazy, dazzling color like rippling water.

"It's over." Ivette, dressed in a pure white gown, rose to her feet and walked behind her. A brand-new magic ring was on her slender fingers. Within it were professional documents worth 500,000 credit points, as well as the key to the manor's future energy supply.

"Mm, it's over..." Rosaline murmured distractedly.

That evening, the two returned to the real world. Riding their nearly scrapped Magitech Motorcycle, they traveled from Blackwater District back to the manor in Central District.

As they passed the ruins of the Black Tower Building, broken and covered in lush green plants yet still towering overhead, Rosaline sat in the passenger seat and could not help lifting her face to stare in a daze.

She remembered that, for Hans and Mary, the Hoffmans' greatest hope had been for them to advance from Black Tower Middle School into the corresponding university, then enter Black Tower Pharmaceuticals, earn promotions, and rise to prominence at the very top of Ish City.

That was the limit of the Hoffmans' imagination for a beautiful future, and such a scene would almost certainly never happen again.

A wave of sadness rose within her. She thought that if one day she could cross the Remnant Abyss and return to her homeland, she would build a tower there too.

But not a black tower. A white tower—a tower like a lighthouse, capable of driving away all darkness in the night.

A tower like her teacher.