"Huh?"
He Yi and Shen Ming both froze.
"My father... used to work at the Base Construction Bureau..."
Jiang Mian explained softly:
"Six years ago, he encountered a rare Mist Tide during a mission..."
He Yi had worked in this Base City for nearly twenty years and knew the place like the back of his hand.
At that, he instantly realized which accident she meant.
Six years ago, the city had made its first attempt to establish a special passage to Base City No. 143. But something had gone wrong, and they had encountered a rampage of Mist Creatures.
The strongest among them... had been a Fifth-tier Calamity.
At the time, the highest-ranked member of the Awakened escort team had only just reached the Fourth-tier, though he was still one of the top experts in Base City No. 144.
When they'd suddenly come face-to-face with the Calamity, they hadn't stood a chance. As a result... not a single person had survived.
Seeing the two men fall silent, Jiang Mian continued on her own:
"My mother... was a nurse at West City Hospital. The year before last, an unprecedented epidemic broke out in the city. She..."
Jiang Mian didn't continue, but the outcome was obvious.
Her memories of her parents in this world told her that this was the truth.
In her Previous Life, her own parents had died for much the same reasons. She hadn't expected to escape that fate in this world, either.
Remembering that, she couldn't help but let some genuine emotion show.
She didn't cry again. She just sat there in silence, looking utterly dejected.
He Yi felt as if something were stuck in his throat. He had no idea how to comfort her, so he silently took Jiang Mian's file from the document bag.
The space for relatives was blank.
He searched through the records for a while before finding Jiang Mian's parents' files and confirming that what she'd said was true.
"I'm sorry."
He Yi hadn't expected the situation to be like this. No wonder Jiang Mian seemed so well-behaved, yet was so determined to Awaken. She must have felt terribly insecure.
I'm such a bastard...
He couldn't help wanting to slap himself, his heart heavy with guilt.
At this point, even without Jiang Mian saying much, the two men had filled in the blanks themselves, finding a perfectly reasonable explanation for her behavior.
She quickly recovered from her emotions. It was a shame, but life still had to go on.
"Officer..."
Jiang Mian's voice was faint, and she looked exhausted.
It had already been late when she left home. She'd planned to buy the potion quickly and head back, but then those cops had raided the Mobile Black Market and taken everyone in.
Jiang Mian had wanted to slip away in the chaos, but the place had been surrounded. All she could do was pretend to be an innocent girl and let them bring her in.
"I want to go home..." she murmured.
"Of course. You can go."
At her words, He Yi hurried to his feet. He checked the time. It was already half past two in the morning.
"It's very late. We'll take you home."
"Huh?"
Jiang Mian instinctively refused, seeming a little embarrassed.
"No need to trouble you, officers. I... I don't live very far away..."
"It's no trouble. It's our job."
Shen Ming chimed in, "Besides, it's not safe for a girl to go home alone this late."
He Yi nodded and looked down at Jiang Mian, guilt rising in his heart once more.
Her parents had died in the line of duty. She lived alone and had just suffered the blow of failing to Awaken...
This girl had been through too much.
"Let's go."
He Yi opened the interrogation room door and led her outside.
"The West District isn't exactly peaceful at night. We'll feel better if we take you home."
The Public Security Bureau had a decent deterrent effect across the city as a whole, but the West District was a tangled mess, and there were always places beyond their reach.
"...Thank you, officers."
Jiang Mian nodded shyly, while inwardly letting out a sigh of relief.
She knew the two men had finally come to trust her.
But next time, she'd have to be more careful. Otherwise... if she got caught again, she wouldn't be able to explain herself no matter what.
Jiang Mian got into the car with the two men and sat alone in the back, watching the cityscape fly past outside.
The Public Security Bureau was on a main road, so at least the basic streetlights were there. But as they approached Jiang Mian's home, the light grew noticeably dimmer.
With energy in short supply, it was reserved for the places that needed it most. No lights were set up in remote areas like this.
By the light shining in from a distance, Shen Ming could just make out the outlines of the run-down buildings. The neighborhood was even worse than he'd imagined.
"You... have always lived here?"
Shen Ming turned to look at the girl in the back seat and couldn't help asking.
"No."
Jiang Mian shook her head. She glanced at the apartment building drawing closer and seemed to sense Shen Ming's confusion, so she explained:
"After they died, the compensation money those people gave me... by the time it reached my hands, there was hardly anything left."
"I still owed money on the house, so I had to sell it and move here. It's far away, but the rent is cheap."
She seemed to find it hard to talk about, but still explained in a low voice:
"I don't have much time to work, and I still have tuition to pay. To save up for an Awakening Potion, I had no other choice."
Jiang Mian's voice was calm. She wasn't deliberately playing for sympathy, but that only made her words hit the two men harder.
Even with the subsidy, an Awakening Potion cost 150,000. Suppressors from the Black Market, even the degraded kind, went for as much as 20,000 apiece, and each one only lasted half a month.
Besides... her parents had been dead for years, and Jiang Mian had plenty of other expenses. With no other option, she'd had to give up the house.
He Yi drove without a word, glancing at the residential area around them.
This was one of the West District's infamous "old, run-down, and tiny" neighborhoods. Its infrastructure was outdated and its transient population enormous. A pretty young woman living alone here...
"We're here. This is the place."
Jiang Mian's voice interrupted his thoughts.
As soon as the car stopped, she opened the door and got out.
"Thank you."
Just as she was about to leave, He Yi called out to her.
"Wait."
He held a business card with his contact information out through the window.
"Take this. If you run into trouble in the future, or someone gives you a hard time, you can contact me."
Jiang Mian paused, then took the card.
"Thank you, Captain He."
She thanked him and slipped the card into her pocket.
"Go on home. Remember to lock the doors and windows."
Jiang Mian nodded, turned, and walked into the apartment building's entrance, disappearing into the shadows.
He Yi sighed. His instincts told him something wasn't quite right, but... surely she couldn't be an Aberrant?
He'd seen plenty of Aberrants. From the moment they Awakened, their minds were already unstable, and they could barely control their own violent impulses.
If they took a Suppressor, their emotions would be somewhat muted.
Jiang Mian's behavior couldn't have been more different.
Besides... her parents had sacrificed their lives for the city's development. Wearing this Public Security uniform, he couldn't bring himself to assume the worst about a girl like her.
Maybe he was just overthinking it.
He could "check in" on her from time to time when he had the chance.
"Captain He?"
Seeing that He Yi still hadn't started the car, Shen Ming asked in confusion.
"Let's head back. Get tonight's statements in order. We still have to interrogate the people involved."
Among the people they'd arrested this time were buyers, sellers, and makers.
Someone like Jiang Mian stood out like a sheep among wolves.
"Understood."
Before you continue