At seven in the evening.
153 Higgins Street, West District, Tin City.
This was where Professor Jeffrey's apartment was located. The atmosphere was exceptionally quiet, especially with two Ministry of Internal Affairs police officers standing guard outside the door.
Anyone who entered the apartment building would find at least two police officers stationed at the entrance to every floor.
Inside an apartment on the east side of the third floor of this elegant, upscale building.
The living room was packed with people, yet frighteningly quiet.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs officers wore grim expressions. Besides them, two Clovin Third Bureau investigators were also there, waiting with furrowed brows.
The Clovin agents were there because the Ministry of Internal Affairs police had requested their assistance with the investigation. In the Empire's administrative system, the Imperial Security Committee oversaw just about everything, but the department it dealt with most often was the Ministry of Internal Affairs police.
At that moment, Allen—the young teaching assistant in the History Department at Imperial Industrial University—sat hunched on the living-room sofa, clutching a glass of water in both hands without taking a sip. His whole body trembled uncontrollably, and his eyes were vacant. Clearly, he hadn't recovered from the horrifying scene beyond imagination in the study.
He was the one who had called the police. After discovering Professor Jeffrey's carbonized corpse, he had all but tumbled out of the apartment and run to the nearby police station, where he'd begged for help incoherently.
Later, when the officers realized the incident was beyond their ability to handle, they had no choice but to contact Clovin.
Just then, two men in dark gray trench coats, whose bearing set them apart from the surrounding police officers, entered the apartment.
The middle-aged man in front was around forty, with a resolute face, hawk-like eyes, and a steady stride. Kalieqin belonged to the Clovin Third Bureau's little-known Special Affairs Group.
The investigator behind him looked younger and tense, making a concerted effort to imitate his senior's composure.
Soon, the two Clovin agents from the Third Bureau came over to Kalieqin and gave him a brief report.
After hearing them out, Kalieqin swept his gaze across the living room, finally settling on the trembling Allen. His voice was low, but carried unquestionable authority. "Were you the first to discover the scene and call the police?"
Allen jolted like a startled rabbit and nodded. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He didn't know what he should say in response to the questions from the police and Clovin agents before him.
Kalieqin didn't ask anything else. His attention had already shifted to the study door, which stood ajar.
Even from a distance, his Inspiration could sense the deeply unsettling residual fluctuations coming from beyond the door.
He raised a hand, signaling for his young assistant, the surrounding police officers, and the two Clovin agents to stay where they were. Then he pushed open the door and entered alone.
Even with Kalieqin's experience and fortitude, the sight in the study made his pupils contract sharply.
Complete carbonization, an energy discharge on a scale that defied reason... This was no ordinary fire. And then there were those insidious residual fluctuations.
He stepped out of the study, his expression so dark it could have dripped water.
He looked at the Ministry of Internal Affairs officer in charge of the scene, his young assistant, and the other Clovin agents from his bureau. His voice was firm and decisive.
"Raise the containment level immediately! All residents of the apartment building must be confined inside. Do not let anyone leave, regardless of who they are."
He spoke in a cold, stern tone. "Evacuate everyone from an area extending at least a hundred meters from this building!
Extend the perimeter and establish a contamination buffer zone!
No one is to approach without a direct order from Clovin's higher-ups!"
He paused, then added, "Notify the bureau and report this up the chain. Ideally, the Special Affairs Bureau will send an execution team to handle it directly."
The orders were carried out immediately.
Kalieqin took a deep breath. The Third Bureau's single group didn't have nearly enough manpower to deal with a situation like this, especially since the rest of his group were already occupied with other assignments.
Clovin had eight execution bureaus, each with a Special Affairs Group. Senior investigators in these groups had the authority to deploy Clovin personnel directly—a level of authority on par with an execution bureau chief.
But in addition to its eight publicly known execution bureaus, Clovin also had a ninth bureau that wasn't publicly disclosed, known as the Special Affairs Bureau.
Every member of the Special Affairs Bureau was a senior investigator, just like Kalieqin.
Kalieqin had the junior investigator beside him write up the report. He dictated, "The scene contains extremely high-intensity Spiritual energy residue. Classified as a malignant Psionic loss-of-control incident. Contamination level at least Beta, possibly higher.
"Source—suspected to be connected to the late Professor Jeffrey Gito.
"Requesting the highest level of attention and recommending activation of the interdepartmental coordination protocol."
This was the basic report. Next, he would try to use Inspiration to assess the precise extent of the Psionic contamination.
He told the junior investigator to move farther away and barred him from entering the study.
The difference between a junior investigator and a senior investigator was that senior investigators had learned to control their Inspiration, while junior investigators, though trained, still needed to improve their control. If the latter entered the study rashly, he could suffer Inspiration contamination. Even worse, he might lose control of his Psionic abilities.
When Kalieqin entered the study alone again, he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing, using his innate Inspiration, honed through brutal training, to sense his surroundings.
In an instant, his "field of vision" changed.
First came complete darkness. Then, within it, a dark-red Spiritual residue spread like viscous, tainted blood, forming the study's basic outline.
The air seemed to warp. Countless faint, frenzied whispers pricked at his consciousness like needles, trying to bore their way in.
Across the carbonized walls, floor, and ceiling were imprinted countless twisted, non-Euclidean patterns, scars left behind by contamination from an extremely dense concentration of Psionic energy.
He could even sense several indistinct "gazes," seemingly made of pure malice, directed at the room from an indescribable dimension, filled with greed and a desire to destroy.
"Damn it..." Kalieqin muttered, slowly backing toward the study's exit. Fine beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead.
That brief contact alone had left his soul trembling from the madness that lingered.
But then Kalieqin noticed something was wrong. Why was a shaft of light extending behind him? He slowly turned, focusing his Inspiration straight ahead.
It was the man who had discovered the scene and called the police right away. Above the man's head was a pair of radiant... "eyes"!
At that moment, those eyes were watching him with keen interest!
"Ah!!!"
Kalieqin suddenly screamed and fell to the floor, clamping both hands over his eyes.
But it was no use... Covering his eyes was merely a bodily reflex. His Inspiration hadn't shut down in time, and he was still involuntarily observing those terrifying eyes.
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