Funeral

"This exchange went very well. You are truly worthy of being the eldest son of the William family." Lieutenant General Ricky patted William on the shoulder, acting with great familiarity.

"Phew, compared to facing an existence like the Holy Infant, I would much rather return to the investigation team to process those files," William said, offering a relieved smile while speaking against his true feelings.

In reality, he would have preferred to stay there and continue interacting with the Holy Infant; the intelligence gained that way was of the highest caliber.

"Speaking of the investigation team," Ricky straightened his expression, "the higher-ups and the authorities here are planning to establish a department independent of the Metropolitan Police Department. Its primary mission will be to handle supernatural phenomena similar to what we are seeing now."

William remained silent for a few seconds before asking, "Do the higher-ups feel that these incidents will become increasingly frequent in the future?"

"They have that concern, so it is only a draft for now. We will continue to operate under the current investigation team model, but we need to increase our personnel. Additionally, we are establishing sub-groups. Those conglomerates also want to insert quite a few people of their own—heh, we shall see how the higher-ups handle that."

After the two discussed a few more matters regarding the investigation team, William was granted the afternoon off.

His initial reason for joining the investigation team was merely because the Lieutenant General was very interested in "suspected supernatural abilities." He had been assigned to the team because he was familiar with Japanese language and culture and was known for his affability, effectively acting as eyes and ears.

He had performed this role faithfully, rarely questioning the decisions made by Noguchi or Kuroki.

However, it now seemed that the Lieutenant General hoped he would play a more active role within the investigation team; establishing sub-groups was preparation for the future department.

While deep in thought, William arrived at the gym. For the past few days, he had been here to train his control over Steel Body.

In his view, no matter how powerful an ability was, it carried great risk if it could not be controlled.

Especially after learning about the "loss of control" incidents involving Sato Gafeng and Sato Tomomi—perhaps this was the price of power?

The thought had barely surfaced before he easily dismissed it. This should only be one of the costs; otherwise, this power would have come too easily.

It was like that joke: If someone offered you a million dollars, would you dare to drink urine? The respondent, feeling uneasy, asks, "Should I eat two mouthfuls of feces as well? Otherwise, I won't feel secure taking the money."

Fortunately, although he trained constantly, he generally still looked young. After taking the Holy Son Pill, he had stopped shaving, and he applied a bit of makeup every day to make himself look slightly older. This hadn't aroused suspicion from others; they merely thought he had become slovenly lately, or attributed it to his heavy workload.

Noguchi Yuji, for instance, looked as if he had aged ten years due to the pressure and continuous work during this period.

This time, it appeared that Shiraishi Wataru had been fleeced, but in reality, the information was fabricated anyway. He didn't dare to make it too specific, keeping things as vague as possible, and at certain moments, he would put on expressions he didn't even understand himself, leaving them to guess on their own.

This would split the opponent's research path, making the possibility of them tracing it back to him even smaller.

More importantly, he had obtained a piece of implicit information: even the Americans had no real understanding of the existence of superpowered individuals.

Perhaps they were acting, but Shiraishi Wataru had time to verify it slowly—whether this world was truly one where he alone held the law.

If that were the case, then the entire planet could be viewed as an experimental field.

In a good mood, Shiraishi Wataru reached his hand out toward the window. The sky was overcast; this was the norm during the rainy season. He flattened his hand, slowly turned it over, and pressed down.

A dull rumble of thunder echoed.

The cemetery.

Noguchi Yuji recalled the time before he was a section chief, when Department Head Odagiri, upon hearing of his high case-clearance rate, had happily patted him on the shoulder and said: "Whenever I see talent like you, Yuji, I feel that the country will never lose hope! And neither will I!"

"Have I let you down?"

Noguchi Yuji stared blankly at the sky. Raindrops fell, gradually intensifying, slamming against his cheeks and masking his tears.

A black umbrella blocked his view of the sky.

"The funeral is over. Are you returning to the investigation team?" Kuroki Niizumi asked.

Noguchi Yuji instinctively wanted to say he would stay a while longer, but she added, "If we return together, we can save on guard strength and get more done."

He was silent for a moment. "Alright, let's go back together."

After walking a few steps, he looked back, but Odagiri's tombstone was already out of sight.

He took the umbrella from Kuroki Niizumi's hand, shielding them both, and walked toward the parked car without breaking his stride.

"What angle do you intend to use as a breakthrough? The current attitude of the higher-ups is ambiguous; they don't seem to support us going head-to-head with the Holy Infant Society," Kuroki Niizumi said.

"Regardless of what they think, they will always need a deterrent against a dangerous individual who is unrestrained, possesses incredible individual power, and has a history of killing officials. If we want to persuade them, we should focus on a 'decapitation strike.' Those people will be afraid," Noguchi Yuji analyzed.

Kuroki Niizumi nodded. "Nakai Hayato is indeed an extremely dangerous target, as is that 'Dharma Protector'."

"Have they tried threatening the Holy Infant's avatar to make those two surrender?"

"Impossible. I heard the Holy Infant has become an important guest of the higher-ups. Unless it's a last resort, they won't use that tactic," Kuroki Niizumi shook her head bitterly. "No one knows how important this avatar is to the Holy Infant, and in truth, they actually had the chance to take the Holy Infant away that day."

"You mean they left the Holy Infant behind on purpose, or the Holy Infant stayed behind on purpose?" Noguchi Yuji looked thoughtful.

If they had left him behind on purpose, it could be said that they couldn't actually control him, and that there was discord between the Holy Infant and the Holy Infant Society. If the Holy Infant had requested to stay, it meant he also wanted to make contact with the authorities and had some leverage.

Considering these two aspects, threatening the Holy Infant to make the two surrender was indeed a low-priority option.

"Right, so for now, we can disregard the Holy Infant side; we basically can't get any help from there," Kuroki Niizumi stated her direction. "I intend to adjust the internal structure of the investigation team first. As it happens, many factions want to insert people, and we do need more hands."

"Fine. I will be responsible for following up on the status of those who took the pill and tracking other believers. For that paranoid teenager who escaped earlier, I will use his mother to pressure him. We must do our best to build our own 'supernatural unit,'" Noguchi Yuji said with self-mockery. "Even if this power originates from the enemy."

"Mm. William will act with you. We must have him involved," Kuroki Niizumi said pointedly.

"William. He is very different from the other Americans I've met. Working with him is quite pleasant; at least he won't hold us back, and the last incident was just an accident." Noguchi Yuji understood what Kuroki meant. William was the representative of the Americans; he had to be involved in projects where he could know the progress and decisions. It was a necessary and helpless compromise.

During their conversation, the two had arrived at the motorcade.

"You take the lead car and get some rest on the way. You look as haggard as an old man," Kuroki Niizumi joked before walking to her own car.

Noguchi Yuji closed his umbrella, got into the car, forcibly suppressed his chaotic thoughts, and closed his eyes.