Vengeful Spirits

"Ow, ow, ow..."

Just as Wain was watching Lacy one-sidedly beat Marco with great interest, a voice came from beside him.

"Three heads?"

Three heads? Is she talking about me?

How is that possible... Didn't they say no one except the wizards in the school could discover Little Ashi's existence?

How had someone seen through it already?

"Are you an aberrant?" Before he could react, that voice rang out again.

Wain turned his head and saw a white-haired girl standing beside him at some point, staring at him expressionlessly.

Was she the shut-in girl from the photo?

She looked exactly the same as in the photo: pale pink, shoulder-length hair, very fair skin, and a cute face.

But her flaws were just as obvious. Her eyes were large but empty and lifeless, and she was short, not even 1.6 meters... Mm, and flat as a board.

"No, I'm not."

The white-haired girl's hollow eyes fixed on him. "You're not?"

"I'm really not!"

Being stared at by her made Wain uncomfortable all over, as if someone had a gun pressed to his head. He almost turned and fled through the door.

What he did not know was that the two Little Ashis perched on his head also had looks of terror on their faces.

"Tina, he's the investigator who just came to our Division One, Wain Loft."

At that moment, Lacy, who had already vented her anger, walked over and introduced them. "Wain, this is Tina, Tina Klosterman."

Tina did not respond. She still looked up at Wain, and only nodded after a long while. "Tina understands."

Wain let out a breath of relief. "Hello, Tina."

Although this white-haired girl named Tina looked harmless enough, she was genuinely frightening, especially those eyes.

Over there, Marco rubbed his cheek and asked, "Tina, you're late again."

"Mm."

Tina nodded expressionlessly, then walked around them to the innermost desk and placed the case in her hand on it.

Lacy patted Wain on the shoulder. "Don't mind it, Wain. Tina's just a little... mm, cold by nature. She isn't targeting you."

Marco echoed, "That's right. I've been partnered with Tina for so long, and she's always been like this."

"I understand, Captain Lacy, Senior Marco."

"Calling me senior makes us sound like strangers. I was joking with you just now."

Marco, his head covered in bumps, laughed loudly. "But my proposal just now was serious. If we team up, we'll definitely—"

Bang!

"You're not allowed to lead Wain astray."

Lacy casually punched him, then asked, "How's the situation in the slums? Did the investigation turn up anything?"

Marco clutched his head and squatted on the floor, the pain nearly bringing tears to his eyes.

"Yes. It's with Tina..."

Wain looked at him sympathetically, feeling even more pleased inside.

His colleagues in Investigation Division One were all talented people.

With a colleague like this who was good at initiating fights, his days would be much more comfortable from now on.

When in doubt, just dump the blame on Marco... Perfect!

Lacy looked toward the white-haired girl inside. "Tina?"

"Tina brought it."

Tina opened the case, her entire person blocked by the desk and the case. Then one hand reached out. "Parchment."

"Very good."

Lacy took the parchment and opened it directly. "Let me see what bastard is behind—"

Wain stood at the side and watched her as well.

The case in the slums?

It couldn't be that disappearance case involving three hundred people, could it?

Marco shouted, "Don't!"

But it was too late. After the parchment in Lacy's hand became flat, a wisp of black smoke slowly rose.

"Damn it!"

Lacy hurriedly threw the parchment away, and a two-handed axe instantly appeared in her hand. "Marco, couldn't you have said that earlier?"

Marco did not answer. Instead, he stared at the parchment. "Tina!!"

By sheer coincidence, the parchment had been thrown at the white-haired girl's feet.

The white-haired girl shut the chest and looked at Marco, seeming not to have noticed anything unusual beneath her feet.

"Tina, get away from there, now!"

The white-haired girl tilted her head and glanced at the black mist, then calmly walked to the corner on the other side. "Danger. Tina will watch."

"Marco, what era is this record from?" Lacy asked, letting out a slight breath of relief when she saw Tina move away.

"Third Era. That's the only term I saw." Marco took out the flintlock, speaking rapidly. "The moment I realized something was wrong, I rolled it up."

"Third Era? That's not too bad. Let's just hope no one tampered with it."

Watching the chain of events unfold, Wei En quickly copied Marco and took out his flintlock. "What do I do now?"

"Stand where you are. Don't do anything."

Lacy gripped the two-handed axe that was almost as long as she was, staring at the black mist as she explained, "All relics from before the Fourth Epoch possess the power of contamination."

"As long as you don't touch them directly, they aren't too dangerous. But there are exceptions. Like now..."

"That black mist?"

Marco's expression was equally grave. "The black mist is only its outward appearance. It's being suppressed by the power of this world. Who knows what the real body is."

Lacy's face changed slightly. "It's coming!"

"Roar!"

Within the black mist, a bizarre face emerged. It was only vaguely recognizable as a face, and countless scarlet eyes opened.

Madness, chaos, despair, hatred, slaughter... It was as if the gate to the deepest darkness had been opened, and a cold, negative aura coiled around everyone.

"It's a wraith. Marco, use potion No. 7."

"Got it!"

Marco's hands moved swiftly. He pulled a finger-sized glass vial from the lining of his coat and loaded it into the flintlock.

Wei En glanced over and recognized it as one of the vials from the chest issued by the Property Management Office.

So the potions in those little bottles were bullets.

Lacy strode forward instead, swinging the two-handed axe ahead of her. "Asriel!"

A pale cyan axe blade cleaved toward the black mist, whipping up a sharp wind and leaving a shallow mark on the floor.

"Ruixi!" (Death!)

But the instant the axe touched it, the black mist split into countless tiny clusters, each with a scarlet eye inside.

"Ruilishi, Enge, Sashiding..."

An eerie voice rang out, as if countless people were chanting together.

There were men and women, old people and children, and every voice was calm and hollow, without the slightest emotion.

"Marco!" Lacy's expression changed.

"I know!"

At that moment, Marco raised the flintlock, aimed at the black mist, and pulled the trigger. "Damn monster, die!"

What burst out was not the flash of ordinary gunfire, but a spray of luminous mist that formed a fan-shaped cloud of rainbow light, enveloping all the black mist.

In an instant, the black mist touched by the rainbow light began to dissolve and dissipate.

The scarlet eyes slowly closed, leaving only a lingering echo behind. "...Sashiding... Apu..."

Wei En froze for a moment. He had understood the meaning of the wraith's words.

"Chaos is coming. Death endures... Join us, become us, and you will receive chaos... protection..."

As the final voice faded, the entire office returned to calm.

"Is... is it over?" Wei En licked his somewhat dry lips and asked.

This wraith did not seem that hard to deal with.

But strangely, no one answered him at that moment.

After a long while, Lacy walked over with the two-handed axe, picked up the parchment, and looked at Marco. "Why didn't you say something so important earlier?"

Marco ducked his head and slid the flintlock back into the holster at his waist. "Sorry. My fault. I didn't warn you in time..."

"Forget it. At least there wasn't any real loss."

Then Lacy looked at the parchment in her hand, her brow furrowing slightly as she muttered, "Gonzalez Language? There goes another chunk of our budget."

Seeing this, Wei En also put his flintlock away.

He sighed inwardly. You really can't let your guard down for even a moment. I never thought something like this would happen even inside the Secret Investigation Bureau.