Clue One

(Ceruno)

Currently, Miss Anjie has been assigned by Sirius to handle documents in Xiao Yi's office.

She worked a demanding secretarial job, 25 hours a day, 365 days a year, with a ton of miscellaneous tasks, and because she was a prisoner, she didn't receive a salary.

Even though he's a traitor to humanity, this is the kind of treatment he's getting...

They still seem a bit pitiful.

Today is Saturday again, and even the faculty and staff don't want to go to work, so the teaching building is a bit deserted. However, the principal's job is not to teach and educate students, but to ensure the stable operation of the entire City School with the assistance of the Central Control System.

Therefore, Xiao Yi herself didn't get any rest either.

Knock knock--

I knocked on the principal's office door and heard Xiao Yi answer it.

"The door's unlocked, please come in!"

She greeted me as soon as I entered:

"Hey, Ceruno! What brings you here?"

"I have something I'd like to discuss with Miss Anjie... Oh? Miluno and Mono are here too?"

Hehe, walking into the office and seeing someone I like is such a coincidental encounter that I can't help but smile.

"Ceruno? You've come at the right time. We've come to discuss the concert with Xiao Yi."

I didn't quite understand some of it.

"Oh, you're going to hold a concert?"

"Don't act like it's none of your business. You have to come too. We're the Galaxy group, we're a team, right?"

This is really a bit sudden. Why are we suddenly having a concert?

Come to think of it, we haven't really been involved in idol activities...

"Ceruno- chan~~ Look at this~~"

Noticing my confusion, Mono handed me a sheet of A4 paper as if it were a treasure; it was a draft of the performance plan.

"An online fundraising concert?"

Miluno in explanation.

"Yes, the main thing is to help Barbara raise enough money to buy the Forest Park and the forest farm. I'll invite her to perform on stage with us then."

I wasn't very familiar with that magical girl named Barbara. I only knew that she was originally an Ancient Tree, and her magic was used to harmonize herbs. However, her products were quite common in medical institutions, and they tasted and had a good reputation. Miluno had used her healing potion quite a bit.

"Halley wants to set up the concert stage in the City School's garden! So we came to ask Xiao Yi if that's possible!"

Mono seemed quite excited, and Xiao Yi also stood up from her boss's chair, leaning on the table as she said, "I have no objections, but you'll have to arrange the staff yourselves. I don't know where to find lighting or stagehands... After all, only magical girls can come to the City School."

So she was still worried about these things?

I'm quite optimistic about this online concert.

She said, "It's alright! It's called a concert, but it's essentially just an online live stream! All we need is a photographer and a makeup artist, which should be easy to find among magical girls, right? As for the photographer, Miss Metal can operate drones, so we can ask her to help."

More important than the stage performance is the pre-show publicity. Miluno and I will only shoot a short promotional video at most. The key to success is whether we can generate buzz and make that 200 million target come easily...

"Once we get the permission to use the venue, Ms. Hallley will handle the specific details."

Miluno put away the draft paper and asked, "By the way, what do you want with Anjie?"

"Actually, Xiaoling and I are following the lead of the Dantai Society Association to investigate the internal channels through which polluted water is spreading in Skyreach City."

When I said this, I didn't look directly at Miss Anjie, but I still caught a glimpse of her pausing what she was doing.

Miluno seemed to already know, but continued to press for answers:

"So, what results have you found?"

"According to our investigation, these Contaminated Crystal weren't just randomly distributed."

Organizing my thoughts, I began to recount my discoveries from the morning.

"Before handing the Crystal over to the target, these informants will observe the person for a while. Only if they determine that the person has antisocial tendencies and is a piece of trash who won't do anything even if they get the Crystal will they take the initiative to contact the target."

In other words...

They only send Crystal to scumbags; they won't accept anyone who isn't scumbag enough, only those who are rotten to the core.

Miluno raised her stern eyebrows.

"That's quite cautious?"

"They're extremely cautious, using teleportation magic for both directions, and even creating misleading fake teleportation channels so no one knows where they came from or where they're going... But don't forget! I have the ability to reopen the teleportation using residual magic!"

He stood proudly with his chest out and hands on his hips.

"So you caught up with them?"

When Miluno asked that question, my little bit of pride instantly deflated.

"The opponent ran very fast, and their magic was very disruptive. I couldn't catch up and they got away."

As for the incident where he almost got buried alive but was rescued by the other party...

I guess we won't mention it.

"In short, my investigation has come to an end here, so I want to look for clues in other directions."

Miluno nodded and glanced at Anjie.

"So you came to see her? Former Chief Secretary."

"Well, he's been Dad's secretary-general for so many years! Doesn't he have any useful leads about the other insiders?"

Although now it's just scraps, a discarded child no longer needed by the father.

However, before Miss Anjie could speak, Xiao Yi shook her head in denial.

"It's no use, she doesn't know anything. You want to extract information from her, and so do SpiCa and the Prosecutorate. But even with Mental Overlay, the information we can extract from her head is quite limited."

Is that really the case?

But I still don't plan to give up.

"We might not be able to find direct clues, but we might be able to dig out useful information from fragmented memories that she herself is unaware of."

I walked past Miluno and went to Miss Anjie's desk.

"Miss Anjie, when I mentioned Dantai Society just now, your hand movements seemed to pause for a moment. Is there something you're thinking about?"

She then raised her head, her eyes still lifeless.

Haven't you gotten over being abandoned by your father yet?

Not necessarily...

This is the kind of mental state people who work overtime every day should have; otherwise, they're just slacking off.

"That Dantai Society and Chairman Sun... do have a connection with your father, but I don't know the specifics of that connection."

Wow, they actually found a clue?

Could you elaborate?

"Even if you ask me, there's really not much to say. Two years ago, I went with your father to their family head's funeral, but that was the only time. We haven't been in contact much since... Maybe even if we had, I wouldn't know... After all, your father never considered me one of his own from the beginning... I was just a pawn he used and then threw away... And I actually thought I was special... But I was just trash..."

Mono muttered to himself:

"Wow, this person's negative energy is overflowing! Is she trying to suffocate the darkness?"

However, what about the patriarch's funeral?

Dantai Zhengchu is not dead yet...

If I understand correctly, the head of the family at that time was Dantai Xue's grandfather and Dantai Zhengchu's father, who was an elder of the same generation as Grandpa Gong.