Paying Another Visit

"Any other questions?"

Fan Ning could not help but smile at the solemn little girl before him. "Hiran, go ahead."

"Have you already become a Knower... you know, someone like my sister's piano teacher?"

"Yes," Fan Ning answered truthfully.

Then he smiled again. "I'll take you to school."

"I'm going with you." Hiran lifted her smooth little chin.

"We did agree to go together recently." Fan Ning replied, "After your evening classes, I'll pick you up at the gate. You'll need to explain to your teachers that you won't be staying at school for a while. They've always been lenient with outstanding students."

"No, I mean I'm going to my sister's teacher too. I want to become a Knower like you." Hiran snorted and stepped forward. "Caloen, are you pretending to be stupid on purpose?"

"Hiran, I personally wouldn't advise it." Fan Ning took a step back. "Because it isn't what you think. You must believe that once you gain the ability to wield invisible forces, you'll be able to fight danger. But in truth, it's a mysterious, dangerous, and chaotic realm. Sometimes, even when you die, you may not understand what the danger truly was. Knowers suffer unfortunate endings at a far higher rate than ordinary people."

Hiran's dark eyes rolled. "Caloen, that calculation is wrong. Most ordinary people have never encountered mysterious incidents. The base is too large, so the chance of an unfortunate ending is low. But we've already encountered them. We're already part of that small base."

Little girl, that made so much sense...

Fan Ning was briefly left speechless.

Hiran continued seriously, "Though curiosity killed the cat, I think that if you've already had the misfortune of coming into contact with the mysterious, covering your eyes is worse than seeking knowledge proactively. No matter how chaotic and unknowable that realm is, at least we should hold our own fate in our hands..."

She took another step forward. "It's true that I was frightened last night, but I really want to help you too. Even though I didn't understand much of what happened, I know that several times, we were in great danger."

Feeling her warm, orchid-scented breath, Fan Ning did not retreat this time. He began to face the matter squarely.

Indeed, although Hiran was still young and looked delicate and frail, she always had thoughts and opinions of her own. Since she had seriously voiced what she wanted in her heart, he should at least treat it seriously and give her an answer.

"Hiran, to tell you the truth, my main concern is that I still don't understand many things about Knowers myself. So I can't assess the pros and cons of leading you down this path. But I promise you, once I've figured out a few things, we'll have a serious talk soon. How does that sound?"

"Then I'll wait." Hiran finally smiled and blinked, turning toward the school gate. "See you tonight."

Watching the burgundy little boots on the girl's back tap out light footsteps on the ground, Fan Ning shook his head with a bitter smile.

The situation was still unclear!

The Special Inspection Office's surveillance was everywhere, the forces behind the mysterious incidents remained shrouded in mist, and even Cecil, whom he had not taken seriously before, had now become someone worth guarding against.

He needed to race against time.

He immediately boarded a public carriage bound for Katzton Street in the East Mechelen District.

His pocket watch pointed to eleven o'clock. At the corner of No. 43, he once again saw the familiar potted pomegranate tree, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, and the office sign hanging on the second floor that could drive a designer insane.

Though it was not yet mealtime, an irresistibly enticing aroma still drifted through the place.

He lifted the curtain that was the same color as its surroundings and headed up the stairs to the second floor.

On duty at the reception desk today was a kindly-looking old lady reading a newspaper.

Fan Ning politely explained why he had come.

The old lady smiled warmly. "Oh, so you're that talented young man about to advance. The president has already left. He told you to go to the meeting room from last time and make your attempt on your own. If you succeed, go to the room at the very end of the corridor,

and find the fellow who likes playing guitar."

"He already left? The president was in far too much of a hurry... He rushed back to see Teacher Anton off one last time, and it's only been two or three days." Fan Ning thought to himself.

After thanking her and walking a few steps inside, he heard the old lady add, "Keep track of any materials you use, then register them with Finance."

Fan Ning smiled helplessly.

Still, that was fine. It saved him a great deal of trouble disguising things around Vyadlin.

From the end of the corridor came the melodic sound of a classical guitar, bleak and melancholy.

He first went to the empty meeting room. After a brief search, he found the four Drift Waymarkers in a cabinet, along with black vials inside four boxes.

He directly slipped the Waymarker engraved with "Undying Fire," Lord of Witnesses, into his pocket.

He had to take this one away. Otherwise, it would not match up with the fact that he had advanced to become a Knower and received Candle's gift.

Should he take another vial of elixir first?

He opened each one and took a look. The one with the least was Candle, glowing from incandescent white to golden yellow, but it still contained ten milliliters—conservatively estimated at over a hundred pounds!

Adding the roughly four hundred pounds' worth of this Waymarker, even if the Guidance School offered an internal discount...

The five hundred pounds Roy was going to pay him for dedicating the string quartet would be almost entirely gone!

But what he really needed was this bottle... He did not know what material it was made from, nor where he could get one.

Last night, the Museum Key seemed capable of extracting Luminous Essence Elixir from the Migrant Surge into reality.

Without a bottle, he would have no way to preserve it.

Take it! With a pang of pain in his heart, Fan Ning tucked the small vial of elixir, box and all, into his other pocket.

After putting on a show and idling away more than twenty minutes in the meeting room, he finally pushed the door open and left.

The corridor smelled of coffee. Noisy card games could be heard from the room opposite, while in two other half-open rooms, people hammered away at typewriters with clattering taps.

Some people slacked off at work, while others bled themselves dry at work?

Fan Ning chuckled and shook his head. At last, he felt a trace of familiarity.

At the end of the corridor, with the melancholy classical guitar music in his ears, Fan Ning knocked on the door.

"Come in." A man's voice answered, not particularly old, yet carrying sorrow and the wear of time.

Fan Ning pushed open the door. The man seated in a reclining chair before the desk looked to be in his early thirties. His lips were tightly pressed, his gaze melancholy. He had blue eyes, a broad forehead, a high nose bridge, flowing golden hair, a scruffy full beard, and wore a white cotton shirt with a black sleeveless vest. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing a ruby necklace, while he held a classical guitar in his arms.

Good heavens, with that wild, unrestrained yet ethereal air, if he had been a lead singer or guitarist in his previous life, he would definitely have been first-rate band material...

"'The Girl of Tia City'?" Though Fan Ning was mocking him inwardly, he still greeted him with a smile.

"You've heard it?" The guitarist played to a half cadence, then slowly let the lingering notes disperse, avoiding an abrupt end to the music.

"A short piece by Thorne, the great classical guitarist of the Southern Continent from the last century. I like its alternating passages, and that atmosphere at the end—of forgetting each other in a corner of the southern land." Fan Ning said.

"That is a wonderful description." Surprise appeared in the golden-haired man's eyes. "Not many people north of Tioleian have heard it."

"You aren't from Ufransel? Were you previously in a southern city of Tioleian?"

"No, I am merely a wanderer, born in Master Thorne's hometown, that very distant southern land."

The classical guitarist spoke lightly and slowly, as though singing a melancholy song.

Fan Ning nodded slowly.

The United Grand Duchy of Phaeton on the Southern Continent... It truly was far away. He had never even left his own country.

He really had the temperament of a minstrel.

The man rose and hung up his guitar. "My name is Dupont. When the president isn't here, I reluctantly handle the daily affairs around here."

He moved a stack of documents from the corner of the desk to in front of Fan Ning. "The president said you already had one foot in the ranks of Knowers, so your application documents were prepared long ago. Since you're here, sign, press your fingerprint, here, here, and here."

How direct. He did not even confirm it again...

Fan Ning sat opposite him and began reading.

"Mr. Dupont..." Fan Ning began to ask a question as he read.

"Just call me by my name."

"All right, Dupont. I've read the contract and the confidentiality agreement, and there's no problem with either. But why does this application document need to be reported to the Special Inspection Office?" Fan Ning asked in confusion.

Dupont's gaze drifted into the distance.

"In other countries, Knower forces are led primarily by churches, but Tioleian—the most industrially developed and militarily powerful nation—is an exception. Here, the authority rests with the Imperial government."

"Over the Empire's century-long journey of industrialization, the Special Inspection Office became the interest representative of the new ruling class—the industrial nobility—and also the government's strongest Knower organization. The churches here do not have it nearly as easy as churches in other countries. Even the Bologna School, which represents the traditional aristocratic powers, must compromise with the Special Inspection Office. Let alone our Guidance School."

"The Special Inspection Office strictly investigates the spread of Hidden Knowledge Carriers. It regards Knowers operating underground as 'taboo-breakers' and imposes tiered controls. Even for major official organizations like ours, it tightly allocates annual staffing quotas. To bring you into our ranks, we must apply to the Special Inspection Office for registration. That may take three to five days."

"I see." Fan Ning had gained a preliminary understanding of the relationships involved.

Benjamin had just examined and approved him, and now he was immediately submitting an application. Would that give people a certain impression...?

Well, they were all official organizations. The process was legal and compliant, so they should not be able to do anything to him, right?

But Fan Ning knew that this would make the Special Inspection Office pay even closer attention to him.

He hoped they had not uncovered that matter concerning his father's identity.

"Be more careful with your words and actions in daily life. Knowers with official identities may enjoy certain privileges in some areas, but they cannot commit serious crimes. More importantly, you must strictly observe the taboos concerning the spread of Hidden Knowledge Carriers established by the Special Inspection Office. Their style is the kind that makes you feel they do not exist in ordinary times, but once they truly act, matters often progress with extreme speed, leaving no room for recovery."

Dupont gave his warning solemnly. "Caloen, the power behind the Special Inspection Office is far more terrifying than you imagine... Come to think of it, their increasingly hard-line methods in recent years have made many official Knowers uneasy..."

"I'll be careful."

Fan Ning had only just advanced to become a Knower, and this left him somewhat gloomy. But when he looked at the other documents, his mood finally brightened.

"Mm... the terms of the contract are quite enticing."