Author's Preface
"What? No." Leaf rejected the unfamiliar word with a puzzled look.
"Those are the views from every Unblinking Sentinel throughout the city." He beamed with obvious pride. "What did I tell you? I have some good toys."
"People can just do that?"
"Of course not. But to me, this is just a backwater little city. There's hardly anything here I can't get my hands on." As though remembering something, he reached for a large crimson crystal. "I can even render the entire city's communication network useless. Here, look."
"Wait." Mark raised both hands. "There's no need. That might cause... unexpected problems. Let's not shut down an entire city's communications for now."
"As you wish." Leaf put the crystal back.
"Still," Mark laughed. "That's a neat trick."
"I haven't even begun."
"I was talking about the storage ring." Mark looked at him. "I feel like you're not reacting appropriately to how amazing that thing is."
Leaf blinked at him, unconvinced, but nodded anyway. "I suppose."
He pointed back toward the projection.
The golden marble drifted into the display. Instantly, the Sentinel views merged into one, flashing through countless scenes before finally settling on a single image.
Lee Ziyang, surrounded by several equally rough-looking men, strode toward what appeared to be a colosseum.
Mark frowned. "That's... isn't that from a morning? It's night now."
"Sentinels of this grade can usually retain what they've recorded for around forty days," Leaf explained. "This, however, is his last sighting. Yesterday evening." He narrowed his eyes at the building. "Hmm... I know this place. It's an illegal beast-fighting arena."
"It seems pretty accessible for an illegal fighting ring."
"It's complicated." Leaf shrugged. "I'd imagine the law only exists to appease someone, or as a technicality. Beast fighting itself is still allowed. You'll find a lot of that here."
"So how did he leave if that's from yesterday?"
"He may have left. Or he may still be inside. Beast fighting is only part of what goes on there. There are private booths, hidden auctions... It's not unusual for wealthy people to stay for several days."
"What do we do now?" Mark asked. "Go there and interrogate him?"
Leaf gave him a flat look. "Did you read the part about Core Formation? You might not understand this yet, but someone in that realm can kill you simply by looking at you. That isn't an exaggeration." He leaned back thoughtfully. "I was thinking of going after someone close to him instead."
"You're not inspiring much confidence with this..." Mark sighed. "How about we just use my face and see who Old Mark had been spending time with?"
Leaf's eyes widened. "That just might work." Without another word, he retrieved a violet crystal, poured Qi into it, then stood against Mark and aimed one end toward him.
Mark instinctively stepped aside. "What are you doing?"
Leaf answered by tossing the crystal into the projection. A heartbeat later, Mark's startled face appeared across the entire screen.
"Quite an efficient file transfer," Mark chuckled.
The display flashed rapidly once more before settling on Old Mark patrolling the streets with his squad earlier that morning.
"That's the last sighting?" Mark asked.
"Yes..." Leaf sighed. "Nothing seems out of the ordinary."
"Can you..." Mark hesitated. "Check the last few days too."
Leaf obliged, combing backward through the recordings.
Yet no matter how far they searched, Old Mark appeared with no one beyond his own patrol.
"Naturally," Leaf muttered. "There aren't many Sentinels to begin with. And if he really was dealing with someone... they were careful."
"So..." Mark muttered. "We go back to this gang lead?"
That's when a sudden flutter of wings came from behind them.
Mark instinctively spun around, his heart skipping a beat as a small, light-brown pigeon glided through the darkness of the basement with effortless grace.
"What the..." He frowned in disbelief. "How did a pigeon get in here?"
The bird lazily circled the room before descending onto Leaf's lap. Leaf smiled as though greeting an old friend and gently stroked the top of its head with a finger. "Isn't she adorable?"
"Is that a pet?" Mark asked, eyeing the pigeon with open curiosity.
The little bird had already hopped onto Leaf's shoulder and was staring back at him without the slightest hint of fear. Unable to resist, Mark stretched out a hand to pet it.
Peck.
He immediately pulled his fingers back. "Hey!"
The pigeon puffed out its chest indignantly, looking rather pleased with itself.
Leaf, watching this whole exchange, couldn't help smiling. "You know," he said, "it's not an actual pigeon."
Mark blinked. "What do you mean, not an actual pigeon?" His eyes lit up as if finally seeing the truth. "Of course, this is no simple world. It should be some other magical species that looks like it? What does it do, spew fire?"
The pigeon fluttered down onto Leaf's outstretched palms. As soon as it landed, its wings folded tightly against its sides and its posture became strangely rigid. Then its head lowered, and the feathers along its back split apart with mechanical precision.
A gleaming crimson crystal slowly rose from within its body.
"What the heck just happened?" Mark took an involuntary step backward.
Leaf chuckled before walking over to the large furnace. He gently set the pigeon upon a nearby table while the crimson orb hovered a few inches above its opened back.
"This is an artifact called the Whisperwing," he explained. "A rather complicated creation."
He plucked the floating orb from the air and tossed it into the projection.
The image immediately shifted.
A bird's-eye view appeared, the scene gently bobbing with every flap of invisible wings. The pigeon landed atop a nearby tree overlooking the bridge.
Moments later, Leaf entered the scene, hurrying toward the scattered corpses before stopping beside one of them. Shortly afterward, he and Mark ran from the area together.
"That's..." Mark mumbled, recognition flashing in his eyes.
The recording continued as a lone guard soon arrived, riding atop a flying Silver Falcon. She inspected the scene only briefly before summoning reinforcements.
Within mere minutes, dozens of patrol guards poured in. Sienna came in. Then came the Patrol Chief and his two subordinates, and finally, the Deputy Grand Chief.
The Whisperwing had captured everything. Every face, every subtle movement, and every word.
The projection slowly dimmed.
"Well," Leaf said after a long silence, "this changes everything."
"There was someone else on Old Mark's team..." Mark murmured.
Then, the realization struck him so suddenly that he slapped his forehead. "How could I not see that?" he groaned. "The first patrol we met under the bridge had six people. Geng Yu's team also had six. That's exactly what kept bothering me, but I was too caught up in everything to notice."
"At least you have the excuse of having just arrived in another world." Leaf smiled faintly. "I don't."
Mark nodded absentmindedly, though another thought had already surfaced. "But wait..." He slowly turned toward Leaf, suspicion creeping into his eyes. "How did you even know where I'd arrive? Or when Old Mark would die?"
His gaze sharpened. "You're the closest person to this entire case."
A brief silence hung between them.
"The biggest suspect."
Leaf chuckled.
"Don't look at me like that." He leaned back in his chair, folding one leg over the other as he gathered his thoughts.
"I received only two signs that led me to you. The first were the visions, more than a month before I even arrived in this city. Every now and then, I'd catch flashes of your life in the other world, of Rivergate, things like that." He paused briefly before continuing. "The second sign happened today. I was simply strolling through the city without any destination in mind, knowing you'd arrive sometime today, when suddenly a golden pillar descended from the heavens onto the city."
His expression turned thoughtful. "I could see it without even activating Heaven's Gaze, so I knew the time had come. That's when I activated it to narrow down your location. Rivergate is a very large city after all."
He shrugged lightly. "When I arrived, I didn't see anyone. Just corpses... and you, very much alive despite the very obvious wound through your heart."
Mark instinctively lowered his eyes to the narrow tear in the leather above his chest where the sword had pierced him.
"So," Leaf finished simply, "I knew it had to be you."
Mark fell silent for a moment before abruptly steering the conversation elsewhere. "We need to find her," he declared. "She's either in very grave danger or crossing paths with the people responsible for all of this. I seriously doubt someone is fortunate enough to just happen to take the day off when the rest of their team gets slaughtered in the middle of the street. Either way, she's our biggest clue."
"Hmm..." Leaf hummed as he considered it. "It won't be easy. Neither of us even knows what she looks like."
Mark's eyes suddenly lit up. "Wait," he said. "What if we follow that Inspector Sienna? She seemed quite capable, and she's already working on a couple of leads."
Leaf immediately shook his head. "No. Forget about that."
"Why?"
"First," Leaf explained, "she's a One-Star Inspector. At a minimum, that means she's at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment with considerable merits behind her."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning," Leaf continued patiently, "we can't tail her without her discovering us almost immediately. Second, the moment she arrives somewhere, she takes command of the scene. We can't simply follow her, gather information, and then seize an opportunity before she does. That goes against solving the case ourselves, so that you could present them to have enough standing to avoid your memories being dug through."
As though recalling something, he added, "Don't lose hope. I think the fact that we've already been steered in the right direction is a very good sign."
A small smile slowly appeared on his face. "And another thing. I've also prepared something that might change everything."
Mark looked up.
"There's a strong chance that the moment we use it, we'll know immediately who killed him."