Night Journey

Chapter 154 Dense Drumbeats
"I go first."

Cillian took a sniff of the unique smell of old paper mixed with dust, and left the city guard before the rain intensified.

At this point, only a handful of people remained in the room.

Facing the empty office, Dai Lin casually lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.

After the cigarette burned out, he regained his composure and began to peruse the last stack of documents.

Perhaps having given up hope, Dai Lin skimmed through the pages, his reading extremely hasty.

"Should we sleep here tonight, or brave the rain and go back?"

The long, repetitive work left Dai Lin extremely tired. Faced with the densely packed pages of paper, he had long lost patience and started to drift off into thought.

"Forget it, let's not torture ourselves. Let's just sleep here for the night."

"I'm a little hungry, I need to make myself a late-night snack before bed."

At one point, Dai Lin's wild thoughts came to an abrupt end.

He found it.

"Report on the unusual corpse found in the river..."

Dai Lin instantly snapped out of his daze, nervously pulling out the report, the contents of which were exactly what the Golden Partner had mentioned.

"So……"

He swallowed hard, glancing nervously at the signature area.

The person handling the matter will write their name there to indicate that they have received the report and will then pass it on to their superiors for decision-making and action.

"Who is the one?"

Dai Lin was thinking excitedly.

"The formless one, who exactly are you...?"

His eyes froze, and then, as if he doubted that he had seen correctly, he rubbed his eyes vigorously and checked again.

Dai Lin slumped back into his chair, deflated, his eyes fixed on the signature.

He wasn't mistaken; the signature area was empty, without any signature.

Most other people would probably think that the clues had gone cold again and be extremely disappointed.

But Dailin is different.

This blank space felt like a red-hot branding iron, making his heart clench.

The person handling the matter did not write their name at the end of the signature, which clearly violated the procedural process.

Dai Lin doesn't believe that such a thing can be covered up with so-called negligence or omission, just like how all of this could come together so coincidentally.

In other words, within the City Guard Bureau, procedures can be easily ignored, and everything can be quietly concealed...

In an instant, a name jumped into my mind.

De Karl.

Once the seed of doubt was planted, it grew wildly like a vine, instantly entangling all his thoughts.

Dai Lin suddenly connected the various anomalies that had occurred recently—the seemingly coincidental delays, the subtle discrepancies in information, the inexplicable blockages in certain links… A startling conclusion exploded in his mind.

If Decal is indeed the lurking "Invisible One," then all the perplexing questions instantly become plausible explanations!
"Impossible...This is absolutely impossible!"

Dailin subconsciously shook his head, trying to dispel the terrible thought.

He couldn't accept that the director he respected was the enemy lurking in the shadows.

In a state of utter confusion, Dai Lin hurriedly stuffed the report back into the pile of documents, picked them up, and almost fled back to the archives.

Following his own instincts, Dailin put them back on the filing cabinet, restoring them to their original state as much as possible.

"Damn it, Anya, I should have listened to you."

Dai Lin complained inwardly.

Anya had long suspected Dekar, but she had no evidence and simply believed the premonition brought about by her own bloodline mutation.

That was Anya's secret.

The secret was known only to her and Dalyn.

Anya's bloodline mutation not only allows her to sense the purity of other torchbearers' bloodlines, but also grants her precognitive abilities similar to those of stargazers.

Through this bloodline mutation, Anya can sense the impending crisis and even foresee her own death.

It was through this bloodline mutation that Anya was able to find the clan to which her bloodline originated from the thick ancient texts.

Dalyn remembered that the clan was called...

The Death Omen Clan.

"call……"

Dai Lin let out a long breath and looked at the filing cabinet that he had restored to its original state. Not only was he no longer sleepy, but even his hunger had disappeared.

He just wants to leave the city guard bureau as soon as possible and share this intelligence with others.

However, fate seemed to play a cruel joke. As soon as Dai Lin stepped out of the archives, he bumped into the person who stirred his emotions.

"Dailin?"

De Karl's voice was as steady as ever, with just the right amount of concern.

"Still busy so late?"

"Director... Director."

Dai Lin forced a smile and tried to make her voice sound calm and even. "I'll organize some data and then head back."

"Okay, don't overwork yourself. There will be times when we need you."

"Okay, Director."

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and on the surface everything seemed calm, but Dai Lin could clearly feel the cold sweat seeping from his back. His heart was pounding in his chest, and a strong sense of crisis, like an icy tide, was about to overwhelm him.

Dai Lin left the archives almost numbly, trying to calm himself down.

In the midst of calm, an almost insane thought sprouted from the soil of fear, rising and swelling in the depths of the heart with a resolute power.

"This is terrible..." Dai Lin muttered to himself, "I thought I was going to risk going to the Level 3 archives, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise..."

It's time to do something.

Dai Lin returned to his office, and the door slammed shut behind him, cutting off the outside world.

Inside the archives, DeKarl's gaze swept over the pile of documents that Dailin had just organized.

Although the report was put back, its location and the subtle creases on the edges of the paper left by being hastily flipped through were as clear as footprints in the snow to the experienced De Karl.

"Are they studying the reverse falcon again?"

Decal knew about the records of the Reverse Falcon that Dairin had hidden, and even entrusted him with the task of investigating the Reverse Falcon.

He suspiciously rummaged through the pile of documents, his expression gradually becoming serious.

With precise fingers, he pulled out the report about the river's anomaly from among the dense files; the signature area was blank.

De Karl's name should have been written there.

"Ugh……"

A low, complex sigh rose in the silence, filled with helplessness and a heavy sense of things settling down.

Clearly, Dalyne had seen the report and was suspicious.

Dekar grumbled under his breath.

“Dailin, naivety is a bad habit, and what’s worse, reality often doesn’t give you a chance to change.”

He didn't linger, turned around, and walked straight towards Dai Lin's office with an undeniable purpose in his steps.

Dai Lin was sitting behind his desk, a freshly lit cigarette dangling from his lips, the desk lamp casting a cold, white light.

He had just finished the last stroke, the pen tip leaving the paper, and clearly written a name on a crucial document.

Hearing the door open, Dai Lin slowly raised his head, a flash of surprise crossing his face before a natural smile appeared.

"Oh? Chief, what's the matter?"

He met Decal's deep, unfathomable gaze, his voice low.

"Nothing."

De Karl shook his head, sighed wearily, and sat down on the sofa nearby. His voice sounded particularly heavy in the closed office.

"I'm just a little troubled and want to talk to someone."

"Oh? Tell me."

De Karl was silent for a moment, and then asked sincerely and earnestly.

"Dalin, what do you think constitutes justice?"

The cold light from the desk lamp cast deep shadows under his brow bone.

Is it in accordance with secular morality? The well-being of the majority? Or the eternal truth written by sages?

He raised his hand and swept it across the air, as if cutting through an invisible barrier. "When identity, class, and stance nail people to different crosses, is justice merely... a rhetoric of self-justification?"

Dai Lin asked, puzzled, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

De Karl's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice taut like a string.

"The search for the Reverse Falcon has encountered great resistance. Even though I have unified the will of the city council, various departments and the public still protested against it."

For the long-term stability of Hel City, we must unite all forces, but clearly, the Rebel Falcon will not willingly submit.”

“I believe I am righteous, and most likely, Ni Jun also thinks he is righteous. But the two of us who are righteous are going to fight to the death over this.”

De Karl suddenly fell silent, and after a moment, gave a bitter smile.

"Well, I was just thinking about whether there could be a perfect justice that eliminates all differences... That idea is a bit too naive."

He complained about himself, "I'm clearly past the age of being naive."

"Naive? I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

Dai Lin disagrees with this statement. "Although innocence is often associated with foolish children, I would rather be seen as the former than as a rotten, stinking old thing."

"Haha, I'll take that as a compliment, that I'm still young at heart."

Decal laughed twice, then suddenly turned his attention to Daelin.

"So, Dalin, tell me, what do you think justice is?"

Dai Lin was expressionless and motionless. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of his chest, his stiff state would likely have led people to believe he was dead.

"I……"

Finally, a hoarse voice was squeezed out of his throat with difficulty.

Dai Lin said without any emotion.

"I'm afraid of the word 'justice'."

Dekar raised an eyebrow. "Afraid? Only criminals and villains are afraid of justice. Are you that kind of person?"

Dai Lin forced a smile and continued.

"How could that be? I just feel that the word 'justice' is too noble and too great. Just saying it makes me feel like I'm shining brightly."

For some inexplicable reason, a woman's pale face flashed before Dai Lin's eyes, and the familiar office instantly transformed into that inescapable, dimly lit, and cramped room.

"Yes, justice is too glorious. Facing it, I don't feel honored, but rather ashamed."

Dalin cursed himself.

"Like a rat in a sewer, its skin scorched by the sun."

Dekar became serious and began to offer his advice.

"You're belittling yourself too much."

"Demeaning? No, no, no, I just..."

Dai Lin thought of that word and murmured it.

"I'm just repenting."

(End of this chapter)