Night Journey

Chapter 53 Reverse Falcon
When Cillian walked out of the archives, Dalyn remained quietly waiting at the door.

"Have you understood?"

"More or less, I only looked at some of the key points."

Cillian answered, his voice tinged with weariness.

The case files on Reverse Falcon were piled up like a mountain, and Cillian could only skim through them, finding clues and some—inspiration.

Daelin noticed Cillian's unusual behavior and asked tentatively.

"Do you have any ideas?"

Cillian scoffed, "It's nothing more than the Chaos forces in the city starting to stir again after the Reverse Falcon disappeared. Anyone can make that kind of deduction, and it's of no help in investigating the enemy."

Dalyn didn't seem to care about Cillian's coldness. "But you must have some other thoughts, you just don't want to tell me, right?"

As he spoke, his gaze shifted downwards, noticing a slight bulge beneath Cillian's clothes.

Seeing this, Cillian frankly said, "Indeed, I don't want to involve you; it's dangerous."

Dai Lin was amused. "You're just an intern, and you're telling me it's dangerous?"

His tone then turned serious, "You almost died this morning, you know that?"

Cillian didn't answer, but stared intently at Daelin, his gaze revealing an unwavering determination. Daelin shook his head helplessly and stepped aside.

"Like I said before, I won't take responsibility if anything goes wrong," Dai Lin said in a low voice.

“I know.” Cillian breathed a sigh of relief. “If you were to offer to share the responsibility with me, I would find it suspicious.”

Cillian and Dalyn had only known each other for a little over a month, and the two were far from being sworn brothers.

"You're really cautious."

Dalin roughly understood Cillian's thoughts. "But, Cillian, if you find out anything, just come to me. I'll do my best to help you."

"it is good."

This time, Cillian did not refuse.

The documents that Dalin secretly protected the Reverse Falcon show that he is still a righteous person, but he is no longer young and impetuous, and many things he was unwilling to compromise on have long been forgotten.

Dalin watched Cillian leave quickly, while Anya appeared silently to the side.

“You gave him the Reverse Falcon's files? You’re playing with fire,” Anya warned. “If the director finds out, you’ll definitely be fired, maybe even…”

"Stop for a moment, Anya. I want to know, in your eyes, is he still that blazing sun-like figure?"

Dalin interrupted Anya and looked at Cillian's retreating figure with great interest.

Anya took a deep breath and struggled to shift her gaze to Ciri.

Almost the instant she looked at Cillian, Anya felt a surge of awe once again, an emotion so intense it filled her with dread.

"Ha ha!"

Dalyn noticed Anya's change in expression. She seemed to have seen something terrifying, and her gaze only lingered on Cillian for a moment before quickly looking away.

Are you afraid of him? He's not an enemy.

“I just… I don’t like this,” Anya murmured. “This feeling of being out of control makes me very uneasy.”

"I see."

Dai Lin's smile faded, and his tone suddenly turned serious. "Don't you think all of this is too much of a coincidence?"

"What do you mean?"

"Not long ago, a city-state suddenly vanished into the night, followed by the arrival of Cillian, and now the Painful Monks have suddenly appeared..."

Dailin frankly explained to Anya the various possibilities he had analyzed.

"Do you really think a monk of suffering would be so easily persuaded to heal a mere torchbearer like Ciri?"

Dalin questioned, "Meifuni is not her father... unless the monk, like you, knew beforehand about the nobility of the Cirian bloodline."

Moreover, why would someone of Ciri's noble lineage suddenly appear on the outer frontier? The Holy City of the White Sun is where he should be.

Anya, filled with doubt, pressed for an answer, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Do you remember that rumor? The evil forces of chaos are moving, and perhaps they are not only targeting the City of Wounded Cocoons, but also the City of Hel."

“Could it be that Cillian is a spy sent by the Fire Guardian Cult?” He paused, then continued his analysis, “Sending a high-level superhuman directly will definitely attract the attention of potential forces from all sides.”

However, if only a first-rank Ciri is sent, he can act silently without attracting anyone's attention.

Perhaps this operation is simply a training exercise for Cirivan by the Fire Guardians.

In Daelin's imagination, Ciri was already a noble figure from the Holy City of the Sun. He possessed noble blood, belonged to a powerful and ancient clan, and carried a heavy mission, having traveled thousands of miles to Hel City to prepare for action.

Anya shook her head. "I just think you're acting crazy."

……

As Ciri quickly left the city guard bureau, an unexpected person appeared before him.

"Cillian, I heard you were injured. Are you alright?" Valerie's eyes were full of concern and enthusiasm. If they weren't at the entrance of the City Guard, it would seem as if she were about to rush over at any moment.

Cillian's tone was icy. "Valerie? I'm fine."

"Really? I heard you almost had your heart pierced."

Seeing his hurried manner, Valerie continued, "Even if you're healed, shouldn't you rest for a while? Why are you still busy?"

Ciri felt a surge of irritation, but he had to suppress it in order to maintain his dignity and politeness.

When leaving the hospital, Cillian asked Maefoni why she cared so much about her, and why she had managed to invite a monk in distress, which couldn't be explained by just being colleagues.

“Valerie likes you very much,” Mafone replied. “She’s one of my few friends, and I don’t want her to worry.”

This frank answer left Cillian somewhat at a loss.

He wasn't sure if Valerie truly liked him, but right now, Cillian didn't have the time or energy to engage in this kind of ambiguous romantic relationship with Valerie.

"Sorry, I'm busy."

Cillian abruptly ended the conversation.

With Valerie looking bewildered, Cillian simply walked past her and strode away into the crowd.

Valerie stood there stunned for a long time; she rarely received such a decisive rejection.

A disdainful laugh came from the steps. Valerie turned around and saw only Anya's receding figure.

……

"Bruce!"

Cillian returned to his apartment and piled everything he had stolen from the archives onto the table.

"You have no idea what I went through in the past day and night!"

While organizing the documents, Cillian recounted the events that had occurred to Bruce. Only after everything was prepared did he look towards Bruce's position.

What did you do?

Cillian looked at Bruce with suspicion.

On Bruce's bald head, a few thin, threaded iron nails were scattered about, held together by iron rings, like a crude skull fixation device.

Cillian swallowed hard, asking nervously, "Are you having brain surgery on yourself? Why are you in such a hurry?"

"How could that be? This is to help my brain regulate stress."

Bruce demonstrated the use of the skull fixator; the threaded nails began to rotate automatically under the power of the source energy, but it seemed to interfere with his nerves, and Bruce rolled his eyes.

The dog collapsed to the ground and began to convulse!

"Hey! Bruce!"

Cillian screamed.

After five or six minutes, Bruce returned to normal, muttering to himself.

"It seems the intracranial pressure adjustment value is not precise enough..."

"Stop researching all that, take a look at this."

Cillian patted the table, and Bruce leaned over. What came into view were yellowed photos and messy sketches, which, upon closer inspection, looked like design drawings for some kind of alien helmet.

It asked, "What is this?"

“The mask and iconic items of the Reverse Falcon,” Cillian said. “As for who the Reverse Falcon is, simply put, he is an urban legend who was once active in the city of Hull.”

"According to the investigation, whenever the Reverse Falcon moves, it is accompanied by a strange, bird-like cooing sound. Some witnesses say that the Reverse Falcon has six blood-red eyes, while others say that it looks like it is wearing a wing helmet with tufts of feathers around its ears."

Cillian laid out the messy design drawings one by one. "These are the mask images drawn by the City Guard based on eyewitness descriptions... Oh, and this one too."

Cillian rummaged through his pockets and took out a metal feather.

"This is a signature item left by the Reverse Falcon when it commits a crime: a feather with an extremely sharp edge, which is usually stuck in the heart of the victim."

Each clue, like a piece of a puzzle, gradually pieced together the blurry image of the reverse falcon, making it complete and clear.

Bruce said in a strange tone, recalling Cillian's experience that night.

"You little brat, you wouldn't be thinking of..."

“Yes, that’s exactly what you think,” Cillian’s eyes gleamed. “The City Guard can indeed participate on the front lines, but they are limited by their official identities, so I need a false identity to act.”

Cillian commissioned, "Bruce, help me build the Six-Eyed Winged Helmet and Iron Feather based on these blueprints. I need to borrow the identity of the Reverse Falcon."

Recalling the crimson mycelium in the underground pipes, Tania, whose whereabouts are still unknown, amidst chaos and enemies.

Cillian still has a lot to do, and a lot of people to kill.

But before that.

"It's time to let the nightmare of Hull City return."

(End of this chapter)