Why is his holy light red?

Upon hearing Mercury's earnest request, El's expression also turned serious.

"What do you want me to do?" El asked cautiously.

Normally, he was unfazed by any terrifying monster, but when faced with his son's first formal request, El felt a little nervous.

Mercury did not answer directly, but first gave a brief introduction to Loki's situation.

After listening to his son's brief explanation, El frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping over the draft paper filled with intelligence: "The intelligence you've obtained is already quite substantial. The safest approach is to simply hand over the blueprints to the Hero Association and let their field agents handle the operation."

"It won't work." Mercury shook his head and sat down on the sofa opposite him. "The Ogre Gang isn't considered an important group in the Association's eyes. This amount of information isn't valuable enough to get the Association to take immediate action."

"Given the association's lengthy approval process, it would take at least two or three months to complete the assessment and send people," Mercury's voice was tinged with cold realism. "In the end, the only ones dying at the hands of 'Nightmare' right now are a few homeless people, but Loki could have an accident at any moment, and dragging this out isn't a good thing."

Whether we admit it or not, in some people's eyes, the death of a few homeless people in the root area is not as serious as a wealthy person in the canopy area losing an expensive pet dog.

He couldn't gamble Loki's life on the efficiency of the association. The longer an undercover operation dragged on, the more unpredictable things became. If Hannibal forced Loki to shoot someone tomorrow night, the kid's criminal record would be truly indelible.

So Mercury's idea was simple: get permission as soon as possible and then arrest the people.

Loki even listed out their trading patterns; if they still can't catch them red-handed, Mercury might as well go back to college.

We can just take them all out at once, even Loki, and throw them into the association's detention room, which will guarantee the safety of our informants.

The man is already in jail, so you can ask him whatever you want about the cannibalistic nightmare. That's why Mercury told Loki not to inquire about it.

After listening to his son's analysis of the pros and cons, El looked at him with satisfaction, his tone becoming more excited: "Son, you can go this far to protect an informant... you're finally starting to look like a real superhero."

Mercury twitched the corner of his mouth, but did not refute.

"Tell me, what exactly do you need me to do for you?" El made up his mind. Based on Mercury's perspective, he was determined to help Mercury get things done no matter what.

It wasn't just reporter Al who returned to his family; the Holy Angel also did!

"I need an authorization letter," Mercury said, getting straight to the point. "According to the rules, trainee heroes who want to get involved in superpowered crime investigations need a formal mentor's signature and endorsement. But I'm just a nominal recruit right now, so I can only hope that you, Dad, can use the 'high-end connections' you built up when you were a reporter."

The so-called authorization, translated into layman's terms, is a guarantee of joint liability—"If this kid gets into any trouble, it's all my fault." This is something that a proper mentor should do, and no legitimate hero who isn't related to the student would be foolish enough to sign off on something for an intern whose background is unknown.

Mercury had originally planned to ask the Iron Titan for help, but considering he already owed enough favors, he couldn't bring himself to do it. So he decided to let Al make use of his remaining influence as a "former famous reporter".

Al leaned back on the sofa, his fingertips lightly tapping the leather armrest, seemingly searching his mental network of contacts. After a moment, he suddenly uttered a name that surprised Mercury.

"Didn't you run into the Mother of Life at the club a few days ago? What did you think of that old lady?"

Mercury had considered that Al would introduce him to superheroes, and even thought about asking Rex's father, Storm King, but he never expected that Al would say that name.

"The Mother of Life?" Mercury's expression completely crumbled, his eyes fixed strangely on the man opposite him. "She's the universally acknowledged number one hater of the Holy Light Angels. Dad, if I remember correctly...aren't you a 'friend' of the Holy Light Angels?"

Upon hearing this probing question, El instinctively looked away, clenched his fist to his lips, and coughed heavily twice as if to cover his embarrassment: "Ahem... one thing at a time. Although there are differences in some views, Nova Savina is undoubtedly a pure hero. On matters of principle, she will absolutely stand on the side of justice, without a doubt."

"You mean, I should go and beg that 'Mother of Life' for authorization?" Mercury's brows furrowed. "Dad, even if she really is a living saint, why would she trust an intern who's only been registered for a few days?"

Mercury felt deep down that this was really unreliable. The old lady's behavior at the club was too strange. That unguarded, even somewhat deliberately ingratiating intimacy was clearly a case of "unsolicited kindness must have ulterior motives."

Even if we assume that the Mother of Life was only acting out of kindness, he still doesn't want to owe her a favor.

The aura of the Mother of Life is too dazzling. Once he uses her written authorization to investigate the case, the eyes of the entire Tree Root District, and even the whole city, will instantly focus on him. At that point, who will care about the cannibal gang?

All the media cameras seemed eager to poke their lenses into his face, digging deep to find out "how an intern from the slums could get the endorsement of the Mother of Life."

With this kind of exposure, it's not an investigation at all; it's clearly a publicity stunt. I'm sure headlines like "Which rich kid is here to get his credentials?" will soon appear online, and that would be troublesome.

Even more critically, the Mother of Life is currently engaged in heated negotiations with Eternal Life Technology. And the cannibal gang he's investigating happens to be a front for Eternal Life Technology. Using a license granted by a VIP investor to raid the investor's own illicit activities?

No matter how I think about it, something just doesn't feel right.

Therefore, from any perspective, this usually cautious father should never have suggested the option of "mother of life".

Unless... he has some shady private relationship with that old lady.

Mercury's gaze grew increasingly suspicious. He looked the man leaning back on the sofa up and down, then abruptly asked, "Dad, I have a question that might be a bit inappropriate: Do you know the Mother of Life?"

Al's gaze visibly shifted before he explained, "I wouldn't call it knowing each other. I did a couple of exclusive interviews with her back in the day, so we could barely be considered to have some kind of relationship."

"It's that simple?"

Mercury stared at his father's slightly stiff facial muscles, feeling that his father's acting skills had indeed deteriorated quite a bit; his lie was too obvious.

If this matter isn't resolved tonight, Mercury feels he'll definitely lose sleep. He leaned forward abruptly, reaching across the coffee table to grab Al's shoulders, his expression extremely grave.

"Dad, I hope you will look me in the eye and answer my questions seriously. You must not hide anything from me."

El was taken aback by his tense demeanor, and his back straightened instinctively. "You... what do you want to ask?"

Mercury took a deep breath, stared intently into El's eyes, and spat out the frantic speculation that had been swirling in his mind, word by word:

"That mother of life...could she...actually be my biological grandmother?"