["Two murder cases?!" Aventurine rarely showed a shocked expression and suddenly realized: "No wonder that Nameless's reaction was off. She must have stumbled upon the other one…"]
["This murderer is truly a madman… But I have to say, a murder case is a good breakthrough point. We can accuse the Family of dereliction of duty and let the IPC use this as a reason to intervene. It's just that their methods are much tougher than I imagined. They even prepared a stand-in for Robin… These two cases will definitely be suppressed."]
[Aventurine murmured thoughtfully: "What should I do? Let me think… This opportunity is rare and cannot be lost. I must be extremely careful…"]
["Impressive, gambler. You're already out of options so quickly?" Ratio sneered coldly.]
["There are many chips, but they need to be carefully selected. The most straightforward one… still has to be Robin. Remember? That Masked Fool told me to 'find a mute to be friends with.'" Aventurine smiled faintly and spread his hands. "Robin is the mute she mentioned. She lost her voice. Ordinary people might not notice, but it can't escape our ears. That wasn't an organ producing sound, but the resonance of [Harmony]."]
[He had noticed the anomaly in Robin's voice when he first came into contact with her. So he wanted to meet Robin, but now she had died in front of him…]
[Ratio said calmly: "A complete loss—incidentally sending you to the interrogation table. There are eyewitnesses at the scene. The Family tentatively believes your alibi, but from now on… you will probably have to spend your time under the watch of the Bloodhounds."]
[In Ratio's view, the possibility of turning the tables right now was almost zero. However, he had one more piece of news to deliver: Sunday wanted to meet him again.]
["..." Aventurine sighed. "…Is it a public confrontation in court, or a private interrogation?"]
["If it were the former, there would be no need for me to deliver the message."]
[Aventurine nodded with satisfaction: "Good… That's right. Everything checks out. See? The dead won't speak, but the living will—Ratio, I can now confirm that there is a problem within the Family. Just wait and see. That man's sister is dead… He won't be able to sit still."]
——
Chainsaw Man.
"Private interrogation… The next part won't be some brutal torture interrogation scene, right?" Power's mouth formed a perfect circle, her eyes almost glowing. "This great one wants to see it!"
"Power, you really are an idiot, huh? Interrogating an IPC person wouldn't work at all, right?" Denji gave Power a look of disdain.
"Hah? You're the last person I want to hear that from! This great one is going to win a Nobel Prize!" Power grabbed the half-eaten toast in front of her and threw it at Denji's face with a "smack." "Then tell me what that chicken-wing guy is going to do?"
"Simple." Denji stuffed the toast from his face into his mouth and made a choking gesture across his neck.
"Of course it's to silence her~"
"Silence… her? How do you silence someone in a dream? That big-eyed guy isn't the chicken-wing guy's pet. How do you silence her?"
"You can go silence her in reality at the Dreamjolt Hostelry." Denji spread his hands. "Directly eliminate Aventurine's physical body! Then pretend it's a missing persons case! Ta-da~ Whether or not he avenges his sister, at least he removes a major threat from the IPC."
"…"
Power actually began seriously considering the feasibility of this step: "Makes sense, but what if the IPC sends a fleet to wipe out the Family?"
"Just sell this chicken-wing guy to the IPC. He looks like a sinister smart guy anyway. Let him replace Aventurine's position. The IPC is full of cold-blooded guys who only care about money, right?"
Power narrowed her eyes and nodded as if enlightened: "I get it. From now on, whenever the IPC sends executives to the Family, the Family can kill the IPC's envoys this way, then compensate the IPC with some of the Family's elites… This way, before long, the IPC will be counter-occupied by the Family, and their influence will directly expand across the entire universe!"
Power excitedly slapped her thigh: "Great idea, Denji! Sigh, too bad we weren't born in the Family. Otherwise we would have helped the Family grow strong long ago."
"Uh, you two…"
Aki Hayakawa painfully covered his face with his hand. He didn't even dare to guess whether these two idiots could survive three days if they left Earth.
——
[The two arrived at the Dewlight Pavilion. The security here was even stricter than a warlord's synchronous orbit manor.]
[Ratio said calmly: "This residence nominally belongs to Sunday. Without his invitation, ordinary guests will never have the chance to set foot here in their lifetime. Take a few more looks while you still have a moment of freedom."]
["Hey, Professor—whose side are you on, exactly?"]
[Ratio crossed his arms: "Who can guarantee that I won't sell you out?"]
[Aventurine said casually: "Then we'll just have to wait and see. Once I meet that Oak family head overflowing with control freak tendencies, I'll have my ways to pry the answers out of his mouth."]
[The two arrived at the first room, but what faced them was only a thick wall and several statues. After seeing the original orientation of the statues in the other rooms, they quickly adjusted the direction of the Nightingales to match. Sure enough, the wall in front of them quickly disappeared, revealing a wide avenue.]
["Sure enough, this is the correct answer."]
[Ratio rolled his eyes boredly: "What a great discovery—how about I give you my chance to join the Genius Society?"]
["Really? I thought you had already let that go."]
[Ratio glared at him irritably: "That was a damn joke. Can't you tell at all?"]
——
Arcane: League of Legends.
"From that tone, does that mean Professor Ratio really wanted to join the Genius Society before?"
"Receiving recognition from the Erudition Aeon is perhaps the highest honor for geniuses in the universe, right? Who wouldn't want that?" Jayce put down his pen and bound up the organized experiment log. "By the way… Has anyone from our continent in history ever received recognition from the Erudition Aeon?"
"Probably not. If there had been, that genius could probably have easily changed the entire ecology of the Runeterra continent." Viktor's voice carried a hint of bitterness. "The continent is still like this today. Some people eat poorly and struggle to survive in the gutters, while others openly enjoy the conveniences brought by progress…"
Jayce sensed the slight dissatisfaction in Viktor's subtext. Piltover and Zaun had long held deep grudges. He didn't want to delve deeper into this topic and could only shift it to his own teacher first.
"The person in all of Piltover closest to the Erudition Aeon is probably Professor Heimerdinger, right? He is the founder of the entire City of Progress. If even he cannot catch the Erudition Aeon's eye, then I'm afraid—"
"What? Jayce, don't tell me you still want to join the Genius Society?"
Jayce immediately raised both hands: "I wouldn't dare say that, Viktor. One should know their own limits… I still understand that much. If even Professor Ratio couldn't reach that threshold, we have even less chance."