"Ouch, ouch, ouch..."
Wei'en was thoroughly enjoying the sight of Lisi giving Marco a one-sided beating when a voice suddenly spoke up beside him.
"Three heads?"
'Three heads? Is she talking about me?'
'How is that possible... I thought they said no one except the Wizards in the academy could detect Xiaoxi's existence?'
'How can someone see him now?'
"Are you an aberration?" Before he could react, the voice spoke again.
Wei'en turned his head and saw a white-haired girl standing beside him at some unknown point, staring at him with a blank expression.
'Is that the reclusive girl from the photo?'
She looked just like she did in the photo: pinkish-white, shoulder-length hair, very fair skin, and a cute face.
But her flaws were just as obvious. Her eyes were large but empty and lifeless, she was short—under 1.6 meters... and, well, she was flat-chested.
"N-no, I'm not."
The white-haired girl stared at him with those empty eyes. "You're not, hmm?"
"Really, I'm not!"
Wei'en felt extremely uncomfortable under her gaze, like someone was holding a gun to his head. He was tempted to bolt for the door.
What he didn't know was that the two Xiaoxi on his head also wore expressions of terror.
"Tina, he's the new Investigator for Investigation Department One, Wei'en Loft."
Just then, Lisi, having vented her anger, walked over and made the introductions. "Wei'en, this is Tina. Tina Klosterman."
Tina didn't respond. She just kept looking up at Wei'en. After a long moment, she finally nodded. "Tina understands."
Wei'en breathed a sigh of relief. "Hello, Tina."
Although this white-haired girl named Tina looked completely harmless, she was genuinely terrifying, especially her eyes.
Over on the side, Marco rubbed his cheek and asked, "Tina, you're late again."
"Mm."
Tina nodded blankly, then walked past them to the desk in the far back and placed the case she was carrying on it.
Lisi patted Wei'en's shoulder. "Don't mind her, Wei'en. Tina's personality is just a bit... hmm, cold. It's not personal."
Marco chimed in, "That's right. I've been teamed up with Tina for a long time, and she's always been like this."
"I understand, Captain Lisi, Senior Marco."
"Calling me 'Senior' is too formal. I was just joking with you earlier."
Marco, his head covered in lumps, laughed heartily. "But my proposal just now was genuine. If we team up, we'll definitely..."
BANG!
"Don't you go corrupting Wei'en."
Lisi casually punched him again, then asked, "How's the investigation in the slums going? Find anything?"
Marco squatted on the ground, clutching his head, so much in pain that tears were about to fall.
"Yes, Tina has it..."
Wei'en watched him sympathetically, but inwardly, he felt even more at ease.
'These colleagues in Investigation Department One are a real piece of work.'
'With a colleague who's so good at starting trouble, my life here is going to be comfortable.'
'When in doubt, I'll just throw Marco under the bus... Perfect!'
Lisi looked toward the white-haired girl in the back. "Tina?"
"Tina brought it."
Tina opened the case, her body hidden by the desk and the case itself. Then, a hand reached out. "The parchment."
"Good."
Lisi took the parchment and unrolled it directly. "Let's see what kind of bastard..."
Wei'en stood to the side, watching her intently.
'The case from the slums?'
'It couldn't be the one about the three hundred missing people, could it?'
Marco yelled, "Don't!"
But it was too late. As the parchment in Lisi's hands flattened out, a plume of black smoke slowly began to rise from it.
"Dammit!"
Lisi quickly threw the parchment away, a Two-Handed Axe instantly appearing in her hands. "Marco, you couldn't have said something sooner?"
Marco didn't answer, instead staring at the parchment. "Tina!!"
As luck would have it, the parchment had landed right at the white-haired girl's feet.
The white-haired girl closed her case and looked at Marco, seemingly oblivious to the strange object at her feet.
"Tina, get away from there, now!"
The white-haired girl tilted her head, glanced at the black mist, then calmly walked over to a corner on the other side of the room. "Dangerous. Tina will watch."
"Marco, what era is this record from?" Lisi asked, letting out a slight sigh of relief when she saw Tina move away.
"Third Era. That's the only word I saw," Marco said rapidly, pulling out his flintlock pistol. "I realized something was wrong and rolled it up immediately."
"Third Era? That's a relief. Let's just hope no one 'spiced it up'."
Watching this rapid series of events, Wei'en quickly followed Marco's example and drew his flintlock. "What do I do now?"
"Stay put. Don't do anything."
Lisi gripped the Two-Handed Axe, which was almost as long as she was tall, and stared at the black mist. "Relics from before the Fourth Era all carry the power of contamination," she explained.
"As long as you don't touch them directly, they aren't highly dangerous. But there are exceptions, like right now..."
"That black mist?"
Marco's expression was just as grave. "The black mist is just its outer form, suppressed by the power of this world. We don't know what its true form is."
Lisi's expression changed. "Here it comes!"
"ROAR!"
A grotesque face emerged from within the black mist. You could only vaguely make out the shape of a face, from which countless crimson eyes opened.
Madness, chaos, despair, hatred, slaughter... It was as if the Dark Extreme Gate had been opened, and a chilling, negative aura surrounded them.
"It's a Vengeful Spirit! Marco, use Magic Potion Number 7."
"Got it!"
Marco's hands moved in a blur. He pulled a finger-sized glass vial from the inner lining of his jacket and loaded it into the flintlock.
Wei'en glanced over and recognized it as one of the vials from the case issued by the supply office.
'So those little vials of Magic Potions are the bullets.'
Lisi, however, strode forward, swinging her Two-Handed Axe. "Asriel!"
A cyan-colored axe blade shot toward the black mist, kicking up a fierce wind that left a shallow scratch on the floor.
"Rexi!"
But the instant the axe made contact, the black mist split into countless smaller wisps, each containing a single crimson eye.
"Rui Li Poem, Brother En, Sasi Dante..."
A bizarre voice arose, sounding like countless people chanting in unison.
There were men and women, old and young. All the voices were calm and hollow, devoid of any emotion.
"Marco!" Lisi's expression changed.
"I know!"
Just then, Marco raised his flintlock, aimed at the black mist, and pulled the trigger. "Die, you damned monster!"
Unlike the flash of a normal firearm, it sprayed a mist of light that formed a fan-shaped, seven-colored cloud, enveloping all the black wisps.
In an instant, any black mist touched by the seven-colored cloud began to dissolve.
The crimson eyes slowly closed, leaving only a lingering echo: "...Sasi Dante... Apu..."
Wei'en froze. He had understood the meaning of the Vengeful Spirit's words.
"Chaos is coming, death is eternal... Join us, become one of us, and you will gain chaos... and protection..."
As the final voice faded, the office returned to normal.
"Is... is it over?" Wei'en asked, licking his dry lips.
'This Vengeful Spirit... doesn't seem that hard to deal with, huh?'
But strangely, no one answered him.
After a long moment, Lisi walked over with her Two-Handed Axe, picked up the parchment, and looked at Marco. "Something this important, and you don't say anything sooner?"
Marco flinched and holstered his flintlock at his waist. "Sorry, my bad. I didn't give a warning in time..."
"Forget it. At least there was no real damage."
Then, Lisi looked at the parchment in her hand, her brow furrowing slightly as she muttered, "Gonzalez script? This is going to eat into the budget again."
Seeing this, Wei'en also put his flintlock away.
He sighed inwardly. 'You really can't let your guard down for a second. I can't believe things like this happen even inside the Secret Investigation Department.'