As Skye entered the house, Axel moved quietly toward the spot where he’d seen the strange flickering lights. When he got closer, he realized it wasn’t just one ball of red light, but also a small green one the size of a melon seed, flickering beside it.

  Axel picked both up, and as soon as he touched them, the lights transformed into two small crystals—one red, the other green. He didn’t rush to absorb them but instead took a moment to study the surroundings.

  There were no signs of a struggle or any fight. The ground was solid, with no odd smells lingering in the air. It didn’t look like the person had been buried here after death.

  However, something on the ground caught Axel's attention—a faint black-and-red mark that seemed out of place.

  “This is…” Axel’s mind clicked. He remembered a similar mark from when Skye and his team dealt with the infected. They had used some kind of special solution to melt them down, and the solution left a similar mark. Axel had been intrigued by it back then and made a mental note.

  The mark was so small and nondescript, it didn’t have a distinct odor. If not for Axel's awakening abilities, he doubted anyone else would have noticed it.

  "The person is dead." Skye’s voice broke the silence as he walked back outside, spitting and puffing on a cigarette. "Fuck."

  The house's owner hadn’t been gone for long—only about two or three days—but that meant Wolfe had already taken action ahead of time. Sure enough, just as he suspected, he got a call from Freya moments later.

  "Captain, I’ve checked. All these people are missing."

  "How long?" Skye's voice was tense.

  "Some have been missing for months, others just in the last few days." Freya rattled off names and details.

  Skye scrolled through the list on his phone, matching them to what Freya had said. "Those who were marked ‘accepted’ have been missing for months... But the ones who were marked ‘rejected’—they’ve all vanished recently..."

  The pieces started to fit together. There was only one explanation. They’d been silenced by Wolfe.

  "Alright. I understand." Skye crushed out his cigarette, irritation creeping through. Normally, with an ordinary case, he'd simply arrest someone and be done with it. But not now—not with Wolfe involved. It felt like his hands were tied.

  Then Axel spoke up, waving from the side.

  "I found something."

  Skye's eyes narrowed, and he walked over, still chewing over the problem. “What is it?”

  Axel pointed at the faint black-and-red marks on the ground. Skye barely glanced at it at first, but then, after squatting down and getting a closer look, his eyes widened in surprise.

  "Is this… the trace of corpse-dissolving fluid?!" Skye’s voice dropped as he realized what it was.

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  Axel nodded. "I found this outside while you were inside. Do you think it’s possible the person was… dissolved?"

  Skye’s face tightened. "It’s very possible," he muttered. Not many people had access to corpse-dissolving fluid. Those who wanted to make someone disappear completely—who didn’t want a body to ever show up—would use it.

  "Shit, you really are something, Axel." Skye grinned. "If no school wants you after graduation, you should come work for us. With your skills, what do we need a bloodhound for?"

  Axel's expression darkened, and he turned away, not wanting to talk.

  Skye laughed heartily, not noticing Axel’s irritation. He pulled out a small shovel and began scraping up the soil stained with the corpse-dissolving fluid, dropping it into a transparent bag. The dirt oozed a dark, blood-red color, just like dried blood.

  "Wolfe’s people really aren’t thorough enough. But I guess we can thank them for that."

  At this moment, Skye was glad he’d brought Axel along. Sure, he might’ve eventually found that if he had sent a search party, but there were still so many names on the list. Once the victims in the city were killed, their bodies couldn’t be disposed of like they would be out in the wilderness. The urgency of the situation meant they could easily miss key evidence.

  "Is this enough evidence?" Axel asked, his relief evident. His curiosity, however, was now fully on the red crystal he’d found.

  Skye shook his head, looking at Axel with some joking. When Axel didn’t react, Skye sighed. "You know, kid, being too damn smart isn’t always a good thing. Well, it’s not *enough* to lock him up, but I can still catch him." He smiled wickedly. "I’ll put him in a cell for 48 hours. Whether he confesses or not, that’s not his call."

  Axel felt a shiver run down his spine at Skye's vicious grin and couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for Wolfe. Then again, Skye wasn’t just any cop—he was the captain of the city’s law enforcement bureau.

  "Hey, Freya, we’ve got evidence! Let’s arrest him now!" Skye’s voice was loud through the phone. "What do you mean, don’t act rashly? Just lock this bastard up for me."

  Once Wolfe was in custody, Skye planned to confirm the DNA from the bloodied soil. As soon as it matched the missing person from the list, he could tie Wolfe to everything. The ones who "accepted" the offer became infected, and the ones who "rejected" ended up dead or disappeared. Don't you have to explain?

  Don't tell?

  If it's the police, there may be no way to force him, but Skye can, and the law enforcement bureau can.

  As for Wolfe's local connections and his impact on the local economy, sorry, he has just been in Dune for a year and doesn't know many people, so he doesn't give face to anyone.

  A couple of hours later, after learning that Wolfe had been arrested, Axel finally breathed a sigh of relief and returned home. Now, it was over for him. He’d done his part, and everything else was out of his hands.

  But what was really on his mind now was the red crystal.

  "Green crystals directly enhance the Force… What about the red ones?" Axel wondered.

  Previously, he’d worried about leveling up too fast and drawing attention, but after the encounter with Wolfe’s men, Axel realized that strength was the real foundation of survival.

  "To hell with it. Let’s see what this does," Axel muttered to himself. He locked himself in his room, holding the red crystal. In an instant, the crystal dissolved into a flood of red light that swept through his body. The world around him spun violently.

  He kept his eyes open, but something strange happened—he could suddenly see the meridians and spiritual pathways inside his body. In the deepest part of his spiritual world, a massive tree appeared.

  It was enormous, its peak seeming to pierce through the dark clouds above, but the tree itself was withered and dry, except for the roots at the very bottom, which pulsed with a faint vitality.

  Then, a white ball of light appeared at the base of the tree, as if it were a new sprout gently emerging from the trunk.

  "What the hell is this?" Axel gasped in awe. He had never seen anything like it in any of the records about Awakened individuals.

  But before he could get a deeper understanding, the strange vision suddenly snapped away, forcing him out of the trance. However, a sudden realization surged within him. The white ball of light seemed to represent an awakening skill.

  Axel hesitated, then focused on it, silently activating it within himself. The next moment, an incredible sensation flooded his senses.