Fourth Institute.

  “Yes. We are iigating—”

  “Someone must be held atable. I’m not talking about the small fries. You know it.”

  “Yes, ma’am. We will give you an update—”

  Beep-!

  Mei ehe call. She was talking to the secretary of Fire MOTH’s ander-in-chief.

  The ambush Aleph experienced was, in no doubt, an inside job. Not to mention the orbital satellites of the anization, just the radars and trol towers supervising air trol should’ve detected the Hind Chopper headed to Aleph’s route.

  It was simply impossible for an outsider to py with Fire MOTH like that.

  Tap.

  Tap.

  Tap.

  The people around her did not look at her.

  “Doei seems angry.”

  “Who wouldn’t be angry after that?”

  “It’s a good point.”

  Twelve hours had passed sihe ambush. Nearly everyohin Fire MOTH knew hoh’s team got ambushed by an unknown armed group. More thay people died out of the inal hundred or so voy.

  What’s more shog was hoh dealt with the situation. The preliminary report submitted to the higher-ups mentioned how he single-handedly dealt with the armed group.

  When this report assed, it was iably leaked, resulting in most people within Fire MOTH to know more about the third institute’s terrifying assistant director.

  Ring-!

  Mei was awakened by her phone’s ringtone. A familiar tact appeared on her s.

  Upon answering it, she went straight to the point.

  “What’s the matter, Doobius?”

  “I ’t reach him. Give me his other taumber.”

  Hearing Mobius’ anding tone over the phone, Mei fell silent.

  It wasn’t her first time talking with Mobius. Only, the situation now made her extremely angry.

  Moreover…

  ‘Within a month, you think you could…’

  “What was it? I pass it to him.” Mei asked.

  This time, it was Mobius’ turn to terattack.

  “Hm? There are things better said directly to him.” She replied. “It’s all about the in of that armed group. Well?”

  “...”

  In the end, Mei chose not to be petty. She holy dished out Aleph’s backup number as his phone was destroyed during the fight.

  When the call was over, a newfound realization struck her.

  “Am I overthinking about it or..?”

  *****

  “How was it?”

  The always calm Einstein approached Aleph ihe infirmary.

  “They’re good enough. Oh, before I fet about it…”

  He told her about the three unknown men who came from the Hind Chopper. He was detailed enough with the informatio through his [Danger Sense].

  “Their strength is on-par with Sakura.”

  “Sakura? The one from that group?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s plicated.”

  The is vested within Co were reted to more than half of the twenty-six Fire MOTH cilors.

  Co ce that trains ‘shadows’, somethiremely attractive for all the cilors with hidden filth. Be it their private iment or something else, delving into the Co will agitate more than half of Fire MOTH’s higher-ups.

  “I believe it’s not just a select few. This should be a test from them. They’re trying to test my depth.”

  Aleph’s case was different from Elysia’s. The tter’s aura made it so that most hostilities disappeared the moment they thought of her.

  On the off ce she could be finished off, she was strong enough to withstand their assassination attacks. The assassination attempts ended in that manner.

  As for Aleph, there are some who believed that he wasn’t as strong as Elysia—that they should nip the danger in the bud.

  Unfortunately, it resulted in failure. heless, for them, it meant close to nothing.

  “You are w with Mobius, no? If—”

  Beep-!

  The phone in Aleph's pocket vibrated. He took it out and saw an unfamiliar number on it.

  “Go on.”

  Heariein’s approval, Aleph answered the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “It sounds like you’re fine.”

  The usual ical tone resounded from the other side.

  “I’m alright. It wasn’t that dangerous for me. Why the call?”

  Instead of answering his query, she asked another question.

  “Are you familiar with that girl from the sed institute?”

  “What about her?”

  “I got her to look at some things. Do you want to know about it?”

  “Mn.”

  “You’ll only have to work with me for two more days every month.”

  Mobius put forth a dition. She thought that Aleph might bring that requirement down by a notch.

  “Sure.”

  “If you—ah?”

  “Seven days, right? I’ll do it.”

  “...”

  Once again, she was caught off guard.

  It took a few seds before she started speaking.

  “There are intercepted signals in your route. It came from…”

  The sed institute prodigy, Vill-V, is a god when it es to hag. She mao trabranded signals from his route. One of the calls ected to a member of the voy. His presence was the reason why they mao catch a detailed itinerary of his.

  The Hind Chopper was tracked down as well. Although it was unbranded—created on a private factory of sorts—its ins was traced to a private airport in the er of the Mu ti.

  Its owner as well as the several yers of people who owhe airport were all small fries.

  Unfortunately for them, it was Vill-V.

  After hours of w, their in was traced to three Fire MOTH cilors:

  Percy Ward, CEO and owner of the top thirteen of the “500 pahroughout the entire world.

  Jordan Moohe sole five-star general in a South-Western try.

  Donnie Valdez, one of the three leaders of the Underground Cartel Business in the Far West.

  Aleph took a look at their addresses and found out that two of them are familiar.

  ‘That’s right..!’

  He kept track of the “stalkers” that he had by writing all of their personal information down in a small notebook. It was the “debt notebook” which held the list of names of people whom he will default on their debts.

  ‘It’s you two, huh…’

  “...are you listening?”

  “Yes. Please pass my thanks to her. I will alset what she tried to pull off a month ago.”

  “...Alright.”

  After some time, the call ended.

  “You have a good retionship with her.”

  Einstein, who came back after grabbing a cup of coffee, looked at him with i.

  “She’s not as bad as others think.”

  She raised her eyebrows when she sah defending Mobius.

  “I know. I have some tact with her. She’s just… stubborn.”

  “I agree with that.”