Chapter 69
Chapter 69: A Test
Michelle opened the box for ventilation and let Funniss wait in the rest room with some snacks. After she ate three cookies and drank half a cup of sugared black tea, Michelle returned with case files.
Even without recording, they couldn’t casually leak conversation content, so they returned to the box.
Michelle showed her a case currently going through the closure process. Last month, a small-scale explosion occurred on Rupert Street in the Gear Tower District. A mechanical workshop was destroyed. No one was in the building at the time, but three passing pedestrians suffered varying degrees of minor injuries.
Since this was a case going through closure, it meant that the extraordinary advisors at Vatica headquarters had already returned their analysis report to the branch, and the real culprit had been caught. Michelle knew the answer.
Just as Funniss had requested, Michelle had prepared a small test for her.
The enforcers Roy and agent Molly who arrived at the scene, along with a female agent named Nancy, entered the workshop that had been blown into ruins, but found no traces or smell of gunpowder. The ground was covered with the broken limbs and parts of automatons.
According to eyewitnesses, two consecutive explosions occurred at the scene. The first explosion caused noise from within the workshop and shattered the doors and windows. The second explosion sent glass fragments and flames out beyond the walls, injuring the pedestrians.
“Two explosions?” Funniss looked up halfway through reading. “Did they smell anything strange when they arrived at the scene? Did the explosion produce toxic gases?”
“Toxic gases?” Michelle paused for a moment, then stood up to help Funniss turn to the next page. “It’s here. One of the three injured seemed to have inhaled some kind of gas that caused oxygen deprivation and unconsciousness.”
Funniss had an initial theory.
But this case was actually beyond “Celi’s” scope, because the materials she had seen so far showed no signs of extraordinary ability involvement. She could determine this because of her experience and knowledge from thirty years as an enforcer.
“This workshop used aluminum powder to coat automatons with a smooth silver layer. On the day of the incident, a large box of aluminum powder went missing from the warehouse.” Funniss quickly found the workshop owner’s testimony, confirming her theory. “The aluminum powder caused the explosion. Someone moved it out, scattered the metal powder throughout the room, then ignited an open flame.”
“Miss Celi… you’re amazing, even though you never visited the scene…” Michelle was very surprised.
Her reaction undoubtedly confirmed Funniss’s theory.
“But the problem is, there should have been no one inside at the time. This means the explosion was caused either by those automatons or by some extraordinary ability activated from a distance.” Funniss keenly grasped the key point.
“Agent Molly initially determined it was caused by awakened and hacked automatons. These automatons do have considerable intelligence and could complete the work of scattering powder and igniting fire.” Michelle still remembered some details from when the case occurred. “However, both Enforcer Roy and I felt there were some other issues, so we ultimately decided to report the situation to headquarters and consult the extraordinary advisors.”
“The workshop owner, Mr. Phil, said that when he left, the automatons should have all had their coal oil cleared, and an additional coded lock was added to the built-in small difference engines.” Funniss lowered her eyes slightly, her slender fingertip landing on a line of testimony. “Assuming the culprit is a hacker skilled in difference engine cracking who could reawaken those automatons, they still couldn’t avoid the need for coal oil combustion as driving power.”
“And the two explosions at the scene were both clearly caused by combustible dust. If the destroyed automaton furnaces contained coal oil, there should have been a third explosion, or even a fire.” She continued reasoning.
Finally, she reached her conclusion:
“Director Michelle, in summary, I have reason to suspect that this case involved extraordinary forces and falls within the Temperance Institute’s jurisdiction.”
Funniss closed the case file and looked up at Michelle. “But unfortunately, the content you’ve shown me doesn’t include any traces of extraordinary ability interference. However, I can still list some possible options for you.”
Michelle stared at Funniss in a daze for a long time, taking a full half minute to recover.
This seemingly young girl had demonstrated remarkably high reasoning ability in just a few sentences, even impressing Michelle, who was a Principality-level agent. Perhaps Mr. Cela had chosen to pass on that forbidden knowledge to her precisely because he recognized this extraordinary talent.
Michelle now realized that the case she had selected wasn’t typical enough. Despite searching through all scene descriptions and witness testimonies, there were no manifestations of extraordinary power. However, this girl wasn’t picky and could even find possible options from these few clues.
“Go ahead, Miss Celi.” Michelle said.
“First is a basic extraordinary characteristic we can all understand, related to fire. The Loyalty Path drawn forth by the great angel Uriel, as the Lord’s flame and light, the eighth sequence ‘Lamplighter’ has the extraordinary characteristic of raising temperature in fixed areas and generating open flames under suitable conditions.” Funniss raised her left hand with five fingers extended, then made a fist leaving only her index finger to represent the number 1, the first option.
As fellow members of the Seven Institutes, everyone actually had some understanding of eighth-sequence extraordinary characteristics. Since there were many extraordinary beings at this stage, openly discussing the eighth-sequence extraordinary characteristics of various paths wasn’t prohibited by church doctrine.
This was also why Funniss dared to speak so clearly for Michelle to hear.
“Next is the Humility Path, but that would require advancement to quite a high sequence, which the church wouldn’t allow you to delve into too deeply.” Funniss extended her middle finger alongside her index finger to form the number 2, the second option. “But even the current Archbishop of Humility probably couldn’t reach that height. In people’s impressions, they remain gentle healers.”
The Humility Path’s third sequence “Wheel of Fire,” the never-extinguishing flaming sword circling around the great angel Raphael, whose blazing heat and sharpness drove back all greedy souls who dared covet the Tree of Life and Tree of Wisdom.
As Funniss said, this was already forbidden knowledge. Just hearing it once carried the risk of church judgment, so she only vaguely indicated the path.
“The last one is what I consider most likely.” Funniss extended her ring finger, three fingers forming the number 3, the third option. “One of the seven original sin paths, the Greed Path guided by the great demon Mammon, the eighth sequence ‘Gold Seeker.’”
Actually, quite a few enforcers who had battled demon followers would have some understanding of the original sin paths, but they usually wouldn’t publicly discuss what they knew. These were merely personal experiences forever sealed in their minds by prohibition.
One of the extraordinary characteristics possessed by “Gold Seekers” was sensing and manipulating metal, but excessive amounts and weight were too difficult for the eighth sequence. Even something as small as a pen would leave them drenched in sweat.
But powder was different—it was the most suitable medium for them to demonstrate their abilities.
Dispersing, generating heat through friction, in an enclosed room, an explosion that could be triggered without anyone being present at the scene, destroying an entire workshop’s worth of expensive automatons, a despicable means of malicious business competition.
Funniss’s gaze was confident and determined. She believed she had found the answer but maintained a cautious attitude and didn’t jump to conclusions.
Meanwhile, Michelle’s heart was already turbulent.
She didn’t know what specific extraordinary characteristics “Gold Seekers” possessed, but Funniss’s reasoning was almost identical to the analysis report provided by the extraordinary advisors, and they had indeed caught the culprit through the clues indicated in the report.
But this process had taken a full week, from submission to return.
If it weren’t for this gang member hired by the local merchant association thinking he had done it perfectly, any other more cautious person would probably have left this case permanently buried.
If this girl were provided with more information, or even allowed to visit the scene, would she be able to immediately reach conclusions and take action like Cela?
Michelle was tempted, and she had actually already made her choice for other reasons.
A barely perceptible sinister smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
“You passed.” she said. “Congratulations, Agent Celi.”