Monster - Chapter 31
Chapter 31: Xu Yao's Notebook
When Lin Sandie was wheeled out of the operating room, Lou received word that she was temporarily out of danger. Only then did she change into a set of lighter clothes and leave the hospital. It was nearly four in the morning. She hailed a taxi by the roadside, planning to return to Black Goat Walled City first and get Lin Sandie's glasses repaired the next day.
Once in the taxi, with nothing else to do, she took the lenses out of her pocket (she had already thrown away the broken frame) and examined them. Her pupils turned black as she began to scan the lenses in her hand.
A secondarily infected item from the Remnant, Star Eye.
Effect: Blocks out certain truths of reality.
"Little Crow, this is a magical item," Lou said, blinking in surprise before immediately issuing her next command.
"Define Remnant."
Remnant: An important item belonging to a Leviathan monster before its death. After death, the item is imbued with strong emotions and possesses a certain level of activity. It will use various means to return to the person with whom the deceased had the deepest emotional connection, or to a person designated to receive the item before death. If the deceased had no such person, the item can be used by anyone.
The effects of a Remnant vary depending on the user. If used by someone the deceased detested in life, the Remnant will continuously emit negative effects.
"This world really does have mysteries!!" Miu the crow grew excited as well. The existence of mysteries meant that what it and Lou could do was no longer limited to the order and rules of the modern era.
When she and Lou arrived in this Tower World, their various abilities and spells had been firmly restricted by its laws. But if mysteries were permitted here, then even using their own powers would be considered within the bounds of the law, not a violation of "Thus Have I Heard."
"Define secondarily infected item of a Remnant."
Secondarily infected item of a Remnant: Certain Remnants possess a strong infectious effect, causing some items in their proximity to acquire certain properties. These properties will gradually fade over time.
"So that's why that guy, Zhou Ren, said that as long as Lin Sandie investigated the relationship between Xu Yao and Yan Ting, she could get next year's lenses. The lenses were infected by that Remnant called the Star Eye, which gave them the ability to block out the true appearance of monsters. And the effect probably lasts for one year."
Both Lou and Miu came to a realization.
"Define Star Eye." Lou and Miu immediately tried to define the most important term.
Specific item. Insufficient prerequisite information. Analysis failed.
"Can't define it without seeing the actual item." Miu was a little dissatisfied, but it immediately started chattering again. "Could that notebook the old woman gave you also be a Remnant? We never scanned it before!"
Because Lou had promised Xu Siqian she would investigate the cause of Xu Yao's death, the old woman had readily handed over the notebook Xu Yao had left behind—a notebook that recorded the secrets of Leviathan's upper echelons. Lou had only flipped through it casually before leaving it at her residence in Black Goat Walled City.
"It's possible. Let's go back and check."
Upon arriving at Black Goat Walled City, Lou didn't go to the Crow Detective Agency. She disliked living in concrete buildings with walls on all four sides, so she had bought the top-floor apartment in the same building. This allowed her to often sleep on a lounge chair on the open-air balcony. With Xu Siqian now staying at the agency, the living arrangements worked out perfectly.
Once at her residence, Lou and Miu immediately took out the notebook left by Xu Yao and scanned it.
Name: Xu Yao's Notebook
Rank: B-Class (S-Class when used by a Legislator)
Appears to be an ordinary notebook, but it records lists of various high-level personnel in Leviathan and their possible ongoing illegal activities. Blank pages remaining: 78.
Positive Effects:
1. Any information recorded in the notebook will never be forgotten.
2. After recording various names, if those names are written on the same line, the notebook will automatically summarize, integrate, and sort out the connections between these individuals. For criminals, it will automatically record their past criminal acts, even those unknown to others. (The first time a name is written, it must be accompanied by a description of the person's identity or profession, otherwise it will not take effect. Subsequent entries of the same name will default to the previous person, thereby distinguishing between individuals with identical names.)
3. After writing down any name, there is a certain probability that the notebook will reveal that person's secrets.
Negative Effects:
Frequent use will cause the user to become overwhelmed with a sense of justice, impulsive, and prone to meddling.
【Special Effect】 When used by a person holding a Legislator Brooch, any regulations recorded in the notebook will have the effect of law. Range of use: one city.
"Yay! There are mysteries here too! It's not exactly the same, but it's just like the magical items in other Tower Worlds," Miu exclaimed happily. It immediately began to check the magical items they had brought with them into Leviathan. Dark gold patterns composed of straight lines and dots, resembling a circuit diagram, appeared on its wings, just as they did on Lou's arms.
"Damn! The ones I brought are unusable!" Miu cursed after testing its own magical items.
"Can the Space Bag be used?" Lou asked. She picked up Xu Yao's notebook. In her darkening eyes, she saw a transparent, rippling mass of air appear beside Miu's body. She passed the notebook toward the mass of air, and it instantly vanished.
"The Space Bag works, at least," Miu said, looking at its own interface screen, which now displayed a notebook.
"Let me see if I can use Spirit Separation."
"You can't. I just tried," Lou replied. "But the number of 'Lines' I can release has returned to normal."
"What's the maximum number of 'Lines' you can release at once? And what's their maximum effective range?" Miu asked, somewhat speechless after discovering that the only one of its own strange and magical powers it could use in Leviathan was the Space Bag.
Perhaps they needed to unlock more of Leviathan's mysteries before they could use their own powers.
"Forty-seven. Thirty kilometers."
"...Impressive." Miu rarely praised Lou, but being able to release forty-seven tracking "Lines" at once was genuinely impressive. The most powerful Sentinel it had known before could only release nineteen.
"I've always been impressive," Lou said, lifting her chin. But Miu was already ignoring her, instead tossing out the notebook it had just placed in its Space Bag.
"A B-Class item, not bad at all!" Miu said after appraising it.
Lou placed the notebook on the desk, picked up a ballpoint pen, flipped to a blank page, and wrote:
Lin Sandie, employee of Dudian Red Wine Company.
"Are you really using a Remnant to investigate your crush!?" Miu quipped the moment it saw Lin Sandie's name.
Besides, this was a B-Class item with hidden S-Class potential. Although it didn't know how magical items were classified in Leviathan, in the Main World, they were divided into four ranks: D, C, B, and A. Above A was S-Class, which represented an immeasurable, unquantifiable existence. It was a general term that encompassed a wide range of power levels.
On the night of April 4, 2024, Mirror Calendar, Lin Sandie killed Qian Kun, a former security guard at the Golden Leaf Residential Complex. Verdict: Justifiable self-defense.
Lin Sandie may commit crimes in the future. Victim 1: Yan Ting, probability of being harmed: 99%. Victim 2: Lin Youceng, probability of being harmed: 20%. Victim 3: Lou, probability of being harmed: 10%.
"Wow! Lin Sandie wants to break up with her too!" Lou exclaimed in pleasant surprise when two lines of text immediately appeared after she wrote Lin Sandie's name.
"Is that what this is about?" Miu retorted. "And why is your name on there?"
"Did she find out about me somewhere?" The smile on Lou's face faded, her delicate eyebrows knitting together slightly. While she wanted Lin Sandie to be strong enough to stand against her, she wanted to be the one to surprise Lin Sandie by suddenly appearing before her, not for someone else to reveal her existence.
"Try writing Yan Ting's name."
After all, their urgent task was to investigate Yan Ting's connections.
Lou then wrote after Lin Sandie's name: Yan Ting, President of Dudian Red Wine Company.
Shhh—
The once-blank page was instantly covered in dense text, and even the back of the page was filled to the brim.
On January 4, 2020, Mirror Calendar, Yan Ting planned the murder of Lin Sandie's classmate, Huang Run. Verdict: Mastermind.
...
On June 7, 2020, Mirror Calendar, Yan Ting severely injured Lin Sandie, causing a severe concussion, retinal detachment, and other injuries. Verdict: Assailant.
...
On February 7, 2021, Mirror Calendar, Yan Ting planned the murder of company employee You Jian. Verdict: Mastermind.
...
On December 19, 2021, Mirror Calendar, Yan Ting planned the murder of Lin Sandie's high school Chinese teacher, Wei Qingqing. Verdict: Mastermind.
...
On August 23, 2022, Mirror Calendar, Yan Ting used a cone-shaped object to stab company employee Bai Xuan, causing severe injury and death from excessive blood loss. Verdict: Murderer.
...
On January 14, 2023, Mirror Calendar, Yan Ting planned the murder of Lin Sandie's neighbor, Jin Xisheng. Verdict: Mastermind.
...
The text was so dense that Lou skipped around, reading only the shorter entries and those that involved Lin Sandie.
"The other me seems to have made a bad friend," Lou remarked, stroking her chin in a mature, thoughtful tone.
Lou's attention was focused entirely on Lin Sandie. Miu, perched on her shoulder, was more reliable. It carefully examined every piece of information about Yan Ting in the notebook, trying to find clues that would help them complete their mission.
"Yan Ting is in contact with many of Leviathan's powerful elites. Among them are many members of the two houses, several of whom are often seen entering and exiting the Salai Building. Hmm…" Miu mused. It had staked out the entrance to the Salai Building for several days, scanning countless high-level personnel who entered. It had spotted many Rulers, but not a single Legislator.
"Leviathan's Rulers and Legislators are designated by Greek letters from the Main World, from alpha to omega. That means there are forty-eight in total—twenty-four in the Upper House Federal Parliament and twenty-four in the Lower House National Parliament. These forty-eight individuals are the most powerful people in all of Leviathan, controlling all the political affairs of this Tower World," Miu continued, then directed Lou, "Get a new sheet of paper. I need to take some notes. Don't waste any more of the notebook's blank pages."
"Okay." Lou obediently pulled a blank sheet of paper from a drawer, part of a stash Wang Lirou had prepared for her earlier.
"Write down the names corresponding to the code names we've found so far."
Following Miu's dictation, Lou quickly recorded the information they had collected.
Lin Sandie, Legislator, Code: γ (possibly unaware of her status).
Zhou Huaiyi, former Legislator (stripped of his status in 2000, Mirror Calendar), Code: β, member of the illegal organization "Glory Road."
Xu Yao, Ruler, Code: ξ, deceased, brooch missing.
Xu Siqian, former Ruler, Code: ξ.
Hypothesis: The code brooches can be gifted to others. Possessing a brooch allows one to see the monsters that people have mutated into…
As she wrote this, Lou, acting as the scribe, suddenly stopped her pen. "Is it possible for one person to have multiple brooches? If you can give them away, you should be able to take them from others, too."
"That's possible," Miu agreed. "The proportion of people with code names I scanned entering the Salai Building seemed off. The scan probably only displays the first brooch a person ever obtained."
"This is so complicated. I don't want to do such a complicated mission…" Lou complained. This meant that after they finished writing, they would have to start running around and investigating again. She just wanted to go to the hospital and stay with Lin Sandie.
Despite her internal grumbling, Lou obediently continued her role as scribe, writing down everything Miu requested. She figured the sooner she finished the mission, the sooner she could spend all her time with Lin Sandie.
Donna, Ruler, Code: Θ, Lower House Councilor.
Bartz White, Ruler, Code: Τ, Upper House Councilor.
Zhang Jun, Ruler, Code: φ, Candidate for the Upper House.
...
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