Chapter 2: Examining the Scene

White fluorescent lights lined the ceiling as Tea Immortal walked down the corridor to the scene of Kuwabara's death.

Only the morning before last, Jingniao and Kuwabara had spoken here. Now both men were dead.

Had Jingniao lived, Tea Immortal's investigation would have been far easier and more productive. Though the officer had only Paper-rank strength, his backlight vision was extremely useful for gathering evidence. And since he had joined the investigation before Tian Yi's game ended, his information and testimony would have been very valuable.

In fact, Tian Yi had initially had no intention of killing Jingniao. He had estimated that a week or more might pass before HL discovered he was here and Tea Immortal caught up. Much of the evidence would have become meaningless by then, so keeping Jingniao alive would make the game more interesting.

But as he had told those “Cleaners,” “Jingniao didn't have to die. Just a few seconds ago, you forced me to change my mind.”

The situation had changed in those few short seconds.

That day, Tian Yi had known for some time that he was being watched, but had yet to determine who the watchers were. The Book of the Heart had its own rules and limitations. It could not read true ability users, a restriction that did not apply to cyborgs. And to access an ordinary person's thoughts, he first had to know that person's name.

This could take a fair amount of work. Suppose you wanted to keep watch over a place on the far side of the ocean. One approach was to think up a random name common to that area, then open the black book and see whether the person you found was actually there. But the chances of success were slim, since plenty of people on Earth shared the same name. There was a second, more reliable approach: look up someone famous, such as the local governor or a sports or entertainment star. If you knew what they looked like, you couldn't go wrong. Then you could learn other people's names from their Books of the Heart and follow the chain, using the connections between people to find someone you needed to watch.

After Tian Yi's bookshop moved to Hokkaido, there wasn't anyone within a hundred li of its new location whose name he didn't know, unless they were just passing through...

To Tian Yi, the Book of the Heart was only a tool, separate from his own ability. That ability was far more powerful and complex. One aspect of it let him discern people's physiological makeup and the mechanisms behind their abilities, provided they came close enough—whether they were cyborgs, mutants, or people with superpowers... Even at a greater distance, he could at least sense their presence.

When Tian Yi woke on the morning of the thirteenth, he sensed four people lying in wait nearby. He didn't know their names and therefore couldn't look up their thoughts. At that point, however, he couldn't confirm that they were Cleaners sent by HL.

But when Jingniao left, the four members of C Squad noticed Tian Yi come out of the bookshop. Perhaps afraid he would run, they moved closer. Only then did Tian Yi establish that all four were cyborgs with Normal-rank strength, the standard makeup of an HL Cleaner squad.

Putting Jingniao's actions and the other officers' thoughts together with the situation before him, Tian Yi deduced within seconds that Kuwabara, the other ability user at the police station, also held a position in HL. This meant Tea Immortal would become involved earlier than expected.

So at that moment, Tian Yi changed his mind. He decided to kill Jingniao and restore a suitable level of difficulty to this game he played for his own sick amusement.

Tian Yi killed Kuwabara to make absolutely sure nothing could go wrong. Like Jingniao, the man was an ability user, and the Book of the Heart could read neither man's thoughts. If they had exchanged some crucial piece of information, Tian Yi would have no way of knowing. Silencing him was the safer option.

Tea Immortal entered the morgue. The scene had been sealed off, and all the evidence had been well preserved, except, of course, for the body. HL's autopsy department had taken charge of both Kuwabara's and Jingniao's bodies. The police had effectively been kicked off the investigation.

“You spoke to Second Lieutenant Kuwabara on the phone before he was killed?” Tea Immortal asked as he examined the scene.

Shimaki replied, “Yes, sir. The call concerned the loss of contact with C Squad.”

“You are aware of the classification assigned to cases involving the inverted cross?”

The seemingly casual question instantly gave Shimaki goosebumps. His expression changed dramatically. He understood all too well the deadly implications of that question.

Major Shimaki had indeed been overconfident in this matter. As the head of a local HL branch, he naturally knew about the so-called danger level six, but he had always scoffed at the concept, introduced only a few years earlier. After receiving Kuwabara's report, Shimaki had searched HL's database for every case connected with the “inverted cross” and found that this Tian Yi was merely a serial killer. Not one of his past victims had been above Normal rank.

This, one might say, was the consequence of presuming to judge Tian Yi by the results alone, without knowing how he had achieved them.

Shimaki did not understand Tea Immortal. He thought Tian Yi might simply have some personal quarrel with the prince, and that this member of the royal family had used his status and connections to cobble together such an absurd danger classification.

At Kuwabara's level, however, information such as danger level six was still beyond his reach. He knew nothing of the name Tian Yi and had simply filed his report through the normal procedures for a murder case involving an ability user. Hoping for the best, Shimaki had decided to quietly send a squad of his Cleaners to dispose of Tian Yi. With any luck, it might even bring him a promotion and riches. He had said nothing to C Squad about danger level six either, merely showing them some material on past “inverted cross” cases and considering that their briefing. Only after the four men died did Shimaki gradually begin to realize how serious the matter was. Yet his response was to call Kuwabara and demand answers, blaming him for underestimating the criminal's strength.

“Major Shimaki.” Tea Immortal had long since seen through him. “If you find that difficult to answer, we can leave the subject.”

Shimaki felt as though he had been granted a pardon. If Tea Immortal chose to investigate who was responsible, Shimaki would certainly lose his post. Everyone he could shift the blame onto was already dead.

Tea Immortal then said, “Step outside for a moment. Let me spend some time here alone.”

“Yes, sir.” Shimaki backed away with the utmost deference, remembering to close the door as he left. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his back was already soaked. He thought how young this man looked, how mild and polite, yet how terrifyingly cunning and calculating he was. An ordinary remark could send you over a cliff, and whether he chose to pull you back depended entirely on his whim.

Tea Immortal gave a contemptuous snort. “Nothing but incompetents, yet they hold such high positions.” Then something occurred to him, and he couldn't help laughing. “Perhaps holding high positions is precisely what made them incompetent...”

His gaze swept the room, taking in the overturned trolley, the metal tray for surgical instruments, the tools scattered across the floor, the hospital bed beside them, and the blood on the floor that had yet to dry.

In Tea Immortal's mind, time seemed to run backward. Fragments pieced themselves together, and the events of two days earlier, when Tian Yi killed Kuwabara, gradually played out before his eyes...