Chapter 8: Penetrating Insight

While Paper Hero was receiving treatment at an HL medical facility, Blood Owl had already left Venice. Before leaving, besides “taking care of” Silver Shadow's killers, he had also tried to find Zuo Dao, with disappointing results. Apparently the kid had smelled a conspiracy coming and made himself scarce.

Blood Owl did not know Paper Hero was still alive. Of course, he would not have cared. Like Time Attendant, he did not consider Paper Hero an ability user worth taking seriously, at least not yet.

The person Blood Owl most wanted to find now was “Gu Wen.” Though he had suffered no real loss, the fact remained that this man had set him up, and Blood Owl could not tolerate that. Judging by Malone's dying words and the descriptions from Silver Shadow's people, “Gu Wen” and Tian Yi appeared to be two different people. At first, Blood Owl had suspected Tian Yi was Gu Wen, since Tian Yi's prediction on the videotape that he was “already in the game” had come true soon afterward. Moreover, the tape had arrived just when Malone was making preparations for the plan Gu Wen had given him.

But after asking around extensively and questioning a few people in the underworld, Blood Owl was fairly certain that Gu Wen was around twenty, just as Malone had described him, whereas Tian Yi looked about thirty by any reckoning. It didn't fit. Following that reasoning… perhaps the Book of the Heart Tian Yi spoke of really existed. That would explain why he had detected no signs of lying when he spoke with Zuo Dao.

The problem remained unsolved, however. Tian Yi was an unknown who came and went like a ghost, but the kid called Gu Wen was just as hard to find. Blood Owl had even posed as an arms dealer and emailed Gu Wen's publicly listed address, only to receive no reply, which displeased him immensely.

Fortunately, word spread in March that Gu Wen was in Chicago, and Blood Owl came running. Of course, that comes later. We'll get to it shortly. First, let's see how things are going with Tea Immortal.

On February 20, the investigation into the Venice incident was still ongoing. The three Silver Shadow killers were very willing to cooperate. They had confessed practically everything they knew in exchange for help from HL.

Tea Immortal showed Paper Hero the interrogation footage in a conference room. On the big screen, Silver Shadow's killers answered questions from their beds. Their hands and feet were all gone, and everyday life would probably be quite a problem for them from now on. One had even requested that, once Blood Owl had been brought to justice and he had heard the news, the government put him out of his misery immediately. The electric chair, beheading, anything would do. Compared with Blood Owl's methods, those were practically a massage.

“Blood Owl performed amputations on them under extremely unsanitary conditions. Using a highly sophisticated form of local anesthesia, he kept all three conscious as they watched their healthy limbs being sawed off one by one, then tossed into a lawn mower.” As Tea Immortal described Blood Owl's methods, even Luca, standing beside him, frowned slightly despite already knowing the details.

There was an unusual gleam in Paper Hero's eyes, however. With half his face incapable of expression, it was difficult for anyone else to tell what he was really thinking. “Instead of analyzing all this, we should be out gathering evidence. I know a few informants who make fake IDs. I could find out where Blood Owl went in less than half a day.”

Tea Immortal shook his head. “Forgive my bluntness, Paper Hero, but your investigative methods are too outdated. That's how twentieth-century police worked. Even if you manage to pick up Blood Owl's trail that way, you'll always be one step behind him.”

“Oh? What do you suggest, then? I've heard a little about you so-called ‘armchair detectives.’ You think you can take a few pieces of established evidence and witness statements and reconstruct every detail of what's already happened, then work out someone's personality by analyzing which leg they cross over the other. If you've got that much time on your hands, you'd be better off finding the man first. In the end, it all comes down to one fight.”

Tea Immortal smiled. “One fight often settles nothing. And you've already lost at least two rounds, Paper Hero.”

That left Paper Hero speechless.

Naturally, Tea Immortal gave him a way to save face. He continued, “Like you, I've lost countless rounds in a game against someone else. But until the very end, there's no telling who will win. So please hear me out.”

Paper Hero said nothing more. He understood that if he wanted to find Blood Owl and take revenge as quickly as possible, he had to make use of Tea Immortal. With the man's status, connections, and authority, he would have access to resources far beyond the reach of an ordinary policeman.

“For ten years after the ‘Bloody Midnight’ incident, we never managed to get an image of Blood Owl on file. This time in Venice, we at least established what he looks like. HL has an excellent database. I assigned three teams to combine computer searches with manual checks of fake IDs, surveillance footage, and so forth from past years, looking for matching facial features. We obtained a considerable amount of valuable intelligence.

“First, he's cautious. For all his roughness, he pays attention to detail and rarely slips up. Whenever he arrives in a city, he first finds a middleman with an excellent reputation and exchanges one or more works of art for clean, spendable cash. He doesn't mind taking a loss on the deal. Gangs that launder money are quite friendly toward clients like this and leave him alone. Of course, a few insatiably greedy gangs have tried to take advantage of him. The consequences of angering him go without saying.

“Blood Owl rarely appears in public. He likes staying somewhere inconspicuous that no one will enter for years, conducting experiments on living subjects. Places like that are everywhere in big cities. A construction site that office workers pass on their daily commute, where nothing seems to get finished for years; a house tucked into a side street downtown, its iron gate locked year-round and junk piled outside; even a vacant property in an upscale neighborhood that the children call a haunted house. He's down in the basement, with a few soundproofing panels keeping the hideous screams below ground. If some elementary school children hadn't sneaked in to play and heard the noise, Blood Owl could have hidden in a place like that for more than three years.

“There are signs that he tried eating people when he couldn't be bothered to go out for groceries. Yes, gentlemen, here we are in the twenty-second century, when a box of meal bars can keep a grown man from starving for three months, and someone is eating people.

“He seems to have broken that habit later, though. Perhaps they weren't to his taste (in fact, he had found a better way to dispose of bodies). In any case, this man is utterly insane, treats human life as worthless, and is almost pathologically cruel. Yet he isn't entirely a beast, since he can also be cautious and alert. During his clash with Steel Commandment in January, he chose to flee under fire from their armed forces. That was very wise.”

Tea Immortal paused and took a sip of hot tea from his insulated cup. “That more or less covers his personality. Next, his knowledge. I have to say, it's both broad and deep… His academic qualifications surpass those of anyone in this building. If we went back to university, we'd all have to call Blood Owl Professor.”

At that moment, every employee of the HL Northern Second Branch in the Crown Commandery, including every member of the temporary support staff sent over from European headquarters, caught a stray bullet. No one escaped.

“Until he was twenty-three, Blood Owl studied life sciences at Yale, using someone else's identity, of course. After entering graduate school, he became the department head's assistant and star pupil. The old professor told everyone he met that this student would one day become a giant in his field. In fact, he was still saying so a few days ago. He evidently failed to grasp why HL had sent people to question him…

“The reason his identity was finally exposed is deeply ironic. At the time, HL's North American branch sent people to approach Blood Owl, hoping to recruit this ‘promising young talent’ into the organization. The people they sent never came back. When the local commander realized how serious things were, he still thought the student Blood Owl was impersonating was a spy the Freedom Front had planted at the university. Only when they went to his home to arrest him did they discover he'd cleared out. Behind a concealed door, they found a laboratory that looked like a slaughterhouse.

“Of course, the codename ‘Blood Owl’ didn't exist back then, and the case wasn't taken seriously enough. Since it involved the murder of HL members, it was quietly wrapped up. Several years later, the Bloody Midnight incident far away in Europe was never connected to it either. Only now, after finally confirming Blood Owl's appearance, have we linked numerous unsolved serial murder cases around the world.”

Paper Hero said, “You mean he knows more than anyone here, including you?”

Tea Immortal did not deny it. “You could say that. I'm different from him. I need knowledge in every field, so in most subjects I can only acquire a general understanding without going into depth. In psychology, perhaps we're evenly matched, but in biology, chemistry, and the like, he's an accomplished expert. He'd be quite qualified to teach me.”

Paper Hero said, “So… after all that, we've merely established that he enjoys dissecting people like frogs, is very good at it, and occasionally eats one or two. That's all.”

Luca, standing beside them, had been thinking much the same thing, but he would never have said it aloud. He was secretly pleased to have someone as blunt as Paper Hero say it for him.

Tea Immortal replied, “No, this tells us something. Blood Owl has a purpose behind his actions. He isn't simply indulging an interest. He's killed so many people and maintained a state-of-the-art laboratory in every city he's stayed in. Clearly, he's researching something. Moreover, he must have settled on his objective long before entering university. His education was only part of the plan. To achieve that objective, he needed extensive knowledge in these fields.”

Something occurred to Paper Hero. “In other words, wherever he flees, he won't abandon his research. If we approach it from that angle…”

Tea Immortal picked up the thought. “Yes. Smuggled advanced medical supplies, illicit money flows, and so forth. Investigate those, and we can find Blood Owl, however cautious he may be. That's why I say there's no need to rush the pursuit. A hunt is more interesting when you fully understand your prey's mind.” His gaze returned to the big screen, his attention once more on the Silver Shadow killer being interrogated.

Paper Hero remained silent. He had caught something in those words. This seventh prince was no ordinary man. He seemed easygoing, was modest and polite, and spoke with intelligence and tact. Yet the cunning and depth concealed beneath that surface, and the air of a ruler that slipped out whether intentionally or otherwise, made the Tea Immortal they saw every day seem merely the tip of an iceberg. His true stature was that of a still abyss, a towering mountain. Retreat a thousand miles and you could not take in his full extent; advance half a step and you would bow before his command tent.

“I'm trying to use a man like this. Does that mean he already understands my thoughts and is using me instead…” Paper Hero mused, unable to suppress a chill.