SCIAW: Chapter 457/458

Chapter 457: Who is the Mole?

The interior of the Crows was already in chaos, and the same was true for the upper echelons of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

"Odagiri, do you think Officer Sato's informant is the instigator of this incident?"

"Yes."

Toshiro Odagiri directly and frankly stated his opinion.

"The research on this drug, the human experiments conducted with it, and even the significance this drug represents, all point to one purpose: to make us focus more attention on that organization."

"Then, are you saying the madness of the guards in the pharmaceutical factory was also part of their scheme?"

"This… I cannot be certain."

Facing this question from Superintendent General Hakuba, Odagiri hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. He had no evidence to support such a claim.

"So, this remains a big question. But there is another issue, Odagiri, have you noticed it?"

"Why would Officer Sato's informant give us such intelligence in the first place? Is there a reason behind it?"

"What is the informant's true purpose?"

Odagiri could not provide a reasonable answer.

Superintendent General Hakuba was not angered by this uncertainty. Instead, he shifted the topic.

"Odagiri, your suspicion of Officer Sato's informant is primarily due to the excessively heavy casualties suffered by our action team."

"So tell me, do you think this situation is normal?"

"You mean… the casualty count is abnormal?"

Odagiri immediately understood Hakuba's meaning.

"Our action team members are all trained police officers. Each officer should have been able to handle the situation. So why was the team so slow to react inside the pharmaceutical factory?"

"This…"

Odagiri suddenly realized.

From the recording devices, it was clear those mad guards were not completely immune to bullets. At the very least, bullets could still kill them.

In other words, if the police officers wielding assault rifles had reacted quickly, they could have mowed down the charging guards. The only ones at risk would have been the officers with riot shields at the front. There should not have been such devastating casualties.

"I think Officer Sato's informant probably didn't expect our action team to suffer losses this severe."

"A team of forty against thirteen unarmed madmen actually suffered one-sided heavy casualties. How ridiculous."

Superintendent General Hakuba's face was twisted with anger.

"A mole has infiltrated the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and they even arranged for our newly formed action team to participate in such an operation. Which genius gave that order?"

The action team was supposed to be an elite unit composed of specially trained officers.

Originally, the formation process was extremely strict. But due to special circumstances, the department had recently needed more manpower, and so they hastily formed a new action team.

And it was precisely this temporary unit that was deployed in the operation.

Insane, wasn't it?

When Hakuba found out, he too was in disbelief.

Odagiri's face twitched.

Ten officers with riot shields at the front, backed by thirty armed with assault rifles, could not even bring down thirteen unarmed, frenzied guards.

At first, he thought someone had orchestrated this outcome. Now he realized he had been played by his own people.

With such a disparity in equipment and firepower, no matter how drugged the guards were, the team should have had time to respond.

Subsequent results proved the team did fire, but too late. Their quality was poor. They froze when the battle began and failed to pull the trigger in time, leading to disaster.

In other words, the action team that participated was nothing more than a temporary unit with no cohesion at all.

"Odagiri."

At this moment, Superintendent General Hakuba calmed himself.

"I need you to investigate why that newly formed team was assigned to this operation. Has a mole from the organization infiltrated our ranks?"

"As for Officer Sato's informant, do you still believe they were the mastermind?"

Odagiri shook his head.

A poorly arranged action team, forty officers against thirteen unarmed maniacs, yet still suffering heavy casualties—this wasn't about whether the informant's intelligence was accurate. This was an internal police problem.

"The mastermind is forcing us into direct conflict with that organization, deliberately causing the guards to go mad and mutilate themselves, leaving behind the drugs, formulas, and even the true purpose of that research."

"However, Officer Sato's informant has never shown such tendencies. In fact, they helped us crack a major bombing case before."

"Combined with the suspicious deployment of this team, I believe there is a third party pulling the strings."

"And I think that third party wants us to suspect this very thing."

"Exactly."

Hakuba also believed the deployment was orchestrated by a third party.

If it had been a purely internal police decision, once a killer organization's stronghold was identified, especially one confirmed to house military-grade weapons, there was no way they would assign a temporary action team.

"Whether the mole is from that organization or a third-party instigator, both are very serious for us."

"That organization has already been exposed, but the third party remains hidden in the fog. At this critical moment, we must control our suspicions, especially toward those who have shown themselves to help us."

"Odagiri, next time you doubt someone, consider all the factors. For now, your focus should be on our own internal affairs. Whether it is a mole from the organization or a third-party infiltrator, we must dig them out."

"I understand."

Odagiri nodded slightly. At this moment, his task was clear.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 458: Greeting Oneself in the Morning

The next morning, Ren sat in the living room, fiddling with the tarot cards in his hand.

He looked at them in astonishment.

His divination had gone awry. The true revelation did not appear. Instead, something very dangerous emerged.

"It's actually corruption…"

The tarot cards, which were originally just ordinary stiff paper, had turned into a black, ink-like substance.

Corruption emerging from divination.

If someone accidentally divined Miyano Shiho's fate, the corruption hidden within would pour out, contaminating the diviner completely. This way, anyone attempting to pry into Shiho would be eliminated.

"Is this the protection method left by the Miyano couple for Shiho?"

In the original story, it seemed that all the scientists in the Crow Organization never made progress on the APTX research. That setting had always been absurd.

There are countless geniuses in this world, yet there were no results? Claiming that only specific scientists could make breakthroughs was clearly unscientific.

This world would not naturally enforce such a rule.

But there was something called power that could enforce it.

Ren was now very interested in the Miyano couple's research.

"That couple must have obtained something special and used it in their research, which is how they created APTX."

"Indeed, APTX is extraordinary."

This did not exceed Ren's expectations.

But what exactly was the source of that extraordinariness? That was what Ren wanted to know.

He glanced at the corruption on the table, a black sludge-like mass. He tapped the tabletop lightly with his finger, and the corruption sank in and disappeared without a trace.

The reason APTX could only be developed by Shiho was likely due to its link with extraordinary characteristics.

Recalling its ability to turn adults into children… could that be related to the Fate pathway?

Was it the Sequence 1 Snake of Mercury's extraordinary characteristic? That troublesome dice? Or was it tied to a Sefirot itself?

It was difficult to speculate, and even harder to conduct targeted divination.

Although both the Fool and Door pathways had interference with fate, the Fate pathway was unique. It specialized in fate. At his current level, it was not enough to confirm.

The Wheel of Fortune pathway, however, was different. It was about luck.

Luck that aligned with fate. In truth, the Wheel of Fortune was perhaps the easiest pathway to advance along in the world of mysteries, even to ascend to an Old One.

One didn't need to think of rituals, advancement, or requirements. Just luck.

Even advancement rituals could be bypassed, because luck itself was the ultimate ritual.

Ren once imagined a transmigrator who chose the Wheel of Fortune pathway and was favored by destiny.

This lucky transmigrator would fall unconscious after arriving in the world, and during that unconsciousness, a miraculous potion would accidentally pour into his mouth, advancing him into a monster. Then, his luck would attract the Key of Light, which would directly merge into his body, containing a Sefirot by itself. When he opened his eyes, he would already be an Old One.

If such a person truly existed, wouldn't all the True Gods be smashed against the wall in anger?

All their hard work would be less effective than sheer luck.

Of course, such thoughts were only fantasies. Ren had never seen such a story.

After all, if that were truly the case, no further stories could unfold smoothly.

Would that not only make all the True Gods jealous, but also hateful? Even a Celestial Worthy wouldn't create such a suicidal scenario.

In the end, it would probably result in the so-called God of Luck dying in the most unlucky way possible.

Ren sighed. He would not pursue this further.

No matter what it was, as long as it was an extraordinary characteristic tied strongly to fate, divination would be nearly impossible. Unless he reached higher levels, only then could both Fool and Door pathways pierce fate.

Ultimately, it was a matter of strength.

Ren stopped dwelling on Shiho's problem. Her issue would remain, but he was still growing. In time, he would reach it.

This situation also confirmed that involving the police and the Crow Organization yesterday had been the correct choice.

He pulled out a new deck of tarot cards and began another divination.

Wheel of Fortune upright. Magician upright. Temperance upright.

"Fate, huh…"

Ren sighed.

"Aside from me, there was no third-party involvement. If anything, fate leaned toward me."

He finally understood why things unfolded as they did yesterday.

It was fate protecting him.

Whether this was good or bad was difficult to say. Ren decided not to pry further.

Sometimes fate favored those it liked, but it also toyed with those who understood it too well.

Keeping a vague relationship with fate was not necessarily being reckless.

He tidied himself up and checked the time. 8:13. Not long until the specialty stores opened.

Ren put on thick clothes and left the house.

Meanwhile, in their room, Shiho and Akemi were having a rare sweet dream.

Since the Rye Whiskey incident, they had not had a peaceful sleep.

Nightmares haunted them, always caused by the same man.

But now, they found peace, and a rare dream filled with warmth, because of another man.

With their nerves finally relaxed, the sisters dropped their vigilance, allowing themselves to sleep longer.

At 9:04, the two slowly opened their eyes.

Sunlight streamed in. Today felt completely different from the past.

Waking up in hope was not the same as waking up in darkness. The atmosphere, the urgency, everything was different.

"It's morning again…"

Shiho sat on the bed, wearing an ill-fitting men's pajama, tilting her head back slightly as the drowsiness faded. Her eyes blinked softly as her mind cleared.

"Good morning, Miyano Shiho."

"Today is different."

(To be continued.)