“And?” Noah tilted his brown head.
“Since it’s still in development, we don’t have a large database of people to compare it against just yet…”
Noah’s nose wrinkled, “So nothing?”
“On the contrary,” Fynn’s mouth curled up, “Since we didn’t have a database, I pulled up some footage of the last city council meeting for testing purposes. Who would have thought we’d actually manage to get a match.” Fynn’s smile disappeared, replaced by a frown, “Too bad that the technology is still experimental, and its results aren’t yet considered reliable enough to be used in court.”
Noah leaned forward towards the light screen, his little butt nearly slipping off the sofa, “Heh, for testing purposes, you say? Weren’t you trying to check whether this person is councilor Desmond?”
Fynn’s frown was once again replaced by a guilty-as-charged look, and he scratched his head sheepishly, “He is one of the shareholders of Druxa, and the main advocate for the monitoring and limiting the freedom of high ranked power users. I’m rightfully suspicious.”
“So, it IS him?”
Fynn nodded, “The match rate is pretty high, but like I said, it can’t be used as evidence. In fact, with just this, I might not even be able to get him to visit the station for questioning.”
Noah tapped his chin thoughtfully, “A lot of things would make sense if he was indeed involved. As a shareholder, it wouldn’t be hard for him to get access to the lab. And he would probably also be privy to the information about what is being researched inside. Also, councilor Desmond has been trying to make power registration mandatory for years now, claiming that high-ranked power users who hide their powers are a danger to society. Having the mentioned high-ranked power users go on a power rampage would only serve to promote his cause.”
“I’ve been thinking along these lines as well,” Fynn nodded, “He has the means and the motive. And he also happens to be an unscrupulous old bastard who has been opposing your father at every turn for decades.” Fynn glanced towards Levi’s scrunched-up face and added, “He’s not a big fan of the union of the two cities either. He has been trying to stop the marriage ever since it was announce–”
Fynn’s words were interrupted by Levi slamming his fist down on the coffee table with fire in his eyes. ‘Guilty or not, this old fart has to go down!!!’ (ꐦ °Д°)
Noah instinctively wrapped his soothing around Levi and patted the other’s thigh for good measure. After finishing these well-practiced series of actions, Noah was just about to take his little hand away when this fiancé of his covered it with his own, intertwining their fingers together intimately.
Noah’s ears instantly heated up, and he tried hard to ignore the sharp stare directed at them by his father, who was peeking at them from the dining room.
It–it was just holding hands! It’s not like it was something inappropriate… it–it should be fine if it was just holding hands, ah! (⁄ ⁄> ﹏ <⁄ ⁄)
“That–that... if–if councilor Desmond was indeed guilty…then–then if you managed to have a word with him…would–would that be enough to make an arrest?” Noah desperately tried to distract his wandering mind back to the important matters at hand. “It is highly likely that he would refuse to answer any of your questions…”
Fynn stared at him with dead-fish eyes. He couldn’t see the two men touching each other, and he couldn’t even feel the sugary intents over the call, but… he was a professional law enforcement investigator! He still knew what was happening even if he couldn’t see or feel it just by hearing that stutter and seeing those pink ears!!! ಥ‿ಥ
“No, it wouldn’t be enough to put him behind bars, but…” Fynn’s voice seemed a bit dry, “He doesn’t need to say anything. As long as I can feel his intents, I’ll be able to pick up whether he is involved or not. And a testimony of an Intenter investigator is enough to get a search warrant and bring him in for questioning. With official approval to fully dig into him, we are bound to discover something incriminating.”
Noah rubbed his chin and then nonchalantly asked, “Fynn… you are coming to our wedding, right?”
The sudden change in topic sent Fynn’s mind for a spin. “Uh… yes? You did send me an invitation, after all…”
“That’s good,” Noah’s eyes suddenly curved, “Because I just remembered that my father sent the wedding invitations to most of the influential Concordians – councilor Desmond included…”
Fynn’s befuddled mind cleared up instantly. If councilor Desmond would be at the wedding, then he would be able to mingle with the other guests to approach him! Councilor Desmond could avoid meeting him, claiming to be far too busy for such nonsense, but how would he dodge him at the wedding?
Fynn’s look towards Noah turned profound, “Aren’t you worried I would stir up trouble at your wedding?”
“On the contrary,” Noah smiled very innocently, “Wouldn’t catching those that are after my life be the best wedding gift?” Noah glanced towards Levi, “What do you think? Are you afraid of Fynn causing trouble?”
Levi squeezed his hand, “Afraid? I’m looking forward to it. There can only be trouble if Desmond is guilty. Innocent men would not make trouble by just having a word with the law enforcement. And I too think that catching the culprits would be the best possible wedding gift.”
Only if the terrorists were safely behind bars would he be able to fully relax and enjoy his honeymoon. ❤ (⺣◡⺣)
“Then that’s that,” Noah put the lid on the matter, “We’ll know whether he is the one behind the terrorist attacks in two days. In the meantime, we need to rule out everyone else who had access to the lab. Did you question the rest of the people yet?”
“Yes, we finished all the questionings this morning, just before you showed up at the station. Judging by their intents, we ruled out everyone’s connection to the terrorists, leaving us with just three suspects. 1) Asan, whom we have not found yet, 2) the man we suspect to be councilor Desmond, and lastly, the Ghost.”
“The Ghost?” Noah’s eyebrows shot up.
Fynn’s expression turned helpless, “That’s how we are calling the second unidentified communicator number.” Before Noah could question why, Fynn pulled up a ground plan of the lab on his communicator and shared the view with the duo, “It’s like this… every lab on this floor is a closed room with just one entrance and no windows. The door leading into the lab is locked electronically, and people who are allowed entry into the lab can unlock it with their communicators. Every time those electronic doors open, whether it be from the inside or the outside, the time and the communicator number used to unlock them is registered in the access logs.”
Fynn pointed to the lab entrance on the ground plan and then slid his finger down the hallway leading to it. It was a long and straight corridor that led not just to the lab where the mental power drug was developed but to four other labs as well. It was like a hallway of an apartment building that led to all of the apartments on that floor.
Out of six doors in and out of that hallway, five of them were the electronic doors leading to labs, and the sixth was used to access the hallway from the entrance hall. Fynn pointed to the entrance hall on the other side of that door, “We have surveillance footage of the entrance hall, so we can tell who entered the hallway and when. Checking that against the records of entry into the labs themselves, we were able to deduce that one of the unknown communicator numbers belongs to the person suspected to be councilor Desmond. As for the other unknown number…”
“… The owner of the other unknown number is not on our footage.” Fynn scratched his head helplessly, “But as you can see, the only way into the lab is through this hallway, and the only way into the hallway is through these doors that are under surveillance. Thus, everyone entering the hallway should be captured on camera. And yet, here we are…” Fynn sighed before continuing, “At first, we thought that the footage had been tampered with, but there are no missing periods of time nor any other signs it had been messed with. Besides for the Ghost, the times reported by the footage and the access logs match up for everyone else.” Fynn shook his head, “Under the assumption that it wasn’t an issue with the footage, we went back and turned the entire place upside down again. But we still did not manage to find another way into the lab. We even considered the possibility of this person being invisible, but there was no footage of the doors opening by themselves. And
“Exactly!” Noah kept nodding his fluffy head encouragingly, “You said that none of the people you questioned had anything to do with terrorists, right? However, you only questioned those that were on the list of people allowed entry into our lab, correct?” The weariness on Fynn’s face was replaced with agitation, “The Ghost is among the people that we didn’t question! He is one of the personnel from the other 4 labs!” Then he slumped back into his chair, “Ah! We worked through the entire night and barely managed to finish questioning all these people, yet now we have to track down and question more than 4 times the amount of others who had access to the other labs!” Noah felt that being a law enforcement officer was very pitiful, thus he mercifully extended a helping hand, “You might not need to do that. We can use the access logs to narrow down the potential suspects. Anyone who, according to the footage, entered the corridor that day AFTER Ghost’s entry was recorde
Noah immediately put that thought into practice. He stopped thinking and focused on just breathing. Luckily, the scent tickling his nose was inherently rather soothing. Mmm, he recognized this pleasant cologne. And this warm and wide chest. And the comfortable embrace that was like a big satin blanket, so cozy he didn’t want to move… It all made him feel very secure. Like everything was alright. Like he was exactly where he was supposed to be. Doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing. This foreign yet familiar warmth trickled into Noah’s heart, driving away the chill. And the careful caresses patted down all of his metaphorically raised fur. And thus, the turmoil within Noah settled back down as quickly as it had previously risen up. Seeing his unresponsive darling’s ears finally heat up after a long and nerve-racking delay, Levi let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Phew! If his baby had the presence of mind to feel shy, it me
Fynn understood the rationale, but it still didn’t feel right, “But why did the two have to meet up, anyway? If it was just a discussion, it could have been done remotely. Did the councilor come to pick up drugs and see the research results first hand? But since councilor Desmond had access to the lab, couldn’t he have just gone in and taken the drugs himself? Why the need to meet up?” This time, Noah was the one to speak up, “Would a paranoid person, such as Asan, trust the other to quietly take a few drug samples and see himself out? He had to be there to supervise the other and make sure he didn’t do anything he shouldn’t.” Fynn paused a moment to consider Noah’s words, then he spoke up again, “But if the councilor had access rights to the lab, couldn’t he have dropped in at any time, all by himself?” “What makes you think he had permanent access rights? Asan could have granted his number clearance each time they were supposed to meet and revoked them afte
After the matter of tuxedos was resolved, the natural progression of things led the two grooms to the topic of rings. Both wedding AND engagement rings! When Levi realized that he was getting married to his baby, yet not only had he not officially proposed, but his baby’s lovely hands didn’t even have his ring on, he felt so sour inside that his face scrunched up like a squeezed sponge. This needed to be corrected! Right now! (ꐦ °Д°) But how could he correct it when he didn’t even have the rings yet?! (ノಥ益ಥ)ノ ┻━┻ What was he supposed to do? Reuse the rings from the previous engagement? Of course he couldn’t do that!!! Even if there was no issue with the ring size and the feminine design, how could he let his precious wear things that were not just picked by someone else but even worn by someone else before?! Even if he used his feet to think, he still wouldn’t manage to come up with such a stupid idea! But, ah, the realization that those slen
This warning immediately roused Levi from his lethargic state, “Why be careful? Wouldn’t such a reality be a good thing? For a married couple to be happily in love, isn't that how it should be?” Noah fell silent for a moment, then his pink mouth opened to reveal what lay hidden in the depths of his heart, “That's only if it's mutual. If it's one-sided, it would just be sad.” Levi deeply stared into the little one’s two shiny orbs, “That’s only if it forever remains one-sided.” Then the bottomless abyss within the pool of blue was replaced with a shimmer of mischief, “But why would it be… ah! Don’t tell me you intend to seduce me and then dump me?!” Levi’s face warped into exaggerated shock and grief, “Ah, ah, you can’t play with hearts like this! You must take responsibility for me!” Noah’s melancholy was instantly broken, and his glorious bright red blush made its triumphant return. “Who–who–who is playing with hearts?! What ‘seduce and dump’?! And what ‘tak
Since neither Noah nor Levi were the ones who scheduled all that, they had to ask Maery to deal with… uh… canceling it? Maery, “No way! (︶^︶)ノI got two weeks off work for this! And now I don’t even need to bring that scourge along on my vacation! (ノ*^o^)ノ* Yatta!” In other words… “Dear brother, I don’t care where you go for your honeymoon, as for me, dead or alive, I am going to that spa!” (✧ᴗ✧)و Noah, “…” ( •᷄⌓•᷅ ) ‘…does that mean you intend to go with us – but not with us – on our honeymoon?’ Blackie shook his head, “Host, you are not asking the right questions here!”(︶^︶)ノ Blackie turned his virtual eyes towards Maery, “Do tell, o( ̄▽ ̄)d what plans have you made that would ensure your corpse gets smuggled into the spa? Come on, don’t keep us in suspense!” Noah, “…” (◞‸ლ) Feeling helpless due to both his sister AND his pesky system, Noah turned to his fiancé for help. Only to see the other crossing over prett
Noah looked at the loner wolf’s drooping ears and tail and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Something urgent popped up?” He guessed. Otherwise, why would Levi suddenly change his mind after coming out of a call with Astar daddy? The ‘ate a loss’ Astar Levi nodded his head weakly, “Mn. Extremely pressing. Has to be handled ASAP. I’m afraid I won’t be getting much rest tonight.” Then, seeing his baby’s concerned little face, he added, “Don’t worry. It’s only this one time. I’ll manage without soothing tonight, and you can soothe me to sleep tomorrow.” Blackie, ‘…Only this one time? ಠಿ_ಠ So you are saying that you intend to sleep WITHOUT my host only this ONE time?? ಠ_ಠ ‘…Host, how are you not picking up on this?!’ щ(゚Д゚щ) Seeing Levi’s determination despite the dejection, Noah didn’t wish to delay Levi from his urgent matter any longer. Though his heart ached for the other, what Levi needed right now were not empty words