Chapter 108: Who Says That’s the Only Crime You Committed?
While investigating the Freedom Alliance member who had turned Ye Qin into a human bomb, a highly suspicious individual surfaced.
You could beat Lu Zheng to death and he still wouldn’t believe these two people were unrelated.
Even science fiction novels wouldn’t dare use such a bold plot.
But the ability that this person showed in the surveillance footage didn’t match that of the Freedom Alliance operative.
In his view, there had to be something fishy going on.
Lu Zheng fell silent.
Wait!
Saw?
Lu Zheng suddenly came to a realization.
He had merely guessed that Rigil Gai’s ability was Metallization based on his behavior in the surveillance footage, but the ability someone displays isn’t necessarily their real power.
For example, Lu Zheng once had a coworker who specialized in using light magic. His favorite thing was to go optically invisible and sneak up on enemies—or get beaten up sneaking into the women’s bath. He only used other light-based spells when facing tough opponents.
One shouldn’t judge someone’s power based solely on how they express it.
That was the first lesson taught in Hero Association training. And he had completely forgotten it.
Lu Zheng clutched his head with both hands, his expression bitter.
Although part of it could be blamed on D-City being too peaceful—he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a villain misusing superpowers…
No.
Wrong!
Even if it had been a long time, as a professional hero, he should never forget the most basic of basics.
Lu Zheng raised his head and slapped his own face a couple of times.
“Too careless…”
“Uh… what was careless?”
Miss Qiu Yu, who had remained silent on the other end of the line, finally couldn’t help but speak up.
She had assumed Lu Zheng was deep in thought and hadn’t wanted to interrupt. She used Mage’s Hand to hold the phone to her ear while processing some documents.
Only when she heard Lu Zheng speak again did she respond.
Lu Zheng was surprisingly frank.
“I was careless,” he admitted without hesitation. “I nearly forgot even the most basic principles.”
“Metallization is just the ability Rigil displayed in the surveillance footage. It might not be his real power.”
Perking up, Lu Zheng picked up the mouse and replayed the surveillance footage on Yi Ning’s computer.
“I’m going to review the footage again, see if I can find any other clues.”
“…”
The other end of the phone was silent for two seconds, perhaps unsure how to respond.
“Well then, good luck.”
The call ended.
Lu Zheng stared intently at the screen, reviewing the footage over and over.
Fortunately, this persistence bore fruit.
He hit the spacebar to pause the footage and zoomed in repeatedly on Rigil’s hand, which was tucked into his pocket.
On screen, metallic coloration spread from the hand in Rigil’s pocket up to two-thirds of his upper arm.
If Lu Zheng remembered correctly, the piece of metal Rigil had offered to curry favor with Yi Ning had come from that very pocket.
Judging by the footage, Rigil’s metalized arm was identical in material and color to the metal he gave Yi Ning.
Had he fused the metal into his skin using some fusion-based ability?
But… was that even feasible?
Lu Zheng didn’t know anyone with a similar ability, and it wasn’t a topic emphasized in school.
So he wasn’t very confident in his assessment.
He replayed the footage repeatedly, analyzing the scenes where Rigil activated and deactivated his ability.
Both actions occurred only after Rigil’s hand entered his pocket.
The metalization began from the pocketed hand and disappeared from the same hand last.
Based on the information he knew, Metallization didn’t exhibit these traits—but he couldn’t rule out that Rigil was subconsciously concealing the conditions under which he activated his power.
As someone who habitually hid his own power activation triggers, Lu Zheng was quite good at projecting onto others.
He reviewed the footage a few more times until he was sure he hadn’t missed any clues, then copied the video to a USB drive and shut down Yi Ning’s computer.
His instincts told him Rigil was the one who had transformed Ye Qin into a human bomb.
As a seasoned hero who had once contributed greatly to the borderlands, Lu Zheng placed great trust in his gut feelings.
However, since there was no evidence pointing directly to him, Lu Zheng hesitated over whether to arrest Rigil right away.
After thinking it over, his eyes lit up at the computer screen. He pulled out his phone and called Miss Qiu Yu.
Miss Qiu Yu was still buried in that mountain of paperwork, but the moment she saw Lu Zheng’s name appear on the phone, she answered immediately.
To keep herself from sounding too eager, she even faked a couple of coughs before speaking.
“Did you find another lead?”
“I found quite a few things. Unfortunately, none of them directly point to that guy.”
Lu Zheng shook his head regretfully.
“I see.”
Miss Qiu Yu didn’t sound particularly disappointed.
After all, she hadn’t held out much hope in the first place.
“But my gut tells me he’s definitely involved.”
“So what’s your plan?”
“I want to go ahead and arrest him tonight. It’s too dangerous to let someone with the power to easily turn people into human bombs wander freely. So, do you have any results yet from the bomb investigation?”
“I don’t think there’s any particularly useful info. Hold on.”
Miss Qiu Yu picked up the phone, then used her free hand along with Mage’s Hand to sift through the mountain of paperwork on her desk. She pulled out a file and opened it, flipping through the pages while reading aloud to Lu Zheng.
“The guy’s clearly experienced. There were no usable clues on the bomb—no fingerprints or anything else pointing to his identity. The model was a common one sold on the black market…”
“In short, nothing helpful.”
Miss Qiu Yu leaned back in her chair and used Mage’s Hand to flip the last page, summing up the report.
“Unless we find some incriminating evidence on him directly, we’d have to let him go after 24 hours even if we arrested him.”
She tossed the report onto the desk, pushed her chair back with her feet, and raised her arms to stretch her stiff shoulders.
“So what do you think? Arrest him? Or not?”
Come to think of it, isn’t Miss Qiu Yu supposed to be the boss here?
Why is she asking my opinion on whether to arrest someone?
Hearing the familiar question, Lu Zheng complained silently, then answered: “Arrest him, of course! But…”
He deliberately dragged out the last word and paused for two seconds before continuing.
“But not on the charge of kidnapping Ye Qin and turning her into a human bomb.”
“?”