"So Xuanfeng has already gone?"
Endless light poured down from the shattered dome overhead. In the perpetually overcast Old Dunling, sunlight was a luxury beyond price. Working here almost felt like a blessing.
Inside the Central Surveillance Hub beneath the broken vault, Red Falcon turned to Blue Jade beside him. Their injuries long healed, the two had been reassigned here—light duties, they called it. A vacation, in the language of the Bureau.
"Yes. And she's already made contact with Lloyd."
Blue Jade stood before the great sand-table map at the center of the chamber. With a low mechanical hum, intricate mechanisms lifted miniature structures upward from beneath the surface—buildings, block by block, rising into place. Streets unfurled, towers locked into position, and concentric rings of architecture meshed together, forming a vast three-dimensional map. When the current surged through it, sigils and markers flickered to life across its surface.
In less than half a minute, the machines completed their work. A full model of Old Dunling stood assembled on the table. Cooling insulating fluid flowed through narrow channels, filling the final gaps—becoming, at last, the Thames, cutting a silver path through the heart of the city.
"That makes the third case this month. All tied to demons. What a headache."
Robin approached from the far side, coffee in hand. A shaft of sunlight from the dome struck him full in the face; he squinted and raised a hand to shield his eyes.
"And there's no pattern at all. We've already increased the sensitivity of the Geiger counters, but we still can't catch it."
Blue Jade's expression was equally troubled. Under normal circumstances, no demon lasted long once the Purge Bureau set its sights on it. This opponent, however, was clearly different.
"So that's why you brought in Lloyd?" Red Falcon stepped closer, joining them in studying the mechanical cityscape. "Looks like we're down to relying on that witcher. Let's see what kind of surprise he brings us this time."
It was a string of brutal killings—handled by the Purge Bureau from the very beginning. They had covered their tracks well. Yet another incident had surfaced today, and this time it had been discovered first by the Suaarlan Office. Only through Lloyd's contacts had the Bureau learned of the anomaly in time.
"In theory, the Watcher System should have alerted us immediately," Blue Jade said slowly. "But this time it was completely silent. Lloyd is the only reason we found anything. The system was developed by the previous Director-General of the Perpetual Pump. If it isn't malfunctioning… then the demon has learned how to evade the Watchers."
That was not good news.
The so-called Watcher System—what Joey liked to call the Precog—was no mystical relic. It was black technology born of the Perpetual Pump. Alongside the Serpent of the Atrium, it was one of the core systems that kept the Purge Bureau running.
Using Old Dunling's vast network of underground steamworks, the Bureau had installed large Geiger counters—disguised and hidden—across every corner of the city. Wires ran alongside steam conduits, converging like a spider's web, all feeding back to the Central Surveillance Hub.
In other words, the entire city lay beneath the gaze of countless detectors. The moment radiation levels spiked anywhere, the data would return here. From that, the Bureau could effectively control the whole of Old Dunling.
Simple. Brutal. Effective.
By analyzing the timing and fluctuation of the readings, they could even predict a demon's direction of travel. Since the Watcher System came online, the most troublesome demon to appear in Old Dunling had survived barely a week—and only because it had crawled into the combustion ducts of the Furnace Pillar. It had taken teams ages to search that infernal maze.
"An enemy that can dodge Geiger detection…" Red Falcon let out a long breath. "Looks like we really are stuck relying on that witcher."
The man had saved his life once, true—but every decision Lloyd made during the Ender Town operation had been sheer madness. Red Falcon could never shake the sense of danger that clung to anything so utterly uncontrollable.
Between the model buildings, faint green light shimmered—normal radiation levels. The mechanical map was fully linked to the Watcher System, displaying anomalies in real time.
Most of Old Dunling glowed with harmonious emerald light. Only a few hidden points burned bright red. Other regions showed no light at all—areas beyond their clearance. Only Arthur had the authority to view readings there.
"…How about some afternoon tea?"
Brooding, Red Falcon glanced at his watch and made the suggestion out of nowhere.
The Central Surveillance Hub was a place of extremes. When demons appeared, it became the busiest room in the city. When they didn't, the work was so dull it could kill you. After all, demons didn't show up every day.
The most legendary case was the deputy director two terms ago. During his five-year tenure, demon incidents were so rare they could be counted on one hand. He had imagined a life of high drama—slamming his finger down on maps, barking orders, armies mobilizing at his command.
Instead, he spent his days staring at a sea of green lights.
Out of boredom, the man started writing novels—fictionalized tales of the Purge Bureau, carefully altered and disguised. He submitted them to magazines. Overnight, he became a literary sensation, one of Old Dunling's most celebrated authors.
A happy ending? Not quite. Even with all the alterations, he was still punished for violating confidentiality agreements.
Under normal procedure, he would have been jailed for several years and then exiled to the frontier. But someone noticed his literary talent. He was reassigned to the Janitor Department, where he used newspapers and publications to misdirect public opinion after demon incidents. After all, the previous propaganda writer had been terrible—an idiot who blamed every single disaster on gas explosions.
"Ah… this is the life. Food, drinks, and no frontline horrors to deal with."
Robin sighed contentedly. Blue Jade, however, refused to join their idleness. She remained at the map, pressing controls and printing radiation data from different districts at different times.
Then—
In the vast field of green, a single red point flared into existence.
A brief pause.
Alarms screamed through the chamber.
The two lounging agents froze for half a second before sprinting toward the table. Blue Jade was faster than both. She slammed into the comms channel, shouting:
"Geiger spike detected! Location is—Xuanfeng! The target is near you!"
Her voice raced outward through mechanical relays, until it reached Joey. Blue Jade's shout burst from the communicator hidden beneath his coat.
He was still hesitating when the detective in front of him changed—face twisting, presence turning vicious. The witcher sensed it at the same instant.
"For something like that," the detective said coldly, "the no-firearms rule in the city… can be lifted, right?"
It wasn't a question.
Before Joey could answer, the detective had already raised his Winchester. In the next heartbeat, he smashed through the glass, hit the fire escape, and leapt down into the open air.