The next morning, the Fat Man stood at the gates of the Athens Police Precinct.It was a four-story mansion with colored roofs, ordinary to the eyes of the public. Yet the golden plaque at the entrance, flanked by two Greek guards, announced authority. Patrol officers dashed in and out like living wind, the bustle never ceasing.
He walked straight into the hall. The counters were crowded with complaining citizens and busy officers.Even standing as the Detective Captain, in the center of it all, the Fat Man was invisible.With a sigh, he grabbed a passing officer.
"I'm here to report. Where should I go?"
The officer blinked, taking in his appearance. "Report? You're a new recruit?""No. I'm the Detective Captain."The officer's eyes widened. "Oh! It's you?"Then he frowned."Is there a problem?" the Fat Man asked cautiously."No… follow me."
Soon, he was led to a wooden door on the third floor.
Knock. Knock. Knock."Come in," a melodic female voice called.
The officer peeked his head through the gap. "Captain, the person you're waiting for is here.""Ah! Bring him in!"
The Fat Man was gently nudged inside. The instant the door opened, the people inside went through a weather-like change: smiles bright as sunlight, stiffened expressions, then clouds darkening the room.
"Who are you?" The woman in front of him was Daisy—the same one Adam had met twice before."Hello. I'm Katam. Lizard." He handed over the commission and the appointment notice.
Daisy's eyes narrowed as she inspected the papers. Within moments, her expression shifted from skeptical to stormy gray.
"What is he thinking?" Daisy snapped, crumpling both papers into a ball and flinging them at his chest."Does he think he can send a sweaty mole to play games with me?" Her voice was ice and venom, low enough to slither through the room like a snake. "This is the Athens Precinct, not his warehouse for defective toys. If he wants power here, he should roll down from the mountain himself instead of sending you, a lump of sweaty meat, to disgust me!"
The Fat Man stood there, chest rising and falling beneath the barrage, but inside, he smiled.Perfect.
At home, the "new captain" turned his office into a command post disguised as a cleaning site. A few unlucky temporary officers moved heavy bookshelves at his direction. In his mind, he replayed the movements of the missing Biggs—the young man's carriage tracks he had observed at the cellar gate just days before. As a detective, his duty was simple: make sure these files sank into oblivion, unseen. Even under the guise of incompetence, a human can play with monsters and win.
Meanwhile, in the shadowed depth of the Athena Library, Adam and Athena were seven nights into study. Candles had been replaced countless times; sleep was scarce, yet irrelevant. Athena's mind raced with the secrets of Eden, while Adam's gaze fixed on the blue glow at her throat.
"This Moonstone," he said, voice low, melodic with a subtle threat, "witnessed the rise of the First City. I am giving you the world's code, Athena. What I need is only to borrow this key—for a month. You are not trading, you are paying the toll your own intellect demands. One month, and you will see why your father's thunder can no longer pierce the barrier called Logic."
Athena's fingers tightened on the stone. Its faint pulse echoed like a heartbeat in the dim room.
"Are you a gambler, Adam?" she asked, trembling with a mixture of fear and exhilaration. "You want to trade a story for divine authority?"
"No. This is not a story," Adam leaned forward, the candlelight casting monstrous shadows on his face. "This is truth. And truth always weighs heavier than any crystal."
Silence fell over the library like a dam about to burst. Athena realized that unfastening the clasp wouldn't just lend a stone—it would trigger the turning of a fate wheel Athens had never witnessed before.