The Aftermath of the Disappearance

In the restaurant, Captain Raymond hurriedly approached.

He glanced at Luo Wei and Helena's seats, and since he needed to speak with Luo Wei, he instinctively moved to sit opposite him.

Seeing that he was about to sit next to Helena, Luo Wei quickly pulled him to his own seat.

"Captain, if you have something to say, just say it."

Captain Raymond was momentarily confused by Luo Wei's irritated expression, not knowing what he had done wrong.

Helena covered her mouth and laughed.

"Um..." Captain Raymond said apologetically, "Sorry to interrupt your date, but I really have something urgent to discuss with you."

"It's about that campus disappearance case again."

"Huh?" Luo Wei asked puzzled, "I read in the newspaper that it was perfectly solved? I even saw you in the paper."

Captain Raymond shook his head helplessly, "We closed the case too early! Now there's been another special situation!"

Another special situation? Luo Wei was stunned, could there be more missing students?

"Wait..." more than that, he was curious about something else, "Why are you coming to me about the campus disappearance case? I don't know anything about it?"

This wasn't like the second timeline when he had helped hunt down Iviel; in the final timeline, he had anonymously reported the case while pretending to be a concerned citizen, and had pinned the blame on the Truth Cult.

So logically, the captain shouldn't know about his involvement in this case, right?

As soon as he finished speaking, Captain Raymond gave him a 'who are you trying to fool?' look.

"How could a case like this not involve you?" Captain Raymond chuckled, "From the moment you came to request the Truth Cult files from me, seeing your calm expression, I knew you had it figured out. Sure enough, that afternoon a citizen filed a report!"

"And they didn't leave their name," he looked at Luo Wei, muttering, "Who else could it be but you?"

Luo Wei pursed his lips, "Well, looks like after four years, your intelligence has improved a bit, Captain."

"Never mind the insults now." Captain Raymond quickly continued, "More people have disappeared! Students from your university again!"

"How many? What year are they in?" Luo Wei frowned.

"Five people disappeared, fourth-year students."

Luo Wei found this strange - five more people disappeared, all at once.

What made it even stranger was that the mastermind behind the serial disappearances, Iviel, was already locked up at his home.

There was no way she could have escaped, and in her current state, she wouldn't need to capture people for blood anyway.

Seeing Luo Wei's confused expression, Captain Raymond added:

"These five students were from your university's Magical Hybrid Airship program, all fourth-year students about to graduate."

"They went to the airship factory this afternoon for an observation internship with their class. These five were in one group. After they boarded the tour airship, it suddenly ascended to a dangerous altitude without warning and disappeared into the clouds. The entire police department is in chaos trying to find them, and even the military has been alerted!"

Luo Wei nodded silently, thinking the military was probably more concerned about the missing airship than the five students.

Although it was just a tour airship that went missing, the fact that it happened in the Royal Capital made it no small matter.

But then again, who could have done this?

Luo Wei poured more juice into Helena's glass, then looked at Captain Raymond.

"Do you have any leads so far?"

He shook his head helplessly, "Most of the police force has been dispatched to the lower city to search for hiding Truth Cult members, so there's no news yet."

Luo Wei shook his head, "It's not them."

"But..." Captain Raymond asked puzzled, "Weren't they responsible for the previous student disappearances?"

Luo Wei smiled awkwardly. He had only helped pin the blame on Iviel back then; how could he have known there would be more to this?

Besides, these were clearly two separate cases. They couldn't be lumped together just because they both involved disappearances and Callen University students.

"But... if it's not the cult, then what's going on? Why would they kidnap Callen University students..." Captain Raymond was getting more confused, "What's so special about your university students... why do all the bad guys seem to target you?"

Luo Wei took a small bite of the steak Helena held up to his mouth, chewing while he thought.

"Actually... this isn't that hard to understand."

"You've figured something out!?" Captain Raymond's eyes lit up, "I knew coming to you would help!"

Luo Wei chewed his steak, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

Then unhurriedly poured Helena another glass of juice.

Captain Raymond watched anxiously.

"Luo Wei... just tell me..."

Luo Wei looked at him, smiling helplessly, "It's a copycat crime, my dear Captain."

"A copycat crime?" he paused.

"Haven't you encountered similar cases in your detective career..." Luo Wei shook his head seeing him deep in thought.

In his previous life, there was a movie based on a true case where serial killings occurred, but until the end of the film, the police never caught the real culprit. The only suspect had to be released due to lack of evidence, but in reality, the case wasn't the work of a single killer - all subsequent killers were copying the first killer's methods.

"Now this case has been publicly attributed to the cult in the newspapers..." Luo Wei analyzed, "So whoever took these five students probably did it to create confusion and cover their true motives, while conveniently throwing suspicion onto the Truth Cult."

The more he spoke, the more likely it seemed, "After all, according to the files, this cult has many members and has been hidden for years, with arrests continuing endlessly. They're certainly a suitable scapegoat."

"If that's the case..." Captain Raymond furrowed his brow, "This will be much harder to solve..."

Luo Wei nodded, indeed it would be. Rather than trying to catch the perpetrators now, it would be better to look for the airship first, given how large and conspicuous a target it was.

As the two fell silent,

Helena gently pointed out the window.

"Brother, look."

"Just a moment, Helena, brother's thinking."

"Brother..." Helena's voice suddenly rose slightly.

"That airship, why is it getting closer to us?"

In that instant, Luo Wei and Raymond sharply looked up.

They both turned toward the floor-to-ceiling window.

In the dark night sky, obscured by thick clouds,

A massive airship was slowly approaching, the blue glow of its Magic Crystal Stone becoming increasingly glaring.

And its nose was tilted downward, the whole vessel appearing to be in a descent!

"Not good!!" Luo Wei broke out in a cold sweat.

He immediately stood up, grabbing Helena's wrist.

"Run!"

Seeing Luo Wei dash toward the door while pulling his girlfriend along, Captain Raymond snapped out of his daze.

He immediately placed his hand on his service weapon and rushed to the restaurant's front desk, shouting:

"All citizens! Evacuate the restaurant immediately!!"

The melodious violin music continued playing as the dining couples looked puzzled at the shouting police officer.

They still didn't understand what was happening.

Seeing these people remaining motionless, Captain Raymond angrily fired a warning shot into the air.

"What are you waiting for? The airship is about to crash! It will explode! Don't you want to live??"

After that shot, the violin music abruptly stopped.

The restaurant erupted in screams as chaos broke out.

Caught in the panicking crowd, Captain Raymond squeezed out of the restaurant and spotted Luo Wei's figure on the street.

He sprinted after them.

Captain Raymond chased Luo Wei and Helena for two whole blocks, only slowing down when they were several hundred meters away from the Royal Bay Restaurant.

He was gasping for breath, "How can you run faster than me... stop running! We're safe enough at this distance..."

Luo Wei and Helena finally stopped.

"The airship's core power source only has half a cubic meter of Magic Crystal Stone... it'll only destroy a building or two... why did you run so far..."

The three of them stood frozen in place, still shaken as they stared in the direction of the falling airship.

As the airship slowly descended, its massive frame had already caught fire, with black smoke blocking out the sky.

This shocking sight caused all passersby to stop in their tracks, standing still to gaze at the scene.

"Brother..." Helena nervously tugged at Luo Wei's hand.

Luo Wei gripped back tightly, their fingers intertwined.

"Don't be afraid."

Though he said this, Luo Wei's brows were deeply furrowed as he continued to anxiously watch the airship's movement.

The airship continued its slow descent, getting closer and closer to the ground.

Finally.

Seconds later, the top of the airship made contact with the ground.

Like a chain reaction.

A deep blue light suddenly flared up - the magical core had exploded.

However, what Luo Wei witnessed at this moment was completely different from what Captain Raymond had described.

That blue light didn't immediately fade away; instead, it began spreading outward at an alarming speed.

In that instant, the pitch-black night sky lit up.

It was just like a second sun.

A blue sun.

"Brother!!!"

The last thing Luo Wei heard was Helena's panicked cry.

The last thing he saw was her extending all her tentacles, throwing herself in front of him without hesitation.

Then.

Everything returned to silence.