Chapter 396 397: The government's decision [pt1]
Chapter 396 397: The government's decision [pt1]
The intruder looked taken aback by Amane's swift action. Despite being disadvantaged, they tried to shake Amane off and run away.
Amane held her staff at the intruder's neck, so the intruder tried to take advantage of the small space between Amane's offence and extend a knife to block Amane's staff.
Using a small knife to block the staff was a good trick. But Amane was far too experienced with these tricks to let it happen.
Before the intruder could plan anything else, Amane increased the staff's pressure, and the knife snapped. The intruder was in deep trouble now. They decided to abandon whatever they were doing and just concentrate on getting out.
But their hurry made the intruder careless. They dropped the vital samples they had collected thus far. The intruder likely thought that Amane would go after the spoils and leave her alone.
Amane surprised the intruder by ignoring the fallen samples and following the intruder. Before the intruder knew it, he was being pulled back, and Amane secured them.
"Now, let's see who you are and what you are doing here."
Amane snapped her fingers, and the room lit up. A familiar face looked back at her, and Amane was shocked to see Pauline before her.
"Oh, look! It's Pauline. What are you doing here? Did you run out of samples and now must collect new ones? I'm sorry, but you visited my cousin on the wrong day."
Amane was not in the mood to listen to what Pauline had to say. Pauline was a smart cookie and quickly caught on to Amane's bad mood.
She decided to do something about it.
"H-Hey, I was just here to help. I heard that Sakura Tsurugi caught an incurable disease, and I wanted to check it out. After all, I am a scientist, and nothing 'uncurable' exists in this world."
"So, if you give me a chance, I can find a cure for Sakura's condition. Just let me take a few more samples, and I will-"
"You are very bold for someone just caught sneaking into someone's room without permission. Do you think I want to trust you?"
Amane asked Pauline, and the girl went quiet. Paulie was determined not to give up. She knew that Amane was in desperate times, and she would listen to Pauline.
"You can choose not to trust me, but you should take this risk. There is nothing out there I cannot resolve."
Pauline assured Amane with determined eyes. She was ready to prove her words if the need arose.
"You can resolve anything? Then, do two things for me, and I will be willing to believe you."
Amane offered this, and Pauline did not even hesitate before she agreed. She was eager to show her 'real self' in front of Amane and gain her trust.
"Tell me what you want."
Pauline asked and straightened her back. She was still in danger, but the threat of death slowly seemed to be going away.
"First, acceptable a way to get into the rift as soon as possible. Someone important is stuck in the rift, and I want to retrieve them. Second, find a way to contact Professor Cardon. We have a lot of unfinished business left."
Both conditions were reasonably challenging to achieve. But Pauline did not seem to be worried about either.
"This is all you want from me? Alright fine. Give me time and resources, and I will show you the results of my labor. I will have the results ready for you by the end of the week."
Pauline assured, but Amane wanted more than merely verbal promises. She wanted something tangible she could cling back to.
"Here, this small chain will keep you bound and tell me what you are always doing. I will keep tabs on you during your research so you do not betray me."
A small chain snapped and bound itself around Pauline's arm. Another blood butterfly flew out of Amane's arm and landed on Pauline's before sinking into her skin.
With this, Pauline could not break away from Amane and run away.
"I assure you that I will bring you some news by the end of the week."
Pauline assured before she walked out. No one stopped her this time, and she was finally happy to have something to do.
Pauline had not even left the hospital when she was stopped once more. A petite nurse spotted her and asked her to come closer with a confused face.
"I am sorry, but I haven't seen you before. Can you tell me your room number and the purpose of the visit?"
The nurse asked Pauline, but the elder was not phased. She knew that there was a possibility of being caught if she snuck into the hospital.
That was why Pauline was ready with her answer.
"I am here to meet my family member. My family member has been in the hospital for years, and I finally got time to visit them. When I arrived, no one was at the front desk, so I decided to walk inside alone."
Pauline made the excuses, and these were genuine. She had not seen anyone at the front desk counter when she arrived. But that was because she had yet to use the front desk counter.
She had used the back door to sneak into this place.
"I see. So, you are the kind of someone in this hospital. I am so sorry for stopping you. You can head out not."
The nurse apologised, and Pauline only smiled a gentle smile. As she had expected, these nurses were overly polite and would allow Pauline to walk all over them.
Pauline was about to leave the hospital when she felt something sharp and heavy connecting with her head. She was dead on contact, and no one noticed what happened.
"Such a pity. You should have told me the truth; we could have worked things out. But I cannot allow you to make a deal with Yoko Tsurugi since it would be a problem for Chen."
Pauline had been out of luck since the start. The nurse she had met turned out to be a spy sent by Chen to keep an eye on things.
By now, Chen knew everything happening in this hospital and had control over everything else. More than half of the staff in here was his.
And since the divine leader had disappeared, Chen's sphere of influence had spread even more.
"Now, it's time to act a little and bury this news. I am sure my comrades have already erased everything of significance from the tape."
The nurse was confident that she would get away before anything happened. And as expected, someone else walked toward the crime scene a few minutes later. Finally, an alarm sounded in the hospital, and Pauline was taken to the ER.
But Pauline had died at the impact.
...…....….
"I heard what happened. How could someone be murdered in the hospital? What was the staff doing during all this time?"
Sean took charge of the situation when he arrived at the hospital. He looked exhausted but still refused to hand over his investigating rights to anyone else.
Amane also arrived at the scene, but she looked tired and worn. She looked at the crime scene and held her finger out.
A broken blood butterfly flew toward Amane, but it had no information. The impact that caused death had been too clear and professional.
"It was a medical official who made this attack. My butterfly says the attack was too swift and precise to be a hate crime. Someone knew that Pauline was here and decided to take advantage of it."
Amane confessed, but Sean was not happy with the news. It did narrow down the scope of the crime, but it did not provide any concrete evidence.
But most of all, Sean did not want to blame the doctors and put them all under quarantine. It would stop the hospital from working. Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire
"I see. This complicates things for us. Yoko, keep what happened to yourself for now. I will tell you if I want you to make a statement."
Sean asked and quickly ordered the news to be suppressed. Usually, that should have been it. But everything terrible decided to happen at the same time.
The police outside the hospital refused to stay put. They forced their way, not the hospital by force.
After all, there was no divine leader to stop them. So, it was time for the police to expand their sphere of influence. The government was looking forward to increasing its political spear.
"Everyone needs to step aside. The police are here by a special permit issued by the government. This case will be taken over by us now."
The chief in charge of this case looked incredibly proud of himself. He shined his badge at anyone who looked his way, even the other patients.
Thankfully, the police had Stella there to keep the chief in check. But even that was barely enough to keep the Chief from not making a mess.
*cough*
"I am here as a representative of the police, and I am here to check out the case. Let me see what happened here. Also, provide me with a written report on what happened. I am waiting."
The chief tried to take charge of the situation, but no one obliged. The medical staff looked at Sean to determine what they should do next. Nothing like this happened to them, and the police had not tried to force their way inside the hospital.