"Let's head inside and take a look."
Cheadle called out to Dia and started walking into the deep passage, at least to get further away from the source of that Post-Mortem Nen.
As they walked, Cheadle began to analyze the suspicious points with Dia.
As for why she was analyzing them with him, it was because Cheadle suspected this kid was hiding something very important.
Dia was the first to raise a question:
"The first thing I don't understand is the officer's charge. Why wasn't it the more serious crime of leaking state secrets?"
At that time, everyone except Dia, including Cheadle, was calm, so she must have known the reason:
"The crime of leaking state secrets is very special. Any file designated with this crime will be marked as a 'high-priority file' for the next ten years and will be subject to intense scrutiny."
"But since you could see in the document that the defendant leaked secrets, and even the type of leak was recorded, it means that the people investigating this incident didn't think the secret the defendant stole was worthy of such attention."
"In fact, the number of people arrested each year for selling state intelligence is not small, and only a very small number of them are convicted of the crime of leaking state secrets because the secrets they leaked were too important."
Cheadle's rapid-fire explanation made Dia understand instantly.
After clearing up his doubts, Cheadle began her analysis:
"The turning point of the situation was undoubtedly when the defendant suddenly spoke. Logically, before the trial, the defendant's tongue would have been cut out by a professional executioner to prevent him from saying anything he shouldn't."
"But at that time, the slug in his mouth that replaced his tongue obviously couldn't have grown there by itself."
Dia's brow also furrowed:
"He mentioned the word 'Kakin' at that time. Could it be..."
"Most likely, yes. The emerging great power across the sea—the Kakin Empire."
Cheadle's voice became grave. When it came to a potential conflict between two major powers, even she had to be cautious:
"I'm afraid his final explosion was also the work of Kakin. But have you ever thought, the defendant had no way of speaking at that point, and he would have been executed immediately after the trial. Why would Kakin go to such great lengths to make him commit suicide?"
Dia suddenly stopped, a possibility occurring to him. He said:
"The trial! Their target was the trial itself!"
"Yes. Before the trial began, no one except the judge himself knew what crime he would be charged with. If he had been charged with leaking state secrets, then this matter would have been repeatedly reviewed for a long time to come."
That's right, the previous logic could actually lead to the conclusion that Kakin did not want the trial's content to be archived.
But the only thing that couldn't be determined in advance during the trial was what crime the judge would charge the defendant with. So this was the true purpose of the planners of this explosion.
The existence of the Post-Mortem Nen could also be explained. With that Post-Mortem Nen present, ordinary construction teams would be unable to excavate, and thus unable to obtain the trial documents.
Unless a great deal of effort was spent to hire a Nen exorcist to cleanse the Nen from that area of earth and rock, they could only wait for the Nen to naturally dissipate over time.
Cheadle picked up the thread, her expression turning serious:
"If this hypothesis is correct, then the secret the officer leaked is probably far more important than he himself, or even the higher-ups in the Republic of Mingbo, imagined."
But important as it was, the matter itself had nothing to do with the two of them, so Cheadle had no intention of digging deeper. Instead, she began to bring up another point that concerned her greatly:
"That explosion didn't cause me any serious injuries. The reason is that I protected myself with [Ken], and [Doctor Blythe] blocked the Nen impact. But the most important reason is that in the instant of that explosion..."
Cheadle glanced at Dia beside her as she spoke:
"...in that instant, my position was pulled back a certain distance by an unknown force. Thinking back now, my body posture also changed, as if I had naturally flown back that distance."
Dia, as if he hadn't seen Cheadle's glance, also wore a grave expression:
"Yes, I felt it too at that time. A mysterious force pulled me out of the core of the explosion at a speed I couldn't comprehend. If it weren't for the distance, and Professor Cheadle being in front of me to block the shockwave, I'm afraid I would have suffered unimaginable injuries."
Seeing that his reaction didn't seem fake, and since she didn't really believe it was Dia's doing, Cheadle muttered to herself:
'Could it really have nothing to do with him... But how to explain the distance he flew?'
Before that shifting event occurred, Dia was only about 20 centimeters behind Cheadle. But after the shift, he appeared more than a meter directly behind her.
This meant that for the same backward flight, Dia had started earlier than her. Could it be that he had activated some kind of Nen ability?
Cheadle very naturally glanced at Dia beside her again.
He had definitely not learned Nen. With her observational skills, at such a close distance, there was no possibility of error.
Then it was another unsolvable mystery.
Cheadle felt that this incident was both bizarre and troublesome, which made her subconsciously raise a finger and habitually bite her nail, lost in thought.
The third thing was the strange ability on Dia.
It could heal, relieve pain, and most importantly, resist the encroachment of Post-Mortem Nen. Cheadle had spent a very, very long time developing [Doctor Blythe].
For Cheadle, who had been regarded as a top genius since childhood, to have spent so much effort developing this ability, and for Dia to have obtained such an ability just by falling into the water...
"When I was unconscious just now, was it you who used that ability to help me recover? Can it be transmitted to anyone's body?"
Cheadle recalled the warm current at that time. Although it only lasted for a short while, it was already comparable to the extremely rare healing-type Nen abilities.
If it could be transmitted into a patient's body, then [that commission] might have a chance...
"Yes, it can. And I've tried it. It can not only heal the body, but also strengthen it to a certain extent."
Dia explained, and then he asked Cheadle in return:
"Professor, how did you make those things appear just now? Can I do that too?"
Cheadle was about to say something when she heard a sound:
"Ring-ring-ring~"
The two of them froze. A phone ringing?
They looked towards the source of the sound—it was Cheadle's dress.
Cheadle immediately realized her phone was ringing. Dia was a little puzzled. Could there still be a signal here?
"Hey, it actually went through! Hello, hello, can you hear me, Cheadle-san~"
As soon as Cheadle answered the phone, a sweet, high-pitched female voice came through.
"Piyon, has the Association already received the news?"
Cheadle recognized the caller's voice immediately. It was one of the twelve Zodiacs of the Association, [Rabbit], the Ancient Document Hunter, and internet-addicted girl, Piyon!
"Yeah, we got the news not long after the incident happened on your end. Mizaistom tried to call you, but there was no signal, so I asked Ickshonpe to make this call."
On the other end of the line, a cute girl in a bunny girl outfit, wearing a long bunny-ear headband, and even with a white rabbit head pattern on her chest, was speaking.
The Ickshonpe she mentioned was a rare [Hacker Hunter] in the Association.
"This call won't last long, so let's talk about the situation outside first. Cheadle-san, you're currently trapped in the ruins of an ancient dynasty 200 meters underground on the central island of Hundred Ring Island."
Piyon held a black phone, looking at her own pink phone with bunny ears:
"Your entrance is completely buried, and the place is now full of Post-Mortem Nen from who knows where. The engineering team can't get through."
"Oh, right, Cheadle-san, you have someone with you, right? I saw another red dot on the map."
Cheadle knew a bit about Piyon's abilities and wasn't surprised that she could find this out:
"Yes, that's right. My student is with me. We escaped into a passage when the explosion happened. Piyon, can you see where this passage leads?"
Just now, Cheadle and Dia had advanced at least 500 meters along the passage, but the dark, deep passage ahead still showed no end.
Since there was no hope of clearing the entrance of the passage, the only way out was the other end.
"I've already sent you the map that Satotz gave me. I've marked it on there. You just need to remember that you're in passage number 3 right now. Oh, and also..."
Before Piyon could finish, the call was cut off.
Cheadle helplessly put down her phone and checked her email. A map was already there.
Dia also took a look and found that this underground ruin was a veritable labyrinth, and they still had a long way to go from their current location in passage number 3 to the nearest exit.
"Let's go. There's no time to waste."
Cheadle put away her phone. She had memorized the map with a single glance. Without wasting any more time, she decisively called Dia and started heading towards the exit.