Even though she was fully dressed, something about her seemed uncannily familiar—so familiar that Rod's eyes swept over her again and again.
The moment he mentally removed the clothes, it hit him like lightning.That's the woman from the crystal-sphere video.
But it wasn't the awkward recognition of a "small adult film" star that chilled him.It was the name Lauren used when introducing her:
"Administrator Elix."
That wasn't "Dona," as Raeslin's team had mentioned. It was the same name he'd heard echoing from the soul remnants of the Doomsday cultist Bas.
Could that really be coincidence?
If it was… it was one hell of a coincidence. Too neat. Too deliberate.
But if she truly had ties to the cult—why would she appear in a recorded video? Why use her real face? And why adopt a new name to date Calamon?
A dozen questions churned through his head before he realized Lauren was nudging his arm and everyone in the District Administration Hall was glaring at him.
The young, stunning administrator covered her lips and laughed softly."This young man is… rather interesting."
Lauren replied smoothly, "Please forgive him, Lady Elix. He's young—hasn't quite learned how to behave in front of a beautiful woman."
One clerk muttered irritably, "Staring like that is plain rude."
Lauren smiled again, effortlessly charming. "Perhaps he's simply captivated—a harmless boy, overwhelmed by our administrator's beauty. Consider it an unspoken compliment, born of pure inexperience."
Rod blinked at him in disbelief. Damn, this man's EQ runs deep.
Elix laughed—openly, musically—so much so that the tilt of her shoulders reminded Rod way too much of a certain scene from that recording.
He forced the image out of his mind. Focus, idiot.
He decided to keep quiet and watch.Until he had a solid explanation, he couldn't tell Lauren about Elix—not without revealing how he knew her name in the first place.
Better to wait until tonight's patrol. Then he could casually ask Calamon about his ex, "Dona," and figure out whether this was just an embarrassing coincidence—or something far darker.
Once he settled that, Rod stopped drifting and listened carefully to the conversation.
Lauren began with small talk—endless small talk. Questions about logistics, personnel, public lighting budgets. He meandered through her daily work, her district's population numbers, even the state of sanitation programs.
To the casual ear, it was tedious. To Rod, it was deliberate camouflage—a methodical interrogation buried under normal chatter.
Lauren's true questions were hidden inside:
Do you know Gray Cat Alai?
Are you familiar with the Blessing Church in your district—and did you ever meet its former pastor, Bas?
Can you explain recent anomalies in your district's material transport records?
Elix's answers were immaculate—precise, poised, textbook-perfect. Not a single word that could stick.
After two hours, Lauren had learned almost nothing.
Yet the moment they stepped outside, his tone darkened."She's hiding something."
Rod tensed. "What makes you think that?"
"All her testimony hurts your case," Lauren said quietly. "We verified that you once lived three years on Beck Street. When I asked if there'd been any cult activity there, she immediately implied the area was plagued by strange events—right down to your exact address."
Rod's stomach dropped like a stone into ice water.Beck Street—the same place I heard in Bas's dying soul.
Lauren went on, voice level but grim."Material shipments between districts are tightly controlled. No one leaves the capital without full inspection. That's iron law. For the Polluter Sect to conduct a ritual, they'd need spiritual materials—and if Alai and Bas were smuggling such cargo, they'd have to go through a district administrator. There's no other way."
He paused, eyes narrowing. "Her answers were too clean. It's like she already knew what I'd ask."
Rod couldn't help blurting, "Then why don't we just arrest her?"
Lauren shook his head. "Can't. A district administrator's rank is too high. We need approval from the Adjudicative Council, and my current report won't convince them. My suspicions are still only inference. Without proof, the odds of authorization are near zero."
For a split second, Rod considered pulling out the crystal sphere—showing Lauren that very personal, very compromising recording. It would prove Elix was, at the very least, strange.
But reason won out.If he showed that, all it would prove was that the good administrator had… "remarkable talents." Someone on the Council might even start visiting her privately—and somehow, he'd end up the villain again.
No. Too dangerous.
The only real evidence was that echo from Bas's soul—but that was gone, burned into stardust inside his constellation.
So what now?
He kept thinking about it all the way back to the Academy, still lost in thought as the spirit bus hummed toward Iron Cross Street.