Three minutes earlier.
The raggedly dressed man snatched the pedestrian's handbag and ran straight into the underground passage. After chasing him for a few steps, Eren and the others suddenly realized that Lillian was still standing where he was, completely motionless.
"Lillian…?"
All three looked at him in surprise. Armin was the first to react.
"There's a robber!"
"Yeah."
Seeing how unusually calm Lillian was, the three of them didn't know what to say for a moment.
"You'll get used to it," Lillian said. "Because of the previous explosion, a large number of Military Police died, and public order here has fallen apart. Robberies aren't unusual."
"Hey! Is that really something you should be saying?!" Eren snapped angrily. "Aren't you a Military Policeman?! Catching criminals is your job! You're just going to stand there and watch that bastard get away?"
"..."
Lillian fell silent for a moment and glanced around.
"Eren, to be honest, I'm rather disappointed."
"Huh…? What are you talking about?!"
"You—or rather, all of you," Lillian continued calmly. "You don't understand this place well enough. You don't understand me, and you don't understand criminals either. That's why you made such a mistake."
"You—"
"What mistake, Lillian?" Armin asked seriously.
"First," Lillian said, "that man in the suit carrying the bag—someone like him wouldn't come to a slum like this. He definitely wouldn't chase a thief into the underground passage either. Don't you know what kind of place that is? Even many Military Police wouldn't dare go down there. You never know how many vicious criminals are hiding inside."
"…"
"Second," Lillian smiled faintly, "that 'robber.' Was he really a robber?"
"Why wouldn't he be?" Mikasa asked.
Lillian glanced at her. "I don't know about other places, but in the Stohess District, no robber would dare commit a crime right in front of me."
"…"
He sighed lightly. "Of course, you wouldn't know any of this. Honestly… can you people be just a little more professional? Since when did this area become so empty that there isn't a single civilian around?"
He turned his head toward the deserted surroundings and spoke into the empty street.
"Commander Erwin—your homework on me still isn't thorough enough."
"…"
Eren and the others were completely stunned, unable to react.
And then, suddenly, a shout rang out from the corner of the street.
"LILLIAN! RUN!!"
Krista?!
Lillian immediately turned his head. Seeing her anxious expression and eyes full of worry, then glancing at the shocked faces of Eren and the others, he instantly understood.
So that's how it is.
Shing—!
The sound of blades being drawn rang out. Levi appeared first from a rooftop, shooting Krista a displeased glance.
"Wow. What a 'deep bond,'" he muttered irritably.
"Levi, don't rush into action," Erwin's voice sounded beside him. "Everyone fall back. Do not approach recklessly!"
"I'll go restrain Krista first!" Hange said.
She immediately activated her ODM gear and leapt down. Lillian's eyes sharpened the instant he saw her move, and his body shot forward!
Since he had already decided to come clean, there was no longer any reason to hide the secret of his body.
His speed shocked everyone. Before Hange could even land in front of Krista, Lillian had already intercepted her.
"You—!"
Hange stared at him in disbelief.
Lillian looked up at Erwin, who was standing on the rooftop, and said calmly, "Commander Erwin, let's talk."
"…"
Erwin hesitated. With the information he currently had, he couldn't tell whether this was a stalling tactic.
Levi spoke first instead. "Are you trying to negotiate?"
"Levi," Erwin said sternly, then turned his gaze back to Lillian. "No matter what you want to say, you must first agree to go with us into the underground passage."
Only down there could Titan transformation be restricted to some degree. Out here, the risk was far too great.
"No," Lillian said. He glanced at Krista, who had rushed over and now stood just two or three meters away, clearly wanting to speak but not knowing what to say, her face full of anxiety.
"Lillian, I—"
"I know," Lillian said gently. "We'll talk later. Thank you."
"…"
He then turned back to Erwin.
"Commander Erwin, I don't like dark places. Let's talk out here instead. And—"
He heard familiar footsteps approaching from behind and smiled slightly.
"Even if I agreed, my friends wouldn't."
---
"Commander Nile, why are you here?"
Inside headquarters, the Military Police stared in confusion at Nile's sudden appearance. He offered no explanation and spoke immediately.
"There is an urgent classified mission. All Military Police are to assemble at once."
As he spoke, he sent several officers to recall the patrols from each area—but explicitly forbade them from going to two specific districts.
The officers didn't understand why, but none of them dared disobey the commander's orders. One after another, they hurried off to carry out their tasks.
Annie was no exception. The moment she stepped outside, she immediately gathered her own squad together with Marlo's squad.
These two squads had been the earliest ones to follow Lillian. There had originally been twelve of them—two had died along the way, leaving only ten now.
"Annie, what's going on?" Marlo asked in confusion. "Aren't we going to carry out the commander's orders?"
"No," she replied. "We're going to Lillian."
"The deputy commander?"
"Didn't he go out to accompany the students?"
"Come to think of it, it is strange," someone muttered. "The commander didn't mention our squad at all just now—uh, I mean, our deputy commander."
"That's exactly why we're going to find him."
With that, Annie turned and walked off without hesitation. Her squad members followed immediately. Marlo hesitated for only a moment—though he didn't understand what was happening, he decisively chose to follow Annie as well.
After all, to him, Lillian was far more important than Nile.
"Hey, what exactly is going on?" Marlo asked Annie as they moved.
She remained silent, walking quickly. From time to time, her gaze flicked toward beans scattered on the ground. After all, the two districts Nile had mentioned were quite large—searching blindly would waste too much time.
Finally, after about ten minutes, the group reached the deeper part of the slums, where they could already see soldiers surrounding a certain area.
"The Survey Corps?!" Marlo exclaimed in shock when he saw the uniforms and twin blades. "Why are they here?!"
"Enough talk."
Annie pulled the flare gun from her back and strode straight ahead.
"Follow me."
The ten of them had known and trusted each other for over a month now, having arrested many criminals together. Under Annie's lead, they immediately slipped into combat readiness.
They barely stopped to question what was happening—most of them even assumed this was all deliberately arranged by Deputy Commander Lillian.
That assumption shattered the moment they rounded the corner.
They saw more than twenty Survey Corps soldiers surrounding Lillian, fingers resting on their blades, expressions hostile. Naturally, the soldiers on the rooftops noticed them as well.
Click—click!
Annie raised her gun and aimed it at them, her voice cold.
"Put down your weapons."
"H-Hey…"
Realizing that the Survey Corps' target was their deputy commander, the new recruits weren't as fast or decisive as Annie—but in the next instant, they all raised their guns and aimed at the Survey Corps soldiers.
"What are you Survey Corps people planning to do to our deputy commander?!"