Right, as expected, the warehouse is being thoroughly investigated. Seeing as Lune and Edward are keeping the inspector busy, I can at the very least rest easy in not being found out on sight. Happy Bonnechance, was it? He's the only one involved in this case that knows my face and name, so without him here to expose me, I could pass reasonably well even if I was seen. Though it would be a lot easier to just kill everyone here one by one, that way there'd be no witnesses, and it might even scare away the inspector if we're lucky enough... No, right now we need to find a way to get our money back, WITHOUT digging myself into an even deeper hole.

"Meil." Lee returned from the shrubs behind me, "I did a walk around the place. There're a total of 6 patrolmen in the area, though there might be more in the warehouse I can't see."

"That few? They must not be taking this case seriously."

"Why do you look so ticked off to hear that?"

"...Obviously." I shrugged, "The local police force are not doing their job well at all. And to think, I was told they were the best of the best."

"It's cause we are." An officer showed himself from behind us, "Mind telling me what two grown men completely unaffiliated with this case are doing loitering around here?"

"Who're-!?" Lee stepped back, but quickly got apprehended by two others that took the moment to cuff him by surprise, "Ugh! Kid, run!"

"Run? Does that mean you should have a reason to run from the police?" The officer glanced at me, "Are you two... guilty of anything?"

"By all means, look at the man with the darker skin tone and call him guilty." I sighed, "Besides, I have no reason to run. We just came here to grab something I left here, but we did not expect to run into a group of officers."

"Are you accusing me of being a racist?" The officer began walking towards me, "That won't do, Meil Deram. It simply will not."

My name? He knows my name! I don't remember giving it to him at all, nor did Lee refer to me as such even once ever since we left Issei and went into the jungle. Could it be, his Iro!? ...No, it's an amethyst Purple. Rather depressing, but it's not even close to Edward's Brown hue, so he cannot in fact have gotten my name through Analyze.

"But then, how..."

"Hm? You're glaring pretty hard there, friend." The officer took his cap off to introduce himself finally, "My manners, I must have forgotten them in the heat of the moment. Apologies, I always get a bit too excited when I crack a case."

"Eh? You solved it already?" Lee laughed in his face, "What a joke! You sayin' you just waltzed in here for the first time and magically figured the killer's identity out with ease!?"

"Magic, I would hardly call it that. Nay, magic is something the legends told us we attain, whilst we are all born with a wonderful pair of Eyes." He then pointed to his Purple Iro menacingly, "Bonjour, gentlemen - I am Rotriko, and I am the proud Beholder of a Purple Iro! The man whose detective skills have even been acknowledged by the Gods themselves!"

"That's a rather modest self-appraisal." Lee clicked his tongue, "What makes you so sure when you say that, punk?"

"Simple, really!" He giggled, "With my trusty pair of Eyes, I can freely talk to the deceased! A gift like that isn't something useful for a regular person, but for me? Hon hon, it's just perfect, don't you think~?"

A Purple Iro Beholder... No, rather - A Wielder! He said his Iro Ability allows him to talk to the deceased? He's right, a skill like that could at best be used to establish communication with your deceased loved ones, but for someone like him, a detective that goes on scene and personally asks the victims what happened, he will almost be guaranteed to crack the case in a matter of seconds. It's perfect for him, but it's extremely bad for me. He said he cracked the case, and he's also got us cuffed and apprehended. Does this mean what I think it means...?

"It is a pleasure to meet you, killer~! Aguilar has told me so much about you!" The inspector ran to dropkick me straight in the gut, "He said you mercilessly made his best friend kill him, after which you ran a little frenzy and killed everyone buried here! Tisk, tisk, Deram! That's the kind of violence that starts a war, you know~?!"

"Urk!" I immediately fell to the ground upon receiving the impact of the kick, "You...!"

"Hah!" Lee slammed the nose in of the police officer who was keeping him cuffed with the back of his head, "You stupid or something? Your face was just begging to get battered!"

"Fight all you want." Rotriko shrugged, "Because I will present you your two only options out of this situation - Either I report you and have you face your crimes, Deram... Or you die here, and the case gets resolved either way."

This guy just kicked me in the stomach without a damned reason! He's insane...! There was no logical reason for why he did it. He, a man in a suit, tie, trench coat and fedora, all the while holding that suitcase like he's got the world's most important documents stashed within! He said our other option was to die, didn't he? I take it he's not bluffing after such a display!

"Pheh." I spat on the ground in front of me, "Noted, I will fight as much as I want!"

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***

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"Hup!" I waited for the Sinus Wave to align as I too distanced myself from the enemy, "Lee, this way!"

Stolen novel; please report.

"Oi, what the hell is wrong with you, kid!?" He questioned, "Why're you going TOWARDS the enemies!?"

"Cause that is where our objective lies, come on!"

Now that we have stirred up enough noise with this commotion, we had garnered the attention of all the officers around us. Running past them one by one until we made it to the warehouse, we only had a few moments to hide before they could reach us.

"Quickly, down here." I moved the crates aside to show Lee the path leading to the Server Room.

"What the hell is this? Nothin's making sense anymore!"

"It never did to begin with, come on!"

In the end, I showed someone else the Server Room. Sigh, in truth, I had wanted to just have him sit back and maybe help me pass through unnoticed by distracting the officers, but I ended up dragging Lee with me all the way to here. What's more, that damned Rotriko just gave me away to Lee...! Tch, if it was only the officers who knew of my identity, I could have just killed them and settled everything, but what do I do now? I can't just kill Lee over this!

"So many bytes...!" Lee gawked at the splendiferous sight before him, "Hold on, that giant black mirror on the wall looks expensive too."

"The Server." I explained, "The reason behind this whole mess. Sigh, well, we escaped them for now, but they will not just leave unless they find us eventually."

"Eh, we'll just pummel them all when they do. Like old times, ay?" He chuckled.

"Lee..." I admit I cracked a smile myself for a moment before composing myself, "Are you not going to inquire about the things Rotriko said?"

"Meil, we've known each other for a long time now." Lee flashed me a smile, "Might be cause I ain't no saint either, what with me being a former bandit and all, but I don't really care if you killed some suckers to acquire all this stuff. Besides, I know you well enough to know for a fact that they deserved what they got."

"That is... a lot of trust you just put into me." I lowered my head as we just sat down on the chairs, waiting for someone to come knocking, "They are not stupid either. They probably already found this place, so they are using the situation to their advantage and calling for backup."

"You've still got that good luck Ability, don't you?" He asked.

"Sinus Wave, yes."

"Right, that!" He grinned, "We've got nothing to worry about no matter what they do, then. We'll just have you bail us out with it when those bastards eventually do choose to enter. But I think that's not the main problem..."

"Right, if the detective is heading towards the station as we speak, then I am no more." I shook my head, "We have to find a way to kill them all before word of this can spread. Sitting around idling is not gonna work this time."

I could maybe take apart the System and use the wiring to make a pipe bomb, but that'd harm us more than it would them. Besides, it'd not only ruin the System, but also the warehouse as a whole. Everyone would hear the loud bang and come running to check out what it is, which will only add more fuel to the fire. If I am to do this, I'm gonna need outside help, but who...

"Ah, outside help! In other words..." I pulled out my upgraded WiCom device, "The range could be a bit difficult to reach, but I believe Nelly could still pick up the signal, even from here!"

"Right..." Lee inspected it with his Eyes, "And that thing is~?"

"A wireless communication device with a range of up to 1 kilometer!" I proudly presented it to him, "Nelly has the other one, and with it we can transmit our voices to one another so that she may call for me whenever something happens. Thankfully I made it so it works both ways!"

"Oh, awesome! As expected of our genius!" Lee patted me on the back, "Then, come on, go for it!"

Pressing the button, the familiar noisy sound began to echo throughout the vast room, indicating it was now picking up my voice. I called for Nelly, but no one answered. I repeated her name countless times, each time getting more and more desperate than the last. Before long, I snapped out of it as I noticed I was now on the floor, kneeling with tears in my Eyes.

"It is of no use, the signal is too weak. Huh, so this is...?" I wiped the tears away, "True fear. My life is in jeopardy, and I am finally backed into a corner with absolutely no way out."

"Nah, that's just the lack of pills talking." Lee joked.

"Not funny, dude..."

"Whoa, I think I like this Meil more. He's got that dawg in him!" Lee continued to laugh away in his chair.

"What the hell does that even mean?" I then looked up, "Oh, great. They finally found the secret entrance to here. They are banging at it like crazy."

"Never mind them, I want you to focus on the dawg." Lee advised.

"I am not following."

"I'm saying, just because one plan didn't really work out doesn't mean you get to give up so soon." Lee pointed to the System's screen, "Seriously, you've got this absolute beast of a machine that I don't even know the function of, and you're not gonna at least show it to me once?"

"Why would I? It is just..." I then got an idea, "Wait a second, that is it! The System was primarily meant to be used as a banking system, but its uses far extend beyond that!"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning!" I continued, "Radio calling Nelly might not work, but calling someone else just might!"

"Meaning!?"

"Meaning!!!" I shouted as I pressed the button to boot up the giant computer, "Let us call Issei on his phone!"