The wasteland outside Cuilan Academy.
Beloli walked a long distance before finally arriving at the target location.
The ground where Richter's flesh and blood matter had been detected was now dug into a large pit, and the soil was piled onto a small cart nearby.
Seeing Beloli approach, an apprentice who had been standing there dazed immediately ran over.
"Mentor..."
Beloli waved her hand and said,
"What is the situation now? Have you found anything?"
The apprentice organized his thoughts and spoke,
"It has been confirmed through multiple tests that Richter's flesh and bones are here; it's certain that this is the majority of Richter's corpse. As for the two items you are looking for, Mentor, they haven't been found yet."
There was a flicker of emotion on Beloli's calm face, but it quickly returned to tranquility.
"Where is Mentor Losqi? Take me to see him."
The apprentice immediately led Beloli to the edge of the large pit, next to a man wearing a long robe.
Losqi had brown hair that looked like it hadn't been groomed in a long time, and there were some stains on his robes, but when he turned his head, his skin was seen to be very clean.
"Hi, you're finally here."
Then he seemed to remember something and called out an apprentice's name.
"Tarn, yes, come here for a moment."
Tarn walked over with a nervous expression, and Losqi introduced him calmly,
"This is the apprentice who discovered the corpse."
Beloli lowered her eyes, looked at Tarn, and said,
"Apprentice, you have done well. I will take you with me when I conduct surgical instruction."
Tarn's body stiffened, then relaxed, and he said with joy,
"Thank you, Mentor Beloli..."
Afterward, Beloli waved Tarn away and then said to Losqi,
"Have you found clues on the other side? Can we identify the murderer?!"
Losqi cleared his throat, lowered his hands to reveal clean palms, and said,
"The Astrology School is powerless in this matter. The corpse is no longer intact, and too much time has passed; they cannot find the murderer through divination."
"I have already sent another apprentice to investigate the Apothecary Association, and I expect news soon."
Beloli frowned and said with some confusion,
"This is different from the School's requirements. We should minimize the number of people to whom knowledge is imparted. You should have continued to let the apprentice who found the body investigate."
Losqi rubbed his hands, his gaze leaving Beloli for a moment.
He knew this was an academy regulation; the dissemination of important knowledge should be restricted, and the number of apprentices must be strictly controlled when lecturing.
However, Losqi had lost a lot of money on experiments recently. At this time, those apprentices gave him some help so his experiments could continue.
He had actually taken money at the very beginning when assigning tasks, specifically letting the apprentices who paid choose. Only the tasks with little chance of finding clues were left for the remaining apprentices.
But who would have thought that it was those tasks that seemed like looking for a needle in a haystack that would yield important clues.
Losqi didn't care; his business was done anyway, and this was a stroke of luck—whoever was lucky would find it.
But those other apprentices were not convinced. They keenly eyed the task of investigating the Apothecary Association, considering it a lucrative job where clues could easily be found.
The apprentices wouldn't give in to each other. Finally, an apprentice used connections in the Necromancy School to have a friend intervene; only then did Losqi hand over the ownership of the task, which had been contested for a day, to him.
Losqi was not flustered by the questioning. He had done this sort of thing many times, so his skin was naturally thick.
"Richter was killed, so isn't that one fewer apprentice for us to teach? The School also stipulates that we should teach a certain quota of apprentices as much as possible."
The corners of Beloli's mouth turned down slightly. She was a bit displeased, but she did not continue to question Losqi's decision.
People who could rise to the level of Formal Mage generally wouldn't come to Apprentice City, because it lacked the means to advance to higher ranks, lacked materials, and was in a remote location.
The Formal Mages who came were all those who had to be here for various reasons, such as mandatory orders from their School, offending others, coming here for retirement, and so on.
She naturally wouldn't sour her relationship with Losqi over this small matter. What if she drove Losqi away? She was the person in charge of the Modification School; if Losqi left and something went wrong with the Modification School, it would all be on her head.
"Oh! The apprentice I arranged for is back. I'll go take a look."
Losqi saw an apprentice running here out of breath and walked over slowly.
Beloli turned her attention to the pile of dirt on the cart, forming an idea.
Perhaps Tracking Bugs could use this flesh and blood matter to find the killer, but there were too many impurities... "What?!"
Losqi let out a roar, as if he had heard something unbelievable.
Beloli turned to look. Losqi lowered his voice slightly and gave a couple of reprimands. The apprentice shrank back in fear, and then Losqi walked over.
"Things have become a bit troublesome. No clues were found at the Apothecary Association."
Losqi's face was tense and looked very grim. Investigating potentially leaked knowledge was their job; if this wasn't done well, they might be punished.
Perhaps we shouldn't report the true situation, then... He looked at Beloli and abandoned the thought; this person in charge was not someone who would accept such a proposal from him.
"What exactly happened?"
Losqi explained,
"That apprentice went to find the Former Chairman who signed the document. After some interrogation, he learned who brought that document. He found that person again, used some methods, and asked who arranged for him to place the order with the Construction School."
Losqi paused and said with some disbelief,
"That person said it was Richter who instructed him to place the order."
"What?!"
Beloli could hardly believe it. What was going on?
"The apprentice also thought he was lying, so he increased the intensity of the interrogation using the Modification School's methods, but the person still insisted it was Richter who placed the order."
The frown on Beloli's face showed no signs of loosening. She pondered for a moment before saying,
"You're saying that Richter placed the engineering order himself, then buried himself in it, letting the Construction School crush his own body?"
Losqi didn't respond; he was thinking about how to continue searching for the real killer.
Beloli was laughed in anger.
"What a huge joke. So that Richter committed suicide and intentionally hid the items to mess with us."
But immediately after, her expression relaxed, and the corners of her mouth curled up.
"In that case, use the method you used to find the corpse. Send those apprentices with Tracking Bugs to look. Find out who has been in contact with Richter and bring them all here."
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