Chapter 555: Intuition and Intuition

So… was I tricked by him?

After hearing the old investigator's summary, the young female investigator couldn't help but freeze on the spot, only coming back to her senses after a long while, then with a face full of grievance and fury she took out the investigation form and tore what she had written into a skyful of scraps!

"Don't rush."

A palm—its skin dull yellow and slack, covered in age spots—waved slightly, and the skyful of paper scraps miraculously flew back, reassembling into a complete investigation form, fitting together perfectly and smooth as new, with not the slightest trace of ever having been torn.

Taking the investigation form from the female investigator's hand, the old investigator curved his smiling, welcoming crescent-moon eyes and teased with a chuckle:

"Aisha, weren't you quite optimistic about him before? What now? Planning to rewrite the investigation form?"

"I… thank you for your teaching!"

The female investigator, whose expression was somewhat unsightly, took a deep breath, then respectfully bowed toward the old investigator.

"This time I thought too shallowly. If you hadn't reminded me, I would probably have been deceived by him. I'm still too immature now; there's still a great deal I need to learn from you."

"Heh heh, these things can't be learned."

The old investigator shook his head and gave a kindly smile, his brows and eyes curving.

"Strictly speaking, every judgment I just made has no evidence whatsoever—it's all empty conjecture. The way I judged he had a problem wasn't from solid logic either, but from some feeling closer to the subconscious.

To do our investigation department's work well, you have to be like a teller at a bank counter, constantly handling more 'real money.' If a person has handled real money his whole life, when he occasionally comes across counterfeit money, he doesn't necessarily need to discover anything specific—he'll instinctively feel that the money in his hand is different from the real thing.

Our investigation work follows the same principle. This subconscious sense of disharmony simply can't be learned; only after encountering enough people can one gradually master it through accumulation."

"I'll remember that, Senior Camus!"

"Heh heh, as long as you remember, that's good. Leave this investigation form with me. After I finish writing up the investigation results later, I'll attach it behind my own investigation form and submit them together."

???

Hearing that he actually intended to submit his own investigation form as well, the female investigator couldn't help but anxiously say:

"But my investigation was wrong—how can it be submitted?"

"There is indeed an error, but the fact that it could trip up a seasoned investigator like you is itself an excellent piece of corroborating evidence."

Hearing this, the old investigator smiled, and while hailing a steam carriage on the roadside, began to explain:

"Just as you said earlier, not everything can be reflected in the data.

My investigation was an intuition of 'something's wrong' that arose after coming into contact with this person—there's no evidence to speak of. But your investigation started entirely from logic, with evidence supporting every judgment, so its reliability is actually higher than mine.

Only by submitting your erroneous investigation and comparing it item by item with my findings can the people in charge of review take it seriously and figure out exactly where the problem lies with this newcomer from the Maiden Branch… Aisha, you won't blame me for making you lose face, will you?"

"Not really… after all, I did make a mistake. It's only right that you report it."

"Heh heh, as long as you don't blame me… hmm… well then, since the investigation is over and our opinions are basically in agreement, let's part ways here. Your carriage has arrived too, conveniently."

Hm? My carriage?

The female investigator was slightly startled upon hearing this, then said with some surprise:

"Aren't you planning to return to headquarters with me?"

"Not for now."

After seeing her onto a luxurious two-seat steam carriage, the old investigator bid her farewell with a smile:

"I have an old friend here whom I rarely get to see. Before taking on this mission, I arranged to meet up with him here and planned to have a get-together, so I won't be heading back with you this time."

"Alright then, please stay safe." "You as well."

Waving the female investigator off, after the carriage she was riding had gone far away, the old investigator did not wait for any so-called old friend, but waved again and called over another empty steam carriage.

Surveying the old investigator's attire and finding the tailoring quite refined, and thinking he might be a big client, the carriage driver couldn't help but beam with delight. After the old investigator boarded the carriage, he eagerly took the initiative to ask:

"Sir, where are you headed?"

"Not sure. Just drive around for a bit first!"

"O… okay…"

Hearing the voice by his ear, cold as ice shards, the carriage driver couldn't help but give a sudden shudder, then couldn't resist sneaking a peek at the passenger in the rearview mirror.

Eyes narrow and long, brows and the corners of his mouth tilting slightly downward—even when making no expression at all, he looked as if he were about to burst into tears at any moment.

This old fellow really looks like a walking bad omen… ah well, forget it, as long as he can pay the fare~

……

"Director, that old investigator seems like a pretty decent person."

After recounting the questioning process just now, as well as the two investigation forms he had seen with the help of Little Ha, Hearing Li Ang said with some curiosity:

"He barely asked any questions that were too difficult, and his soul held no ill will toward either me or you. Why did you warn me to be careful of him?"

"If I had to give a reason… it's probably a kind of intuition."

Hearing this, the red-haired director rubbed her brow and, blinking her fox-like eyes, said with a face full of puzzlement:

"I can't really explain this feeling, but it's like having a case of twelve bottles of Margaux dry red, with a bottle of second-label Margaux wine secretly mixed in.

Even if the taste isn't really that different, and the grapes used for brewing are grown just across a river, after you've had a few drinks you'll still instinctively feel the acidity is a bit off, and the alcohol smell is a bit stronger.

And he's just like that bottle of wine mixed in—no matter how you taste it, something feels off. Especially when he heard your plea for help and leaned over to wake me, in that instant, I almost instinctively felt that I absolutely must not let this person get too close to me."

After finishing sharing her feelings, the red-haired director asked somewhat unwillingly:

"Li Ang, after you saw his soul, you really didn't notice anything abnormal?"

"Really not. His soul is completely normal."

"I see…"

The red-haired director frowned and said:

"The soul is the most essential part of a person; there shouldn't be any method that can fake it. Maybe he has something on him that could threaten me, which is why I instinctively resist his approach…

Hmm… but you still need to be careful. There's a subtle sense of disharmony about this person; it's best not to have any contact with him."

"Understood, I'll keep that in mind."

After nodding slightly and carefully committing the red-haired director's warning to memory, Hearing Li Ang said:

"Director, the knighting ceremony is tomorrow, but I still have some official business to finish. If there's nothing else on your end, I'll head back to the office."

"Go back, go back. And from now on, drop the 'sir'—it sounds exhausting… Oh, right."

As she said this, the red-haired director seemed to remember something. She lowered her head and rummaged through a drawer for a moment, then took out a photograph bundled with a strand of hair and held it out.

"Here, this is yours."

(End of chapter)