Chapter 51: Logistics

Early in the morning, Lin Yilin pushed open the door and stepped into the agency.

"Good morning, Mr. Illusion," Lin Yilin greeted a black cat that was curled up on her desk.

The black cat yawned. Before it could even utter a word, Lin Yilin had already reached out to stroke its head, running her hand all the way from the back of its neck down along its spine to its rump.

The stroke made the black cat's entire body shiver.

"Hey, what a dishonorable sneak attack. I've told you before, you are not allowed to pet me." Zheng Fan gave a small flick with his paw, pushed Lin Yilin's hand away, leaped down from the desk, and shifted back into his original form.

"Mr. Illusion feels even better than before this time. The fluffy texture is exceptionally wonderful, so I couldn't help myself." Lin Yilin chuckled softly, then walked back to sit at her desk.

Zheng Fan remarked, "Well, thanks for the compliment, but I didn't transform into this just for you to pet."

Lin Yilin swept her gaze across the reception area of the agency and asked, "Has she been here?"

Zheng Fan was not surprised at all. "She came suddenly last night. I didn't expect it either."

"Mhm, it seems she still understands quite well. Maintaining a distance from one another to avoid excessive trouble is for the best," Lin Yilin nodded and said in a soft voice.

"That's why I still fail to understand the reasoning behind all this," said Zheng Fan.

"There's really no need to figure everything out so clearly, Mr. Illusion."

"Ignorance can also be an exquisite form of protection. I wouldn't have thought you were an adherent of agnosticism."

"Not at all. What drives me forward is precisely the spirit of exploration and discovery, but if you ask me what is most likely to bring disaster in this world, it would undoubtedly be all sorts of knowledge," Lin Yilin said, blinking her eyes.

"Then I suppose invisible monsters are even more terrifying."

"But invisible monsters, without human assistance, are ultimately just trees without roots. The more you understand, the easier it is to come into contact with illusions that shouldn't be touched. A fragile young girl like me being able to see Mr. Illusion is a fine proof of that."

Zheng Fan thought about it and realized she had a point. "Alright, what you say makes sense."

With the morning chat drawing to a close, Zheng Fan brought up the main agenda. "Any leads on the shoes?"

"Yes. We are approaching it from two angles: one is the channels of those phantasm shoes, and the other is the eccentric wearing shoes that Teng Jun mentioned," Lin Yilin said, pulling up the files on her computer.

"But in truth, it hasn't gone as smoothly as I imagined. The manufacturers related to counterfeit shoes are numerous and complex; naturally, they use this to cover their tracks, and nothing stands out just from the data. As for the weirdo targeting Teng Jun, although sighting records do exist, they have concealed their whereabouts exceptionally well and cannot be tracked down for the moment. We might need to go and verify things in person," Lin Yilin enumerated.

"Do we know the person's identity?" asked Zheng Fan.

"No. I suspect that person altered their appearance. I even searched through the data of the surrounding areas of Xixi Keke, but still couldn't find a match. How strange," Lin Yilin rarely found herself falling into a predicament.

Compared to the Kaneton remnant faction, which had deep roots and had laid out plans in Xixi Keke for a long time, these seemingly scattered fragments over here were precisely the kind that easily blurred the lines of sight and were difficult to connect.

Zheng Fan stared at Lin Yilin's computer for a moment, also catching sight of some of the shoe transaction routes she had compiled.

Flowing from various pirate shoe factories in Xixi Keke to various underground black markets, absolutely no pattern could be discerned.

"A pair of shoes appeared in the black market on Cameron Street, right next to Xixi Keke. Did you know about this?"

"Huh?" Lin Yilin suddenly turned her face toward Zheng Fan, paused for a moment, and asked, "Jiang Si told you?"

"Yes," Zheng Fan acknowledged, passing on what Jiang Si had told him to Lin Yilin.

"The murderer Felicia..." Lin Yilin's fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard, pulling up the email database for a search, and finally turning up the relevant archives.

"A murderer who made their debut in Metropolis this year. Maintaining a killing spree for over three months without being dealt with counts as a mature-stage murderer. They have appeared in Xixi Keke a few times, but left no criminal record. Still quite clever, after all, large gray districts aren't that easy to survive in," Lin Yilin said while looking at the photo displayed before her.

Zheng Fan saw what should have been a photo captured by some surveillance camera; although it was very blurry, that soaring red hair was something one could only call impossible to ignore.

He gained a deeper appreciation for the performance desire of the murderer Jiang Si had spoken of.

Walking around looking like that bastard, anyone with half a mind would keep their guard up. It really was as if they were afraid others wouldn't notice them.

And yet, a fellow like this was a murderer who had survived for three months in Metropolis. Sure enough, murderers are all people with extraordinary innate talents!

Staring at the photo for a moment, Lin Yilin moved on to the next step: "Shoes circulating to other districts... this is really quite strange. If it were just to spread bait, staying entirely within Xixi Keke would have been more than enough. Although it flirts with the suspicion of being a race to the bottom, Xixi Keke's average level is surely better than the neighboring small and medium districts."

As she spoke, she stood up. "Looking at the computer won't yield direct results anyway. Let's go and conduct an on-site investigation ourselves, Mr. Illusion."

"Okay," Zheng Fan acknowledged and followed.

"By the way, Mr. Illusion, if you intend to play with Cheng Fei's body tonight, please exercise some restraint. At least clean up after yourself when you're done. I noticed some minced meat left in the corners that wasn't cleaned properly; it will start to stink over time," Lin Yilin said suddenly, sounding very much like someone telling a child to clean up their toys properly after playing.

In a sense, it was indeed so.

"Though your phrasing is very strange... very well, I agree." Zheng Fan honestly accepted.

"Awooo!" Toast let out a bark nearby. This was entirely Old Fan's fault, and had nothing to do with it.

Whereupon, a piece of flesh was torn off Toast's rump by Zheng Fan and popped into his mouth to chew.

As for whether it was dirty or not, Zheng Fan cared less and less.

At least, whether Toast's screams were loud or not was something he cared about very much.

...

Throughout the morning, Zheng Fan and Lin Yilin walked through every single shoe factory in Xixi Keke from which phantasm shoes had leaked.

However, there were no valuable discoveries.

There were also other people keeping an eye on the phantasm shoes investigating the scene. The workers in the factories were thoroughly exasperated, but facing these gangs or agencies, they could only swallow their grievances and attend to their own work.

"The phantasm shoes all flow out from pirate shoe factories, then get taken away by people either to wear directly or sell on the black market. There have also been cases of ownership changing midway. This environment is too complex; tracking via ritual is very difficult, mainly because there are no reliable connections and the scope is too broad," Lin Yilin said after walking out of yet another pirate shoe factory.

A pitch-black, grey-eyed sparrow hovered around her a few times before finally landing on top of her head.

"A bit trickier than anticipated," Zheng Fan rotated the sparrow's little head and spoke.

"If it really doesn't work out, we'll only have to consider going after Felicia. Waiting for a rabbit by a tree is also a prime solution," Lin Yilin looked around aimlessly.

At that moment, she caught sight of a delivery truck laden with cargo driving out from the shoe factory they had just investigated.

"..." She watched for a moment, then abruptly lowered her head and shook the sparrow standing on it right off.

"Ah!" The sparrow hurriedly flapped its wings, but because it lacked coordination, it still ended up slamming onto the ground with a smack. "Can you give a warning before doing that?"

"Apologies. I just suddenly remembered something I noticed before going to sleep last night, but sleeping on time made me forget it again. It's not a problem with the shoe factory; after all, even though the shoes flow out of the factory, they weren't produced by it. Therefore, the focal point isn't coming out of the factory, but how they got here in the first place... Thought traps are truly terrifying things."

Zheng Fan shifted back from the sparrow's form, lay on the ground, and looked up at the departing delivery truck. "Logistics?"

"Yes."