Chapter 338

Two Hundred and Ninety-Sixth: Locking Down

Tivyán, Coal Ash District.

In the afternoon, as the dust storm in the coal ash district had yet to settle down, the street clamor continued. Inside a teahouse outside the police bureau, Adele and Ed were still sitting face-to-face, gazing out the window at the police bureau building in the distance.

They had been continuously monitoring the activities inside the police bureau using the small zombie puppets placed within the bureau, hoping to discover any useful information. However, after the informant they discovered contacted the mastermind named Alex upon being incited by Adele, and was subsequently reprimanded, there had been no further actions taken. To avoid arousing suspicion, Adele did not attempt to incite the informant again.

Then, Adele and Ed decided to continue observing for a while longer, hoping that something unusual might emerge from the police bureau. However, Adele seemed somewhat uncomfortable with the experience of simultaneously using her abilities to observe multiple perspectives, her brows furrowing slightly. When Dorothy noticed Adele’s discomfort, she prompted Ed to directly remind Adele.

“If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, you can pray to that existence again, asking to interrupt the connection. Continuously monitoring like this isn’t a viable long-term solution; we should consider other strategies.”

Ed said this to Adele. After hearing Ed’s words, Adele paused for a moment before closing her eyes and praying again. Immediately, the numerous scenes flooding her mind vanished. Upon returning to normal, she sighed in relief and rubbed her temples, saying:

“Whew… What an unusual experience… Looking in so many directions, hearing so many voices at once. Although I’ve used flesh puppets before, this is the first time I’ve connected to so many senses at once. Heh… Mr. Detective, you always manage to bring us surprising things.”

Adele said this, and Dorothy had arranged six or seven small zombie puppets inside the police bureau. This provided Adele with sensory information from six or seven different positions, which left her momentarily disoriented.

‘To be able to manipulate so many precise flesh puppets at once, allowing those who pray to share the senses… This divine existence I’ve never heard of before. Although I don’t know much about the Rosy Cross, it seems this society has a deep connection with ‘Enlightenment’…’

Rubbing her temples, Adele thought to herself. After relaxing her mind slightly, she then got straight to the point.

“That informant became much more cautious after being scolded. It feels like long-term surveillance won’t yield any progress anytime soon…”

“Yes, so now we need to try another method to find the person.”

Ed responded lightly, and upon hearing this, Adele raised an eyebrow curiously.

“From your tone, detective, it sounds like you have some ideas already.”

“Of course… but we’ll have to try them to see if they work.” Ed said, then took out a folded piece of paper from his clothes. After clearing the table slightly, he unfolded the paper and placed it on the table. Adele immediately recognized it—it was a map of the Coal Ash District. They had previously used this map to locate the crime scene and pinpoint the trap at Charred Wood Intersection. Now, several black dots marked on the map indicated the locations they had noted earlier.

“It’s this map again… Are you planning to use the map to find someone? We were tricked last time.”

Looking at the map, Adele said with some confusion, and Ed replied directly.

“No, no, Miss Adele. The incident at Charred Wood Intersection, although perilous, wasn’t a loss. Despite the danger, we obtained crucial intelligence.”

Ed continued, then took out more tools from his clothes, including a compass. Hearing Ed’s words, Adele asked with confusion:

“Crucial intelligence?”

“At Charred Wood Intersection, the mastermind had a flesh puppet stationed there.”

Ed said, then opened the compass and adjusted it according to the map’s scale. Hearing this, Adele’s confusion deepened.

“He had a flesh puppet watching over it… That’s obvious… Is that really considered crucial intelligence?”

“Of course. Miss Adele, you may not be familiar with flesh puppets. Generally, the range of control for extraordinary items manipulating flesh puppets is limited to three kilometers. Therefore, that person’s location must be within a three-kilometer radius of Charred Wood Intersection.”

Ed explained, then picked up the adjusted compass and drew a large circle with a three-kilometer diameter centered on Charred Wood Intersection on the map. Within this area lay the hideout of the mastermind.

“In this world, apart from Dorothy’s simulated puppeteer, whose range can extend to ten kilometers, all other flesh puppet items have a control limit of three kilometers. Dorothy’s puppet ring and Byron’s puppet button are both limited to three kilometers.”

Adele nodded thoughtfully, “So the maximum control range for flesh puppet items is three kilometers. I didn’t know this in such detail before…” She glanced back at the map.

“But even knowing the three-kilometer limit, it would still be difficult to find him. Look at how wide the area is… it would be quite challenging to search.”

Adele continued, and she was right—the area covered by a three-kilometer radius was not small. Searching within such a vast urban area would still be difficult.

“Yes, three kilometers is quite far, and the circle is quite large… But Miss Adele, don’t forget, we found more than one circle. Earlier, at the police bureau, the informant contacted the mastermind through a flesh puppet. This proves that apart from Charred Wood Intersection, the Coal Ash District police bureau is also within the mastermind’s control range. So we can draw another circle.”

Ed said, then picked up the compass again and, after locating the Coal Ash District police bureau on the map, drew another three-kilometer circle centered on it. Now, two circles appeared on the map. Seeing this, Adele’s eyes lit up.

“Right… There’s a flesh puppet inside the police bureau too. This means the mastermind must be able to control both the puppet at Charred Wood Intersection and the one inside the police bureau. Since the police bureau and Charred Wood Intersection aren’t very close, the places where he could control both points are much fewer.”

Adele concluded, and Ed nodded with a smile.

“Yes, precisely… He’s in this area.” Ed pointed to the map, where the intersection of the two circles—one centered on the intersection and the other on the police bureau—was located. Only points within the overlapping area of these two circles, each with a three-kilometer radius, could cover both the intersection and the police bureau. In other words, the mastermind’s hideout must be within this overlapping area.

Listening to Ed, Adele focused her gaze on the overlapping region of the two circles on the map, her eyes sparkling as she spoke:

“Indeed… This trap was set up by the mastermind from the beginning, so he must have chosen the best hiding spot early on, waiting for us to take the bait. It’s unlikely he’s moving around randomly.”

“The current area is smaller than a single large circle, but it’s still quite extensive. Mr. Detective, if we want to find him within this area, we will need to put in some effort.”

“Yes, it’s smaller, but not small enough. Given this, perhaps we can devise a way to narrow down the search area further.”

Ed responded, and Adele immediately replied:

“Can we narrow down the area even more? How do you plan to do that?”

“Simple, as long as we can determine the position of another flesh puppet on the map and draw another circle, the mastermind’s location will be where the three circles intersect, significantly reducing the search area.”