So... you weren't here to pick a fight? You even came to thank me? Then just now...
Looking at Leon, who was shaking her hand vigorously, and recalling her own sarcastic provocation earlier, the female reporter's ears suddenly turned red as she felt a strong sense of shame.
The person who successfully grabbed her hand didn't fare much better. After reading the intelligence provided by [Materialism], Leon's pupils instantly contracted!
[Name: Untouchable Hand (Flesh, Energy, Soul)]
[Appearance: A delicate, white female hand that emits a faint white glow at night. It cannot be damaged by cutting, chopping, freezing, burning, voodoo curses, or mental willpower attacks.]
[Ability: Flesh Untouchable, Energy Untouchable, Soul Untouchable]
[Cost: Permanent loss of the user's original hands]
[File: The hands of a nun who devoted her life to the Secret God. From birth, she was chosen as one of ninety-nine "Secreters," with her features completely sealed and destroyed.
Although she lived in this world, during her entire lifespan of one hundred and fifty years, she never had any interactions with the world, besides touching with her hands, truly being a "Secreter that Never Existed."
Near the end of her life, members of the Secret Church removed her hands intending to offer them to the Secret God, but the Purification Bureau's Gemini Sub-bureau arrived and killed all the believers in the Secret Church stronghold, sabotaging the sacrifice.
After completing the cleansing task, the director of the Gemini Sub-bureau found the nun, who didn't even have a name, amidst the bodies behind the altar, and gifted her with an "Anomalous Seed." In exchange for the inability to ever touch anything, she was granted a day and night of restored senses and perceptions.
After the nun died, the [Untouchable Hand], born from her obsession, was stored in the Gemini Sub-bureau's warehouse. Decades later, Gemini Sub-bureau Level One Cleaner Nicole Colman, who lost her original hands during a mission, became the new user of the [Untouchable Hand], continuing to this day.]
[Evaluation: An Anomalous Object with terrifyingly low upper and lower limits. While it can resist all contact below the True God, it must be actively activated and used to block, meaning only those with terrifying physical fitness and reflexes can unleash its true power.]
[Contamination Value: 28.1]
Twenty-eight contamination value! A Level One Cleaner from the Gemini Sub-bureau!
Seeing the prefix before "Miss Nicole" in the [Untouchable Hand] file, Leon's mind buzzed, and many things that hadn't made sense suddenly connected, clearing the fog clouding his mind.
Indeed, with the Aquarius Director's habit of keeping contingencies, it was impossible for him to leave the Rebels unattended, allowing them to perish under the Red-haired Director's nose. He would certainly find a way to keep a fallback in case they slipped up, getting caught entirely by the Virgin Branch.
The contingency he sent was probably the person in front of him, Miss Nicole. This female reporter was not a Rebel member at all, much less the daughter of old Owen and his wife, but a Level One Cleaner of the Gemini Sub-bureau. Most likely, like himself, she used some Anomalous Object to infiltrate the Rebels!
Also, when the Rebels held their meetings earlier and she was missing, most likely she went to eliminate Senior Emma's enemy, allowing Senior Emma to be taken by the central bureau. And the one who broke into the Purification Bureau, taking the fake photos yesterday, certainly was her!
As for the evidence...
Observing the beads of sweat forming at the female reporter's brow and her overly thick clothing in a warm room, Leon's judgment was solidified further.
If Miss Nicole were to remove her clothes now, her body would surely be covered in bandages; the reason for wrapping herself tightly was to cover the wounds made by the director's hair!
Furthermore, her ears were reddening with embarrassment, yet there was no significant change in her face's color, possibly due to makeup or another Anomalous Object to conceal a pale complexion from blood loss—consistent with the thief's situation.
Lastly, the Black Goat had once said its tail represented laziness and secrecy, implying an ability to erase traces from leaving the body, which matched exactly what the thief did yesterday, so...
It was her! It was her! It was indeed her!
What a find, initially, he just came here recognizing a familiar name, hoping to uncover the secrets of the last Rebel member, yet he stumbled upon such a big fish!
"Sorry, I really didn't think of how to explain earlier, which probably led to a misunderstanding."
After slightly calming his tumultuous emotions, Leon released the delicate hands with a contamination value of twenty-eight, swiftly switching to [Elite Performer], and began to eagerly explain,
"Actually, I didn't know about my connections with the Ryan Family at first, and even now, though I'm forced to inherit the Duke's position, I wasn't planning to be a proper noble. Joining the royal family was just an excuse to get rid of my ducal identity."
Seeing that Leon did not dwell on her earlier "criticisms," the female reporter felt slightly relieved, nodded awkwardly, and said,
"Then you... you truly are unique... hehe."
"No, even though I'm unique, you're even more special!"
Catching the female reporter's hands again and giving them a firm shake, Leon, while discreetly unbuttoning her wrist, spoke with a blend of three-tenths sincerity and seven-tenths insincerity,
"Miss Nicole, do you know how many newspapers and reporters I sought out to get this story out in the open?"
Before the female reporter could reply, having caught a glimpse of a bandage's corner inside her sleeve, Leon exclaimed with "excitement,"
"Nine! I contacted exactly nine newspapers in one day, running through almost all those big-name, bold newspapers in the Capital City, and yet not one dared to publish the story, some even tried to arrest me and directly seize the evidence!
This was so... incredibly dark! Damn Ryan Family! I still get angry thinking about it!"
The female reporter, facing the scathing new Duke of Lionheart, who was condemning the Ryan Family, slightly opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say something but unsure how to proceed, so she simply kept her mouth shut and gave a vague nod.
"Miss Nicole, I knew you would disapprove of such matters as well and would take action to expose them! Ah! If I had found you and The Sun News earlier, I wouldn't have had to go through so much hassle!"
Upon hearing the female reporter's "agreement," Leon wasted no time in singing her praises, calling her the savior of the Kingdom's media industry and the last conscience in the Capital City's press circle.
Leon, with three parts sincerity enhanced by the [Elite Performer], made the compliments sound incredibly genuine, almost to the point of idol fanaticism, causing the female reporter to squirm and repeatedly wave her hands modestly,
"Stop, stop, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, really not as great as you say. My reports... um... also have many shortcomings."
"Haha, you're being modest, though there are indeed some minor shortcomings."
Leon, recalling something, nodded and smiled,
"For example, in your news pieces about me, Miss Nicole, you were relying solely on hearsay, lacking firsthand information, so there were some slight inaccuracies... So, Miss Nicole, would you be interested in doing an exclusive interview with me?"
"An exclusive interview?"
"Yes! An exclusive interview!"
Leon smiled and said,
"Though I've inherited the Duke's position, I still have a very unique role within a minor division of the police department. Would you be interested in interviewing me there, in a couple of days when you have time?"