Feeling awkward under the gazes from her colleagues, the woman with the scarf nodded with a darkened expression.
"Everything he said was true. It was indeed my fault in this area, for I didn't prepare in advance and simply estimated the price of the ingredients based on the field report, blurting out a Silver Wheel price...but this person should have issues too!"
After giving Leon, who distracted her and let the Rebels escape, a hard glare, the policewoman named Yisha took a deep breath, pointed at Leon seriously, and said,
"To avoid disrupting the surveillance, once I realized the price was too high, I immediately offered a lower one to stabilize him. But not only did he keep secretly observing me, he even started looking at the target's room!"
"Impossible that it was just a casual glance! Or a coincidence!"
Cutting off Leon's words, the policewoman arched her eyebrows and asked confidently,
"Out of over a hundred rooms in that building, with thirty to forty visible from the coffee stall, why did you just happen to focus on the window of the target's room?"
"No...why are you still suspecting me?"
Seeing the secret police turn suspicious eyes on him again, Leon said with a speechless expression,
"If I really were with the Rebels, I would have run the moment you randomly dropped the price!
By the way, have you ever been to such a coffee stall? Excluding the coffee, the stuff you served me could easily be sold to five people at another stall, you know?
Yet you charged only two Copper Wheels for so much. If you weren't there to surveil, were you warming the street?"
"You...don't change the subject!"
Embarrassed by Leon's sharp sarcasm, the policewoman pursed her lips hard and slapped the table with an angry shout,
"I'm not asking how I was exposed, but why were you staring at the target's window continuously?"
"I was watching that side because you were watching that side. As for why I followed your gaze..."
After briefly explaining his reasoning process, Leon said helplessly,
"Even though I thought something was off about you, I never imagined being so unlucky. Just buying a cup of coffee on the way to work, I bumped into secret police catching someone.
Plus, I'm part of the Police Department, half a cop at least, so I followed your gaze for a look or two. Who would've thought you'd react so strongly and start interrogating me, abandoning your target?"
After glancing at the speechless policewoman, Leon, feeling uncomfortable from the handcuffs, couldn't help urging,
"Sigh...you're overthinking it. I'm one of you! Hasn't it been almost half a day now? Have you finished verifying my credentials?"
"You...don't think this is over. You still have—"
Stopping the policewoman who wanted to continue, the burly man who had shouted insults from the second floor put out his cigarette, pointed at Leon with a blank expression, and said,
"Get his handcuffs off."
The policewoman was slightly taken aback but then questioned,
"But the credentials—"
"The Archives Department hasn't returned the results yet, but there's no missing signature or stamp on his credentials. The Rebels couldn't have done it so meticulously, so we should release him as long as we rule out him being an informant."
Reluctantly biting her lip, the policewoman lowered her head slightly as she approached to remove Leon's handcuffs.
Though she was quite the captivating beauty, Leon had been unable to even eat peacefully all morning and had sat in a chilly metal chair in an interrogation room for half the day, fueling quite a bit of anger.
Moving his wrists, reddened by the cuffs, Leon looked at the policewoman still showing some reluctance, as if she wanted to interrogate him further. Unable to hold back his own frustration, he retorted sarcastically,
"It's almost noon, isn't it? Thanks, Miss Yisha, for your generosity. If it weren't for your ample bread portions this morning, I'd probably be starving by now!"
Hearing Leon's mocking words, the policewoman, who had lost the Rebels earlier and embarrassed herself, turned dark-faced, seemingly wanting to retort, but eventually swallowed her anger and said through clenched teeth,
"Sorry, it was my mistake, causing you time, I apologize!"
Though her voice was taut and the apology wasn't very sincere, considering she belonged to the Kingdom's espionage agency, Leon didn't push further. Instead, he turned to the scar-faced hulk who had insulted him before.
"Can I get my credentials back?"
Upon hearing Leon's request, the scar-faced hulk with knife-cut features grinned, showing a smile that could silence a crying child, then got up to retrieve the credentials from the table and handed them over while smiling,
"I've heard a thing or two about your bureau, and our department occasionally encounters situations needing your assistance. I hope we can work together in the future."
*Work with me, a 'Cleaner'? That can only mean encountering an Abnormal, are you sure you want that opportunity?*
Awkward from the rather ominous politeness, Leon mumbled a few words before following a secret police officer out of the interrogation room.
Once the others had also left and only two were left in the room, the policewoman who had held back for a long time exhaled heavily, biting her teeth and questioning,
"Why didn't you let me continue interrogating him?"
Raising his scar-covered eyebrows, the scar-faced hulk retorted,
"Of course, the event from four days ago!"
The policewoman snapped,
"Four days ago, a masked man clad all in black beat up the 'Daily News' social editor in a restaurant on Qianhua Street, then rode to the headquarters of Charl Department Store.
The same man was featured in the entertainment section of 'The Sun News' after being injured by a Gold Wheel. I saw the photo of him then, his attire exactly matching the masked guy on Qianhua Street!"
"He also intervened in our operation to capture the Rebels today, continuously trying to distract me and let that Rebel slip away, the one involved in the Princess's assassination attempt!"
The policewoman exclaimed,
"If he hadn't appeared today, I might have considered it coincidence, but now I'm certain, this person is absolutely suspicious!"
"Yeah, I think he's got issues too."
Nodding to acknowledge the policewoman's assessment, the scar-faced hulk lit another cigarette, the fire reflecting off his many knife scars, appearing like twisting snakes.
"The royal family and aristocrats are just lice that grow in the groin, and they deserve to be squashed if they suck blood too painfully!"
Repeating the "masked man's" words, the scar-faced hulk smirked,
"After uttering such remarkable words, he still dared to approach you with his real identity, covering for the target's escape this time; he's the boldest adversary I've ever met!
Hah, if not for this incident, I'd never imagine the Rebels infiltrated the Police Department and even joined the extremely dangerous Purification Bureau! This person is truly an unimaginably big fish!"
"I think I understand now..."
The policewoman thought for a moment, furrowing her brow,
"So...you didn't capture him because you're laying big plans to catch more Rebels?"
Extinguished another cigarette, the scar-faced hulk leaned back in his chair, smiling happily,
"You overthought it. He's with that Purification Bureau, and frankly, I don't dare touch him."