Lucifer kept his entire focus on the screen. A small wind pressure started developing in his surroundings as he prepared to attack using his wind blades.
"Lucifer, may I ask what you're trying to do?" Lyon asked as if he had noticed something. "I know you're impatient. Joana was your friend. But don't lose control of your abilities."
"Right." Lucifer nodded and stopped his winds. He didn't understand how they sensed his winds. He was so careful not to alert them.
'These people are really different and more aware of their surroundings. It'll be hard to get out of here.'
"You check the footage. I think I forgot something in my car. I'll be right back." He turned around.
No one tried to stop him.
Lucifer swiftly reached his car. The door opened again. He felt leaving was better than fighting them. He could at least find a way out during the chase.
He was just about to take a step inside the car when he heard the frustrated voice of Lyon. "How is this possible? There is nothing here!"
"What?" Lucifer took a step back in confusion. "There's nothing there?"
"Yeah. It's all blank. Whoever did it made sure to cut the feed? It's all blank," Lia explained. "Look yourself."
Lucifer ran to them and checked the screen. As they mentioned, it was all just a black screen.
Seeing the screen, he sighed a breath of relief.
'It looks like my future self wasn't that stupid. He took care of the loopholes. But still, the problem isn't solved. There are witnesses who saw me coming out. I should've been more careful,' Lucifer thought, frowning.
Lyon closed the screen.
"That person is certainly someone with high reach. He managed to bypass the security of our national feed and controlled the cameras accordingly. But this does give us some clues. The feed was cut off an hour ago. So whatever happened has happened in the last hour."
"He can stop the cameras, but it's still possible that there are witnesses who saw it? We should focus on interrogation," Lia suggested.
"I doubt it'll be fruitful. Someone who is this clever, do you think he'll make the mistake of being seen by someone?" Lyon asked. "What do you think, Lucifer?"
"Yeah. I also think that we won't get anything fruitful from interrogation." Lucifer agreed.
"We must at least try," Lia let out. "It's better than doing nothing. Unless you all have a better idea?"
"Do as you please. I'm leaving. I'll check the central database to see if there has been any large-scale movement from the city. I'll also check the feeds of the areas that lead to this place."
"Maybe we'll find him. He must've been clever enough to cut the feed of this place, but he couldn't have cut the feed of the entire city. If he had done that, it would have alerted the city officials."
"You all do the interrogation. I'll see you all later. It's time for me to conduct my own investigation." Lyon opened the door of his car and stepped inside.
The car started rising in the air and left the premises.
"You want to leave as well?" Lia asked Lucifer. "Don't force yourself if you don't want to be here."
"I'm not forcing myself. If you think it'll give us some clues, I want to be here for it. I want to see what comes of this investigation as well."
"Sigh, Joana must've been really close to you. To draw a hermit like you outside it's not a small feat."
"Do I really not come out often?" Lucifer asked, slightly curious. He was also very curious about his life here.
"Often? I've only seen you leave the palace once since you got married to the queen. And even that day, you were accompanied by her. I haven't seen you alone in such a long time that I can't recall. That's why it was surprising to see you here," Lia said, shaking her head.
"In any case, I can't blame you for that. Our queen is such a nice lady. Who can even think to leave her alone after winning her favor? Anyway, it's so nice to work on a case with you. I hope we find Joana soon," she further continued.
"Me too..." Lucifer nodded. He knew he couldn't continue the play for long. Maya knew that Lucifer was with Joana right around that time since he had picked up the call.
He needed to work really hard to hide this secret. But first, he decided to take care of the matters at hand.
He followed Lia in the surroundings. Wherever she went to ask questions, he went as well. Whenever they reached people who hadn't seen him, he let Lia take the lead.
However, whenever they went to a person who had seen Lucifer come out, he took the lead and slightly changed the question.
"Have you seen someone go inside that house or come out of it who wasn't us?" he asked.
From the initial glance, his question seemed normal to Lia. They had gone inside the house and come out. They didn't want this person to speak about them. She didn't find the question odd.
The old woman who had seen Lucifer come out of the house shook her head in response. "I didn't see anyone else go in and come out. Did something happen there?"
"It's none of your concern," Lucifer replied. "You can leave."
One after another, the small team of two kept moving from one house to another. Even after asking everyone in the surrounding area, they didn't get any answer.
On the other hand, Lyon was already in a different part of the city, from where he connected to the mainframe and scanned all the feeds of areas that were near Joana's house.
He lazily sat on a chair and went through the feed one after another. Even he didn't expect to find something that significant since there were thousands of people who moved every hour through each of these areas. It was hard to pinpoint one.
He switched to a different footage. Ten minutes passed into the footage when Lyon noticed something. He saw something which made him sit straight on his chair.
"That's very interesting. The SOS came at a specific time. What is Lucifer doing, going towards Joana's house thirty minutes before that? That reminds me. When we reached there, he was already there. I thought he had just arrived. Could it be that he...?"
He started pressing some keys and tried to bring out the log of Lucifer's vehicle to know where it had been at what time.
"Error? Ah, that's right! He's a one star member as well. I can't access this data without the permission from a two star member!"
He pressed a button on the dashboard. "Contact Admiral Jo."
Lucifer kept his entire focus on the screen. A small wind pressure started developing in his surroundings as he prepared to attack using his wind blades.
"Lucifer, may I ask what you're trying to do?" Lyon asked as if he had noticed something. "I know you're impatient. Joana was your friend. But don't lose control of your abilities."
"Right." Lucifer nodded and stopped his winds. He didn't understand how they sensed his winds. He was so careful not to alert them.
'These people are really different and more aware of their surroundings. It'll be hard to get out of here.'
"You check the footage. I think I forgot something in my car. I'll be right back." He turned around.
No one tried to stop him.
Lucifer swiftly reached his car. The door opened again. He felt leaving was better than fighting them. He could at least find a way out during the chase.
He was just about to take a step inside the car when he heard the frustrated voice of Lyon. "How is this possible? There is nothing here!"
"What?" Lucifer took a step back in confusion. "There's nothing there?"
"Yeah. It's all blank. Whoever did it made sure to cut the feed? It's all blank," Lia explained. "Look yourself."
Lucifer ran to them and checked the screen. As they mentioned, it was all just a black screen.
Seeing the screen, he sighed a breath of relief.
'It looks like my future self wasn't that stupid. He took care of the loopholes. But still, the problem isn't solved. There are witnesses who saw me coming out. I should've been more careful,' Lucifer thought, frowning.
Lyon closed the screen.
"That person is certainly someone with high reach. He managed to bypass the security of our national feed and controlled the cameras accordingly. But this does give us some clues. The feed was cut off an hour ago. So whatever happened has happened in the last hour."
"He can stop the cameras, but it's still possible that there are witnesses who saw it? We should focus on interrogation," Lia suggested.
"I doubt it'll be fruitful. Someone who is this clever, do you think he'll make the mistake of being seen by someone?" Lyon asked. "What do you think, Lucifer?"
"Yeah. I also think that we won't get anything fruitful from interrogation." Lucifer agreed.
"We must at least try," Lia let out. "It's better than doing nothing. Unless you all have a better idea?"
"Do as you please. I'm leaving. I'll check the central database to see if there has been any large-scale movement from the city. I'll also check the feeds of the areas that lead to this place."
"Maybe we'll find him. He must've been clever enough to cut the feed of this place, but he couldn't have cut the feed of the entire city. If he had done that, it would have alerted the city officials."
"You all do the interrogation. I'll see you all later. It's time for me to conduct my own investigation." Lyon opened the door of his car and stepped inside.
The car started rising in the air and left the premises.
"You want to leave as well?" Lia asked Lucifer. "Don't force yourself if you don't want to be here."
"I'm not forcing myself. If you think it'll give us some clues, I want to be here for it. I want to see what comes of this investigation as well."
"Sigh, Joana must've been really close to you. To draw a hermit like you outside it's not a small feat."
"Do I really not come out often?" Lucifer asked, slightly curious. He was also very curious about his life here.
"Often? I've only seen you leave the palace once since you got married to the queen. And even that day, you were accompanied by her. I haven't seen you alone in such a long time that I can't recall. That's why it was surprising to see you here," Lia said, shaking her head.
"In any case, I can't blame you for that. Our queen is such a nice lady. Who can even think to leave her alone after winning her favor? Anyway, it's so nice to work on a case with you. I hope we find Joana soon," she further continued.
"Me too..." Lucifer nodded. He knew he couldn't continue the play for long. Maya knew that Lucifer was with Joana right around that time since he had picked up the call.
He needed to work really hard to hide this secret. But first, he decided to take care of the matters at hand.
He followed Lia in the surroundings. Wherever she went to ask questions, he went as well. Whenever they reached people who hadn't seen him, he let Lia take the lead.
However, whenever they went to a person who had seen Lucifer come out, he took the lead and slightly changed the question.
"Have you seen someone go inside that house or come out of it who wasn't us?" he asked.
From the initial glance, his question seemed normal to Lia. They had gone inside the house and come out. They didn't want this person to speak about them. She didn't find the question odd.
The old woman who had seen Lucifer come out of the house shook her head in response. "I didn't see anyone else go in and come out. Did something happen there?"
"It's none of your concern," Lucifer replied. "You can leave."
One after another, the small team of two kept moving from one house to another. Even after asking everyone in the surrounding area, they didn't get any answer.
On the other hand, Lyon was already in a different part of the city, from where he connected to the mainframe and scanned all the feeds of areas that were near Joana's house.
He lazily sat on a chair and went through the feed one after another. Even he didn't expect to find something that significant since there were thousands of people who moved every hour through each of these areas. It was hard to pinpoint one.
He switched to a different footage. Ten minutes passed into the footage when Lyon noticed something. He saw something which made him sit straight on his chair.
"That's very interesting. The SOS came at a specific time. What is Lucifer doing, going towards Joana's house thirty minutes before that? That reminds me. When we reached there, he was already there. I thought he had just arrived. Could it be that he...?"
He started pressing some keys and tried to bring out the log of Lucifer's vehicle to know where it had been at what time.
"Error? Ah, that's right! He's a one star member as well. I can't access this data without the permission from a two star member!"
He pressed a button on the dashboard. "Contact Admiral Jo."
