"I'm stuffed. Phoenix, come for a walk with me," Millers said, getting to his feet. Kaia, curiosity shining in her eyes, trailed after him toward the garden to take another look at the monstrous produce.

Axel finally spoke, his tone serious. "Mr. Fabian, we're actually here to investigate a case. You heard about the beast tide today, didn't you?"

Fabian's smile faltered. He nodded, looking guilty. "Brother, it's not that I don't want to help. But these crops are delicate—if I don't check them every half hour, they'll wither. Unless the Ministry of Agriculture orders me to leave, I can't abandon them. I might be strong, but I've got limits." He rubbed his rough, soil-stained fingers together, clearly embarrassed.

"Have you been here this whole time? Didn't leave the plantation at all?" Axel asked, his eyes sharp.

Fabian met his gaze steadily. "Every day I stick within a dozen miles of here. That's my range."

Vince and Rosaline exchanged a glance. They'd been planning to test Fabian's combat ability, but unlike the Dennis brothers, Fabian didn't seem like someone you could just pressure into showing his hand.

And then, out of the corner of the field, another man appeared—one who looked almost identical to Fabian.

The group's expressions hardened.

The newcomer's movements were stiff, unnatural. He walked straight toward Fabian and muttered, "Babbi Babu?"

Nobody understood the words, but Fabian clearly did. His face changed, and he jumped up in alarm. "Hey! You guys can't go in there!"

Millers and the others froze mid-step, halfway into a lush vineyard of oversized grapes.

From where Axel, Rosaline, and Vince stood, the danger was obvious. Two thick vines had shifted, curling into the shapes of blades—executioner's swords waiting to drop. If the three had taken even one more step, they would've been sliced to pieces.

"Back here! Now!" Rosaline barked.

Startled, Millers and the others retreated quickly from the arbor. When they turned back, the vines were once again innocuous, nothing more than curling greenery.

Fabian let out a shaky breath, his face etched with guilt. "That's on me. I should've warned you sooner. Most of the plants here are for food, but some are bred for defense. They're… not friendly to intruders."

He gave a sheepish shrug. "Like I said before, my way of fighting is unusual. I need to grow everything in advance. Without my plants, I can't attack anyone."

Only then did Millers and the others realize just how close they'd come to being cut down. Their faces were pale, each of them still shaken.

Rosaline and Vince exchanged uneasy glances. Both turned toward Axel, hoping to read his take on Fabian. But Axel wasn't watching Fabian at all—his eyes were fixed on a freshly tilled patch of vegetables not far away.

"Fabian," Axel said evenly, "I've got an interest in farming too. If I walk over there, can you keep the plants from trying to kill me?"

Fabian nodded without hesitation. "Of course. Just tell me which patch you're headed for."

Axel stepped into the rows of soil, crouched down, and sifted a handful between his fingers.

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Fabian chuckled. "That's the potato field. Good thing your friends didn't wander here earlier—if they had, a few of those would've gone off like grenades."

Millers and the others stiffened, their earlier nerves returning full force.

Axel walked the length of the patch, pausing here and there, studying the surrounding beds before finally straightening and offering Fabian a small smile. Without a word, he turned back to rejoin the group. When he shook his head ever so slightly at Rosaline and Vince, they eased their guard.

"Babby Bab?" The Fabian-lookalike shuffled out of the crops again, muttering in that same strange tongue.

Fabian quickly patted the man's shoulder. The figure froze in place, stiff and silent.

Rosaline frowned. "Mr. Fabian… is that thing a human chrysalis made from a living person?"

Fabian recoiled, waving both hands. "Of course not! That kind of corpse-control is black magic—shit only evil spirit wizards and rogue Awakeners dabble in. This here's just one of my skills. A scarecrow, nothing more."

"Scarecrow?" Axel stepped closer, curiosity piqued. He jabbed the figure with a finger. The skin yielded like rough brown paper—soft, brittle, and not remotely alive.

"Well then," Axel said casually, "we won't trouble you any further today."

The abrupt say stunned both Vince and Rosaline. Moments ago they'd been convinced Fabian was more suspicious than Geoffrey. But with Axel calling it, they had little choice but to follow his lead.

Fabian looked disappointed. "Already? Come visit again sometime!" He waved them off, lit a fresh cigarette, and bent back to his fields.

......

Once clear of the farm, Vince's expression hardened. "Rosaline. You saw it too, didn't you?"

She nodded. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "He's at least a Level Five Awakener. Mid-tier or higher."

Millers and the others stopped in their tracks.

"He's that strong?"

"Then he's a hell of a suspect."

"If it's one person behind all this, then only two fit the bill—Fabian and Geoffrey."

The group murmured their theories, but Rosaline and Vince kept their focus on Axel. He'd been quiet ever since they'd left Fabian's fields, face locked in deep thought.

"Axel," Rosaline pressed, "we were ready to push him harder. Why did you stop us?"

At last, Axel stirred. He drew a long breath and said, "Rosaline. Captain. What's the endgame for the spy who sabotaged the energy cannon?"

Rosaline didn't hesitate. "To let the mutants breach the city gates, slaughter civilians, and derail Project Spider."

Axel's brow furrowed. A memory replayed in his head—back in Fabian's grape arbor, a glimmer of green light had caught his eye. Almost invisible, no bigger than a pinprick.

He'd picked it up, shifted it, and confirmed it was a life crystal. A Level Four mutant's life crystal—shrunk down, nearly drained of power, but unmistakable. He'd found more of them scattered across Fabian's other plots, buried in the soil like fertilizer.

Fabian had been harvesting mutant carcasses to feed his fields. And if he were truly the traitor, he would've flaunted that fact immediately to reduce suspicion. Instead, he'd hidden it. Without Axel's ability, no one would ever have known. That alone lowered his odds of being the spy.

Axel kept this to himself. The others waited, tense, but he only closed his eyes, letting the day's events spool through his mind like a reel of film. The threads were there—he could feel them—but the picture still refused to come together.

Finally, he exhaled. "Millers. Do you have surveillance drones?"

Millers blinked, then nodded. "Yeah." A moment later, several insect-like machines lifted into the night.

"Keep everyone under surveillance," Axel ordered.

Vince's eyes narrowed. "Axel, they're all Level Fours. If we monitor too close, they'll sense it. If we stay too far, we can't pick up what they're saying."

"Don't need to hear them."

Millers hesitated. What good is surveillance if we can't hear? But he obeyed, and the drones scattered into the dark.

"So… what's our next move?" Rosaline asked. Both she and Vince could tell Axel was sitting on a revelation he wasn't ready to share.

Axel's lips twitched into the faintest smile. "We sleep."

Kaia let out a groan of relief. The whole squad had been running on fumes, and the chance to finally rest was a blessing none of them could refuse.

There were several hotels in Northern Spiritual Town, and the military had already arranged accommodations. Soon, everyone was back in their rooms, and before long, the sound of snoring drifted down the hallway.

After more than thirty hours of work without rest, exhaustion had finally caught up to them.

"Vince, do you think he's just playing it safe? Or is he already out of moves?" Rosaline asked quietly, stopping him outside her door. "This is his first case, after all. Isn't this whole mess a bit much for him?"

From Axel's room came the soft, steady rhythm of his snoring.

Vince's voice was calm, almost thoughtful. "It's his first case, yes. But he's carried out plenty of plans before."

Rosaline couldn't help but smile, and Vince did too.

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