#560Chapter 560: Clock Tower Holy Grail Pollution Advance Investigation TeamAI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 560: The Clock Tower's Holy Grail Contamination Advance Investigation Team
What does it mean for the previous Heroic Spirit to be eliminated in this iteration?
What does it mean for Kotomine Kirei to be embezzling and now faking his death to escape?
What does it mean that the Holy Grail was already contaminated by the Evil of this World during the Third War?
Fuyuki's strongest twintail's expression gradually became dazed, while Red A, who had appeared without his Master's explicit command, showed a look of astonishment.
His astonishment wasn't due to information he had already learned through certain special channels, but because of the man before him.
Only at this extremely close distance did he truly sense the special aura emanating from Cheng Tian.
"What? Do you want to address me as 'Department Head'?"
Cheng Tian uttered this directly, noticing Red A's expression.
Red A paused slightly, habitually wanting to retort with sarcastic words, but on second thought, calling Cheng Tian 'Department Head' didn't seem to be much of a problem.
"...We're not in the same department."
In the end, Red A found a somewhat plausible excuse and turned his head away.
He still didn't want to address Cheng Tian as 'Department Head'.
From the perspective of their origins, although Cheng Tian and Red A were both 'Counter Force' employees in the Nasuverse, they belonged to different departments.
Cheng Tian was a temporary labor worker selected by the planetary will's avatar, 'Gaia.' Combined with the Valac template he had loaded, he could be regarded as a temporary Phantasmal Beast chosen by the planet itself.
Red A, on the other hand, was a lifetime contract employee belonging to 'Alaya,' the collective consciousness of humanity formed by humanity's collective unconscious, responsible for eliminating threats to humanity's continued existence as a Human Guardian.
The former prioritized the planet's safety, while the latter prioritized humanity's safety.
"What!? What are you two talking about!? Archer, are you hiding something else from me!?"
The twintail girl awoke as if from a dream, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Cheng Tian and Red A with a strange look.
"Do you want me to spoil it for the little girl? Honestly, I really want to spoil it. I really want to see the little girl's expression break down."
Cheng Tian showed an eager look.
Spoiling once is fun, spoiling always is fun!
In an instant, Red A's cool expression crumbled, because he had already understood what Cheng Tian intended to do.
Then he made a decision that he found humiliating.
"Dep... Department Head..."
Red A struggled to utter the word.
"Very good!"
Cheng Tian smiled and nodded, completely satisfied.
Tohsaka Rin still looked unable to accept it.
"In short, the Holy Grail's wish-granting function was completely corrupted during the Third War. Even if you win the war, the Holy Grail will only grant wishes in a twisted form. For example, if you wish for world peace from the corrupted Holy Grail, it will most likely give you a kitchen knife. You just need to use this kitchen knife to kill everyone in this world, and your wish will be fulfilled.
The Holy Grail War is meaningless. I think you might even try to contact the Clock Tower, apply for a spiritual pulse investigation and bombing permission or something. If you can truly destroy the corrupted Holy Grail and spiritual pulse, it might even be a great achievement and further secure the Tohsaka family's position as administrators in Fuyuki City.
You can confirm this with this dark-skinned guy. He actually knows more than you imagine, but he's just a complete riddle-speaker and unwilling to say. If you're really annoyed, you can use Bajiquan to beat Emiya."
Cheng Tian, who had seamlessly taken over Bazett's explanation at some point, concluded the conversation.
While the twintail girl received a string of secrets, her questions also exploded. Her upbringing prevented her from easily trusting others, especially since it involved Kirei Kotomine, who had taught her for ten years. However, these secrets, whose truth she couldn't immediately discern, also made it impossible for her to ignore them.
It could be said that she wouldn't need to go to school for a while.
The workload of dealing with the meteorite crater, seeking verification, and so on, would overwhelm her.
And it seemed that Cheng Tian and his group still had a lot of information to clear up her confusion... So, when she heard Cheng Tian and the others discussing a temporary place to stay, she plucked up her courage and spoke again.
"If you all have nowhere to go, you can stay at my house temporarily. Our Tohsaka residence is quite large, and it would be my duty as the land administrator of Fuyuki City to act as a host."
The twintail girl was trying her best to project the elegant demeanor of the Tohsaka family.
Red A wanted to say something, but in the end, he held back.
Cheng Tian and his group readily accepted this. After all, they were only staying for a short time, and any place would do. The Tohsaka family's residence, with its inherent bounded field, was actually a more advantageous location.
However, whether this girl would be willing to use her jewels to activate the bounded field remained a question mark.
And so, the Li Li Li team openly moved into the Tohsaka family residence.
Fuyuki City was bustling. With Kirei Kotomine abandoning his duties and decisively fleeing into hiding, all the pressure fell squarely on Tohsaka Rin. She even had to take time off from school to fully deal with these issues.
Cheng Tian and his group didn't freeload at the Tohsaka residence. While waiting for Aoko to contact them, they directly helped to relay information about the Holy Grail contamination to the Clock Tower.
Yes, Cheng Tian also participated.
The sole purpose of this Silver Side Quest was to "kill Kirei Kotomine." But since it was a relatively familiar place, and also Bazett's hometown, Cheng Tian felt he could try to unite some usable forces to help clear up some potential dangers for Bazett.
Cheng Tian had a premonition that if the Silver Side Quest was completed normally, Bazett would likely be able to freely enter and exit this current "Fate/hollow ataraxia" world, much like a player returning to their own timeline. If this were the case, building a reliable force here would be very necessary.
Perhaps Bazett would inevitably continue to be ostracized by the Clock Tower, but if she could climb a step higher by resolving the black mud Holy Grail, she would certainly gain corresponding benefits and power.
At the very least, the "Hammond Innovation Lab Fuyuki Branch" he was about to establish here should be able to gain a relatively reliable backing.
It must be said that the battle with Orochi made Cheng Tian's subconscious significantly more arrogant, so much so that he developed a path dependency when facing Gilgamesh, believing he could solve Gilgamesh using the same method he used to kill Orochi.
Of course, although it was indeed resolved in the end, that large mouthful of black mud stuck in his throat did make him recover significantly from the overbearing attitude of a "God Slayer," and his eyes became much clearer.
Cheng Tian didn't think he could solve the problem of the contaminated Holy Grail alone, so he simply chose to bring in external aid.
Again, let the professionals handle professional matters.
Since the information provided was jointly submitted by "Sealing Designation Enforcer Bazett" and "Fuyuki City Administrator Tohsaka Rin," the Clock Tower indeed took it seriously immediately.
Although it was still in the threat assessment stage, a decision had already been made to dispatch investigators, and the list of investigators was sent to Bazett and Tohsaka Rin in advance, along with a magic investigation order for assistance.
The list of investigators dispatched by the Clock Tower was—
"Core Investigator: Lord El-Melloi II"
"External Technical Support: Aoko"
"Church Collaborator: Ciel"
...What kind of chaotic investigator list is this?
Cheng Tian, as the facilitator at this time, was utterly bewildered.
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