Jeanne watched as the golden exclamation mark gradually faded from her vision. After opening the file and seeing the name of the company, she found it to be a truly curious title.
"Rhine Gold? Does this company have some connection to Rhine Lab? Their names are so similar."
Ch'en looked at the file in Jeanne's hand, also finding the name strange. After all, the name "Rhine" was incredibly famous; the moment it was mentioned, one immediately thought of that prestigious corporation. And yet, this company dared to call itself Rhine Gold? When they registered in Columbia, didn't the people at Rhine Lab have anything to say about it?
"This company does indeed have a slight connection to Rhine Lab. Or rather, their research institute is primarily made up of those who were weeded out by Rhine Lab. Unwilling to accept defeat, they call themselves the 'Gold' of Rhine Lab, claiming they simply lacked the right opportunity."
Swire naturally had some understanding of this company. The founder was a "stupidly rich" individual who had established the firm in Columbia. However, he was also aware of his own shortcomings; the boss knew he understood nothing about scientific research and had only started the company because he saw the immense support Columbia provided to such enterprises.
"Poaching from Rhine Lab? Even researchers who were weeded out should know the company's secrets, right? Does Rhine Lab just let employees like that join other firms without a word?"
Jeanne found it odd. Was Rhine Lab not worried about others "picking the peaches" of their ongoing projects? Shouldn't there be some kind of restriction on terminated employees? Like a non-disclosure agreement—Jeanne couldn't believe the managers of such a massive corporation would overlook something like that.
"It's said that Rhine Lab used to have restrictions, but apparently the Columbian authorities aren't very supportive of practices that 'waste talents.' However, if anyone actually brings confidential data to a competitor, they face extremely severe punishment."
Swire clearly knew a lot about Columbia, the rising star of a nation that had flourished only in recent years. This country, which thrived by supporting various types of scientific research, placed extreme value on capable individuals. She had visited before; the entire nation welcomed such enterprises, offering preferential treatment to talented researchers, even though companies there went bankrupt every other minute. This nation, which once relied on Gaul just to maintain a foothold on Terra, had become what it was today among the expanding superpowers precisely by relying on these corporations.
"Coming back to the point, this company shouldn't have any issues, right? Ch'en, I remember you took a team there for a rigorous inspection just last month. Didn't you say there were no problems?"
Swire recalled that because the company was somewhat high-risk, the LGD conducted unannounced inspections almost twice every quarter to ensure they weren't up to anything. After all, their researchers came from Rhine Lab, and it was no secret in the industry that Rhine Lab didn't exactly shy away from human experimentation. In Columbia, such experiments weren't seen as a major issue; even if the public found out, it was usually just a matter of news blockades. As long as no major incident occurred, the police didn't care.
Because of this, the LGD maintained a specific list mandating how often certain companies must be safety-checked to ensure they didn't cause any trouble.
"I did go, but it wasn't last month—it was two months ago. You might be mixing it up with another company," Ch'en said after a moment of thought. She hadn't found any issues then. Surely they hadn't started causing trouble just this month?
"Did you discover something? Why did you skip over so many companies and suddenly pull this one from the bottom of the stack?"
Ch'en turned to Jeanne. She didn't understand why Jeanne had reached straight for the bottom folder. From Jeanne's demeanor, it looked as if she was already certain that Rhine Gold was the company they were looking for, yet they had no evidence to support that. For a company that appeared law-abiding on the surface, the LGD had never stopped their safety investigations. If things were truly as that Vouivre had confessed, it was impossible for them not to have left a single trace.
"Um... how should I put this? I actually have a special kind of intuition. Often, when I don't know what to do, it gives me valuable guidance or something similar."
Jeanne didn't know if the two of them would believe her, especially since in their eyes, she had just survived a dangerous pursuit rather than escaping via her own powers. Furthermore, "intuition" couldn't exactly be used as evidence; otherwise, the city would fall into chaos.
However, Ch'en and Swire didn't immediately refute Jeanne's words. They had already witnessed her strange abilities; it wasn't impossible for her intuition to exceed that of a normal person. But the problem remained: Jeanne couldn't prove her intuition was real, and this sort of "metaphysical" explanation was hard to trust completely.
"Even if you say that... we have no way to verify the truth of your words! Solving a case based solely on intuition is far too absurd for us."
Swire was skeptical. She couldn't understand the accuracy of something like "intuition"—after all, a police officer needs evidence to build a case.
But Ch'en felt that what Jeanne said might actually be true. Just yesterday, this woman had driven through a hail of bullets, and the only one among them to get "injured" was the car! Furthermore, Ch'en had asked Shirayuki about the situation. According to Shirayuki, Jeanne really did seem to rely on some kind of intuition while driving, even accurately predicting the arrival time of enemy attacks. Because of this, not a single innocent person was caught in the crossfire—it was likely a result she had specifically chosen through some power. In other words, she really did have some special ability.
"Since you put it that way, I'll just conduct another safety inspection in a day or two. I'll notify you then, and you can pretend to be an officer and come with me to check things out."
Ch'en ultimately chose to trust Jeanne's so-called intuition. She would conduct a targeted inspection of their company to see if Jeanne could find any information inside. Of course, if they turned up nothing, the company might have grounds for complaint, and rumors might even spread that Officer Ch'en was targeting them for some reason.
After all, compared to Swire's good reputation among the various corporations, Ch'en could be called the person businesses least wanted to see—hated even more than the Lungmen Tax Bureau. It was understandable; what company would want the "coppers" checking them over and over? Especially a copper as strict as Ch'en, who gave no one any face whatsoever. In the eyes of these businesses, Ch'en was a troublemaker of the highest order. It was fine if she found nothing, but if there was even the slightest deviation from the rules, they were liable to be fined.
"Is it really okay for you to go? Don't you know what those companies say about you? When you go to inspect, couldn't you just keep one eye open and the other closed for certain things? It'd be better for everyone."
Swire didn't quite understand Ch'en's habit of strictly following the rules during inspections. Some companies were bound to push the boundaries slightly; as long as it wasn't a major issue, she felt it was best to let it go. Ch'en's strictness had even been reported to Chief Wei. Chief Wei's perspective was similar to Swire's; he believed that for the sake of the city's development, certain "excesses" could be tolerated. Because of this, Ch'en and Chief Wei had reportedly argued more than once, but in the end, neither could convince the other.
"The issues I crack down on are the ones that have the potential to cause major disasters. They may look insignificant, but the moment something goes wrong, people will get hurt. On those matters, I give these enterprises no room to muddy the waters."