"Look what we've found—a typical undeclared transport of a Transcendent Organ."
Kalv reacted quickly, pointing at the chest of the corpse.
"If I'm not mistaken, this Transcendent Organ should be the Iron Heart. Its function is to provide stronger cardiac support, which can be said to be the foundation for a body to host more Transcendent Organs."
"The materials are a strong heart and a special metal solution. By immersing the heart in the solution three days after it has been removed from the body, you can obtain this Iron Heart."
"I wanted to make one back when I was still in the Modification School, but I could never buy a strong enough heart."
"I remember Losqi hadn't become a Formal Mage yet back then, but he was the one managing us apprentices. He directly rejected my request to purchase a heart, saying something about limited declarable quantities and supply shortages."
Just then, Lucy spoke up, her voice softening.
"Your memory is correct, but the way we produce Iron Hearts has changed now. You might not be aware."
"Instead of removing the heart from the body, it's better to use a special method to kill the subject directly while keeping their heart beating, and then immerse the entire corpse in the solution. Metal isn't worth much anyway."
"The Iron Hearts produced this way are more effective. We call the ones made with this method the Iron Heart Type III."
"However, it's quite rare that you still remember the specific method after all these years. Do you want to return to the Modification School? I think you have great potential."
Kalv gave a cold laugh upon hearing this and asked in return:
"If I go back now, can you immediately teach me how to transplant an Iron Heart into myself?"
"That won't do. You must achieve results before the relevant knowledge can be taught. This is a special requirement from the Chief. Apprentices just need to place in the Assessment, but a Formal Mage like you might have to go to Antire's side and help the School scavenge a thousand corpses."
"I knew it, the Modification School is still the same... Now, you should explain why your School is illegally ordering this Transcendent Organ."
Lucy's voice turned cold again as she said:
"Why is it our Modification School again? Couldn't it be someone from your Necromancy School who had a sudden whim to study the amplification of Necromancy Spells by Transcendent Organs?"
"Not this again!" Kalv loosened his neck slightly. Feeling the pain ease a bit, he said:
"Why don't you say that the one who ambushed me earlier found Richter's notes and became a Formal Mage through self-study, and that he actually doesn't belong to any School?"
"It's possible..."
"I don't want to keep repeating this with you. You can tell it to us in Court later and see if the Alliance's special commissioner accepts what you say."
"Everyone, back to the Enforcer station."
Kalv turned and left. There was nothing else of note at the scene; having this corpse with a Transcendent Organ was enough to bring trouble to the Modification School.
Besides, if they continued the search, that woman would only block them.
The Enforcers felt as if they had been granted a grand pardon upon hearing this order. They truly didn't want to work in this foul-smelling place, so they hurriedly packed their things and began following Kalv back.
After walking a short distance, Kalv looked toward the Enforcer who had told him there was a problem with the Body Bag and asked:
"Tell me about how you discovered this corpse."
"Yes... At that time, no one was willing to go inside to search. When I went in with a few others, we just intended to flip through a couple of Body Bags and leave. But who knew we'd find what you wanted, Investigator, on the very second one?"
"When I saw this person's chest glowing, I knew it was the corpse with the Transcendent Organ you wanted to find, Investigator. So I hurried out..."
"Everything after that happened as you saw."
Kalv nodded and signaled the man to return to the ranks.
He still felt something was off. What was the purpose of that person's ambush?
Even if this corpse was found, the trouble would be for the Modification School. What did it have to do with the ambusher?
He thought for a long time but couldn't find an answer.
---
Lucy watched all the Enforcers leave with Kalv, then she called over the two apprentices who remained.
"Carry that corpse out and open it up for a look."
The two apprentices received the order, went behind a warehouse building nearby, brought out a Body Bag, and carried it over.
They quickly opened a small section of the Body Bag, revealing the scene inside.
A very mangled corpse lay inside. From the face, of which barely half remained, one could still tell it was Beloli, the former primary person-in-charge of the Modification School in Apprentice City.
To hide this corpse, she hadn't hesitated to use a memory modification method just now to change the memories of the Enforcer who had seen it.
Fortunately, Kalv hadn't seen the contents of the Body Bag himself; otherwise, she couldn't guarantee that changing the memories of a Formal Mage would be effective.
The Body Bag had been secretly swapped after she used another method to control everyone present; to the others, it seemed like only a momentary lapse in attention.
And the true reason she had to do this lay with the person who ambushed Kalv.
If it were just Beloli's corpse being discovered, it wouldn't be much; she would have just let it be public.
If the Alliance were willing to find someone else to help her investigate the cause of Beloli's death, she would be quite happy. After all, having less work is always a good thing.
When the ambusher attacked, Lucy was actually not far from there. She had heard the news at the station early on that Kalv had led people to surround the Corpse delivery point.
She had actually headed over at an unhurried pace, just to see what they had found after their search so she could prepare. After all, they had already started the search, and it wasn't easy for her to stop an Alliance investigation.
But when she felt the Spell fluctuations released by the attacker from a distance, as well as the displayed Spell Specialty, she realized things were bad and rushed over.
But the attacker ran too fast. By the time she reached the scene, the person was gone, leaving only the unconscious Kalv on the ground and a group of bewildered Enforcers.
After sensing the contents of the Body Bag with her Spiritual Power, she immediately took action and hid Beloli's corpse.
She knew better than anyone that a Formal Mage who also possessed a Spell Specialty must be someone from within the School, because she knew the School's strict management of knowledge.
With both this corpse and the attacker appearing at the scene, the situation was self-evident: someone within the Modification School had murdered Beloli.
This matter could not be known by the Alliance, nor even by the higher-ups of the Modification School. Otherwise, the position of person-in-charge that she had painstakingly built up over many years would have to be handed over.
Who could that attacker be?
Among the Formal Mages of the entire Modification School in Apprentice City, aside from those few old men enjoying their retirement, it seemed only Losqi remained.
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