Chapter 150: Investigation

Feeling a bit groggy, Filmos opened his eyes.

Immediately, he felt the hard floorboards of their house pressing cold against his cheek.

Things didn’t sink in for him right away, but as he lifted his body, he naturally expected a surge of pain in his right arm. However, the former pang of intense pain he had experienced earlier wasn’t there anymore.

He finally lifted his body to sit up on the floor. Greeted by a room completely ransacked and full of bullet holes, he stood confused and clueless about what had possibly happened while he was out.

A second later, he remembered everything. A sudden burst of frantic energy blasted him to his feet, making him stand straight up as he felt nothing of the dizziness from earlier.

’Shit! I’d be dead.’

Filmos noticed the two motionless bodies of the men who had tried to kill him earlier. But right now, whether they were still breathing was the absolute least of his concerns.

He looked around frantically for his parents before making his escape. He was certain that the authorities would be coming to investigate soon. Someone had definitely reported the incident already, since the gunshots were that loud. With houses crammed together like these, having no gaps in between, a report would go through fast.

But no matter where he checked, he failed to find them.

’Shit! Where are they?’

He was left with no other choice but to escape on his own. They had probably run off and left him behind—he was sure of it.

And with that realization settled, he fled their home.

Just within a few meters of stepping outside, he saw red and blue lights flickering against the narrow alley walls.

The authorities had already arrived.

In sheer desperation, he turned around and sprinted the other way, passing through a tight alleyway far from the usual paths people took.

However, as he slipped between two narrow houses, the exact same red and blue lights flashed from a distance ahead of him.

’Where should I go?’

He felt the burning need to escape, and the very last thing he expected to offer a path forward was the Green Anaconda.

The beast was still summoned, resting quietly across his shoulders. Sensing his panic, it leaped down and slithered toward a dark, foul path away from the flashing lights—a route Filmos would never have chosen on his own.

’The sewage? Are you serious?’

He swallowed hard. Even from a distance, the piercing, foul odor of black waste hit his nose. He wasn’t even inside yet, but he could already imagine the disgusting smell.

’Fuck!’

With no other options left, he crouched down and dipped one foot into the trench. The black, dirty, viscous water rose right up to his knees. It was disgusting, but still tolerable.

Summoning every bit of courage he didn’t know he possessed, he pressed forward, finally entering the dark tunnel of the sewage system.

...

Up above the sewage, three police officers clad in black tactical gear stepped carefully through the broken doorway into Filmos’s home. They looked completely baffled by the chaotic condition of the room.

"Who are these people?" a high-ranking officer asked, turning toward a junior officer who was scanning a tablet.

The junior officer tapped through the screen, and within a few seconds, the device retrieved the answers they needed.

The junior displayed their identities to her superior via a holographic imagery projection floating above the tablet screen. The high-ranking officer let out a heavy sigh as he looked down at the two dead men, whose bodies had been horribly seared by a strong toxic liquid.

"Both are wanted criminals under the Anti-Nustra Legion," the officer muttered. "They’ve been on the wanted list for almost two years now."

The high-ranking officer nodded thoughtfully, while the third officer near the hallway seemed to notice something else.

"Sir, you might want to see this..."

They followed him toward the kitchen area of the house, only to find a living condition that no person in their right mind should be dwelling in.

What greeted the high-ranking officer was a kitchen sink overflowing with rotted waste and forgotten dishes. Thick green mold covered every surface, completely dried up as if the place had been abandoned like this for years.

"Any initial thoughts on why they were here?" the high-ranking officer asked, a suspicion forming in his mind. "Is it possible they came here looking for something? In this state, it doesn’t look like anyone lives here."

"Uhm..." The junior officer stepped closer to her superior, glancing at her screen. "Sir, I think someone actually lives here. This is the registered residence of a young man named Filmos Lurdous."

"Hm... And how is a young man like him connected with these criminals? Is he on a wanted list too?"

The junior officer shook her head firmly.

"He is a newly registered tamer under the Contribution Agency. Apart from that, his record is clean. No other ties or connections to the Anti-Nustra Legion."

The high-ranking officer nodded slowly, taking in the bullet-riddled walls.

"They must have attacked him or someone else inside. Looking at the state of this place, they definitely opened fire without hesitation. Whatever the real reason is, the kid must be connected to it. It wouldn’t be a coincidence for wanted mercenaries to shoot up a house like this and end up dead."

He paused, examining the melted tactical armor on the corpses.

"From the looks of it, this was a beast attack. Now we have two targets to look for: the person who killed these men, and the kid himself."

The junior officer hesitated for a moment before voicing her thoughts out loud.

"Sir... what if it was the kid who killed them with his beast? He is a registered tamer, after all."

The high-ranking officer didn’t reply immediately. He simply stared at the filthy, neglected state of the kitchen.

"I suppose that’s not impossible," he said quietly. "But as you said, he’s just a new tamer."