Chapter 194


    ?If I catch and destroy at least one Sauron’s brother today, you will leave me be. If I deal with several brothers, you will allow me to use all the resources of the department that are in your power. If I fail, I will kneel before you and keep apologizing for my unworthiness for long hours. Then I will quit and never bother you again.? – Kyon finished his tirade and looked at Charge defiantly.


    ?Who are you trying to fool with your smooth talk?? – Grek red.


    The boss of the 1st-rank stared at the daring rookie at first, then he chuckled, and a couple of secondster, hisughter was booming throughout the analytics department. His subordinates alsoughed.


    ?Wonderful! Great!? – The head of the department eximed with a dazzling smile. – ?We have recording formations installed in our department. As you know, you can’t tamper with those, so you can’t take your words back. Otherwise, they will be throughout the department, which we will do with great joy. I guess the Stones will generously reward you for another humiliation of their family. dimir can’t help you anymore, just for your information.?


    Everyone nodded in agreement, shing mocking grins at Kyon. Arguing dimir’s decision was more trouble than it was worth. So much the better if the fool had decided to destroy himself with his empty, boastful words.


    Kyon smiled coldly behind his mask.


    ?Do you ept the challenge or not??


    ?Yes, of course!? – Charge threw up his hands. Even he, the elite of the Grands from birth, had to struggle before he got the position of an investigator of 1st rank. Everybody would be happier when this upstart disappeared. Justice must be served no matter what!


    ?Great. Does it mean that I will be entitled to the assistance of all your subordinates when I destroy more than one gang today??


    ?Sure! You can boss around as you please! Go ahead, take action!? – Charge said with a smirk as if he was talking to a naive child. Seriously, who does he think he is? What’s with all his bloated self-confidence? They had been after robbers and their leader for years. At best, they managed to catch one brother once every six months. And it was a team effort! Hundreds of people searched the thickets suitable for robbery in the vicinity of Boston, but it was pointless. Two monthster, another ambitious bandit took the empty ce. Did the rookie really hope to catch someone in one day? More than that, to catch more than one gang of robbers? It was totally ridiculous!


    ?Then don’t you dare to take your words back, Charge Grand. Be honest and true to your words! Now, leave me alone, if you please. We’ll talk in the evening.? – Kyon said firmly.


    ?I never cheat, unlike the Stones.? – Charlesughed. Grek seemed to have given him his antipathy and distaste for the Stones. Charge thought he should be less biased, but he couldn’t help it, not with an impudent, arrogant boy showing off before him.


    The eight investigators went about their business, still chuckling about the scene with Kyon. It was still the early morning of a working day, they expected to be in a good mood for a whole week! dimir had apparently sent them the funniest clown in the world! Thanks again for that, boss.


    Kyon didn’t mind. He would never bother over such trifles. He immediately began to order his security officers around. Kyon’s ten subordinates were well-trained officers at the beginning of the superior phase. It was nothing by the standards of the Stones, and especially the Grands, and yet, it should be enough for all Sauron’s brothers except the 2nd one. It would alle down to a nice ambush, and perhaps there would be no casualties. Kyon could handle this.


    When Kyon was leaving the analytics department, he could still hear the mockingugh. Anyone would feel humiliated and miserable in his ce, but it only put Kyon on his mettle.


    About two hourster, Kyon and his ten security officers were in the forest, eighty kilometers from Boston.


    All the security officials despised their newly minted boss. Why did he order them to go to the forest on such a rainy day? Why didn’t he give them more detailed instructions? Who were they looking for? It was a waste of time and effort. However, they couldn’t disobey his order.


    At some point, Kyon made a sign for them to be as discreet as possible.


    They passed two hundred meters when the security officers heard voices to their great surprise. Another hundred meters and they could make them out. Those were the robbers! The low-life scum of the kingdom! If the security officers destroyed them, they would get no end of boons and respect from their colleagues! Did their boss purposefully lead them to one of Sauron’s brothers?! Their opinion of him had instantly changed for the better.


    The ten officers scattered around the perimeter, following Kyon’s orders, and then, at his signal, they immediately attacked. Their intent was to kill everyone except the leader.


    ?А-а-а-а-а-аh!? … ?Smash!? … ?А-h-h-h-h!?


    A few strangled cries and a death rattle, and several dozen decapitated bodies of the robbers were lying on the ground. They did not even understand what had happened. The robbers were ying cards, joking,ughing, and then suddenly, everything went dark. The difference in the development in more than a phase made the robbers easy prey for the ten professional security officials who had attacked out of the blue.


    The only surviving was Valery, Sauron’s 5th brother. He had wet his pants and fell to his knees, deadly pale:


    ?Spare me! Mercy! I’ll give you money! Spare my life, pease!?


    With great pleasure, Kyonunched a hard kick straight for his head, after which the robber dropped dead. Then Kyon found the girls, the asshole mentioned at the meeting. They were still alive, weakened and unconscious, but alive. Everything went well.


    Kyon put in each girl’s mouth a recovery pill that Diana had given him and ordered his subordinates to deliver the victims and Valery to the department. After that, they should be ready for the next raid.


    Under the guise of searching the dead, Kyon swallowed their souls, which filled his core by several percents. The 5th brother’s gang had total strength twice as high as that of Guiming’s band.


    Rainy weather came in handy. The water droplets drowned out any noise made by rustling leaves or cracking branches under the feet. The security officers made their way through the thickets without being noticed. It was easy to do under Kyon’s guidance. His modified hearing helped him to know where the sentries were standing, and thanks to echolocation, he could determine the nephrite traps, mantraps, and invisible threads that activated the rm.


    When the security officers effortlessly destroyed the 7th brother, their delight and joy knew no bounds. They had managed to free the kingdom from two vicious gangs in one day! The officers were in for fame, awards and honor! However, when the boss led them to the 4th and 3rd brother, they began to doubt it all was real. Nobody would ever believe it had really happened!


    The 3rd brother turned out to be extremely dangerous. Some of his subordinates were at the beginning of the superior phase. They came close to putting up a fight. And yet, thanks to Kyon’spetent leadership and the effect of surprise, the attack was an extraordinary sess. They caught the robbers off guard during the feast. The security officers had cut down the few sentries quickly and quietly, and it was as good as done.


    Kyon was wet to the skin in the cold rain but pleased with his work. His feathered spies had done a great job in tracking down the lurking gangsters. Kyon had made the most of his formacist skills and Synergy for the time being.


    The ten-hour operation had given Kyon some trophies in the form of souls. They filled his core by 60%. The souls of the practitioners in the superior phase were particrly enriching. Kyon was sure that he would fill his core to the brim when he destroyed the 2nd brother’s gang. However, the progression of the strength of each gang next in rank proved that he didn’t have enoughbat power and subordinates to destroy the second brother.


    Kyon was well aware of his current potential and tried to minimize all possible risks. That’s why, from the outside it may seem that everything was too easy for him.


    When Kyon was on the way to Boston, Synergypleted the modernization of his sense of smell and went on to upgrade his voice. It would enable Kyon to change the timbre of his voice without wasting Synergy or breaking his vocal cords.


    Now, Kyon’s nose was second to none in the whole world. The number of olfactory neurons had increased only by five times, which was five times less than that of the German shepherd. However, the very structure of the receptors was a biological miracle. Even evolution was incapable of creating them. The receptors in his nose could catch a separate chemicalpound and reveal itsposition. His brain perceived it as a particr smell. Kyon could feel any pheromones better than a pr bear during the mating season.


    Every moment, every micron contains thousands of different chemicalpounds that Kyon also perceived as a smell. The world had changed for Kyon. It filled with a wide variety of scents and rted with them images: a decaying tree, forest moss, poisonous mushrooms, a horde of ants, the humidity of the air in the woods, y, wet sand, a swamp a hundred meters away… Kyon’s brain was zooming from the immense stream of information that could consume him all.


    Kyon had given his best shot in upgrading the sense of smell for a reason. It had been almost ready, anyway. Besides, the ability to sense a wide range of scents at any distance increased his possibilities many times. But first, he needed to start distinguishing between the smells of drugs, poisons, and the ingredients in general to understand what he was dealing with. That’s why Kyon went to the elite mall in Boston, where money could get him almost anything at any time.


    Kyon soon arrived at the mall. He was immediately drawn to the perfumery that smelled of myriads of pleasant aromas. It totally grabbed his attention.


    Kyon didn’t have a moment to waste. In just three days, there was a qualifier. In six days, the king was going to give a speech, and in less than a month, there was the tournament of the families. Kyon should focus on training, but he nned to develop his body of the void to the 2nd rank, and for this, he needed to catch the 2nd brother, and to fill his own core with souls. He also had to buy more medicine with the ckmail money to fill his core with elements, and gain the well-deserved turns of the light core from Byron, if thetter would ever be grateful for murdering his hated brother. Kyon also had to pump out more darkness from Juno. But how could he possiblyplete all this in time? Hell knows. The development of the body of the void was such a pain in the ass.