Blood Assimilation

[…]

The subordinate remained silent on the other side of the communication device when he heard the declaration from his boss just now. 

But in actuality, he was wiping the cold sweat off of his forehead when he heard his boss's cold words just now, which were full of implications. 

Without wasting time, the subordinate adjusted himself and then carefully continued with his report: […T-The military pleaded for being partly at fault for this time's occurrence, but they also said that they had their hands full at the time and also this incident has never happened in the past before, so they did not expect something like this to happen this time either]

"They did not expect this to happen? Partly at fault? Such elusive words! Those children were the future of the district and they're simply blaming their negligence on what? Having their hands full at the time?" The man said in a slightly mocking tone. 

And then he demanded: "Who was the general in charge of the Sky Rise military base?"

The subordinate quickly responded: [Well, it is General Yao, sir.]

"Tsk! So it's that guy. No wonder they were so lax with their jobs. Even though their role is to protect the citizens and the future of the Eastern District, they are taking things quite casually without doing their part as protectors. I don't even know why that Old General was thinking when he decided to assign someone like him to this city." The man said in a disgruntled tone with a scowled expression.

At this time, the subordinate added: [But we also received a further report saying that thanks to the intervention of that mysterious red-haired individual, none of the students were killed and the military was hoping to find out the identity of that person to show their gratitude and with that thought, they hope to borrow our hands to speed up this process.] 

[According to the report from one of the instructors who was a woman named Ava Miller, she claimed that it was a young man who looked to be about 18 to 20 years old in appearance and that he referred to himself as 'Crimson' before departing. They also sent some pictures of the decomposed corpse of the creature that was killed, I have already sent the files to your computer, sir.]

"Hmm… Ava Miller? This name sound familiar… Where did I hear her name from?" The man displayed a pondering expression and then muttered to himself.

[Sir, she was related to a series of sudden deaths of students back in the Western District's commoner institutions a few years ago.] The subordinate said to him, seemingly already investigated her identity. 

"Ah, so that's where I know her from. I seem to recall she was quite popular due to those incidents back then. I once met her when I was still back in the Western District, and after hearing her testimony, she did not seem like a murderer or someone who would murder her own students."

"Furthermore, those deaths seemed to be caused by some wild animals of unknown origin… The only strange thing was that it happened multiple times and she was always involved somehow. This then made her quite famous as the student killer. I heard that she moved to the Eastern District because of this… Wait, did you just say that the creature that attacked the students was a creature with multiple animal parts…?" The man suddenly asked with a deep frown upon realizing something.

[Yes, sir. Is something the matter?] The subordinate confirmed.

"…"

'Damn it! So it really was a similar case!' The man cursed inwardly cursed when he heard this.

[Sir?] The subordinate asked when his boss suddenly turned quiet.

"Ah, nothing. I recalled you said that you sent some pictures to me?"

[Ah, that's right. But the images on the pictures were quite disturbing to see actually…] The subordinate hesitantly said in a somewhat horrific stone. 

The man frowned when he noticed his tone and inquired further: "Why is that?"

[Well, that's because there was no corpse but a strange gooey liquid instead on the picture, seemingly the corpse of the creature that was defeated]

"What?! Did that red-haired person you kept mentioning have something to do with this?" 

[No, sir. I also initially thought that to be the case and asked the military about it, but they said that according to the witnesses, meaning the students and the instructors, when the red-haired individual brought over the corpse after subjugating it somewhere, a few minutes later, it suddenly decomposed as if someone had tampered with the creature to dispose of it in case it was defeated] 

"Hmm… And they're sure that person did not do this on purpose."

[Not likely, that female instructor claimed that the red-haired individual called Crimson was someone that had the ability to kill them all on the spot, as he was able to easily bypass her defense and render her immobile before she could even defend herself. Considering that she was a B-Rank mage, the red-haired individual was most likely A-Rank or above.] 

[With such combat power, there was no way such a person would play tricks on them when he could easily kill them all to silence them if he was the culprit. She also added that Crimson at that time had spotted a surveillance robot flying in the sky as it observed their actions and jamming their signal to call for help. She said that he quickly got rid of it before leaving. For now, we're assuming that the owner of that surveillance robot might be the true culprit behind this incident] 

"I see… So we can rule out the possibility of his involvement for now… Moreover, I think this incident is most likely related to the incident that occurred in the Western District. Even up until now, they had not caught the true culprit behind those incidents." The man nodded in understanding after hearing his subordinate's words and while looking with a deep frown at the images that his subordinate sent to him on the projected screen from his computer at this moment.

And then he said shortly after thinking of something: "However, what was the reason for him to bring the corpse of the creature over to the instructors and students? Didn't you say that he killed it elsewhere? And judging from your words, it does not seem like he was a student but an outsider instead." 

[That is indeed the case, sir. But that person did not want his true identity to be revealed so he was only delivering the creature's corpse to the instructors, is what I heard. However, the creature's corpse suddenly decomposed in front of their eyes as he did so]

"Hmm... I see, good work!" The man said to the subordinate before cutting the line.

"Now then who is this mastermind that is behind these modified creatures that had been terrorizing the Western District and now the Eastern District…?" He muttered to himself with a pondering expression.

'Hold on! That doesn't matter right now. Don't tell me that Randy was among the injured students? I forgot to truly ask about that due to my anger that made me assume the worst-case scenario. I have to call Riley and inform her about this just in case. I am sure she would be very upset when she hears about this though, but it can't be helped. And if something really did happen to Randy, then I'm afraid of what she might do…' 

Nathan silently thought with a worried expression, not sure whether he was worried about his son or what his wife might do in the worst-case scenario.

"…"

A few moments of silence later.

"Haa… " He sighed afterward and then said in a helpless tone: "I feel very awkward calling directly to check up on him myself. I should be ashamed as a father.. They should've reached their destination by now so the call would've gotten through if he was safe, but I'll just say that I couldn't connect to him when asked."