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“Be a good boy, little one, and Uncle will feed you…” Freddy grinned as he grabbed a handful of drugs and held them in front of Khadar.

With a snapping sound, Kadar heard his jaw make an unusual noise, and his mouth opened uncontrollably.

"Eat up, eat up, I have plenty here, enough to fill you up!" Freddy muttered like a chatterbox, while stuffing powder directly into Kadar's mouth.

Kadar had never thought his mouth could hold so much at once, and Freddie's speed far exceeded his swallowing speed. The powder in his mouth kept increasing, to the point that Kadar's cheeks were torn open.

"Waaah..." Kadar made a whimpering sound, the volume of which gradually decreased. Before long, Kadar's struggling limbs stopped moving, and he lay on the pile of goods, his eyes wide open, no longer breathing.

"It's already out of breath? You only ate so little, what a waste~" Freddy muttered, skipping and hopping towards the darkness beside him like an actor taking his final bow.

......

In the real world, several tens of minutes later, when the monitoring personnel realized something was wrong and pulled back the blanket, they discovered that Kadar had already died, and his death looked extremely gruesome.

Upon discovering this situation, the supervisors immediately summoned Guda.

Dead? Dead?!

Guda stared at the corpse, disbelief echoing in his mind. He had just found a clue to overtake on the curve, and now the key figure was dead?!

Seeing the extremely grim expression on Guda's face, the surveillance personnel panicked immediately. "Captain, he died from a drug overdose. I didn't have any drugs on me."

"Excess? How much could it be?" Gudah said coldly. They had conducted a simple body search on Kadar, but they found nothing. So how could Kadar possibly be hiding a large amount of drugs?

"An extremely large quantity," said the autopsy staff member standing up from beside the body. "Moreover, the purity of the drugs was extremely high. Judging from the state of his body, I estimate that he consumed more than a kilogram in one batch."

The autopsy examiner gestured with his hands as he spoke, "Furthermore, his jawbone was fractured, and the muscles in his face were severely torn. I believe the killer first used some kind of tool to directly shatter his jaw, preventing him from closing his mouth, and then forced a large amount of drugs into his mouth, compelling him to swallow them... but..."

“Just what?” Guddar asked.

"But if that were the case, the person should have died of suffocation. Moreover, I didn't find any residual drugs in his throat or trachea. Even if the murderer cleaned up afterward, it would be impossible to clean those areas so thoroughly without cutting open the throat. Yet, judging from the appearance of the body, he did die that way. This is simply impossible. The evidence is completely contradictory!"

The autopsy examiner was bewildered. He had been temporarily transferred to the paranormal response unit and had been in his original unit for more than ten years. He had never seen such a strange corpse that left him completely clueless. He couldn't even imagine what the autopsy would look like.

"Are you sure this is a supernatural event?!" Gundyr suddenly became excited.

The autopsy staff seemed a little puzzled and hesitated for a moment before saying, "If the supernatural refers to an impossible method of murder and scene, then that's certainly true."

After hearing what the person in front of him said, Guda couldn't help but smile. Great! He had found a clue to the supernatural event. Although it was a pity that Kadar died, he didn't just fall from the sky. Kadar had lived in this town for so long, so there must be other clues and even people who knew about it!

"Group One, bring in anyone with direct contact with Kadar, including the deputy director. Group Two, join Group Three in reinforcing the surrounding fire control network. Group Four, I need to know if Kadar has any unexplained funds; conduct a full search of his residence! Everyone, get moving!" Guda quickly issued the orders.

As soon as Gudah made a move, the military received some information. Both sides knew that the other side would definitely have people watching their troops nearby. If they made too much noise, they would be discovered.

Despite the discovery, Guddar managed to gain the upper hand by taking advantage of the time difference and bringing all the relevant individuals to his territory. The only slowdown was in the search operation, as the military was constantly interfering, doing almost everything except engaging in direct firefights.

The reason for not firing is simple: the opponents are not ordinary people with no powerful backers. If a fight breaks out, the commotion will be too great and could easily implicate those who are directing from behind the scenes. In the end, they might have to step down and be replaced. Therefore, none of the commanders present dared to give the order to fire the first shot.

The situation on Elm Street is far from peaceful, and things aren't much better inside S.H.I.E.L.D. either.

Natasha looked at the list Nick Fury had given her after the meeting, and immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

As a seasoned agent in her eighties, Natasha naturally knew that gathering information about Elm Street within the bureau was highly likely to be leaked—no, not just highly likely, it was 100% certain to be leaked.

She knew it, but she still did it to fish for people, to see how many people around her had unclear ties with other forces, and also to see how much outsiders valued this kind of thing, while also assessing her own worth.

However, the other side's actions had exceeded Natasha's expectations. These people had become brazen and ruthless, and their numbers had increased so much. It was easy to imagine that the difficulty of Fina's next investigation mission would rise to an unimaginable level, and even Fina's personal safety during the investigation would be difficult to guarantee.

What was originally intended as a favor has turned into a dangerous situation, and might even lead to enmity.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Morning Star Mage - Blaze

After leaving Nick Fury's office, Natasha hesitated for a moment, then directly contacted Fina using her points. At this point, she didn't care about whether it was worth it or not; she just wanted to clarify things and see if she could salvage the situation before it spiraled out of control.

After hearing Natasha's words, Fina's good mood, which was due to the improvement of her spell model, vanished instantly. She and Natasha had different considerations.

Perhaps it was the arrogance of a professional, but she still didn't think that those agents or similar people could cause her much harm. What she was thinking now was that if there really were evil spirits or demons in Elm Tree Town, these people would just be handing themselves over to them.

This is like feeding the enemy team population like crazy in a game. If they develop like that, what's the point of playing? What was originally a 50/50 game will become a 100/100 game.

No, I have to get there right away!

Fina started packing her things. This was a solo trip; she didn't plan to bring Natasha along, as it would be too dangerous for her. Professionals were generally responsible for protecting other non-professionals—that was part of her upbringing.

Furthermore, Fina herself didn't harbor much resentment towards Natasha. In her mind, when someone asks for help and the other party isn't deliberately causing trouble, it's unreasonable and inappropriate to shirk responsibility when something undesirable happens.

Before leaving a fixed portal at the Sorcerer Supreme's headquarters, Fina hesitated and sent a magical communication to her teacher, seeking his help. However, she knew that her teacher was not in a good situation either, so she did not have high hopes. Everything depended on her own efforts.

The communication sent through the magic network established by the Ancient One reached Yang Qiu directly. He sighed, thinking that this person was still somewhat normal, knowing to seek help from elders when faced with a situation that might be difficult to handle, instead of being reckless for the sake of saving face. There was still hope for her. If Fina really went to Elm Tree Town alone without saying anything, Yang Qiu would have to start considering giving up on her.

Another planet on the orbit of Script Six began to accelerate in Yang Qiu's mental universe. This planet is the corresponding mirror image of Script Seven. Because the script has not yet been fully evolved, the planet is still a relatively illusory existence.

With the continuous investment of mental energy, a figure gradually solidified in front of Yang Qiu. Yang Qiu sat firmly, and the concentration of magic energy around him continued to increase. Combined with the power of the pocket watch, a huge clock house was constructed.

Ten minutes later, Fina's teacher opened his eyes in front of Yang Qiu, then lowered his head slightly. His messy and fluffy hair slipped from his head as he moved, revealing an unsightly burn. In addition, the mage had unsightly scars on the right side of his body, and two fingers on his right hand were missing.

“Master Kiran, you wanted to see me?” Blaze said softly, his voice audible with obvious fatigue.

"Breze, how have you been feeling lately?" Yang Qiu asked softly.

Blaze remained silent, his anger rising as he recalled his recent experiences. He was, after all, a Morning Star Mage, yet he had been forced to do repetitive work in the alchemy workshop like an ordinary worker—it was an insult to his status.

But whenever anger was about to surge into his brain, Blaze quickly calmed down. Who could he blame? He could only blame himself.

Without proper preparation, someone conducted an extremely dangerous spell experiment in their own mage tower. As a result, the spell malfunctioned, destroying the mage tower and severely impacting the surrounding cities.

Fortunately, other professionals nearby intervened in time, and no one died. However, Blaze caused great economic and resource losses to the city, and he must be held responsible for it. At the same time, the Clock Tower Mage Society will also investigate his dangerous and illegal actions.

Under multiple penalties, all of Blaze's assets were seized, but those assets were far from enough to offset the losses, as most of them vanished along with his mage tower.

To compensate the victims and cover the town's losses, Blaze was assigned to a high-level alchemy factory for punitive work. His archmage strength combined with his title of Morning Star Mage made the high-level alchemical potions he created extremely valuable. It was estimated that he would be able to recoup all the losses in five to ten years.

Seeing that Blaze had remained silent, Yang Qiu stood up from his chair. "The Clock Tower Council has submitted an application to me to strip you of your title of Morning Star Mage. Are you aware of this?"

Blaze remained silent. The title of Morning Star Mage was somewhat similar to the titles of Outstanding Young Scientist, Yangtze River Scholar, or Academician in the real world. It was a reward for his many years of tireless modification and improvement of various fire-type spells, and also an honor he received after creating several high-level new spell models.

"Don't worry, this application was not approved."

Upon hearing this, Blaze finally reacted and raised his head.

"This matter is not solely your responsibility. I have reviewed the report on your magical experiments. Your new experimental spells were inspired by various nuclear reactions in the surface world, but the council's assessment of their danger and level differed significantly from the facts. It is ridiculous that an experiment rated as extremely dangerous was given a recommendation to strengthen protection. In this respect, their responsibility is undeniable."

"Moreover, your accident only caused property damage and no casualties. If a mage's honorary title is to be stripped for this, then all mages will have to hide outside the planet before conducting any experiments."

"Master Kiran, if there's nothing else, I'm going to work," Blaze suddenly said. He felt he hadn't wronged his punishment; it was only five or ten years, after all. He still had over a hundred years of natural lifespan left, so it was nothing.

"Don't panic, take a look at this message." Yang Qiu said, forwarding Fina's message to Blaze.

Blaze frowned after reading it. He was the first person in the magical world to take a liking to nuclear weapons, and he was also one of those who had a relatively good understanding of the surface world. In his opinion, Fina's actions were incredibly foolish.

“Fina is one of the first professionals in the plan to interact with ordinary people, and she’s also your apprentice. What I mean is, you should go there. Of course, don’t intervene unless absolutely necessary. Young people need to gain experience on their own,” Yang Qiu said.

Blaze nodded, bowed, and prepared to leave.

"During your punishment, two Silvermoon Mages and ten Morningstar Mages jointly wrote a letter to defend you, arguing that the punishment of stripping you of your Morningstar title was too harsh. Among them was an academy instructor whom you previously described as cowardly and rigid. So, in the future, try to control your temper."

Blaze paused for a moment, his lips twitched slightly, and then he stepped directly into the teleportation array.

Chapter 40 Infiltrating Elm Tree Town

As time went on, Guddar's initial excitement began to turn into fear.

As things became increasingly out of control, everyone in the town, including the soldiers who had only been there for less than a day, clearly felt their energy being depleted faster than before.

People get tired more easily and fall asleep more easily. And once they fall asleep, even if they subconsciously close their eyes and sleep for a few seconds, they can never wake up again.

Although the sleeping people did not die within an hour like Kadar, the inexplicable wounds on their bodies still put everyone under immense mental stress.

Even into the late hours of the night, as this situation continued, the military and paranormal response teams began to cooperate in an effort to find the problem as quickly as possible.

Without the backstabbing, the power of numbers was fully utilized, and the entrance to the basement that Kadar had painstakingly hidden was directly discovered.

boom!!!

After a loud bang, the explosives blew open the passageway. Five seconds later, elite soldiers rushed through the short passageway and directly reached the main body of the basement.

When the door was kicked open, a corpse flew out from behind it, crashing to the ground and spilling some unusually viscous blood.

"Cleanup complete! A large quantity of high-purity drugs was found, along with a body. The estimated time of death was two hours ago, and the cause of death was a large drug overdose, consistent with Kadar's case. No other secret passages or personnel were found, and no other abnormalities were discovered."

Listening to the soldier's report, Guda waved his hand. He was in no mood to care about these things. As time passed, he felt his weariness growing stronger.

I've smoked tobacco until I'm numb, and drunk too much coffee and other stimulants, but their energizing effects are getting worse and worse.

Just then, members of the Supernatural Response Team ran over and whispered something in Gundy's ear. Gundy's expression worsened. During the time they discovered and broke into the basement, three more people fell into a deep sleep and could not be awakened, including one of their own team members.

Guda and the military personnel exchanged glances, both seeing the word "retreat" in each other's eyes. However, their superiors disagreed with their desire to retreat. They had already contacted their superiors when the sleep time continued to occur, but the leaders who were not on the scene didn't care about such matters. They figured it wouldn't be them who died, so the orders remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, outside Elmtree Town, some unrest also broke out within the Hydra agents. Because they were at a certain distance from Elmtree Town, their information reception was much slower. At this time, the agents who were still able to rest were all personnel with certain positions in the team. Their unconsciousness caused some confusion in the team's command.

At the foot of a mountain occupied by hydras, Fina, with an Eye of Insight atop her head, scanned left and right. She could see abnormal energy fluctuations in the sky above Elm Town and the surrounding area, but she couldn't immediately determine what these energy fluctuations represented.

Moreover, there were signs of life in the surrounding bushes and groves. Even if Fina was naive, she knew that the people hiding in these places at this time were not good people, so she dared not reveal her whereabouts.

"Where are you?" A message suddenly appeared on Fina's right hand, a question from Natasha.

After hesitating for a moment, Fina sent her location. Not long after, she sensed a life force behind her. After turning her Eye of Insight around, the person there was directly exposed to Fina's vision. It was Natasha, who had rushed over.

"Why are you here?" Fina asked softly.

“I’ve come to help, but I’ve only made things worse at first. I should at least help you sort this out,” Natasha replied briefly, her eyes scanning the surroundings for the positions of the sentries with the help of her night vision goggles.

Why are there so many people?

Natasha was a little puzzled. The number of people she could see now was about the same as the number on the list Nick Fury had given her. It was impossible that the people from those two units were all staying outside the town. That was unlikely.

"You should leave quickly. I can manage on my own. There's a high chance there are evil spirits here. The concentration of negative energy is too high. If it finds you, I won't be able to take care of you then," Fina said, tugging at Natasha's clothes.

"Putting everything else aside, are you confident you can get to town from here without alerting anyone around?" Natasha asked.

“I can use magic…” Fina said without any confidence. None of the general spells she knew were particularly suitable for the current situation, and even if she did, she would have to consider the limitations of her mana. If she ran out of mana, she would just be feeding the enemy.

"Save your magic for when it really matters," Natasha said, pulling Fina along as they began to move into the town.

What is a top agent? A top agent is someone who can spot and seize fleeting opportunities. Hydra's surveillance is indeed extremely tight. Even normally, Natasha wouldn't dare say she could pass through here without alerting anyone. However, because of Freddy's dream, Hydra's surveillance system developed some loopholes.

The two moved slowly, but the process went smoothly. When they reached the edge of Elm Tree Town, Fina suddenly stopped.

“The concentration has increased significantly, and I can sense a faint aura of death. Someone must have died inside,” Fina said with certainty.

"Then what should we do? Is this enough for your mission?" Natasha countered.

Fina hesitated. Since casualties had been confirmed, it was now beyond the scope of a new recruit's investigation mission. According to the rules, she could indeed leave now and then report it.