The sun rose from the horizon, breaking through the night and spilling golden rays of sunlight. The birds chirped joyously and the animals made noises as they were woken up by their natural cycles.
Param spent the morning doing warm-up, running and training his body. In the first week the club hadn't taught them any moves as the Martial Artists were supposed to first bring their bodies to a certain level.
In the afternoon, Dhruva arrived at the orphanage, which made Param and the other kids happy. The two sat down and shared their experiences over the week.
According to Dhruva, being a police officer recruit wasn't easy. Each of the recruit in training had a mentor, who would teach them the basics of work. You had to spend half of your time patrolling while eating sand and wind with your mentor, and the other half was spent trying to assist the police officers to solve cases.
As such, he was envious of Param, who only had to exercise and train his body.
When Param heard this, he sneered and told him how hard their training is, even before signing the Blood Contract. He told Dhruva his own experiences, for example how they were made to stand in the horse stance for six hours in the fierce heat. Hearing this Dhruva shivered in fright and looked at him with pity.
After joking around for a little while more, Dhruva suddenly spoke in a low voice.
"I think that my mentor is a Civil Uprising rebel!"
Param was shocked by his declaration but he gathered his composure quickly. With a serious face, he asked.
"How do you know this?"
Dhruva explained: "My mentor is Mr. Water Bottleman, a forty years old single. He is actually a good person and his family is supposed to be in the neighboring Backstreet Community, which is a Tier I Community. I didn't thought that anything was unusual, until when I smelled a faint smell of gunpowder on him. You know that my nose is damn sharp, and I won't mistake the smell of something like gunpowder with something else."
"So I kept a watch over him for a few days. It was easy because he is my mentor, and I know where he lives and what his shifts are. But I still haven't found anything, except that recently he gets a lot of telegrams, which he destroys it as soon as he reads."
Param furrowed his brows as he thought. Dhruva was right in his analysis. Unlike the previous Earth, the police officers here don't carry things like guns.
This could be contributed to the Warring and the Global Civil War Era, where people used explosive stuff on a large scale. Due to this, the people of the world have developed a phobia against anything that explodes, and hot weapons are strictly controlled and managed.
"So why don't you tell your co-workers?" Param asked his friend.
Dhruva looked at him as if he was an idiot. "Humph! Who would they believe more? A person with more than twenty years of service and won many medals, or a recruit who hasn't even spent three months in training?"
"So, what's the plan? Do we kidnap him, bring him to our storehouse of the orphanage, tie him up to a chair, and force him to spill out the beans?"
Dhruva almost choked on his spit when he heard this. "No. We're only going to take a photo of him."
He said as he pulled out a camera from his bag. The camera was a primitive version, with its lens hanging out like an elephant's snout. It had a photosensitive roll inside, which could capture black and white images. Beside it was a large flash hanging out of its body, and was enough to blind someone for a few seconds.
"Where did you get this?" Param asked. With Dhruva's financial status, he was sure that he'd take at least five years to buy such expensive stuff. And, frankly speaking, even if he had the money, no one would sell him the camera after seeing his face. After all, he wasn't as handsome as Param! (this was a joke.)
"I borrowed it from the police station." Dhruva said while scratching his cheek.
Param nodded in realization. "You mean 'stolen', right?"
"Err….Right!" Dhruva said with a sheepish laugh.
Evening arrived, and they took a tram which traveled from north to south.
At this moment the two wore long unisex coats which were borrowed from the orphanage, and large hats sat on their heads which they used to hide their faces.
They hopped down when they reached their destination, and watched the streets filled with people.
The Stone Bull Community was divided into four parts. The north consisted of the Community Hall, other government offices and their quarters. The east was the poor people's area, where the orphanage was. The west was the residence area for the middle class and the Leaping Frog Martial Club. Lastly there was the south, where the high class lived, with large shops and inns along with the Soaring Crane Martial Dojo. Basic facilities like school and hospital were located at the center, so that everyone could access it quickly.
"This is where Mr. Water Bottleman lives, in apartment number 6." Dhruva said as he pointed to a luxurious building with five floors.
Param raised his brows in surprise. Weren't police officers poor? Then what was this?
The highest a building in a Tier III Community could have were five floors, which meant that this Mr. Water Bottleman was living in one of the key places of the Community.
The two stood near the building with their faces concealed by their hats.
"Recently Mr. Bottleman has started to visit the pillar of the True One. I find this suspicious, because from my interaction he didn't seem to actually hold belief towards it."
As soon as he spoke, the suspected police officer walked out of the apartment. Now he was in plain clothes, with gray colored martial shirt and trousers. Behind him was a large black colored bag, which seemed to be swollen full.
The suspect walked forward and the two followed. Dhruva's eyes suddenly squinted as he noticed something.
Whenever Mr. Bottleman took a step, the bag would wiggle. While this wasn't suspicious, it didn't seem to actually hold something heavy. Most probably, it was perhaps filled with extremely light things like paper.
He softly told his partner and Param was amazed by his insight.
As Mr. Bottleman walked, a pillar gradually appeared. This was the pillar representing the True One.