Before long, multiple vehicles with metal plating appeared alongside the road of the abandoned apartment. Each vehicle was emblazoned with the headquarters' symbol. It was a faint image of two planets, one small and the other one big.
Groups of people in grey uniforms walked out of the armor vehicles in an orderly fashion. They carried metal beams and large heavy fabric.
Despite the still pouring rain, a long roll of canopies was made leading it to the entrance of the apartment.
Soon a small group of people in dark blue coats stepped out of the vehicles and entered the long roll of canopies. They walked with wide strides and elegantly fluttered their thin coats as they entered the apartment.
The group was soon greeted by a half-asleep Cecilia who sat in a corner with drool trailing down her mouth and onto her cleavage. While on the other side of the hall was a robot carefully stitching an old man's wound.
A lady with crimson red hair, similar in appearance to Cecilia, stepped out of the group and blocked their view of Cecilia's seductive posture.
"Ahem... She is my sister and she is also your senior. So stop staring!" said the lady with crimson hair.
There was disappointment among the group, but they were afraid to express it in front of Lady Catherine, so they only smiled in embarrassment.
"Wake up, you lazy bum!" said Catherine as she shook her sister awake.
Cecilia looked up at Catherine with a surprised expression and wiped away her drool.
"Wha-What are you doing here?" asked Cecilia as she rubbed her eyes.
"You're telling me that you have no idea what's going on?!" Catherine's mouth twitched and had a sudden urge to give her older sister a wake-up slap.
Turning her head to survey the surroundings, Cecilia finally realized that she was still on the mission.
"Ha ha ha, I was just joking. Wait, is the mission complete?" asked Cecilia with joy.
"No, you idiot! Your captain asked for reinforcements and you're here sleeping?!" huffed Catherine.
"He should be fine. If he really needed help, he wouldn't have sent the robot down here to treat that old man's wounds and should have already called me." said Cecilia with no hint of guilt.
"Anyways, we should hurry." Cecilia rushed up the stairs at breakneck speeds and soon disappeared from the group's view.
The group followed and soon reached the second floor. There they met the burly man who presented what he had so far found.
The burly man showed the group the little girl and told them about her story, which made Catherine cry with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Soon the family and the old man were taken to the hospital for additional checks for any sign of hidden dangers.
....
The fourth floor.
Cecilia coughed violently as she covered her mouth and nose with both her hands.
"I'm gonna need a day off and a bonus for this mission." complained Cecilia.
Cecilia almost threw up because of the smell combined with the squashed heads. She tried her best to not step on any puddles as she was currently wearing her new high-heel boots.
Moving forward, Cecilia saw her captain carrying a large wicker basket while moving from room to room.
"Captain! What are you doing? Let's get out of here. This place is giving me chills." said Cecilia with a muffled voice.
The captain walked toward Cecilia and handed her the large wicker basket. "Go and take this basket down. Be careful with it."
Taking the basket, Cecilia had a closer look at the contents inside. She was stunned to see a little baby sleeping soundly with his little mouth opening occasionally to breathe.
"Wah! It's so cute. Don't tell me this baby is the cause of the energy influx?" said Cecilia with disbelief.
"I don't know yet. That is why I'm staying here to look for more clues." said the captain.
"Ehe, well see ya." Cecilia gently carried the basket down the stairs with excitement.
Cecilia soon met the group on the second floor and informed them of the discovery on the fourth floor. The group showed faces of grimace as they heard about the squashed heads and the horrible smell.
Cecilia also met with the girl and asked her about the baby, but the girl told her that she knew nothing about it. She was soon perplexed, but she didn't have the energy to think about it.
The investigation of the building soon reached its climax as the local police were informed and the media started reporting on the issue. Reporters flocked to the area but were immediately blocked by headquarter troops.
The issue started calming down after the professional clean-up team gathered all the evidence and sealed the building off.
....
At the entrance hall of the headquarters, it was absolute chaos. There were many homeless people leaning against the long hall as the headquarters guards tried to move them away. The place was crowded with many people, some were yelling and others were waiting in long lines. There were also random vendors selling their food and wares.
"Sure is crowded here." said Cecilia.
"It's probably due to the upcoming expedition. The government is pretty desperate right now so they're funding the headquarter quite a lot to get as many recruits as they can. So, the pay must be extremely good." said Catherine with a smile.
"It seems like you're unusually happy today. What happened?" asked Cecilia.
"It has something to do with the abandoned building." said Catherina as she pulled Cecilia to the sides and looked both ways cautiously.
"We tested the girl to see if she held any magic essence after your captain kept nagging us about it, and the mana crystal responded." said Catherina with a serious look.
"Currently, she doesn't know how to activate her magic, so we don't know what abilities she has or what level of power she possesses. But it's always good to have a magic user on our planet. This also means our research team will be able to gain more knowledge about the magic essence." Catherina was so excited that she couldn't hold back her grin.
"What about the baby?" said Cecilia.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't find any trace of magic essence. The mana crystal didn't have any response, so we concluded the baby was probably stolen as an ingredient for the cult's ritual. However, there was no similar trace of DNA from the baby in the headquarters' database. The headquarter plans to put the baby in an orphanage until they are able to find his biological parents."
"What a pity. I would have adopted the baby." sighed Cecilia.
"A person like you?" said Catherina with a sarcastic smile.
"Hmph... Let's get our bonus so we can finally go home and get some much-needed rest."