Karni and Siduo had a clear goal for now: explain the situation to Teacher Ye and see the best course of action with which to continue. This involved the police, as well as illegal trade of a 4-star railgun. It could greatly injure Soul Ancestors if not even kill them. Caution had to be taken.
They weren't even Soul Elders yet. To manage to smuggle this type of weapon, whoever is at the centre of this operation is most likely at least a Soul King. It would be foolish of them to attempt this themselves.
They also weren't sure if they should contact the detective who was overseeing the investigation. She was a normal human and they weren't sure of the influence of these corrupt policemen.
The two of them arrived in front of Teacher Ye's office. Karni decided to knock.
"Come in."
Karni and Siduo both stepped in. Seeing their serious faces, Teacher Ye immediately gained a strange feeling.
"Speak." She was straightforward as always.
Karni decided to explain. He began with the incident and the railgun. What they heard from the police itself the first time around, what the grandma said and the fact that one of the three soul masters appeared to be a Soul Elder.
Teacher Ye wore a constant frown on her face, but listened and nodded in understanding when hearing everything. She agreed with their assessment of the fact that the supplier is likely to be at least a Soul King, but coming to this point she now finally had something to say.
"If they can be so silent about everything they have much bigger influence than you can imagine. It's not easy to infiltrate the police in such a way. Someone up high is most likely corrupt as well, and to get that kind of influence, Soul King is far too little."
The two were in a bit of a daze, so she continued. "Tell me, when can a person become a Battle Armour master?"
Both knew this, it was easy. "When one reaches the rank of Soul King."
"Do you know the difference between a Soul King and a Soul King with Battle Armour? It's not even comparable, they shouldn't even be allowed to be compared."
Karni and Siduo stood there silently and listened.
"For someone to be so influential in this city to this degree they are most certainly a Battle Armour master. Now then, do you know how difficult it is to forge one? You don't. My uncle hasn't let you into this yet, so you can't know. It requires an immense amount of resources to do so. I'm a Soul Emperor. Do you think I have a two-word Battle Armour?"
The two of them knew that when it came to rank, the armours went up to four-word, four-word being able to be equipped at the level of Title Douluo. Three-word was capable of being equipped at Soul Sage rank and two-word at Soul Emperor.
"Let me tell you. I'm not even close to becoming a two-word battle armour master. It is simply too hard unless you are in a place like Shrek City or the Radiant Academy in Radiant City. Which means that if this person is a Battle Armour master, he is most certainly a Soul Emperor as well. But there's a chance he could be higher as well. Illegal trading of weapons is incredibly hard to pull off in the federation unless you have a lot of connections."
The two forgot to breathe a bit, realising the gravity of the situation. But… What are they to do if that person is really a Soul Sage? A two-word Battle Armour master? Why would such a person meddle with such lowly things as a restaurant? Something didn't fit in here.
Teacher Ye could see the doubt on their faces. "My uncle, despite being a Soul Douluo, is still a Two-Word Battle Armour master. Though he began his work on the three-word level, he barely began. I'm guessing he'll be able to complete it much faster in Shrek City. Do you know why I'm telling you both this?"
They honestly didn't. All of this didn't truly explain the somewhat street level crimes happening here. What use would a Battle Armour master have to oversee such operations?
"I understand your confusion. But I'm telling you this for a simple reason. There is a Battle Armour master involved. And it is too dangerous to dare and dabble in such things, no, you shouldn't even be thinking about continuing this investigation."
"But-" Karni tried to protest.
"No buts! Whoever this may be, there is a possibility that they are stronger than me. At the very least, they are a battle armour Soul Emperor like me. It doesn't matter what level of crimes are happening. The power behind those is still too mysterious to continue this."
The two looked a bit upset. Karni more so than Siduo.
Teacher Ye sighed. "Children, tell me. If these people target you. How am I to intervene? How would I help you? Please. Don't take such risks."
Karni felt a bit guilty listening to all this, but he still felt indignant. Is he just supposed to let that Soul Elder guy rob the poor elderly person? Perhaps he could swallow it if it was some stranger. No one person can stop all petty crimes happening around the world. But this one was personal. This one he could actually intervene.
Teacher Ye shook her head seeing the look on Karni's face. "I'll forward this to the headmaster, but I doubt he'll do anything about this either. We would only be pushing the school into a battle that has nothing to do with it. I'm sorry."
Karni shook his head in disappointment. "It's okay. I was in over my head anyway."
The two quickly left the office. Siduo kept on glancing towards Karni's direction as if trying to say something.
Karni looked at Siduo outside. "Hey. Do you feel like being a fool with me?"
Siduo turned back and smiled. "I thought I'd have to ask."
… … …
Karni was in Grandma Ying's room. He brought her the money she asked for. There was clear guilt on her face as she sat there silently, still not sure whether she should actually accept it or not.
Karni scratched his head. "I guess we should hide it from the hospital staff huh."
He started looking around various places. High to low, asking if he should hide it there. Eventually the two decided to hide it below the flower which was recently changed. They usually change it once a month, so it should stay hidden until tomorrow.
It was Friday right now, a few days after the talk Karni and Siduo had with the teacher. The thieves are supposed to arrive during the weekend so Karni was sort of doing this last second.
Grandma Ying originally thought Karni changed his mind. His usual visits were on thursday, and he didn't show up. She was both happy and sad to see that he brought the money.
The two didn't really talk for long as there was a very awkward energy between them. Karni quickly left and let out a sigh of relief.
"She didn't notice." Karni said as he came towards Siduo. She was waiting for him outside in the small courtyard in front of the hospital.
"Good. Let's check if it works."
She opened a little soul tool with a screen on it. It showed a video, a live stream in fact, of the hospital room in which Grandma Ying was staying.
"It works. Now we can have some evidence while also seeing who these assholes truly are."
There were no cameras in the actual hospital rooms. They made a secret one on their own. Karni placed it while pretending to look for places to hide the money. That's why he didn't visit Shi Ying on thursday. They needed to make the soul tool.
This was a great invasion of privacy, but they were desperate and they needed to find more information about this. If this shows up to be something they couldn't handle they could at least bring back some concrete evidence of blackmail and extortion.
"I'm still not sure if this is a smart idea after everything Teacher Ye told us last time." He was beginning to doubt himself there for a second, even though he suggested it.
Siduo dismissed the notion. "It's not smart, but we shouldn't be in danger. You were thinking about it too, right? There's no reason for a Battle Armour master to meddle in this. We should be safe. It's probably a separate group doing things behind the Battle Armour guy's back."
"I mean it makes sense, but what if there's some actual scheme going on and we mess with it? We won't be safe."
"Well, we should be able to judge it tomorrow if we follow those assholes. Whether they're just power tripping or actually doing something shady."
"I guess." Karni gave up. It felt weird. This situation was closely connected to him, yet Siduo was pushing him to do it instead.
… … …
Three figures were waiting by the tree. They were looking at a monitor which showed four figures in a hospital room. The one in the bed was giving money to the other three. While the other three were laughing.
They couldn't hear anything as Karni and Siduo didn't actually put sound capture into it. It would become too big to stay hidden.
Karni and Siduo were looking at it seriously while a third face was wearing an ugly and disgusted expression.
"How could they do this?" Tie Tiao made a sound among the silence.
The both of them sighed. "People can be assholes. As simple as that." Siduo answered first. "Now shush and just watch."
Why was Tie Tiao here? Well because he wanted to. He happened to see the two of them on the weekend. It was a coincidence really. He was using this weekend to take some photos of the city like a tourist to show to the family, as he hasn't spent any time roaming around before. While doing so he found them.
He insisted on tagging along with all of this and they tried to lose him, but couldn't because he was faster than Karni. Hence, here they were.
The three thugs finally left the hospital room. They memorised their faces. "Tiao, neither of us will tail them. You are too inexperienced, while I'm not suited for it. Don't fight us on this. One of these guys is a Soul Elder."
Tie Tiao took in a sharp breath. Right. He didn't want to actually battle with a Soul Elder. That would be suicide. He doubtfully looked towards Siduo. It was clear she was the only one actually suited for this.
Tie Tiao was suited as well. But he was much too sloppy at tailing to stay unnoticed. He never tried before so it was dangerous. He wanted to ask where Siduo got experience, but felt like he shouldn't.
Karni trusted Siduo for the simple fact that she had a whole lifetime of experience. Even if she wasn't stealth or speed centred in her previous life, she was more than capable of this kind of tracking.
The three of them left the building and Siduo went into a slight jog in place, as if to warm up for a race. Really, it was just her releasing her nerves. She would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. Getting caught was not an option at all.
"Kiki, Vision Bestowal please."
Karni nodded and activated his second soul skill. Siduo's vision turned gold. Karni will have to stay in distant proximity for the skill to stay active, but he should be far enough to not alert anyone.
As long as he can see her, he can keep the skill active. Once he doesn't see someone for an extended period of time, the skill won't last long on its own. That is, if the person accepts the Vision Bestowal of course. It can be forcefully dispelled as well.
For now, that limit after activating it was only five minutes of usage if not in sight. Once he upgrades the soul rings, it should increase. To apply the skill however, the person also needed to be in range of Karni's spiritual sense. Even if one saw a person from a whole kilometre away, right now, he obviously couldn't work with such a distance. At most, he could hold around a 300 metre range.
Siduo went off while Karni and Tiao followed from afar.
Tiao was observing Siduo's actions closely and was amazed. Her presence was very hard to detect while looking at her. Karni had a similar problem, but less so, as he had his Golden Insight active from afar so as to keep better track of Siduo.
He trusted her abilities, but one couldn't be too prepared. He was ready to jump into action at any second.
… … …
"Big brother is gonna be happy with this. We got more than we expected." The shortest of the three exclaimed.
The oldest laughed. "Indeed. When is our shift starting?" He looked towards the pale person.
The pale man looked at his watch. "We have two hours left, then the late shift."
The three looked at each other with cheeky smiles. "I guess we have some time to celebrate then?"
A small shadow was following them at just the right distance to hear everything, but not be noticed. A smile appeared on her.
They were still roaming the main streets. Blending in with the people was easy, who would suspect a child to stalk someone?
It didn't take too long before they took a turn into one of the less populated streets. It wasn't yet an alley, but the amount of people visibly dropped. The buildings mostly consisted of small-time businesses and flats.
Far from Siduo there were two more shapes, though one would never suspect that they're following anybody as they were hardly visible.
Karni was keeping his eyes focused on Siduo to keep the skill active. If he's not careful, he'll have to come close to reapply the skill, while the thugs might get away.
The only problem he was facing at the moment was the fact that he wasn't sure he'd be able to use the skill for that much longer. Half an hour max, and who knows where those guys are planning to go. If they have a gathering ground outside the city this'll be a problem.
Siduo could see that the three men went into an alley. The now already silent area was interrupted by a ringing noise. It was one of the three men's soul communicators.
"Hello, Big Bro, is everything alright?" The man had a worried look on his face. While the other two were focusing on the conversation.
After a bit of silence - the 'Big Bro' was clearly talking from the other side - the man answered.
"Yeah? Alright, we'll be right there. Ten minutes max."
"What'd Big Bro say?"
"He needs us at the station. Something about the Boss."
The other two understood and all three turned around and began walking out of the alleyway they just entered.
Siduo was quick enough in her actions to hide in a different place. From afar, Karni's heart jumped when he saw her behaviour.
The three came back to the street and began walking towards Karni's and Tiao's direction.
Karni's mind went into overdrive, looking at the shops from the side for a hiding place. There was a bakery that was open on one of them. He quickly pulled Tie Tiao towards it.
The two stayed inside and ate on one of the open chairs. Siduo even waved at them from the outside after passing them. It was only after that that they went outside.
Tie Tiao breathed in relief. "Thinking about it, we could've stayed outside, it wouldn't be anything weird."
Karni looked at him weirdly. "Do you think you'd be able to keep a straight face and eyes off them while they pass us?"
"Er. No." Tie Tiao quickly quieted down. A Soul Elder was quite a sensitive level already, they would definitely find them suspicious. This was more luck than brains.
Avoiding a minor crisis, Karni still had his ability activated on Siduo. They didn't need long before they returned to a populated main street. Everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
But then there was another hurdle. The three men entered the police station. Siduo, seeing this, decided that this was enough tracking for today and returned to Karni and Tie Tiao.
"So?" Karni began.
"They definitely have a place in the direction we were originally going to, but their 'Big Bro' called them back to the station. This Big Bro guy is probably the ringleader. There is also the Boss, which is why Big Bro called them. It might be the overall main person behind everything, it might just be another middle manager in the scheme though."
"Do you think they're part of anything or more on their own."
"I think the Big Bro is connected more closely in some way, but other than that, I think they mostly work on their own. Even this robbery of that old lady seems to be independent actions to impress the Big Bro."
Karni let out a small sigh of relief. That was good. That made things easier. The only questions now were how close this boss and big bro were in all of this.
"Are they planning to rob Shi Ying again? Did you hear anything?"
Siduo shook her head.
"Alright, I'll ask her myself after the weekend then." Karni sighed.
… … …
"Next month?" Karni blinked.
Grandma Ying nodded.
"Well, at least it's not a weekly payment."
"They demanded five times the money." Grandma Ying sighed, her eyes tearing up.
"Those motherfuckers!" Karni hit the bed.
Grandma Ying blinked.
"Ah… um… sorry."
"No, I understand. Where did you learn such words by the way?"
"Ahaha, well one of my friends has a bit of a foul mouth." Karni avoided her eyes, silently apologising to Siduo for thinking of her when he said that.