"By the way, senior sister, I've always had a question. Why do those half-breeds deteriorate into Revenants? I already know the concept of the critical blood limit from our classes, but there are some inconsistencies here."
Bored during the journey, Lu Chen transformed into a humble and eager-to-learn student.
In the concept of half-breeds, once the proportion of dragon genes in the bloodline exceeds that critical limit, human nature gradually diminishes, leaning towards dragons, which means losing control of the bloodline and falling into Revenants.
But Lu Chen had seen that stooped man who was only of B-rank bloodline. Also, he heard from Fenrir that the higher the purity of the bloodline, the higher the rating. Logically, shouldn't B-rank half-breeds with lower bloodline proportions be safer? Shouldn't it be the A-rank, S-rank, and higher half-breeds that are more prone to losing control?
"I know what you're wondering about, junior brother. This aspect wasn't discussed in detail in our first year, so it's understandable if you have misconceptions."
Senior sister Luthicia explained, "Firstly, you need to understand that bloodline purity and the proportion of human-dragon genes are two different concepts. Typically, A-rank and S-rank have a high proportion of dragon genes."
Chu Zihang also opened his eyes, clearly interested in the topic.
"In simple terms, for two half-breeds with the same proportion of dragon genes, let's say 40%, but one has a higher purity, then there's a distinction between them, one might be A-rank, and the other B-rank."
Considering Lu Chen's lack of higher education, Luthicia tried to keep it simple, even splitting an orange in half as an analogy.
"Like you, junior brother, you have a high proportion and high purity, but you happen to fall into a safe and stable category. From the perspective of genetic inheritance, the probability of producing offspring with an S-rank bloodline is extremely low. It's even lower than your chance of drawing an SSR card in a gacha game, which is like a divine gift to humanity."
Luthicia used a more common analogy.
"What's an SSR? Isn't S-rank already the highest?" Lu Chen asked in confusion and amazement, thinking that SSR sounded much cooler than S-rank.
He clearly didn't get Luthicia's reference.
"It's the highest rarity card in a certain gacha game, and the chance of drawing it is very low."
Chu Zihang explained from the side, though he himself didn't play, he was always knowledgeable.
"So, whether one falls into a Revenant or not doesn't have an absolute correlation with their original bloodline rating. Generally, those with higher bloodline proportions are more prone to falling because those with very low bloodlines, their parents themselves have low bloodlines, and it's hard for them to give birth to mutants. So, generally, those who lose control are mostly A-rank and B-rank half-breeds."
Luthicia continued to explain, and this time, Lu Chen understood.
In simple terms, if you were originally weak, you'd still be weak after falling, but if you had a high bloodline purity, the changes after falling would be terrifying.
"Our mission target should have originally been an A-rank half-breed. Once he crosses that line, his strength will definitely surpass that of a typical A-rank half-breed. It might even rival your peak state, junior brother. So, you better be prepared," Luthicia concluded.
Luthicia rolled her eyes when she saw Lu Chen looking out the window at the scenery again.
Lu Chen turned his head and smiled, asking, "Senior sister, have you ever seen my peak state?"
Luthicia was momentarily speechless, thinking that the question sounded extremely punchable, but she actually hadn't seen it, at least not Lu Chen's Lingual Ability.
"I heard that you're very good at profiling, senior sister. Why not guess what my Lingual Ability is?"
Perhaps a fight was imminent, but Lu Chen was in a good mood and wanted to joke with his senior sister.
Chu Zihang was also curious and had asked Lu Chen about his Lingual Ability before, but Lu Chen said it was still awakening, uncertain.
"I'm not guessing!" Luthicia said grumpily, turning her head away.
Standing in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, the scenery of Birmingham unfolded before their eyes.
In the distance, tall buildings stood erect, piercing the dim and murky sky, reminiscent of rugged peaks in landscape paintings, reminiscent of the breathtaking stone forests rising from the earth.
As night fell, the fog brought by industrial pollution became thicker, making people feel like there were beasts lurking in the misty darkness.
Lu Chen and the others had just finished dinner in Birmingham. In pursuit of mission efficiency without wasting time, Lu Chen reluctantly only ate half-full.
The main team consisted of 20 members, divided into two teams: Team A responsible for protecting Milanra, and Team B responsible for protecting Luthicia.
Now, it was a temporary meeting before the mission started, mainly because Luthicia, who was good at profiling, had come to a new conclusion after browsing various information on the way and needed to inform everyone.
"After summarizing the characteristics of the victims, I concluded that Slaughter has some kind of obsession. Have any of you thought about why he is so fixated on attacking women with these characteristics?"
Pointing to the large screen where nine victims were lined up, Luthicia said, "The nine victims have no social connection. Except for our specialist, the others had no enemies in their lives, at least not enemies who would mutilate them in that way. This is the most important reason why we haven't made a breakthrough yet."
Yes, serial murder cases are one of the most difficult to solve because the perpetrators often commit random acts without motives, driven by whim. They could kill anyone they found "appealing."
Therefore, it's also difficult to pinpoint suspects based on the victims' social networks. But Slaughter was different; his purpose was too clear. All the victims shared the same characteristics, indicating some kind of perverse obsession.
"Senior sister, are you suggesting that we haven't found the motive yet?" Susie asked.
"Yes, everything has a cause. If he were just randomly killing people, it would be difficult to deal with. But his behavior only indicates one thing: something has made him obsessed with women with these characteristics. We haven't found the first victim yet!"
Luthicia's words immediately raised the spirits of everyone in the meeting room; they had found a breakthrough.
"And that first victim, that unnamed woman, definitely has a social connection with Slaughter. Once we find her, it'll be much easier to identify the killer."
After Luthicia finished her speech and bowed, indicating she was done, she stepped down, and Executive Officer Philimon took the stage.
"As Luthicia said, I've mobilized the local police through three channels to gather more information and search for missing women who fit the criteria. However, there are no women with reported cases that match the above characteristics. So, we can only wait for the police's follow-up information. In any case, having a breakthrough is a good thing. After resting, we'll stick to the original plan."
The response from the audience below was unanimous, and the Night Owls of the Executive Department poured into this urban area.