Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 308 Disagreement
……

...

It turned out that no one had infiltrated the law enforcement headquarters.

There are no ghosts or evil spirits present.

All the strange noises subsided after Nero came to his senses.

For a moment, Nero felt not horror and fear, but a sense of loss.

He stood at the end of the corridor, leaning on his cane, and stood with his back against the window for a long time.

Nero had a habit of sunbathing, a habit that may have been retained after the Icom incident.

But at this moment, the wall he was on was facing due west.

Even after the sky was completely bright, the light did not fall on him. Instead, it slanted in from the other end of the corridor, through the glass of the east-facing window, and onto the floor.

Whether it was due to exhaustion or the guidance of that strange noise, Nero went the wrong way.

……

...

The time came to 7 o'clock in the morning.

Before heading to the academy, Kai first visited the Enforcement Headquarters and brought Nero vegetable soup and pastries, as always.

Milo also arrived at almost the same time.

This kid clearly had been out all night; his dirty shirt collar was stained with sweat and dried rainwater, and he reeked of foul odors.

But their morale was much better than that of the others at law enforcement headquarters who were on duty all night.

Even an old man like Nero couldn't help but sigh, "Youth is truly wonderful."

Even so, overtime pay should still be calculated.

Milo sat down opposite Nero's desk, opened the vegetable soup on the table, and gulped it down.

Kai stood obediently to the side watching Milo wolf down his food, and even thoughtfully reminded him, "It's a little hot."

Nero leaned back in his chair and shook his head: "Look at your shabby appearance."

Milo shamelessly finished the soup, even scooping out the remaining vegetables at the bottom, chewing them up, and swallowing them. Then he turned back to deal with the steaming pastries, muttering indistinctly:
"This bok choy is delicious, much better than those rotten cabbages you stuffed into the task force."

"..."

Nero lit a cigar and chose to ignore Milo's complaints.

"I'll go back to class now."

Knowing that Milo and Nero were going to talk about work, Kai politely took his leave.

...

"Speak up, what do you have to report that you came all this way so early in the morning?"

Nero snatched the pastry from Milo's hand and put it in his mouth.

Milo flicked the crumbs off his fingers, chewed on something, and said, "That hunter team was from the Solomon, or rather, trained by the Solomon gang."

“Hunters?” Nero muttered. “That’s a rather fitting codename. Their modus operandi does resemble some kind of hunting operation. And what else? It was expected that the case would involve Solomon. What we lack is evidence.” “What’s the use of evidence? Even if we have evidence pointing to Solomon, are we going to go to the colonies to arrest the mastermind? I just want to know, if Solomon is involved, how much will our investigation in this series of cases be hampered? So, are we going to investigate to the bitter end, or will it end up like Icom’s case, with nothing to show for it?” Milo asked calmly.

Nero said solemnly, "Of course we must investigate to the end. The prefectural government has already said that the entire series of cases must be thoroughly investigated, at any cost."

As he spoke, he held up the notice from the prefectural government and waved it twice.

Milo narrowed his eyes:
"Uh—you leaked Solomon's secret?"

“What do you mean by ‘leaking it out’? Of course, it needs to be reported clearly. Otherwise, why do you think I would take charge of the task force myself? We definitely need to let those people in the council know that Solomon is behind this, so that we can clean things up in the end.” Nero shook his head and said, “Besides, with the few people we have, we might not be able to handle the assassins trained by Solomon. If it were just a simple murder case, no one in higher up would willingly get involved in this mess.”

"Is this your idea?" Milo stuffed another piece of pastry into his mouth.

He made no attempt to hide his opposition, his brow furrowed the entire time.

But Nero had already reported the information, and there was no room for modification.

"Do you think I shouldn't report this?" Nero understood what Milo was trying to say.

“You’ve definitely considered things more comprehensively than I have. I just feel that once things become public, we’ll face even more trouble than before,” Milo said, shrugging.

"Of course, half of the royal family's wealth was plundered from the East Sea by Solomon's army, not to mention the upper and lower houses. Many of them are secretly on Solomon's side, but there are definitely opponents as well. Don't think that we can complete the mission if we can deal with these assassins in private. Not to mention how difficult it is, this matter itself should be a struggle between two high-level factions. It is the wisest choice to separate ourselves from it."

Nero laid bare everything he should and shouldn't have said, without any reservations.

Milo seemed to be deep in thought.

He knew that sitting in Nero's position required considering far more things than he, a low-ranking law enforcement officer, did.

but……

"To be honest, I'm not really interested in the power struggles and interests at the top. As you know, certain crimes are not simply a matter of human nature. Like Icom, like the Confession Dock, only people like you and me know how to handle these things. You trust me, so I trust you. What I'm saying is that there are hidden stories behind assassinations. There's a reason why they're called hunters. The real evil may not be in the colony, but in this city."

Milo rarely talks this much nonsense to others.

But there was nothing he could do; for the first time, he felt that Nero and he had significant differences of opinion, even though on the surface they seemed to have no problems.

“The real evil lies within the city. Do you intend for me to use those words to answer the families of the dead?” Nero stared calmly at Milo, his tone of questioning quite clear.

……

A moment of silence fell over the office.

Milo did not speak.

Nero waited a long time before sighing and adding earnestly:
“I never thought that killing everyone in my family in Ikham was a great feat, even if they were indeed lost. What I want to say is that back then, I was just like you are now, with no idea what I would have to endure in the decades to come. But you have to understand that some prices are unavoidable.”

Milo answered calmly:

"Have you forgotten old Mogot? That retired law enforcement officer who, for twenty-four years, would carry a rifle and patrol the wilderness every day because he knew he was doing the right thing."

This time, it was finally Nero's turn to remain silent.

……

"Please try to buy me some time."

Milo's thoughts were in a state of confusion.

(End of this chapter)