Alaric stared at the pen for a long while. His index and middle fingers kept twirling it in his grip, feeling every etched line of light that pulsed on and off like a heartbeat. His curiosity grew stronger, knowing full well he was standing at the edge of something dangerous. But hadn't every case he ever solved always started with a risky decision like this?

"Alright. Let's give it a try," he muttered, a trace of challenge in his voice.

He raised his hand and made sure the pen was held steadily. Then he pointed it forward and pressed a small, almost invisible button on the side of its body with his thumb.

A soft click was followed by a thin beam of light that extended from the tip. A bluish-green glow shimmered, reflecting in the air, forming a delicate line that widened like a stroke of glowing paint. Alaric held his breath, eyes locked on the transformation unfolding before him.

Carefully, he held the pen out in front of him, positioning it in the center of the room. He slowly let go. Strangely, the pen didn't fall. Instead of dropping to the floor. It hovered mid-air, suspended as if held by invisible threads.

Alaric took half a step back, narrowing his eyes. "So… you can do that, huh?" he murmured to the tool from his own system.

Within seconds, the pen activated. A holographic circle radiated from its tip, spinning like a radar, scanning in every direction. From the circle, tiny red dots began to appear in the air, marking specific spots all around the room.

Alaric was stunned. The dots were incredibly precise. Not large, but tightly packed—like laser specks only a trained eye could fully catch. Some appeared in the corner of a cabinet, beneath the floor, behind the walls. The longer he stared, the clearer the pattern became, almost like a map forming inside his mind.

"Incredible… Far more detailed than my main system. It's like this pen knows exactly where things are hidden."

But before he could analyze further, something unexpected happened. The lights, which had only been indicators until now, suddenly changed function. From the pen's tip, the light no longer stopped at the surface of the wall. It began to draw.

A thin beam glided along the room's edges, tracing the corners like embroidery made of light, framing the red dots. Alaric's eyes widened, his body tensing slightly. He hadn't expected the system to go this far.

"What… are you doing…?"

The wall, which had been solid and unmoving, began to tremble. The blue lines tracing its surface became invisible blades. In an instant, the section of wall touched by the light split apart cleanly, as if sliced without leaving a single crumb behind.

Alaric was silent. One by one, the red-marked spots triggered fine cracks that opened hidden compartments. He could hear the shifting of stone, like long-held secrets being forced out of hiding.

What once seemed like an empty room with four plain walls was now changing. Layers peeled away. Corners that appeared ordinary now revealed hollows behind them.

Alaric leaned forward slightly, squinting. There was awe in his expression, but also a rising sense of unease. "So you're not just marking them. You're forcing them out into the open."

A chill ran down his spine. Because if this room truly held something deeply hidden, then he had just disturbed something that might never have been meant to be touched.

As the wall split cleanly and opened, the small chamber behind it revealed itself. It was dark, cold, and thick with the scent of dust mixed with something sharper, like the smell of old iron sealed away too long. Alaric stepped inside, ducking slightly to enter. His eyes swept across the interior. And in the next moment, his gaze landed on something that made his breath catch.

There, hanging on the sturdiest wall in the room, was a large painting framed in gold. Alaric studied it with sharp focus. This was exactly the kind of thing he suspected would be hidden in a place like this.

"My guess was right this time."

The painting showed nine men. All were dressed in tailored black suits, crisply ironed, with the elegance of men from the city's elite. Silk ties adorned their necks, and each of them wore accessories far too extravagant to be mere coincidence.

Gleaming jade bracelets wrapped their wrists, while their fingers were heavy with rings inset with large stones shaped like spirit creatures: a coiled dragon, an owl with red eyes, a snake with its tongue flicking out, a lion with golden fangs, and even a black wolf with a fierce, predatory gaze.

The faces in the painting weren't exactly familiar to Alaric. Not because he'd met them before, but because he had seen this type of face in every case like this. Cold, dignified, yet cunning. And their eyes, even as mere paint, seemed to stare right back at him. Testing the courage of the outsider who dared stand in front of them.

He took a step forward, reaching out his hand. He touched the frame, feeling its cold, hard surface. Alaric leaned in slightly, inspecting every detail of the painting. There were faint brush marks in the oil paint, signs of age, though it had been preserved meticulously.

After a few seconds, he returned the painting to its original place. But just along the side of the frame, etched into the wall in gold lettering, was an inscription. Alaric narrowed his eyes to read it.

"Black Venom – The 9 Founders and Core Members."

Alaric repeated the words under his breath, his voice echoing faintly in the room. "So this is… their name. Black Venom." His expression hardened. "These nine… they're the core. The root of all of this rot."

He clenched his fist briefly, then exhaled a long breath, steadying the surge of emotion inside him.

But something else caught his attention. In another corner of the chamber, there was a crack left behind by the pen's earlier action. The exposed wall now revealed a hidden storage niche, more like a secret vault.

Alaric approached, and his eyes widened as he saw what was inside. Jade stones.

Dozens of them. But their shapes were strange, unfamiliar.

He crouched down and reached out, picking up one of the stones. A white-green jade with translucent edges. The moment it touched his skin, a chill ran through his fingers, as though the stone carried a living energy.

Next to it was a blood-red jade, but its surface glowed with a faint inner blue light, creating the illusion of two colors locked in battle. Alaric stared at it for a long moment, feeling like the stone held layered secrets far beyond normal comprehension.

Then, his gaze moved to a dark purple jade, streaked with glowing blue veins that pulsed like stars. This one seemed alive, emitting a soft, rhythmic glow as if something inside it was breathing.

Alaric raised an eyebrow, his brow furrowed. "Ancient relics…? How could they possibly have these? These kinds of artifacts were believed to be lost centuries ago…"

Flashes of the past crossed his mind... legends of ancient empires, objects thought to exist only in myth. And yet here they were, right in front of him.

He knew he couldn't waste this opportunity. Still grappling with disbelief, Alaric pulled a small box from the folds of his black cloak. Carefully, he placed the jades inside one by one. The box creaked faintly with each addition, as if resisting the weight, but Alaric made sure it was sealed tight.

Once done, he stood up straight, surveying the room one more time. His mind raced. There was satisfaction in uncovering the truth, but also a lingering feeling that he had just brushed against something far larger than he imagined.

He crouched again, this time turning his gaze to the floating screen. The soft glow that had once been dim now pulsed gently, like a heart beating in slow rhythm. And the sound emanating from it was growing clearer, but irregular.

His hand, still clutching the box of jades, began to sweat. The weight felt twice as heavy—not from the stones themselves, but from the mental weight now attached to them. "Should I set it down for now? But if this is truly a vital signal, I can't afford to waste even a second."

He steadied his breath, holding himself back from touching the screen immediately. His eyes scanned the room once more. Nothing had changed, except that the screen's glow was now directly casting a sharp shadow across the left side of his face. "Are you just a device, or something that was deliberately left behind?" he whispered.

Alaric then closed his eyes briefly, letting his instincts take over. He had a strange habit since childhood: whenever confronted with something beyond logic, he would listen to the "silence" within him. That silence usually gave him a sign, either a cold warning down his spine or a warm pull in his chest.

This time, as he inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, he felt a sensation like water flowing through his veins. No sign of danger. Instead, there was something like a distant calling. An invitation to draw closer.

His eyes opened again. He moved forward slowly, still cautious, knees bent slightly as if ready to leap back at any moment. The light from the screen responded to his movement. The closer he got, the faster its pulses became.

He stopped right in front of the screen, the box of jade stones still pressed against his chest. Slowly, he raised his hand, hesitating.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch the glowing surface, the screen emitted a faint sound. This time, it wasn't a mechanical hum—it was a whisper. Faint and fragmented, almost too quiet for the human ear to decipher.

Alaric flinched slightly but didn't retreat. He narrowed his eyes, trying to focus. The words were too distorted, but the tone… there was urgency. It sounded like someone trapped behind a thin veil, trying to speak to him from the other side.

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