Chapter 178: Asher: The highest level of lying is when others fill in the gaps for you! Little Raven is shedding feathers!

The two overlapped once again.

Fire-attribute and lightning-attribute pet beasts.

After listening to Asher's summary, Rosa and Jasmine: "?"

*Shocked*

'This works too?'

"Let me see… let me see…", Rosa couldn't believe it. She decided to see it with her own eyes.

And then… she was completely convinced by Asher's summary.

No matter who she substituted in, it all matched exactly with Asher's analysis.

Rosa: 'Goodness! I might as well hand over my title as an intelligence gatherer to Professor Asher.'

Said in a refined and sophisticated manner, she was an Intelligence Gatherer. Said in a more straightforward way, she was an Intelligence Dealer.

Such an identity naturally couldn't be made public.

Rosa wasn't her real name either, it was a temporary identity she had fabricated to infiltrate the Beast Tamer Alliance, which had cost her considerable time and effort.

She had painstakingly worked her way towards completing her mission, getting that idiot Vincent removed from his position. Yet, instead of feeling any joy or sense of accomplishment, she felt nothing at all.

Because…

The way Vincent was taken down was completely different from what she had initially planned.

At the very least, as an intelligence dealer, Rosa had never considered dragging half a city's residents into a crisis just to get rid of Vincent.

The events that unfolded in the Red Soil Forbidden Zone had caught Rosa completely off guard.

Her formidable intelligence-gathering and analysis abilities were utterly useless in the face of a Forbidden Zone where human power could go no further.

And she could still barely tolerate all of that.

It wasn't her fault.

Vincent was just too stupid.

The Forbidden Zone was simply too mysterious.

But there was one thing she couldn't let go of—Asher.

From the moment he arrived in Crimson City and Red Soil City, it had been less than three hours. Yet, he had already analyzed the commonalities among the fever-stricken residents.

That speed alone dealt a massive blow to Rosa's pride as an intelligence analyst.

'Why?'

'Why could someone gather, integrate, and analyze all this information in just three hours?'

'He even managed to identify a pattern from documents that others had overlooked.'

'The household situations of these ordinary citizens, are they that easy to compile and analyze?'

'If they are, then someone else should have noticed before Asher.'

'Though… I had to short time. If I had a bit more time…'

'Fine, fine. Even I can't convince myself anymore.'

What was the most important aspect of intelligence?

Accuracy?

Depth of content?

No, no, no.

It was time.

Thinking of this, Rosa took a deep breath. When she looked at Asher again, her gaze was completely different.

Asher: "?"

Sensing something, Asher turned toward the direction of the gaze—only to meet a pair of eyes that seemed to burn with scorching flames.

Asher blinked.

For some reason, after getting a clear look at Rosa's face, Asher felt that those eyes didn't quite match her appearance.

Noticing Asher's gaze, Rosa suddenly broke into an excited smile.

"Professor Asher, you are truly amazing!"

"I never expected you to analyze it so quickly!"

Asher: "..."

There was definitely an element of acting in this, but that wasn't what Asher was most concerned about right now.

Asher was struggling with how to tell them about the uncertain 72-hour time limit.

Jasmine immediately noticed the hesitation on Asher's face, "Professor Asher, are you hesitating about something?"

"Mm," Asher rubbed his chin and said uncertainly, "My sixth sense is telling me that the sooner we solve Crimson City's issue, the better."

"If it drags on for too long, 48 hours, 72 hours, some changes might occur."

Rosa and Jasmine's expressions instantly turned serious.

Doubt Asher's words?

Not at all.

Far from it, they both took his words seriously without question.

Jasmine trusted Asher's abilities. She knew that if he wasn't confident about something, he wouldn't joke about it in such a serious situation.

Rosa, on the other hand, was feeling a strange frustration—Asher had outdone her, but she didn't even understand how he had outdone her.

Now, hearing Asher mention his "sixth sense," Rosa suddenly had a realization.

'Case closed.'

'Professor Asher's talent must be related to sixth sense or sudden inspiration.'

'That's why he can identify problems so quickly.'

'That's why he can detect new dangers.'

Looking at their expressions, Asher deeply understood what it meant when someone was so powerful that they didn't even need to explain their lies, others would fill in the blanks for them.

He effortlessly skipped over the need to explain anything.

But none of them looked relaxed.

Forty-eight hours, or seventy-two hours?

"We're already nearly sixteen hours in. If we go by the closest forty-eight-hour mark, that means we only have thirty-two hours left. And in these thirty-some hours, no other accidents can happen," Rosa muttered to herself, her eyes filled with urgency as she calculated from the time the first fever case appeared last night.

Thirty-two hours to solve it?

She took a deep breath.

Rosa felt like it would be easier to just dream about it.

"The only good news is that those who haven't been affected within these thirty-some hours should remain safe… but after that…", Jasmine's brows furrowed even deeper as she spoke.

"The source, is it inside the Red Soil Forbidden Zone?", Jasmine rubbed her forehead, "Then we have to hurry. I'll go notify the two Ace-tier Beast Tamers now and have them lead the team into the secret realm."

'Two Aces?'

Asher was stunned when he heard that.

Not all eighth-rank Beast Tamers could be called Aces.

Out of the dozens of eighth-rank Beast Tamers in Soren, only seven had the title of Ace.

Asher never expected that two of them would be coming this time?

"I…", Just as Asher was about to say something, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

It was the special Angel notification mode.

Jasmine looked at Asher.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Asher temporarily set aside his curiosity about the two Aces.

He would probably meet them later anyway.

For now, he was more interested in why Angel was pinging him at this moment, it had to be for a reason.

Pulling out his phone and glancing at the screen, Asher's expression turned slightly surprised.

———

At a dessert shop some distance from the Red Soil City Beast Tamer Alliance.

Unlike the eerily quiet streets, where most shops were shut down, Red Soil City was slightly better, about half of the stores remained open.

But aside from major supermarkets and essential goods stores, most places had little to no customers.

Asher hesitated for three seconds at the pink, frilly-looking dessert shop before finally stepping inside.

The seats were all empty.

Scanning the room, Asher finally noticed some rustling movements in a blind spot hidden behind some potted plants and greenery.

He rubbed his forehead.

knock! knock!

Tapping the wooden table twice, Asher deliberately made a noise that couldn't be ignored before speaking.

"I've arrived."

Thud—

Clang—

Asher heard a series of panicked sounds, something dropping, something knocking into a table… or maybe something else entirely.

Asher: "?"

Asher didn't move.

He wanted to see what was going on.

Just now, before setting off, Asher had contacted the owner of a forum post whose real identity was unknown. The person had reached out to him, asking if he was in Red Soil City or Crimson City, hoping to meet in person.

The location sent by the other party was this dessert shop.

'But what is this situation…'

Asher looked rather helplessly at the two heads popping out from behind the partition screen.

Swoosh—

A fluffy little girl with twin ponytails peeked out.

Then, Swoosh—

Like a stacking game, another head, belonging to a buzz-cut little boy, popped out from atop the girl's head.

Asher: "…"

'Is this some kind of real-life stacking game?'

The corner of Asher's eye twitched slightly.

"…You two were the ones who contacted me?", As he spoke, Asher's gaze swept over the two children.

Judging by their appearance, they seemed to be around ten years old.

They looked quite alike, probably twins or at least siblings.

'But two kids calling me out…'

"Hello…?"

"So you're the one who contacted us online! But you don't look very impressive!"

The little girl and the little boy spoke at the same time—one timid and hesitant, the other bold and utterly unaware of danger, eyeing Asher with an assessing gaze.

Asher fell silent again.

Then, before he could speak, the two of them started arguing.

"Leo, you can't be so rude! What if this big brother refuses to help us find our sister?"

"Hmph! I wasn't being rude! I was testing his character and strength, got it? Luna, stay out of it!"

"No way! This big brother doesn't look like a bad person, and he's talking to us very politely."

"Ever heard of wolves in sheep's clothing? And what big brother? Call him uncle!"

"Leo, lower your voice! You can't badmouth people to their face!"

"I have to say it to his face! I don't talk behind people's backs! Besides, I need to check his strength before deciding whether to hire him."

Asher felt his temple veins throbbing.

'These two kids… aren't they afraid of actually running into a bad person?'

"…Alright, have you two argued enough? How about sitting down and talking?", Asher tapped the table again, interrupting the conversation that was on the verge of turning into a full-blown fight.

"You're wasting my time, and wasting time that could be used to rescue your sister."

Swoosh—

The entire shop fell silent.

The buzz-cut boy, Leo, and the twin-ponytailed girl, Luna, both looked up at Asher as if he were some kind of demon.

They condemned him with their gazes, how could his 36-degree mouth say something so ice-cold?

Asher smiled.

He could say even colder things.

"I assume it's fine that I came here?", Asher hadn't expected the ones who contacted him to be two children, but he still maintained his politeness and respect as much as possible.

Leo and Luna also sensed this unusual treatment.

Even the more stubborn Leo softened slightly under this equal treatment.

"Fine," Leo crossed his arms, tilting his chin up stubbornly as he spoke with a serious expression, "But you better not try anything bad. The cameras in this shop upload footage in real time!"

Asher smiled.

Finally.

The three of them sat down.

Asher looked at the two little brats across from him, showing no sign of finding the situation strange, as if this were perfectly normal.

"Tell me everything you know about the Red Soul Forbidden Zone, or any related information," Asher tapped his fingers lightly on the table twice, his gaze serious as he looked at Leo and Luna.

After thinking for a moment, he added, "The more details you give me, the greater my chances of finding that sister from the Red Soil Exploration Team."

Leo and Luna: "?"

The two children, who had been pretending to be all grown-up, simultaneously showed confused expressions.

"Big brother, how do you know we're looking for—"

"Ha! You idiot, you accidentally let it slip just now."

Seeing that the two little ones were about to start arguing again, Asher waved his hand and directly released several pet beasts.

Oh.

He didn't mean to be threatening, just wanted to take control of the situation more effectively, while also giving them a more direct understanding of his strength.

Sure enough.

As soon as Little Raven, Cat-Worm, Little White Snake, and Little Jellyfish appeared, the two kids immediately quieted down, their curious eyes scanning Asher's four pet beasts.

"Four pet beasts?", Luna blinked her big watery eyes, her voice filled with surprise, "Big brother, you're amazing!"

Being able to contract four pet beasts meant Asher's minimum rank was First-Tier Beast Tamer—possibly even pushing towards Second-Tier.

Looking at Asher's youthful appearance, Luna's expression turned incredibly excited.

Compared to her, Leo wasn't as easy to please, "Hmph! Just so-so! Still far behind my sister!"

But even as he spoke, his curious gaze kept flickering toward the pet beasts.

Especially the most eye-catching and seemingly strongest Little Raven. Leo's gaze practically sparkled as he stared at it.

Little Raven: "…"

A bit too enthusiastic.

The bird felt a little embarrassed.

Little Raven backed away, retreating into Asher's arms.

Asher held Little Raven, casually smoothing down its feathers, then suddenly noticed something was off.

'Huh?'

'Why is Little Raven shedding feathers?'

Staring at the feathers in his hand, Little Raven's golden-red eyes widened in shock, flapping its wings in a panic.

Then—

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A flurry of Little Raven's feathers rained down.

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