Lust System: Conquering the World Beauties

Chapter 426: Chapter 426 The Fledgling’s Identity

Liam followed Irina inside without saying a word. The moment the doors closed behind them the noise hit him fully. It was late morning, just past eleven, and the station was alive in a way that felt heavy rather than busy. Phones rang nonstop. Radios crackled with clipped voices and codes. Boots moved fast across tiled floors that had been worn dull by decades of footsteps. Officers leaned over desks arguing quietly. Others stood in small clusters speaking in low urgent tones. A few civilians sat on metal benches along the walls, tense and tired, eyes moving every time someone walked past them.

The air smelled like coffee that had been sitting too long, paper, sweat, and something sharp underneath it all, stress maybe. Sunlight poured in through tall windows high up near the ceiling, cutting across the space in long pale stripes. Dust floated in those beams, slow and lazy, completely disconnected from the speed of everything else. Ceiling fans spun overhead but did little to cool the place. Jackets were off. Sleeves were rolled. Everyone looked stretched thin.

Irina moved through it like she owned the place. People stepped aside without thinking about it. Some nodded. Some straightened up when she passed. A few tried to speak to her but she lifted a hand without slowing down and kept walking. Liam stayed just behind her shoulder, hands relaxed at his sides, eyes moving constantly.

He took everything in. The holding area behind reinforced glass where a group of suspects sat cuffed and angry. A bloodstained evidence bag being carried down a corridor. A young officer arguing with an older one over paperwork. The walls were covered with boards filled with photos, strings, notes, faces crossed out with red marker. Whatever was happening in the city had its fingerprints everywhere.

Liam leaned slightly closer to Irina as they walked. His voice was low, almost casual. ”I have to say. You guys have quite a lot of criminals cases here.”

Irina let out a short amused breath but did not slow down. She started up the stairs two at a time. ”With the recent deaths and the government’s inability to explain what is happening, people are losing their minds,” she said. ”Evacuation orders. Power shortages. Fear spreads faster than truth. Crime always follows.”

Liam nodded as he followed her up, his boots echoing softly on the metal steps. ”Same thing back home. Everybody left. Those who stayed either locked themselves inside or stopped caring. People are scared.”

Irina glanced at him briefly as they reached the landing. ”Can you blame them?”

He didn’t answer right away. The question didn’t need one. They continued down a narrower hallway now, away from the noise of the main floor. The walls here were a dull gray. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead. Offices lined both sides, most doors open, some closed with names stenciled on the glass. Irina stopped at one near the end and pushed the door open.

The moment they stepped inside, both of them felt it.

Liam couldn’t explain it. There was no sound. No smell. Nothing visibly out of place. But the air felt tight, like it had been disturbed recently and had not settled yet. His skin prickled slightly, the way it did right before a storm.

He turned his head just enough to look at Irina. ”You feel that?”

”Yes,” she said immediately, her voice low and serious now. She didn’t move further into the room. Her eyes flicked upward toward the ceiling vents. ”Someone was in the ventilation tunnel.”

Liam nodded slowly. His gaze followed hers, scanning the metal grates, the faint scratches around the screws. ”Yeah. But they’re gone.”

They stood still for a moment, listening. Nothing. No movement. No breath. Whoever it was knew how to disappear.

Irina stepped forward first, annoyance creeping into her expression. ”Pointless chasing shadows,” she said. She moved to her desk and began to look around, opening drawers, checking folders, scanning the shelves with quick precise movements.

Liam stayed near the door, eyes still moving, senses stretched outward. After about two minutes Irina straightened.

”Nothing is missing,” she said.

”Are you sure?” Liam asked calmly.

She shot him a look. ”I have a photographic memory,” she said flatly. ”I remember every placement, angles, stacks, even dust patterns. Nothing here has been taken.”

”Hm,” Liam murmured.

He began to walk slowly around the office. It was neat but lived in. A large desk covered in organized chaos. Maps pinned to one wall. A whiteboard filled with notes written in multiple colors. Filing cabinets labeled by year and case type. A coat hanging behind the door. Everything looked exactly as it should.

Irina watched him for a few seconds, then rolled her eyes. ”You are wasting your time,” she said. ”Everything is intact.”

Before she could finish the sentence, she noticed he had stopped.

Liam was bending down near the base of her desk, one knee touching the floor, his fingers hovering just above the ground.

Irina frowned. ”What are you doing?”

Liam didn’t reply.

Instead, he leaned a little further under the desk, his fingers brushing against something cold and unfamiliar. He paused for half a second, then pulled it out smoothly. A small device sat in his palm, no bigger than two fingers pressed together, its tiny light blinking green in a steady rhythm.

He straightened up and tossed it lightly toward Irina.

”I’m afraid your cover has been made out,” he said calmly.

Irina caught it on instinct. The moment she saw the blinking light, her jaw tightened. Her fingers curled around the device like she wanted to crush it right there. Without a word, she let it drop to the floor and brought her boot down hard. Plastic cracked. Metal bent. The green light flickered once, then died.

She exhaled sharply and looked at Liam. ”Let’s go.”

She didn’t explain. She didn’t wait.

Irina grabbed her coat, moved to the door, and locked it behind them as they stepped into the hallway. Liam followed, his pace unhurried, eyes alert.

”Where are we going?” he asked.

She didn’t answer immediately. Her jaw was tight, her steps fast. Only when they turned a corner and the noise of the station faded slightly did she speak.

”I think I know who the fledgling is,” she said.

Liam raised a brow slightly. ”Hmm.”

She glanced at him once, then kept moving. ”Four days ago, a forensic analyst died. Leonid.”

Liam nodded slowly. ”The one killed during an animal attack. I saw that on the news”

”Yes,” Irina said. ”Officially, it was written off as collateral. Unfortunate timing. Wrong place, wrong hour.” Her lips pressed together. ”But Markov has been acting strange since then.”

”Markov,” Liam repeated. ”Senior scientist.”

”He’s been doing everything he can to keep Leonid’s death buried,” she said. ”Delaying reports. Blocking access. Reassigning files. He claims it’s for security reasons.”

”And you don’t believe him.”

”I don’t believe coincidences,” Irina replied.

They reached the end of the corridor and descended a narrower staircase that led to a quieter wing of the building. Fewer people passed here. Fewer eyes.

”So where are we going?” Liam asked again.

Irina didn’t slow. ”Leonid’s office. His home address should be in there. If he was turned, we need to know where he was buried.”

Leonid’s office sat at the far end of the wing, almost deliberately isolated. The hallway leading to it felt abandoned compared to the rest of the station. One flickering light. A faint smell of old paper and disinfectant. No footsteps. No voices.

Irina stopped in front of the door and tried the handle.

Locked.

She frowned. ”That’s odd.”

Before she could say anything else, Liam stepped forward. He placed his hand around the knob, twisted once, then again. Metal groaned softly. With a sharp snap, the internal lock gave way. Liam pushed the door open like nothing unusual had just happened.

Irina stared at him, eyes wide. ”That was reckless.”

He glanced back at her, unfazed. ”Calm down. I don’t see any cameras. Nobody’s going to know it was us.”

She didn’t respond right away.

Instead, her expression shifted. Not anger. Not relief.

Shock.

Liam noticed it immediately. His shoulders tensed slightly. ”There’s something behind me, isn’t there?”

Irina didn’t answer.

He turned slowly.

At first, he thought the room was dark.

Then he realized it wasn’t darkness.

It was emptiness.

Leonid’s office was completely bare.

No desk. No chair. No shelves. No files. No computers. No personal items. The walls were clean, almost scrubbed. Even the dust patterns looked disturbed, wiped away. It was as if the room had never belonged to anyone at all.

Liam took a step inside, scanning left, then right. His breath slowed, controlled, but his eyes sharpened.

”What the fuck,” he muttered.

Irina stepped in beside him, her gaze moving quickly, calculating. ”This wasn’t done quietly,” she said. ”This was intentional.”

”Everything’s gone,” Liam said. ”Not just files. Furniture. Equipment. Even the damn trash bin.”

Irina walked to where a desk should have been and crouched slightly, running her fingers along the floor. ”Someone cleared this place fast,” she said. ”And recently.”

”Markov,” Liam said.

”Markov,” she agreed.

She stood and looked around once more, her expression dark. ”If Leonid was turned, and Markov helped cover it up, then this isn’t just a fledgling problem anymore.”

Liam nodded slowly. ”It’s an inside job.”

Irina’s jaw tightened. ”And that makes it far worse.”

They stood there in the empty office, surrounded by nothing but clean walls and unanswered questions, both of them fully aware that whatever trail they were following had just been deliberately erased.

And someone had known they were coming.