Long after.

Loud police sirens echoed on Okubo Street.

Several police cars stopped outside the Northern Star Swordsmanship's Sword Dojo.

The car doors opened.

Emily leapt out.

Her golden hair was tied into two curly pigtails, and she wore a black and red gothic-style dress.

Her azure-blue eyes swept over the scene and soon noticed a black sedan parked there, different from the police cars.

"Tch."

Emily's face showed a touch of dissatisfaction. The CIA folks were as clingy as a poultice.

The door of the black sedan opened, and a blonde man stepped out. He had a gentle smile on his face and pushed his glasses, saying, "We meet again, Miss Emily."

Emily's tone was sarcastic. "Robert, wouldn't it have been better for you to just wait quietly in your office for news?"

"Please don't speak of us as if we are useless," Robert replied gently.

Despite his seemingly humble appearance, he was full of pride. He wouldn't be content like Jack, who was satisfied with reaping the benefits without effort.

To Robert, the judgment of others was only of reference value and couldn't possibly earn his full trust.

He only trusted his own judgment.

That was why he insisted on surveilling the Yasuda Family, even after receiving Emily's report.

That waste of time was instructive for Robert too. It made him realize that his information gathering had been too one-sided.

Focus is a good thing, but too much focus can cloud your vision, making things that were initially visible become invisible.

If he had gathered more information, he could have made the same judgment as Emily did.

Robert believed he needed to correct that flaw.

Thus, when he heard about a case involving a dead person, he rushed to the scene immediately, treating it as a case related to Dio.

Emily glanced at him sidelong and said nothing as she and Ito Otome walked into the sealed-off Sword Dojo.

The door showed signs of being pried open.

It was the police who had received a call at nine in the evening and pried the door open.

The reason was that a student's wife couldn't get through to her husband's phone, no matter how much she tried. As a result, she called the police for help.

The police arrived at the scene, found the lights on and the door locked. Despite their calls, nobody responded.

Out of frustration, they decided to break the door down.

The sight after the door was pried open almost scared the two policemen into wetting their pants.

After the emergency report, the case was transferred to a special task force.

Emily glanced at the fresh blood on the wall by the front desk. Then, she walked into the Kendo Arena and opened the door, only to be greeted by a strong smell of blood.

Bamboo swords were scattered on the ground.

Oddly, the bamboo swords weren't spread out near the students. Instead, they were all gathered around a dead person with a swollen face and a blue nose.

There was also an unsheathed sword placed there.

From the looks of the scene, Emily could roughly deduce the situation.

Those who had died must have been killed by the person with the swollen and bruised face.

And Dio had discovered what happened here only after these people had died.

This also indicated Dio's delay in collecting intelligence.

If his intelligence gathering had been very efficient, he wouldn't have appeared only after everyone was dead.

Emily fell into thought. Considering this alongside the Motomura Group case, it seemed Dio's intelligence gathering Ability might have a range.

Otherwise, Dio wouldn't have arrived at the building where the sniper team was located. He only showed up after encountering a sniper rifle attack during the Motomura Group incident.

The range for gathering intelligence should be within thirteen hundred meters.

If it exceeded this distance, he should've been able to detect the sniper team lying in ambush in the building.

Emily roughly made a judgment in her mind, then walked over to where the bamboo swords lay.

Her eyes scanned the bamboo swords that had been cut by a sword. She then looked at those with clear cut marks, as well as the intact ones.

Such a scene reminded her of how Hawkeye's three bullets hit the handgun.

How strange!

Emily bit her thumb. From this action, I can infer that the fallen deceased and Hawkeye both treated the bamboo swords as enemies.

If the bamboo swords were merely floating in the air, then it wouldn't explain why Hawkeye used anesthetic bullets to shoot at the handgun.

Simple hallucinations couldn't explain the injuries on the deceased either. It's not possible that Dio used illusions to deceive this person and then personally beat him repeatedly with a bamboo sword, is it?

Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to think of a reasonable answer.

Robert wasn't too concerned with those details; he was more interested in another point. "Did this guy awaken any Superpower?"

Emily came back to her senses and shook her head. "You can tell by looking at his expression.

If he had truly awakened a Superpower, he would not have this normal expression in death."

Ito Otome walked into the Sword Dojo a step later than the others. She only casually glanced at the wounds on the bodies and then at the sword. This was enough for her to confirm who had caused the deaths both inside and at the front desk outside.

She took out a small knife and cut Hazama Michio's cheek, confirming Emily's speculation. "No warm blood would gush out if I cut his cheek, which means he did not awaken a Superpower. These people here might have all been killed by him."

"It's getting dangerous in Tokyo with the appearance of a manslayer," Emily complained.

Robert was slightly taken aback. He took another look at Hazama Michio, whose face was swollen and bruised almost beyond recognition. Then he muttered, "I remember Japan had a swordmaster who loved to kill people with a real sword. His name was Hazama Michio.

He should have been hired by the Mitsui Group to deal with Dio; it looks like he's met Dio."

"He had it coming. People like you with ill intentions pursuing Dio all end up killed by him."

Robert just smiled at Emily's sarcasm.

He was a devout Evangelical Protestant.

He believed in the existence of God. He also believed that he was a resident of the 'city on a hill,' firmly convinced that only the United States could lead the nations of the world.

Therefore, Robert believed that all his actions were just.

Even smuggling those harmful items wouldn't affect his own righteousness.

Because they are residents of the city on a hill, their thoughts are different from those of ordinary people.

God grants life and also inflicts death and disease; can people call God cruel?

"I think you have a very deep misunderstanding of our CIA."

"No, I never misunderstand you."

Emily responded coldly, not sticking around. She had gotten all the information she needed and didn't want to spend another minute with this disgusting fellow.

She could see the arrogance hidden beneath Robert's gentle expression.

His attitude towards her was like an adult dealing with a little girl, truly nauseating.

With that thought, Emily stepped out of the Sword Dojo.

A refreshing evening breeze blew towards her, sweeping away the smell of blood from her nose.

She looked up.

The Tokyo night sky was a deep blue, without a speck of light.

It was like the path she was on chasing Dio, seemingly distant yet not close at all.

When will I be able to catch Dio?

A sigh flashed through her mind.

Robert followed Emily out, losing interest in the dead body once he confirmed it hadn't awakened any Superpower.

He shifted his focus elsewhere.

"Miss Emily, have you noticed that Dio always comes up with new methods of murder? Does it indicate that he develops a new Superpower every so often?"

Emily's gaze returned from the night sky. After pondering, her azure pupils suddenly widened.

That seemed to make sense! If he'd had many Superpowers from the start, then when facing multiple enemies, he would test them with different Superpowers. It would only create this gradual progression of killing methods if he gained a new Superpower periodically.

If that's the case, then this is troubling.

Not even Dio knows what Superpower he'll gain next; how could we possibly guess?

Once Dio gains another Superpower, the hard-earned intelligence gathered by the task force will be greatly devalued.

This will create a vicious cycle.

While we're still unclear about Dio's existing Superpowers, we'll be facing the emergence of new ones.

Hey, how could we possibly find him?

For the first time in her life, Emily felt a sense of discouragement.

Previously, she had thought that if she collected enough information, she would be able to catch Dio one day.

But now she seemed to see the hopeless and protracted reality, the energy within her gradually dispersing.

It's no use. He's completely uncatchable.

She stood frozen on the spot.

"If we want to catch Dio, we have to do it as soon as possible."

Robert's tone became serious.

He had initially said it offhandedly, but after some thought, he realized that the likelihood was very high.

If Dio gained a new Superpower every so often, it meant they needed to catch him as quickly as possible.

The longer they waited, the more troublesome Dio would become. It might even be possible that, in the latter stages, no technology in the world would pose a threat to Dio.

Robert's eyes narrowed slightly.

Dealing with Dio by normal means is impossible; we need to take some abnormal measures.

For instance, poison gas.

The thought flickered through Robert's mind, and he started to devise a plan, deciding to first submit it to Jack.

If Jack disagreed, he would escalate it to his superiors.

Even if he had connections within the CIA, he couldn't skip the necessary procedures.

Emily glanced at Robert and noticed that his face no longer maintained a gentle smile but revealed his true character.

It seemed as though frost could form between his eyebrows.

"What are you planning to do?"

"Please don't misunderstand, I just want to catch Dio."

Robert came to his senses, his face again showing a gentle smile, masking his true intentions.

"Don't mess around. This is Tokyo."

Emily had a sinking feeling, sensing that this man was likely to take some cruel measures.

Radicalism often equated to cruelty.

With modern technology, disregarding human casualties, it was indeed possible to kill Dio.

"Hahaha, I'm not that kind of person."

Robert laughed. However, in his heart, he had to admit that the petite woman did have some insight. She had guessed from his expressions alone that he might resort to harsh measures.

How vexing.

Robert disliked having his thoughts read by others. He also reflected that he hadn't done well enough, as he shouldn't have shown his true expressions so easily in front of others.

I must be more cautious next time.

Emily watched his receding figure, her brows furrowed deeply.

This man is very dangerous.

On second thought, she let out a long sigh. "Time to go back to sleep."

Facing an insurmountable barrier, she felt lost for the first time.