-27- The Tower

A dozen minutes later, the piercing wail of a siren shattered the silence of the rainy night. A police hovercraft, flashing with cold blue light, descended precisely in front of the Grony Clinic.

Several officers stepped out, subdued the terrified Goss Grony, and began a thorough search of the clinic. They seized a number of gray transaction records, hidden within various magi-tech terminals, heavily encrypted and disguised as mundane invoices.

The findings were shocking, involving substandard counterfeit medicine, illicit addictive drugs, illegal arms trafficking, and the sale of restricted spells—a litany of crimes both extensive and appalling.

Faced with these exposed records and incriminating evidence provided by a mysterious anonymous whistleblower, Goss, who had been swaggering and triumphant only moments before, collapsed as if struck by lightning. He was unceremoniously dragged into the police cruiser, meeting the same fate as Reger Hoffman.

In a dark corner of the street outside the clinic, standing beneath an umbrella, Rosalind stared blankly at the sudden turn of events. "Teacher... was this... your doing?"

Yvette nodded slightly and said coolly, "In the Blackwater District, unless you are a saint, everyone is more or less involved in the gray market; it only depends on how well they hide it. And unfortunately for them, I am quite skilled at digging these things up."

Like Rosalind, Yvette had been deeply intrigued by the anonymous whistleblower behind the collapse of the Hoffman family. Especially since the tip-off had occurred one month after she joined the clinic—a month during which the clinic had seen a surge of new patients drawn by rumors of the "pretty little nurse." This led her to suspect that had she not suddenly requested to observe at the clinic, the report might never have been filed.

Using her own runic hacking techniques, Yvette traced the origin of the anonymous email sent to the police station. It had come from the Grony Clinic just 1.5 kilometers away, without any attempt at obfuscation or counter-surveillance. Combined with information gathered from Mrs. Susan, the answer became clear.

This was a simple, pure case of market competition. Goss had known for a long time that Reger was practicing without a license, but back then, the Grony Clinic still had plenty of business, and its income and profit margins were higher than Reger's. Goss hadn't bothered to hold a grudge. However, with the influx of new patients caused by "someone," business had been siphoned away to Reger's side. Even though Goss was still earning more, the sight of his own clinic growing quiet made him restless, prompting him to send the anonymous tip.

That led to the events of today. In a sense, Yvette was indeed the catalyst for the entire chain of events. But this was certainly not her fault; her decision to help the Hoffmans find the whistleblower and retaliate in kind was born of sympathy and her own distaste for Goss. She could not ensure that good people were rewarded, but she could ensure that bad people had a far less comfortable life.

Furthermore, this was a valuable opportunity for her student to grow. In the wasteland, where it was just the two of them, the limitations of their environment meant that Rosalind could not experience many of the setbacks necessary to transition from innocence to maturity. Through this "dream," she had finally filled that gap, and Yvette felt she had fulfilled her duty as a teacher.

...

The autumn rain ended as quickly as it had begun. They had only walked a few steps on their way back when the sky cleared. The dark clouds dissipated, revealing a silver crescent moon adorned with starlight, forming a hazy and magnificent galaxy.

Rosalind, who had become the umbrella-bearer, closed it and followed in her teacher's footsteps, step by step. Looking up at the strange, unfamiliar starscape, she suddenly gave a dry cough and, with a shy and hesitant tone, tentatively asked, "Teacher... did you... investigate Doctor Goss because of me?"

"No," Yvette replied without a ripple in her voice, her pace never slowing.

"Really?" Rosalind trotted to catch up, glancing sideways at Yvette’s elegant jawline, her skepticism thick and unmistakable. She still believed that her teacher had done it for her. After all, Yvette was a hermit master who had weathered countless storms and seen through the vanities of the world. She had even warned Rosalind that everything in the dream was fake, yet Rosalind’s lingering obsession had forced the teacher to intervene and shatter her inner fixation.

"No," came the firm reply.

"That means yes!" Rosalind retorted just as firmly.

"No."

"Yes!"

"..."

Yvette glanced at her, closed her mouth, and lapsed into complete silence. Rosalind didn't mind, let out a soft laugh, and strode toward the Wright Apartments with long, confident steps.

A few days later, news of Goss being taken away by the police spread through Acid Street, causing those who had known the truth—like Susan, Hans, and Mary—to applaud. Following that, as if history were repeating itself, the Grony Clinic shut down in the wake of the scandal.

But unlike before, no one visited Goss’s relatives to offer condolences. Moreover, in his sentencing, Goss fared much worse—the sheer volume of his illegal activities and gray-market dealings, though individually small, led to a 12-year prison sentence, double that of Reger’s six years.

On the evening of Goss’s sentencing, the sunset melted into gold, casting a soft halo over the apartment's wide window frames. Rosalind leaned against the window, watching Mrs. Susan busy at her street stall below, but her mood was entirely different from days past.

"Teacher, I heard from Hans that the reason Mr. Reger Hoffman received a lighter six-year sentence was that a 'kind soul' had paid off the judge and the jury. But he didn't know who it was, because there were so many people visiting the house at the time."

"Hmm."

"Was that you, Teacher?"

"What do you think?" Yvette sat on the sofa, looking at the text on the holographic screen without looking up, her voice calm.

"I think it definitely was."

"Why?"

"Because you said you were going to buy me the latest magi-tech terminal, but you still haven't saved up enough money yet." Rosalind made a sour face, unable to stop herself from sneaking a glance at her teacher's expression. "Well, I'm not hinting. Definitely not."

The corners of Yvette's mouth curled up slightly. She lowered her eyes and did not respond.

She had made it clear to her student previously that her 500,000 credit points were reserved for purchasing *Elemental Decay Completion Techniques*, so there was no spare cash to help the Hoffman family.

However, the reality was that her welding gun had found a new client in the neighboring Gray Harbor City, providing her with enough surplus after buying the professional texts. Using half of that money to pull strings had secured the lenient sentencing, reducing Reger's original 10-year minimum to six.

As for where the other half of the surplus went? Well, looking at Goss, who had spent a fortune on lawyers only to receive a heavy sentence, the answer seemed quite clear.

Receiving no response from Yvette, though perhaps silence was a form of answer itself, Rosalind lowered her head, content, and continued to watch the street scene below.

Then, she saw Briel, wearing the meticulously tailored uniform of the Black Tower Middle School, appear on the street with two small followers. They looked around, as if searching for someone. Finding no one, they ran to Mrs. Susan's stall, ordered a pancake each with egg and sausage, and walked away while eating.

The twilight light fell upon the three young elites, casting long shadows on the dirty road. Watching this scene, a smile appeared on Rosalind's face. Just as she was about to say something to her teacher, she saw the world before her become illusory. The familiar wallpaper, the window frame, and the commotion below all rippled and melted like an oil painting dipped in warm water, dissolving into swirling, dreamlike vortices of color.

"It's over." Yvette, dressed in a pure white gown, stood up and walked behind her. On her slender finger was a brand-new magi-tech ring. Inside it were the professional documents worth 500,000 credits, and the key to the estate's future energy supply.

"Yes, it's over..." Rosalind murmured, her expression dazed.

...

By evening, the two had returned to the real world. Riding a nearly totaled magi-tech motorcycle, they made their way from the Blackwater District back to the estate in the Central District.

Passing the ruins of the Black Tower—shattered, overgrown with lush green plants, yet still looming high above—Rosalind sat in the passenger seat, unable to stop herself from looking up, lost in thought.

She remembered that for Hans and Mary, the Hoffman parents' greatest hope was for them to graduate from Black Tower Middle School, move on to university, join Black Tower Pharmaceuticals, and eventually rise to the very top of Ish City.

That was the limit of the Hoffman family’s imagination for a bright future, and that dream would likely never be realized now. A wave of sadness washed over her. She thought that if one day she could cross the Broken Abyss and return home, she would build a tower there, too.

But not a black tower. A white one—a tower like a lighthouse that could dispel all darkness in the night.

A tower like her teacher.