Grand Ascension-Chapter 58: MIO

He remembered it clearly. That was Zuri’s address he saw five days ago on the internet. He had gone there two times, he could not be confused.

That meant something happened to her.

The guy just reported that the apartment was torn apart. Furniture overturned, walls cracked, and blood on the floor. She had been in danger.

Did she get hurt? Is she alive?

Makun could clearly remember her chasing him out, saying how she saw nothing in the readings. She later said she did not want to get involved with him.

Is it related to me? He had to know.

Jorg nodded at Marks report. He had already gotten news from the message. Mark’s presence now was to get directives on how to act.

"I am going on site," Jorg said. "In the meantime, write a report and inform the MIO. That’s their area of jurisdiction."

The Veil Enforcement Bureau was one of the eight branches of the Suppression Bureau, and they mostly took care of entity breaches, large-scale mystical phenomena, and contained Tier 1–3 threats.

However, investigating mystic-related murder or determining if incidents were mystical or mundane was not in their jurisdiction. That was the work of the MIO.

The Mystic Investigation Office.

Compared to the VEB, who had at least three branches in every state, an MIO branch had supervision over three states.

The headquarters of the sub-branch related to Naija City was in Houston, a city next to Naija City.

Before the disastrous conflicts that happened in 2026 to 2029, Naija City was not known as Naija City. It only became Naija City after the huge changes implemented by the young president of the USA.

Before, Naija City was known as Galveston.

The MIO branch located in Houston, were responsible for the state of Texas, New Mexico and Louisana.

Jorg looked at Makun. "You are free, you can depart," he said plainly.

He had done what Yime had asked. He did even more, as Makun had advanced from grade one to grade two in a span of hours. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Stood behind Jorg was a conflicted Makun. Should he tag along with Jorg or go alone at a later time?

He could mention to Jorg that he had a friend who lived there, then depart with him. That was the best choice if he wanted to know how she was, if what happened was related to him, get information from them as they analyzed the apartment.

But he knew such a choice had downsides. If they linked him to zuri, then linked him to the incident that might have happened to her. He was going to be scene as troublesome.

That is because it is going to be the second incident he was related to.

He doubted if she should really ask that, but the advantages were better.

"Can I tag along? I have a friend who lived there," he said, never mentioning Zuri.

Jorg looked behind him, staring at Makun. He was not a member of the VEB. He had no right to go on site. That was disclosure of classified information, and that was punishable by the Suppression Bureau.

"Let’s go," Jorg nodded.

Mark, who had wanted to revolt against Makun, could only shut up and grit his teeth internally.

.....

Bol scratched a name off the paper for the second time in 2 days. Five names left. He thought.

"He is not here," he said, folding the paper and sliding it into his jacket pocket. "We proceed to Salvation Army."

Cheryl groaned from the passenger seat. She was sprawled out, one boot propped against the dashboard, staring at the roof like it had insulted her. "Another shelter, Another night of watching people shuffle in and out, Doing nothing. Great."

She was bored out of her mind. The last time she had her fun was on Sunday. The day they went against Zorak.

She had loved every minute of it. It was fun and exciting.

"Do you know what day it is now? Tuesday. Three days, two nights of sitting in cars, watching doors, doing noooooothing," she said, gripping her doll hard.

"We are close," Bol said.

"Close to losing my mind," she pouted, her usual smile and giggle absent.

They had been busy going from one homeless shelter to the other. After interrogating Zuri, they had reached the conclusion that Makun was in a homeless shelter. How did they figure that out?

First, they knew that on Friday, Makun went to see Zuri. He probably went there for a reading. That was certain. The spirit led them there and Zuri had confirmed it.

After the consultation, he left, but experienced something that removed the signature held by the higher-ups. From the interrogation they conducted, they knew Makun was evicted on Saturday.

This meant he had left that street.

His neighbors had avoided speaking of him like he was a plague. Therefore, he was someone who had no relations, friends, or close people he could crash out at.

A broke man with nowhere to go. Either you slept outside or went to homeless shelters.

That was the conclusion reached by Bol and Cheryl.

They had no Idea how he looked, which is why whenever they went to a shelter, they searched for oddities. Mystics, that were strong, Humans with very weak spiritual energy, weak rogue mystics that were in hiding.

However, till now they found nothing of the sort.

"What if we cannot find him? What do we report?" Cheryl asked, a tinge of fear in her usual playful voice.

They were given a fixed time in which they had to carry out their mission. Truth be said, they did not really understand how their organization worked. All they knew was that tasks came from the higher-ups and you had to complete them.

If not, trouble.

Gulp.

Bol swallowed.

"We are definitely finding him. We go through the remaining five shelters from today to Sunday," Bol said, acknowledging Cheryl’s fear.

"Like I said, we start today here at the Salvation Army shelter. Sunday we are going to Hope Shelter, at the edge of the city," he said.