When Melody Summers and Sophie Thorne got home, Grandma and the others had already finished breakfast. Melody told them that Roman Rhodes had found someone to help renovate their villa.

The family was overjoyed to hear that the renovation on the villa had already begun.

Grandma and Miss Lowell pulled Winnie and Melody Summers aside. "Officer Rhodes saved us and found people to help renovate our villa," they said. "He’s still laid up in the hospital. We have to go pay him a visit."

Winnie Summers and Melody Summers nodded. They agreed they had to visit Officer Rhodes. After all, he wouldn’t have gotten hurt if he hadn’t been at their house.

Grandma and Miss Lowell hurried home to gather some fresh ingredients, even catching two fish from the backyard pond. They borrowed Sophie Thorne’s kitchen and prepared some light, nourishing dishes suitable for a patient.

As lunchtime approached, Melody Summers and Winnie Summers took the food containers and drove to Roman Rhodes’s hospital.

******

When word got out that Roman Rhodes had woken up, the police department sent several people to the hospital. They were there partly to check on his condition, and partly to discuss the three terrorist attacks that had occurred in the city the previous night.

Roman Rhodes was lying on his side on the hospital bed. An IV needle was in one hand, while the other flipped through a file his subordinate had brought him.

A young officer standing before the bed continued, "Captain Rhodes, that group of terrorists yesterday... they weren’t all adults. Unbelievably, there were several kids under sixteen. They had explosives strapped to their bodies... It was a full-on suicide attack..."

"We captured a few of them alive, but most committed suicide after being subdued. We managed to get one of them to talk. They’re from an organization called the Advent Sect. Their main headquarters in the neighboring province was completely wiped out, but they still have some remnant forces in other provinces..."

Roman Rhodes listened, his eyes still on the file. After a moment of thought, he said gravely, "The Crestview Hotel incident just happened, and now this group plans a terrorist attack... A coincidence this blatant means something is wrong. Start with Adler Enterprises. Investigate the connection between these two groups."

Roman Rhodes paused. ’I should tell them to focus on Hector Hayes,’ he thought. ’After all, the Adler and Hayes families were planning a marriage alliance. The Oceanus Hotel was reported before, and Melody Summers was insistent that there was something wrong with it when she submitted her tip.’

But Roman Rhodes didn’t say it out loud.

’Ever since the Oceanus Hotel was reported, the department had sent people to investigate, but they never found any concrete evidence. Roman had always suspected someone had tipped them off in advance—that there was a mole in the department.’

At that thought, Roman Rhodes subtly scanned the faces of his colleagues in the room. ’This investigation,’ he decided, ’will have to be handled quietly.’

Before long, it was lunchtime, and the visiting officers began to leave one by one.

After the officers had left, Ronan Rhodes came in, carrying a food container.

He placed the container on the table and said to Roman, "Uncle, you must be hungry. The housekeeper had this patient meal made especially for you. It’s all your favorites."

The Rhodes family chef was on par with any from a five-star hotel. Because of Roman’s injury, the meal was light yet exquisitely prepared.

But faced with this spread of fine cuisine, Roman just frowned and shook his head. "I have no appetite. You take it back and eat it. Don’t let it go to waste."

Hearing this, Ronan said anxiously, "That won’t do. How are you supposed to recover if you don’t eat?"

Roman pointed to the IV drip beside him. "I’m getting nutrients. It’s fine if I don’t eat. I really have no appetite. Just take it all away."

Seeing that Roman truly had no appetite, and that the smell of the food even seemed to be making him nauseous, Ronan could only pack up the dishes and carry them out.

After Ronan left, Roman was once again lost in thought.

He mentally constructed a timeline, reviewing his investigation plan against the remnants of the Adler family and the Hayes family.

Roman was pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, trying to figure out how to investigate Hector Hayes without tipping him off, when the door to his room was suddenly pushed open.

Ronan stood beaming in the doorway. "Uncle," he announced happily, "Miss Summers and her daughter are here to see you!"

Roman froze at his words. He jerked his head up, caught completely off guard by the sight of Winnie and Melody Summers standing in the doorway.

Winnie and Melody Summers followed Ronan into the room and placed the food containers they were carrying on the table.

Winnie’s smile was tinged with apology as she spoke. "Officer Rhodes, thank you so much for saving my family. I can’t imagine what would have happened last night if you hadn’t been there."

Melody Summers nodded in agreement. "Officer Rhodes, we feel terrible that you got hurt because of us. We’re so sorry."

Roman stared, slightly dazed by Winnie’s smile. He opened his mouth to say something, but for some reason, the moment he did, he choked on his own spit and broke into a fit of violent coughing.

"COUGH, COUGH COUGH—"

Alarmed, Ronan lunged forward. He started patting Roman’s back to help him catch his breath, asking anxiously, "Uncle! Uncle, what’s wrong? Is it your wound?"

Once he’d calmed down, Roman used Ronan’s body as a screen to subtly fix his hair. Then he pushed his nephew aside and said to Winnie, "Don’t say that. Protecting you is our duty as police officers. Besides, you saved me last night, too. If you hadn’t come back in time and killed Kenneth Adler, I would have been a goner."

Melody listened quietly from the side. ’On the way here,’ she thought, ’I kept worrying that the first thing Roman would do when he woke up was demand we hand over our gun.’

’Seeing that Officer Rhodes wasn’t making an issue of their illegal firearm possession, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.’

’Now, Melody could only pray that Roman would never bring up the gun. Otherwise, the trophy she had fought so hard to obtain would be confiscated...’

As Winnie opened the food containers one by one, she said, "Officer Rhodes, the elders at home made all of this. Please see if it’s to your liking."

Before Roman could answer, Ronan slapped his forehead and jumped in. "Oh, I forgot to mention! My uncle hasn’t had any appetite since he woke up. He probably can’t eat..."

Ronan hadn’t even finished his sentence before Roman shoved him aside again.

Roman smiled at Winnie. "Thank you. As it happens, I’m starving."

Ronan: ...?

Ronan shot his uncle a suspicious glance, but Roman completely ignored him, calmly accepting the bowl of fish ball soup from Winnie.

The fish, raised in Arcadian Stream Water, had delicate, tender meat. Grandma and Miss Lowell were masterful cooks; the soup was exquisite. The first taste was pure, savory freshness, with not the slightest hint of a fishy smell.

A tiny lotus leaf floated on top, a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate.

Roman downed the bowl of soup in a flash. He then devoured the tender stewed chicken with fresh mushrooms, the light and crisp stir-fried bok choy hearts, and a perfectly tender steak... He looked nothing like someone with a poor appetite, leaving Ronan to watch from the sidelines, completely dumbfounded.

Ronan himself was starting to wonder what it all tasted like. ’Why else would Uncle ignore the food from our own family’s master chef, but devour these seemingly ordinary dishes?’

Soon, Roman had polished off the entire four-course meal and soup that Winnie and Melody Summers had brought.

Seeing that Roman had finished, Winnie and Melody didn’t want to disturb his rest any further. They packed up the containers and prepared to leave.

Just as they were leaving, Melody asked Roman, "Officer Rhodes, yesterday’s terrorist attack... does it have anything to do with the Hayes family?"

Roman shook his head. "We don’t have any concrete evidence, but we’re still investigating."

Melody nodded thoughtfully at his words. Without saying anything more, she turned and left.