The Villain Who Invests in a Witch to Survive Chapter 69 : Chapter 69

Chapter 69 : Detective Ryan Is on the Case

Why?

Who was helping him?

Or perhaps this wager itself was rely a single move on a far larger chessboard, and what he had been allowed to see was only the most superficial corner of it.

Ryan did not know.

The Eye of Probability never explained reasons. It only displayed cold numbers and fragnted intentions.

It functioned more like a warning light than a navigation map.

But that was enough.

He had been given a chance to fight back from the brink.

Under the gaze of Princess Cecilia—calm on the surface yet faintly probing beneath—and amid the barely concealed excitent and anticipation shining in Andre and Wood’s eyes, Ryan heard his own voice respond steadily:

“I agree.”

If he were honest with himself, he had no experience solving cases. The detective novels and dramas he had watched in his previous life—how useful could they truly be in a real magical world, especially when soone might deliberately use magic to conceal traces?

Forty-eight hours.

His opponents had clearly co prepared and might even mobilize their family resources.

anwhile, he was almost entirely alone.

But a ten percent probability of failure ant there was a path forward.

Not rely a path—an open road.

As the saying went: ten percent against ninety percent. The advantage is mine.

And the first step to overturning the case could only be returning to the beginning.

The laboratory door bore the seal of the Disciplinary Committee. The dark purple wax stamp resembled a clot of dried blood under the dim corridor light.

Ryan took out the temporary investigation badge he had just obtained from his coat.

It was dark bronze, with a simple emblem etched along the rim: crossed scales and a sword.

He pressed it against the edge of the seal.

The badge trembled faintly and emitted a low hum. The wax seal softened and flowed on its own, silently revealing the lock beneath. Ryan pushed the door open.

A cold current rushed out first.

Not a physical cold.

It was the perceptual chill left behind by residual mana—like countless tiny needles gliding along the skin.

Inside the laboratory, the chaos of the explosion remained.

The window glass was covered in spiderweb cracks and coated with gray-white frost.

The twelve experint tables looked as though a giant had plowed violently through them. Fragnts of beakers, twisted tal stands, and strangely frozen remnants of potion residue were scattered everywhere.

The floor was covered with a grimy crust composed of ice crystals, dust, and dark blue liquid. Stepping on it produced faint cracking sounds, like walking across thin ice.

Ryan stood at the doorway, his gaze slowly sweeping across the room.

His experint table had been at the second position on the left side of the third row. It was relatively intact, with only a few shallow marks along the edges from flying debris.

Not far away, Robert Fischer’s workstation was a complete wreck.

Charred marks radiated outward in a circular pattern, and even the heavy stone tabletop had lost a corner.

Ryan stepped into the room.

His boots crunched on the icy fragnts. The air carried a complex scent: sharp sulfur and saltpeter mixed with the sweet yet faintly rancid sll of plant sap.

He stopped in front of his own workstation.

The cauldron fragnts had already been removed, but clear mana scorch marks remained on the surface of the table—deep purple, with jagged edges spreading irregularly outward. This was a typical sign of highly concentrated ice-elent mana being violently released and then rapidly frozen.

Ryan crouched down.

His fingertip hovered an inch above the scorch mark without touching it.

His skin could feel the lingering prickling chill, along with an extrely faint but restless ripple of residual mana.

When ordinary Ice Crystal Flowers experienced mana instability, the result was usually mild—most often the potion simply failed or produced minor splashes.

The explosive force here, combined with the lingering corrosive chill…

It resembled more a mutated reaction caused by abnormal activation of the Ice Crystal Flower’s properties.

Ryan stood up and walked toward a corner of the room that had been temporarily sealed off with a mana barrier.

The most representative explosion remnants had been piled there, awaiting further examination.

He presented his badge again. The barrier rippled and parted.

Inside, the debris had been neatly categorized.

The largest pile consisted of twisted fragnts of heating magic tools, their tal surfaces coated with frost crystals.

Beside them lay fragnts of containers made from various materials—glass, ceramic, and even alloys mixed with mithril.

Further inside were several sample boxes preserved with ice-sealing magic. Within them were small amounts of potion residue that had not fully vaporized, along with suspicious powdered substances.

Ryan’s gaze settled on the sample boxes.

He extended his hand, hovering it above the ice-sealed layer. Closing his eyes, he steadied his breathing and slowly extended his mana perception outward.

Unfortunately, the result was the sa as before.

Ryan opened his eyes, a glint of cold light flickering deep within his pupils.

He left the isolation area and walked toward the temporary investigation desk set up near the laboratory entrance.

A young student in a Disciplinary Committee uniform was dozing at the desk. Hearing footsteps, he jolted awake and hurriedly pushed his glasses back into place.

“I would like to access the original data report for the complete component analysis conducted at the accident site.”

Ryan placed the badge on the table.

The young committee mber looked at the badge, then at Ryan’s face. His expression hesitated.

“Well… the committee has regulations. The original data cannot be casually—”

“Right now we follow Princess Cecilia’s rules,” Ryan interrupted calmly. “This badge represents Her Highness. During the investigation period, both parties involved in the case have the right, upon presenting valid authorization, to review all original inspection records and evidence lists that do not involve the committee’s internal deliberations. If there is any problem, you may consult Her Highness.”

Ryan spoke with complete ease.

After all, there was no reason not to make use of the princess’s authority.

The young committee mber choked back his words. He clearly recognized the badge and had heard about what had happened earlier in the committee building.

Under the protection of the princess’s authority, he did not dare argue further.

He quickly unlocked a cabinet beneath the desk and retrieved a thick volu bound with special enchanted paper, sliding it across the table.

“You… you can only read it here. It cannot be taken away, and it cannot be copied…” he added quietly.

Ryan ignored the comnt and opened the volu imdiately.

Pages rustled.

Every large fragnt was recorded in detail: its discovery location, dinsions, material analysis, and the mana residue patterns attached to its surface.

There were chromatographic analyses of potion residues.

Three-dinsional recordings of mana disturbances in the air.

Even microscopic examinations of the splatter found on the clothing of injured students.

Ryan scanned rapidly.

His finger moved down lines of data and across intricate diagrams depicting mana patterns.

All the samples detected contained highly active ice-elent mana. Their fluctuation patterns closely matched Ice Crystal Flowers whose mana had been activated due to improper storage.

Ryan closed the volu.

His fingertip lightly tapped the hard cover.

If Ice Crystal Flowers lost their constant-temperature protection during transportation, the internal energy could indeed gradually activate and beco extrely unstable.

That explanation sounded perfectly reasonable.

At the mont, the first step—the scene itself—revealed no clear clues.

Next ca the second step.

The rchant caravan responsible for the delivery.

His own family’s caravan?

Ryan’s brow furrowed slightly.

Viscount William Velt had rarely concerned himself with business affairs in recent years. Most family matters were barely maintained by several elderly stewards. Ryan himself had never intervened in the daily operations of the Northern Star Trading Company.

But based on his understanding of those old stewards—

They were rigid, conservative, and valued the family’s reputation more than their own lives.

It was impossible for them to purchase goods that were flawed from the very beginning.

If the problem did not originate from the caravan…

Then where had it appeared?

During transportation?

In the academy’s warehouse?

Or perhaps even earlier…