Lon wearily sank onto the bed, feeling the tension slowly leave his body. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The day had been hard. Too hard.
«What the hell is going on?»
First, the boiler overheating, then dead technicians, signs of a struggle, a possible murderer, and now — the tense silence that had enveloped the hospital.
Lon ran a hand over his face, trying to organize his thoughts.
«I just need to calm down...»
He took long, deep breaths until he felt completely at ease. It helped him focus on one thing, pushing all unnecessary thoughts aside.
Taking a heavy breath, Lon began:
«What's happening...?» — he asked himself.
Slowly, he closed his eyes, and his mind started working, weaving together all the logical — and illogical — conclusions into a single network.
This was no coincidence. Too many strange events at once.
«So, what do we have?»
Lon opened his eyes and started analyzing.
«An explosion at my workplace, possible bomb attempts in the hospital, and constant news about small riots in the Black District — attempts by the lower class to draw attention to themselves. How is all this connected?»
Like any respectable gentleman in Seon, Lon, of course, read the newspapers that arrived at the hospital. And the news he got from them helped him a lot. For example, the reports about active riots in the Black District.
The lower class was trying to attract attention, hoping the authorities would at least provide some aid or increase their wages.
But their attempts were in vain. After all, for the Five Structures, they didn't matter much.
Seon was one of the best cities in the eastern region, constantly attracting people from different places in search of opportunity. Did the Five Structures care about the opinions of a few troublemakers?
Of course not. If some cause problems, let them, but they'll simply be replaced with more suitable candidates.
But connecting these riots and the recent explosions... It all started to seem strange.
«Could someone — or something — be behind these events?» — Lon wondered.
«But who? Someone trying to destroy Seon? Or is this an attack against the Five Structures? Maybe it's all just a distraction? It could be — because openly attacking Seon with riots and explosions seems like nothing more than a smokescreen to hide the real truth.»
«But what do they hope to achieve? Territory, power, wealth?»
Various thoughts swirled in Lon's mind, but he couldn't find a single definitive answer.
Then he remembered Gord Lebet and his guards. Interest flickered in his eyes when the engineer mentioned the missing fourth technician. The guardsman had latched onto that detail.
«So, he suspected something too… But I also found it strange. Why did three people from a four-person team suddenly die, while the fourth just vanished...?»
«The most obvious explanation is that Balen is the killer... But is it really that simple? Could he be just another puppet? Most likely — after all, the three of them strangled each other before dying. It's entirely possible that Balen was also controlled to create an easy scapegoat.»
But there was something else that bothered Lon.
«Why did Miss Sali go to check the boilers alone instead of alerting others about the danger?»
Before, he hadn't paid much attention to this, but now, it seemed odd.
«Did she have no chance to warn anyone? No, she was faster than me — she easily could have. Did she not want to? She works here — why wouldn't she want to prevent a disaster?»
Thinking about this, a slow chill crept up Lon's spine.
«Why? Could she be involved in this somehow...?»
The thought struck him suddenly, and the more he considered it, the more plausible it seemed.
«If that's the case, it explains a lot... Realizing that someone in the hospital had noticed her scheme, she rushed downstairs to try and cover it up — to make it look like she had nothing to do with it.»
«But why is the plan so sloppy?! Why does it feel rushed? There are so many holes... easy to spot... Even Sali acted unprofessionally...» — Lon began to doubt the intelligence of these people.
«Either way, I need to stay away from Sali — or better yet, tell Sir Gord and let him handle it.»
Lon sighed.
«Not even a month has passed since I ended up in this world... and things are already getting crazy...»
The city had always lived by its own laws. Its streets were like a vast mechanism filled with countless gears — each part playing its role. The hospital, the factories, the workshops, the shops— everything worked precisely and seamlessly.
But when something breaks...
When a grain of sand gets caught between the gears...
The whole mechanism could fall apart.
Lon glanced out the window again. Dirigibles drifted slowly through the sky, their signal horns echoing in the distance. The city seemed calm, orderly.
But that was just an illusion.
«Beneath this facade of order, there is always so much chaos...»
The only question was — who was controlling it?
Lon smirked.
He wasn't a politician. He wasn't a guardsman like Lebet. He wasn't a doctor like John or Vosen. Hell, even his engineering skills weren't truly his own.
But he knew how to observe.
And how to analyze.
It had helped him in his past world.
And it would help him here too.