Case At The Powerplant

The conversation they had was incredibly interesting to say the least. In all of the thousands of years he had lived, Zhongli had never been as surprised as he was right now. The talk between different reality beings was interesting as it is, and he was rather amused by the talk they were all having.

He must say, all of these characters were certainly interesting. They all had rather interesting details about themselves, and it had really piqued his interest. But, what he was most surprised by and also curious about was when the power rankings were shown after they all introduces themselves.

They had all already said their farewells to one another as it had been two hours since their conversation as most of them had other things to attend to. Even then, Zhongli couldn't help but still continue thinking about the power rankings.

According to the chat group, he was listed as the third strongest out of them all.

That in itself was more than enough to catch his immediate attention, he was an Archon after all, he was a literal god here. He was also one of the oldest archons as well as one of, if not, the strongest of all the current seven Archons.

Years ago, he had been able to defeat countless other deities that fought to achieve the title of Archon, and that was proof enough that he was incredibly powerful. But, it seems that two specific individuals were considered stronger than himself.

It was true that he was much weaker than he was all those years ago, but he was still very powerful in other people's eyes, even the other Archons. Even without accessing the power of Celestia through his Gnosis, he still held immense power under his belt.

If he was to assume that the chat group ranked them with his full power from Celestia included, just how powerful were both Maou and Yamato? Zhongli knew that Maou was a Demon King, so that might be why he was ranked higher than him. He wasn't certain just how powerful a Demon King is supposed to be, but were they stronger than the gods?

Being someone who took one of the seats as an Archon, that showed that he was a cut above the rest of the gods. So, the fact that both Maou and Yamato were ranked higher than even himself seemed to say that they were stronger than the Seven Archons.

But, the two main questions in Zhongli's mind was how much stronger, and what were their powers? What kind of powers did a Demon King hold? What kind of power did Yamato hold? The boy did say his nick name of 'Last Future' had something to do with his powers, though that didn't really help Zhongli conclude anything.

Instead, it honestly brought him even more questions.

But, all that told him was that there were truly more wonders out there past the known reality he lived in. Wonders that he himself probably couldn't even comprehend. He, who was one of The Seven, he who slew many ancient gods.

It wasn't that both Yuna and Akane weren't interesting even if the chat group stated that they were weaker than himself, the fact alone that they came from an entirely different reality is more than enough for him to have incredible interest in them.

As he walked through the streets of Liyue, he couldn't help but form a small smile on his face.

----------------------------------------------------

At the current time, Yamato was calmly sitting inside of a car while staring out the window as the rush of wind caused his hair to sway violently. An older male who was probably in his mid-forties was driving as he appeared to be wearing a blue police uniform.

"Where exactly are we going, dad?"

The man that was driving the car was Kurenai Kyoga, the father of Yamato in this life. As you have obviously figured out by now, the man worked as a police officer. He was a rather high-ranking officer as well, so he had quite the influence as well when it came to things like investigations and such.

"I need your help with a certain case. Considering your intelligence, you'll be a great help." Kyoga replied with a small smile as Yamato rose an eyebrow at the man. Kyoga was fully aware of how smart his own son was, as well as how observant he was. "It's a murder case, a rather brutal one at that."

"You do know that your superiors aren't gonna be happy with me being there. Remember what happened the last time you brought me along?" Yamato deadpanned as he recalled the childish scolding that his father had received. True, Yamato helped greatly in solving the case, but he was still considered a civilian and shouldn't have the right to be on the crime scene.

"Nah, it's fine. They actually got pretty chill with it since the case was solved." Kyoga laughed as Yamato rolled his eyes. "By the way, speaking of your intelligence. Why did you refuse to apply for the Advanced Nurturing High School? You're definitely smart enough to be accepted."

"Cause to hell with that. It sounded real boring, and the fact that I would be forced to stay there for all my high school years, hell to that." Yamato bluntly replied with a deadpan. "Also, you know how much mom would freak due to her overprotectiveness. Oh yeah, she ain't gonna be happy with you bringing me to another crime scene."

"It's fine, she'll forgive me." Yamato rose an eyebrow at this in doubt as he remembered that bruise that his dad had on his right eye the last time his mother figured out what he had done. "Also, you won't need to worry about having to stay there for the three years if you do apply. I have some special connections that will allow me to get your free access to leave whenever you wish."

"You mean the fact that you're one of the government head's underlings?"

This was something that Yamato took notice of in this world that was different to his previous world. The government of this world functioned a bit differently. The government was made up of ten different main figures that all focused on a specific field, and the one that his father worked under was the one that was tasked with maintaining security and public law.

Under each government head were fifteen underlings that each also had their own hierarchy, and on that list, Yamato's dad was ranked at fifth. The superior that works with Kyoga was actually the first-ranked underling of their specified government head.

"Wh-What? How did you know?!"

Yamato stared at his dad with a blank look as he replied. "Dad, you literally mentioned that I was incredibly observant. Also, you're an absolutely abhorred liar. Even a little kid would be able to tell when you're lying out of your ass."

Kyoga felt an invisible arrow strike through his chest as he visibly recoiled.

"Oi, don't swerve off the road!" Yamato shouted with a tick-mark on his forehead as the car performed a few swerves. Yamato gave a small sigh as he looked back at his father. "Back to the main topic. Why do I need to go? I'm going to school, isn't that enough?"

"Oh, but as you know, Yamato. This school isn't normal, it has a whole lot more that you can benefit from." Kyoga smiled as he continued driving as Yamato narrowed his eyes at the older man. "You already know that the school is government funded, and that it is far more different than your average high school."

"No freaking duh. The school itself is a city, it's more than just different from your average high school." Yamato sighed as he rubbed his temples with a bit of annoyance. "I still don't get why you want me to go so bad. Can I really even benefit from going there?"

"If I'm honest, not quite sure. That entirely depends on you. You still have time to decide and do the entrance exam tests, their year has yet to start." Kyoga chuckled as he said this. "Plus, with my authority, I can make it so you can leave the school grounds. Don't want you being away from us for all those years."

"You just want me to help you with more cases, don't you?"

"No... maybe."

----------------------------------------------------

After around ten minutes of driving, the both of them had finally arrived at the place that Yamato's dad was currently investigating with his team. The place itself appeared to be an abandoned electrical power plant near the outskirts of the city, and from what Yamato knew, the place still had some residual electricity running through it.

Yamato looked out the window of the car as they began slowing down, he could see a number of police officers walking around and writing things down as quite a lot of restriction tape was used to block off any outsiders from potentially entering the place, especially people who were daredevils.

Helping his dad with cases like this were probably the only real source of boredom relief he had due to the lack of supernatural elements in the world. Though, maybe he was wrong and that there were really supernatural things in this world and that he had just not managed to find them. He could keeps his hopes up at least.

"Alright, let's get down to business, Yamato." Kyoga spoke as the both of them got out of the car. Not too long after, one of the officers ran over towards them. "Any progress on finding clues as to what may have happened here?"

"Unfortunately not, sir. Whoever had committed the crime had fled the scene before we had arrived, though we have managed to get some finger prints and such." The police officer explained, though he soon took notice of Yamato. "Oh, Yamato! Why are you here?"

"Ask my dad."

"S-Sir, you didn't..."

"What? He's here to help."

"I give up..." The police officer shook his head as he gave a sigh. It was obvious that this guy knew exactly the type of person Kyoga was, and also that he had the tendency to drag people into the case, and by people, that meant Yamato. "Thanks for the help then, Yamato. Hopefully with you insight, we'll get this case finished with."

"I'll try my best."