Maksym Pachesiuk
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Moon Cultivation [Book 2] - Chapter 105: Spiders in the Web
🕑 Added 2025-07-11 23:36:00 +0000 UTCIt was the first time I’d seen fog through a window here. Not that there were many windows around. Even Adam and Lina’s room didn’t have a real one, just a screen that displayed the view from one of the city cameras on Earth. And it wasn’t even clear if it was a live feed or a recording. On Verdis, if you wanted greenery, you had to go to the greenhouse.
Still, I had come across a few panoramic windows with impressive views: the indoor garden in the medical block, the one at Marco’s, and the very window I was looking through now — the one in Novak’s apartment.
Tonight, the view was anything but impressive. The evening fog had swallowed everything like a thick grey smoke. Even the distant building lights couldn’t break through.
Changes outside didn’t mean changes inside. Silence. Wood. The scent of apples, citrus, pine, and honey. Each of us had been poured a different tea, so Novak hadn’t used the usual teapot. Instead, we had tall handleless cups with lids.
I’d been given Pure Thoughts. That alone was enough to tell me this wasn’t going to be a light conversation. But there were other signs too. For instance, Adam was sitting in ‘my’ chair. Lina had perched beside him, right on the armrest, one arm around his shoulders. Her smile never faded and it was that wicked, playful look of hers I was now hiding from at the window.
We still had a few minutes before Novak returned from the room where he kept his treasures, and I didn’t want to waste them talking about my taste in porn.
Better for Lina to terrorise Kate instead. She was sitting directly across from her.
Novak returned to the lounge with quick, purposeful steps.
“Let’s begin,” he said, firmly, and handed out tablets.
I grabbed mine quickly and took my seat.
“The first phase of surveillance is complete. We’ve got a cadet with a confirmed addiction, and we’ve got the name of a dealer.”
Novak looked me in the eye. The look was so sharp, it unsettled me.
“Congratulations, Jake,” he said. “The demons are involved.”
Kate didn’t react immediately. Her eyes flicked from Novak to me, then to Adam and Lina, then back to Novak. Her eyes widened slightly, like someone who’d just learned something fundamentally new about a game they were already playing.
“Demons?” she repeated quietly, more to herself than anyone else.
Adam reached for his cup, removed the lid, and handed it to Lina before repeating the same motion with his own. He took just a single sip and didn’t even look up. Lina, meanwhile, smiled even wider and winked at Kate, which only made the awkwardness worse.
Well, since the tea ritual had begun, I picked up my own cup and took a sip. A clear head, it seemed, would come in handy very soon.
Kate opened her mouth, then closed it again. Apparently, she decided to wait.
“We’ve been through this already, Kate,” Novak said with mild annoyance, calmly unfolding his tablet. “You’d best get used to it.”
“Yes, Master,” she muttered with a grimace. This time, however, she had the courage to push back.
“I know demons hijack bodies. I also know the most reliable method of confirmation is direct confrontation, after which they usually try to commit suicide to switch hosts.”
She paused dramatically.
“And every time that happens, the School buzzes with rumours. This time there were no rumours. Which means you handled it quietly. Tucked him away in some basement.
“If that’s the case, I don’t understand what you gain by sharing this with us. With me and Jake,” she clarified.
I was impressed by her analysis. And Novak — clearly pleased.
“Oh! Not bad,” he smiled. “Although you’re underestimating Jake. He’s been quite helpful all along. In fact, he’s the one who found us this demon.”
“And not just that one!” Lina chimed in, earning a stern look from the master.
Apparently, that piece of information wasn’t meant for my ears.
I pretended not to notice. Novak pretended not to notice that I’d noticed. And we moved on.
“Jake proposed a theory: that the dealers themselves are demons, or at least that demons are behind the distribution. And their ability to avoid attention for so long comes down to storage rings.”
“So,” I said, “the dealer used a ring?”
“No,” Novak replied. “The dealer is just a mule. He doesn’t even know who’s behind him. He’s being used.”
“What about the scanning, the diagnostics, the tailored substance selection?” I asked.
“A show. Half-acting, half-assisted by specialised diagnostic programmes.”
“That doesn’t add up,” I said.
The Pure Thoughts had kicked in, and I could now clearly see the flaw in Novak’s logic.
“The dealer Liang Shi picked up definitely used a ring. Otherwise, how did he get rid of the product?”
I took another sip of Pure Thoughts for a brain recharge.
“There was no ring,” said Novak, smiling.
“Then there was something else!” I insisted. “The trinket!”
“The trinket isn’t a storage device,” Novak assured me. “The trinket is a key.”
A key to what? To a storage? It makes no difference to what I’ve said.
I got that he was enjoying himself, but I’d really like to understand all of this before midnight.
“Sir, could you please stop torturing us and just tell us everything? This is why we’re here, isn’t it?”
“All right,” Vaclav chuckled. “Lina,” he said with a gesture.
And from there, the explanation was handed off to his disciple. She took her final sip before a long monologue, detached herself from Adam, and began:
“I tracked your Mtembei. He buys the substance two hours before his cultivation session in the Flow Chamber.
“According to the logs, three weeks ago his qi absorption rate increased by thirty-seven percent, and he doubled his cultivation time at the very next reassessment.
“We’re fairly confident he’s buying a variant of Pure Thought from the dealer.”
I glanced involuntarily at my own cup. Pure Thoughts was the first thing Novak ever sponsored me with.
Lina caught my glance and smiled, but this time refrained from a sharp comment and continued in a businesslike tone.
“Mtembei messages the seller an hour before the meeting.
“The seller responds, and they meet at a pre-arranged location.
“The seller hands Mtembei an ampoule. Mtembei transfers the appropriate sum to the seller’s physical wallet. Then they go their separate ways.”
Lina raised a finger just as Kate and I both opened our mouths to ask something.
“I’m not done!” she said.
“The meetings always take place at one of several set locations. But the buyer never knows in advance where it will be. The dealer always arrives empty-handed.
“The first time I saw this, I thought he really was using a ring. The next time, I paid closer attention and noticed him doing something with his pendant — which only confirmed my earlier theory.
“But then we noticed a strange pattern: all of the meeting spots are located near gathering formations.”
I couldn’t help asking:
“You mean the ones that collect Qi and redirect it to the Flow Chamber system?”
“Yes,” Lina answered briefly, and continued. “We selected several formations located in less crowded areas and installed hidden cameras nearby.”
She looked at Novak, who gave a nod.
“The videos are on your tablets,” she said.
The footage was already queued up, just waiting for the play button.
The screen showed a skewed angle overlooking a set of vending machines — the same kind scattered all over the school.
A second-period cadet walked up, glanced around discreetly, and bought himself a can of fizzy drink. Then he moved to the side of the machine and leaned against it. His hand slid along the wall… and passed straight through it.
When he withdrew it, his fist was clenched around something.
Moments later, a first-year arrived. Not Mtembei.
The dealer handed him a metal ampoule and showed him a small metallic stick. They both looked at it together.
The cadet did something on the interface, and the dealer smiled.
They parted ways. The seller dropped the metal stick, presumably the wallet, into the wall, finished his drink, tossed the can into a bin, and walked off.
The wall... It didn’t resemble how Novak used a ring at all.
As I raised a slightly baffled look, Novak gestured for me to watch the next clip.
In that video, nothing unusual happened. The camera angle matched that of a standard surveillance feed.
Same vending machines. Same cadets. The second-period bought a drink, lingered while sipping it. The first-year arrived. They exchanged a few words. Then they both walked off.
“Real-time AI video masking,” Novak explained. “Similar to what they used in the metro when they tried to kill you.”
“But now we have proof,” Kate said. “So what’s next?” she asked. “Do we grab him?”
Novak leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together, flexing them slowly. His face remained calm.
“No. We don’t tear the web until we see all the spiders on it. We need links. Names. And most importantly — we need to understand the purpose.
“I still don’t know what they’re really after. So I’ve decided to take a different approach.”
He looked at me again.
“And you’re going to help me with it.”
Novak picked up his tablet, selected a photo, and passed it to me.
“I know this guy,” I confirmed what Vaclav clearly already knew. “He trains with me in Rene’s gym.”
“First-year, so he’s either addicted or a demon,” I guessed.
“Not a demon,” Novak confirmed. “The first thing we need is to get a sample of the drug for analysis. We’ve tried collecting used ampoules to study the residue, but it turns out they’re quite cleverly designed. After use, a special reagent is released inside that dissolves and burns all complex structures. Bulsara couldn’t scrape up anything useful.
“This cadet takes the stimulant before training. It would be very helpful if he ended up in the infirmary while the substance was still active in his bloodstream.”
“You want me to beat him up?” I asked Vaclav, just to be sure. “Rene won’t be giving me gold stars for that.”
“That’s why it’ll be an accident. Accidents tend to happen when you try to practise a new technique on your own.”
“Iron Head,” I guessed, glancing at Adam.
“Starting tomorrow, I’ll be replacing Kate for a while,” he said.
“So no more sparring with Cinar?” I asked.
“Cinar is preparing for the tournament,” Kate replied. “Piper doesn’t think it’s a good idea to spar with an opponent.”
“I’m not going to take part in the tournament,” I said quickly, catching Novak raising an eyebrow. “Last time, a lot of top fighters were sidelined because of the twins. This time, the opponent pool is going to be insane.”
“That makes sense,” Novak agreed, somewhat unexpectedly. “Unless the other cadets are thinking the same as you. Plenty might skip this one to save themselves for the next.”
I shook my head.
“There are already enough signed up.”
Registration was still open, but the available spots were almost gone. And the first ones to register hadn’t been cannon fodder, they were solid fighters worried they’d be locked out again like last time.
Kate raised her hand, like a dutiful student with a question.
Novak gave her a nod.
“So who’s the demon in all this?” she asked. “We know the dealers are human and being used as pawns — you said so yourself. So who’s the demon?”
Novak smiled, clearly pleased she hadn’t missed the detail.
He opened a new image on his tablet and turned it to face us.
“Fara Rakotoarisoa,” he said. “Third year. Enrolled seven years ago. Her medical file includes records of a temporary memory loss.”
Comments
Jonathan Griffith
Tyftc!
