In East Tivian, after Mosans and his group got off the carriage, they walked into the passage that Naifnis had entered. Soon, they saw Naifnis walking towards the depths of the alley ahead.
"Let's go, follow her."
Mosans whispered, then led his younger brothers to continue following.
Just like that, their group followed Naifnis, beginning to wander through the alleys of the City. During this time, one of Mosans's younger brothers asked curiously.
"Brother, why did that girl suddenly turn in here? Did she find us and now she wants to escape?"
"Maybe, we need to keep a closer eye on her," Mosans said, while also pondering Naifnis's deeper motive for entering the alley.
In Mosans's opinion, Naifnis wanted to use these alleys to lose them and then seize the opportunity to escape. If that were the case, she would be terribly mistaken. They were extremely familiar with this area; in the end, she would be the one who got lost.
Mosans thought smugly, then continued to lead his younger brothers in trailing her. After trailing for an unknown amount of time, they finally saw Naifnis walk into an empty dead end alley. Ahead was a completely blocked dead end.
"The chance is here, she's entered a dead end, let's go up."
Seeing this scene, Mosans chuckled and whispered to the younger brothers around him, then several people quickly went up together, cutting off Naifnis's retreat.
"Hey, Miss ahead, we meet again."
Leading his younger brothers, Mosans smiled and spoke to the back of Naifnis, who was standing facing the wall. Then they saw the woman in front of them slowly turn around and, through her veil, said with a playful smile.
"Oh... what a coincidence, Mr. Mosans, is this world really so small? Or have you been following me all along?"
'Her tone seems a bit different...'
Seeing Naifnis who had turned around, Mosans thought with slightly furrowed brows, but he didn't pay too much attention and continued to speak.
"Haha... following is putting it too strongly. We are protecting you, Miss. As a newcomer entering the secret world, carrying secret resources alone for a transaction is very dangerous, so we have been protecting you for a while."
"However, now that I think about it, keeping precious secret resources on a newcomer like you is still too dangerous... How about... you just hand the things over to us for safekeeping? We guarantee we'll keep them safe and sound for you."
Mosans said with a smile, his words carrying a clear threat. At the same time, his younger brothers around him began to rub their fists and palms, striking a posture ready to fight, cheering Mosans on.
Looking at the scene before her, Naifnis continued to speak, her smile unchanged.
"It seems like I'm being robbed by you. If I obediently hand over the things, will you let me leave safely?"
"Of course, we neither kill nor sexually assault. We just need a little money, and we won't take your other mundane possessions. At most, we just need a little secret resource from you, whether it's ritual materials, Extraordinary items, stored items, or secret transmission, any will do."
"I advise you to hand it over yourself obediently, Miss. If we have to resort to force, I can't quite guarantee whether you'll get hurt."
Spreading his hands, Mosans said this to Naifnis. Naifnis listened, her expression unchanged, and quietly took off her exquisite ladies' shoulder bag and handed it forward.
"Take it, everything is here."
Seeing Naifnis say this and hearing her words, Mosans gave a look to a younger brother beside him, and that younger brother walked forward, preparing to take the things.
And looking at the younger brother who was walking forward with a smirk, Naifnis added coldly.
"If you have the ability to take it..."
After speaking, she directly swung her other hand fiercely, smashing it onto that younger brother's face. That younger brother's mouth immediately twisted, teeth flew out, and his whole person was sent flying to the side, falling unconscious onto the ground.
"You dare to fight? Go!"
"You're finished, girl!"
Seeing this sudden scene, Mosans and his younger brothers roared and rushed forward.
Facing this scene, "Naifnis" smiled slightly, then gripped the strap of her shoulder bag, swinging the entire bag around like a meteor hammer. Then she swung it fiercely sideways, hitting the younger brother who had rushed closest, sending him flying back with a scream. Then she swung again violently, hitting another younger brother's leg. The immense force directly fractured his leg, and this younger brother also fell to the side in pain.
In order to have a weapon without alerting the people following her, "Naifnis" picked up two bricks and put them in her bag while wandering around shopping, increasing its hardness and weight, turning it into a meteor hammer.
And the real Naifnis, seeing this scene in her mind, immediately shouted inwardly.
'My cosmetics! My bag!"
Yes, the one currently controlling Naifnis's body is Dorothy in a distant secret room. The new ability she is using at this moment, obtained after simulating the Puppeteer path, is—Living Puppet.
As a "Puppeteer," Dorothy is no longer limited to manipulating corpses. She can use a "Puppet Mark" as a medium to let her spirit threads invade a living creature's body, and then control its behavior and manipulate its actions just like controlling a Corpse Puppet.
The limitation is that the living creature to be manipulated must have a Puppet Mark imprinted on its body beforehand, and the manipulated subject must be within the manipulator's line of sight.
If the manipulated subject resists when the spirit threads invade, it is difficult to successfully manipulate even an ordinary person. After investing a lot of "enlightenment," although forced control can be carried out, it will not last long.
At Dorothy's current level, it is very difficult to barely force control small animals, let alone ordinary people, not to mention the Extraordinary. However, if they choose not to resist when the spirit threads invade, after the spirit threads have finished invading, it will be too late to resist even if they want to.
On the carriage, what Dorothy had Naifnis draw on herself was the Puppet Mark. Using the vision provided by the information channel, she controlled Naifnis from an ultra-long distance. Unlike controlling a Corpse Puppet, controlling a Living Puppet has no distance limit; as long as the mark can be seen or sensed, control can be exercised.
At the same time, compared to Corpse Puppets, Living Puppets consume more. The activation of each Living Puppet will fixedly consume 1 "Cup" and 1 "enlightenment." After that, every twenty minutes, it will consume another 1 "Cup" and 1 "enlightenment" as maintenance cost. When the Spirituality cost cannot be paid, the Living Puppet will be dispelled.
Under Dorothy's manipulation, Naifnis moved and weaved among this group of hoodlums, using the "meteor hammer" made from her expensive bag combined with bricks in her hand, along with punches and kicks, knocking these hoodlums down one by one. Her speed was fast, her strength was great, and her footwork was exquisite. At this moment, Naifnis was fighting among the hoodlums like she was in a Musou game.
Logically speaking, Naifnis's physical fitness is far inferior to these hoodlums. No matter how good Dorothy's piloting skills are, if the mecha's base stats are poor, it's useless, and many techniques cannot be performed. The reason why Naifnis is so capable of fighting, knocking down hoodlums with one punch, is because of another ability of the Puppeteer.
The ability of spirit threads.
Having advanced to "Puppeteer," Dorothy is no longer limited to controlling Corpse Puppets; she can also gain control over the medium used to control Corpse Puppets—spirit threads.
Now, Dorothy can use spirit threads to transmit a certain state of her own to Corpse Puppets or Living Puppets. This state can be the passive effect of a certain Extraordinary item, or it can be a certain bestowed effect.
For example, right now, Dorothy applied a Raw Consumption Symbol to her own body. After paying Spirituality to make Life Devour effective, this effect can be transferred to the body of any Corpse Puppet or Living Puppet through the guidance of spirit threads. This is the Extraordinary conduction of spirit threads.
Therefore, Naifnis's body currently carries the effect of Life Devour. Her physical fitness far exceeds that of ordinary people, which is why she is able to beat this group of hoodlums until they cry for their fathers and mothers.
Just as Dorothy was having fun manipulating Naifnis to fight, an incredibly swift punch came from Naifnis's side, much more violent than any of the hoodlums before. Looking closely, it was indeed Mosans.