North Tivian, Church District Historical Scripture Department.
Kirk sat in his office, looking at the letter in front of him and wiping the fine sweat from his forehead, but the chill on his body could not be dispelled at all.
At this moment, Kirk's heart was beating violently and uncontrollably, and panic almost filled his mind. He was forcing himself to calm down.
After taking a deep breath, Kirk calmed down slightly and stared at the letter in front of him, thinking.
'I've been discovered... I've actually been discovered! Damn it, which part went wrong? Who discovered me? And there's more than one person who discovered me!'
Kirk clenched his fists, carefully recalling where his plan had gone wrong, but he couldn't think of anything. Helpless, he could only bring his thoughts back to the current situation.
'No matter what, since this letter is here, my actions must have been exposed. There's no doubt about that. No matter who it was leaked to, my current situation must be in danger. I must leave immediately, before the Judge arrives!'
'Although leaving now wasn't part of the plan, I can't wait any longer...'
Thinking this, Kirk crumpled the letter in his hand and put it back in his pocket. Then he immediately stood up and walked towards the office door. After opening the door, he entered the main hall of the Historical Scripture Department and walked straight towards the hall's entrance. Seeing this, a cleric shouted.
"Deacon Kirk, are you going out?"
"Heh heh, yes, there are still some procedural issues at the library that haven't been settled. I'm going to take care of them now, and I'll be right back." Saying this with a smile to the subordinate cleric, Kirk then quickly walked through the bustling and noisy hall.
After leaving the Historical Scripture Department, Kirk quickly walked through a series of corridors, went down the stairs, and entered the square of the Church District, weaving through the ordinary citizens who had come to pray, heading towards a relatively secluded path.
There were many ways to enter and exit the Church District, and the most convenient was undoubtedly the main entrance. Right outside was the city's main road, where one could immediately catch a taxi carriage and leave quickly, but the security was also very strong.
Kirk was currently unsure if the guards had received news about him, and the main entrance had many eyes and ears, so he didn't dare to take the main entrance at all. Thus, after leaving the square, he ducked into a small path and chose a relatively secluded alley to exit the Church District.
After walking quickly through the deserted alley for a while, Kirk finally exited the Church District and arrived on a cobblestone path. Since it wasn't a main road, it was sparsely populated, and there wasn't a single carriage on the road.
'I need to find a carriage on the main road...'
Looking at the desolate scene on the small path, Kirk thought this to himself. Just as he was about to leave, the sound of hooves suddenly echoed from the corner in the distance, and a black taxi carriage drove from afar. Seeing this, Kirk's eyes lit up. With a carriage passing by, his luck was not bad.
Without hesitation, Kirk immediately waved to the carriage. The coachman on the carriage saw this and immediately pulled the reins, stopping the horse.
"Respected cleric, where are you going?"
With a respectful tone, the young coachman, wearing a standard uniform, spoke to Kirk quite politely, and Kirk immediately replied.
"West District, Red Bramble Road."
"West District? Okay, Mr., please get in the carriage." The coachman replied. After hearing the coachman's words, Kirk immediately pulled open the door and got into the carriage. After he closed the door, the carriage immediately set off, driving away from the Church District. Looking at the scenery outside the window that quickly sped by, Kirk breathed a sigh of relief.
'Phew... Now that I've left the Church District, I'm temporarily safe. The most urgent task now is to go to those guys' stronghold and tell them what happened.
'In short, I can't stay in the Church now. I can only consider officially joining them. This was clearly a plan for the future, what a pity.'
Kirk, sitting in the carriage compartment, thought this. In his original plan, he was supposed to continue to lie low in the Church, cooperate with the secret transmission society he was secretly in contact with outside, find ways to steal more benefits from within the Church, and then leave the Church and join the society at the last moment. However, due to this unexpected situation, his series of plans had to be brought forward.
'But it's okay, the target of this operation has been obtained, and I can be considered to be bringing something with me to join them. They should give me a good position.'
Touching the hard object he was carrying in his robe, Kirk thought to himself. The secret transmission he was carrying now could be said to be his 'letter of submission'. He was counting on this secret transmission, which he had painstakingly stolen, to gain him more benefits in the new society.
Just like this, as Kirk continued to ponder, the carriage kept moving forward, but what Kirk didn't notice was that this carriage never drove onto the main road from beginning to end, but instead kept going through various winding small paths, and there were fewer and fewer people around.
Kirk, who had been engaged in academic research in the Church District for many years, didn't often go out. By the time he realized there was something wrong with the surrounding environment, the carriage had already driven into a long, dilapidated alley, with very few people around.
'It hasn't reached the main road yet, there's something wrong with this carriage...'
"Stop! I'm getting off here."
Without asking the coachman anything else, Kirk spoke directly, and the coachman also immediately slowly stopped the carriage.
"Okay, then we'll stop here. Please take care, Mr."
The coachman on the coachman's seat replied politely, and Kirk reached out to open the door and prepare to get out.
'This carriage feels a bit off. I must get out quickly now, otherwise if I'm taken into some trap then... Ugh...'
Before Kirk could finish opening the door, a sharp blade like a spike pierced directly out from under the wooden seat of the carriage compartment, stabbing towards Kirk's back. Kirk, who was backstabbed in this narrow space, couldn't dodge in time and was directly pierced through the back. He couldn't help but let out a cry.
Kirk hadn't expected that this carriage wasn't taking him to a trap, but that the carriage itself was the trap.
'There are people under the seat... Why didn't I notice!'
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The moment Kirk was backstabbed, his eyes widened, and he immediately slammed his hand heavily on the sharp knife that had pierced his back, knocking away the hand holding the sharp knife. Then he gripped the handle and gritted his teeth to pull the knife out. After that, he covered the wound that had been pierced through with his hand. As an orange-yellow glow appeared in his hand, his wound quickly stopped bleeding and healed.
Kirk wanted to continue opening the door to leave the carriage, but at this moment, the coachman on the coachman's seat immediately swung the reins, quickly accelerating the horse forward. Kirk, who had been backstabbed, was thrown backward and lay down in the carriage compartment due to the acceleration. Taking advantage of this opportunity, three or four strong figures rushed out from under the carriage seat at once, immediately pinning the fallen Kirk beneath them and using all their strength to hold him down tightly, restraining his movements, and covering his mouth.
The restrained Kirk whimpered, using all his strength to try to break free from the restraints of the people around him. And it seemed he was indeed capable of doing so. Kirk's strength was surprisingly great, and under his struggle, the four people in the carriage compartment were somewhat unable to hold him down for a while.
And just as Kirk seemed about to break free, three of the four forces restraining him suddenly grew larger, firmly suppressing his resistance for a moment. However, taking advantage of this opportunity, a pair of powerful hands broke free and grabbed Kirk's head, twisting it fiercely. With a "crack," Kirk's neck snapped, and he completely lost his life, his eyes wide as he slumped down, lifeless.
Kirk was dead, dead on the carriage still traveling down the quiet path. Afterward, the four figures who had been pressing down on Kirk Drill back under the seats of the carriage. The space under the seats seemed like a black hole, completely engulfing the forms of the four burly men.
Then, Kirk's wide eyes became peaceful. He slowly stood up from the carriage floor and sat back down on the carriage seat. After tidying his clothes, he took out a newspaper and began reading it with a natural expression.
After this, the black carriage continued to move forward. The coachman had a calm and composed expression, even whistling and humming a tune as if he were conducting a normal business transaction. The passenger inside the carriage was still waiting to reach his destination, and occasional passersby did not show any suspicion towards this carriage.
Just like that, the carriage drove out of the quiet path and headed towards the edge of the city. After turning left and right for over an hour, it finally arrived at the city's suburbs and stopped in front of a deserted small forest.
"Captain, you've reached your destination, Captain. That will be 15 hao coins."
After stopping the carriage, the coachman said with a smile. Kirk inside the carriage also nodded, put down the newspaper in his hand, got out of the carriage, and handed the money to the coachman. The coachman smiled and tipped his hat in greeting.
"Have a pleasant journey, Captain."
Then, the coachman drove the carriage away, while Kirk, with determined eyes, walked into the small forest and went all the way to its depths. In the grassy clearing there, he saw another private carriage parked. Kirk walked to the side of the carriage, bowed respectfully, and then took out a thick book with a red cover from inside his robe, handing it into the carriage window.
"I'm back, Miss. Please accept this."
"Okay, you've worked hard~"
Sitting comfortably inside the carriage, Dorothy, in a small evening dress, reached out and took the bright red secret transmission that was handed in. She then thanked him, and Kirk respectfully retreated into the forest.
"It seems the operation went smoothly..." Looking at the secret transmission in her hand, Dorothy murmured with a slight smile. The plan she and Vanya had devised and prepared against Kirk had started in the morning and was implemented in the afternoon. Everything had progressed very smoothly.
Dorothy had Vanya use a typewriter to prepare a threatening letter to Kirk. The letter pointed out his plan. Regardless, with his plan exposed, Kirk could not possibly stay in the Church with peace of mind, so he would inevitably run away immediately.
And as soon as he ran out and left the Church District, Dorothy could make her move.
First, Dorothy prepared a rental carriage. Due to the urgency of the situation, Dorothy didn't have time to get a carriage through normal channels. She directly used Corpse Puppets to rob a suburban rental carriage. After knocking the coachman unconscious, she threw him into the forest and even stripped him of his clothes, putting them on the most suitable Corpse Puppet.
Of course, as compensation, Dorothy left 50 pound in cash for the poor unconscious coachman. This amount of money was enough for him to buy three carriages or invest in other businesses.
After Kirk left the Church District, he would definitely need to quickly transfer to a safe area. He was only a mid-level Deacon, just a Black Rank, with no strange movement methods like bats, so he could only travel by carriage like ordinary people. At that time, Dorothy only needed to drive the rental carriage to him on time.
As for how Dorothy accurately knew Kirk's location and time of departure... that was because the letter Vanya wrote to Kirk was stamped with a Beacon Sigil that Dorothy had just bought from Beverly for thirty pound.
Kirk couldn't leave this kind of letter behind. The tight timeframe didn't allow him to deal with the letter on the spot, so he would most likely take it with him. Then, Vanya could use the Beacon Sigil to sense Kirk's location, and this location information could also be transmitted to Dorothy in real time through the information channel. Coupled with the map provided by Vanya, Dorothy could clearly know Kirk's movements and drive the carriage to him the moment he came out. Once Kirk got in the carriage, everything was easy. She would use the magic box to give this clergyman a full body of burly men, letting him experience the same treatment Kim had received back then.
The coachman Corpse Puppet on the carriage and the Corpse Puppet hidden under the seat holding the magic box both shared the effect of the ring of concealment through Dorothy's spirits silk. Therefore, even though Kirk was a Black Rank "Light" and had the passive ability to sense extraordinary traces, he did not detect any abnormality in the Corpse Puppets. Dorothy also spent 1 point of "Shadow" for this.
When strangling Kirk, Dorothy spent another 3 points of "Cup," using spirits silk to remotely bless three Corpse Puppets with the effect of Life Devour. Dorothy herself had been sitting in her own carriage, manipulating everything from several kilometers away. She had bought her own carriage a long time ago, and after her experience with Igwinte, she anticipated the need for rapid movement within the city.
"So, now that this side is finally settled, I wonder how things are with Vanya's side?"
Stroking the red-covered secret transmission in her hand, Dorothy thought as she looked at the sky outside the carriage window.
...
Meanwhile, in the main hall of the Historical Scripture Department in the Church District, the atmosphere was extremely tense.
A group of fully armed Church Guards, completely out of place with the style of the Historical Scripture Department, were standing rigidly at various points in the Historical Scripture Department hall, blocking all entrances and exits.
The members of the Historical Scripture Department, who had been happy to continue studying documents, were startled when they saw these Church Guards barge in. Some wanted to reprimand them, but upon seeing the otherworld Inquisitors who walked in behind them, wearing light armor over clergyman's robes and helmets, everyone immediately dared not even breathe.
Soon, under the command of the otherworld Inquisitors, the Church Guards quickly took control of the entire hall and began searching everywhere. All the clergymen and Sisters of the Historical Scripture Department were pushed to the side, looking around in panic. Although everyone's face showed confusion, they didn't dare to speak up and ask.
After all, these were otherworld Inquisitors, people from the Judge, those who handled internal affairs. Their strength and authority were top-notch in all the Church's systems, not something the small Historical Scripture Department could afford to offend.
At the same time, another group of people who looked like craftsmen also entered the Historical Scripture Department hall with the Inquisitors. As soon as they entered the hall, they began dismantling the secret transmission observation instruments inside and carefully examining the structure of each part of the instruments, meticulously observing each of the large pile of lenses. Although the clergymen and Sisters of the Historical Scripture Department were angry when they saw this, no one dared to speak up in front of the tall Inquisitors.
Suddenly, a person who looked like a craftsman frowned while examining a lens. After carefully stroking and examining it for a moment, he quickly ran to the Inquisitor and spoke respectfully.
"Captain, there is indeed a problem with the secret transmission observation instrument here. Out of a total of 12 anti-Spirit Sight enchanted lenses, one is an ordinary lens. Observing secret transmissions with such an instrument is absolutely impossible to achieve comprehensive protection."
The Inquisitor extended a hand wearing a thick leather glove, took the lens, and examined it carefully. Then, a stern, low voice came from inside his helmet.
"Has Ludo Kirk been found?"