East Tivian, Stone Bridge Intersection.
In the afternoon, the intersection in the East District was bustling with people coming and going. The ground, wet from a recent light rain, was damp, and a hazy white mist enveloped the streets, with pedestrians appearing and disappearing within the fog.
Under a streetlamp at the intersection, Grego, wearing a thick coat, stood there. His eyes were fixed on a restaurant across the road. After watching for a while, he checked his watch again and let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the time.
"It's time…"
Murmuring, Grego closed his eyes and prayed to that distant unknown existence, praying that He could build a bridge of connection and establish contact with that unknown Detective.
After finishing his prayer, Grego waited silently. After only a brief moment, a male voice sounded in his mind.
"Is that Hunter?"
"Yes, Captain. According to your previous arrangements, I am ready to go and meet with those guys. I need your help now."
Listening to the voice that appeared in his mind, Grego was slightly startled, then spoke softly. Soon, the voice in his mind continued.
"I understand. So, you have already drawn the mark on yourself, right?"
"It's already drawn, on my arm inside the right sleeve."
"Very well. Now, please, Hunter, do not be nervous or resist." The voice in his mind said this to Grego, and Grego obeyed the voice's words. After taking a deep breath, he relaxed his body and mind. Then he felt his body begin to move independently of his will. His head began to turn uncontrollably, seemingly scanning the surrounding situation.
Grego had experienced this feeling a few days ago on the train. He knew that this was the Detective using the mark on him to control his body. This seemed to be his Extraordinary ability.
After regaining control of Grego's body, Dorothy immediately observed the surroundings through Grego's vision. She quickly saw the Harlen Restaurant across the road, which was the meeting point she had arranged with that henchmen. However, Dorothy was not in a hurry to immediately control Grego to enter the restaurant. Instead, she spoke in the Detective's voice.
"By the way, before meeting that guy… I want to ask first, Hunter, was your review at the headquarters smooth? Did you encounter anything?" Dorothy asked Grego, because they would inevitably discuss the review issues after meeting the other party. So, Dorothy needed to understand the situation from Grego here.
"Things during the review, huh… Yes, I encountered quite a few. To be honest, Detective, the extent of the headquarters' infiltration… I'm afraid it has exceeded our previous expectations." Grego said in a serious tone in his mind. After hearing his words, Dorothy was slightly startled, then frowned and continued to speak.
"The extent of infiltration exceeded expectations? Why?"
Dorothy asked this, and after hesitating for a moment, Grego told Dorothy about what he had seen and heard during his conversation with Director Harold at the headquarters not long ago. Dorothy, who was warming herself by the fire at home, couldn't help but furrow her brows after hearing Grego's words.
'I didn't expect… that after Grego was transferred to the headquarters, he was immediately assigned to the anti-mole team. Could it be that Eight-Pointed Nest anticipated this and swapped Grego?
'Also… the current An Yin Bureau actually holds part of the Blood Darkness Path ritual. Could it be that Eight-Pointed Nest deliberately leaked this? If that's the case, then the An Yin Bureau has indeed been infiltrated to a terrifying degree. I don't know how these guys managed it…'
Dorothy thought silently in her mind. At this moment, she recalled that Claudius the Vampire of Eight-Pointed Nest had once said that they could exert influence on the An Yin Bureau in a special way. She didn't know if the influence he mentioned referred to the moles they had planted within the An Yin Bureau itself, or the method of planting moles.
'But I also didn't expect that Grego's path would end up being that of a Vampire instead of a Wind Art User. This is also good… Only as an Extraordinary of this branch path can he better deal with Eight-Pointed Nest.'
Dorothy thought this, then she spoke to Grego through telepathy.
"Thank you for the information, Hunter. This should be very useful. Now, it's time for us to meet with that contact…"
Saying this, Grego, controlled by Dorothy, straightened his body, adjusted his collar, and then strode forward with determined eyes. After crossing the road, she quickly arrived below the Harlen Restaurant.
Dorothy scanned the second floor of the restaurant with Grego's vision. She quickly saw a familiar slightly overweight middle-aged man in a suit sitting in a window booth on the second floor. That was Mr. Yadlin's accomplice and subordinate from the train that day. It seemed he had arrived first.
Upon seeing the man's figure, Dorothy smiled slightly, then had Grego directly enter the restaurant and walk up to the private room the man had booked on the second floor. Upon seeing Grego enter, the man was slightly startled, then said with a smile.
"Captain Yadlin, you've finally arrived."
"Keep your voice down… Don't keep calling my name so casually. Also, pull the curtains shut. Don't let people outside see." After entering, Grego immediately closed the private room door and said, staring coldly at the man in front of him. Dorothy still made Grego's words carry the effect from the queen insect's queue, making the man feel pressured.
"Yes, Mr."
Feeling the pressure, the man didn't dare to resist and immediately pulled the private room curtains shut. Dorothy also had Grego sit down in front of the other party, and the meeting officially began.
"Mr… You're still keeping the appearance of that dead Hunter. Why don't you change back to your original appearance and relax at a time like this?"
After sitting down again, the man asked the person in front of him curiously. Grego's consciousness, the true owner of the body, felt a surge of nervousness upon hearing the man's question, but fortunately, his tension couldn't be expressed through his expression at the moment. It was Dorothy who was controlling his face. At this time, Dorothy made him coldly snort, then turned the question back to the man.
"Hmph… When did you ever see my original appearance?"
"Uh… The first time we met, before you became that train conductor… Was your face at that time… also not your original appearance?" Listening to Grego's response, the man said somewhat bewilderedly. He was originally curious why the "Mr. Yadlin" in front of him was still using the Hunter's face for such a private meeting instead of his own original appearance. But the other party's words made the man suddenly realize, was the appearance of Yadlin he had originally seen truly his real face? That might also have been the other party's disguise!
Listening to Grego's counter-question, the man's expression was momentarily bewildered, and Dorothy had Grego continue to speak calmly.
"As a Shadow Masked Man, disguise is an eternal theme. The most important point is that you should never easily show your true face, no matter when, even when facing your own people. You can't let your guard down. Think about it, if you were a traitor who had been turned by someone else, a mole, and I showed you my true face, wouldn't I be in a very dangerous situation?"
With a meaningful tone, Grego looked at the man in front of him and said, and the man was startled by Grego, then immediately argued.
"Mr., I couldn't possibly be a traitor. My loyalty to the society is absolute! You must believe me!"
"Haha… Just an example, you don't need to be nervous. It's just to let you familiarize yourself with the rules of a Shadow Masked Man in advance." Grego said with a light chuckle to the man. The man finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this, and his awe for the Shadow Masked Man in front of him increased by a few points.
"Thank you for your guidance, Mr… But time is tight now… Let's get straight to the point…" The man said, and finally, they began to get down to the main topic of the meeting.
"This time, the society asked me to meet with you mainly to confirm your current situation, primarily the status of the review, and to see if we can directly give you a Spider-Man for communication, as well as a small task."
The man seriously said to Grego, and Grego, under Dorothy's control, immediately replied.
"My situation is very good now, thanks to the information provided by the society. I have passed the review by those guys without any problems. They are arranging my promotion. Before the promotion is finished, I must still live in the An Yin Bureau and don't have much room to move around, so you don't need to give me the Spider-Man for now. Wait until after my promotion is complete and I can have a house in the City before giving it to me. Otherwise, being exposed under their headquarters' Hui Jian Lamp for a long time, Extraordinary items have a possibility of being exposed."
Grego said this to the man. Dorothy understood that after accepting the so-called Spider-Man, the people who would directly contact her would likely be the upper echelons of the Eight-Pointed Nest, not this henchmen in front of her. She didn't have the "the queen insect's queue" effect to deceive the upper echelons of the Eight-Pointed Nest. It was better not to have contact with them before Grego was truly promoted to a Shadow Masked Man.
"Is that so? Hmm... I understand. I will report your situation to the superiors. I currently have a department store called Donald Department Store on Silver Road in the East District as a cover. If Captain can move freely and needs the Spider-Man, or has any important information that needs to be handed over to the society, you can find me there."
The man said this, and after Grego glanced at him, he spoke again.
"So, your current alias is Donald?"
"Yes, that's right. If Mr. Captain needs to find me there, just tell the staff you're looking for Donald." The man, whose alias was Donald, confirmed and spoke. After hearing this, Grego also nodded and said.
"I understand. I will go to you when they let me live outside... By the way, you just said the society has another mission for me? What is it?"
Grego continued to ask Donald, and the other party immediately replied.
"It's just a small task to confirm a situation. Lord Berlit asked Captain to pay attention to the current internal situation of the An Yin Bureau and see if they have caught a member of the Wolf Blood Society named Davik Jones. If so, reply to me... By the way, Lord Berlit specifically instructed Captain that this mission is not necessary. If you can investigate, investigate. If you can't, forget it. Absolutely do not risk exposure while investigating this guy."
Donald said to Grego in a deep voice. Listening to his words, Dorothy, who was far away in her home in Green Shade Town, couldn't help but be shocked. This member of the Wolf Blood Society called Davik Jones... wasn't this the Black Rank beast-shifter Adele mentioned before who had tortured her teacher? Could it be that he was caught by the An Yin Bureau? And why would the Eight-Pointed Nest look for him?
Thinking of this, Dorothy's heart trembled, then she calmed down and controlled Grego to ask Donald seriously.
"Davik... Jones... A member of the Wolf Blood Society? Heh... Are we actually looking for one of their people this time?"
"Yes, it seems one of their people was caught. No one wants to deal with that group of crazy mad dogs, but since they paid, there's nothing we can do. Who told us to do this business?"
Donald waved his hand and said. Hearing this, Dorothy understood. It seemed that the Eight Point Nest was still in the intelligence business in the Tivian hidden world. The Wolf Blood Society had paid the Eight-Pointed Nest to help them find someone. Could it be that the Wolf Blood Society knew about the deep level of penetration of the Eight-Pointed Nest into the An Yin Bureau, so they specifically asked them for help? Davik's disappearance... did the Wolf Blood Society think it was the An Yin Bureau's doing?
Dorothy thought this. Suddenly, she felt that the situation in front of her was starting to become complicated, but she did not give up controlling Grego because of her thoughts.
"Hmm... I understand. I will try my best to investigate this matter within the An Yin Bureau, but with just a name, the clues are a bit few..." Dorothy continued to control Grego and said, while Donald thought for a moment and then slowly replied.
"Clues, ah. Speaking of clues, Mr. Berlit actually provided one. According to the Wolf Blood Society, this Davik was caught in the South District. So Mr. Berlit asked Captain to pay attention to the recent movements of the Hunter in the South District. Perhaps you can find some clues from this."
'South District... That range is too large... But no matter what, this is a clue.'
Dorothy thought this in her heart, while her hand controlled Grego to continue speaking.
"I understand. I will try my best to investigate, but I just entered the headquarters, so it might be difficult to find anything."
"It's okay, Mr. Finding this Davik is not an important target for us. According to Lord Berlit, it would be good if he is found, as we can extort a sum from the Wolf Blood Society. It doesn't matter if he is not found. Captain must not risk danger just to find someone."
Donald reminded him like this, and Dorothy also made Grego nod.
After that, the two sides had some brief discussions, and then after saying goodbye, Grego quickly left first, walking quickly downstairs.
Leaving the restaurant, Grego quickly walked into an empty alley. Here, Dorothy released her control over Grego's body, and Grego's main consciousness was finally able to control his own body again.
"Hoo... hoo... Thank you, Detective."
Leaning on the wall with one hand, Grego let out a few long breaths and said that he generally couldn't handle the situation of pretending to be someone else and meeting with society members, like just now when Donald asked him why he didn't use his original face when meeting. He didn't know how to answer at that time. He was fortunate that the one controlling his body was that Detective, who seemed to have an excellent talent for acting.
"You're welcome, Hunter. However, I would like to suggest something to you. In the future, when I am controlling you to deal with those Eight Point Nest members, you can observe and remember more in your mind. There might be situations in the future where I cannot help you, and at that time, it will be up to you."
"Being a Hunter in Tivian, just being brave in combat is not enough."
As the Detective, Dorothy replied to her older brother like this, and Grego also answered seriously.
"I understand. Thank you for your guidance, Detective."
"You're welcome. After all, I promised Lord Paturnax that I would take care of you. If there's anything else in the future, pray to Aka to contact me. Goodbye."
After the final response was completed, the Detective's words disappeared from Grego's mind. Seeing this, Grego took a deep breath, adjusted his mindset, and then walked out of the alley. At the moment he stepped out, a gust of autumn and winter evening wind blew, startling him, and he let out a big sneeze.
"Achoo..."
"Hiss... It's getting cooler the more I look, I should go back quickly."
...
On the other hand, at number 17 Green Shade Town, Dorothy was still sitting in front of the fireplace in her living room, warming herself by the fire. While warming herself, she stared at the dancing flames in the fireplace and began to ponder.
'Davik Jones... This guy seems to have become the key. From the current situation, this guy is missing, and the Wolf Blood Society believes he was caught by the An Yin Bureau, so they paid the Eight Point Nest to gather intelligence within the An Yin Bureau...'
'So... where is this Davik now?'
Dorothy pondered like this. After pondering for a while, she silently took out her """wen hai hang zhi""", placed it on her lap, and quickly turned to Adele's contact page. After thinking for a moment, she picked up a pen and wrote on the page.
"Adele, I now need more information about that Davik Jones. Can you provide me with all the parts about Davik from the memories your teacher left you? Through praying to Aka."
After finishing writing, Dorothy watched the writing sink into the book, and then used the puppet mark to remind the other party. Although Adele had previously said that Dalena's memories of Davik were only useful for the interrogation workshop's tools and did not contain other valuable information, Dorothy believed that she might be able to discover more from them.