The narrow, dim carriage space was constantly shaking slightly. Inside the carriage sat Davik, dressed in a patient's gown. He was leaning back, closing his eyes and resting. Beside him was Sister Vanya, looking a bit nervous. In front of them, sitting opposite, were Edmund and a group of Hunters, staring at them with serious expressions.
'The atmosphere is so tense and stiff... it feels very uncomfortable...'
Sitting in her seat, Vanya's eyes darted around the rigid scene inside the carriage as she thought nervously to herself. She hadn't expected to be suddenly brought here. Facing the serious Captain stationed opposite her, she felt somewhat unaccustomed to the situation.
Looking left and right like this, Vanya finally glanced at Davik, who was sitting beside her with his eyes closed. Sitting closest to him, Vanya understood that he wasn't just "resting with his eyes closed," but was actually in a state of unconsciousness.
'Miss Dorothea has temporarily lifted the control. It seems that her extraordinary ability to manipulate humans continuously consumes Spirituality after a long duration... This is to conserve Spirituality...'
Examining the patient's condition beside her, Vanya thought to herself. After that, she continued to wait in the carriage with a feeling of unease. After an unknown amount of time, after the carriage carrying them had traveled an unknown distance, they finally reached their destination.
After a long sensation of descending a slope, the entire carriage finally stopped. Then, Edmund immediately stood up, opened the carriage door, and stepped out. He shouted loudly into the carriage.
"We've arrived, hurry and get out."
"Hmm... already here?"
Hearing Edmund's words, Davik opened his bewildered eyes. Then he was helped out of the carriage by two Hunters, one on each side. Vanya followed closely behind. When she got out of the carriage, she saw a wide underground carriage parking lot, with countless horseless carriages lined up on one side, and countless uphill passages leading to unknown places.
"The Evidence Department is all ready, let's hurry."
After saying a simple sentence, Edmund took the lead and walked forward. His Hunters also followed, supporting Davik, along with Vanya. Soon, they entered a passage corridor with a Hui Jian Lamp hanging above the entrance.
From her carriage in the distance, Dorothy used spiritual threads to transmit the effect of her Ring of Concealment to Davik, temporarily shielding the Hui Jian Lamp's detection of extraordinary effects by consuming "Shadow" Spirituality. There was only one Hui Jian Lamp here, and although they passed through its covered area very quickly, Dorothy still paid a cost of 1 point of "Shadow".
'I'll have to pass through here again when I come back, which will consume another 1 point of'Shadow'. That's at least 2 points of'Shadow'... Hiss... I hope there are no more Hui Jian Lamps ahead.
'Manipulating the flesh puppet for such a long time this time has consumed more and more 'Cup'... Although I saved Spirituality by pretending to sleep and lifting the control on the way, I have already consumed 3 points of 'Cup' on this Davik so far. This time, so much Spirituality has been consumed... I hope there will be real gains...'
In the rapidly moving carriage in the distance, Dorothy thought to herself. Her Living Puppet manipulation consumes 1 point of "Cup" and "Qi" just to activate, and then consumes another 1 point of "Cup" and "Qi" every twenty minutes or so to maintain it. Unlike ordinary Corpse Puppets, Living Puppets cannot be maintained long-term.
Under Edmund's leadership, the group went deep into the An-Yin Main Bureau. Not long after, they arrived in the main bureau's underground hall. Here, Dorothy saw something unexpected through Davik's perspective: the mirror moon statue standing in the center of the hall.
'Is this... a mirror moon statue? And its head is intact, not replaced by the Eight-Pointed Nest people. I didn't expect there to be one in the main bureau, and it looks even bigger than the ones elsewhere. Was the faith in that Mirror Moon Goddess so profound in Prit in the past?'
Looking at the mirror moon statue that appeared in the An-Yin Main Bureau, Dorothy thought with a hint of surprise, while also feeling a trace of doubt.
'The Eight Point Nest is a "Shadow" organization that believes in the Spider Queen. The An-Yin Main Bureau is also an organization primarily focused on "Shadow". The Eight Point Nest targets mirror moon statues, and there's a super large one in the An-Yin Main Bureau. The Eight Point Nest's level of infiltration into the An-Yin Main Bureau is quite high... Is there any connection behind this series of phenomena?'
Dorothy pondered in her mind like this, but the current situation didn't allow her to think too much. At this time, Edmund had already led Davik and the others out of the hall, and Dorothy's thoughts followed again.
After leaving the hall, Edmund quickly led Davik to a room locked by a heavy door. Several clerical staff were already waiting here. On the floor of the room, various items were arranged and placed at this moment.
Following Davik's vision, Dorothy looked at the things in the room. There were books, human bones, blankets painted with magic circles, stones with strange carvings, wolf-shaped badges, and various occult items were among them.
"These are all your former belongings. You can examine them carefully and see if you can remember anything."
Edmund said to Davik. Hearing his words, Davik took shaky steps forward, beginning to walk among these items, gradually inspecting them.
Controlling Davik, Dorothy examined the items before her. Many of them were inexplicable research materials and mystic artworks. Among them, Dorothy found a parchment scroll with Spirit Sight, and a blurry hanging painting also with Spirit Sight. After picking them up and examining them for a few seconds, she used her Erudite ability to forcibly record the contents, preparing to extract Spirituality later.
Dorothy controlled Davik as he surveyed the items on the floor, searching for her target. Finally, in a corner of the room, she saw a stone tablet, a gray-black square stone tablet. The stone tablet was square and smooth, without any defects, but its front had countless messy scratches, as if someone had randomly carved them with a small knife.
The image of that stone tablet transmitted into Dorothy's eyes caused her entire body to stiffen. Although she immediately controlled Davik to stare intently at the stone tablet.
In the vision transmitted by Davik to Dorothy, the originally random scratches on the stone tablet began to twist like snakes or insects, starting to distort and reconstruct on the tablet's surface, slowly turning into Prit letters that Dorothy was familiar with, turning into sentences that Dorothy recognized.
Just like the ruins beneath the King's Campus that day, the Xing Shu Xiu Shu Hui (Star Numerology Scripture Society)'s advancement stone tablet appeared before Dorothy's eyes again. The Common Sense Text on it displayed the information it contained to Dorothy. Dorothy witnessed the entire content on it.
"Well... did you remember anything?"
At this time, Edmund, standing to the side with his hands behind his back, said to Davik, who was in a daze in the center of the room. Hearing Edmund's words, Davik seemed to react from his stupor. He began to cover his forehead with trembling hands.
"So familiar... these things are familiar... Ah... what is this? I, I seem to hear a woman's painful scream... It hurts... My head hurts so much!"
Bending over, Davik covered his head with both hands, crying out in a painful tone, while his entire body began to tremble slightly.
"It hurts... my head hurts so much... blood... sound... such a piercing sound... it hurts..."
Shaking his body, Davik cried out in pain. His figure seemed like it could collapse at any moment. The Hunters beside him immediately rushed forward to support him. After being supported by the Hunters, Davik held on for a few more moments, seemingly finally unable to bear it and directly fainted, his entire body going limp, only kept from falling by the support of the Hunter team members.
"Captain, this guy seems to have fainted."
The Hunter reported to Edmund. Edmund frowned upon hearing this, then turned to the only medical personnel present, Sister Vanya, and asked.
"Sister Vanya, what's wrong with him?"
"Uh... I'm not too sure about this. Perhaps those things just now stimulated him, making him recall some intense memories, causing him to faint again..."
Vanya answered Edmund noncommittally, and Edmund continued to press.
"So what should we do now? What if this guy wakes up again?"
"Well... Captain, I'm just here to prevent his injuries from worsening. I'm not very clear on this kind of thing, but since he's fainted now, the best way is to take him back to the hospital for treatment. It's possible his memory might recover after he wakes up again. He looked like he was remembering something just now..."
Vanya said this to Edmund. Listening to Vanya's suggestion, Edmund pondered for a moment, then replied.
"Alright, you guys escort this fellow back to the hospital. Take Sister Vanya back with you too. We'll see the situation once this guy wakes up again. I need to go report some things."
"Yes."
After a simple response, the Hunters, supporting the unconscious Davik, left the Evidence Department room. Vanya followed closely behind. After watching them leave, Edmund also left the Evidence Department alone and walked in another direction.
...
Following the Hunters who were supporting Davik, Vanya quickly returned to the escort carriage. After she and Davik got into the carriage, the entire compartment was sealed shut again, and then it began to move with a rocking motion.
Inside the carriage compartment, Vanya still sat next to Davik. In the slightly shaking carriage, Vanya secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then she glanced sideways at the unconscious Davik beside her.
'Miss Dorothea went through so much trouble just to manipulate this Davik to come to the An Yin Bureau's evidence room to take a look. He suddenly fainted just now... This proves that Miss Dorothea's goal has been achieved.'
'Phew... It feels so exciting every time I cooperate with Miss Dorothea's actions... Everything she does is so dangerous...'
Vanya thought this in her heart. Thinking back, every time Dorothy proactively approached her, it involved high-risk operations. Either making her, an Apprentice, confront Chalk head-on, or reporting her superior. Although everything went smoothly in the end and she also gained considerable benefits, the process indeed made her feel a sense of trepidation.
But thankfully, this operation also seems to have been successfully completed, and she wasn't discovered to have any problems. Now she just needs to return to the hospital safely.
'I wonder, what exactly was the purpose of Miss Dorothea's actions this time? Was Aka's will also involved in this?'
Just like this, Vanya pondered as she left the An-Yin Main Bureau with the entire carriage, starting the journey back to the hospital. This would take about two to three hours, so the bored Vanya also began to pray inwardly. She prayed that she would stay away from danger in the future and be safe and sound.
Just like this, the An Yin Bureau's escort carriage drove steadily on an unknown road. Inside the carriage, it was quiet. Davik was unconscious, Vanya was praying, and the other two Hunter team members were looking through the magazines provided in the carriage out of boredom.
This quiet scene lasted for about an hour or so. Suddenly, a loud noise broke the silence inside the compartment.
"Thump!"
Along with the loud impact sound of something hitting the carriage body, the entire space inside the carriage suddenly jolted violently. The people inside, who were previously doing their own things, were startled by the sound and the shaking.
"Hey! What happened!"
The Hunter inside the carriage shouted loudly, and an urgent response came from outside.
"Beastman, Beastmen! It's Beastmen! There are Beastmen attacking us outside!"
Hearing the sound from outside, everyone inside the carriage was suddenly shocked. Of course, these Hunters knew what Beastmen were; they were monsters created by the abilities of Chalk Werewolves, loyal slaves of the Werewolves!
Being attacked by Beastmen means they've been targeted by Werewolves!
Someone wants to hijack the prisoner!
Suddenly, everyone inside the carriage understood this. The two Hunter team members inside immediately tensed up. One of them opened the door at the front of the carriage, preparing to go out to the driver's seat on top of the carriage to check the situation.
"We'll handle them, Sister, please protect the prisoner!"
After speaking, the two Hunter team members climbed out of the still-moving carriage. Hearing their words, Vanya was stunned. After reacting, she prepared to go out and help too.
"Lord... What happened again... Wait a minute, I can also help... Eh..."
Just at this moment, a hand grabbed her wrist. Vanya looked over in surprise, seeing that the one who grabbed her was Davik, who was supposed to be unconscious!
"Don't go out. There are a lot of Beastmen outside right now. It should be a Chalk Werewolf personally leading people to hijack the prisoner. With so many Beastmen, plus the Werewolf and Beast-Shifters, your combat strength will definitely not be able to cope!"
Through Davik, Dorothy spoke to Vanya with a serious expression. After Vanya left the hospital, in order to better control the location of the An-Yin Main Bureau, Dorothy had already ordered the Corpse Puppet driver to drive the carriage towards Vanya. By now, Vanya's escort carriage was within Dorothy's ten-kilometer range. Dorothy was currently using a raven Corpse Puppet to monitor Vanya's carriage from the sky. She naturally saw what kind of force was currently besieging Vanya and the others.
The few Hunters on the escort carriage plus Vanya were simply no match. Vanya going out now would only be seeking death.
Inside the carriage, Vanya looked at the serious-faced Davik in front of her in astonishment, then said.
"Is that, is that Miss Dorothea? You said there are Werewolves outside? Chalk Werewolves? Doesn't that mean we are in great danger now... No... In that case, I should go out and support even more. Instead of just sitting here waiting to die, we should fight for it."
Vanya said urgently, and Dorothy continued to respond through Davik.
"You can't win! The people outside are about to..."
Before Davik could finish speaking, a huge noise suddenly came from outside the carriage, followed by a mixture of countless sounds ringing out one after another.
Angry curses, the sound of strong winds, exploding gunshots, the howling of beasts... All sorts of tragic sounds intertwined and rang out outside. These sounds only lasted for an instant before unifying into human screams and the neighing of horses. A half-bloody human head, gushing blood, flew in through the door that had just been opened at the front of the carriage, landing in front of Vanya, making her face turn pale. This was one of the two Hunters who had just gone out, and less than half a minute had passed since they went out.
Before Vanya could say anything, the entire carriage suffered a massive impact with another loud "Thump", followed by the space tilting, and the entire carriage began to lean to the side. Vanya inside lost her balance and fell to the ground.