Sitting comfortably in the suite of her hotel, Dorothy sat in a comfortable chair, gazing at the contents of the secret transmission in the Corpse Puppet's vision in the distance. After reading "The Sorrow of Leichel," a secret transmission that recorded an unknown yet extremely grand and important battle during the Turbid Current War, she began to focus on extracting Spirituality from it. After a while, she obtained 8 points of "Cup" from it, which could be said to be very generous.
After the first two parts from Edward's secret transmission, Dorothy immediately controlled her Corpse Puppet to start browsing the last secret transmission that Edward had sent over. The name of this secret transmission was "City of the Dark Abyss."
This secret transmission was also a book that compiled and analyzed legendary stories. Like some secret transmissions Dorothy had seen before, the author of this secret transmission was researching a certain type of legend circulating on the Conquest Sea, and the object of study was a deep-sea city named "Aiyam."
In the author's description, Aiyam was a huge city located beneath the vast Conquest Sea, in the dark and deep seabed. Legends about it circulated among fishermen in the areas surrounding the Conquest Sea and indigenous people on the islands of the Conquest Sea. According to some stories, countless terrifying and monstrous creatures, half-fish and half-human, resided there. They were all male and would compete with fishermen for catches, hunt animals and humans by the sea, and even force creatures on shore to mate with them and bear their offspring.
In other legends, however, the situation in Aiyam was completely different. In these legends, the residents of this deep-sea city were not terrifying fish-monsters, but beautiful merfolk. They had both males and females; the females were beautiful and elegant, and the males were strong and handsome, and together they had reproduced a prosperous civilization in the sea. It was rumored that these merfolk would actively help ships and people in distress at sea and guide lost travelers with their songs.
The author of the secret transmission pointed out in the book that although these seemingly disparate legends were difficult to confirm, the existence of the city of Aiyam was almost certain. However, while the city might exist, the fish-monsters or merfolk species living in it might be fake. The basis for this was that in the current era, the non-human intelligent races and extraordinary creatures in the present world were almost extinct. Records of non-human races building their own civilizations had to be traced back to the extremely distant Second Epoch, and they were all peripheral civilizations. He did not believe that there would still be non-human civilizations in the Fourth Epoch.
However, he also speculated that Aiyam should have been built by ancient non-human races, because he found a more primitive version of the city's name pronunciation that had not undergone much evolution, which was very unsuitable for human pronunciation habits.
Therefore, the author of this secret transmission speculated that those legends of either fish-monsters or merfolk were very likely the work of the Sea Abyss Church. He speculated that the Sea Abyss Church might have found and controlled this deep-sea city, and perhaps even their headquarters and holy land were located here. As for what they obtained or were researching in Aiyam, it was unknown.
'The deep-sea city of Aiyam... a city built by an ancient non-human civilization? Indeed... the pronunciation of this city's name is a bit similar to the Abyssal language... If there really is such a city in the sea in this world, then only the Sea Abyss Church can control it... It might really be the headquarters of the Sea Abyss, who knows.
'Also, one more thing worth noting in this secret transmission is that it mentions civilizations established by non-human intelligent races... it says that these civilizations were only recorded in the Second Epoch, which means... the Second Epoch was very likely an epoch where humans coexisted with other non-human intelligent races? But why did these non-human civilizations all become extinct?'
Looking at the new secret transmission content in the Corpse Puppet's hand, Dorothy thought to herself. She remembered that when she was in Igwinte, she had bought the secret transmission "dream records" from Aldrich, in which she had seen descriptions of harpies and abyssal races. In her subsequent extraordinary journey, she had wondered why she hadn't encountered these fantasy creatures. Now she knew that they had already become extinct in such a distant ancient time.
After finishing the last secret transmission, Dorothy habitually began to extract Spirituality again. From this secret transmission, she obtained 5 points of "Cup" and 3 points of "Light."
Including the accumulation from before, Dorothy's current Spirituality situation was as follows:
28 Cup, 16 Stone, 50 Shadow, 22 Light, 31 Silence, 50 enlightenment.
'The 'Cup' suddenly increased by 17 points, instantly meeting the standard. The secret transmission given by Edward is quite effective. Now, only'Stone' and 'Light' are unqualified. After arriving in Tivian, I'll find some way to gather more.
'Another point worth noting is that the Spirituality I spend on promotion will also disappear after the promotion is completed. If there is any crisis to face after the promotion, it will be awkward if I don't have enough Spirituality. So, if possible, I can accumulate more of the main Spirituality that meets the standard as a precaution.'
After reading the secret transmission, Dorothy thought to herself. Then, after taking another sip of coffee, she stood up from her seat, stretched greatly, and went to the window, looking at the scenery outside. After gazing for a long time, she murmured,
"So, it's time to go back now..."
...
East Coast of Prit Kingdom, Tivian.
During the day, on Silver Road in the East District of Tivian, the crowd was bustling and carriages flowed like a river. In the lingering faint dust, a young man wearing a shirt and vest, looking energetic, was walking on the sidewalk, scanning the street scenery as he walked.
Chewing on a piece of soft candy, Grego leisurely strolled the streets. Recently, he would find an opportunity to visit here almost every holiday of the week, buying and selling things, or simply taking a walk. He had been doing this almost every week for a long time now, as he hadn't worked overtime for quite some time.
Holding a fishing guide he had just bought from a roadside stall, Grego continued to look for items he liked on the street. He couldn't help but stop at the entrance of a children's clothing store, looking at the beautiful dresses still displayed in the window, thinking whether to buy one and give it to his sister as a belated birthday gift after she returned. But then he thought that Dorothy seemed to be fourteen years old this year, and he hesitated for a moment, wondering if she could still wear these clothes.
'Hiss... I feel like I can't just buy it like this. It would be troublesome if it's too small. I still have to wait for Dorothy to come back and take her shopping to try them on. But the question is, when will Dorothy be back?'
Looking at the children's clothes in the window, Grego thought to himself. His sister had been studying abroad for more than half a year and showed no signs of returning. If he hadn't regularly received telegrams from her reporting her safety, he would have been extremely anxious by now.
'Hopefully, she'll come back soon...'
Grego thought to himself. Then he withdrew his gaze from the window and continued walking along the street. After passing another intersection, he turned into a less crowded road and continued to walk slowly. At this moment, he was quietly focusing the corner of his eye on the opposite side of the road, secretly observing the situation of the shops on the roadside.
As he walked, Grego's gaze slightly narrowed, and his originally relaxed expression suddenly sank. He silently stopped and turned his body towards the opposite side, his eyes fixed on a shop. It was a department store that seemed to have just opened recently.
Standing still, Grego gazed at the shop opposite for a moment, then stepped forward, crossed the road, and entered the store. Then he saw a few scattered customers looking at the goods in the store, and a slightly overweight, mustachioed owner sitting behind the counter reading a newspaper.
After entering the store, Grego also wandered around for a while, looking at the goods on the shelves, then he walked to the counter and tapped the surface. The owner, who was reading the newspaper, reacted and turned to look at the counter. When he saw Grego, he was slightly startled.
"Boss... do you have Daolun red silk here?" Grego asked the owner in a normal tone. The owner immediately came back to his senses after hearing this, thought carefully, and then spoke.
"Red silk cloth... I do have some, but I don't know if it's the Shaman Daolun red silk you're looking for... How about this, come with me and take a look."
Saying that, the owner got up, instructed the clerk next to him to watch the store, and turned to walk to the inner room. Grego followed behind, following the other party all the way to the back of the store. After turning a few corridors, they entered a narrow, dim room. When the owner saw Grego follow him into the room, he immediately closed the door behind him, then turned back to look at Grego, who had already found a place to sit in the room.
"Captain Yadlin, you're finally here..." Facing Grego, the owner stepped forward and said respectfully, while Grego smiled slightly and said,
"Long time no see. Are you still called Donald?"
"Still called... Those Black Dogs haven't noticed this area at all, so there's no need to change identity. Suddenly changing names would be a bit troublesome." Facing Grego, the shop owner, who was using the alias Donald, said with a smile. He had been waiting for Grego here for several days.
At the beginning of the year, the influence of the Eight-Pointed Nest was collectively withdrawn from Tivian due to the assassination of Duke Barret to avoid the spotlight. This included Donald, who was the contact person for the Eight-Pointed Nest with Grego. Before Donald left, he also conveyed information to Grego that they would return to Tivian after the spotlight passed, and Donald would continue to serve as Grego's contact person.
When the Eight-Pointed Nest was about to return, Donald left a prearranged secret code on the wall near Grego's home, on the path he took to work every day, reminding Grego to prepare to meet again at the agreed location. This location was the current shop. After seeing the secret code, Grego would occasionally pass by here during his holidays to check the situation here. This place used to be closed, but it finally opened today.
To prevent the Spider-Man from falling into the hands of An Yinjuan and causing risks, the Eight-Pointed Nest did not provide the "undercover" Grego with a Spider-Man. Instead, they had Donald serve as the contact person to maintain a single line of communication with him. Now that the Eight-Pointed Nest had returned to Tivian, they decided to reactivate this hidden line.
"Are we... starting to come back now?" Looking at Donald, Grego said slowly with a solemn expression, and Donald immediately replied,
"Yes, the organization's deployment is gradually returning to Tivian. The spotlight has passed now, and we will resume operations here."
"Resuming operations... Could it be... is there going to be another action like the Barret one?" Listening to Donald's words, Grego continued to ask seriously, and Donald continued to answer.
"I don't know about that. An action of the level of assassinating Duke Barret, unless directly related, wouldn't be told to us even if there was one, just like we didn't know anything before the last action.
"But one thing I can confirm is that the organization's focus is currently not in Tivian, but it will gradually shift here later. Our current task is to carry out some preliminary work in Tivian to ensure and clear obstacles for the organization's important actions here later."
Lowering his voice, Donald said to Grego. Grego paused slightly after hearing this, then continued to speak.
"Listening to you... do I have a new mission now?"
"That's right, the organization has a new mission to give you now... Captain Yadlin, you should be familiar with the person Misha Devonshire." Donald whispered to Grego. After hearing Donald's words, Grego's expression slightly narrowed, and then he spoke.
"Misha Devonshire... the eldest daughter of the Devonshire family, a Royal Knight, a close confidante of Prince Harold... and my direct superior in the Black Dog Bureau... Of course I'm familiar with her. I've carried out quite a few missions with her in the past six months. She's a very capable woman, strong in her work and likes to take risks. What... has the higher-ups set their sights on her?"
"Yes... as you said, this Madam Misha is very capable. According to the information from above, she seems to have realized some important key points of the organization within the Black Dog Bureau and has begun to conduct her own private investigation. The organization has previously used some means to interfere with her, but her stubbornness is unexpected. For us, she has become a trouble..." Donald said silently, and Grego also spoke silently after hearing this.
"So, are we going to control this trouble... or..."
"No need to control, just get rid of her!" Donald said decisively. Grego couldn't help but pause slightly after hearing this, and at this moment, Donald continued to speak.
"The higher-ups said that this Misha has the risk of becoming the next Barret, so she must be dealt with early. And your identity as Captain Yadlin in the Black Dog Bureau happens to be her subordinate, so this task is best suited for you." Donald said to Grego, while Grego silently shook his head and replied,
"Me? That might be a bit difficult... Although I can get close to her, she is still a Chalk and I am just a Black Earth. This is a cross-level assassination. Even if I have the advantage of a preemptive strike, the success rate is very low." Grego said with a pessimistic tone, and Donald continued to speak.
"That's not a problem, Captain. The higher-ups have said that they will find a way to create an opportunity for you, an opportunity that will make it convenient for you to assassinate that daughter of Devonshire. For this, you need to provide us with her itinerary for the next few days. We will make targeted deployments based on her itinerary to ensure that she is quickly killed in the end. In this operation, the organization will do its best to assist you.
"Captain Yadlin, the higher-ups have already said that as long as this operation is successful, that troublesome person is finished, and the plan does not reveal any flaws. Then they will find a way to let you inherit that woman's position in the Black Dog Bureau, and even arrange your promotion for you in a legitimate manner, allowing you to become a Chalk."