"I found the temple?"
In Adria's library, Dorothy couldn't help but shiver as she looked at the words Misha had written back. Her spirit was roused, and after carefully reviewing the text in front of her, she picked up her pen and wrote back.
"Besides this sentence, was there anything else written on that note? Or were there any other notes?"
"No, there was only this note in that book, and only this one sentence on this note. No similar things were found in other books that Duke Barret borrowed. This is the only clue I have found in the library in the past month."
Misha's handwriting quickly appeared before Dorothy. Dorothy paused slightly upon seeing it, then frowned. It seemed she couldn't get any more clues about this "temple" from Misha at the moment.
"It seems... our Duke Barret has 'book friends' in Crown University's library..." Dorothy picked up her pen and wrote back to Misha, and Misha replied immediately.
"Yes, I think the same as you. Duke Barret's research was not done by him alone behind closed doors. He might have collaborators who exchange research content with him, and this note... might have been left by one of his collaborators. They might have been leaving messages for each other through this book... After all, this book, ""Prit Agricultural Calendar"", is a rather unpopular book in Crown University's main library. And the so-called 'temple' in the note might be related to the content of their research."
"Now that Duke Barret has passed away, the research materials we have obtained from him are only a fragmented part. It is very difficult to deduce anything from them, but if we can find that collaborator, then perhaps we can learn more about the Eight-Pointed Nest and their goals through him."
On the page before Dorothy, Misha's handwriting quickly appeared. After scanning it, Dorothy thought for a moment, then immediately picked up her pen and wrote back.
"Your guess is indeed reasonable, but continuing to investigate along your existing clues shouldn't be difficult for you, right? You came to contact me before encountering a new investigation bottleneck, so you must have encountered some difficult trouble."
"Your intuition is as sharp as ever. Yes, I have indeed encountered some problems here. To put it simply, after half a year, the Eight-Pointed Nest's influence seems to have returned to Tivian and has begun to affect the An Yin Bureau again. For some time now... I feel that things are getting more and more wrong..."
Misha's blunt handwriting appeared before Dorothy, and after reading it, Dorothy immediately wrote and asked.
"What's wrong?"
"According to direct orders from the Royal Family, the bureau has now canceled the high-intensity nationwide search warrant targeting the Eight Point Nest, on the grounds that the actions over the past half year have achieved significant results, and the Eight-Pointed Nest forces within Prit have been essentially expelled and cleared. Therefore, the main work focus has been shifted back to other areas, and the work targeting the Eight-Pointed Nest has been transferred to several smaller departments to be responsible..."
"This sounds good, but from my position, I know very well that the reality is not like this at all. Although the actions over the past half year have indeed taken down many Eight-Pointed Nest, or suspected Eight-Pointed Nest, secret society strongholds across the country, those caught are just a bunch of henchmen. Not a single big fish has been seen. Let alone not seeing any Scarlet, only one Chalk was caught, and that was one who didn't have time to run. How can such a result be said to have crippled the Eight-Pointed Nest? Clearing so many strongholds with such small gains... This rather indicates that we have bigger problems here."
On the page before Dorothy, Misha complained bluntly, and after seeing her words, Dorothy bit the tip of her pen and continued to write.
"Then did you report it to your superior?"
"Of course I reported it. I objected to ending the high-pressure measures against the Eight-Pointed Nest now, but it was rejected on the grounds that the bureau cannot put all its energy into the Eight-Pointed Nest. There is indeed some truth to this, and I cannot refute it. But the problem is that the departments the bureau ultimately assigned to be responsible for the Eight-Pointed Nest matters are not elite departments with strong capabilities, and their influence is not strong. I suggested adding more manpower to that side but was also rejected. Not only that... a few days after I made the suggestion, I also heard some news that I might be transferred from my current position..."
Misha's handwriting presented Dorothy with the recent situation of the Tivian Hidden Security Bureau. Looking at Misha's words, Dorothy's expression couldn't help but become more solemn.
"If I remember correctly, your position is specifically responsible for counter-espionage work within the Directorate General of Tivian?" Dorothy wrote this, and Misha quickly responded.
"That's right... My team and I were newly formed to investigate the frequent leaks of information within the Directorate General, and it's not an exaggeration to say we were specifically created to catch internal spies. However, our work has not been smooth. Aside from catching an Eight-Pointed Nest internal spy using your intelligence at the end of last year, we haven't had any other results, and therefore have received some criticism."
"It seems affected by this criticism, the superiors, on the grounds that they don't plan to let us continue to waste time without results, have even assigned us other tasks that were not originally within our scope of duty recently. The destinations of these tasks have even begun to move away from Tivian, and I have consequently had less and less free personal time to continue investigating the Duke Barret lead. I haven't even had time to go to the library."
"I am unwilling for this important lead to be shelved like this, so I wanted to entrust others to help me continue the investigation, but given the current situation in the bureau, I don't quite trust either the superiors or the subordinates..."
"So, you thought of us?" Seeing the sentences Misha wrote, Dorothy also wrote back in response, and the other party's reply also showed her helplessness.
"That's right... At this time, the only ones I can entrust are you, Rose Cross. After all, the Duke Barret information I have is what you gave me, and you also have a considerable grudge with the Eight-Pointed Nest, and you are hidden deeper in the dark than the Eight-Pointed Nest. For you to take over the investigation of this lead is the most suitable option at the moment."
Looking at the words Misha had written before her, Dorothy understood Misha's current situation somewhat and also roughly understood what she meant by the Eight Point Nest returning. After pondering for a while, Dorothy wrote back to Misha.
"It seems that the situation in Tivian is indeed a bit grim now. As long as that big internal spy in your bureau is not removed, the Eight-Pointed Nest problem will not improve."
"I have understood your specific situation. It happens that we also want to gain something from the Eight-Pointed Nest. Further cooperation is completely fine, but currently, our main forces are not in Prit. It is estimated that you will have to wait a few days before our people can return to Tivian. At that time, we will resume the investigation of the Eight-Pointed Nest, and we hope you will cooperate as much as possible then."
"I am currently under restriction. If I have the opportunity to cooperate with you, I will naturally help."
"Okay, then after we arrive in Tivian, we will contact you proactively. Remember to check the book I gave you regularly to see if any new words have appeared."
Dorothy thus wrote back to Misha, and after a simple exchange of words with her, she closed """wen hai hang zhi""" and then raised her head to look silently out the window beside her, watching the flowing river outside and the flat boat sailing on it, she sighed in her heart.
'I really didn't expect... the clue to the temple actually fell to Prit's side, I don't know if the so-called temple found by that Duke Barret collaborator is what I want.
'Anyway, since there is a clue in front of me, I need to investigate it thoroughly, otherwise I really don't know how to proceed with the path of advancement...
'I just didn't expect that now it's time to go back to Prit... I came out because of Eight-Pointed Nest back then, and now I'm going back because of Eight-Pointed Nest...'
Dorothy thought like this, at the beginning of the year, she chose to go abroad to avoid the spotlight in order to get rid of the spiritual thread caught by the Eight-Pointed Nest Scarlet, the main purpose was to break that spiritual thread which could be a hidden danger.
In fact, that spiritual thread had already been abandoned and broken when Dorothy first arrived in Adria because the distance was too far, and the Eight-Pointed Nest side felt it was too troublesome to maintain, but at that time Dorothy had obtained clues about the Scarlet advancement method, so she didn't go back immediately but turned to Adus. After getting the advancement method in Adus, she started moving around North Wu and various places in the Conquest Sea, collecting Holy Objects to meet the advancement conditions, so she didn't think about going back, and now it seems it's time to go back...
"Hmm... well... let's start preparing to go home, while I'm still abroad for these last two days, let me buy some souvenirs for my brother to take back. Oh, and I should also find some cookbooks here and learn a few dishes before going back, otherwise my stomach might not be able to adapt for a while."
Dorothy thought like this, then she stood up from the table and continued to walk between the library's bookshelves to start looking for cookbooks that recorded local specialty dishes.
...
In the following two days, Dorothy had a good and comfortable rest in Adria, passing the time with traveling and shopping, and her purpose was to wait for Edward's secret transmission to be sent here. After getting the secret transmission and replenishing her Spirituality, she would immediately set off back to Tivian.
Dorothy used five years' worth of Fountain of Youth water to request some secret transmissions about the Fetal Garment Cult from Edward. After he went back, he didn't delay and shipped it immediately. After Dorothy sent the Fountain of Youth water, she finally waited for the goods to be transported to Adria. After the local White Stone Craftsmen's Guild received the goods, she immediately had the Corpse Puppet conduct a comprehensive inspection. After confirming there were no issues, she opened and read them.
Edward sent Dorothy a total of four secret transmissions. The first two were a set of upper and lower volumes, the secret transmission was titled """Train Sharks""". Although the book name was like this, it was not a Shaman guide for training sharks, but recorded the Sea Abyss Church's account of training pirates during the Great Pirate Era.
After the end of the Turbid Current War, the Sea Abyss Church, having suffered losses on the continent, began to cultivate a large number of pirates to resist the countries of the Main Continent and the Shining Light Church. Among the Iweig refugees persecuted by the Church, they selected children who had deep hatred for the Church, adopted them, and gathered them on a secret island for brutal training.
These trainings included various martial arts, survival skills, and maritime experience. They also combined brainwashing education, """cup"" drug" control, and extraordinary development, and were accompanied by many terrifying rituals. The process was extremely tragic and cruel, many people died during the training process, those who failed were severely punished, repeated failures would be used as live bait for sea beasts, and those who escaped had an even worse fate, they would be caught back and dismembered and eaten by other children in a bloody ritual. Only less than about 30% of the children could survive until the training was completed, becoming powerful and loyal warriors of the Sea Abyss Church.
These trainings were called """Train Sharks""", and the "sharks" trained would become fierce Captains who roamed the seas for the Sea Abyss Church. After achieving merits, they would also be given titles, and among them, "Blood Wave" was a famous one.
'This is... the Sea Abyss Church's record of training child soldiers during the pirate era. Besides those fierce pirates who emerged on their own, many others came from this... And looking at this... Edward is one of them, he was a child soldier trained by Ebergrass from a young age, I don't know what means he used to break free from the control of """cup"" drug" and Spirit Sight and finally rebel...'
After finishing reading the set of two secret transmissions, Dorothy thought in her heart, and then began to extract the Spirituality from them. She obtained 4 points of """Cup""", 2 points of """Lamp""", and """enlightenment""" was not counted.
After that, there was another secret transmission titled """Lacher's Grief""", which was a fragmented book chapter recording a battle called the Lacher Battle. The Lacher Battle occurred during the Turbid Current War. According to the description in this secret transmission, this was the key point of the entire Turbid Current War. Lecher Valley was the location of the Holy Mother's Holy Land, Saving Large Cathedral, and was also within the territory of Iweig, thus it suffered a fierce attack at the beginning of the war. According to the secret transmission, several Scarlet and even Golden Elders or Cult Masters from the Taiyi Three Teachings personally participated in this battle, and the Shining Light Church also had at least three Saints defending here with the help of the Holy Land's defenses.
This secret transmission did not describe the course of the battle in detail, but only used a pile of rhetoric to describe the grandeur and scale of this battle, the sky and earth darkened, the sun and moon changed color, the earth cracked, giant waves surged, the tsunamis raised turned into giant water walls nearly a thousand meters high, which could be witnessed in inland areas hundreds of kilometers away. It is said that at the end of the battle, there was the descent of Divine Will.
And the final outcome of this battle was the defeat of the Placenta coalition army and the victory of Light. Both sides paid the price of several Scarlets, and it is said that even Goldens fell. This battle also became the decisive battle of the entire Turbid Current War. After this, the Taiyi Sect coalition army, with Ebergrass as the main force, began to retreat step by step, and was finally completely driven into the sea by the Holy War Army. Of course, in mundane history, there is no record of this battle. As the Holy Mother's Holy Land, Lecher Valley has never been touched by the flames of war.
'That valley Vanya went on pilgrimage to... actually had such a large-scale extraordinary battle break out, the battle was so big that multiple Goldens and Scarlets were in a chaotic fight, and three of the seven great Saints from the Light side came directly... How many from the Taiyi Three Teachings came, I wonder?
'This... is probably the most recent large-scale extraordinary battle, I didn't expect the Turbid Current War to escalate to this extent. The Taiyi Three Teachings actually grouped up to attack the Light's Holy Land, but from Vanya's perspective, that valley doesn't look like it suffered any large-scale destruction. With so many Goldens and Scarlets fighting together, the terrain should have been completely changed...'
Looking at this secret transmission in front of her, Dorothy thought in her heart. Although this secret transmission was short, its content was very explosive. She learned that the Taiyi Three Teachings had actually united and contributed so much during the Turbid Current War, and the Shining Light Church's battle was far from as easy as they claimed. Although the situation of the seven great Saints was unknown, it was certain that they lost multiple Scarlets in that war.
'I also don't know... what was the Taiyi Three Teachings spending so much effort to fight this battle for? Did they really want to defeat Light through this battle? Or did they have other purposes? Also, this secret transmission says that there was the descent of Divine Will in the final battle. Does this mean the battle eventually escalated to the point where Gods intervened?'
Looking at the words on the secret transmission, Dorothy fell into deep thought for a moment.