During the daytime, in the suburbs of a certain city in Faloro, stood a exquisite and unique manor. The noon Light shone on the grey tiles of the manor's western-style house. Various servants worked back and forth inside and outside the manor. Although the weather today seemed calm and pleasant, the expression on each of their faces was very solemn, making the surrounding atmosphere extremely heavy.
And in the tall main building of the manor, within a spacious reception hall, a handsome young man with shiny brown hair, wearing a fitting suit, sat on a long chair, legs crossed, smoking a cigarette, with a hint of a smug smile on his lips. In front of this young man was a coffee table, and opposite the coffee table was a middle-aged man, neatly dressed, bent at the waist, and seemingly a bit anxious.
"Mr. Angri, I beg Captain, please be merciful and give me a break. I can't hold on much longer. If Captain doesn't stop, I'm finished!"
With a subservient tone, the middle-aged man pleaded with the young man named Angri sitting on the long chair. Angri, maintaining his crossed-leg posture, took a deep drag from his cigarette, and after exhaling smoke for a while, spoke leisurely with a look of contempt.
"Mr. Moro... I'm not quite sure what you're saying? You say... you want me to let you go, otherwise you'll go bankrupt? That's ridiculous. According to you, do you think I'm secretly manipulating all the messed-up things happening with your company right now? Don't falsely accuse me... otherwise, I might sue you for defamation."
Angri spoke thus. Hearing his words, the middle-aged man named Moro couldn't help but look startled, and then, seemingly unable to bear it any longer, immediately spoke again.
"It's not you, could it be some other..." Moro said this, but just as he was about to finish his words, Angri's eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a hint of dangerous Light in his expression. After sensing this fierce glare, Moro seemed to recall some unpleasant memory, immediately stopped his subsequent speech, and directly knelt on the ground with a thud, bowing his entire body as he spoke.
"It wasn't... Captain didn't do it! It has nothing to do with Captain! Whether it's my company's stock price... the warehouse fire... the cargo ship accident... all, all of it has nothing to do with Captain! It's all me... it's all due to my own poor management! It's me... I squandered my ancestors' fortune, everything is my own fault!"
With a clear crying tone, Moro said loudly to Angri. Facing such a Moro, Angri watched him silently, his eyes full of coldness.
"It's all my fault, reaching this point today is all my own fault... So, I came to ask Mr. Angri Captain to extend Captain's hand and help me, not to ask Captain to stop... Mr. Angri, I am willing to hand over the main shares of'Sailfish Shipping', please accept the entire company, as long as Captain can save it..."
Moro continued to kneel on the ground, speaking earnestly. After hearing his words, Angri exhaled a puff of smoke as if sighing. Then he slowly stood up, walked to Moro's side, and spoke softly.
"Mr. Moro... don't say that. Our acquaintance is a kind of destiny. I don't want to plunder the ancestral fortune of someone with whom I have destiny for no reason, but I also don't want to see someone in trouble and not help... How about this, I am willing to invest in your company to alleviate your current pressing need. Although we will make some small interventions, the company will still be yours, and the position of chairman will still be held by you."
Angri said this to Moro. Hearing his words, Moro looked up at him somewhat incredulously and murmured.
"Is... is that true?"
"Of course it's true, as long as you agree to the cooperation I proposed earlier." Angri continued. After hearing his words, Moro's eyes widened slightly, and he couldn't help but murmur.
"The cooperation Captain mentioned earlier... No, I can't... Smuggling is illegal, especially human trafficking... Mr. Angri, if Captain really wants my company this much, then take it! I just need a sum..."
"Heh, Mr. Moro, how could I possibly take your things by force like this? Am I that kind of person? The owner of Sailfish Shipping can only be you... Think about it carefully here, but remember you don't have much time. If you don't want to be forced to ruin your whole family by those loan sharks, you'd better decide quickly..."
Angri finished speaking like this, and then, ignoring the desperate Moro kneeling on the ground, he stepped forward and walked out of the reception hall. Not long after he left, Moro, somewhat broken, shouted loudly.
"I agree! I agree to everything! Please let... Please help me! Mr. Angri!"
"Heh..."
Listening to Moro, who was almost crying out behind him, Angri chuckled softly, then didn't pay much more attention and continued to leave the reception hall. Just as he stepped out of the reception hall door, a man dressed as a butler, who seemed to have been waiting outside for a long time, immediately came forward and handed something to Angri.
"Mr., please take a look at this." The butler said to Angri. Hearing his words, Angri turned to look at what the butler held in his hand. It was clearly a newspaper, and he immediately spoke.
"A newspaper? Is there some big news?"
"Yes, it's about that phantom thief who's been causing such a stir recently. He succeeded in his crime once again yesterday, and what he stole was Flotz's National Museum." The butler said respectfully to Angri, and Angri replied with interest after hearing it.
"Phantom thief... that Thief K? He's already stolen from Flotz, that's quite fast. But what does this have to do with us?"
"Mr., please look here, the list of stolen artifacts from the National Museum..." Saying this, the butler pointed to a page in the newspaper. Angri followed the butler's finger and, after observing carefully for a while, couldn't help but frown slightly.
"Hmm? This is..."
Angri's expression became serious, and then he grabbed the newspaper into his hand. After reading it carefully twice more, he took a deep breath and then said to the butler beside him.
"You can go down first."
"Yes." Following Angri's order, the butler immediately retreated after bowing. Then, after looking at the newspaper twice more, Angri rolled it up, held it in his hand, and walked away quickly.
Not long after, Angri walked to the first floor of his western-style house. At the end of an empty corridor, he stepped straight forward, and then his entire figure completely disappeared behind the wall.
Angri traveled through the thick and solid rock layers, descending all the way, and finally arrived directly at a hidden secret chamber deep underground by passing through the wall. In this sealed secret chamber, strange treasure orbs were decorated on the four sides of the room, emitting a dim Light.
Ignoring the various strange ornaments and cabinets within the secret chamber, Angri went straight to the center of the secret chamber. On the ground here was a large sand pit, filled with fine quicksand.
Arriving at the edge of the sand pit, Angri slowly knelt on one knee, placed his hand on the ground etched with a series of mysterious characters around the edge of the sand pit, closed his eyes, and began to silently chant something. Accompanied by Angri's voice, the quicksand in the sand pit began to stir. It automatically started to gather within, piling up and constantly changing shape, finally forming a humanoid figure seated on a throne.
Not long after the sand figure condensed, it seemed to gain self-awareness and began to move. Its blurry face looked towards Angri at the edge of the sand pit, and Angri bowed low and spoke in a respectful tone.
"Mr. Chief Steward..."
"Is something the matter?" The sand figure's indistinct face opened its mouth, emitting a similar sandy, muffled, but very deep sound. Hearing this sound, Angri did not dare to delay and spoke directly.
"That Thief K has made a move again. Yesterday, he announced and successfully stole from the Upper Palace. Early this morning, Faloro's official announcement was released, adding to the bounty for Thief K and publishing a list of lost items to widely solicit clues from the public.
"Among this list of losses... there is something called the 'Golden Triangular Missing Piece Base'. According to the drawing printed in the newspaper, that is exactly what Captain asked us to search for everywhere before!"
Angri reported to the sand figure in front of him in this manner, then remained in that posture, silently waiting for the other party's response. The sand figure did not immediately reply to Angri's words, but after a moment of silence, it spoke leisurely.
"Thief... K?
"I remember last year in Adria, it was also due to his intervention that Garib failed..."
"Yes, it was definitely because of this Thief K that the Hai Sha Society capsized directly in that place! The crystal that Azamu originally held must have fallen into the hands of this phantom thief at that time! Recently, he has been very active in Faloro, committing four crimes within a month. Almost every cultural relic he steals is a First Dynasty antique from North Wu. He is definitely collecting these things with a specific purpose!"
Angri said with a focused expression. After listening to Angri's words, the sand figure paused slightly, then continued to speak.
"Thief K... has been active since the first half of last year. Shortly after stealing Azamu's crystal, news of the revival of the Judge of Heaven faith spread from Adus. Now that he has started activities again, he has been targeting North Wu's cultural relics for theft. It's hard to say that there is no deep connection between them..."
"Captain's insight... I also believe that Thief K has some connection with the Judge of Heaven that suddenly appeared in Adus before. His actions in Adus this time may also be due to the will of that organization, it's hard to say. Could his actions be helping that organization collect lost artifacts from the First Dynasty? But that's not right either... Would such a powerful extraordinary organization value these ordinary items without extraordinary characteristics so much?"
Angri analyzed and said this before the sand figure, and soon the sand figure gave an answer.
"Those crystals... under the right circumstances, are no different from ordinary items and are difficult to distinguish. What this so-called phantom thief is truly looking for should be items with similar characteristics to that crystal.
"This phantom thief should have gotten news from somewhere that some museums in Faloro might contain something similar to the crystal he obtained before, but he doesn't know exactly which one it is, so he visits them one by one, taking away all suspicious items, and then slowly sifting out the target items. This is the same as what he did in Adria before, sweeping away all of Azamu's Relics regardless of whether they were useful or not."
The sand figure said in a deep voice. After listening to his words, Angri immediately spoke again.
"That should be it... If that Thief K is really acting based on similar news, then the news he received should be pointing to the crystal base we are looking for... Captain, this thief is looking for the same thing as us. Now that base has fallen into his hands, what should we do? Do I need to mobilize all resources to find him?"
With a tone of request, Angri said this to the sand figure, and the sand figure was silent for a while, seemingly thinking for a bit, then spoke again with a light chuckle.
"Hehe... there's no need to go through so much trouble to find him, we can just let him come to us obediently."
"Let him... come to us?" Listening to the sand figure's words, Angri frowned and spoke in confusion, and the sand figure immediately gave him an answer.
"That Golden base, what use is just a base? The crystal combined with it was taken out by Xia Er and made into the necklace 'maria's light' a long time ago. This phantom thief will verify his spoils later and will soon discover that the key item he wants is actually incomplete and not whole. Then he will look for the reason, where did the missing crystals go? Why are they missing?
"maria's light is in my hands now. We can just wait for that phantom thief to start wondering where the other half of his spoils went, and then give him a hint in the newspaper. Hmm... just roughly fabricate a reason to let the famous maria's light reappear, introduce its origin, take a few photos and publish them, then publicly hold an exhibition, and wait for this great thief to visit."
The sand figure explained to Angri in this way. Listening to the sand figure's words, Angri couldn't help but understand, and then immediately spoke.
"Captain's meaning is, we can fish..."
"Exactly, as long as he knows the situation of the Golden base, he won't ignore maria's light. I think he definitely won't mistake the appearance of the crystal on maria's light, after all, he stole it in Adria with his own hands."
The sand figure said so. Listening to his words, Angri couldn't help but nod understandingly, and then he continued to speak.
"This is indeed a good method... However, if the phantom thief is really backed by the Judge of Heaven, will we provoke the hostility of that organization after we catch the phantom thief? If so, will our anti-divination face pressure?"
"You don't need to worry about this. If this phantom thief's divination resources were truly abundant to that extent, he would have already precisely located the item he wants through divination, and wouldn't engage in such actions of continuously visiting several museums and stealing cultural relics like casting a net. If the Judge of Heaven were truly determined to get the Golden and crystal, the organization's anti-divination would have already suffered a major attack, after all, maria's light has always been in our hands.
"This phantom thief may have a connection with the Judge of Heaven, but the connection may not be significant. Even if their connection is close, there are not many problems. Even if that organization truly possesses the 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) inheritance, it has probably just started to rise, and its power is not yet strong enough. They still need to save resources to guard against the Light otherworlds in North Wu whom they have offended, as well as the probes from Holy Mountain and other interested organizations...
"The North Wu Light otherworlds, who are now officially hostile to them, are still doing well, what are we afraid of? If this phantom thief is truly connected to the Judge of Heaven, perhaps after we catch him, we can follow the clues and further glimpse the secret of 'enlightenment', which might yield even greater rewards than restoring the Golden crystal inlay.
"So, don't think too much now, start preparing the publicity."
The sand figure continued. After listening to his words, Angri's worries almost completely disappeared. He bowed again and said respectfully.
"Yes! Mr. Frederico."