"Guiding the birth of a god..."
Inside the villa at No. 17 Green Shade Town, Tivian North Suburb, Dorothy, dressed in loose home clothes, was sitting at her desk in the study on the second floor. Looking at the words written back by Little Fox on the """wen hai hang zhi""" in front of her, she couldn't help but murmur curiously.
'Interesting, can a god's character be influenced by mortal worship?'
With an expression of keen interest, Dorothy thought this to herself. After a brief moment of contemplation, she continued to write her response on the page.
"Do you possess some method that can influence a god's will?"
"No, the might of a god is not something mortals can easily influence. What we can influence, to be precise, is only a nascent, not-yet-mature god located upon the divine throne. The current Lord of Dreams is in such a state. At the center of the boundless Woodland in the Dream World, the Lord of Dreams exists in the form of a cocoon. That is He, dormant and growing upon the divine throne."
"In the distant past before I was born, the Holy Cocoon was always the center of our Butterfly Dreamland's worship. We performed various rituals in the present world and the Dream World, offering music, rites, and hymns to the nascent god within the cocoon, guiding His growth. We referred to the newly born nascent god as the 'Nether Butterfly'."
On Dorothy's page, Little Fox's handwriting continued to appear one after another. After reading them carefully, Dorothy picked up her pen and replied.
"Why guide Him? Do you wish to shape a god specifically for yourselves?"
"That is not the case. We have no intention of shaping a god purely for our selfish desires. Instead, the guidance is carried out to fulfill the last wish of the previous Lord of Dreams. According to Grandpa, our Butterfly Dreamland is a society formed by the remnants of the former Phantom Dream Knights, re-established in the new era. The Phantom Dream Knights were loyal followers of the Lord of Dreams in the past, and guiding the next Lord of Dreams seems to have been His final divine oracle left before His demise. We are merely acting in accordance with the divine oracle."
Little Fox continued to answer Dorothy's questions. After scanning the response again, Dorothy picked up her pen and continued to ask.
"Then... do you know how the Dream Knight... or the previous Lord of Dreams perished? Do you know why He would leave such a divine oracle?" Dorothy wrote this on the page, and after a while, Little Fox's handwriting reappeared before her.
"Regarding the reason for the previous Lord of Dreams' demise, I am not clear. Grandpa hasn't told me, but I suspect it's also a question whether Grandpa himself knows. After all, this happened at the beginning of the era or even before the era. It's too long ago; no one can say for sure."
"As for the reason for the guidance... according to the priests in Butterfly Dreamland in the past, in the previous Lord of Dreams' divine oracle, it seems that if the new Lord of Dreams is not guided and is allowed to grow on His own, He has the potential to become evil... or rather, evolve into an evil god. At that time, the Dream World and even the entire world would be severely affected."
Little Fox continued writing her response on the page. This time, the handwriting that appeared before Dorothy was even clearer, indicating the seriousness of her expression and attitude.
'If He is allowed to grow freely... will He grow towards becoming an evil god?'
Looking at Little Fox's response before her, Dorothy couldn't help but stroke her chin and ponder. After a brief moment of thought, she picked up her pen and wrote again.
"So... the appearance of the 'Moth' seems related to the signs of 'evil god transformation' appearing in the growing Lord of Dreams?"
"Yes! Your guess is correct. According to Grandpa... the Pan Moth is, in a sense, the other side of the Nether Butterfly, its side as an evil god." Little Fox affirmed to Dorothy, and upon seeing this, Dorothy immediately started writing another question.
"You have been guiding Him, but later on, the new Lord of Dreams still showed a tendency towards evil god transformation?"
"Yes... Although Butterfly Dreamland has diligently followed the divine oracle to guide the nascent god's emergence for hundreds of years, for some unknown reason, the nascent god within the Holy Cocoon still showed signs of evil god transformation. That is to say, the will of the 'Moth' appeared within the cocoon and began to contend with the will of the 'Butterfly'. This conflict extended from within the cocoon to the outside, affecting the people of Butterfly Dreamland in reverse."
"At first, it was the priests of Butterfly Dreamland who had contact with the Holy Cocoon. During the process of actively linking with the Holy Cocoon in their daily rituals, they accidentally came into contact with the will of the 'Moth' within it. Although both wills were in a state of Ignorance (ignorance/drowsiness), unlike the gentle 'Butterfly', the Moth's will possessed strong invasiveness. Those priests who had contact with it were gradually corrupted and became followers of the 'Moth'."
"These followers of the 'Moth' hid themselves, using various methods to lure others in Butterfly Dreamland into contact with the 'Moth', creating more and more of their kind, and gradually gaining control of the entire Butterfly Dreamland in the shadows. Finally, when the time was right, these followers of the 'Moth' launched a rebellion, using traps and sudden attacks to almost completely slaughter the other followers of the 'Butterfly' in Butterfly Dreamland, gaining complete control of the Holy Cocoon, and changing the name of the society to 'Black Dream Hunter Group'. Only a few people from Butterfly Dreamland successfully escaped that great rebellion; our side is one of them."
"From then on, the Black Dream Hunter Group has been dedicated to promoting the complete emergence of the Holy Cocoon. They found ways to perform reverse guidance, allowing the will of the 'Moth' within the Holy Cocoon to continue growing, eventually devouring the will of the 'Butterfly', thus urging the emergence of the true Pan Moth from the Holy Cocoon at the final moment. Meanwhile, the part of Butterfly Dreamland that survived the rebellion is striving to prevent all of this."
Little Fox's words continuously appeared before Dorothy. Looking at these lines, which were not particularly beautiful in handwriting but were written quite seriously, Dorothy's expression couldn't help but become serious.
Little Fox's words directly reminded her of the conversation she had with Viajeta earlier in Buserite.
In Heopolis, Viajeta had once told Dorothy that the reason he continued to exist in such a half-dead state was to help the Judge of Heaven occupy the divine position, to prevent anyone from usurping it or a new god of """enlightenment""" from being naturally conceived on the divine position. The reason the Judge of Heaven did this seemed to be to prevent some kind of """Fall""".
'Could it be that the Dream Knight had her followers guide the next Dream God also because of this power of """Fall"""? According to Viajeta's words, gods born naturally from the divine position seem to be very easily affected by """Fall""". The will of the 'Moth' is very likely to have originated from within the Holy Cocoon due to the influence of """Fall"""...'
'So... what exactly is this so-called """Fall"""? It can influence even powerful gods so easily... What kind of power does this """Fall""" symbolize? It can actually make gods deeply entrenched in it. Or perhaps the truth is the opposite: the higher the level, the easier it is to influence the information.'
Scanning the words on the page before her, Dorothy thought this to herself. Then she picked up her pen and continued writing, adding more content.
"Now that the Holy Cocoon has been in the hands of the Black Dream Hunter Group for so long, when will they be able to complete the guidance of the Holy Cocoon? Can you determine the progress of the Holy Cocoon's emergence?"
"We cannot know that. After these traitors from the Black Dream Hunter Group gained control of the Holy Cocoon, they devised various methods to isolate it from all external interference. Therefore, it is difficult for us to ascertain the state of the Holy Cocoon. However, according to Grandpa, if the Black Dream Hunter Group had fully unleashed their reverse guidance, the Holy Cocoon should have emerged long ago. They have likely encountered some trouble during the process of emergence."
Little Fox's answer continued to appear on the page before Dorothy. After reading it, Dorothy couldn't help but nod, then picked up her pen and continued writing.
"Thank you for your information. I believe this will be very helpful to us. By the way, you mentioned earlier that those Pseudo-Moths from the Black Dream Hunter Group have made unusual movements. Can you elaborate on what happened?"
"Regarding that... actually, we cannot say too much in detail. My Grandpa possesses a certain method that can detect the movements of the Black Dream Hunter Group to some extent, but it is far from enough to detect all the information about the Black Dream Hunter Group clearly. This time, Grandpa detected that all the Pseudo-Moths he knew of have moved in concert, which is a large-scale simultaneous action by the Black Dream Hunter Group that has never happened before. Therefore, Grandpa speculates that they might be preparing for some major operation."
"Grandpa is very uneasy about the large-scale unusual movements of Black Dream these past few days, so he decided to inform you of more information to see if you can figure something out by combining it with your own information."
Little Fox's answer continued to appear before Dorothy. Looking at her words, Dorothy immediately recalled one of the hallucination scenes the Mirror Moon Goddess had shown her the last time in Igwinte. There seemed to be the presence of the Holy Cocoon in it. Besides those hallucination scenes, Mirror Moon had also given her directional guidance. Was there some connection here?
After pondering for a while, Dorothy stroked her chin, then picked up her pen and wrote on the page before her.
"Tivian, their target might be in Tivian."
"Tivian? Is that... the place where some World Expo is going to be held recently? How do you know this location? You really do have information related to the Black Dream Hunter Group..." Little Fox's reply appeared before Dorothy, clearly with a hint of surprise, as if she hadn't expected Dorothy to actually have relevant information about Black Dream. Dorothy, meanwhile, continued to write her response.
"Regarding why we confirmed Tivian as the location, you can tell your Grandpa that this is the 'Revelation of the Moon', absolutely not baseless. If you trust us, you can set off now and hurry to Tivian. Many of us are already in position here. To deal with the Black Dream Hunter Group, we hope to get your help, and please be sure to move quickly, preferably arriving here before the World Expo."
Dorothy wrote this response to Little Fox. Little Fox seemed to consider it for a while before writing her response back to Dorothy.
"Okay, I will tell my Grandpa. I will respond to you immediately after he makes a decision."
"Alright, then I will wait for good news here."
After the final response, Dorothy paused her conversation with Little Fox. After closing the """wen hai hang zhi""" before her, she let out a long sigh.
"So, the Butterfly and the Moth have such a relationship? It's like a pair of twins in the womb..."
Recalling the information Little Fox had revealed earlier, Dorothy murmured with emotion. Then she began to extract the Spirituality contained within this information, obtaining a total of 14 points of "Shadow". Adding it to Dorothy's previous Spirituality, her current Spirituality situation became like this.
38 cup, 29 Stone, 38 Shadow, 25 Light, 20 Silence, 100 enlightenment.
'Putting everything else aside, the information revealed by this Little Fox is quite substantial. My Spirituality increased so much at once. This amount of Spirituality, if converted into money to buy secret transmission, would probably cost over fifteen hundred pound. Getting it for free now is pretty good.'
Looking at her current Spirituality status, Dorothy couldn't help but evaluate in her heart, saying that her main used Spirituality was very abundant, which made her feel a little more at ease.
"Ugh..."
After finishing so many books in one go, Dorothy, who was already tired from her journey, felt a bit sleepy for a moment. Now, she planned to get a good night's rest and then go see some old acquaintances tomorrow.
After stretching and yawning, Dorothy rubbed her eyes, put away all the secret transmission and "wen hai hang zhi", and stood up from the desk and walked away, preparing to have her Corpse Puppet go out to buy takeout and bring it back to eat before getting a good sleep.
...
Tivian North Suburb, on a bustling street.
During the daytime, the streets of Tivian were still lively due to the approaching World Expo. On the main street decorated with colorful ribbons, a band was marching and playing under a rhythmic conductor. Many people gathered on both sides of the bustling street to watch, and there were still stalls distributing Expo souvenirs in many places.
"These souvenirs are very well-made. If they were sold directly, they could fetch a bit of money, right? Now they're just being given away. The Kingdom government is really generous. Giving away so many must cost a lot of money, right? Will they lose a bit?"
On a street corner, Grego, wearing a shirt jacket, held a souvenir cup he had just received and commented on the Expo emblem on it. Beside him, Dorothy, wearing a light blue dress, open-toed sandals, and a straw sun hat, responded.
"If enough things are produced, costs can be reduced through economies of scale. The government produced so many to distribute, the cost per item can be spread out significantly. Plus, the factories that produce these things are right next to Tivian, so transportation costs can also be saved. So, producing these souvenirs costs money, but not too much. In the government's expenditure for the Expo, it's just a drop in the bucket, only a small part of the advertising expenses. Compared to the cost of the Crystal Palace they built specifically for this Expo, it's nothing at all."
Dorothy explained this to Grego, and after thinking for a moment, Grego also couldn't help but reply with a smile.
"Economies of scale... costs... Heh, Dorothy, you're speaking like a proper Scholar now. Someone like me, who doesn't have much education, gets a bit confused listening, but it sounds really impressive.
"Indeed, the schools in Tivian are good. They can teach you like this, like a real Scholar. At first, I thought you were always doing things like study trips, visits between famous schools, social surveys... and other activities at the school here, always going to other places. You had more outings than our inter-county missions, not focusing on studying in school. I was worried your grades would have problems... but now it seems that won't happen at all.
"The teaching methods of famous schools in Tivian are just different from schools elsewhere. They don't just keep students in classrooms studying rigidly. That's the difference."
Grego said this to Dorothy with a smile, seemingly dispelling some of the concerns he had previously. Dorothy, on the side, also replied with a smile.
"To read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles, to truly become a cultivated Scholar, just studying behind closed doors isn't enough. Practice and broadening one's horizons through constant journeys are necessary. If I were just content with being a civil servant or teacher, as Grego said before, I wouldn't need to go through so much trouble. But currently, I have slightly more ambitious aspirations, so simply studying definitely cannot satisfy my needs. Various 'practical researches' are also necessary."
"Oh... being a civil servant or teacher is no longer Dorothy's aspiration? Then what do you want to do in the future? A university professor? That's really amazing, that's a true upper-class profession. If you can really become a professor in the future, I don't know how happy I'll be." Listening to Dorothy's remarks, Grego said curiously, while Dorothy continued to reply with a mysterious smile.
"Well... I haven't specifically thought about it yet. Being a professor was one of the options before, but I'm not very interested in it lately. However, I'm still far from graduating, so I have plenty of time to plan. There's no need to panic." Dorothy replied to Grego like this, while also saying in her heart that she had already passed the Sequence "Mystic Professor" stage and indeed had no intention of becoming a professor as a goal.
"Is that so? Then, Dorothy, when you've figured out what you want to do in the future, remember to tell me. Your big brother here is really looking forward to your future." Hearing Dorothy's words, Grego also couldn't help but say with a smile, and Dorothy continued to respond.
"Looking forward to it? Then if I go out for activities again in the future, you don't need to ask too many questions. You don't need to worry about my studies or safety."
"Haha, I trust you with your studies, I won't ask much about that anymore. As for safety, I still need to ask a few times. After all, you're only fifteen now, I have to ask about that."
Grego replied to Dorothy like this, and then the siblings began chatting while strolling together, just like when they met before. As they walked, they stopped under a huge poster hanging on the street side and looked at it together. Depicted on the poster was a large palace-like building constructed with glass and steel frames. This was the main venue for the Tivian Expo this time, the "Crystal Palace" built by the Prit government at a great cost.
"The opening ceremony of the Expo is in two days. They say there will be a spectacular performance then. Dorothy, do you want to go see it?"
Standing under the poster, Grego looked up at the scene in the image above and couldn't help but say directly, while Dorothy on the side nodded in response.
"I should probably go see it, right? After all, it's a rare opportunity, isn't it? By the way, Grego, what about you? Are you going to the opening ceremony too? You won't have to work that day, will you?"
"Me? I do have work that day, but luckily, my security company received a security mission for the venue that day, so I'll be there as a security guard. Although I can't watch the opening with you, I'll still be on site."
Listening to Dorothy's question, Grego answered directly, and Dorothy also nodded slightly and continued to speak.
"Oh, is that so? Then let's hope we can meet on site that day." Dorothy said this, then looked at a crossroad ahead and continued speaking.
"I think that's enough for today. I've bought everything I needed. I'll take a car back at the next intersection. Let's meet again after the Expo ends, Grego." Dorothy said this to Grego, and upon hearing this, Grego said directly.
"You're going back already? How can that be! You haven't even eaten yet. It's almost evening now. Let's go find a restaurant, I'll treat you to a meal first."
Patting Dorothy's shoulder, Grego said, and hearing Grego's words, Dorothy couldn't help but show a slight look of difficulty.
"Uh... I ate a little too much at noon, I'm not hungry yet..."
"Hey, noon is noon and evening is evening. Look at you now, Dorothy, you're fifteen but you've barely grown compared to last year. It must be because you often skip meals and are malnourished. You're at the age when you should be growing. This height isn't good. It'll be hard to find a boyfriend when you socialize later. Come on, let's have a good meal this time."
With a hint of sternness, Grego said to his sister, and then walked straight towards the nearest restaurant on the street. After seeing this scene in front of her, Dorothy couldn't help but remain silent on the spot.
"..."
...
At night, in an upper private room of a high-end restaurant in East Tivian.
Inside the exquisitely decorated private room, melodious music echoed outside the door. Many exquisite dishes were placed on the dining table, accompanied by expensive red wine. At this moment, Dorothy was sitting on one side of the table, looking at the steak in front of her, hesitating to start eating in silence. Just then, a soft female voice came from in front of her.
"What, aren't you eating? Do the dishes I ordered not suit your taste, Miss Detective?"
Across the table from Dorothy, Adele, wearing a classic long dress with a small Madam's hat with a veil and her hair styled up, was sitting there, sipping red wine from a stemmed glass while looking at Dorothy in front of her and speaking. After hearing Adele's words, Dorothy cut a small piece of steak and put it in her mouth to chew, and after swallowing, she said.
"No, it's just that I ate a little too much before coming here, so my appetite isn't the best right now."
"Oh... before coming here, does that mean Miss Detective had another gathering before me? No wonder you, who are usually always on time, were a little late tonight.
"It seems Miss Detective has been quite busy with your work lately, putting my invitation later. It seems my status in Miss Detective's heart isn't very high. How sad~" After sipping another mouthful of red wine, Adele said with a playful expression. Although she said she was sad, there was no feeling of sadness in her demeanor at all.
"Stop joking around, Adele... I don't believe that you, as a big star, would care about your status in someone's heart." Holding the knife and fork in her hands, Dorothy said, while Adele replied directly with an unchanged expression.
"Of course, I wouldn't care about others, but for you, Miss Detective... I really do care a little."
"..."
"Haha, alright, alright, so the conversation can continue, let's not talk about this for now. Let's continue eating. Speaking of which, tonight... I thought I would be late tonight, so I had prepared a gift to apologize. I didn't expect that in the end, Miss Detective, you arrived at the same time as me this time... Miss Detective, you were also a little late, what a coincidence." Leaning back on the sofa, Adele said slowly to Dorothy, and after hearing Adele's words, Dorothy spoke with curiosity.
"That's right, Adele, you were also late tonight. What was the reason?"
"The reason... it's a bit unpleasant to talk about. I left the theater and was originally planning to wear a new dress to meet you. That dress was the latest model launched by one of my favorite expensive brands not long ago. During my period of focused training, I had my girls keep an eye out for it and buy it. It had been kept in the theater, waiting for me to wear it after I returned."
"But tonight, just as I finished rehearsal and was preparing to wear that dress to meet you, I discovered a problem with the dress."
Shaking the red wine in the stemmed glass, Adele said softly, while Dorothy couldn't help but ask curiously after listening.
"A problem? What kind of problem? Was there some hidden Extraordinary mechanism hidden in the dress? Was the Tayi Sect planning to harm you using this method?"
"No, no, no... it's not a problem on the secret level, it's just some daily issues in reality. In short, the quality of that dress wasn't good," Adele said, waving her hands, while Dorothy asked curiously.
"Poor quality? Didn't they say it's the latest model from a famous brand? Can you tell the quality issue just by looking at it? Where exactly is the quality problem?"
"Of course, who do you think I am? I've been a star for quite some time, and I'm also an Extraordinary. I'm very sensitive to fashion products like cosmetics... clothes and skirts. I can tell if there's a quality problem just by looking. Like that dress, although the quality defect on it wasn't very obvious, I still noticed it."
"But at that time, although I instinctively felt there was a quality problem, I didn't know where the specific problem was. Since I was in the theater at the time, not at home, the only other clothes I could change into were the costumes for the performance, so I planned to take the dress directly to their store to exchange it. When I got there, I found out that I wasn't the only one who had a problem; several other people who bought the same model of dress also had issues."
Adele continued to drink and respond leisurely, while Dorothy continued to ask.
"So what exactly was the problem with these clothes?"
"Actually, it was nothing much, just fading. This model of dress isn't washable at all. After just one wash, some areas would show obvious signs of fading."
"This kind of thing was originally a minor issue. In a general clothing store, they might just pay a little money and be done with it. But the problem is that the brand of this dress is quite big, their items are very expensive, and the consumer group is relatively high-end. Therefore, after this incident occurred, it quickly spread within some fashion circles in Tivian, which was quite a blow to that brand."
"Fortunately, their service attitude was quite good. When I took it back, they immediately exchanged it for another style of the same price, which is the one I'm wearing now. It feels okay."
Adele said this, and after finishing, she started directly enjoying the fruit from the fruit and vegetable platter in front of her. After listening to this incident, Dorothy thought for a moment and felt it was nothing significant, just a common product quality case, nothing to make a fuss about.
So, after eating another small piece of steak, Dorothy went straight to the point and asked Adele.
"Right, you haven't said how your ritual is going? Have you finished your first dance?" Dorothy asked Adele, and Adele smiled slightly before speaking in a mysterious tone.
"Guess~"
"Heh, if you hadn't succeeded, you wouldn't have invited me here for dinner. Looking at you, you don't look like you failed at all. If I calculate the time, you probably passed on the first try, dancing for dozens of consecutive days without having to restart. That's quite impressive..." Looking at Adele, Dorothy also smiled slightly and said, and Adele also continued with a hint of pride.
"Otherwise? With my aptitude, plus the blessing of the teacher's spirit and the third dance, and Miss Detective's assistance, it would be too unreasonable not to pass on the first try..." Adele said as if it were a given. Although this first dance seemed to be the biggest hurdle for Royal Dancer in the past, for the current Adele, it was an obstacle that could be easily overcome, so much so that she didn't even feel much sense of accomplishment after finishing it.
"So, have you arranged your last dance, which is the second dance for others?" Dorothy asked Adele, and Adele continued to answer with a smile.
"It's already arranged, it's coming up soon. Fortunately, I passed the first dance on the first try. If I had tried a few more times, I would have missed such a good heaven-sent opportunity," Adele continued to say to Dorothy with a smile, and as soon as Dorothy heard her words, she immediately knew how she planned to perform this final second dance.
"As expected, you're going to participate in the opening ceremony of the exhibition. Performing the Scarlet promotion ritual right under the noses of Archbishop Prit, King Prit, and other Royal Scarlet as well as a host of international dignitaries, you're really bold..."
Dorothy said to Adele in a tone that clearly showed she had expected it, and Adele shrugged and said.
"Although the risk is a bit higher, for a stage that gathers so many spectators, it's hard to find such an opportunity again once this one is gone. It would be a shame to give up now. I was thinking that the scene at the time would be unprecedentedly grand, with everyone watching. The many official powerhouses present wouldn't be able to directly attack me in front of so many spectators, right? Being so blatant actually has its advantages."
"Of course, I'm only planning at the moment. If Miss Detective thinks my plan isn't suitable, I can temporarily put it aside and look for a safer and more appropriate time in the future... The main reason I invited you to dinner today is to seek your opinion on this matter."
Adele said this to Dorothy. After speaking, she silently looked at Dorothy opposite her, seemingly waiting for her suggestion and answer.
And Dorothy, after listening to Adele's words, rubbed her chin and remained silent for a moment, then spoke.
"Your plan... it's not impossible, but considering the situation on the day of the exhibition's opening ceremony, what you need to pay attention to isn't just those few official Scarlet. This exhibition might be much livelier than you expected..."
"What... much livelier?"
Hearing Dorothy's reply, Adele couldn't help but be full of questions.
...
After discussing various matters concerning her promotion and the exhibition with Adele, Dorothy resolutely refused the request to stay with Adele for a night in the city, then left the scene, took the carriage driven by her Corpse Puppet, and traveled far away, heading towards Tivian North Suburb.
Sitting in the carriage, Dorothy first glanced at the scenery outside the window, appreciated it for a while, then took out the "wen hai hang zhi" from the magic box she carried with her again. After opening it, she flipped to Grego's communication page.
Before this, Dorothy had already sent a text message as a Scholar to inform Grego to communicate with her at this time tonight. As the confrontation with the Eight-Pointed Nest approached, Dorothy wanted to hear the intelligence from her informant within the Eight-Pointed Nest. After all, in the previous several actions against the Eight-Pointed Nest, Grego's intelligence had played a very important role.
"Good evening, Mr. Black Dog," Dorothy wrote on the page in a different handwriting, and Grego immediately responded.
"Good evening, Scholar. I am very safe here now. Feel free to ask whatever you want."
"Very good. The World Expo is approaching, and we have received some information that people from the Eight-Pointed Nest might make a big move during the exhibition. Have you noticed any signs of activity from the Eight-Pointed Nest?"
Dorothy wrote the words seriously asking Grego, and Grego quickly replied to Dorothy.
"Signs of activity... As for that... The recent message I received from my superior is to be careful and cautious, stop all risky active reconnaissance, and wait for new instructions."
"Is that all the content of this instruction? Nothing else?" Looking at Grego's response, Dorothy continued to write and ask curiously, and Grego quickly responded.
"Yes, that's all. The intelligence system of the Eight-Pointed Nest is very strict. Although I am their mole planted in the An Yin Bureau, I will not know any information other than my tasks, so I don't know what the Eight-Pointed Nest specifically wants to do recently? This should be because their next plan doesn't require my participation and assistance."
'Their next plan doesn't involve Grego? Is this for secrecy, or have they decided Grego is not trustworthy?'
Looking at Grego's response, Dorothy couldn't help but furrow her brows and think to herself. Grego's inability to obtain information from the Eight-Pointed Nest made it difficult for her to effectively probe the Eight-Pointed Nest's plan for a while.
"So... besides this order, has the Eight-Pointed Nest given you any other instructions recently? Any form of order..." Dorothy continued to ask Grego, and this time Grego's response was more informative than before.
"Actually... a couple of days ago, the Eight-Pointed Nest did ask me to carry out a mission, but this mission was very small and didn't even involve the Extraordinary, which surprised me."
"What mission?" Dorothy asked directly, and Grego immediately responded.
"It was a confirmation mission. The Eight-Pointed Nest asked me to confirm the identities of two ordinary mortals who were detained in the mundane police station, to confirm if they were really ordinary people. To confirm if they had any hidden identities."
"Two ordinary prisoners? What are their names? What crime were they arrested for, and why is the Eight-Pointed Nest suddenly concerned about two mortal prisoners?" Dorothy continued to write and ask, and Grego quickly replied.
"Their names are 'Alvin Miller' and 'Tom Davy'. They are all workers from a few cargo trading companies in Sitivian. They were arrested and imprisoned for stealing transportation goods. They were found to have been stealing a good amount of expensive dyes and selling them on the market for profit."
"According to my investigation, they are all ordinary people, not involved in any Extraordinary or secret matters. They committed ordinary crimes and seem to have no issues. After I submitted this investigation report to the Eight-Pointed Nest, there was no further follow-up from their side."
'Thieves... ordinary thieves?'
Looking at Grego's response, Dorothy couldn't help but rub her chin.
...
Just as Dorothy was questioning Grego in her carriage, at this moment, on a tall building in another corner of the city not far away, a petite figure wearing a large cloak and with short black hair was standing there.
Atcherly, the supervisor, was looking down at the night view of Tivian, then slowly shifted her gaze to her hand, looked at a document on it, and couldn't help but softly murmur.
"Prit... the National Security Secret Bureau..."