Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Preparation

In fact, these few days, Dorothy had been pondering where to gather spirituality. The “Cup” could draw its power from flesh and bl**d, which was not what she desired. What she wanted to accumulate, “Enlightenment,” existed in knowledge. Dorothy had experimented with this in the bookstores of Wokan Town. The amount of “Enlightenment” contained in ordinary knowledge was extremely limited. The “Enlightenment” found in common books from ordinary bookstores was almost negligible compared to what she had gathered in the fragments of “The Sacred Body Deconstruction Technique.”

Dorothy suspected that the “Enlightenment” she could accumulate by reading all the books in the bookstore might only be equivalent to the two points contained in the fragment of “The Sacred Body Deconstruction Technique.” However, it was unrealistic for her to read every book in the bookstore.

After this experiment, Dorothy roughly determined that if she wanted to quickly accumulate “Enlightenment,” she needed to obtain mysterious knowledge like the fragment of “The Sacred Body Deconstruction Technique.” But the question remained: where should she find such books?

Dorothy once dreamed of suddenly finding a bookstore on some street that sold a large number of banned books, where one coin would guarantee her a book to read. If that were possible, Dorothy would certainly empty the shelves immediately.

However, that was just a dream. In reality, Dorothy felt it was unlikely. But now there was a secret meeting, and she could go to see if she could find anything good, perhaps even some banned books.

As she thought about this, Dorothy glanced at the calendar on the table in front of her. It showed today’s date as April 14th, meaning tomorrow would be the day of the gathering. She must prepare herself.

With her mind made up, Dorothy then focused her attention on the gecko zombie puppet used for spying, hoping to continue gathering useful information.

Dorothy spied on Gregor again. Suddenly, she noticed that Gregor was organizing papers on his desk and putting them away into his bag.

“Hmm? Is this over?”

Seeing this, Dorothy couldn’t help but think so. But to her surprise, Gregor did not turn off the lights and rest; instead, after looking around, he lay down on the floor, leaving Dorothy confused.

Just as Dorothy was puzzled, she saw Gregor pull out several thick books from under the bed. Seeing this, Dorothy’s eyes lit up.

“Oh… Books! Hidden so secretly, could they be classified documents from the An Yin Bureau? Or perhaps some secret mysticism texts?”

Seeing the books Gregor pulled out, Dorothy’s entire spirit lifted. She then focused intently on Gregor, watching him place the mysterious books on the table and slowly open them.

Immediately, Dorothy’s expression froze.

The books on Gregor’s table had no text, mostly consisting of pictures. They depicted mature women with voluptuous figures and revealing clothing, each posing in various provocative postures. As Gregor flipped through the pages, the content became increasingly indescribable.

Gregor watched intently, while Dorothy sat calmly, unmoved, waiting quietly for him to turn the page.

After a few pages, Dorothy shook her head slightly in disappointment. Leaning back in her chair and taking a sip of water from a cup on the table, she sighed.

“Just this? Not very impressive, brother…”

To be honest, Dorothy thought it was normal for a young man of Gregor’s age to hide and read such books at home. However, constrained by the era’s standards, the quality of these books was poor. The old and ugly artwork was repetitive and failed to excite her. Compared to the various “learning materials” available in the internet age, these books were far inferior.

In short, the things Dorothy had seen before were much more stimulating than what Gregor was currently enjoying. Thus, the things Gregor found fascinating were uninteresting to her.

Not wanting to disturb Gregor’s late-night studies, Dorothy controlled the gecko zombie puppet to return to her room, placing it in a box and locking it in her suitcase.

Then, Dorothy put away her contraband items, turned off the light, and went to bed, ending her first day in Igewent.

…

The next morning, Dorothy, still in her pajamas, rubbed her eyes and entered the sunlit living room. She saw Gregor sitting on the sofa eating bread, with two plates of breakfast on the coffee table.

“Good morning, Dorothy. Come have breakfast,” Gregor greeted her. Dorothy nodded in response.

“Good morning… Did you make all of this, Gregor?”

“No, it’s Mrs. Hack downstairs who prepared it. I’m usually busy and don’t have time to cook, so I pay her to take care of my meals… Well, now we share the same meals.”

After finishing his last fried egg, Gregor continued, “Go ahead and eat. I need to head to the company soon. I have a task today. You can explore the area around here for the next couple of days. Just enjoy yourself. I’ll take you to school the day after tomorrow. Have fun!”

As he spoke, Gregor took a bite of bread, put on his coat, and walked towards the door. Dorothy sat on the sofa, watching him leave.

“Be careful, and I will have fun…”

While speaking, Dorothy picked up a newspaper from the sofa and began reading it while enjoying her breakfast.

After finishing her breakfast, Dorothy changed into her travel clothes. She looked at herself in the mirror, then carried her suitcase and left.

Descending the stairs, Dorothy stopped a carriage and got on board. Riding through the city, she made several transfers until she arrived at the riverbank.

Here, there were ships loading and unloading cargo, sailors shouting orders, piles of goods, and numerous large warehouses storing merchandise.

On the last carriage, Dorothy took out a hooded cloak she had bought in Wokan Town from her suitcase. After putting it on, she got off the carriage.

Wearing a hood, Dorothy walked along the fishy-smelling dock until she reached a warehouse. After showing her credentials to the manager, she received a key and a kerosene lamp. Entering the warehouse, she saw rows of large storage compartments secured by iron doors.

This was the storage warehouse at the dock. Many delayed shipments due to various reasons could be stored here. As long as enough money was paid to the owner, one could store anything for as long as needed. Similarly, as long as the money was sufficient, no one cared what was being stored or by whom.

In an era lacking proper management systems, money could accomplish much more…

Holding the key, Dorothy walked deep into the warehouse, making several turns until she reached a storage compartment. Unlocking the iron door, she saw a stack of wooden crates inside, each locked.

These were the items Dorothy had transported from Wokan Town…

Looking around, Dorothy stepped into the storage compartment and approached a long wooden crate. From her suitcase, she took a small set of keys and selected one, unlocking the crate. Then she put on the zombie puppet ring.

As Dorothy manipulated the zombie puppet ring to activate the “Cup,” a disturbance occurred within the wooden crate. The lid creaked open like a coffin, and a figure stood up from within.

Tall and thin, wearing dark red suit and black trousers, with pale skin, a long face, deep-set eyes, a hooked nose, fierce gaze, and short black hair.

He was the first person Dorothy had killed after arriving in this world, the original owner of the zombie puppet ring, the gang leader of Wokan Town, Edric Grady.