Chapter 195

Chapter 195: Meeting

In the dimly lit room, after hearing Thistle’s words, John stood there in a daze for a moment before speaking hesitantly.

“This, this… Mr. Thistle, the only valuable clue we got in Green Shade Town was about this woman’s features. If we suddenly stop looking for her, isn’t that…” Facing Thistle’s command, John’s face showed confusion and bewilderment, while Thistle coldly snorted.

“Hmph… According to the latest intelligence, those features were deliberately disguised to be seen. That woman doesn’t look like that at all; her true appearance should have lighter skin and a less prominent chest. If you go looking based on the information we gathered, it would just be a waste of time and energy, and you’d fall into their trap.

“So, don’t look for that woman anymore. Focus your efforts on other tasks.”

Thistle said sternly, leaving John momentarily speechless as he thought to himself,

‘The features were faked. So the information we had before was false? That means I have no reason to pursue that girl anymore. No, I can’t let this opportunity slip away. I must talk to Mr. Thistle.’

John wanted to use the interrogation as an excuse to get closer to Nephnis, but Thistle’s order made it difficult. Suppressing his desire, he cautiously spoke to Thistle.

“Um… Mr. Thistle, we put a lot of effort into gathering this information. Although I don’t know where your new intelligence came from, I think we should verify its authenticity first. Why don’t we continue searching for the woman while checking the reliability of this new information? To be honest, I just found out something…”

After saying this, John smiled and looked at Thistle, who sat silently in the chair for a moment before speaking in a lowered tone.

“This new information was collected by me personally. Is there any need to verify it?”

Hearing Thistle’s words, John froze in place, then quickly bent down and laughed, saying,

“Oh! It was you who collected this information! There’s absolutely no mistake! I’ll immediately notify Jed to abandon the search for that woman.”

John ran away hastily, frightened. Thistle remained seated in the dim room, staring at the two black spiders in the box beside him.

At this moment, he began to recall more of the intelligence he had gathered, especially the details about the organization that had exposed itself.

“The Rosy Cross, I have no recollection of them… ”

Pondering, Thistle muttered, this being the first time he had heard this name. Clearly, it was the name of a society, but he had never heard of it before.

Where did the Rosy Cross come from? Why were they here? What was their purpose? Why were they opposing us? A series of questions troubled Thistle’s mind, leaving him without immediate answers.

“Hmph, no matter who you are, your movements are now under my control. You will choose your base eight days later and prepare a surprise for me, right? But who will be surprised remains to be seen…”

Thistle thought, since he couldn’t figure out what the Rosy Cross was for now, he could simply take one of their bases, capture a few people, and interrogate them to uncover everything.

Although Thistle’s spiders had lost track of the two members of the Rosy Cross, they had learned the location of their next meeting point. He needed only to send his spiders there in advance to gather information on their base, and then decide how to act.

“Heh… The Rosy Cross is probably just another small society with limited tricks. They want to spy on me, but now I’m the one spying on them. They don’t know I’ve already figured out their movements…”

Thistle chuckled softly, feeling quite smug about being one step ahead.

‘No matter what they do, everything is already under my control.’

…

Outside the east gate of King Campus, in Green Shade Town.

In the evening, after successfully recovering all the zombies and confirming no one was following, Dorothy went to the town’s restaurant for dinner and then returned to house number 17.

Dorothy sat on the balcony, stirring coffee filled with sugar cubes on the table while recalling the day’s events.

‘Today was our first wave of intelligence warfare against the Eight Pinnacle Nest. Though we almost fell for their trap, we managed to turn things around and mislead them. Now, the initiative is still in our hands.’

Dorothy reflected, then blew on her coffee cup, which had completely dissolved the sugar.

‘If the deception succeeds, it will alleviate Nephnis’s crisis. And in eight days, I will gain an opportunity. If I can make good use of this opportunity, perhaps I can break through their blockade and enter the ruins.’

Dorothy analyzed, having largely confirmed that the Eight Pinnacle Nest already knew about the underground ruins but didn’t know what they were doing inside.

‘The entrance to the underground ruins might be beyond the web corridor, but it seems anyone who isn’t part of their group triggers a supernatural alert upon entering the web corridor. It’s impossible to get past…’

Dorothy thought, regretting that her zombie ring could only control corpses within a certain size range, too large or too small, and couldn’t manipulate insects. Otherwise, she could send a flying insect in.

‘It’s unacceptable to remain ignorant of what lies beyond the web corridor. Before the opportunity comes, I must find a way to infiltrate it.’

Sipping her coffee slowly, Dorothy pondered ways to infiltrate the web corridor. After much consideration, she realized there was only one solution.

‘It looks like I need to have a more sincere conversation with her…’

…

At noon the next day, in a teahouse in Green Shade Town.

On the second floor, in an independent cabin, Nephnis sat drinking tea and looking out at the street bathed in sunlight, occasionally glancing at the pocket watch on the table. She seemed to be waiting for someone.

‘It’s already twelve o’clock, where is Mr. Brandon…’

Nephnis was somewhat anxious, as two days earlier, Brandon had instructed her to visit the society yesterday and had arranged to meet again at this teahouse at twelve o’clock. But now, Nephnis still hadn’t seen Brandon.

Knock knock…

Just then, there was a light knock on the door of the cabin. Nephnis was slightly startled, but recognizing the rhythm of the knock, she immediately got up to open the door.

“Mr. Brandon, you finally… Oh…”

Nephnis opened the door, but instead of the handsome young man with scholarly air she expected, she saw a girl.

With white hair, a white thin dress, wearing a sun hat and carrying a small bag, a girl with a chest just below Nephnis’s own lifted her delicate face and smiled.

“Hello, Senior Nephnis. My name is Dorothy. I belong to the same society as Brandon. Today, I will discuss something special with you, so I am here.”

Dorothy quietly told the stunned Nephnis, who responded after a moment of silence.

“Belonging to the same society as Mr. Brandon… So young?! Are there even such young secret society members?”

“Of course, in the world of the extraordinary, anything is possible. Senior Nephnis, let’s go inside and talk slowly…

“This time, I am allowed to reveal some of the secrets of the Rosy Cross to you…”