Chapter 223

Two Hundred and Seventeen: Field of Vision

Clear Stream River, a narrow river located in the north of Tivyán, was built beside King Campus, which was constructed next to Clear Stream Lake. The water from the lake flowed out to become Clear Stream River, which ran southward through Tivyán city and eventually merged into Moonflow River before finally flowing into the sea.

River Ditch Bridge was a small bridge a short distance outside King Campus, spanning Clear Stream River. A road led over this bridge southward, serving as one of the connecting routes between King Campus and Tivyán city.

During the night at the entrance of River Ditch Bridge, the gentle river flowed under the bridge, making a soothing sound, while the river breeze blew across the surface, rustling the trees on both banks. Streetlights along the road emitted dim light.

“Sss…”

In the cool river breeze, Nephnis wrapped her arms around herself, tightened her clothes, and looked around the quiet, deserted surroundings.

“How cold… How much longer do I have to wait here?”

Nephnis muttered to herself, looking around the environment after seeing Dorothy’s message. She immediately came to the bridge entrance as instructed by Dorothy and waited silently here.

As she thought, Nephnis opened the book she was holding and began writing with a pen.

“Miss Dorothy, I am now at the entrance of River Ditch Bridge. How long do I need to wait here?”

Neat handwriting appeared on the page, then faded away. Soon after, a reply appeared before Nephnis.

“Just wait a little longer; the person sent to meet you will arrive soon.”

‘The person sent to meet me? Miss Dorothy has arranged someone to pick me up? This means they should also be members of the Rosy Cross, right? Could it be Mr. Brandon?’

Looking at the words on the page, Nephnis couldn’t help but think this, feeling slightly relieved.

Thus, Nephnis continued waiting at the bridge entrance.

After some time had passed, however, no one had shown up. Just as she was considering whether to write again and ask Dorothy a few more questions, a rustling sound came from behind her.

‘Has someone arrived?’

Thinking so, Nephnis immediately turned her head toward the direction of the sound, and her expression froze.

Nephnis saw that six figures were slowly emerging from the forest behind her. The streetlights illuminated their faces, and she realized that she recognized each of them.

The one leading them was Thistle, wearing a familiar mask. Beside him were his subordinates, including members of the Eight Pinnacle Nest directly under him and worshippers highly corrupted by him within the Secret Knowledge Society. Among them was Eli, who had a gloomy look and held a furry spider in his hand.

“We finally found you, little wh*re, Boyle…”

Thistle slowly said as he looked at Nephnis, his slow-moving spider having taken a long time to lead them to her.

Seeing Thistle and the others, Nephnis turned pale and started running, but Eli caught up to her in an instant, slapping her to the ground. Nephnis cried out in pain.

“Ahh!”

“Don’t try to run, traitor.”

Eli coldly said as he looked at the fallen Nephnis. At this moment, Thistle and the others slowly surrounded her, forming a circle. Nephnis, terrified, shrank back and looked at Eli.

“Eli, senior… Wake up! Wake up quickly! You’re being deceived by Thistle! He’s using us!”

Nephnis, in dire straits, pleaded to the former senior of her society, but Eli remained indifferent. Thistle spoke instead.

“Shut up, traitor, or I’ll k*ll you right now!”

After saying this, Thistle turned to Eli and asked, “What should we do now?”

“The person is caught. Take her back for interrogation. We’ll see how much information we can get out of her.”

Eli finished speaking, and two of his lackeys prepared to carry Nephnis away. Just as the terrified Nephnis was about to shout something, a familiar voice suddenly echoed in her mind.

“Great Akka, I want to inform Nephnis to prepare herself. When she hears the gunshot, she should immediately run and hide under the stones and grass by the riverbank.”

‘Gunshot?’

Hearing this voice, Nephnis was startled, and in the next moment, a loud explosion rang out across the night sky of the riverbank.

“Bang!!”

A loud gunshot echoed, and a b*llet flew from the opposite bank of the river, piercing through the crowd and striking the masked man in the head. Thistle, whose head was blown open, fell lifeless to the ground.

At this moment, on the opposite bank of Clear Stream River, in a shadowy area, Vania stood there, aiming a rifle at the opposite bank. Smoke still rose from the dark barrel of the g*n.

Upon arriving at the scene, Vania saw the situation on the other side and wrote a brief message to Dorothy to inform her of the situation. Then, she acted.

On this side of the river, everyone was stunned by Thistle’s body falling down. Nephnis, who had been warned and was prepared, immediately got up and ran towards the riverbank, intending to escape. One of the nearest lackeys immediately went to stop her.

“Don’t try to escape!”

“Bang!!”

The second gunshot rang out, and the lackey who had gone to stop Nephnis fell to the ground, hit. Nephnis took advantage of this and escaped down the riverbank, hiding in the grass and stones. Seeing this, Eli shouted loudly.

“Sniper! Find cover and hide!”

Amidst Eli’s shouts, the remaining lackeys immediately started searching for cover. Eli, using the firelight on the riverbank, determined the sniper’s position and rushed across River Ditch Bridge at incredible speed.

During this time, Eli’s face began to deform and transform, eventually becoming the face of a young man. This was… Thistle’s original face hidden beneath the mask.

“Hmph! This was just a precautionary measure, but I never expected it to actually come in handy!”

Eli, or rather Thistle, thought to himself. During the process of slowly tracking with the spider, Thistle had considered the possibility of encountering other forces of the Rosy Cross and engaging in battle. After the previous incident in North Pinefield, he had become slightly more cautious and had switched identities with Eli before coming.

Thistle had made Eli wear his mask, while he himself had transformed into Eli’s appearance using his ability. He was the Shadow Faced Man, a Black Earth Tier Extraordinary Being who could freely change his appearance, easily disguising himself as others.

Thanks to this identity switch, Thistle successfully avoided being killed by the first shot. Now was the time for his counterattack. Based on what he had seen, there was only one place with firelight on the opposite bank, indicating that the number of people coming was not large.

On the opposite bank of Clear Stream River, Vania, who was shooting from a rifle, felt extremely nervous as she saw the swift shadow rushing toward her.

“Ahh… I clearly killed their leader, why haven’t these guys scattered yet?”

Vania panicked inwardly, recalling that when she communicated with Dorothy in the car, Dorothy had told her that if there was a leader during combat, it would either be bald or masked. If she encountered a bald person, she should run; if she encountered a masked person, she should ambush and sh**t them.

However, now that Vania had clearly killed the masked person, the enemy showed no signs of fleeing. In desperation, facing the shadow rushing from the bridge, Vania fired a shot but missed. She threw away the g*n and drew a long sword from her waist, sticking a sigil on herself.

This was a bl**d-Eating Sigil captured during the battle at Lu’e Mansion, which Vania had received a lot of during the distribution of spoils.