Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Poison Recognition

After deciding to attend the secret meeting, Dorothy had been facing a problem: what kind of bargaining chip she should use if she really obtained the desired secret transmission. Although Dorothy believed she had some money on her, she was uncertain whether her small amount would be enough for the secret meeting.

Therefore, Dorothy thought that trading extraordinary items for other extraordinary items would be more appropriate. The only extra extraordinary item she had were a few fingers of spirituality. She could save one finger to charge the zombie puppet ring, and sell the rest, as one finger could charge the ring three times, providing sufficient energy for quite a while.

However, if she were to trade the spiritual fingers at the secret meeting, another issue would arise: there were people from the Crimson Eucharist present. Selling their items openly would inevitably attract attention. If they came after her after the meeting, it would be troublesome. Thus, how to handle the people from the Crimson Eucharist who might follow her became another problem.

Dorothy dealt with this by fully utilizing her current appearance as a child. At the meeting, she would pretend to be someone else’s messenger, as not many people would believe a naive child would come alone to such a secret meeting.

Then, Dorothy planned to act in tandem with her zombie puppet, making the pursuers from the Crimson Eucharist believe the puppet was the mastermind behind her. Successfully shifting their target to the puppet, she would then use its inherent characteristics to jump into the river and lose the trackers.

Finally, she would use the crow doll, which was always used for surveillance, to identify the trackers’ movements and trace them back to their base.

Now, all Dorothy needed was to find a way to hint to her brother and report to the An Yin Bureau, thus allowing her to take down the Crimson Eucharist’s base once again.

But, Dorothy did not plan to do so now.

“This place is unlikely to be their headquarters; it’s probably just a contact point. If destroying just one contact point isn’t necessary right now…”

After taking a sip of sweet coffee, Dorothy murmured softly. To her, attacking the Eucharist’s base now wouldn’t make much sense; it would only alert them.

She needed to wait for a more opportune moment to strike a greater blow against the Eucharist.

Sipping her coffee again, Dorothy took out a thin old book from her bag and placed it on the table. This old book was the secret transmission she bought from Gray Hill, “The Dream Explorer’s Record.” According to Gray Hill, it could teach one how to master dreams and enter the Dream Realm.

‘Dream Entry Book? Interesting, I wonder how much spirituality it contains…’

Thinking this, Dorothy prepared to flip through it immediately. But then she remembered something else.

In the previous meeting, she repeatedly heard a term: “Poison Recognition.”

Many items traded were meant to resist Poison Recognition. For example, the medicine residue sold by the old woman at the beginning.

Dorothy was curious: What exactly is Poison Recognition? Why do the participants value it so much? Is it a type of poison? How does one get poisoned by it?

A wealthy person known as “Herder Dog” gave some clues. He had refused to buy Gray Hill’s secret transmission because he hadn’t finished his previous one yet. Learning a new transmission might accumulate Poison Recognition and cause pollution leading to loss of control.

So, learning a secret transmission would be contaminated by Poison Recognition?

Upon reaching this conclusion, Dorothy was startled. She had already completed the study of the secret transmission “Sacred Body Deconstruction Technique.” So she must have been contaminated!

But why didn’t she feel any effect?

To her, the “Sacred Body Deconstruction Technique” was just an ordinary book filled with strange illustrations, which were somewhat stimulating but didn’t reach the level of mental contamination.

If this minor issue counts as mental contamination, then what about the dissection classes in medical school? Doctors wouldn’t be doctors anymore!

This puzzled Dorothy. People said learning secret transmissions would be contaminated by Poison Recognition, requiring various defenses, but she felt nothing.

Perhaps it was the quantity? Or maybe she was already contaminated but didn’t realize it, her consciousness subtly altered?

Shaking her head, Dorothy first doubted the possibility of being contaminated but unaware. Even if she didn’t notice, others around her should have. Especially Gregor, who was a small team leader in the An Yin Bureau, surely he had seen uncontrollable victims of Poison Recognition.

If Poison Recognition’s contamination was subtle, it couldn’t be detected, and there would be no way to defend against it. Yet, many people sought remedies for it in meetings, indicating Poison Recognition’s contamination could be perceived subjectively.

So, it must be a matter of quantity…

With this in mind, Dorothy decided to conduct a little experiment.

After finishing her coffee, she went downstairs, boarded a carriage, and headed to a desolate riverside area.

The afternoon sun illuminated the grass by the river. Dorothy sat on the grass, feeling the river breeze, and took out “The Dream Explorer’s Record.”

She intended to read it here, page by page, noting changes in her mental state to see if Poison Recognition truly existed and affected her.

If she felt unwell, she would stop reading immediately.

Choosing this place to read, Dorothy feared she might suddenly lose control, harming no one and cooling off by jumping into the river.

In short, Dorothy’s experiment began. She sat under a tree and slowly opened the old book, reading intently.

Page one… no issues. Page two… still fine. Page three… still okay…

Thus, Dorothy continued reading page by page.

Under the dense canopy, a quiet, beautiful girl focused on her book. Grass and her hair swayed gently in the breeze, leaves drifted, and the wind and water sounds harmonized. If the forbidden secret transmission in her hand were replaced with a literary masterpiece, it would resemble a typical scene of a literary girl appearing in a youth drama.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t be changed.

…

In a house at Elmwood West Alley No. 22.

In a beautifully decorated study, a middle-aged man with a bald head, loose skin, and wearing pajamas sat in a comfortable armchair, holding a cigarette, his expression serious. Two men knelt before him on the carpet.

“You say… the ‘Cup’ was found at Gray Hill’s gathering? And it was clearly made by the organization?”

In the smoke-filled study, the middle-aged man looked sternly at the two kneeling men.

“Yes, Mr. Burton, even Gray Hill said it was the organization’s item, there’s no mistake!”

“The seller didn’t show up personally; he sent a small demon to handle the transaction at the gathering. Finally, he exchanged the organization’s treasure for a secret transmission at Gray Hill’s place. We tracked him, but he jumped into the Iron Mud River halfway!”

Listening to the report, the middle-aged man named Burton fell silent, seemingly deep in thought. Then, after taking a puff of his cigarette, he spoke.

“Did you remember the seller’s appearance?”

“Yes, sir. He was in his twenties, well-dressed, tall and thin, pale like he was sick…”

The two men described the seller’s appearance based on their memory, as they had gotten close during the pursuit.

As Burton listened, his frown deepened.

Finally, after exhaling a long breath of smoke, Burton extinguished his cigarette in an ashtray beside him. Rising from his chair, he walked to a desk nearby, rummaged through a drawer, and pulled out a photo, then stepped back to the two men, showing them the photo.

“Is this the person?”

The two men immediately looked up to confirm. The photo showed a man identical to the one they had seen before.

“Yes, yes! It’s him, Mr. Burton!”

The two men nodded eagerly. Seeing this, Burton paused, then scoffed.

“Hmph…”

Then, Burton walked to his desk, picked up a teapot, and poured a cup of dark red, thick, foul-smelling liquid. He held the cup out to the two kneeling men.

“Divide it yourselves…”

“Thank you for your kindness, sir!!”

The two men gratefully accepted the cup filled with the dark red liquid and left the room. Burton turned to look at the photo in his hand, turning it over to see the back.

Written in red pen was the name “Edric”…

Next, Burton approached the bookshelf and reached out to turn a candle holder on the wall. The bookshelf slowly opened with a series of mechanical noises, revealing a hidden chamber.

Inside the chamber was a small altar about half a person high, constructed from bloody human bones. Four candles burned around the altar, their flames illuminating fresh bl**d on the bones. Bits of flesh remained on the scattered bones.

On the altar lay a skull with a large amount of flesh still attached, and atop the skull grew an ear. Yes, an ear with bl**d vessels embedded, resembling roots penetrating deep into the skull, feeding on the flesh.

Burton touched the ear, watching it twitch slightly, then spoke calmly.

“Gentlemen, we’ve made progress on Albert’s case. I’ve found who leaked information to the An Yin Bureau.

“Edric… That ungrateful lowlife! He didn’t d*e or get secretly controlled by the An Yin Bureau! He betrayed us! He caused Albert’s d*ath in Vulcan! And now, he’s living boldly in this city with stolen goods!

“We must make him pay the harshest price!”