Chapter 239

Chapter 230: Eavesdropping

In the northern suburbs of Tivyán, at the Royal Sacred Crown University King Campus.

In the underground meeting point of the Secret Knowledge Society, members of the society have gathered at this moment, engaging in the usual exchange of learning and discussion.

These young scholars are reading and discussing, studying hidden cultures, their actions and demeanor no different from usual. Even though one or two companions are absent, and even though their respected Mr. Thistle is no longer present, the atmosphere remains unchanged.

At this moment, the society’s students are surrounding a new masked individual, asking him a variety of questions with admiration, while the masked figure patiently provides detailed explanations.

The students’ reverence for this newcomer is no less than that for Mr. Thistle, and during their conversation, they even seem to forget that Mr. Thistle once existed.

After a brief exchange, the masked individual instructs the students to continue their self-study, then rises and leaves the meeting point, wandering through the school.

As he removes his mask, revealing the face of an ordinary middle-aged man, he walks quickly through the school corridor, weaving through the crowd. Before long, he arrives at an office and knocks on the door.

“Come in.”

A dry male voice responds from behind the door. Upon hearing the voice, the man pushes the door open and steps into a dimly lit office with all the curtains drawn.

In the center of the office sits a desk, behind which Claudius, dressed in Andrew’s clothing, observes the entering man while sipping a glass of red wine.

“Your Excellency.” After closing the door behind him, the man kneels on one knee in front of Claudius to pay his respects. Only after Claudius nods in acknowledgment does he stand back up.

“What is the situation with those students? Avery.”

Claudius questions the man named Avery, who responds respectfully.

“Everything is going well. Those students have read quite a bit of ‘The Chapter of Worker Insects’ and are significantly influenced by it. Although Chad is no longer with us, I’ve been able to control those little insects since I also read ‘The Chapter of Soldier Insects.'”

“That’s good… ‘The Queue of the Insect Queen’ cannot be disregarded. Everyone in that queue must remember their place.”

Nodding at Avery’s words, Claudius murmurs. Although Mr. Thistle has died, they have not lost control over the Secret Knowledge Society. The students who have read ‘The Queue of the Insect Queen’ idolize more than just Mr. Thistle.

This is why they were able to have the society’s students obediently cooperate with their ruse to mislead the An Yin Bureau investigators this morning.

“Your Excellency, in accordance with your orders, I brought people for reinforcement, but I found that Chad’s forces have almost all been wiped out. Now, we are short-handed for the reconstruction of the base and the ritual setup. Do you know where Chad is right now?”

Avery says to Claudius, originally stationed at other bases in the city before being summoned to King Campus for reinforcements. He held no good feelings for the comrade Chad, also known as Mr. Thistle, who left a mess behind.

“Chad went to investigate a lead, saying he was just looking for a student, but he hasn’t returned yet and is probably dead by now…” Claudius says solemnly, and Avery is taken aback upon hearing this.

“What… Chad is dead? Who did it?”

“I don’t know. It could be the Black Dog, or perhaps the third-party society he mentioned.” Claudius replies seriously, and Avery grits his teeth, responding immediately.

“Your Excellency, should we investigate?”

“Investigation? We’re barely equipped for the ritual preparations at this point. What do we have for investigation? Two Black Tier members have already died here. Since bringing you over, I currently don’t have the capacity to request additional personnel.”

Claudius states slowly. The Eight Pinnacle Nest has a significant presence in Tivyán, but manpower is also in high demand. Although Claudius is a White Tier, the resources he has control over within the society are limited and cannot be used without restriction.

“Our immediate priority is to complete the remaining rituals and evacuate. Following last night’s incident, this base has already attracted the attention of the Black Dogs. Although we managed to deceive them for now, it won’t last long. Thus, the focus must be on the ritual preparations; there’s no time or energy to concern ourselves with anything else.”

Claudius expresses, having recently used his cover as an An Yin Bureau observer, along with mild hypnotic suggestions, to send the Bureau agents away with the cooperation of the society’s students.

However, this is clearly not a long-term solution. Since the An Yin Bureau has noticed issues in the northern suburbs of Tivyán, they will surely conduct a long-term investigation. Once they find nothing elsewhere, their focus will return to the university; therefore, completing their tasks and leaving quickly is the best course of action.

“Understood, I will direct all efforts to the rituals.”

Avery responds, and Claudius nods in approval, then continues.

“How is the ritual preparation going?”

“Generally smooth. It will be ready in three days.”

“And what about the counter-infiltration measures?”

“As per your instructions, we are currently reconstructing counter-infiltration measures in the entrance corridor of the ruins. The Radiance Lamp, Sensory Threads, and counter-divination setups are being prepared along with sufficient guards to ensure everything is foolproof. Nothing should be able to enter the ruins unnoticed.”

Avery assures, but his expression changes as he adds,

“Your Excellency, regarding the ritual, there’s one crucial point: since the sacrificial slaves originally prepared by Chad have escaped, we are currently lacking live sacrifices to further pollute the Mirror Moon Statue. Perhaps… you could contact other bases to send some sacrificial slaves over?”

“We’ll forgo that. As I said, I’m not in a position to request anything more right now, which includes sacrificial slaves. Moreover, getting sacrificial slaves transported from other areas would be troublesome. The Hunters are already tightening their grip on the northern suburbs, and transporting sacrificial slaves may draw their attention. Besides, we aren’t entirely without live sacrifices at this moment…”

Savoring another sip of red wine, Claudius speaks slowly. As he finishes his words, Avery’s expression shifts again, and he nervously responds.

“We still have live sacrifices available? Are you suggesting that those subordinates of yours…”

“Hah, not at all. What I mean is, there are quite a few students. Sacrificing half of them while they only read a few books would be sufficient. After all, this school base can no longer sustain them, and once the ritual is complete, these students used for cover will be of no further use, making them just right for sacrifice.”

Claudius murmurs on, and Avery is momentarily taken aback. After a while, he slowly replies.

“Your Excellency, you mean to use those students as live sacrifices? Won’t that attract too much attention if too many are sacrificed all at once, potentially angering the An Yin Bureau and prompting them to increase their search?”

“There’s no need to worry. Once this statue’s pollution ritual is complete, alongside the previous ones, our ‘influence’ will expand further. By then, threats from the kingdom’s government can be suppressed to some extent, including the An Yin Bureau.”

Waving his hand dismissively, Claudius offers a sly smile. Listening to Claudius’s words, confusion flickers in Avery’s eyes.

“As long as the ritual is completed, everything will be fine?”

In the office, Claudius and Avery continue their discussion, while, unseen by them, a small gecko crouches just beneath the door, quietly observing the scene within the room.

…

At this moment, in a secluded corner of the library at King Campus, Dorothy, pretending to read, is receiving information transmitted from a distant zombie puppet, deep in thought.

“Eavesdropping successful… I certainly wasn’t discovered by that guy this time.”

With this thought, Dorothy puts down the book in her hands and picks up a notebook next to her, jotting down summaries regarding the abilities of vampires, which she has gathered from the materials Beverly sold her.

Holding the notebook, Dorothy scans through the various abilities before eventually stopping at “Spiritual Perception (Cup. Shadow).”

“The reason that bald bat named Claudius was able to sense my small zombie puppet was likely due to this skill… It can perceive the surrounding environment’s ‘Cup’ spirituality and unhidden ‘Shadow’ spirituality to some extent and detect any anomalies.”

“My small zombie puppet is a flesh puppet driven by ‘Cup’. Compared to the ‘Cup’ of a normal human body, this ‘Cup’, influenced by extraordinary forces, is in an abnormal state, allowing Claudius to easily perceive it, which led to my monitoring failure.”

As she thinks this, Dorothy diverts her gaze to the crescent-moon-engraved ring on her finger, the Veil Ring left to her by her mother.

“However, this time, thanks to the protection of the Veil Ring, my zombie puppet successfully remained undetected. I didn’t expect that advancing to the Black Tier would enhance my stealth abilities somewhat.”

Dorothy continues to ponder. At this moment, she is using the extraordinary conduction effect of Spiritual Threads to relay the ‘concealment protection’ effect granted by the Veil Ring to the distant small zombie puppet. The puppet, benefiting from the ring’s protection, is why it wasn’t sensed by Claudius’s Spiritual Perception.

Unlike the puppet’s abilities, Dorothy must continuously transmit ‘Cup’ spirituality to the puppet through the Spiritual Threads to maintain its activity, so a certain amount of ‘Cup’ is always present in the puppet. The Veil Ring, through the Spiritual Threads, projects the puppet into its protective field without supplying ‘Shadow’, meaning the puppet itself doesn’t contain any ‘Shadow’, thus Claudius’s ‘Shadow’ Spiritual Perception cannot detect its existence.

Moreover, ‘Shadow’ Spiritual Perception can only sense ‘Shadow’ that is not concealed, such as ‘Shadow’ storage items and extraordinary items crafted with elemental magic, the ‘Shadow’ wind conjured by elementalization, ‘Shadow’ blades created through enchantment, etc. An extraordinary being hiding with ‘Shadow’ spirituality cannot be discerned through ‘Shadow’ Spiritual Perception and must rely on ‘Light’ for detection.

With the new abilities gained from advancing to the Black Tier, combined with her existing skills, Dorothy successfully eavesdropped on Claudius and obtained a valuable array of intelligence.

“What are these guys… trying to conduct a ritual surrounding that statue in the underground second level? And the timeline is tight, starting in three days and using students, particularly those corrupted by Poison Recognition, as live sacrifices during the process?”

“Heh… I originally thought these guys would retreat from the school under pressure from the An Yin Bureau, yet I didn’t expect they managed to get rid of the Bureau’s personnel and are planning something big instead? This truly is…”

After sorting through the intelligence gained from Claudius, Dorothy still feels somewhat shocked, with numerous questions lingering in her mind. What exactly is the purpose of the Eight Pinnacle Nest? Why do they need to search for that Mirror Moon Statue all over Prit? What are they aiming to achieve by polluting the Mirror Moon Statue through a ritual? Why would increasing the pollution of the statue expand some ‘influence’? Could this so-called ‘influence’ actually suppress threats from the kingdom’s government and even the An Yin Bureau?

A series of questions swirl in Dorothy’s mind, but at this moment, she has little time to ponder them. The urgent task is to figure out how to respond to the ritual in three days.

“I’ve successfully advanced to the Black Tier, so the ruins below are of no use to me. I don’t need to get involved in this at all; I should focus on further accumulating spirituality according to the new advancement trajectory.

“But… if I ignore this, the corrupted students in the Secret Knowledge Society might not be saved; they could be used as live sacrifices during the ritual, and I promised Nephnis that I would help her fight against Mr. Thistle and rescue her peers from the society…”

As Dorothy thinks this, she acknowledges that Nephnis has helped her significantly during this advancement endeavor. She plans to cultivate Nephnis into one of her own allies, similar to Vania… she doesn’t want to break that promise, nor does she want to be a bystander in someone else’s plight.

“Moreover… judging by the current situation, the Eight Pinnacle Nest searching for that Mirror Moon Statue must have unearthed quite a few ruins. Perhaps they know the location of the Star Number Repair Association ruins? There might be other locations like King Campus, where the Star Number Repair Association and the Mirror Moon Statue coexist. Targeting the Eight Pinnacle Nest might yield some clues?”

“Furthermore… I’m currently broke and my spirituality has dwindled significantly after the advancement. Thinking back to when I was in Igewent, I amassed resources by robbing the Holy Communion. If I want to rebuild my fortunes, isn’t this a perfect opportunity?”

With thoughts of money and spirituality, Dorothy’s spirits lift considerably as she glances at the Eight Pinnacle Nest base overseen by White Chalk. Courage swells within her, giving rise to the idea of pulling off a job.

“Well, there is always White Chalk. It’s prudent to report in first and see how the An Yin Bureau reacts before making any moves.”

Dorothy murmurs, then closes the book in her hands.