Chapter 378

Chapter 316 – Guidance

The western and southern cities of Tivyán are densely populated areas where many commoners gather. Due to the industrial zone located on the southern suburbs, a large number of heavily concentrated industrial workers have gathered in the southern city, especially as the sewage area has become the most polluted lower-class community in Tivyán.

In the northern section of the southern city, at the southern bank of the Moonflow River, lies a triangular area called Basket District. This area is home to numerous small workshops and individual craftsmen. Although the residents here lead a difficult life, it is considerably better than that of the impoverished workers further south. The main pollution they face comes from coal dust blowing in from the western Coal Ash District.

On the broad southern bank of the Moonflow River, the zombie puppet Ed stands, clad in his unchanged gray-black trench coat, gazing at the roaring river flowing towards the sea, watching the busy cargo ships coming and going and the various debris floating on the water’s surface. He can faintly smell the pungent odor wafting from the river.

Dorothy, using Ed’s perspective, looks towards the northern bank of the river. Through the mist, she can vaguely see the city walls and the countless tall buildings that stand there; this is the royal city of Tivyán. After turning her head, Dorothy gestures for Ed to look towards the district. At a glance, there are numerous low houses; on either side of the streets, there are clustered carpets and storefronts, with all kinds of shops densely packed. The street has become overcrowded due to the sheer number of carpets, making it evident that this is also a place where fish swim with dragons.

“So… where should we start looking?”

Sitting in a stopped carriage by the riverbank, Dorothy observes the appearance of the southern city streets through the eyes of the zombie puppet, pondering how to further locate Davik. After a moment of thought, an answer arises in her mind.

Dorothy takes out her magic box and controls Ed, not far away, to walk to the side of her carriage. After Ed secures the magic box, he quickly departs. After a brief search, he slips into an empty alleyway. Before long, a group of people of various appearances emerges from the alley.

These people are naturally all Dorothy’s zombie puppets. Dorothy controls seven or eight puppets to emerge from the magic box, and after leaving the alley, they head in different directions within the Basket District without looking back, directly blending into the area.

Ed is the last to exit the alley. After adjusting his hat, he returns to the lively street and, glancing at the shouting vendors around him, squats down in front of a stall selling glass ornaments, beginning to play with a string of glass necklaces.

“Hey there, customer! If you don’t find anything you like here, just let me know; I have many other styles behind me,” the stall owner, a slender man wearing a headscarf, says with a grin as soon as he sees Ed browsing.

Ed, unfazed, continues to select glass ornaments while casually asking, “No thanks, I’ll just look at these… By the way, boss, the weather hasn’t been great lately; is that affecting your business?”

“Hey… that’s for sure. But our family relies on this to eat, so we just have to tough it out… As long as we don’t get hit by a strange wind that could blow the stall away, we can make do with any kind of weather. Although it’s meager, it at least brings in some income,” the owner replies somewhat complainantly.

Ed, his eyes darting, continues, “Oh… so, boss, have you experienced any strange winds lately?”

“Well… let me think. There does seem to have been some strange winds recently, but not around here. I heard someone say it was over by East Street…”

Reflecting on this, the owner continues, while Ed continues to browse the glass trinkets, the conversation mainly revolving around the weather and strange winds. In Tivyán, this is a very common topic, and the stall owner finds nothing unusual about it.

Finally, after concluding their discussion, Ed purchases a string of glass necklaces and stands to leave. A similar scene is happening all over the Basket District at this moment.

Under Dorothy’s control, her several zombie puppets are currently dispersed throughout this area, engaging with the local residents as common customers and passersby, discussing the topic of the weather, focusing particularly on the strange winds.

Strange winds refer to a rumor in Tivyán about a sudden, unpredictable gust of wind that can unexpectedly arise and disappear, leaving people bewildered. While some have experienced it, many more have not. Some believe it’s a prank by small fairies, and children are warned they will be carried away by strange winds if they misbehave.

However, Dorothy knows that this is no mere rumor; strange winds do indeed exist. Their true nature is none other than the hunters from the Anonymity Headquarters, whose abilities create wind effects that impact ordinary people during their missions against societies, just like what Edmond did previously in the Coal Ash District.

According to information received from Gregor, Davik was secretly captured by the hunters, meaning there is a possibility of a confrontation between Davik and the hunters. If there was a conflict or even a battle between them, the hunters’ abilities could very well lead to the creation of strange winds. In such a case, Dorothy only needs to locate where the strange winds occur to at least find the site of the conflict between Davik and the hunters.

As expected, Dorothy, through her many puppets consulting around the area, indeed obtains information regarding strange winds. Near East Bottle Alley, many people claim to have experienced strange winds two or three days ago.

Without wasting any time, after gathering crucial intelligence, Dorothy immediately instructs Ed to head towards East Bottle Alley. There, from the carriage, Dorothy uses Ed and the perspective of a crow puppet in the sky to scan the area below, meticulously observing the scenes of the street in an attempt to find something.

The puppets navigate through the lengthy narrow alleys, yet the birds in the sky yield no results even after a long search.

“Hmm… It’s been two or three days since this incident occurred, so finding traces now is indeed difficult…”

Sitting in the carriage, Dorothy, stroking her chin, murmurs in frustration. After pondering for a while, she takes out a sigil, which is the last of the three Mending Sigils Adele gave her back at the theater.

“This thing is quite useful. Once I use this up… I wonder if I can get more from Beverly or Adele.”

Looking at the sigil in her hand, Dorothy remarks, then retrieves a “Cup” storage item jerked meat, which was likewise gifted by Adele, and uses it together with the sigil. After consuming two points of “Cup” from the jerky, the Mending Sigil activates.

Suddenly, Dorothy acquires the extraordinary sense of smell specific to “Cup” holders. She closes her eyes and transmits this buff through spiritual threads to the distant zombie puppet, Ed, in East Bottle Alley.

With her enhanced sense of smell, Dorothy instructs Ed to take a deep breath and carefully perceive the surrounding air, only to be choked by a sharp and acrid odor.

“Cough, cough… Is this the air of the southern city? The enhancement from the sigil is surprisingly intense…”

Shaking her head, Dorothy endures the strong noxious scent and attempts to distinguish other useful smells in the air of East Bottle Alley.

As she sniffs around, Dorothy guides Ed to wander through the alleyways. Eventually, amidst the stench of garbage and sewers, she detects a clue—a scent of bl**d.

“This is… the smell of bl**d? And quite strong, too…”

Following the scent of bl**d, Dorothy instructs Ed to advance through the dirty, narrow alley. Soon after, he turns into a dim alleyway devoid of people, where the surrounding smell of bl**d suddenly intensifies.

Dorothy directs Ed to stand in the middle of the alley. From his perspective, everything appears normal, seemingly without any anomalies. However, Dorothy can sense that this place once bore a strong trace of fresh bl**d.

As Ed scans the walls of the alley, the ground, and the sewer… these areas appear normal at first glance, but in Dorothy’s eyes, they have all been splattered with a considerable amount of bl**d. Even in the crevices of the walls, she can still detect the scent of bl**d.

“The amount of bl**d loss is substantial… There must have been a conflict here, a fierce one, but the bl**d has been cleaned up afterward…”

Next, Ed’s gaze settles on the scene before him as Dorothy mumbles. She starts directing Ed to examine the surrounding walls and ground, discovering numerous slash marks and claw marks. She recognizes those cuts as similar to those made when Edmond’s wind blades missed their targets on the ground.

‘These cuts are much smaller than those made by Edmond. They should be the marks left by a Black Tier wind user. They had a conflict here with an extraordinary being capable of fighting with claws, and the wind users must have won decisively.

‘This extraordinary being wielding claws is a beast-shaper. From his appearance, it seems he was ambushed by the wind users. The entire battle went in a rout, resulting in many wounds and a significant loss of bl**d. A normal person would likely have died from such bl**d loss, but a beast-shaper belonging to the Black Tier’s “Cup” is hard to k*ll that easily.’

Utilizing Ed to investigate the scene of the incident deep within the alley, Dorothy deduces in her mind, almost certain that this ambushed beast-shaper is Davik and that those wind users are indeed the hunters.

Continuing to observe the dimly lit alley scenes, Dorothy maintains her thought process, seeking to ascertain where Davik might have been taken.

The strongest scent of bl**d resides in the middle of the alley, alongside the highest concentration of marks from wind blades and claws, suggesting this is the main battleground. After searching, Dorothy notices a faint trail of bl**d leading from the main battleground to the mouth of the alley ahead. Unlike the large bloodstains in the main area, this trail appears as scattered droplets of bl**d.