Chapter 48

Chapter 48: The Spy

Inside Room 22 of the lower district of Igewent, bl**d splattered everywhere.

Various twisted corpses lay scattered throughout the room, and the flowing bl**d soaked the carpet; splatters of bl**d covered the cupboards on the walls. The stench of bl**d mingled with the smell of gunpowder, filling the space with a foul atmosphere, unmistakably marking this place as a scene of a massacre.

“Ha… Ha… Ha…”

Standing on the bl**d-soaked carpet, Dorothy gasped, holding a crowbar smeared with a sticky mixture of white and red. bl**d splatters dotted her clothes, and her crimson eyes silently stared at the mangled corpse lying before her.

“Finally… done…”

After confirming the d*ath of the mutilated body in front of her, Dorothy sighed heavily in relief. Although she had prepared beforehand, this was still her first hunt targeting an Extraordinary Being, and nerves and anxiety had accompanied her throughout the process… However, the operation was quite successful.

To smoothly infiltrate the Holy Communion stronghold at Room 22, Dorothy had previously used various Animal Puppets to monitor the area for two days, learning the secret knock and code words used by those who came and went.

Then, she had chosen two of the corpses of Holy Communion lackeys she killed a few days prior on her way home from school, turning them into puppets and using the spirit of “Enlightenment” to give them speech abilities, deceiving others within the Holy Communion.

Taking Dorothy, who was concealed in a coffin, into the stronghold, she launched a sudden ambush when they were completely unprepared, gaining the upper hand. The credit for this success belonged to Dorothy’s puppets, which resembled living beings.

‘The operation went quite smoothly… but the cost was a bit high…’

Dorothy thought to herself, reflecting on the two puppets she lost in this operation. The consumption of spirit was significant as well; she had used 1 point of “Enlightenment” to grant language capabilities to the puppets and another 2 points to increase the manipulation limit of the two corpses. This had also caused the energy-efficient puppet ring to nearly deplete its stored “Cup” due to the heavy load. When she returned, Dorothy needed to recharge the ring with her finger battery pack. Additionally, she had used 1 point of her stored “Cup” to enhance her physical abilities.

This operation had cost her 3 points of “Enlightenment” and 2 points of “Cup.” “Enlightenment” was not a problem since it would replenish after two days of rest, but she truly needed to conserve her “Cup”…

With this thought, Dorothy scanned the area and then used the remaining spirit from her puppet ring to manipulate two still relatively intact corpses, proceeding with her main body to gather valuable items from around.

Before long, Dorothy had found £50 in cash, two bl**d-Eating Sigils, and in the dark room near the altar, she discovered a book, along with some other seemingly valuable knick-knacks. Without further thought, Dorothy packed away all these items and the guns.

After packing up, Dorothy released the two corpses she was controlling from their puppet state, then turned her gaze toward Burton, who was bloody and severely damaged.

Reaching out, Dorothy turned Burton into a puppet, causing his lifeless body to slowly move. She controlled this burdened corpse to stumble its way to her seat in the study, making him sit down. Though he was a corpse of an Extraordinary Being, he was severely damaged, and Dorothy had no intention of taking him with her; she had other uses for his puppet state.

After having Burton sit in the chair, Dorothy quickly made her escape with her spoils. Knowing that the previous gunshots had already attracted the attention of the nearby civilians and that the police had likely been alerted, she chose not to exit through the front door but instead went upstairs, reaching the rooftop of Room 22.

Standing on the empty rooftop, Dorothy gazed over at the slightly taller building next door and activated the puppet ring. On the other rooftop, a figure stood up; it was Edric, whom Dorothy had set up there beforehand.

Carrying her spoils, Dorothy climbed over to the adjacent rooftop with Edric’s assistance, reaching it effortlessly. She then changed out of her bl**d-soaked jacket and, with the help of the puppet, jumped over a few more rooftops before finally descending into a pre-selected rooftop, swiftly leaving the increasingly crowded Yu Mul West Alley.

However, Dorothy did not go far. After tossing the items to Edric, she waited in a deserted corner, checking the sun and glancing at her watch.

The time showed 9:11 AM.

“It should be soon…”

Looking at her watch, Dorothy murmured to herself, then carefully linked her attention to the puppet Burton still inside Room 22, hundreds of meters away.

At that moment, in Room 22, the now deserted crime scene, the puppet Burton sat quietly in his chair, as if waiting for something—specifically, something Dorothy had instructed him to wait for.

Before long, an unusual movement stirred in the once-quiet study.

On the bloody altar in the dark room, only the upper part of a skull remained, covered with a layer of flesh, and directly on this layer grew an ear.

Suddenly, this layer of flesh began to stir, and shortly after, a mouth sprouted beneath the ear, which opened to reveal a male voice.

“Burton! Burton? Are you in the room? Respond if you hear me, Burton!”

Hearing this voice, the puppet Burton turned his head, then slowly rose from his chair, limping toward the altar, using his still intact mouth to speak in a deep voice.

“I’m here…”

“Good… just as long as you’re here. Listen to me, Burton, your hiding spot has been discovered by those government dogs! Hurry and leave; the Hunters will arrive within ten minutes…” the mouth on the altar continued, prompting Burton to respond in an agitated tone.

“How did the An Yin Bureau find me? Could there be a spy on our side leaking information? Was the failure of our operation a few days ago also due to a leak?!”

“That shouldn’t be the case. If Gregor Oros knew we wanted to corrupt his sister, he would have requested family protection from James long ago. The fact that he hasn’t means our information hasn’t been compromised. According to intel, a third party might be involved. Regardless, now is not the time to discuss this. Quickly leave and go to Colif on White Pearl Street!”

The mouth on the altar continued, and Burton nodded in response.

“I’m on my way…”

“Right… hurry up. We’ll discuss this matter thoroughly afterward…”

Afterwards, the mouth on the altar grew silent, gradually dissolving into flesh and bl**d.

As Burton observed this entire scene, he slumped to the ground like a marionette that had lost its strings, and the study of Room 22 fell back into silence once more.

Meanwhile, in the deserted corner of the alley, hundreds of meters away, Dorothy slowly opened her eyes.