Chapter 488

Three Hundred and Seventy-Two Search

South Tivyán, on a street somewhere.

After briefly assisting in the rescue and order maintenance at the chaotic square, Gregor returned to where Dorothy was waiting, leading her away from the Bishop Square and heading towards other parts of the southern district.

Holding his sister’s hand, Gregor wandered through the streets of the southern district. After much difficulty, they found a hotel that was open even on New Year’s Eve. Here, Gregor got a room for Dorothy, and after paying and completing the procedures, he seriously instructed her at the door of the room.

“Dorothy, you should rest well tonight. When morning comes, go back. I have a lot to do here, so I won’t come to fetch you. Once you reach the school dormitory, remember to send me a telegram, okay?”

“There’s some danger tonight. After entering the room, just sleep and don’t come out, understand?”

Gregor earnestly instructed Dorothy with a serious look, and she obediently nodded in response.

“Um… I heard you. I can take care of myself, so you can go ahead, Gregor. Just be careful, okay?”

“Haha, Dorothy, you’re getting more and more sensible. I knew you’d listen.” Seeing Dorothy’s response, Gregor couldn’t help but feel relieved. He patted her shoulder and stood up to leave. Soon after, he walked out of the hotel.

In front of the hotel, Gregor lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and looked toward the distant direction of the Bishop Square, where a wind was howling.

“Sigh… I thought I could spend a peaceful year…”

With a sigh, Gregor followed the call of the distant wind, setting off directly toward the Bishop Square in his role as a hunter.

‘The Eight Pinnacle Nest, the royal family, the An Yin Bureau, and the mysterious organization that worships Akka… The waters of Tivyán run deeper than those of Igewent. I hope my choices here won’t be wrong.’

As he pondered this, Gregor’s figure gradually disappeared into the darkness of the streets. Above him, perched atop a lamppost, a black crow silently watched Gregor depart.

“Brother left, time to go…”

Inside the hotel room, Dorothy, who had been using a zombie puppet to monitor the outside situation from her bed, immediately stood up when she saw Gregor leaving for his night shift. She opened the door, slipped out, and began to head downstairs.

Using the zombie puppet to feign asking about the price to distract the receptionist, Dorothy smoothly escaped from the hotel. Running down the dark street, she arrived at an intersection and waited there, rubbing her hands together in the cold night wind. Soon after, the sound of hooves echoed from the far end of the street.

Dorothy looked in the direction of the sound and saw a black carriage pulled by two horses quickly approaching, driven by a coachman. It soon stopped in front of her.

Once the carriage stopped, the coachman immediately jumped down and opened the door for Dorothy. She stepped inside and returned to her familiar carriage.

“It’s time to go to the Duke’s villa…”

Sitting inside the familiar carriage, Dorothy muttered to herself. She then retook control of the coachman zombie puppet to return to her position and drove the carriage forward into the darkness of the street.

The day before, Dorothy had always used her own carriage when coming down from Green Shade Town. Upon reaching the agreed meeting point with Gregor, she had controlled the carriage zombie puppet to park near her, ready for immediate use. Now was the time to put it to use.

Dorothy wasn’t going anywhere else but to Duke Barret’s villa in the suburbs. According to the research materials on the Mirror Moon Statue that Barret’s ghost had compiled, including a holy emblem, all these were stored in a secret room in the villa. Therefore, Dorothy needed to retrieve them overnight.

It was crucial for Dorothy to quickly search Barret’s villa because Barret was already dead. There were two reasons for this urgency. First, if the royal family and the An Yin Bureau discovered Barret’s d*ath, they might search and seal off all his residences to investigate the cause of d*ath. If the holy emblem and research materials fell into the hands of the An Yin Bureau, it would be much harder for Dorothy to obtain them.

More importantly, if Dorothy’s speculation was correct, the Eight Pinnacle Nest’s goal was to prevent Barret from continuing his research on the Mirror Moon Statue. Simply killing the researcher wouldn’t suffice; they would need to destroy all research materials to prevent anyone else from picking up where he left off.

To avoid the royal family and the An Yin Bureau continuing their research once they found Barret’s materials, the Eight Pinnacle Nest might also go to Barret’s residence to steal or destroy these materials. Given their infiltration capabilities, they likely already knew the location of Barret’s research site.

Due to the Eight Pinnacle Nest’s advantage in intelligence, their actions would be faster than those of the An Yin Bureau. If the research materials, including the holy emblem, ended up in their hands, it would be nearly impossible for Dorothy to get them back.

Therefore, Dorothy couldn’t afford to wait. She had to quickly head to Barret’s villa and ideally retrieve the materials before the Eight Pinnacle Nest arrived.

‘I need to hurry. Otherwise, I might have to face them again, and this time, I’ll be alone. Without Vania and the others, things could get tricky…’

Inside the carriage, Dorothy thought to herself. Due to various reasons, she could only go to Barret’s villa alone.

Vania, as the first witness to the royal assassination, the overall treatment and command at the accident scene, had too much work to cooperate with the An Yin Bureau and couldn’t leave. Gregor had also been called back by the An Yin Bureau and couldn’t help. Nephnis had overused her abilities and couldn’t take any more risks. Lastly, Kapak, now merely an apprentice of Silence, wouldn’t be of much help in such a situation and had fellow apprentices to comfort.

Given the lack of additional manpower, Dorothy could only go to Barret’s villa alone. Her hope was that her actions would be quick enough to reach the destination before the Eight Pinnacle Nest did.

Thus, wrapped in a thick blanket, Dorothy sat in the dim carriage, controlling the zombie puppet to drive the carriage swiftly out of the city. As the night deepened, bouts of drowsiness occasionally overwhelmed her thoughts. Despite yawning frequently, she forced herself to stay alert and continue driving.

If not for Dorothy’s strong mental resilience as a scholar, capable of effectively suppressing her drowsiness, her fatigue might have caused problems.

The hooves of the horse struck the smooth road, and the wheels rolled over the cobblestones, making subtle rattling sounds. Dorothy’s carriage raced southwest. Having memorized the entire map of Tivyán and using a bird-shaped zombie puppet to navigate from the sky, Dorothy feared no getting lost. She chose the most convenient and shortest routes, ensuring a quick departure from the city.

After nearly two hours of travel, Dorothy’s carriage finally left the city. On the muddy road, it continued for another hour, bringing her closer to her destination.

Since Dorothy could control a small number of zombie puppets within a radius of ten kilometers, after leaving the city, she had her bird-shaped zombie puppet fly ahead to scout. After several hours of travel, the bird zombie puppet finally reached Shield Hill.

From the bird zombie puppet’s perspective, which was eight to nine kilometers away, Dorothy could see the large villa on the north slope of Shield Hill. From above, she clearly saw the brightly lit building amidst the dark grass.

‘It’s so bright… The servants shouldn’t be lighting so many lamps late at night when the master isn’t home… Could it be…’

Seeing the bright scene of the villa below, Dorothy felt uneasy. She then controlled the bird zombie puppet to descend, observing the scene closely. Her heart sank as she took in what she saw.

In the brightly lit courtyard of the villa, several corpses lay haphazardly. These corpses wore uniforms, and although their deaths varied, they were all gruesome.

Some had limbs torn apart, faces full of fear; others were covered in bl**d, their bodies mangled. These corpses littered the courtyard, with large pools of bl**d scattered everywhere. Around the corpses, firearms were strewn about. Judging by their uniforms, these were likely the villa’s guards.

‘Oh no… All the guards are dead… Those people have already been here… Am I too late?’

Seeing this scene, Dorothy frowned. Since the Eight Pinnacle Nest had long planned the assassination of Barret, they would have been prepared to clear out Barret’s villa. Compared to her, who had rushed over hastily upon receiving news, they would undoubtedly arrive at the destination faster.

This realization had crossed Dorothy’s mind during her journey. She understood that the chances of her arriving before the Eight Pinnacle Nest were slim, but she had hoped they might encounter some unforeseen delay. However, no miracle occurred.

Looking at the corpses in the courtyard, Dorothy felt heavy-hearted but didn’t give up. Instead, she directed the bird zombie puppet to fly toward the villa and perch on one of the lampposts, peering into the brightly lit windows. This sight made her raise an eyebrow.

Through the bird zombie puppet’s view, Dorothy saw several figures moving restlessly inside the villa. Upon closer inspection, they were masked individuals in black clothing, rushing around inside the rooms.

‘These people… Are they from the Eight Pinnacle Nest!? They haven’t left? Are they still searching inside the villa!?’

Gazing through the bird zombie puppet’s eyes at the group inside the villa, Dorothy couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement. She had originally thought they would leave after killing the person and finding the items, but they were still there.

Seeing this scene, Dorothy’s mood improved. She controlled the bird zombie puppet to rise again and circle the villa, observing its interior from different windows. She noticed that many black-clad masked individuals from the Eight Pinnacle Nest were frantically searching every room, turning everything upside down.

The interior of the villa was in complete disarray. Everything was knocked over, vases shattered, books thrown on the ground, and walls broken in some places. On the chaotic floors, numerous corpses lay, similar in appearance to the guards in the courtyard. They appeared to be male and female servants of the villa, except for the occasional black-clad individual, likely killed in the firefight by the villa’s security forces.

Seeing this scene inside the villa, Dorothy decided to enter and investigate. However, instead of risking having the bird zombie puppet fly in, she used its viewpoint to turn the corpses inside the villa into zombie puppets.

After turning the corpses into zombie puppets, Dorothy kept them motionless on the ground, pretending to be corpses. Using the auditory senses of the zombie puppets, she began eavesdropping on the sounds inside the villa.

During her eavesdropping, Dorothy realized that the people inside the villa weren’t speaking much but were focused on searching everywhere.

For this reason, Dorothy chose to use the controlled zombie puppet’s line of sight, switching control to other zombie puppets in the villa without making large movements, to implement further eavesdropping.

Finally, after controlling a young female servant’s corpse who had died at the entrance hall staircase, Dorothy heard a voice through the servant’s ears—a man’s voice.

In the center of the entrance hall, amidst a large pool of bl**d, a black-clothed man wearing a mask stood there. At this moment, he was talking to a human-faced spider, his tone revealing clear anger.

“What? You still haven’t summoned Barret’s soul!? I’ve been waiting here for over an hour! Just for the precise location of his laboratory! And now you tell me you haven’t succeeded yet? What are you doing?!”