Chapter 510

Chapter 384: Communication

Northern Tivyán, Church District.

Inside Tivyán’s largest church, the Hymn Cathedral, countless citizens gathered for the New Year prayer. In one of the crowded corners of the church, Dorothy controlled the zombie puppet Ed in a secret meeting with the head of the anti-spy team from the Anonymity Headquarters, Princess Knight Misha. The meeting had just begun when Dorothy learned part of the current situation of the An Yin Bureau from her words.

“The An Yin Bureau has already identified the Eight Pinnacle Nest as the mastermind behind this. This makes things much easier. After all, the princess and duke’s guards weren’t completely wiped out. Guards at a distance and on other floors survived, and many of them have encountered the vampire assassin who attempted to carry out the assassination up close. They can provide important information that the An Yin Bureau could use to identify the vampire’s attempt to infiltrate and assassinate. With just this piece of information, the An Yin Bureau can determine the mastermind.”

In a distant coffee shop from the Church District, Dorothy pondered these thoughts internally. Then she manipulated Ed, who was far away in the church, to respond to Misha with a smile.

“Ms. Misha, asking me such questions shows great trust in our infiltration capabilities and the authenticity of our intelligence.”

“Even if I didn’t believe, there would be no other way… You know, as long as that large dark nail remains, we might not uncover anything or face risks even if we do. Relying on your intelligence may still carry some risk, but it’s relatively smaller.”

With a tone tinged with helplessness, Misha responded to Ed. The An Yin Bureau, due to the existence of that large dark nail, had been very passive in investigating the Eight Pinnacle Nest, achieving almost nothing. Their biggest success recently was removing a small dark nail planted within the anti-spy team, which they achieved with the help of Dorothy’s intelligence. Therefore, when faced with such a significant situation, Misha prioritized seeking intelligence about the Eight Pinnacle Nest from Dorothy.

For Misha, collaborating with the mysterious third-party force represented by “Detective” itself carried risks, but given the unknown identity of the inner spy within the bureau, this was the only method to ensure the confidentiality of the intelligence. It was, however, a desperate measure.

“Thank you for your trust, Ms. Misha. Since you trust us so much, we are naturally willing to share intelligence with you. You’re right; we indeed have some understanding of the Eight Pinnacle Nest’s assassination attempt, and even more so—we had someone present at the scene on the night of the assassination.”

Ed continued to speak with a smile, prompting Misha to respond with surprise.

“At the party… did you really have someone there?”

“Yes, we received intelligence from our scouts that the Eight Pinnacle Nest might make a move during the New Year’s celebration at Bishop Square. We sent people there to try and stop them. Although we made efforts, unfortunately, they succeeded in the end.”

Ed replied slowly. Upon hearing this, Misha frowned slightly.

“Why didn’t you notify us then?”

“Because it was too late. By the time we obtained the intelligence, the party had already started, and the people we dispatched were sent from nearby. Our actions did hinder their original plan, but their backup forces were unexpectedly strong, preventing us from stopping their final desperate assassination attempt.”

Ed continued, and after hearing this, Misha frowned again, muttering to herself.

“Due to your interference… their original plan was hindered? So, the people who alerted the royal guards were you?”

“Yes, in the outer conflict with the Eight Pinnacle Nest, we found the body of the unfortunate royal guard who had been replaced. Using the puppet prop, we manipulated it to alert other royal guards. Although we drove away the vampire assassin, we didn’t expect them to have another trick up their sleeve.”

“It makes sense now… The surviving guards said they encountered an emergency medical team carrying someone identical to the disguised guard, warning them that the upper guard was fake. Later, we questioned the nun on duty at the emergency medical point, who said there was no such person. All of this was arranged by you…”

Misha muttered, seemingly relieved of confusion, while far away, Dorothy nodded, having successfully covered for Vania with her actions.

Back then, on New Year’s Eve in the square, due to the urgency, Dorothy had a zombie puppet pretend to be Vania’s subordinate, carrying the disguised Gregor to warn the royal guards about the vampire near the duke. In reality, Vania’s emergency point didn’t have such an injured royal guard, so Vania couldn’t admit to it. Now, Dorothy provided a plausible explanation to Misha for the disappearance of the injured royal guard.

“You mentioned earlier that the backup forces of the Eight Pinnacle Nest were extremely powerful, even beyond what you could handle. What exactly were those backup forces, and who ultimately killed Duke Barret?”

With a serious attitude, Misha asked Ed, who, after a sigh of relief, looked up at the magnificent dome ceiling painting of the cathedral. The painting depicted the religious legend of Arthur receiving the Stone Sword from the Holy Son. After a few seconds of gazing at the authoritative Holy Son and the devout Arthur, Ed spoke to Misha.

“The one who finally killed Barret was a familiar figure to you. We don’t know his name, but almost everyone in Tivyán knows him. Newspapers refer to him as the Night Demon.”

Upon hearing Ed’s words, Misha furrowed her brows and showed a look of shock. After maintaining this expression for a while, she said incredulously,

“Night Demon… He was one of the Eight Pinnacle Nest? No wonder… If the killer was the Night Demon, everything would make sense…”

“Make sense? Did you discover something during your investigation?”

Hearing Misha’s words, Ed also expressed some confusion. Misha paused slightly before answering.

“The scene of the assassination was severely damaged by the wind-based extraordinary power. Many royal extraordinary guards, including Duke Barret, died simultaneously. We suspect that Duke Barret and the guards engaged in a brief confrontation with the killer, possibly seeing the truth of the murderer. Therefore, we immediately conducted soul summonings on the deceased at the scene to uncover the truth, but both the Duke and the guards failed to summon their souls. Our ‘Silence’ extraordinary being claimed that their summoning was obstructed.

“This situation resembles the phenomenon when Night Demon commits crimes. After Night Demon kills, victims’ souls cannot be summoned either. Therefore, we believe Night Demon possesses some means to impede summoning. If Night Demon was responsible for killing Duke Barret and his attendants, the failure to summon their souls would be understandable.

“I never expected the final killer to be the Night Demon… It seems there must be some connection between the series of cases he committed and this assassination, but where exactly does this connection lie?”

Still with an expression of surprise, Misha murmured in thought. Far away, Dorothy nodded in understanding, pondering in her heart.