Chapter 61

Chapter 61 – The Bookstore

In Igewent at Night on White Pearl Street.

After cleaning up the scene, the two black-clothed persons quickly left. They climbed out of the window and slipped into the shadows. Then they made their way through the alleys of White Pearl Street, turning left and right before advancing further.

After carefully circling around in the darkness for a long time, the two black-clothed persons finally moved toward their target. They walked to the end of a narrow alley and entered a building through a back door.

After crossing a dimly lit corridor, the two black-clothed persons arrived in a spacious room filled with bookshelves. The shelves were lined with old books, and a musty scent permeated the air.

At this moment, standing between the bookshelves was a bald, hunched elderly man. Upon seeing his figure, the two black-clothed persons immediately knelt on one knee and spoke.

“Mr. Colif…”

“How is the situation?” Colif replied slowly upon hearing his subordinate’s words. The two black-clothed persons in front of him soon responded.

“We found Cory. He indeed received Mr. Burton’s belongings today at noon. It’s this thing…” As he spoke, one of the black-clothed persons handed a pocket watch from his chest to Colif. After examining it closely, Colif frowned slightly and said:

“This is indeed something belonging to Burton. Did Cory see the seller’s face?”

“No, Cory said the seller was a tall man, wearing a mask and carrying a g*n. He’s a tough guy. Cory was even robbed by him,” the black-clothed person continued reporting. Hearing this, Colif couldn’t help but coldly snort.

“Hmph… probably wanted to trick someone but encountered a formidable opponent. Where is Cory now?”

“That guy didn’t follow orders and tried to retaliate. We’ve already taken care of him. The corpse has been handled with a sigil,” the black-clothed person answered further. Listening to this, Colif nodded slowly.

“It’s what he deserved. The intelligence we gathered this time is indeed scarce, but at least we confirmed that those people might be fencing stolen goods in White Pearl Street… Keep an eye on any unusual movements nearby, especially those channels for fencing stolen goods. We must catch the trail of those guys.”

Colif instructed his subordinates, and they all nodded in response.

“Yes, sir.”

…

At this very moment, across the street from the building, on the corner of the road, Dorothy stood quietly, confirming the location of another Holy Communion stronghold through the gecko zombie puppet’s positioning.

“Finally… found another one…”

To find the hidden stronghold of the Holy Communion in White Pearl Street, Dorothy orchestrated this fishing act.

First, Dorothy locked onto Cory Cross, the notorious loan shark in White Pearl Street, based on the results of three days of investigation there. She then pawned Burton’s pocket watch at Cory’s place using a zombie puppet, and spread the news on the street using other zombie puppets, making sure the message got out.

The purpose was to attract the attention of the Holy Communion’s spies in White Pearl Street. Since the stronghold would surely hear about this rumor, and after failing to gain insights through divination, the Holy Communion would likely not overlook this lead. They would send someone to verify the message with Cory, hoping to get clues about the unknown enemy from him.

This is exactly what Dorothy hoped for. She had been monitoring Cory with animal zombie puppets, waiting for the Holy Communion to come knocking. Then she could track them back to the Holy Communion’s stronghold in White Pearl Street.

“So… now I’ve found another one… how should I handle it?”

Under the moonlight, Dorothy leaned against the wall, contemplating. Finding a new stronghold was good, but how to proceed was another issue.

Dorothy could launch a raid like before, but if the stronghold was attacked once, the remaining strongholds would definitely be on high alert. Replicating the previous strategy would be much more difficult given how many days had passed since the disappearance of her comrade.

Not conducting a surprise attack, Dorothy had little chance against a single stronghold of the Holy Communion.

And she couldn’t directly report it either; there were traitors within the An Yin Bureau. Reporting would only alert them and cause them to evacuate prematurely.

So, what should she do?

For a moment, Dorothy was at a loss. She looked at the building across the street, which served as the stronghold, carefully examining its facade and the sign illuminated by the streetlights.

“Barnard Old Book Collection”

‘This is a bookstore? Or perhaps… this bookstore is the façade of the stronghold.’

Looking at the sign of the nearby bookstore, Dorothy pondered for a while, and some ideas began to form in her mind.

“Maybe… I can try a little…”

Nodding slightly, Dorothy murmured, then turned around and headed in the direction of leaving White Pearl Street. Her reconnaissance was over for today, and she needed to rest properly.

…

As the sun rose in the east, the night dispersed. A whole night passed quickly.

In the morning light of Igewent, on the apartment building of Nan Yang Flower Road, Gregor, who had worked overtime all night, rubbed his tired eyes and staggered up the stairs.

“Ugh… searched all night and found nothing, just more fake information, so annoying…”

Muttering under his breath, Gregor felt quite frustrated. Ever since the Burton case, he had been working overtime frequently, either analyzing cases at the bureau or rushing around gathering various pieces of information, which had left him exhausted.

‘Before leaving, I received intelligence that someone in White Pearl Street was disposing of stolen goods related to Burton’s case… This kind of information has happened several times. This time it’s probably fake… Anyway, thankfully Mr. James sent another team today, so I need to take a good rest.’

Thinking to himself, Gregor arrived at his home and opened the door with his key. Inside, he saw his sister sitting on the sofa in the living room eating breakfast.

“Good morning, Gregor. Back from your night shift?”

“Yeah… Morning, Dorothy…”

Gregor nodded and closed the door behind him. Dorothy, noticing Gregor’s fatigue, curiously asked:

“Gregor, you’ve been working overtime a lot lately. Is there a problem?”

“It’s all because of that d*mn Burton Ville case. Seven people died, and the murderer still hasn’t been caught. Many wealthy families feel unsafe, so they’ve increased their security needs. That’s why we’ve been so busy these past few days…”

As he spoke, Gregor took off his coat and hung it on the rack, then sat heavily on the sofa and drank milk.

Listening to Gregor, Dorothy covered her chest and said anxiously,

“Burton Ville… I saw it in the newspaper too. So cruel, it’s unsettling that such a vicious murderer is still at large. Even walking home from school feels unsafe…”

“Don’t worry… although the murderer is still on the run, he probably isn’t interested in ordinary people… well, my point is that he might only target the wealthy,” Gregor said after putting down the milk bottle. Knowing the inside story, he understood that this was a case involving a secret society.

“Don’t let the public opinion about this case affect you, Dorothy. Remember, focus on your studies.”

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’m studying hard every day,” Dorothy replied with a smile, thinking about her daily worries about tuition.

Then, Dorothy thought for a moment and looked at Gregor, who was eating bread, and asked,

“Oh, by the way, Gregor, do you know White Pearl Street?”