Five Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Communication
“Support? Then when exactly will it arrive?”
Inside the revolutionary army’s command center in Dosa, Dorothy asked Advisor Nei to reply to Aidan’s question. After considering for a moment, Aidan then continued speaking.
“According to the general’s reply, it should be about three more days. After those three days, the reinforcements and supplies will arrive in Dosa. We will reorganize our troops and launch another offensive toward Karnak.”
“Three days…” Nei pondered Aidan’s response for a while, but his expression didn’t lighten much as he replied.
“So, has the general prepared any methods to deal with those undead?”
“I don’t know yet. The general’s reply didn’t mention anything like that. So I plan to use these three days to conduct broad ideological work with the troops, explaining the basics of the undead to them, dispelling their panic. If possible, I want to capture a few skeletons to show the soldiers, so by the time the lamps are ready in three days, the soldiers won’t be as fearful of those undead.”
Aidan explained his approach to dealing with the undead. Hearing these methods, Dorothy nodded in agreement from afar, finding Aidan’s plan quite reasonable. Fear often stems from the unknown, and once they understand the undead better, they wouldn’t fear them as much.
“This plan can indeed be carried out, but we’re still unsure if the enemy has other means besides the undead army. Perhaps we need to prepare for more than just the undead.”
“Moreover, they have a considerable number of cannons. Without locating their positions and suppressing their artillery fire, our troops will suffer heavy casualties under bombardment. In such a situation, the troops may collapse either from the undead or the artillery fire.” Dorothy had Nei add, since unlike the undead, the fear induced by artillery bombardment is hard to overcome even with thorough understanding. Even if soldiers could overcome their fear of the dead and fight bravely, the overwhelming firepower would still cause rapid disintegration.
“There’s no way around it. Karnak is surrounded by a vast area of undead warning zones, making it impossible for our scouts to get close. Where are their artillery positions, and how are they arranged? We have no clue. Although our artillery count is superior, without knowing their positions, we can only aim blindly…”
Shaking his head, Aidan said helplessly. The role of the undead forces wasn’t just to instill fear and hinder combat; they were also excellent scouts. The revolutionary army might not fear the undead and charge forward bravely, but distant enemy artillery would quickly strike, causing severe damage to infantry. With our scouts unable to enter the warning zone and gather information on enemy positions, our artillery cannot provide effective suppression and cover for the infantry.
Thus, even if revolutionary soldiers could overcome their fear of the undead and regain morale, they still need to find a way to infiltrate the undead warning zone in Karnak to collect intelligence. Otherwise, launching an attack blindly would only make them targets for the enemy’s artillery.
“It seems… we still need to figure out how to break through this warning zone…”
In the operations room, Nei stroked his chin and muttered. Meanwhile, Dorothy, far away, began deep in thought, contemplating how to infiltrate the warning zone and gather intelligence. After some thought, she had an idea and directed Nei to speak.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you mentioned earlier that the forces sent to attack the frontline of Karnak were ambushed by the undead halfway through?”
“Yes, according to those who retreated, they were marching normally when skeletons and zombies suddenly emerged from underground and attacked them, causing immediate chaos.”
Aidan affirmed with a nod. After hearing Aidan’s response, Dorothy had Nei continue.
“The troops were ambushed on the march, which means the enemies in Karnak knew about our troop movements. This indicates that there must be spies in Dosa. Before the troops set out, the spy reported back to Karnak, and they arranged for the undead to ambush them. These zombies and skeletons do not have the ability to dig underground; they were buried along the route beforehand.”
“Spies… yes, after hearing about the ambush, I also realized that there must be spies in Dosa. Now I am arranging more comprehensive confidentiality measures to prevent these spies from having opportunities in future actions.”
After hearing Dorothy’s words, Aidan responded seriously. Meanwhile, Dorothy was internally contemplating whether she could use these spies to counteract the large warning zone protecting Karnak.
…
Late at night in Dosa, darkness and silence prevailed. As the entire city fell silent, Dorothy’s room remained brightly lit. Sitting by the window, she rapidly wrote on a book page with a pen. This book was her “Navigation of the Literary Sea.”
Using the “Navigation of the Literary Sea,” Dorothy communicated with a contact far away. She jotted down notes on a blank sheet of paper next to it, writing one sentence after another.
Finally, after a brief reply, Dorothy ended the communication, closed the “Navigation of the Literary Sea,” and took a deep breath. She picked up the white paper on the desk and read the five sentences listed:
“Prayer statue stone… soul division… summoning… dream anchor… radio telegram…”
The items listed on the white paper included both mysterious and mundane things, seemingly unrelated on the surface, but to Dorothy, they shared a common characteristic: they were all means of communication. Realizing that there might be spies from the Savior faction or the Underworld Coffin Cult in Dosa, Dorothy started looking for ways to identify them. However, finding one or two hidden spies in such a vast city was extremely difficult. They could be among the officers, soldiers, or even among the general populace of Dosa. The potential hiding places for these spies were extensive. The anti-spy department within the Adus Revolutionary Army was already weak, and now, in the midst of internal chaos, it was hard to function effectively. Finding these spies in a short period was challenging, so Dorothy decided to take matters into her own hands.
To find spies hidden in Dosa, apart from spending a lot of time rebuilding the anti-spy department and deploying numerous informants, Dorothy could think of a quicker method: starting from the communication methods. Confirming how the spies communicated with Karnak and seeing if traces left by these methods could reveal their positions. What Dorothy did was listing possible methods the spies in Dosa might use to communicate with the enemy inside Karnak, hoping to find something noteworthy.
In Dorothy’s mind, the spies could be from the Savior faction or the Underworld Coffin Cult. Therefore, they might use extraordinary communication methods specific to these factions or some common extraordinary communication methods and mundane communication means. After many inquiries, Dorothy listed five possibilities.
In the Secret World, different societies and organizations often had unique extraordinary communication methods. For example, the eight-pointed human-faced spider was a specially bred extraordinary creature. The Amniotic Sac of the Veil was a special ritual involving flesh.
Regarding the extraordinary communication methods of the Savior faction, Dorothy directly asked Shadi, who had long-term contact with the Savior faction. From him, she learned that the extraordinary communication method of the Savior faction was the same as the mainstream method of the Radiant Church, known as the Prayer Statue Stone. This stone was highly compatible with faith power and could sense and display prayer content. By carving deities’ statues with this stone, a believer could pray to the statue, and the prayer content would appear on the base of the statue. Different Prayer Statue Stones could carve statues of deities in various postures and details, requiring believers to remember every detail of the statue to ensure the prayer content appeared correctly.
Using the Prayer Statue Stone for communication was quick but had drawbacks. The stones were rare and not widely used, typically found only in large churches and being large in size. Usually, only external believers could send messages via prayer to the statue, but the statue couldn’t instantly respond to the believer. For bidirectional communication, both believers needed to be in a church with a Prayer Statue Stone.
Prayer Statue was the mainstream communication method of the Savior faction and the Radiant Church, as Dorothy learned from Shadi and Vania. Regarding the communication methods of the Underworld Coffin Cult, Dorothy learned from Satraya. Through communication with Satraya, Dorothy discovered that the extraordinary communication methods within the Underworld Coffin Cult involved summoning and soul division.
Summoning was straightforward: a trained soul acted as a messenger, and two extraordinary beings could communicate over great distances by summoning this soul. During communication, one summoner would tell the soul the message, and the other summoner would then summon the soul elsewhere. Due to the soul’s ability to move at high speeds in the Shadow Realm, the other summoner could quickly retrieve the soul and obtain the message.
Even more advanced, the summoning arrays could be maintained in a semi-activated state using spiritual storage items, allowing the arrays to run continuously without constant maintenance. Messenger souls could freely travel between the two arrays in the Shadow Realm, providing efficient and low-energy communication. This was the most mainstream communication method within the Underworld Coffin Cult.
Soul division, however, was less common. It involved a powerful “Silence” extraordinary being dividing a small part of their soul, which would then reside in a container and be carried to a distant location. The communicator could exchange information with the divided soul, informing the subject of the communication. Since a “Silence” extraordinary being could only divide their soul a limited number of times and prolonged division would negatively affect the subject, this method was only used in emergencies.
Apart from society-specific extraordinary communication methods, the Dream Anchor was a widely used method among many extraordinary beings. As long as the dream world could gather together, anything could be discussed face-to-face. However, the Dream Anchor Sigil was expensive, and unless one was very wealthy, it couldn’t be a long-term extraordinary communication method.
Of course, communication methods weren’t just extraordinary; there were also mundane ones. Among mundane methods, setting up a radio station and sending telegrams was the most convenient.
Sitting in her seat, Dorothy crossed her legs and looked at the various communication methods written on the paper, mentally eliminating them.
‘The Prayer Statue requires a large space, generally needing a church to accommodate it. The Savior faction only sets up Prayer Statues in a few important cities in Adus, none of which include Karnak, so this can be ruled out.
‘The Dream Anchor Sigil is too expensive, and long-term intelligence transmission would be too costly. Moreover, without synchronized sleeping times, its effectiveness would be poor. Urgent matters during the day would have to wait until the other party sleeps at night, so this can also be ruled out.
‘The Soul Division method would have negative effects on the divided soul if used for extended periods. It’s suitable for urgent, real-time communications in special tasks, but this long-term covert task isn’t appropriate for such a method.
‘As for radio telegrams… these extraordinary beings probably wouldn’t consider such mundane methods before other extraordinary means fail…’
Dorothy thought to herself, and after some contemplation, she had a good idea of what communication methods the spies might be using.
‘So, these spies are likely using the Summoning method. Setting up two long-lasting low-intensity summoning arrays in concealed locations would allow the messenger soul to swiftly shuttle through the Shadow Realm, making it ideal for long-term secret communication…
‘It seems this counter-spy operation will have to focus on the soul and Shadow Realm.’
Dorothy pondered, then opened her “Navigation of the Literary Sea” beside her. After flipping through several pages, she reached the contact page for the New World resident Kapak. After some thought, Dorothy wrote down the Spiritual Seal Language on the page.
After communicating further with the “Navigation of the Literary Sea,” having achieved her purpose, Dorothy put down her pen and gazed out at the dark window.
“So, tomorrow I will discuss the detailed plans with Neph and Commander Aidan.”
…
With the moon setting and the sun rising, bright sunlight soon illuminated Dosa.
In the morning, outside the urban area of Dosa, on the edge of the military camp, countless soldiers in uniform stood under the sun, forming lines that stretched far into the distance. Each soldier carried weapons, their expressions tense. Everyone wore a look of nervous anticipation, gazing ahead.
In front of the soldiers’ formation, there was a wooden platform. On top of the platform, Commander Aidan stood, addressing the soldiers below with a loud speech.
“Just as I said! Those skeletons, those zombies, have nothing to fear! They are weaker and slower than you! You attack them, and they will fall! They are just dead people! They can d*e once, and they can d*e again!
“If necessary, we will observe them more closely today! We will try! I will personally demonstrate how to handle these dead! Remember it! Follow my example! Remember, you are the warriors of the Adus people! Not cowards! Don’t retreat because of these dead!”
Standing on the platform, Aidan passionately addressed the soldiers below. Just as he was boosting morale, a hint of amusement appeared in the eyes of a junior officer in the ranks near the edge of the formation.
‘Ah, this is about building courage…
‘I need to notify immediately to turn this courage-building into cowardice-building…’
Adjusting his officer cap, the junior officer silently watched Aidan on the platform.
At that moment, in another hidden spacious room in Dosa, Nephnis was gently touching a jar full of white ashes, the materials for the ritual.
