Five Hundred and Ninety-Second File
On the northern outskirts of Tivyán, within the library of the Royal Sacred Crown University, Dorothy sat in her usual spot, controlling numerous zombie puppets to spread throughout the campus, searching for information on Duke Barret’s academic collaborator.
After confirming that the person was likely a professor at Crown University and had an interest in the hidden history during the Wind King’s Rebellion, finding this individual became much easier. By checking all the research these professors conducted, examining every paper they published, and seeing which books they borrowed, it was straightforward to determine their research interests and directions, understand their “academic personality,” and then judge whether they would be interested in historical events like the Wind King’s Rebellion.
After collecting a large amount of information and conducting a comprehensive analysis, Dorothy continuously screened the list of professors in her mind until only one remained: Professor John Macchison from the Archaeology Department. He had written several papers about the history before and after the Wind King’s Rebellion, and the historical materials he borrowed were predominantly from that period.
In his papers, although he claimed to respect the existing historical records on the surface, in some paragraphs he subtly expressed his distrust and dissatisfaction with these records through his writing style. Among all the professors at Crown University, he appeared to be the most suspicious and the most likely to be Duke Barret’s academic collaborator.
“John Macchison? Hmph… Interesting, I didn’t expect to recognize someone…” Sitting in the corner of the library, Dorothy muttered softly, looking at the professor’s file sent back by the zombie puppet from the distant archive. She had heard Professor Macchison’s name before; she had even met him personally. Professor John Macchison was Neve’s teacher and one of the professors in the Archaeology Department at Crown University. When Neve and others went on a study tour, it was under the guidance of Professor Macchison. On the cruise ship, Dorothy had once met him briefly.
“I didn’t think there were so many secrets hidden within Crown University. Not just the Secret Knowledge Society, but the entire campus is built on dual secret sites associated with the Star Number Repair Association and the Mirror Moon Church. One of the major figures in the White Stone Craftsmen Guild is also part of the school’s administration, and many members of Pruit’s secret systems graduated here. It makes sense that there would be more secrets hidden within.”
Dorothy thought to herself as she confirmed that Duke Barret’s collaborator was likely Neve’s teacher. She immediately began calculating the time and realized that the archaeological team would return to Tivyán in two days. Their ship would dock at the port in the East District, ending their six-month-long study tour.
“Two days? Then I should prepare some gifts and visit the professor properly in two days.”
After finding the person, Dorothy felt relieved and began to control her zombie puppets scattered across the campus to clean up any traces of her investigation. She planned to gather all the zombie puppets and then enjoy a cup of tea, clean her dusty house, rest for two days, and then set out to talk with the returning professor.
While Dorothy was manipulating the zombie puppet to organize the documents in the distant archive, she noticed a problem.
To facilitate browsing and searching, the archives in various libraries followed certain patterns. Different categories were grouped together, and smaller categories were further divided within each larger category. The arrangement from the main archive shelves to specific filing cabinets was systematic. Even within a single file folder, similar documents were organized according to date and other rules, making it easy to find what you needed when searching.
As Dorothy sorted through the numerous files, she became familiar with the organization pattern and arranged them accordingly. However, during this process, she noticed something unusual.
This anomaly was found in a document within a chemistry professor’s file. After quickly reading through the experimental conclusion report and reorganizing it, Dorothy frowned slightly. She realized that the content of the experiment report she had organized seemed contradictory to what she remembered seeing initially. Upon reflection, she discovered that the pages in the original report were in reverse order.
The experimental report consisted of several loose sheets of paper, which were not bound together but placed among the professor’s other reports. Thus, there was a risk that the order could get mixed up easily. Now, Dorothy’s memory of the first time she saw the report did not match her current recollection after reorganizing it, indicating that something must have gone wrong somewhere.
Since the report was handwritten by the professor and lacked page numbers, Dorothy carefully read through the entire document, organizing the pages based on the logical sequence of the content. However, after arranging it, she sensed something was off. Upon careful reflection, she realized that the sequence of the pages she took out did not match the order she had arranged, suggesting an error.
In other words, if Dorothy relied on her memory to arrange the report, the logical sequence would be completely disrupted, making the report incomprehensible. Conversely, if she arranged the report based on its logical sequence, it would not match her memory, which never erred due to her extraordinary abilities as Enlightenment. Therefore, the report must have been disordered when she retrieved it.
“So… did the professor accidentally mix up the order of the pages when submitting the report?”
For anyone else, they would likely attribute this issue to a mistake made by the professor and move on. But Dorothy was different. She could be described as a detail-oriented perfectionist or simply having an overly active mind, always thinking deeply about countless minor details without neglecting her primary tasks.
After noticing this detail in the experimental report, Dorothy immediately reviewed the professor’s other papers and reports. She found that the professor was meticulous, with logically sound experiments and clear thoughts, and his reports were meticulously written. In his hundreds of pages of handwritten papers, the handwriting was neat, the pages clean, with no spelling errors and minimal corrections, indicating that he was a very meticulous person. There were no low-level errors like misplaced pages in any of his other texts.
“This professor doesn’t seem like the type to submit a report with pages out of order… This discrepancy in the report’s order shouldn’t be his doing. It must have happened later during archiving or while someone was reviewing the files. Since the report was submitted as a whole, the archiver only needed to look at the title page and didn’t need to flip through it, so the likelihood is low. It’s more likely that someone reviewing the files later messed it up. So… someone has come here to review these files before me?”
With this thought, Dorothy continued sorting the files while instructing her zombie puppets to closely observe the surroundings of the archive. She recalled all her memories since entering the archive and began a detailed inspection, eventually uncovering more clues.
Given that it was summer vacation at Crown University, few people were left on campus. With even fewer visitors, the archive had seen almost no activity in over a month. Normally, such a large archive would be covered in dust, but when Dorothy recalled her zombie puppet’s entry, she noted that the floor and visible surfaces were nearly dust-free, as if recently cleaned. Dust accumulated significantly in less noticeable corners.
Based on the current dust accumulation, the archive had been lightly cleaned within the last two to three days. However, given the long holiday and lack of cleaning staff, it was unlikely that anyone would clean such a place during this period. Additionally, Dorothy observed that most of the archive folders had a fine layer of dust, except for those related to the Crown University professors that she had reviewed.
A professor’s experiment report being disorganized… Unusual dust accumulation in the archive… These anomalies led Dorothy to conclude that someone had visited the archive and reviewed the professors’ files not long ago.
Moreover, these individuals did not conduct their search openly; they tried to hide their traces. Given the long absence of people, the ground was clearly dusty. To avoid leaving footprints, they quickly cleaned the area before leaving.
When reviewing the professors’ files, they inadvertently scattered the chemistry professor’s experimental report. During reorganization, they mixed up the page order, which Dorothy detected.
These individuals were meticulous in organizing the files they reviewed, except for the experimental report. The error in the report’s order stemmed from its nature—a loosely bound document lacking page numbers, filled with highly specialized content. Without high cultural literacy, one might struggle to comprehend the professional jargon and formulas, making it incomprehensible.
Unable to follow the logical sequence through reading, they arranged the pages haphazardly. Furthermore, Dorothy’s extraordinary abilities allowed her to instantly understand the report’s content and identify issues.
“It seems… besides me, others are also interested in these archives…”
After a brief moment of contemplation, Dorothy took out a common coin from her pocket.
“Before me, did the person who came to the Crown University archive to gather information aim to find someone?”
Dorothy mused, then consumed 1 point of “Lamp” and 1 point of “Enlightenment,” tossing the coin into the air. The coin spun for a moment before falling back into her hand, unexpectedly bouncing away and clinking to the ground, indicating a failed divination.
This failure meant that Dorothy’s divination had triggered some anti-divination measure, suggesting that the group who visited the Crown University archive before her had extraordinary and secretive backgrounds.
At this time, who was interested in these archives didn’t require much speculation.
“It seems… the group from Eight-pointed isn’t entirely unaware of Barret’s collaborator…”
Picking up the coin, Dorothy thought to herself. Clearly, like her, the group from Eight-pointed had realized that Barret had a research collaborator.
After all, Barret’s entire research data had fallen into the hands of Eight-pointed. Dorothy had only recorded a small portion, while Eight-pointed knew more about Barret’s research than Dorothy and Misha. If Barret and John were truly collaborating, they might have exchanged letters or mentioned the collaborator in their notes. Eight-pointed would have noticed this and, given their nature, would have sought out the collaborator to eliminate any potential threat.
From their actions, it appeared that they learned about this collaborator’s connection to Crown University from Barret’s remaining documents. However, after Barret’s assassination triggered a joint crackdown by Pruit’s authorities and the church against Eight-pointed, Tivyán became extremely unsafe. Eight-pointed had to withdraw completely from Tivyán, leaving them with no resources to investigate the possibility of Barret’s collaborator at Crown University.
It was worth noting that Eight-pointed had previously caused trouble at Crown University. Thanks to Dorothy, Eight-pointed’s ritual was disrupted, and their infiltration of Crown University students was exposed. At that time, they were officially added to the Anonymity Headquarters’ list.
After Misha took charge of Eight-pointed, she greatly strengthened the secrecy measures in this area to prevent Crown University from being targeted again. This level of security increased even more after Barret’s assassination, making it difficult for Eight-pointed to return to Crown University for some time, thus preventing them from investigating the collaborator.
All of this changed recently when the high-pressure state during the massive search operation ended, and the security level against Eight-pointed was reduced. Most importantly, Misha, who was in charge of targeting Eight-pointed, died under mysterious circumstances. Soon after her d*ath, the security measures she had put in place at Crown University were withdrawn, giving Eight-pointed a chance to return and investigate the collaborator hiding within Crown University.
Currently, Dorothy wasn’t sure how much information Eight-pointed had on John, but narrowing down the target to Crown University professors was significant enough for her not to ignore.
Fortunately, the low cultural level of Eight-pointed members, who couldn’t understand the professor’s experimental report and scrambled it, left Dorothy with clues to follow, improving the overall education quality of Eight-pointed.
“It looks like I need to prepare properly for welcoming Professor John…” Looking at the seemingly ordinary coin in her hand, Dorothy murmured softly.
