Chapter 32: The Pelican Lady’s Private Time
Apart from those disguised as salespeople, public organization members, or shopping mall flyer distributors who were on the lookout for targets, the main members of the “Crimson Pelican,” like most illegal spirit energy organizations operating in the Free City, typically only began their activities after nightfall.
Even the underground clinic on South Street would not openly accept “goods” during the day. Instead, it would carefully provide high-quality medical services to those whose identities were inconvenient for visiting legitimate hospitals or clinics, while also looking out for any quality “parts.”
When daylight arrived, the large “Crimson Pelican” would nest temporarily in the dark corners of the Free City, allowing their leader, the Pelican Lady, to have a bit of private time…
As was the case every day since arriving in the Free City, Jiang Li had already washed up and sat at her apartment’s desk before dawn. After reviewing commonly used spell formulas for handling various emergencies, she opened the ledger she had obtained from the former leader of the “Crimson Pelican” for the seventeenth time.
She firmly believed that there must be some important information hidden within these ledgers. In fact, she had indeed discovered some things—information regarding the weaknesses of the “Black Bear,” “Monkey,” and “Fox.”
As long as one is human, there will be inherent weaknesses in human nature. By mastering these weaknesses, she could firmly hold them in the palm of her hand, making them obey her commands… If she added overwhelming combat power and a buff that could easily see through lies to this control, it would be a guaranteed k*ll!
However, just having this was far from enough.
She was there to investigate a case, not to lead a group of criminals or to strengthen a nefarious illegal spirit energy organization; she believed she lacked that kind of talent.
She only wanted to find the critical clues that could destroy the “Crimson Pelican” and the vast network of human trafficking and profit behind it.
Those clues were likely hidden among the vast numbers in the ledgers, treated with special coded terms, waiting for her to discover.
“1825, 1794… what do these countdowns really signify?” Jiang Li muttered to herself.
She had read these ledgers back and forth many times, and she had almost cracked all the meanings of the coded terms.
It had to be said that the former leader of the “Crimson Pelican,” like Jiang Li’s first impression of him, was a guy who was confident to the point of being arrogant.
He might have thought that no one could decipher his self-created code, which combined images and artificial language, and so he recorded everything he did—including upper and lower trading accounts, experiences of torturing kidnapped victims, and even some trivial thoughts—in his ledger.
The only detail that was not recorded in detail but appeared repeatedly was this countdown.
This countdown appeared almost every 7th of the month, reducing the days of that month in one go, and on that day, he would not record any other content.
What Jiang Li found suspicious was that the month when the countdown reached zero happened to be the day she defeated the former leader of the “Crimson Pelican” and took his place, as if everything had already been foretold.
——
“Whoosh… whoosh…”
Time passed quietly amidst the sporadic sounds of paper rustling.
At precisely 3 PM, a faint spirit energy fluctuation from an unseen corner deep within the desk pulled her out of her focused state.
Shifting her attention away from the ledger, her peripheral gaze drifted to the brass rose-shaped handle on the desk drawer. Her fingertips brushed over it, infusing it with spirit energy, and as the rosebud bloomed, a faint blue light ignited, and a soft mechanical sound of rotation echoed from within the desk.
Then, with a click, a sound emerged from inside the drawer, as if some mechanism had been activated.
Following that, Jiang Li opened the drawer to reveal the silver mourning Gray Owl badge, wrapped in a handkerchief, quietly lying in the narrow compartment, continuously vibrating.
Taking out the mourning Gray Owl badge and holding it in her palm, she infused it with a thread of spirit energy, and the voice of Xing Yuan began to ring in her ears.
“Hey, can you hear me? Is this Officer Jiang Li?”
“…” Jiang Li was silent for two seconds. “It’s me, I’m Jiang Li.”
“Why did it take you so long to reply? I thought something had happened to you! Didn’t we agree that you would respond promptly when I contacted you?” Xing Yuan said.
“Sorry.” Jiang Li replied calmly. “I was entranced by those ledgers.”
“Looking at those ledgers again?” Xing Yuan said with a strange tone. “Haven’t you read them many times already? Shouldn’t you be focusing on the financiers behind the Crimson Pelican now? I think you should direct your attention there.”
“I know,” Jiang Li nodded. “Since I have nothing else to do, I was just flipping through them. But you… Inspector General, you contacted me outside of the agreed time, so I assume you have something important to discuss?”
“Haha, it’s not an emergency or anything!” Xing Yuan laughed. “Didn’t I tell you before that I would quickly apply to find a reliable operative from M Country to assist you in your investigation? This matter has already made progress.”
“Earlier today, that is to say, this morning your time, I received news that the application was approved. The contact is a trusted associate of the God of Wealth, named Yu Yinchuan, code-named ‘Golden Toad Boy.’ The case he’s investigating intersects with what you are looking into, and you two can cooperate on the investigation.”
“I’ll give you his contact information later. You two should meet up!”
Upon hearing Xing Yuan’s words, Jiang Li’s brows furrowed as if she had suddenly thought of something important. She pressed for more details, “You’re sure it’s ‘Golden Toad Boy’?”
She had already heard of this codename even before Xing Yuan mentioned it.
“Of course!” Xing Yuan said without hesitation. “The application approval document is still lying on my computer! But from what you’re saying, it seems like you know him?”
“I haven’t had direct contact, but I received intelligence recently that he went missing while investigating a case not long ago.” Jiang Li bluntly shared the information she had received from the “Monkey” with Xing Yuan.
A guy who had been missing in the eyes of various powers in the Free City suddenly became her partner, which raised her suspicions.
Is this reliable?
A missing operative suddenly reappearing—was he still the same as before?
Jiang Li’s concerns were not unfounded; she had seen numerous cases in the Siye Society’s database where operatives had been replaced by urban legends or spiritual ability users after going missing, infiltrating the Siye Society instead.
In those records, these imposters caused significant destruction in their quest for nefarious ends; in the worst incident, it nearly led to the fall of Shanhaiguan.
“Oh, I know about that!” Xing Yuan said. “Before contacting you, I checked that guy’s records. Recently he hadn’t reported to the Siye Society for about a week and was classified as missing, but he reestablished contact afterward.”
“From the report he submitted, he was attacked during the investigation ten days ago, severely injured, and fell into a coma for a long period. Once he recovered sufficiently, he immediately reported his whereabouts to his superiors.”
As if guessing Jiang Li’s thoughts, Xing Yuan added, “You can rest assured! His identity is endorsed by the Guardians; there won’t be any problems.”
“……”
Jiang Li fell into silence for a moment, responding lightly, “Okay, I understand. I will do my best to cooperate with his actions.”
As for whether the so-called “Golden Toad Boy” was an imposter with ulterior motives…
One could tell at first glance! Jiang Li thought as she narrowed her eyes. Just then, Xing Yuan’s voice resonated in her ears again.
“Another thing, the girl you asked me to investigate has been cleared up; her name is Shen Baiwei. According to reliable intelligence, she was previously an assistant researcher at Tethys Laboratory, but left for unknown reasons and then joined the Miracle Cult, becoming a trusted confidant of the elders in the Miracle Cult.”
“She also appeared in the recent Yumen Pass incident, with unknown motives.”
As she recounted Shen Baiwei’s “resume” in her mind—having been a researcher at the Solar Eclipse Society, a trusted elder of the Miracle Cult, and having participated in a Cataclysm Grade incident—Jiang Li rubbed her forehead. “This Shen Baiwei has quite a notorious record!”
“Who can argue with that!” Xing Yuan sincerely agreed with Jiang Li’s assessment of Shen Baiwei. “So I think you should worry more about this Shen Baiwei rather than about Golden Toad Boy’s identity.”
“I will be cautious.”
“Alright, that’s all I wanted to say. If you have any progress with your investigation or encounter any difficulties, contact me in a timely manner.”
“Okay.”
——
After ending the call with Xing Yuan, Jiang Li carefully returned the mourning Gray Owl badge to the compartment of her desk, activating the spirit energy circuit to hide it, then closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.
The ledger of the former leader of the “Crimson Pelican,” the upcoming partner “Golden Toad Boy,” and the complex and infamous Shen Baiwei… Her mind was overloaded with information and too many things to think about, making her feel an unusual sense of fatigue.
Outside the window, the sun had begun to set, and the crimson sunset streaked through the gaps in the clouds, dyeing the Free City, which had been shrouded in gloomy mist all day, a bloody red.
“Buzz… buzz…”
The vibration from the phone on the table drew her attention, from a sender with the digital code “03,” representing the third-ranked industry within the “Crimson Pelican” organization— the head of the underground clinic on South Street.
[03: Dear Pelican Lady, the young lady who was sent to the clinic has awoken, but her mental state isn’t very good. I’m not sure how long she will remain conscious, please come quickly.]
After reading the message from “03,” Jiang Li’s eyes twitched slightly. She turned her head to look at the black trench coat and hat on the nearby coat rack, silently sighed, then stood up, dressing herself properly before putting on the pelican-shaped mask and leaving the apartment…
