Five Hundred and Eighty-Third Secret Message
“I found the temple?”
In the library of Adria, Dorothy looked at the words Misha had written in response, causing her to shudder involuntarily. She felt her entire being jolt with alertness. After carefully reviewing the text before her, she picked up her pen to write back.
“Besides this sentence, was there anything else written on that note? Or were there any other notes?”
“No, there was only this one note in that book. There’s only this sentence on the note. No similar things were found in other books borrowed by Duke Barret. This is the only clue I’ve found in the library over the past month.”
Misha’s handwriting quickly appeared before Dorothy, who paused slightly upon seeing it, then frowned. It seemed she couldn’t get more clues about this “temple” from Misha for now.
“It seems… our Duke Barret has some ‘book friends’ in the Crown University library here… ” Dorothy wrote back to Misha, who promptly replied.
“Yes, I think the same as you. Duke Barret’s research wasn’t conducted in isolation; he might have collaborators who exchange research content with him. This note… could be left by one of his collaborators. They might be leaving messages through this book… After all, this book, ‘The Chronology of Pritt Agriculture,’ is quite obscure in the large libraries. The so-called ‘temple’ mentioned in the note might be related to their research content.
“Now that Duke Barret has passed away, we only have incomplete parts of his research materials in our hands, making it difficult to deduce much from them. But if we can find that collaborator, we might learn more about the Eight Pinnacle Nest and their targets.”
Dorothy saw Misha’s words quickly appear on the page in front of her. After a brief scan, she pondered for a moment and then immediately wrote back.
“Your speculation does make sense. However, continuing to follow your current lead shouldn’t be too difficult for you, right? You haven’t hit a new investigation bottleneck yet, but you contacted me. Did you encounter some trouble that’s hard to handle?”
“Your intuition remains sharp as ever. Yes, I did encounter some problems. Simply put, six months later, the power of the Eight Pinnacle Nest seems to have returned to Tivyán and begun affecting the An Yin Bureau again. Recently… things are getting more and more off track…”
Misha’s direct words appeared before Dorothy, who quickly wrote back after reading them.
“What’s off track?”
“According to orders directly from the royal family, the bureau has canceled the nationwide high-intensity search warrant for the Eight Pinnacle Nest. The reason given is that the actions taken over the past six months have been very fruitful, and the power of the Eight Pinnacle Nest within Pritt has been largely driven out. Therefore, the focus of work has shifted back to other areas, with the work concerning the Eight Pinnacle Nest transferred to smaller departments…
“This sounds nice, but from my position, I know the truth is far from it. Although many members of the Eight Pinnacle Nest or suspected secret societies were indeed captured over the past six months, they were mostly small fry. Not a single big fish was caught. Without mentioning Red Tiers, even White Chalk only caught one, and that one didn’t manage to escape. How can such results claim that the Eight Pinnacle Nest has been crippled? With so many bases cleared but so little success… this suggests that the problem is actually bigger on our side.”
Dorothy saw Misha candidly complaining on the page in front of her, and after reading her words, she continued writing.
“Have you reported this to your superiors?”
“Of course, I opposed ending the high-pressure measures against the Eight Pinnacle Nest, but my proposal was rejected. The reason given was that the bureau cannot focus all its energy on the Eight Pinnacle Nest. While this makes sense, I cannot refute it. However, the bureau assigned the matter of the Eight Pinnacle Nest to a department that isn’t particularly capable, and I proposed sending more personnel there but was refused. Moreover… a few days after my proposal, I heard that I might be transferred from my current position…”
Misha presented Dorothy with the recent situation at the An Yin Bureau in Tivyán. Seeing Misha’s words, Dorothy’s expression became even more serious.
“If I remember correctly, your position should be specifically responsible for counter-espionage work at the Tivyán Bureau, right?” Dorothy wrote, and Misha responded quickly.
“That’s correct… My team was newly established to investigate frequent leaks of information within the bureau, and we were essentially tasked with catching traitors. Our work hasn’t gone smoothly; besides catching an Eight Pinnacle Nest traitor with your intelligence at the end of last year, we haven’t had any other significant results, which has led to some criticism.
“It seems these criticisms have influenced the higher-ups, who have decided not to let us continue idling without results. Recently, we’ve even been assigned tasks outside our scope, with destinations moving further away from Tivyán. As a result, I have less and less free time to continue investigating the clues related to Duke Barret, and I don’t even have time to go to the library anymore.
“I am unwilling to let this important clue be shelved, so I want to entrust someone else to continue the investigation for me. But given the current situation in the bureau, whether from above or below, I don’t fully trust anyone…”
“So, you thought of us?” Dorothy wrote back in response to Misha’s words, and the other party’s reply showed her helplessness.
“Yes… At this point, the only ones I can entrust are you, the Rosy Cross. After all, the information on Duke Barret you gave me, and the considerable grudge between you and the Eight Pinnacle Nest, make you the most suitable to take over this investigation.”
Looking at the words Misha had written, Dorothy understood her current predicament and roughly grasped what she meant by the Eight Pinnacle Nest returning. After some thought, Dorothy wrote back to Misha.
“It seems the situation in Tivyán is indeed quite grim now. Unless that major traitor inside the bureau is eliminated, the problem with the Eight Pinnacle Nest won’t improve.
“I understand your specific circumstances. We also want to gather information from the Eight Pinnacle Nest. Cooperation should pose no problem. Currently, our main forces aren’t in Pritt, so you may have to wait a few days for our people to return to Tivyán. Then, we will resume our investigation of the Eight Pinnacle Nest. At that time, I hope you can cooperate as much as possible.”
“At present, I am under restrictions. If I have the opportunity to cooperate with you, I will naturally assist.”
“Alright, once we arrive in Tivyán, we will contact you proactively. Remember to check your book frequently for any new notes.”
Dorothy wrote in response, then exchanged a few simple words with the other party before closing ‘Navigation of the Literary Sea’ and raising her head to look out the window beside her. Observing the flowing river and the boats sailing on it, she sighed inwardly.
‘I never expected the clue about the temple would fall on the side of Pritt. I wonder if the temple found by Barret’s collaborator is the one I’m looking for.
‘Anyway, since there’s a clue in front of me, it needs to be investigated clearly. Otherwise, the path to promotion will truly be uncertain…
‘But I didn’t expect that I would need to return to Pritt now… I came out because of the Eight Pinnacle Nest, and now I’m going back because of the Eight Pinnacle Nest…
‘Dorothy pondered, at the beginning of the year, she chose to leave abroad to avoid being caught by the Eight Pinnacle Nest’s Red Tier and to sever the spiritual thread that could become a hidden danger.
‘Actually, the spiritual thread was abandoned due to the distance being too great and the cost of maintaining it being too high, but at that time, Dorothy obtained clues about Red Tier’s promotion method from Red Tier and didn’t return immediately, instead turning to Adus. After obtaining the promotion method in Adus, she began traveling between North Ufeiga and Conquer Sea, collecting Divine Blessing Objects to meet the promotion conditions, so she didn’t think about returning. Now, it seems it’s time to go back…
‘Mmm… So… I should start preparing for the trip home. While I still have two days left abroad, I should buy some souvenirs for my brother. Also, I should find some local recipe books to learn a few dishes before I go back, otherwise, my stomach might not adapt temporarily.’
Dorothy thought, then stood up from the table and continued searching among the bookshelves in the library for recipe books detailing local specialties.
…
Over the next two days, Dorothy spent her time comfortably recuperating in Adria, passing the time by shopping and sightseeing. Her purpose was to wait for Edward’s secret transmission to arrive. Once she received the transmission and replenished her spirituality, she would immediately set off for Tivyán.
Dorothy requested four years worth of the Fountain of Eternal Youth from Edward to ask for some secret transmissions about the Placenta Sect. Edward shipped the goods immediately after receiving the request, and Dorothy finally received the shipment delivered to Adria. After the local White Stone Craftsmen Guild collected the goods, she immediately had the zombie puppet conduct a thorough inspection, and after confirming everything was correct, she opened the books to read.
Edward sent four secret transmissions to Dorothy. The first two were a set of upper and lower volumes titled ‘Training Sharks.’ Although the title suggested training sharks, it was not a shaman guide but rather a record of how the Abyss Cult trained pirates during the Great Pirate Era.
After the muddied currents war ended, the defeated Abyss Cult began cultivating a large number of pirates to oppose the Main Continent countries and the Radiant Church. They selected children from the persecuted Iwig refugees who harbored deep hatred towards the church, adopted them, and concentrated them on secret islands for brutal training.
These trainings included various martial arts, survival skills, sea experience, brainwashing education, cup medicine control, and extraordinary development, along with many terrifying rituals. The process was extremely brutal and cruel; many died during training, those who failed were severely punished, and those who failed multiple times were used as live bait for sea beasts. Escaped prisoners faced even worse fates, being recaptured and dismembered by other children in bloody rituals. Only about thirty percent of the children survived to complete the training and became powerful and loyal warriors for the Abyss Cult.
These trainings were called ‘training sharks,’ and the ‘sharks’ trained would become fierce pirate captains under the Abyss Cult, gaining titles for their achievements. ‘bl**d Wave’ was one of the most famous titles.
‘This is… the record of how the Abyss Cult trained child soldiers during the pirate era. Those fierce pirates weren’t just born; many were like this… And from the looks of it… Edward must be one of them, a child soldier trained by the Abyss Cult. I wonder what means he used to escape the control of cup medicine and poison recognition and eventually rebelled…’
After finishing the two-volume set, Dorothy thought to herself, then extracted the spirituality from it. She gained 4 points of ‘Cup’ and 2 points of ‘Lamp’; ‘Enlightenment’ was not counted.
There was another secret transmission titled ‘Leach’s Tragedy,’ which recorded the remnants of the battle of Leach. The Battle of Leach took place during the muddied currents war. According to the description in the secret transmission, it was a critical point in the entire war. Leach Valley was the location of the Holy Mother’s sanctuary, the Redemption Cathedral, and was within Iwig’s territory, thus suffering intense attacks when the war began. According to the secret transmission, several Red Tiers and even Golden Elders or leaders from the three sects of the Amniotic Sac personally participated in this battle, and at least three Saints of the Radiant Church were present here, defending the holy site.
The secret transmission did not provide a detailed account of the battle but instead used a plethora of rhetoric to describe its grandeur, the darkness of the sky and earth, the color change of the sun and moon, the cracking of the earth, and the monstrous waves. The resulting tsunami formed a giant water wall nearly a kilometer high, visible hundreds of kilometers inland. It is said that divine intentions descended at the end of the battle.
The final result of the battle was the retreat of the Amniotic Sac alliance and the victory of the Radiant Church. Both sides paid the price of several Red Tiers, and it is rumored that even a Golden one fell. This battle became the decisive battle of the entire muddied currents war. Afterward, the Amniotic Sac-led alliance began retreating steadily, ultimately being completely driven into the sea by the Holy War Army. Of course, in secular history, there is no record of this battle. As a holy site of the Holy Mother, Leach Valley remained untouched by the flames of war.
‘Vania went on pilgrimage to that valley… It turned out such a massive extraordinary battle erupted there. A battle involving multiple Golden Red Tiers fighting, and three of the Radiant Church’s seven saints directly joining… How many from the three sects of the Amniotic Sac joined?
‘This… seems to be the largest-scale extraordinary battle in recent times. I didn’t expect the scale of the muddied currents war to expand to this extent. The three sects of the Amniotic Sac actually organized an attack on the Radiant Church’s holy site. But from Vania’s perspective, the valley doesn’t seem to have suffered extensive destruction. With so many Golden Red Tiers fighting together, the terrain should have been changed…’
As she read the secret transmission, Dorothy thought to herself. Although short, the content was explosive. She learned that the three sects of the Amniotic Sac had united to contribute significantly during the muddied currents war, and the battle fought by the Radiant Church was far from as easy as they claimed. Although the specifics of the seven saints are unknown, it is certain that they lost multiple Red Tiers in that war.
‘I wonder… why did the three sects of the Amniotic Sac invest such effort in this battle? Could it be they really wanted to defeat the Radiant Church through this battle? Or was there another purpose? Furthermore, the secret transmission mentions that divine intentions descended during the final stages of the battle. Does this mean that the gods themselves got involved in the fight?’
