"If the news is true —" A gray-haired middle-aged noble's right hand trembled slightly. He pressed on his left chest and bowed deeply.
"— Please allow me to go personally and settle this matter for you."
"It has not been confirmed yet, but the lamp in the Sunset Temple has indeed been lit. It seems that the distance is very close."
Beside the blazing fire, a well-built figure lowered his right hand that was resting on his chin and said in a deep voice, "I have already sent Yodel.
"I have already sent Yodel. He is more suitable for covert operations than Aida."
"You know just how important this information is. Liscia has even sealed off the inner altar in the name of the Divine Oracle. That's why we can't take the unnecessary risk of exposing ourselves. I'll only secretly send you there when we finally confirm it."
"Of course, of course." The gray-haired middle-aged noble could not hide his excitement. "When the time comes, I am willing to serve you wholeheartedly."
"Sigh." The well-built figure sighed. "I don't know why, but when I heard this news, I should have been more excited than you.
"But now, I am so calm."
—
Rick did not know how he walked back to the Brotherhood's headquarters.
The coldness at the back of his neck was still there.
When he saw the Brotherhood's Black Street headquarters, saw the two elites playing a finger-pricking game at the entrance, saw the shadowy sentries outside the house, walked into the big house, saw Boss Morris carefully checking the accounts behind the iron table, and saw Felicia's disdainful gaze (Felicia's proposal to increase the brothel's budget was rejected tonight) leaning against the pillar, he heaved a sigh of relief. Even the assassin Layork, who had always been at odds with him, appeared amiable under the candlelight at the dining table.
Unknowingly, the coldness at the back of his neck disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed.
Even Rick himself suspected that he was too nervous.
When he mentioned to Boss Morris, who was in charge of the human trafficking business, that he suspected someone was following him, Layork laughed and spat out a mouthful of ale, directly extinguishing the candlestick on the table. Felicia yawned and tightened her huge chest, looking at him with even more disdain.
As for Boss Morris, when he saw the cold sweat on Rick's forehead, he also had a strange expression. He patted Rick's shoulder and told him not to overwork himself and to watch less drama in the Dark Night Temple. When Strange Doctor Ramon returned from his business trip, he would ask him to prescribe a calming medicine.
Damn it!
Rick knew that even with his supernatural ability, it was hard for others to believe him, let alone an assassin who had followed him from the Abandoned House to Black Street for a whole kilometer. But Rick subconsciously believed that the assassin's existence was real!
But when he returned to his room, laid down, and carefully recalled the details of tonight's encounter, even he, who had always been paranoid, couldn't help but wonder if he was really too nervous.
Rick calmed himself down and tried his ability again. Everything was normal. His neck on the pillow was very comfortable.
Okay, maybe I'm just being paranoid.
But in the next moment, that hair-raising chill attacked him again!
F * ck!
I can't sleep anymore!
Rick shot up from the bed.
He pulled out a box from under his bed and pulled out a Siegel Model 6 Mystic Gun that was so heavy that he needed two hands to carry it. He nervously pressed himself against the solid wall and slowly tiptoed out of the corridor, listening carefully.
The corridor was filled with Everlasting Lamps burning with Eternal Oil. It was incomparably bright, but there was still no one there. In the distance, one of the brothers on duty had just returned from the toilet. He seemed to be scratching an itch as he walked past Rick while pulling the black and red leather armor on his crotch.
In the room at the end of the corridor, Layork and Belicia's wild and crazy roars could be heard as usual.
"F * ck, this shameless couple better break it if they use too much force," Rick cursed loudly.
The two brothers at the checkpoint who had just passed by turned around and nodded at Rick. Their gazes met, and they immediately felt like they knew each other.
Then, Rick saw that the other party was painfully scratching the leather armor on his crotch, and the other party was looking at Rick, who was leaning against the wall while holding the Mystic Gun.
Both of them awkwardly turned their heads and returned to their posts, while the others returned to their rooms.
Rick rubbed the back of his neck.
F * ck, this damn supernatural ability must have failed.
Besides, if the other party had reached the headquarters of the Brotherhood and not been discovered by a single person, then it would be useless even if he held the Mystic Gun. Even Boss Morris's supernatural ability would be useless.
Sleep, sleep.
—
Thales' back injury looked bad, but it did not seem to be too serious. It was only the third day, and he could already stand up and walk.
His attributes were extraordinary. Thales stood in line and sighed. He looked at the dilapidated houses and walls around him, took the black bread and wild vegetables handed to him by the thug Pearson, and put them into his mouth.
It was a pity that he was born in such a place.
"There is a sharp branch next to you. You must have secretly cut my hand!"
"It's not me! My hand was also cut last night! "
"Everyone in our house had their hands cut! It must be the people in the eighth house! They are jealous of our harvest yesterday! "
"It's them! The people in the fourteenth house were also cut last night! They don't want us to 'touch sheep' on the streets! "
Thales yawned and listened lazily to the child beggars in the other houses. The child beggars next to him even made a fuss until the thug came to stop them. He sighed, swallowed the last mouthful of the disgusting breakfast, and clapped his hands to call the child beggars in the sixth house.
They started work.
It was Tuesday, and the begging in the sixth house was relatively smooth. For more business, they went directly to the west gate near the sentry post. The recent week seemed to be the celebration of Sunset Goddess, but it was said that Sunset Temple had sealed the inner altar due to the oracle, causing many believers to enter the city from the west gate, climb the city wall, and pray to the sunset to make up for the regret of not being able to pray to the spokesperson of Sunset Goddess in the human world.
Before the guards could stop them from glaring at them, Thales even managed to steal a black wood carved Bright Moon God statue from a fat vegetable and fruit vendor with the help of Ryan and Coria. The vendor paid too much attention to the wallet in his arms. Hence, when Ryan and Coria were bargaining with him over a clover, Thales reached for the package behind him.
The Bright Moon God statue should be worth at least fifty coppers on the market. Of course, this kind of stolen goods could not be seen in public, and could only be sold through the channels of the Brotherhood. The veterans of the Brotherhood knew that they were only child beggars and thieves, and would desperately lower the price (they would even rob the valuable ones). It was good enough to get five coppers.
But no matter how small a mosquito was, it was still meat.
When Thales and the others returned to the Abandoned House, they saw Rick, who came to patrol as usual. He did not have his usual kindness and indifference, instead, he hurriedly gave a few instructions to the thugs and disappeared from sight.
"Is Mister Rick in trouble?" Coria, who was hungry, asked while biting her finger. They went far away and came back late. Fortunately, Thales had a good relationship with Pearson, the thug who was in charge of delivering food. He often bribed the thug with small gifts, and the latter agreed to keep food for them.
"It could be Quide, that guy is the most troublesome," Kellett said. His stomach was also growling.
Ned and Ryan shuddered at the mention of the name.
"Boys, there's no food tonight." The six children entered the now empty yard. Pearson, who was in charge of getting food, waved his hand when he saw them from afar.
"Don't look at me, I can't do anything about it." Pearson shook his head indifferently in the face of the six children's angry but somewhat unconfident questioning. "Rick has ordered us to rest early tonight. Our work and rest schedule has been brought forward."
In the end, Thales persuaded Pearson in every possible way and used the Bright Moon God Statue as the price to exchange for the four and a half pieces of black bread and half a bowl of black pine vegetables that he had originally planned to save for his two hounds.
"Recently, Rick and Quide have been a little neurotic." When the other five children were eating, Pearson revealed a piece of news to Thales before he left. "Quide's temper has been getting worse recently. He's been cursing 'damn baldy' all day long. But he's always been like this. Rick has become very strange, especially in the past two days. I heard from the people at headquarters."
Speaking of this, Pearson looked around and whispered in Thales' ear, "He's being haunted by a ghost."
Thales looked at Pearson who was walking away. He took a bite of the black bread that was usually unpalatable, but it became especially delicious when he was hungry. He pondered silently.
He did not know what happened to Rick that caused him to encounter a ghost.
But what made Quide's temper worse? Thales swallowed a mouthful of bread. It seemed that he had to keep a low profile for now.
Rick tensed up again.
For the past two days, he had always thought that there was something wrong with his psionic ability.
It was not until this morning when he prepared the next batch of child beggars' supplies and flipped through the roster that he confirmed that there was nothing wrong with his psionic ability.
Rick was a very ambitious person. He believed that in order to achieve his ambition, he had to start from small things. For example, he never wrote his itinerary and plans on paper. For example, he would place a few strands of hair in inconspicuous places in drawers, boxes and important documents to prevent others from stealing or peeking at them. For example, he never hid his money in one place. He had always been proud of his cautiousness. He also believed that one day, he would receive his due rewards for his cautiousness.
For example, now.
Rick flipped through the roster of child beggars.
On the roster, the strands of hair were placed in the same position on every page.
This was supposed to be a good thing as it meant that no one would flip through the roster.
However, Rick was the son of a scribe.
His father had taught him that if they wanted to, every outstanding thief and ranger could easily avoid the secret method of 'pinching hair' and flip through the documents they wanted without anyone noticing.
Hence, Rick obtained a more cautious method from his father.
The secret to flipping through the documents without anyone noticing was, of course, to ensure that the hair remained in its original position after flipping through the documents.
The fastest method was to press the hair in its original position. When flipping through the pages, he would use his hands to clamp the upper and lower pages of the book to continue clamping the hair in its original position.
How could he break through this method?
Like the nobles, it was of course the fastest and safest way to seal it with wax.
However, Rick had a special method that his father used. It was a light dry gel made from the oil of a green dolphin. It was a gel used by the poor who lived by the river. The properties of this dry gel were not strong. As long as the book was not too heavy, after the pages were applied, even if the book was closed, the glued areas would not be glued together. One had to use external force to press both sides of the glued areas for a short period of time before the pages would be glued together.
When Rick flipped through the roster, he found that the hair was still in its original position, except for a little bit.
These strands of hair were tightly glued to the pages of the book.
Someone had looked through his roster of child beggars and flipped through the pages of the hair with his hand.
Rick felt a chill in his heart.
Moreover, it was definitely an expert who could leave the four strands of hair that were clamped on different but inconspicuous positions in the book without leaving a trace.
Fortunately, he had his father's secret method to discover it.
Four days ago, because he saw Thales' begging act, he flipped through the roster in order to find the house where the boy was. At that time, everything was normal.
However, up until today, in the four days since then, someone had come to his room and flipped through the roster of child beggars?
Rick felt a chill run down his spine. He suddenly realized that this was not the most important thing.
So, he scrambled to open the hidden compartment of the drawer and pulled out the most important account book of human trafficking, his secret deposit book at the Royal Family Bank.
The account book and deposit book were safe. There were no signs of them being flipped through. The strands of hair naturally fell off the pages.
Rick breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, the things in the hidden compartment had not been … Wait a minute.
If it was an expert, how could they have missed the hidden compartment?
Rick trembled as he pulled out the entire hidden compartment. He opened it and touched the place where the strands of hair should have been clamped.
Then, he collapsed on the chair.
The strands of hair were firmly glued to the seam of the hidden compartment by the Rick family's unique light drying gel.
When Rick walked into the dining room in a daze, he turned a blind eye to Layork and Felicia who were flirting with each other. Instead, it was Layork, who had always been at odds with him, who called out to him in schadenfreude.
"Accountant, I heard that you recently encountered a ghost?"
Rick ignored him and continued to sit expressionlessly. He pulled over a bottle of ink on the table and used it as a sauce. He poured it on his steak.
"Ignore him," Felicia smiled as she sat on Layork's lap. She glanced at the killer flirtatiously and fed him a glass of red wine. "Are you still coming to my room tonight?"
"Of — of course, of course," Layork did not wait to swallow the red wine and hurriedly replied, "I only found out today that the boss had removed the sentries outside the house a week ago. So, tonight, we might as well — hehe — go a little crazy."
"Aiyo, you are really bad —"
"Clang!" The bottle of ink in Rick's hand fell on the table. The ink spread across the table and flowed in front of the man and woman on the other side.
His face was pale as he raised his head to look at Layork and Belicia, who had an unhappy look on their faces.
"A week ago, a week ago, there were no sentries guarding the big house in the headquarters?"
"Nonsense." Layork brushed off the ink on his body and threw a piece of bread at Rick's face in annoyance. "Recently, the boss said that the operation against the Blood Bottle Gang must be kept a secret. The fewer people, the better. So, the sentries were removed outside the house. You can't even enter the house to use the toilet. But you don't have to worry. Don't you still have a ghost that never leaves your side to protect you?"
"Then, then in the corridor." Rick did not realize that his voice was trembling. "In the corridor, there won't be any sentries in the corridor, right?"
Layork and Felicia had long thrown him to the back of their minds. They kissed each other as if there was no one else around.
Rick took a deep breath.
The day before yesterday, he was inexplicably followed in the Abandoned House. That night, the sentries that should not have existed in the corridor of the headquarters. The child beggar's name list that was carefully flipped through in the room.
'Very good. Everything is connected.'
'Now, Nall Rick,' he said to himself, who was trembling nervously.
'You've been targeted.
'The opponent might be very powerful. He might be so powerful that he could come and go as he pleased in the headquarters of the Black Street, which was heavily guarded by sentries. He might be so powerful that even a terrifying killer like Layork and an experienced psionic warrior like Boss Morris did not notice him.
'I'm the only lucky one. Thanks to my late father, I discovered this.
'He might be right behind me.
'I must save myself. I must save myself!
'I must find his purpose!'
Rick's brain worked frantically.
'The other party must have turned his room upside down in the past two days. However, he only carefully looked through the child beggar's name list.
He abandoned the more important account book like it was a worn out shoe.
'The thing that the other party is looking for is in the child beggar's name list! 'That's right. I was targeted near the Abandoned House. That's where the child beggars live!
'He's looking for a certain child beggar!'
However, Rick had a headache thinking about it. He had more than a hundred child beggars on hand. Next month, Beth would send another batch over. These were all children of unknown origins or children with no future trouble. (Important and valuable children, such as the descendants of certain powerful people or the children of certain wealthy merchants, had long been ransomed or killed.) 'Which child beggar does he want?'
'He's so skillful and has such terrifying strength. Why doesn't he make a request to the Brotherhood openly?' 'We'll just give it to you directly!'
'I'd rather cooperate with him one by one. Even if I have to drag out all the child beggars, strip them and search their bodies, or even kill and dissect them, it would be better than being hung by a' ghost 'every day!'
'Wait a minute. I seem to have thought of the key point.'
'Why doesn't he make a request to the Brotherhood openly?'
'Of course, this matter cannot be known by anyone, not even the Black Street Brotherhood!'
'Is it a competitor of the Brotherhood? 'No. If the Blood Bottle Gang had such strength, the Black Street Brotherhood would have been destroyed dozens of times.'
'He doesn't have any formal channels, and he doesn't want to deal with the Black Street Brotherhood in downtown!'
'Such a terrifying person would definitely not be at a low enough level to deal with a gang from the slums.'
'Why is he interested in these orphans who have been lost for many years?'
'Can't he just go to the police station to look for missing children?' 'Moreover, the police station would not dare to slight a person of this level. Even the Brotherhood could only lower their heads.'
'Wait!' Rick's mind lit up. He seemed to have grasped the main point.
'He's skillful, comes and goes without a trace, works in secret, and is interested in the origin of a certain child. His level is far higher than the Black Street Brotherhood.'
'Strength is built with money and resources. He's secretive because it would be disadvantageous to him if this matter were to be made public. He doesn't deal with the Brotherhood because his level is too high. He's interested in the children that the Brotherhood collected from different sources …'
'He's probably above the supreme class, and he's backed by someone with power and wealth. Yet, he avoids the eyes and ears of the Brotherhood and the police station to secretly search for an important child … Child?'
Rick fiercely slapped his thigh. A string in his mind seemed to have been connected in an instant!
'He's involved in some big family's bloodline inheritance struggle!'
'F * ck!'
Rick fiercely glared at Layork and Felicia, who had already started to move up and down.
However, his thoughts had long since left the couple in front of him.
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