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In an instant, "White Shark" Hamilton was plunged into extreme panic, unable to make an effective response.
Aaron leisurely walked to the sofa, sat down, and said with a polite smile:
"You have two choices."
"One is to answer truthfully, and the other is to be killed by me, and then answer truthfully."
Killing and communing with spirits? "White Shark" Hamilton had heard similar rumors, and his attempts to argue immediately got stuck in his throat. He swallowed hard and said:
"Are you, are you crazy?"
"That's "Admiral of Blood" Senior, a byword for bloodthirsty cruelty on the Sea. Everyone who dared to disrespect him has been buried at the bottom of the Sea!"
"If I dare to betray him..."
Before his inner fear had fully vented, he saw a pair of pale golden pupils light up on the man's shoulder opposite him, and the words he hadn't finished saying abruptly stopped.
Looking at Hamilton, whose face was gradually becoming dazed, Aaron frowned, resisted the urge to kick him, and said directly:
"Find the frequency band spectrum and codebook you use to contact "Admiral of Blood" Senior's intelligence officer, Old Quinn."
"White Shark" Hamilton's eyes were glazed over, and he responded obediently:
"Okay, beautiful Miss Sia."
Saying that, he turned and went to the gray-white safe behind him, pried open the floor in front of the safe, and by twisting a device, made a secret door appear on the wall.
"Hmm? Miss?"
Aaron, with a face full of black lines, picked up Evelyn from his shoulder, pinched her scruff of the neck, and asked through gritted teeth:
"What did you do?"
Evelyn meowed, symbolically resisted for a moment, then gave up, and immediately argued:
"I merely catered to his deepest desires, using another application of Psychological Invisibility combined with hypnosis, to replicate the image of that Demoness you caught in Backlund onto you."
"How about it, aren't I amazing? Look how obedient he is now."
"Also, quickly put me down. Although this guy is only a low-Sequence Beyonder of the Sailor pathway and his potion digestion is a mess, if the hypnosis lasts too long, he'll eventually notice something is off."
Aaron let out a deep breath, suddenly having the thought that he didn't need this cat after all. He casually tossed her onto the ground and turned to look at the open secret door.
Behind the secret door was a hidden cabinet divided into three compartments. The top layer held some documents and tickets, the middle had weapons like revolvers and new-style semi-automatic pistols, and the bottom was stuffed with complex black machinery.
Hamilton took out the radio and codebook from the bottom layer and said with a fawning, eager expression:
"This is it. Messages sent from here can be received by similar devices as far as the Rorsted Archipelago. Any further than that depends on the weather and luck. Usually, it's very troublesome and has many limitations."
Looking at the expression on the guy's face, Aaron suppressed his disgusted feeling. His peripheral vision caught sight of the documents at the very bottom, and his gaze paused. He then took them out as well.
The contents of the documents were all tasks and information transmitted by Old Quinn, the intelligence officer in Bayam. Among them, two things caught Aaron's attention.
The first thing was that "Admiral of Blood" Senior was approaching the Rorsted Archipelago from the waters near Toscate Island in the Sonia Sea, to encircle and suppress the fleeing Rose School of Thought defectors.
All intelligence personnel on the islands near the Rorsted Archipelago were to report any traces of the defectors.
The other thing was that Helmosuin, the father of the second-generation difference engine, had left the Northern Continent and arrived on the Sea. Intelligence personnel on all islands along the way needed to closely monitor this key figure.
Once his exact location was discovered, he was to be secretly captured immediately. The end of the document also included Helmosuin's appearance and peculiar habits to facilitate identification.
Aaron was not surprised that Sharron could escape the encirclement. After all, the Sea was not the Southern Continent, and the Rose School of Thought's power was limited. Two Sequence 6 Beyonders plus a Sealed Artifact equivalent to a Sequence 5 were already enough power to deal with most situations.
Coupled with the heavy losses the Rose School of Thought suffered last time, they would most likely not dispatch Beyonders above the demigod level without definite intelligence.
At most, it would be a Sequence 5 Beyonder like Senior, carrying a Sealed Artifact similar to the "Crimson Moon Crown" that could bring about a full moon effect and greatly weaken the Temperance Faction's power, constantly encircling them.
But what interested Aaron most was Helmosuin. The last time he heard this name was in Backlund, and he didn't expect to hear it again now that he was on the Sea.
The second-generation difference engine was indeed very important, but even more crucial was his other identity—an avatar of "Orange Light" Hillarion.
As one of the Seven Lights of the Spirit World, "Orange Light" Hillarion already possessed the status of an angel. For such a noble existence, the Pure Light Brotherhood actually didn't send anyone to protect him, which genuinely puzzled Aaron.
Putting away his jumbled thoughts, Aaron thoughtfully put the documents back in their original place, hands in his pockets, and quietly listened to Hamilton's explanation, committing all the content of the frequency band spectrum and codebook to memory.
He temporarily did not plan to deal with "White Shark," fearing to disturb the real prey. Anyway, a guy like this, who was on land, had a fixed territory, and whose weakness he had seized, could be easily dealt with afterward.
Of course, to avoid alerting the enemy, necessary measures were indispensable, such as hypnosis.
Aaron then had him put all the items back in their original places. He coughed lightly, and Evelyn immediately understood.
Jumping onto a nearby table, her small body stood upright, her pupils glowing pale gold. The "Chain of Hypnosis" emitted a faint light, and "White Shark" Hamilton's face instantly stiffened and became blank:
"Remember, you are very tired and want to sleep badly. When you wake up, you will forget everything that happened tonight..."
After three consecutive repetitions, Hamilton walked to the sofa and lay down stiffly.
Looking at Evelyn, who was already a bit unsteady on her feet due to excessive spiritual consumption, Aaron sighed, picked her up, and after clearing all traces, activated Spirit World travel.
What Aaron didn't notice was that the originally weak Evelyn in his arms had a slight curl to her lips, looking as if her scheme had succeeded.
-----------------
Rorsted Archipelago, City of Generosity Bayam.
The red moonlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating a dark alley and revealing a lean, sharp-featured figure with an aggressive appearance, wearing a boat-shaped hat.
A lock of black hair fell, partially covering his left dark green eye, which softened his inherent coldness considerably. This was "Calm Squall," with a bounty of 1,500 pounds.
He wound his way through several turns, arriving at an unknown street, and entered an unremarkable house.
"Long time no see, Squall." The person who opened the door was an old man with more white hair than black. He was dressed as a local, wearing loose, wide-legged trousers.
Old Quinn opened the door and chuckled:
"Everyone's been waiting for you to come back, come on in."
Saying that, he walked ahead. Squall pulled at his black trench coat and nodded coldly.
He didn't turn on the gas wall lamp, holding a silver candelabrum in his hand, leading Squall through the dark hall into a spacious, sturdy, windowless basement.
Squall saw the flagship's second mate, "Steel" Maveti, leaning on the living room sofa, waiting for him.
The other companions were either lying, standing, or sitting, forming a semicircle, while the puppets and Zombies served as guards around the perimeter.
Maveti had thick lips, dark skin, and hair curled in strands, like the steel beads commonly seen in factories.
"What did the Captain say?" His arm muscles twitched, full of power, yet his overall appearance gave people the cold, eerie illusion of being inanimate.
Squall sat on an empty sofa on the other side, and with a Zombie massaging him, he relaxed his body and took out a wooden box from his Inventory. Inside the box was a dark, viscous liquid that seemed to have life.
"The Captain wants us to continue gathering intelligence. The most important task currently is to capture the old man Helmosuin. Other matters can be put aside."
"This is also the will of the Lords. This item is what will help us complete the task; it is a Grant from that great existence."
Squall said, pointing to the wooden box on the table, then added:
"As for those two traitors, we only need to keep track of their whereabouts. Once they leave Bayam, the big figures will naturally deal with them."
-----------------
Meanwhile, in the Loenese settlement of Bayam, which was the upper-class residential area.
In several terraced garden villas, Louise sat bored in her room, flipping through Klarman's Secret Book, which she had borrowed from Sharron through a Sacrifice and Grant ritual.
The Rorsted Archipelago was a strategic point of the Loen Kingdom's rule in the Central Sonia Sea and also a key diocese of the Church of the Lord of Storms. A high-ranking deacon who could participate in the Privy Council was stationed there long-term.
Regarding the Sanguine's arrival, these irritable old men chose to temporarily ignore it, but this was only on the premise that they didn't cause trouble.
Count Mistral had also rarely shown himself recently, seemingly doing something in secret. Louise only knew that they would be staying in Bayam for a while longer.
Looking up at the wall clock, Louise's face broke into a smile. She skillfully set up the Wall of Spirituality and began to wait for the gathering to be convened.
As the chime of midnight struck, Louise's eyes were filled with a rich dark golden mist. Accompanied by the familiar sense of disorientation, she opened her eyes and found herself in a magnificent palace.
Aaron sat in the high-backed chair belonging to the Blessed, looking at the spiritual light points of the members below, and nodded secretly.
Frank, who had already advanced from Sequence 7 Harvest Priest to Sequence 6 Biologist, scratched his head and said in a somewhat rough voice:
"Many thanks to Mr. Blessed for the suggestion last time. My experiments have made great progress. Mushrooms are indeed an extremely high-quality research direction, which has given me more inspiration and ideas."
"I have already made many samples. Although they all have some flaws, I will continue to improve them. If you need them, I can also send them to you."
Aaron politely declined Frank's offer; he didn't want his ship to be covered in mushrooms. However, he could find a specific area as an experimental site after reaching the Southern Continent.
Currently, all members of the Chaos Council are at least Mid-Sequence Beyonders. The time spent digesting potions and acting has increased, and the frequency of demand for potion formulas and Beyonder characteristics has decreased.
The trading segment has also shortened. More often, they trade certain special charms and Mystical Items, which is also the fastest way to become stronger when Sequence cannot be improved in the short term.
Watching the other members exchange various charms from Mr. Blessed to varying degrees, Louise patiently waited for the trading segment to end, becoming even more convinced that the organization behind Mr. Blessed had an extremely vast foundation.
At the very least, they controlled or possessed "Artisans." The sheer quantity and variety of charms were enough to prove all of this.
Seeing someone propose a trade, Louise spoke impatiently. She looked around, explaining her current situation and the internal competition among the Sanguine that Count Mistral had told her about.
Aside from Frank, who was single-minded and only thought about experiments, the other members secretly gasped.
For them, who were only Sequence 7, struggles involving demigod levels, whether with the Sanguine or the Rose School of Thought, were too distant.
Sharron, who had been silent, slightly raised her head and slowly said:
"If you are going to deal with the Rose School of Thought, I can provide some help."
"My potion has been fully digested, and I can prepare to advance to Sequence 5. This will be a very good opportunity."
Seeing Louise's gaze, Sharron continued to add, seemingly to strengthen her persuasiveness:
"The most crucial part of the Sequence 5 advancement ritual is to consume the potion while the spirit and flesh are separated, and to transform into a true 'Wraith' under the baptism of the Spirit World."
"And this requires arranging a specific ritual array. The initiation of the ritual until the baptism and final transformation must Exploit the peculiarities of the Spirit World, and this will produce a special resonance."
"This special resonance is extremely difficult for Beyonders of other Pathways to detect. Even at the demigod level, it is very difficult to detect without Spirit World-related authority."
"But for other 'Wraiths' or even higher-Sequence Beyonders of this Pathway, this fluctuation is like a lighthouse, conspicuous and dazzling."
Listening, Louise finally truly understood the fundamental reason why Count Mistral had said that "Wraiths" naturally possessed the ability to divine and counter-divine.
Then she spoke with some embarrassment:
`"Letting you be the bait, that's too dangerous. Is there no other way?"
Over this time, Louise had come to regard the members of the Chaos Council as her friends. Although she was eager to win the competition, her pride as a Sanguine made it difficult for her to allow her friends' safety to be used as a bargaining chip.
Sharron calmly shook her head, her tone flat yet firm:
"Perhaps there were other ways before, but the last defeat will make them more cautious, so this time we must take some risks."
Looking at the resolute Sharron, Louise was silent for a moment, then nodded.
Aaron listened quietly, also slightly surprised that the ritual for advancing to "Wraith" would be like this. His eyes then darkened, and he suddenly spoke to Sharron:
"Can you give me a copy of that special ritual array from your advancement ritual? In exchange, I can provide some help for your upcoming actions."
Aaron planned to give this ritual array, which was related to "Wraith" and the Spirit World, to Astolfo, perhaps it would bring unexpected surprises.`
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