"Who is it?"
Cromwell smoothed his light golden short hair and asked what everyone was thinking.
"Pamela," Lex said a name.
Several Hunters showed confused expressions, clearly they hadn't heard of this name, but Arbiter Cromwell exclaimed, "Pamela, the actress from the Red Maple Theater?"
Lex nodded lightly: "It's her."
Earlier, while waiting for the Observers' reply to confirm the 'boundary', Lex was already thinking about how to deal with the Sea Serpent Gang.
After conceiving several plans, he finally settled on one of them. In this plan, Pamela would be a key figure.
"The specific plan is like this..."
It was late at night when he returned to the Inn. Lex took off his disguise, summoned the Mysterious Book, and spent 8 dimensional crystals to appraise the magical item he had just acquired that evening.
The appraisal result made him very satisfied. The 'secrecy keeper' indeed possessed the effects it described, and its negative effects were also exactly as stated.
Lex then spent 17 crystals for enhancement and 11 crystals for Sealeds.
Finally, new information about the 'secrecy keeper' appeared on the Mysterious Book.
'This item can protect your secrets, making you immune to the effects of 'mind reading' and 'psychological suggestion'. It can be activated proactively or passively.
Furthermore, anyone who approaches it, within a range of 1 foot, will occasionally and unconsciously reveal their inner thoughts.'
The summoning ended.
Lex satisfactorily hid the 'secrecy keeper' close to his body. With it, he would have a certain degree of protection when facing an 'Spectator'.
After enhancement, in addition to being able to counter 'mind reading', it also gained an ability to counter 'psychological suggestion'.
And after Sealeds, the original negative effect of revealing secrets to people was weakened to revealing inner thoughts.
However, the negative effect no longer applied to the user themselves, but to those who approached it. Regarding this, Lex sincerely hoped that he wouldn't hear any strange thoughts.
The operation against the Sea Serpent Gang was scheduled for tomorrow. Lex changed his clothes and went to bed.
The next morning.
In a townhouse on Fania Street in the North District, Pamela woke up in the morning light. The recently popular actress from the Red Maple Theater stretched lazily before getting out of bed to wash up.
With the assistance of two female workers specially hired for her by Police Chief Pelt, Pamela changed into a light yellow long dress with lace decorations. After breakfast, she got into a carriage and headed to the department store on Halls Street.
Tonight, the Chief invited her to a banquet, and Pamela planned to buy a new dress for herself.
She heard that nobles, true nobles, never wore the same dress twice.
Although she wasn't a noble, she cared about her reputation and didn't want people to whisper behind her back, mocking her for not having many clothes to wear.
That would make the Chief lose Face.
As she entered the department store, a clerk came up to her: "Good morning, beautiful Young Miss, how may I help you?"
Pamela said haughtily: "I want to see the latest popular styles, I mean dresses, especially long dresses."
The clerk enthusiastically introduced: "Court-style long dresses are popular in Backlund this year, and 'Ladies' Aesthetics' magazine also pointed this out. Coincidentally, we have several new court-style dresses in our store."
Soon, Pamela went into the fitting room to try on court-style outfits.
Just as she was about to change into her second outfit, she heard some voices outside, men's voices.
They were talking in low voices about something.
At first, Pamela didn't pay attention, but soon noticed something unusual. The voices were gradually approaching the fitting room.
"Is that actress Pamela in there?"
"That's right, let's hurry and do it. If we catch her, our Sea Serpent Gang will strike it rich."
"I heard our Boss has had his eye on her for a long time. If we bring her back, the Boss might just give Chief Pelt a special hat."
"Maybe more than one."
Pamela turned pale with fright and almost screamed for help, but then, a man outside said: "Where's the rope? Damn it, I forgot to leave it in the carriage."
"Then I'll wait here. Hmm, someone's coming. Let's get out of the way for a bit."
Pamela quickly covered her mouth, not daring to alert them. Only after hearing the footsteps outside fade away did she quickly put on her clothes and leave.
She no longer cared about buying clothes. When she came out of the store, she saw a carriage nearby, and two suspicious men got out of it.
A length of hemp rope was peeking out from under one of the men's clothes!
Pamela quickly got into her own carriage and said to the coachman: "Quick, go to the Police Station!"
Around noon, Lex was in his room at the Violet Hotel, examining a photograph.
The photograph was given by Old Parker.
Last night, after he formed his own team and accepted the mission to 'eradicate the Sea Serpent Gang', he obtained some intelligence about the Sea Serpent Gang from Mr. Parker.
This intelligence was previously gathered by Cromwell and his team.
Among them was a photograph of the Sea Serpent Gang's leader.
The background of the photograph was a street in the city. The target was getting out of a carriage, wearing a fur-collared long coat, and combing his hair with a comb.
Only a side profile was visible in the photograph. Although a bit blurry, Lex could still make out that it was a middle-aged man with a handsome beard.
"He seems to be a rather narcissistic fellow who cares about his appearance."
Lex made a simple judgment based on the photograph.
Just then, a commotion came from outside the window. Lex looked at the valet, and Matthew understood, going downstairs to investigate.
A moment later, the valet returned to the room: "Sir, it's the police. Many police officers. They are heading towards the Dock Area. I don't know what operation they are on."
Lex smiled, knowing that the first step of his plan had succeeded.
At the Horse Riding Club's reception, he knew that Police Chief Pelt and the Red Maple Theater actress Pamela were deeply involved.
The Sea Serpent Gang had many members and a hidden headquarters. Even if he formed a team of Hunters, it would be difficult to eradicate this Gang in a short time.
So Lex thought of Pamela, thought of Pelt, and thought of using the power of the police to strike at the Sea Serpent Gang.
He believed that if the Sea Serpent Gang was suddenly attacked, they would likely expose the location of their headquarters. Furthermore, having the police deal with the Gang members greatly reduced the difficulty of the mission.
To achieve this goal, Lex had two Hunters disguise themselves as members of the Sea Serpent Gang, follow Pamela, and find an opportunity to frame the Sea Serpent Gang.
As a Provoker, Lex knew very well how to enrage Chief Pelt. He personally designed the lines for the two Hunters, ensuring that as soon as the Police Chief received the news, he would launch a large-scale raid on the Dock Area.
It now seemed that the prelude to this performance had begun.
In the evening, under the pretext of resting, Lex returned to his room. When he emerged from the Inn, he had already become the Hunter 'Duke'.
The night was vast, and the crimson moon hung high and serene.
The time for hunting had arrived!