After deciding to go to that secret gathering, Dorothy had been facing a problem: if she really encountered the secret transmission she wanted, what kind of bargaining chip should she use to exchange for it? Although Dorothy believed she had some money on her, she wasn't sure if that amount of money would be enough at a secret gathering.
So, after much thought, Dorothy decided that exchanging extraordinary items for extraordinary items would be more appropriate. The extra extraordinary items she had were those few spiritual fingers. Dorothy could keep one to charge the Corpse Puppet Ring and sell the other two. After all, one finger could charge it three times, which would be enough to keep the ring running for a long time.
However, if she were to use the spiritual fingers to exchange things at the secret gathering, she would encounter another problem. There were people from the Red Communion Society at the secret gathering, and openly selling their items would inevitably attract attention. If people from the Holy Communion Society came knocking after the gathering, it would be troublesome. Thus, how to deal with the Holy Communion Society members who followed her after the gathering became another issue.
And Dorothy's way of dealing with this problem was... to fully utilize the fact that she currently looked like a child. At the gathering, she would act as if she was instructed to come by someone else, as not many people would believe that a naive child would come to such a secret gathering on her own.
Then, Dorothy would perform a double act with her Corpse Puppet, making the Red Communion Society trackers believe that the Corpse Puppet was the mastermind behind Dorothy, successfully shifting their tracking target to the Corpse Puppet. Then, she would use the Corpse Puppet's inherent characteristics to jump into the river and shake off the trackers.
Finally, she would use the raven Corpse Puppet, which she had been using for surveillance, to identify the trackers' whereabouts and even track them back to their stronghold.
Now, Dorothy only needed to find a way to reveal some information to her older brother and report it to the An Yin Bureau, and she could once again use the situation to take down this stronghold of the Red Communion Society.
However, Dorothy did not plan to do so at the moment.
"This is unlikely to be the headquarters. At most, it might just be a contact point. If it's just to make them lose a contact point, there's no need to act for now..."
Taking a sip of the extremely sweet coffee, Dorothy murmured softly. To her, taking action against this stronghold of the Holy Communion Society now didn't have much meaning; it would only alert the enemy at most.
She needed to wait for a more suitable time, a time that could deal a greater blow to the Holy Communion Society.
After taking another sip of coffee, Dorothy took out a thin old book from the small bag beside her and placed it on the table. This old book was the secret transmission book she had bought from Gray Hill earlier, the "dream records". According to Gray Hill, it could teach people how to master dreams and enter the Dream World.
'A book of entering dreams? Interesting. I wonder how much Spirituality it contains...'
Thinking this, Dorothy was about to flip through it now, but at this moment, another matter came to mind.
That was, during the previous gathering, she had repeatedly heard a term, which was "Spirit Sight".
In the transactions of those people, many items were used to resist the so-called Spirit Sight, just like the medicinal powder that old woman sold at the beginning.
Dorothy was very curious, what exactly was the so-called Spirit Sight? Why did those gatherers attach so much importance to it? Was it a kind of poison? Then why would one get poisoned by it?
Regarding this point, the rich man code-named "Herdsman" did provide some clues.
He had declined to purchase Gray Hill's secret transmission, the reason being that he had not yet finished cultivating the secret transmission he had bought before. Was he afraid that cultivating a new secret transmission would lead to the accumulation of Spirit Sight, resulting in contamination and loss of control?
In other words, cultivating a secret transmission would be contaminated by that so-called Spirit Sight?
Upon reaching this conclusion, Dorothy was suddenly startled, because she had already finished cultivating the incomplete volume of the secret transmission "Saint Body Dissection Technique". If that was the case, then she must have been contaminated by Spirit Sight!
But the problem was, why did she feel no effect at all?
In her eyes, the incomplete volume of "Saint Body Dissection Technique" was just a generally bizarre illustrated tool book. It was quite stimulating to look at, but the expressive power of the illustrations was limited after all, and it didn't reach the point of mental pollution in the end?
If even this little bit of oddity counted as mental pollution, then what were the dissection classes in medical schools in her previous life? Should there be no more surgeons?
This was also the strange thing about Dorothy. Those people at the gathering kept saying that cultivating a secret transmission would be contaminated by Spirit Sight and required various methods to resist it, but why didn't she feel it?
Perhaps the amount wasn't enough? Or perhaps she had already been contaminated, but she hadn't noticed, and her consciousness had been subtly rewritten?
Thinking of this, Dorothy shook her head. First of all, she felt that it was unlikely that she was contaminated but hadn't noticed, because even if she didn't notice, the people around her should be able to. Especially Grego, he was still a Captain of the An Yin Bureau, and he wouldn't have not seen people who had lost control due to Spirit Sight contamination.
Moreover, if the contamination of Spirit Sight was subtle and undetectable, then it would be impossible to resist and guard against it, and there wouldn't be so many people at the gathering seeking medicine to resist Spirit Sight. Therefore, the contamination of Spirit Sight must be subjectively noticeable.
Then it's a matter of quantity...
Thinking of this, Dorothy decided to do a little experiment.
After finishing her coffee, Dorothy went downstairs and took a carriage to a secluded riverside in the suburbs.
The afternoon sun shone on the grass by the river. Dorothy sat on the grass, which was being blown by the river wind, and took out the "dream records".
She wanted to read this book here, slowly, page by page, while paying attention to the changes in her mental state, to see if the so-called Spirit Sight really existed and if it could affect her.
If she felt any discomfort, she would immediately stop reading.
The reason Dorothy came to such a place to read was that she was afraid that if... if something unexpected happened and she lost control, she wouldn't hurt anyone, and she could even jump into the river in time to calm down.
In short, Dorothy's experiment officially began. She sat down under a tree, then slowly opened the old book in her hand and began to read it carefully.
Then, she finished one page... she was fine... she finished two pages... she was still fine... she finished three pages... she was still fine...
Just like that, Dorothy began to read page after page.
On the quiet riverside grass, under the lush tree canopy, a gentle and beautiful girl was concentrating on the book in her hand. The grass and the girl's hair were lightly moving with the river wind, scattered leaves were falling, and the fine wind resonated with the sound of water. At this moment, if the book in the girl's hand were replaced with a famous literary work instead of a forbidden secret transmission, it would be the typical scene of a literary girl's first appearance in a coming-of-age campus drama.
Unfortunately, it couldn't be replaced.
...
Inside the house at 22 Elm West Lane.
In a beautifully decorated study, a middle-aged man in pajamas, of medium build, balding, and with sagging skin, was sitting in an armchair, holding a cigarette, with a serious expression. On the carpet in front of him, two men were kneeling on one knee.
"You said... a broken finger of the ""Cup"" appeared at Gray Hill's gathering? And it was clearly made by the society?" In the smoky study, the middle-aged man looked at the two men bowing before him and said seriously, and the other party immediately responded.
"Yes, Mr. Burton, even Gray Hill said it was from the society, there's absolutely no mistake!"
"That seller didn't dare to show up in person and sent a kid to the gathering place for the transaction. In the end, he exchanged a secret transmission for the society's treasure at Gray Hill's place. We tracked him all the way, but unexpectedly, that guy jumped into the Iron Mud River halfway!"
Listening to the reports of the two men, the middle-aged man named Burton was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking about something. Then, after taking a puff of smoke, he spoke.
"The appearance of that seller... did you remember it?"
"Yes, we did. That guy was about twenty-something, dressed quite decently, a bit tall, a bit thin, and his skin was somewhat pale, like he was sick..."
Just like that, the two men tried their best to describe the appearance in their memory. Because they were very close to the target during the tracking process, they described the other party's physical characteristics quite clearly.
And listening to the words of the two in front of him, Burton's brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
Finally, after exhaling a long puff of smoke, Burton extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray next to him, then slowly rose from the armchair. He walked to the desk nearby, rummaged through the drawer for a while, took out a photo, and then walked back to the two men, handing them the photo to look at.
"Is it this person?"
Listening to Burton's words, the two men immediately looked up to confirm. They saw a man in the photo who looked exactly like the man they had seen before.
"Yes, yes! It's him, Mr. Burton!"
The two men quickly nodded to confirm. Burton was slightly startled when he saw this, then he snorted coldly.
"Hmph..."
Immediately after, Burton walked to his desk, picked up the teapot, and poured a cup of dark red, thick, and foul-smelling liquid. Then he picked up the cup and handed it to the two kneeling men.
"You two share it..."
"Thank you for your grace, Mr.!"
After taking the teacup filled with the dark red thick liquid, the two men quickly closed the door and withdrew in ecstasy. Burton, who remained in the study, glanced at the photo in his hand and looked at the back.
On it, the name "Edrick" was spelled out in red pen...
Then, Burton went to the bookshelf, stretched out his hand, and turned the candlestick on the wall next to it. Then the bookshelf slowly opened with a series of mechanical sounds, revealing the dark room behind it.
In the dark room, there was a small altar built with bloody human bones, more than half a person's height. Four candles were lit around the altar, and the candlelight illuminated the fresh blood on the human bones. There were also unchewed pieces of meat on the scattered bones around the altar.
On the altar, there was a bloody skull with a lot of flesh still remaining. And on the top of the skull, there was an ear. That's right, it was a human ear with blood vessels inserted into the bone cap, like roots, twisting and devouring the flesh inside the skull.
Burton stroked the ear in front of him, watched it wiggle slightly, and then slowly spoke.
"Gentlemen, there's a lead on Abbott's matter. I've found out who leaked the information to the An Yin Bureau.
"Edrick... that ignorant, lowly rat! He didn't die and wasn't secretly controlled by the An Yin Bureau! He betrayed us! He caused Abbott to die in Vokan! And now he's living swaggeringly in this city with things he stole from us!
"We must make him pay the most terrible price!"