“What has our target been up to these past few days?”
Yingyue wore a cloak, concealing her appearance and figure, along with the sword at her waist, leaving only her eyes visible as she followed behind a group of people.
“He lives very regularly. Every day, aside from going shopping, he visits scholars to borrow books. Of course, he also reports to the mercenaries’ guild, as if he’s deliberately trying to make himself easy to find…”
The young man with thick eyebrows and large eyes, assigned to tail Wu Ming, replied resentfully, “And… this guy is quite wealthy. Whether it’s food or accommodation, he always chooses the best…”
Yingyue looked at the dry ration in her hand, and like everyone else, her expression turned grim.
They were here on a secret family mission to investigate discreetly.
Since it was a covert operation, they naturally couldn’t draw too much attention, and any luxurious behavior that might attract notice was strictly forbidden.
But their target had no such concerns. Seeing that young man spending heaps of gold coins every day, even Yingyue couldn’t help but feel somewhat resentful.
They were both chasing after clues about the Ouroboros organization, so why was there such a huge difference in their treatment?
In fact, if Wu Ming hadn’t already known about this group from the mercenaries’ guild in the first place, how could he have allowed them to tail him for so long?
“Let’s wait for another two days!”
Second Uncle, with his white goatee, wore a conflicted expression: “If there’s still no movement, we’ll set off!”
Even he, watching their target indulge in delicacies while they could only drink cold water, eat dry rations, and sleep in tents, felt extremely annoyed.
“We should’ve done this long ago!”
Everyone except Yingyue cheered. As Second Uncle was about to say something else, another person rushed over in a hurry: “Something’s happened!”
“Hmm?”
Second Uncle’s face lit up: “Has the Ouroboros organization moved?”
“No!”
The person coming to relieve the watch wore a conflicted expression: “It’s someone from a temple, a western church—they’ve approached our target!”
“This must be related to the Ouroboros ring…”
Second Uncle clenched his fist: “This is called drawing the snake out of its hole! We’re strangers in a strange land, but the western churches have deep roots here—they must have some relevant clues!”
“If that’s the case…”
A trace of doubt appeared on Yingyue’s face: “Then why didn’t the imperial court directly contact the western nations and request the churches’ cooperation in the investigation, instead offering a reward and sending us noble families to handle it?”
“Hehe… You’re still too young, little Yue. Do you really think our empire and the western nations are like brothers, as close as one family?”
Second Uncle sneered.
Yingyue suddenly realized it must be due to political conflicts and rivalries between the upper echelons and the nations, and couldn’t help shaking her head with a hint of sadness.
“Oh no!”
A young man beside her suddenly cried out: “What if that reckless kid accidentally solves the case? What will we do then?”
“Yes, that’s the biggest concern!”
Second Uncle stroked his beard: “We should go to him directly and confront him… I wonder which faction sent this spy who doesn’t even know the rules…”
This was clearly an attempt to seize credit. They didn’t dare to take risks themselves but couldn’t stand seeing others succeed.
Although Yingyue felt something was off, seeing everyone else nodding in agreement, she remained silent and just shook her head slightly.
…
Of course, Wu Ming was well aware that the number of people tailing him had been increasing in recent days.
But he was actually hoping the Ouroboros would come to him, so he simply let things take their course.
He just didn’t expect that the first to approach him wouldn’t be the Ouroboros ring, but rather someone from the Church of the Night.
“Good day, Mr. Wu Ming from the East!”
Blocking his path was a row of church warriors dressed in black ceremonial robes, with a holy emblem of a crescent moon in the night sky on their chests.
In front of all these holy knights stood a tall, mature, and beautiful female priest.
She wore a purple priestess robe, with a scarf covering half her face, revealing only a pair of eyes as brilliant as stars.
“I am a servant of the goddess of the night. You may call me Basar!”
“Good day, madam!”
Wu Ming replied casually: “Are you here because of this?”
He extended his left hand, on which was clearly worn a black Ouroboros ring.
“Precisely, though this is not the place to talk about it!”
Basar glanced at the growing crowd of curious onlookers: “Would you be so kind as to accompany me somewhere? I believe we have much to discuss!”
Her eloquent eyes sparkled, her voice charming and seductive enough to make any male creature lose his mind.
“I’ve never been one to refuse a lady’s invitation!”
Wu Ming touched his nose: “By the way, if you removed your veil, it might be even more effective!”
Basar was taken aback.
As a priestess serving the goddess of the night, she naturally possessed a certain charm bonus.
This wasn’t a mental magic effect, which could be resisted, but rather a natural advantage that gave her certain privileges when dealing with men.
Yet now, this man in front of her seemed completely unaffected by her charm.
“Austere practitioner? No, definitely not…”
Looking at Wu Ming’s luxurious robe and the recent intelligence about his lifestyle, she immediately dismissed the idea that he might be some kind of Eastern ascetic monk.
“What are you waiting for?”
Before she could recover from her surprise, Wu Ming was already urging her to get going, seemingly very eager.
“Very well, my lord, please follow me!”
Without thinking further, Basar led Wu Ming outside the city and onto a black carriage.
“Due to an agreement with the local lord, some structures we couldn’t build near the port have been relocated to the suburbs…”
The carriage slowly started moving, with several holy knights guarding it. Basar lazily stretched and asked: “Now, you can tell me—who do you represent from the East? The imperial court? A noble family? The Union? Or someone else?”
Her star-like eyes stared straight at Wu Ming.
“I represent no one but myself!”
Wu Ming told the truth: “I’m just interested in the Ouroboros organization, that’s all!”
“That’s not a very amusing thing to say!”
Basar shook her head, clearly taking Wu Ming’s words as a lie: “The Ouroboros is extremely dangerous. Behind it lies even an evil god! Anyone from outside the organization who learns its secrets is doomed to be silenced!”
“Then tell me, how much does the Church of the Night actually know about this organization?”
Wu Ming raised his eyebrows and asked calmly.
“You’re not even afraid?”
Now Basar was truly astonished: “Do you even know what an evil god is? They are evil and cruel, madder than demons and craftier than devils. Even hearing their voices can bring sin and lead one to fall into the abyss!”
“Please, they’re just some deities at the sixth or seventh level at most—nothing more than another Qiu Tian Xian Zun…”
Wu Ming rolled his eyes inwardly but said: “We both have missions to fulfill. You should understand that until I uncover this organization and its plots against the East, I cannot back down!”
“Now, tell me everything you know about the Ouroboros organization!”
He slightly raised his voice, naturally exuding an aura of authority that compelled obedience.
Basar had initially been reluctant to answer, but now she couldn’t help blurting out: “As for the organization, we don’t know much either. We only know it’s a secret society that worships the Ouroboros, consisting of a group of high-level professionals. They use black serpent rings as their symbol, rank their members by the number of snakes, and have a specialized assassination unit known as ‘The Undertakers.’ They’ve been responsible for numerous massacres and assassinations, even causing the death of a king… It was precisely because of that king’s demise that our church took notice of this evil organization…”
“How… boring!”
After listening, Wu Ming appeared rather uninterested: “I was hoping for something new, like where their hideout is or who their leaders are…”
“If we knew that, why would we need to come looking for you?”
Basar rolled her eyes, then suddenly tensed up: “Wait, what spell did you cast on me just now?”
Instinctively, she looked at a pendant around her neck. It was intact, showing no sign of activation, making her even more alarmed.
This pendant had been blessed by the goddess and could resist most mind-affecting spells.
Even if she encountered legendary mind specialists like dreamweavers or soul-siphoning creatures, it would at least trigger a warning.
Yet now, this young man in front of her had somehow bypassed the goddess’s blessing and directly influenced her.
“Don’t be tense!”
Wu Ming smiled slightly, then suddenly turned his head: “However… you all still have some use after all. At the very least, you’ve managed to draw them out, haven’t you?”
“Them?”
Basar was startled, and only then noticed that the carriage had stopped at some point.
She lifted the curtain and looked outside at the holy knights, whose expressions suddenly froze.
“The driver has ascended to the divine?”
Basar was alarmed: “Be on guard!”
After the driver collapsed, several mysterious figures in cloaks appeared in the open space ahead.
Originally, the carriage was meant to take Wu Ming to one of the Night Church’s outposts outside the city, but now Basar realized the surroundings were nowhere near the route to their destination.
A dense forest stretched out, its thick canopy almost completely blocking out the sunlight.
“You… who are you people?”
She tightly gripped a few scrolls, asking nervously.
As a priestess, direct combat had never been her forte.
“Knight Jess!”
She cried out, only to be horrified to find that the holy knights guarding the carriage were falling down one after another.
“Hehe… it’s useless…”
With a coquettish laugh, a blonde woman slowly emerged from the forest, her beautiful face filled with crazed delight: “There are only the two of you left around this carriage… Let me take care of you now. Be good now, okay!”
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