A man in a black suit walked out of the gates of the Black Night Cathedral.
The suit was of a common style, his hat brim pulled low to conceal his face, and he carried a dark cane in his hand. He appeared entirely unremarkable, like a drop of water blending into the sea as he merged with the passing crowd.
Only his physique was difficult to hide; the man was tall, sturdy, and slightly slender. Occasionally, as he turned his head, a young, handsome face was inadvertently revealed beneath the brim of his hat.
It was the face of Lynch Levive.
Lynch walked out of the cathedral with his head bowed, glancing around vigilantly before heading toward the Rhine Bridge that led to the Crown District. He walked with hurried steps, his gaze frequently darting to the surroundings to cautiously observe the passersby.
The area was calm, with no notable anomalies.
Two blue uniforms trotted along the street on police horses, moving in the same direction as Lynch, while a ragged beggar carrying tattered bedding wandered by the roadside, also moving along Lynch's path.
Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling. Amidst the crisp sound of carriage bells, a rental carriage turned from a cross street onto the cobblestone road Lynch was walking on. The beggar, as if spotting a target, muttered with glowing eyes and ducked into another alleyway.
There were many people on the road, and the rental carriage moved slowly with constant stops, never straying far from Lynch. At that moment, two young men in coarse work clothes chased each other, laughing as they brushed past Lynch, shoving and scuffling not far ahead, which caused passing gentlemen to frown.
At the same time, the sound of loud arguing and shattering pottery came from a nearby alley. The two mounted blue uniforms immediately blew their whistles and dove into the alley, leaving Lynch's side.
Everything was as normal as any other day, yet Lynch, with his head still bowed, felt a vague sense of unease. He suddenly stopped to scan his surroundings, but all he saw was the rental carriage stop-and-go in the traffic, the laughing young men in the crowd, the bustling street, and the square in the distance teeming with merchants.
Lynch remained unconvinced. Without warning, he turned around and began to retrace his steps. A few dozen meters later, he turned into a side street. The rental carriage and the brawling young men behind him showed no reaction and continued to move away quietly in their original direction.
"Kind sir, madam, spare two pennies for me. The gods will bless you."
As soon as he turned into the side street, he saw the same beggar from before pestering a middle-aged gentleman and his wife, extending his plate. The beggar let Lynch pass by without even a glance, focused solely on the coins the lady was dropping into his plate.
"Sir, sir, buy a flower for your lady."
At the same time, a flower girl resting by the roadside stood up with her basket, jogging in pursuit of a passing couple. She kept calling out about her roses, almost bumping into Lynch's arm as he passed her, but she was too preoccupied with pushing her wares to notice.
It was not until Lynch's figure disappeared from the end of the alley that the flower girl stopped her sales pitch and leaned back against the roadside, just as the begging wanderer passed by her.
"Notify Post Nine. The target is moving in their direction. Pay attention to the handoff."
"Understood."
The beggar did not slow down, and the two did not even exchange glances as they brushed past each other. The flower girl remained where she was, while the beggar, as if finding new prey, suddenly strode forward and sprinted in a specific direction.
The street was crowded, but the beggar wove through it like a fish, only nearly bumping into a beautiful noble girl holding a round fan, which elicited a few annoyed chirps from her.
The flower girl left behind played with a rose for a moment, then suddenly retreated a few steps into a dark alley. In the shadows, she grabbed her skirt and pulled hard. With a ripping sound, the simple dress tore open, revealing the shirt and trousers underneath. She put on a flat cap, instantly transforming into a man's outfit, threw the flower basket into a pile of trash in the alley, and hurried out.
The street remained crowded, and no one realized the alley had swallowed a flower girl and spat out a man in male attire. The man in disguise adjusted his cap, observed his surroundings with practiced ease, and strode off in the opposite direction, passing a girl with a round fan who was picking out hair accessories at a street stall without a second thought.
As they passed, the man in disguise quickly moved away. A subtle smile appeared on the lips behind the round fan, and the girl's pupils narrowed slightly. She placed the accessory back on the stall, turned, and left the side street, heading in the exact direction the man in disguise had departed. Her pace was slow and unhurried, but as she passed a patch of shadows, her figure suddenly vanished into thin air, as if merging into the darkness.
The man in disguise knew nothing of this, keeping his eyes forward as he walked faster and faster. He soon arrived at the main road beside the square. By then, the real Lynch he had been tracking was long gone, and the two patrol officers from earlier were lingering on the road on their horses.
The man in disguise slowed his pace and stopped by the roadside, preparing to cross the street. The mounted officers happened to change direction, riding past the man, their figures crossing.
"Post Five reporting. The target is moving toward Post Nine. Recommend Posts Eleven, Six, and Two be prepared. The target has high vigilance; do not actively interfere to avoid causing the target to break away."
Before the words had faded, the two sides crossed. The officers rode past the intersection, and the man in disguise crossed the road, disappearing into the crowd on the other side.
The two officers continued to ride slowly for a distance, passing the girl fanning herself with a round fan by the road. Then, one of them suddenly accelerated, maneuvering around carriages and pedestrians, and disappeared at the end of the long street, while the other maintained a patrol pace and turned onto the square.
The rhythmic clatter of hooves was crisp and loud. The patrolman moved out of the square, unable to maintain speed in the crowded streets, and the rider gradually approached several four-story buildings.
Compared to the ornate Victorian architecture, these buildings were heavier and more archaic. They were the Rhine City Engineering and Construction Center, an administrative building long since requisitioned for the Norin-Rhine Railway project.
The surroundings were quite deserted. The officer rode faster and faster, reaching the entrance of the center. He jumped off his horse nimbly, letting the guards take the horse away, and ran into the building without stopping.
Rushing all the way to the top floor conference room, the rider clicked his heels together and struck his chest with his fist—the standard etiquette of the Hall of Order.
"Report, sir. The target has entered the encirclement. We can begin the sweep at any time."
"Good. You have done well. Go, prepare to begin." In the conference room, the leader of the Rangers, Walker, felt his grim expression ease slightly. He turned to the other two men, "Gentlemen, you can rest easy now. We began tracking him early this morning; he could not possibly have discovered these professional methods. I said he would not escape."
"This Mr. Lynch Levive is extremely cunning. Ever since our fellow believer Mr. Randall, he has caused us no end of trouble. I came to Rhine this time specifically to avenge them."
A middle-aged man in a white suit covered by a gray cloak stroked his mustache, smiling without humor.
"I have a deep understanding of him. I suggest you do not lower your guard. The fact that he entered the Black Night Cathedral for no reason just now is a very dangerous sign. Being careless will not be as simple as letting him escape once."
"Hm?"
"Based on what we know of him, he is not the type to be satisfied with just escaping danger. Our Mr. Randall is an example. Facing those who want him dead, he will fight to the death to bite back. A few days ago, when I went to greet him, I was almost schemed against by him. You must be careful he doesn't track down the people monitoring him."
"Hahaha, Mr. Kelvin, you may rest assured about that. The people tracking and setting the ambush are our specially trained professionals. It is quite difficult to shake off their line of sight, let alone track them back to us. Hahaha, if he can truly find his way here, I will kneel before him and admit defeat on the spot. You need not worry."
"I hope you are right."
Kelvin smiled noncommittally. Another man standing by the window, peering through a monocular, spoke in a raspy voice: "I see him. There is no mistake. This fellow is indeed cunning, but this time, it should be fine."
It was a man wrapped tightly from head to toe, concealing even his face, revealing only one jaundiced eye while the other was covered by an eyepatch. Even through multiple layers of wrappings, he emitted a thick, fishy stench.
"However, Walker, Walker, are you sure the item was really swindled by him?"
"There is no mistake. He is to return the item to Princess Chloe on the 17th during the banquet, which means the item is definitely in his hands. This is news from our informant at the Count of Lorand's residence. There is no mistake, and he must be carrying it on him. We have a way to predict it."
"Then why not wait until he returns it to that princess from the New Continent and take it back directly from her?" Kelvin asked slowly. "That would be safer, no?"
"That lord no longer trusts Princess Chloe. Seizing it before they hand it over ensures the item's safety. Otherwise, who knows what kind of farce they might perform? We cannot give them another chance."
Walker sneered, saying bitterly:
"It is time to settle our accounts. Hmph, Mr. Kelvin, I will trouble you, a rank seven high-level Soul Severer, to act in a moment. Once the operation begins, please initiate your setup and teleport him to the destination."
"Happy to be of service."
"The rest is up to you, Old Blind Eye. Your people are all set up there, right?"
"Hehehe, of course. The surroundings are sealed off. Once he goes over, he will not escape. I have arranged forty sailors, all good hands from the ship, enough to tear him to pieces." The one-eyed man stared at the figure in the distance through the monocular and said coldly, "He dared to offend me that night; he must pay the price. Hehehe, get ready. It is about to begin."
Kelvin took a deep breath and stood up with a smile: "I can act at any time."
"Hehehe." The deep one by the window laughed viciously, then suddenly froze. "Walker, Walker, what is wrong with your people? What hand signals are they making?"
"What?"
Walker also lunged to the window, peering through the monocular, and cold sweat broke out on his brow.
"Damn it. They are following the wrong target. That is not Lynch Levive at all."
In an instant, the three people in the room, who had been so confident just moments ago, looked at each other in shock.
If they were not following the target, then where was the target?
"He must be here." Mr. Kelvin, who knew Lynch best, immediately realized the problem. "He must have followed us. That is his style. He is right beside us. Hmph, detective, you should not have come. This time, you are dead."
As he spoke, he slammed his fist onto the ground and, regardless of whether there were only three people in the room, he activated his ability.
【Authority, Propagation, Ability, Spatial Transfer】
The next moment, everyone in the reception room vanished into thin air, only to reappear in a vacant shipyard at the White Bird Port terminal.
Rate on N.U.
