“Oh?”
Elias raised an eyebrow.
A hint of mockery hung on his face, which was partially hidden in the shadows.
“So...”
He intentionally drew out his words.
“Ms. Cecil, you brought people to corner me here in the middle of the night, making such a grand display.”
“And in the end, you’re not going to arrest me?”
He even made a show of lowering his raised hands and tapped his cane on the ground.
As soon as he finished speaking...
He saw a surge of murderous intent erupt in Cecil’s eyes.
She glared at him fiercely.
“Mr. Rockland.”
Cecil’s voice was squeezed out from between her teeth.
“I advise you to quit while you’re ahead.”
“Do not mistake the authorities’ restraint for capital you can use to push your luck.”
Seeing her expression, which looked like she might pull her gun and empty the magazine at any moment, Elias sensibly shut his mouth.
He quickly raised his hands again to show he understood.
If he provoked her any further and this woman truly lost her temper, he might actually end up meeting his end in this gods-forsaken square tonight.
“Fine.”
Elias shrugged and dropped his playful act, his expression gradually becoming serious.
“Since you’re not arresting me.”
“Then I can’t help but be a little curious.”
He looked directly into Cecil’s eyes.
“Ms. Cecil, as a special envoy...”
“Why would you suddenly think of cooperating with an insignificant citizen like me, who barely makes ends meet?”
Cecil gave him a cold glance.
“Don’t misunderstand, Mr. Rockland.”
“I’m seeking you out not because you have some irreplaceable ability.”
“It is simply because your current identity happens to be exactly what we urgently need for a certain case we are pursuing.”
She paused, her tone carrying an undisguised warning.
“So, this doesn’t mean you can rest easy from now on.”
“If you dare to play any tricks during the cooperation, or if you cross the authorities’ bottom line...”
“When the time comes to arrest you, my hand will not waver.”
“Understood.”
Elias gave a perfunctory response.
He had long ago grown tired of this typical official routine of the carrot and the stick in his past life.
“Then, let’s get straight to the point.”
Elias leaned on The Roaring Cane with both hands.
“What exactly is our cooperation about?”
He had thought Cecil had gone through all this trouble to have him dig deep into those Mist Veil Society cultists hiding in the sewers.
However.
In the night wind, Cecil slowly uttered two words that caught him completely off guard.
“Wayland Capital.”
The moment those words were spoken.
Holy shit?!
Elias’s eyes widened in sheer shock.
This didn’t just catch him off guard; it practically sent his mind reeling!
Wayland Capital?!
In Velen, who didn’t know what Wayland Capital represented?
It was a commercial behemoth perched upon the economic lifeblood of the kingdom!
Military industry, whaling, shipping, heavy metal smelting, and even the gas supply for some city-states were under this beast’s monopoly.
Their tentacles reached deep into every dark corner of the kingdom.
It was no exaggeration to say that these capitalists could directly influence the decisions of the royal family!
Elias had thought the Seventh Agency wanted him to play in the mud with cultists in the sewers at most.
He never expected...
The authorities were setting the bar so high!
They were pointing their spear directly at this Leviathan that could shake the very foundations of the kingdom!
“Are you all insane?”
Elias sucked in a breath of cold air, his tone full of absurdity.
“Asking a low-level employee to go against his own company?”
“You people at the Seventh Agency might be brave enough to seek death.”
“But I’m afraid of losing my hard-earned stable paycheck!”
Of course.
This was entirely nonsense coming out of his mouth.
What stable paycheck?!
He couldn’t wait to throw away this job at Wayland Shipping!
If it weren’t for the dream demon curse on him...
Given Wayland Shipping’s bizarre style of treating employees like high-end consumables...
He would have bought a train ticket and run away faster than a cat whose tail had been stepped on!
Why would he stay here to listen to this woman make empty promises?
“Mr. Rockland, don’t act like a coward in front of me.”
Cecil ruthlessly tore through his disguise.
“According to the Seventh Agency’s files...”
“You first appeared in Hastings Port like a ghost only two months ago.”
“Before that, your record was as clean as a blank sheet of paper.”
“And the intelligence I obtained shows that Wayland seems to only hire ordinary people as lighthouse keepers.”
Cecil pressed him further.
“Yet you successfully blended into Wayland Shipping Company.”
Is it really impossible that I became a transcendent after I was hired?
Elias looked at Cecil’s pressure tactics wordlessly, his heart unruffled and even slightly amused.
To be fair, he couldn’t blame her; no one would ever imagine that one could obtain potion recipes and supernatural materials in a god-forsaken place like a lighthouse.
“A job that pays a miserable 24 gold crowns a month.”
Cecil continued.
“And you lied to your sister, telling her you were going to be a sailor?”
She sneered, her tone full of mockery.
“For a Scale Two transcendent capable of killing someone of a higher rank...”
“24 gold crowns?”
“That’s not even enough to buy a single bottle of the lowest-grade, low-quality spirit restoration potion!”
“Do you think I’ll believe such nonsense?”
Cecil stared intently at Elias.
Elias was speechless.
Yes, the kind of speechless where there was nothing left to say.
“I don’t know what ulterior motives you have for going through so much trouble to infiltrate the Moon Bay region and Wayland Shipping.”
I have no motives!
“But at least, regarding the investigation into Wayland Capital...”
“Currently, our goals do not conflict.”
She threw out her final demand for the night.
“What I need is for you to return to Hastings Port and continue your so-called ‘job.’”
“Internally, observe in secret if there are any abnormal supernatural movements within Wayland Shipping.”
“Once you find a lead, contact me immediately through a private line.”
He had to admit that the Seventh Agency’s intelligence network was indeed capable.
But perhaps only slightly.
They had gotten a general idea of his background, and although their reasoning was completely off-track, the logic had somehow reached a bizarrely closed loop!
“Sure.”
Elias suddenly looked up, breaking the silence.
“On what terms?”
As soon as he said this.
The facial muscles of the three investigators who had been on high alert suddenly twitched uncontrollably.
Someone even failed to hold back a short snort, nearly laughing out loud.
Benefits?
He actually had the nerve to talk about terms when cooperating with the Seventh Agency?!
They had never seen such an arrogant outlaw in their lives!
In their eyes, being chosen by the Seventh Agency and being exempted from prosecution was already a blessing from one's ancestors.
Ms. Cecil’s expression also became quite interesting for a moment.
“Oh?”
She laughed out of anger.
“What terms do you want?”
“We can seal the files regarding the incident in Hastings Port.”
Cecil immediately threw out her first bargaining chip.
“The Seventh Agency will no longer hold you accountable for anything, and we can even give you the status of a legal official informant. How about that?”
“Not enough.”
Hearing this, Elias shook his head without hesitation.
He looked at Cecil as if she were an idiot.
“Ms. Cecil, have you been staying in a comfortable place like Landon for too long?”
“If you’re going to go after Wayland Shipping...”
“As a special envoy, don’t you know that a monopoly capital of Wayland’s level has terrifying teams of transcendents in its employ?!”
Elias’s speaking speed grew faster, his voice stern.
“You expect me, a Scale Two who has just crossed the threshold...”
“To pass messages for you under the nose of someone who is at least Scale Five?!”
“How is this any different from sending me to my death?”
He slammed his cane onto the ground.
“If I’m exposed, how will my safety be guaranteed?!”
“And how will the safety of my family be guaranteed?!”
Elias stared fixedly into Cecil’s beautiful eyes.
“In the entire Kingdom of Velen, who doesn’t know what a massive titan Wayland Capital is!”
“Wouldn’t it be as easy for them to crush my family as it is to crush a grasshopper?!”
Dead silence fell over the square once more.
Cecil narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at the young man before her.
She quickly weighed the pros and cons in her mind.
The questions Elias raised were indeed sharp and represented their current biggest weakness.
If you want the horse to run, you have to let it eat grass and give it a bulletproof vest.
“Of course.”
After a full half-minute, Cecil finally spoke.
Her tone softened a bit, carrying a hint of compromise.
“Since it is a cooperation, we will naturally show corresponding sincerity.”
“As for your family’s safety, the Seventh Agency will dispatch secret sentries to provide round-the-clock protection.”
“As long as they are on the soil of the Kingdom of Velen, no force can easily touch a target under official priority protection.”
She paused and continued to throw out bait.
“You don’t have to worry about that at all.”
“As for your own safety...”
Cecil looked directly at Elias.
“During the investigation, the Seventh Agency will also provide you with a tilt in supernatural resources, as well as corresponding technical support.”
“Sounds good.”
Elias nodded, the anger on his face gradually fading.
But in reality, his brain was engaged in another complex storm of strategic maneuvering.
He was considering.
Should he reveal the full extent of his dream demon curse to the Seventh Agency?
If he told them, he might be able to use the official’s vast mystical heritage to directly lift this damn curse.
But after only half a second of thought...
Elias completely extinguished that naive idea.
It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in the goodness of human nature.
It was that in this world, what he feared most was someone getting a lethal hold over him.
Thereby blackmailing him into doing things he absolutely did not want to do!
In the eyes of the authorities, the dream demon curse would be the best means of control!
It was like the slow-acting poisons used by villains to control their lackeys in those cheap spy dramas from his past life!
He wasn’t afraid that the Seventh Agency wouldn’t keep its promise afterward.
He was afraid that once he laid his cards on the table...
The originally equal “cooperation” would instantly turn into a leash the Seventh Agency would use to control him tightly!
When that time came...
“Finish this job, and I’ll give you the antidote.”
That kind of disgusting empty promise would surely be fed directly into his mouth.
That would be true ruin, where the loss outweighed the gain.
Besides.
Elias calculated silently in his heart.
He had already learned the first method to remove the curse from that guy named Blaine.
Although dangerous, it was at least an option.
And from Old Crowley and the John he was about to meet, he would likely obtain another piece of information on how to lift the curse.
If the plan went smoothly...
Then he would have two different ways to lift the curse.
All that would be left was for him to find a way to make money and collect those expensive supernatural materials.
He had to hold the throat of destiny in his own hands!
In that case.
The most realistic and profit-maximizing demand right now...
After the Seventh Agency guaranteed the safety of his family and himself...
Was to have them provide a substantial push for his next promotion.
Most importantly, the spirit vision potion wouldn’t be stuck in his hand.
The Seventh Agency wouldn’t be able to use the spirit vision potion to force him to work.
Having thought through all of this...
Elias slowly raised his head, and a flash of fox-like cunning crossed his eyes beneath the brim of his hat.
“I hope that in this so-called ‘technical support’ you mentioned...”
After a deliberate pause, he said each word clearly.
“...it includes a complete Scale Three spirit vision potion.”
This was also the third method by which he could quickly remove the dream demon curse.
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