“Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile?”
Hearing Elias’s outrageous demand, Ms. Cecil’s beautiful eyes widened.
It was as if she wanted to skin this greedy bastard alive.
“Mr. Rockland.”
Cecil’s voice turned completely cold, and the spiritual fluctuations around her became highly aggressive.
“If you’re going to jack up the price with that kind of attitude...”
“Then I think we have nothing more to say.”
She tilted her chin slightly, her tone carrying a characteristic toughness.
“Why don’t we go straight to the Seventh Agency’s branch interrogation room and have a long chat instead?”
“Then you’ll have plenty of time to explain everything about the Hastings Port case and what exactly happened at Mester’s Treatment Room!”
It wasn’t that a Scale Three spirit vision potion was out of reach for the Seventh Agency.
After all, with the Velen royal family backing them, what high grade material could the official mysticism treasury not produce?
But the problem was—the attitude!
In Cecil’s eyes, the terms she had just offered were already the absolute limit of the Seventh Agency’s sincerity and the maximum preferential treatment they could give a free transcendent within their tolerance.
Providing necessary help.
Providing round the clock protection for his family.
Think about these requests—which one didn’t require the Seventh Agency to spend a massive amount of manpower, resources, and money to clean up his mess?
This was already a very fair exchange!
And yet this guy, instead of being grateful, actually dared to take advantage of the situation and turn around to extort a potion from the authorities?!
“Don’t forget your place, Mr. Rockland.”
Cecil stepped forward, staring him down with an oppressive gaze.
“Even if you have a silver tongue and can talk your way out of anything...”
“In my eyes, you are still a highly dangerous suspect who is likely in league with an infernal demon!”
“If you don’t want a dignified cooperation...”
She sneered.
“Then I will have to follow protocol.”
After saying that.
Cecil raised her hand without hesitation and made a decisive tactical gesture.
The three investigators standing not far behind Elias understood immediately.
As soon as Cecil gave the order, they would not hesitate to turn this arrogant guy into a sieve.
The atmosphere instantly became a powder keg!
However, facing the prospect of being sent to the afterlife at any moment.
Elias didn’t even look back.
He simply sighed softly, looking like a tired employee facing a difficult client.
“Don’t get excited, Ms. Investigator.”
He tapped his cane lightly on the stone road.
“Since you think my price is too high...”
Elias looked up.
“What if I throw in a piece of news? Would that make up the difference?”
“What news?”
Cecil frowned, but she did not tell her subordinates to lower their weapons.
“You know that news has different levels of value.”
“If it’s some common scrap of information, I suggest you save your breath.”
“It’s about the Golden Rose Hotel.”
Elias slowly spoke those few words.
Hearing that familiar name, Cecil’s heart skipped a beat!
Golden Rose Hotel!
Those two foolish rookies were played like fools there.
She had suspected before that the mysterious expert who used illusions and psychological warfare to trick the rookies was the Elias before her.
Now it seemed.
Even without physical evidence.
She was one hundred percent sure that this cunning bastard was definitely the one behind that mess!
“What were you doing at the Golden Rose Hotel?”
Cecil’s gaze became extremely dangerous, her voice cold enough to scrape ice.
“Whoa, hold on!”
Elias raised his hands innocently, his face practically shouting “don’t make baseless accusations.”
“I never said I went there!”
“I’m just a good citizen strolling around Hope County.”
“I happened to overhear some rumors while eating supper at a roadside stall.”
He grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.
“Do you want to hear it or not?”
Cecil stared fixedly at that punchable face, wishing she could smash it.
But logic told her that whatever came out of this guy’s mouth was definitely not simple.
“Fine.”
She spat out the word through gritted teeth.
“Speak.”
Elias stopped smiling and his tone became serious.
“That important item John Baker had was taken by someone.”
He paused and threw out his deduction.
“Most likely, it was the work of the Mist Veil Society.”
However.
To Elias’s surprise.
Cecil’s face remained expressionless.
“I don’t think that news has any value.”
She coldly interrupted him.
“I already knew that just now.”
“Huh?”
Elias was stunned.
He clicked his tongue in disappointment, his expression visibly sagging.
“I see...”
He had originally wanted to use the information gap between himself and the authorities to gain some goodwill for free and shift their attention away from the Lily of the Valley Convent.
Now it seemed his plan had failed.
Elias’s mind raced.
He realized instantly.
No wonder that investigator had hurried over to whisper in Cecil’s ear earlier!
It must have been about the scene at the Golden Rose Hotel.
Although he didn’t succeed, he had managed to gauge the authorities’ current progress and find out their cards.
This wasn’t a loss.
It was a successful information exchange.
“Since that’s worthless.”
Elias shrugged shamelessly.
“I’ll trade you another one.”
He lowered his voice, his tone carrying a sense of mystery.
“I happened to hear someone say.”
“That psychiatrist named Mester.”
“He’s secretly providing soul coins to the Mist Veil Society!”
As soon as he spoke.
Cecil’s pupils constricted!
Soul coins?!
Elias saw her reaction and knew he had finally hooked a big fish.
But to distance himself, he immediately added a smooth disclaimer.
“Of course, I can’t guarantee it’s true!”
“It’s just hearsay and gossip.”
He sighed in a punchable manner.
“I’m a helpful citizen, and I wanted to go to the clinic myself to investigate.”
“But who knew, as soon as I got near, I saw someone had already beaten me to it and made a mess of the place.”
“So, following the principle of safety first, I didn’t get involved.”
“I spent the afternoon with my lovely sister instead, and by the way, in your room...”
“Shut up!”
Cecil barked!
Her face turned uncontrollably red again, and her chest heaved with extreme anger.
This damn bastard!
Elias and his well behaved, rabbit like sister Charlotte were complete extremes!
It was truly hard to believe that a pure child like Charlotte could have such a cunning, shameless, and pathologically lying brother!
Was this some kind of genetic mutation?!
However.
Anger aside.
She still heard every word of the bombshell Elias had just dropped.
Mester was providing soul coins to the Mist Veil Society!
A storm brewed in Cecil’s mind.
This was completely different from the Seventh Agency’s original theory!
It was practically revolutionary!
One must know that soul coins were a forbidden supernatural currency.
Their production process and monopoly were only ever held by the Hand of Necromancy from the Necromancy School or the high and mighty Archdukes of the abyss!
Among them, there was one most fatal and important proof—the minting license!
This license was a law brand with high dimensional contract properties.
Without this proof.
If any person or organization dared to forge or privately produce soul coins.
They would be challenging the financial hegemony of those ancient beings!
They would be directly erased by infernal enforcers or the enforcement squads of the Necromancy School!
And Mester, a psychiatrist running a clinic in Hope County.
The fact that he could produce soul coins clearly proved that he had some secret unauthorized transaction with hell.
But Cecil had never considered.
That Mester, this agent of the abyss, was actually also in contact with those fanatics from the Mist Veil Society who worshipped evil gods!
Was he getting kickbacks from both sides?!
Or was there a much larger cross organizational conspiracy hidden behind this?
It seemed.
The ruins of Mester’s Treatment Room could not simply be sealed off; they needed to immediately mobilize more people for a deeper excavation and continuous investigation.
And what Cecil found most confusing and alarming was.
The Mist Veil Society...
Those lunatics who only knew how to perform bloody sacrifices and had heads full of unspeakable things.
What did they want soul coins for?
Generally speaking, soul coins were at most used for cross spatial communication and trading with infernal creatures.
What big move was the Mist Veil Society planning?!
Cecil thought up to this point.
She suddenly looked up.
Her gaze, which was originally full of hostility and scrutiny, now became extremely solemn and complex.
She stared intently at Elias, as if trying to see through the young man’s soul.
Just how many more shocking secrets did this guy hold that could overturn the official intelligence network?
“Fine.”
Cecil took a deep breath, her tone more serious than ever before.
She waved her hand, signaling her three subordinates to completely lower their weapons.
“Mr. Rockland.”
“The news you provided is very valuable.”
“It is worth the Seventh Agency paying you a corresponding reward.”
She gave her final answer.
“I can agree to the Scale Three spirit vision potion for now.”
“I will submit a request to headquarters and get it approved through special channels.”
“Ha! I’m doing this for the country! For His Majesty!”
Elias immediately played along.
“However...”
Cecil spoke again.
“As for whether you can successfully get your hands on it later...”
“That will depend on whether the value of the news you provide after returning to Wayland Shipping is worth this potion.”
This was a dangerous performance based agreement.
But Elias did not hesitate.
“Good.”
Elias nodded.
“Deal.”
Rate on N.U.
