Under the cover of night, Elias first went home to retrieve his gear.
He stepped out with a backpack on his shoulders.
Then, he slipped back to the Golden Rose Hotel.
He needed more insurance for tonight's operation.
Specifically, he needed a few soul coins.
If he couldn't win a fight, he could always call for backup!
Compared to the bone flute, Guss, who was eager to earn soul coins, was far more controllable.
Upon entering the lobby, he saw a wooden sign at the front desk.
“Fifth Floor Unavailable.”
It seemed the Seventh Agency had already cordoned it off.
But that was exactly what he had expected.
He deftly took five soul coins from his room and walked down the stairs as if nothing were out of the ordinary.
He happened to run into Finn, who was just about to head upstairs.
“Hey!”
Under the dim gas wall lamps, Finn's eyes lit up, and he immediately gave a warm greeting.
“Mr. Batman!”
He lowered his voice, his tone carrying the excitement of meeting an old friend in a foreign land.
“Aren't you staying at the upscale White Bank Hotel?”
“What are you doing back in Knight Lane in the middle of the night?”
Elias returned a friendly smile.
“Actually, I've been staying here all along.”
Elias lied through his teeth without missing a beat.
“The reason I was at the White Bank Hotel this afternoon was actually because...”
“I get it!”
Before Elias could even finish the lie he was making up on the spot, Finn abruptly interrupted him.
He leaned in and gave Elias a knowing, slightly sleazy look that said “I know exactly what's going on.”
The corner of Elias's mouth twitched imperceptibly.
The hell you do!
What exactly do you think you know?!
However, Elias naturally didn't have the leisure to bicker with him right now.
This “wonderful” misunderstanding actually saved him a lot of breath.
He simply went along with it, gave a polite chuckle and a slight nod, and prepared to leave quickly.
“Oh, by the way!”
Just as Elias took two steps away, Finn turned back and called out to him in a low voice.
His gaze fell on Elias's cane and boots.
“Mr. Batman, you're out in the middle of the night with all your gear...”
Finn arched an eyebrow.
“Looks like you've taken on a big job tonight?”
“Yeah!”
Elias sighed and nodded cooperatively.
And what a big job it is.
The wicked task of prying open someone's coffin in the middle of the night!
“Well then, good luck to you!”
Finn smiled, then his expression grew a bit more serious as he leaned in closer.
“We might be heading out soon ourselves; we're just waiting for orders from above.”
“Something big happened over in the North District.”
Finn patted Elias on the shoulder, his tone sincere.
“As a friend, let me give you a quiet warning.”
“No matter how high the commission for your job is tonight, whatever you do, don't go poking around the North District.”
Hearing this.
Elias froze on the spot.
He stood there holding his bag, staring at Finn's earnest face, his mind stalling for a rare second.
Such a well-intentioned warning?
Back at the White Bank Hotel, he had thought the man was just putting on an act.
He hadn't expected that after only one brief stint of fighting side-by-side in the sewers...
the other man would actually consider him a friend?!
This completely defied Elias's usual understanding of human nature.
But how could he have known?
To an investigator like Finn...
Mr. “Batman” was a guy who could treat the Moon Lord's shield as if it were nothing.
He was a powerhouse who could draw his gun and drive back the phantom of an evil god with a single shot!
Even if Finn set aside the question of whether that shot was a lucky fluke...
at the very least, in the sewers...
this mysterious transcendent had shown no malice toward the Seventh Agency.
On the contrary, he had even saved a child from a noble family!
To Finn, this was practically the light of humanity!
Saving a child carried far more weight than saving a cat!
“Is that so?”
Elias snapped back to reality.
He quickly returned an even friendlier smile.
“Thanks, man!”
“I'll remember this favor.”
“It's nothing!”
Finn waved his hand dismissively, his wide grin showing all his teeth.
“Don't mention it!”
“We're past that! We're brothers who've fought an evil god together!”
That sounded technically correct.
“All right then, you get to work. I'll head up first?”
Finn pointed upstairs.
“You got it!”
Elias maintained his beaming smile, humoring him like an old acquaintance.
He watched as Finn turned and hurried upstairs.
The smile vanished from Elias's face instantly, and he made a quick exit.
Time was of the essence!
He rushed out of the Golden Rose Hotel and hailed a public carriage at the corner to head back to the West District.
He had to speed things up.
If what Finn said was true, it meant the remaining clues from the Golden Rose pointed to the North District.
If those clues had indeed triggered a major incident in the North District that required the Seventh Agency's main force...
then this window of opportunity wouldn't last long.
Once Branch Manager Guardian and Cecil resolved the trouble in the North District...
with Cecil's sharp intuition, there was no way she would abandon the glaring clue that was John's corpse!
They would most likely pivot immediately and head straight for the Lily of the Valley Convent cemetery!
If that happened, he'd have no chance of getting the containment object hidden inside John's belly!
However.
He was very clear about one thing.
The Seventh Agency's vanguard had not yet reached the Lily of the Valley Convent.
The reason was simple.
If the Seventh Agency were already prying open John's coffin with shovels at this moment...
the one panicking the most certainly wouldn't be Elias!
It would be that old scoundrel John.
Because John was counting on Elias more than anyone else to retrieve the containment object from his body.
Yet tonight, from the start of the parade until now...
he hadn't seen hide nor hair of John's spiritual body!
This only pointed to two possibilities:
Either John's spiritual body had been ambushed and captured by Seventh Agency experts...
or he was still lying low in the convent cemetery, waiting patiently for their rendezvous.
The first scenario wasn't impossible.
But given John's ability to shake off Cecil, who had been right on his heels...
his spiritual body shouldn't be so easily captured.
Speak of the devil!
“We have to hurry!”
John's voice suddenly rang in his ear.
“I have reliable intelligence!”
“Those mad dogs from the Seventh Agency might be sending someone to haul away my corpse tonight!”
Elias had grown accustomed to the excitable manner of these spiritual bodies.
Spirit Vision, activate!
He immediately saw John sitting on the seat on the other side of the carriage.
【Spirit Sensing】 clearly captured the emotional fluctuations John was radiating.
Anxiety.
And amidst that intense anxiety, there was a trace of excitement.
What are you so excited about?
Does the prospect of having that little object covered in stomach acid carved out of your belly really thrill you that much?!
Do you have some kind of bizarre anatomical fetish?!
Regardless, that wasn't the important thing right now.
The only thing that mattered was filling in the most critical missing piece of his puzzle!
Elias didn't respond to John's urgent prodding.
In the dim, jolting carriage, he leaned forward slightly.
“Do you know Edward Crowley?”
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