Currently.
On the outskirts of the Lily of the Valley Convent cemetery.
The events unfolding within the graveyard were being watched clearly by pairs of eyes hidden in the shadows.
These were the Seventh Agency investigators, led by Finn, who had just arrived under the cover of night.
Finn was half-crouched, his brow furrowed into a deep knot.
He never expected this.
He had just led this hastily assembled elite squad, pushing through the boisterous crowds of the Spark Festival and rushing to the mission site as fast as possible.
Only to suddenly discover that in this graveyard, which was supposed to be strictly guarded by Life Scholars, someone had already beaten them to it.
Not only that.
The air was thick with a scent that, besides the fishy smell of soil...
Carried a bone-chilling coldness.
As a veteran who dealt with supernatural incidents year-round, Finn was all too familiar with this feeling.
It was dark erosion energy, steadily radiating from the gravedigger's hut not far away.
This fluctuation of energy, which felt like a cancer clinging to the bone, acted like a constant alarm, reminding him at every moment.
This place had likely been visited by more than one transcendent tonight.
The situation had completely spiraled out of his expected control.
Finn's face was so dark it looked like it might drip ink.
One had to realize that for the sake of the operation's legality...
The Seventh Agency had submitted an investigation application to the Life Scholars of the Lily of the Valley Convent earlier today.
According to the protocol, there should have been scholars responsible for the handover and guiding them when they arrived.
But the strange thing was right there.
When the members of the Seventh Agency stepped through the convent gates fully armed, the entire magnificent convent was empty!
They didn't see even a single Life Scholar left behind on guard duty.
This was too strange!
Finn silently calculated the dangers in his mind.
No matter how one looked at it, this was official cooperation between two orthodox faiths.
Even if they had grievances against the Seventh Agency, the Life Scholars would never fail to make at least superficial reception preparations after receiving a formal application.
Therefore, excluding all impossibilities...
Only one worst-case scenario remained before Finn.
On this night of the Spark Festival, when the whole city should be celebrating...
This heavily guarded Lily of the Valley Convent had been completely emptied in some unknown way.
Those Life Scholars who were supposed to be here were either already cold corpses...
Or they had been lured elsewhere.
They simply had no time to attend to the situation here.
Sure enough.
The residues in the gravedigger's hut perfectly validated Finn's hypothesis.
Whether it was from the investigators' own supernatural perceptions...
Or the objective results displayed on the spirit-measuring devices they carried...
All clues pointed without suspense to the same forbidden power—
Necromancy spells.
But now, the most pressing problem facing Finn was...
Who exactly was that fellow in the pit, working so hard to dig up someone else's grave?
Was this person related to the residual necromancy spells in the gravedigger's hut?
Was he the mastermind behind everything, or just a lucky scavenger taking advantage of the chaos?
Finn did not act rashly.
He raised his hand, signaling the team members behind him to remain silent.
At the same time, he lightly snapped his fingers, using the visual spell applied to his eyes to pierce through the darkness.
The scene in the pit ahead was clearly projected onto his retina.
What he could clearly identify was...
The other party wore a dark trench coat suitable for movement, with a thick black mask over his face.
He was wrapped up tight, making it impossible to see his true face.
And at this moment, that guy had already dug open the grave, with only half his head visible as he did something inside the pit.
A bad premonition arose in Finn's heart.
If that grave belonged to the criminal John Baker, it was not a good sign.
An unidentified masked transcendent digging up someone else's grave...
This precisely pointed to a fact that was terrifying to think about.
Ms. Cecil's judgment was absolutely correct!
The key clue to the Golden Rose case might not be the only line of inquiry the director and the others were pursuing.
It might have a closer connection to this body being desecrated than they had previously imagined!
They could not let that grave robber take the item away!
Finn made a decisive call.
“On my count of three.”
He hid with his team members behind the outer wall of the gravedigger's hut.
He lowered his voice, giving the command to those behind him in a tone only the squad could hear.
“Everyone, charge with me and pin that grave robber down.”
“Do not let him escape under any circumstances!”
“Yes!”
The investigators' eyes turned sharp instantly, their muscles tensing to the limit.
...
On the other side.
Inside the pit that reeked of rot.
Under the influence of the dream demon hallucinations, the tiny green hands growing from the surrounding soil were still swaying frantically.
John's green-glowing spiritual body was currently floating in mid-air.
His facial expression appeared somewhat distorted as he struggled to explain to Elias.
“Of course I'm in a hurry!”
The ghost's tone carried a sense of natural urgency.
It even held a bit of grievance from being misunderstood.
“You have to understand how much effort I put into this thing!”
“I hid it inside my own belly and even lost my life for it!”
“How could I not be in a hurry to let it see the light of day again?”
Elias said nothing.
He simply remained half-crouched in the coffin.
His right hand, wearing a medical glove, was still reaching into the Gluttonous Stomach.
He looked coldly at John's green-glowing spiritual body in the air.
As if watching a clown performing poorly.
Even though the world before his eyes had become bizarre and surreal due to the curse...
With green severed hands dancing and the soil breathing...
Fortunately.
Having gone through countless brushes with death, his mind was clearer than ever before.
A mocking smile slowly tugged at the corners of his mouth beneath the mask.
“John, you can stop pretending.”
Elias's voice wasn't loud, yet it rang out with authority in the cramped pit.
Like a sharp scalpel, it ruthlessly cut through the other's disguise.
“It seems that having ‘me’ personally take this item out is the faster the better for you.”
He deliberately emphasized the word “me.”
“The reaction of a normal person, if questioned in this situation, shouldn't they snap back at me and then continue urging me to move faster?”
Elias's gaze grew deeper.
“Rather than what you're doing now—acting like a cat that's had its tail stepped on, desperate to prove your own rationality and trying to explain your thought process to me.”
It was too deliberate.
This typical “self-exposing” cover-up was laughably poor.
Hearing Elias's logically sound questioning...
A clearly unnatural look flashed across John's translucent face.
Meanwhile.
Within the Spirit Sensing Elias kept active...
The fluctuations representing John's emotions were jumping violently.
He was even more anxious than before.
There was even a faint trace of panic leaking out.
“Elias!”
John suddenly raised his voice, shouting from mid-air.
He tried to use volume to cover his inner guilt.
“If you're unwilling, you can pull your hand out right now!”
“Take it!”
“Take the whole stomach pouch to somewhere you think is safe and then take the thing out—that's fine too!”
John paced irritably in the air, his tone filled with threats and moral blackmail.
“We are in a partnership!”
“If you insist on using these conspiracy theories to question me, then maybe our cooperation should never have started!”
“You can just get lost right now!”
This mix of deflection and aggression was truly a masterclass in shifting the blame.
But Elias didn't fall for it at all.
“Heh.”
Elias lowered his head and let out a cold laugh.
“Getting desperate?”
Those two simple words made John tremble in frustration.
Elias slowly looked up.
“Cooperation is built on your honesty.”
“Not on the premise of you treating me like a fool.”
Elias spoke slowly, each word hitting like a heavy hammer.
“My biggest doubt lies in the fact that your urgency has no logical support, no reason at all.”
He paused, beginning his final logical judgment.
“Don't forget, just a few minutes ago, you said it yourself.”
“If it weren't for this Gluttonous Stomach, you wouldn't have been able to escape the Seventh Agency.”
“This proves that this containment object possesses extremely strong spatial isolation capabilities.”
Elias's eyes suddenly became as sharp as blades.
“Then let me ask you.”
“Since this thing is so powerful...”
“Does it mean that once the true containment object inside is removed from the isolated space of this stomach pouch...”
“Its location will be immediately sensed by the authorities?!”
John's spiritual body froze instantly.
He was completely paralyzed in mid-air.
Elias looked at his expression, which was like he had swallowed ten thousand flies, and the mockery at the corner of his mouth intensified.
“Earlier, you were urging me to take it out quickly, not even advising me to find a safe place.”
“Now that I've exposed you, you've hurriedly changed your tune, telling me I can find a safe place before taking it out.”
Elias shook his head, his tone filled with disdain.
“Contradictory.”
“Riddled with holes.”
This was a complete trap.
Elias didn't give John any more chances to quibble.
He unhesitatingly pulled his hand back from the slimy Gluttonous Stomach.
He directly cut off John's hopes.
At that very same moment.
Behind the wall of the gravedigger's hut, less than ten meters from the pit.
Finn's cold and decisive voice happened to spit out the final number.
“Three!”
Before his voice could fade...
A burst of hurried and heavy footsteps shattered the deathly silence of the cemetery.
A group of investigators charged out from the shadows of the gravedigger's hut.
And in that split second of lightning and flint...
The rookie investigator named Luke, who was charging in the middle of the group...
Suddenly opened his throat and shouted at the top of his lungs:
“Baker! Do it!”
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