“It was the containment object Luke took.”
Ms. Cecil maintained her oppressive posture.
Her grey eyes, sharp as blades, stared into Elias’s, trying to catch even the slightest hint of guilt or panic.
A full half-minute passed.
Cecil slowly straightened up, creating some distance between them again.
She took a deep breath, her tone filled with scrutiny.
“You really don’t know?”
She confirmed once more.
“I don’t.”
Elias shook his head with an innocent look, even showing a perfectly timed bit of bewilderment.
On the surface, he was as steady as an old dog.
In reality, an intense inner conflict had been raging in his mind for some time.
That sentence he had just blurted out...
That was the narrative he had decided to adopt if he chose not to return the pendulum to the Seventh Agency.
If anyone was to blame, it was Cecil for launching such a sudden verbal ambush.
If she had questioned him step-by-step, Elias might have spent more time agonizing over the pros and cons in his head.
He hadn't been idle during the entire journey back from the woods.
His mind had been repeatedly simulating the consequences of keeping or surrendering this hot potato.
According to the trump card Luke had revealed before his death...
There was definitely a protective umbrella within the high-ranking members of the Seventh Agency that gave Wayland Capital a great sense of security.
A high-ranking mole.
This meant that...
Even if he acted selflessly and handed the pendulum over to Cecil in perfect condition...
Given Cecil’s rank, she wouldn't be able to protect this containment object.
The pendulum would eventually, naturally, flow to where it was "supposed" to go.
To Wayland Capital, or perhaps the Mist Veil Society.
This involved a critical intelligence blind spot.
First, he didn't know what Wayland Capital wanted to do with the pendulum that made them willing to pay any price to get it.
Second, he didn't know if Wayland was secretly paving the way for the Mist Veil Society in this process.
There was currently too little information and a severe lack of evidence.
This intelligence disparity made it impossible to form any effective reasoning or judgment.
Of course.
Theoretically, there was a tiny possibility that Ms. Cecil, as a senior investigator with an overflowing sense of justice, could detect the foul play at the top.
She might then risk her life to protect the pendulum and refuse to hand it over.
But the problem was...
The item was currently in his hands.
He didn't dare to gamble.
What did he have to gamble with?
For one, he had just entrusted his sister, Charlotte, who had taken a potion, to Cecil.
For another, if Cecil stayed in Hope County for a few more days...
As long as the pendulum was in her hands, it would inevitably draw a frenzied counterattack from Wayland and the Mist Veil Society.
When the city gate catches fire, the fish in the moat suffer. If Arthur was still on duty in Hope County, his safety would absolutely not be guaranteed.
Elias was no saint.
He was long past the delusional hero phase of wanting to be a "partner of justice."
He absolutely could not use the safety of his sister and brother as chips to bet that Cecil would make the so-called "correct" choice at every step in the future.
Handing your fate to someone else was the most foolish thing one could do.
What about giving it to that old sea dog, Crowley?
Elias wasn't sure about that either.
That old guy walked around with a pipe all day, wearing a face that screamed treachery, cunning, and greed.
After experiencing this soul-stirring month...
Elias wouldn't dream of handing the item over so easily, even if he were thinking with his toes.
To be honest.
It was pure luck that the Soul Pendulum had ended up with him after all those twists and turns.
However, it seemed he wouldn't be able to get rid of this hot potato anytime soon.
He would have to let it sit in his hands for a while.
While Elias was frantically calculating in his head...
“Mr. Rockland.”
Cecil’s voice suddenly turned cold, piercing like shards of ice.
“You say you don’t know about the pendulum.”
“But when our peripheral investigators arrived at the scene, they clearly saw you digging up a grave in the cemetery.”
Cecil narrowed her eyes, her tone aggressive.
“And you were digging up the grave of John Baker—a wanted criminal on the Seventh Agency’s records.”
“After you killed the mountain of flesh, Luke beat everyone to it and took that important containment object from the core.”
“So, what were you looking for originally?”
“How do you explain this?”
Cecil’s questioning struck the heart of the matter.
“You should know, Mr. Rockland.”
“You are currently only one step away from being sent to Pris Isle.”
“So...”
“Think carefully before you answer.”
Her voice was utterly cold, devoid of any personal emotion.
Hearing this blatant threat...
Elias made his final decision.
“I am a victim.”
Elias dropped his previously cynical expression and answered with absolute seriousness and sincerity.
He had made up his mind.
For now, he would let this hot potato continue to gather dust inside the Gluttonous Stomach.
Once he returned to Hastings Port and saw that cunning old sea dog Crowley...
He would test the man's background and true intentions before deciding whether to hand the item over.
After all, based on the fragmented clues he currently held...
This pendulum might have been intended for Crowley in the first place.
In Elias’s logical chain...
The whole thing likely started after John was silenced by the Mist Veil Society cultists.
Because John had learned the shocking secret of Moon Bay’s Fifth Element...
He wanted to obtain it for himself, so he traveled to Moon Bay in his spiritual state to investigate.
It was during this time...
That he and John had their first formal introduction on the lighthouse reef pier.
It was possible that because of that brief exchange...
John felt he was a suitable host and selected him for the corpse-possession reincarnation.
Thinking deeper, it wasn't impossible that John had asked others after his death.
It was just that others weren't willing to help him with this favor.
And at that time...
Because he was planning to return to Hope County anyway and was desperate to find someone to tell him how to quickly break the dream demon curse...
He had muddied his way into agreeing to it.
Looking back now...
When an unidentified spiritual body suddenly throws out an olive branch and asks you to run an errand, it's guaranteed to be nothing good!
It was a classic setup.
As for whether John intended to follow the original plan and deliver the stolen secret documents and the Soul Pendulum to Crowley after his successful possession...
That was unknown.
After all, dead men tell no tales.
But regardless, these tangled connections suggested one thing.
Regarding the pendulum...
That old guy Crowley was definitely aware of it on some level.
“I was tricked into the cemetery by John.”
Elias looked at Cecil and began his performance.
“He was in a spiritual state at the time.”
“He tearfully lied to me, saying he was a wronged scholar who just wanted my help so his body could return to its roots.”
Elias sighed, his face full of the pain of being deceived.
“But in reality, that old geezer was incredibly sinister!”
“He wanted to use some sort of dark art in the cemetery to seize my body through corpse-possession reincarnation!”
“As you know...”
Elias paused for a moment, not forgetting to shamelessly flatter himself.
“I’ve been a person of high moral character since I was a child. I love helping others.”
Cecil rolled her eyes.
“Just get to the point!”
She sharply interrupted Elias’s self-praise.
“He promised...”
Elias curled his lip and quickly got to the core of the story.
“That if I helped him with this favor, he would give me a large cache of high-level supernatural materials he had accumulated during his life as payment.”
“I figured since I was going that way anyway, it wouldn't hurt to earn some extra cash on the side.”
Cecil snorted. This sounded more like the money-grubbing kid she knew.
“That sounds more like it.”
She signaled for Elias to continue.
“The rest happened as you saw.”
Elias spread his hands in a helpless gesture.
“His attempt at possession failed.”
“After he failed, the old geezer snapped. He lost mental control.”
“As a result... he mutated into that disgusting mountain of flesh.”
After finishing, Elias let out a long breath.
It was as if pouring out this "painful" experience had made him feel much lighter.
Cecil stared at him for a long time.
“It’s that simple?”
“It’s that simple.”
Rate on N.U.
