As his memories fully returned, the thinking patterns of a modern person reclaimed the high ground.
Back on the beach, when he learned that the mystic was actually a twisted serial killer who enjoyed torturing and murdering women and children, Elias indeed felt a surge of intense grief and disgust.
But now, as he moved step by step up the red-carpeted wooden stairs toward the third floor, the piercing pain from his ribs and the crisis of poverty quickly diluted those superfluous sentimental emotions.
The man was dead, crushed into mincemeat under his own feet.
Grief and indignation couldn't put food on the table, much less pay for medical bills.
The most important thing now was to loot the body’s assets—the compensation for mental distress that he rightfully deserved.
"If I'm not mistaken, the people from the Seventh Agency will find you very soon."
Just as Elias was about to reach the third-floor landing, Old Edmond, who had been silent in his mind, suddenly spoke, his tone carrying a sense of impending pressure.
Elias paused, his brow furrowing into a tight knot.
"So soon? My 【Moonlight Veil】 was useless?"
"What do you think?"
Edmond let out a cold laugh.
"Don't underestimate those mystics, and certainly don't underestimate the resources of the state machine."
"At the end of the day, the 【Moonlight Veil】 is a product of your spirituality communicating with the Origin Web."
"It can deceive the eyes and even hide from most low-Scale transcendents who rely on sight or ordinary spirituality to track targets."
"But the investigators of the Seventh Agency do this for a living."
"Low-Scale investigators aside, what if it's a high-Scale one?"
Edmond paused, then threw out a more fatal question:
"Furthermore, even if your freakish amount of spirituality makes your 【Moonlight Veil】 effective enough to hide from their senior investigators, so what?"
"They can just directly ask the members of the Ascetic Society here for help."
"No one knows the traces left by followers of the Three-Phase Moon better than their own kind."
Hearing this, Elias felt his head begin to throb.
The Ascetic Society was his nominal home organization.
If his own people helped outsiders catch a wild Scale One like him, it would truly be a case of the flood washing away the dragon king's temple.
He wasn't ready to face the official institutions of this world so soon.
Especially since his current goal was completely at odds with official agencies.
What did the Seventh Agency do?
Investigate cases, contain objects, and clean up the mess.
Once he was cornered in this room, never mind explaining why he was at the scene of a cultist's murder; the compensation for mental distress he was about to collect would definitely be confiscated as 'stolen goods' and handed over to the authorities.
'That was fucking unacceptable!'
'That was blood-earned money he had risked his life for!'
"Then what should I do?"
Elias stood in the third-floor hallway, looking at the room at the end with the door number 302.
"I need my compensation for mental distress! Not even God himself can take money out of my pocket!"
"Do you want to hear my suggestion?"
Edmond's voice was slow, carrying a hint of inducement.
"Cut the crap! Just say it! Why the suspense?"
Elias rolled his eyes.
"Do you think you're that old sea dog Crowley, always leaving things half-said?"
"You really have no respect for your elders!"
Edmond, annoyed by the unwarranted comparison, raised his voice an octave.
"That Crowley... you should be more polite to him in the future. He's no ordinary old man."
"Even I can't see through him. He's likely at least a Scale Three."
"He's that strong?"
Elias was stunned for a moment.
"Mm-hmm."
Edmond hummed.
"I'm just afraid that if you piss the old man off one day and don't watch your mouth..."
"He really could kill you with a single punch."
Hearing this, Elias pulled his neck back slightly in discomfort.
Scale Three?
The twisted mystic who had almost pushed him to a dead end just now was only Scale Two.
That old fellow Crowley was actually Scale Three or higher?
At the thought that he had dared to grab the man's collar to haggle before, Elias felt a chill run down his spine.
But on second thought, although the old man was mercenary, stingy, and calculating, he seemed quite healthy and cheerful, puffing on his pipe in the sun every day and scamming people with ease.
A person with that kind of personality shouldn't be the type of violent maniac who killed at the slightest provocation.
After all, harmony brings wealth.
Of course, unless you violated company policy and affected his bonus.
"Fine, fine, I get that he's a big deal."
"So are you going to give me the suggestion or not?"
Elias felt that the old guy in the bracelet was also a master of rambling. Yet he still had the nerve to say Elias's thoughts jumped around too much?
They were two of a kind.
"Listen up."
Edmond stopped wasting time and got straight to the point.
"After you leave the mystic's room, immediately head to the Ascetic Grounds in Hastings Port."
"Walk around there, then retract all your spirituality and sneak back."
"That way, the Seventh Agency and the Ascetic Society will be tied up in red tape for at least the whole night."
Hearing this, Elias's eyes instantly lit up.
Brilliant!
It was a perfect psychological tactic combined with a feint!
The activation of the 【Moonlight Veil】 mostly made him disappear on a visual level. While it could reduce obvious spiritual traces, it still left a faint, directional trail in the air.
It was hard to hide this from high-Scale transcendents, let alone if the Seventh Agency brought in experts from the Ascetic Society.
But what if he used an information gap and proactively visited the Ascetic Grounds?
Then, the spiritual trail representing his movements would take a turn from the Bay Hotel and lead straight into the gates of the Ascetic Grounds.
And what kind of place was the Ascetic Grounds?
It was the headquarters for followers of the Three-Phase Moon!
It was filled with transcendents who followed the same Moon Lord faith as him, and the air was saturated with highly concentrated, identical spirituality.
When a drop of water merges into the ocean, or a tree hides in the forest.
When the investigators followed the trail, they would find that the clues led directly into the Ascetic Grounds.
Would the people from the Seventh Agency dare to charge directly into the church's territory to search for someone?
They wouldn't.
Even if they were official, they would have to go through tedious diplomatic procedures.
And the people of the Ascetic Society would likely find it difficult to pinpoint Elias's extremely similar spiritual trace among hundreds or thousands of believers in their own lair.
It was like trying to find a single fishing line in a bundle of steel wires.
He would then retract all his spirituality and leave, completely cutting off the trail.
Meanwhile, other members in the Ascetic Grounds would also head to various corners of the city after leaving, making the scene even more chaotic.
This would undoubtedly buy him a significant amount of time. At least for tonight, he would be absolutely safe.
'Old Ed...'
Elias sighed sincerely in his mind.
'As the saying goes, an elder in the house is a treasure at home.'
'I have to admit, sometimes you are actually useful.'
Inside the bracelet's space, Edmond felt quite smug hearing the first part.
He was still pondering the profound philosophy of the first half of the proverb.
But before he could brag, he heard the punchable second half of Elias's sentence.
His composure shattered instantly.
"What do you mean 'sometimes actually useful'?!"
The old ghost roared, making Elias's eardrums itch.
"If it weren't for me, you'd be a pile of rotten meat on that island right now!"
"You ungrateful wolf!"
"Fine, fine, I'm done venting. You don't have to say anything about throwing the bracelet away."
Before Elias could respond, Old Edmond stopped himself.
He was the embodiment of someone living under someone else's roof, forced to yield to circumstances.
Elias almost couldn't keep a straight face.
A mature 'old man in the ring' had to learn when to stop on his own.
By this time, he had reached the door of Room 302.
He looked left and right; the hallway was empty.
Click.
Elias used the copper key to gently open the door.
No magical traps were triggered, and the door opened smoothly.
As the door swung open, a faint scent of blood wafted toward him.
Elias reached back and closed the door, locking it behind him.
The lights in the room weren't on. Only the moonlight from outside spilled through the gaps in the half-drawn curtains, providing limited illumination.
【Darkvision】, activate.
His vision instantly became as clear as day.
Elias looked around at the scene before him, his expression turning odd.
The room was large but extremely cluttered.
Elias couldn't help but frown.
"What kind of stereotypical cultist room is this?"
Rate on N.U.
