The Letter

Ryan pulled a stack of papers from the folder and spread them across the table.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, clearly having spent most of the night in the archives.

"Three missing persons, and all of them received invitations." He spread the three records side-by-side, his finger tapping each one in turn. "The Viscount's manor, the Baron's manor, and the Merchant Association. Three invitations with three different signatures, all aliases."

Amy handed over several handwriting comparison records, her fingernail tracing a line through a circled red area.

"But the handwriting belongs to the same person. The stroke patterns, the pressure, and even the type of ink used are identical."

"We’ve also found a base of operations," Ryan continued, his voice sounding a bit heavy. "The Merchant Association's intelligence network is broader than the nobility's; they sent people to tail this individual. There's a lodging registration in the outer city under the name 'Andre Morris'."

Lu Yuan's expression shifted slightly.

Andre Morris.

Yesterday at the Viscount's manor, that was the name written in the butler's visitor log.

The two leads had converged.

"This person is not in the inner city nobility registry or the southern provincial records," Helen said, closing her notebook. "It's an alias. But at least it's an identity he uses repeatedly."

She paused.

"Then there's the timeline. The time the Viscount received that phone call yesterday perfectly overlaps with the last time 'Andre Morris' appeared at his lodgings. The same person is manipulating three lines simultaneously."

Raymond remained silent for a moment.

"And the methodology? Does it match the Polymath Tower?"

"It matches, but not entirely." Helen leaned back in her chair, two fingers tapping the tabletop lightly. "The manner of disappearance is virtually identical to what happened at the Polymath Tower."

"But if the Polymath Tower wanted to take those people away, why bother forging identities and making house calls?"

She spread her hands.

"It's redundant. Unless the ones responsible aren't from the Polymath Tower at all."

Raymond's gaze darkened.

"A third party has intervened."

Helen nodded.

Lu Yuan sat to the side, silent.

He was thinking about something else.

Andre Morris, whatever his real name was.

He had managed to make three noble children disappear at once, and the tools he used were connected to the Sea of Knowledge.

This meant the man's understanding of the Sea of Knowledge far exceeded his own.

And those who could come into contact with the Sea of Knowledge were by no means ordinary people.

At the edge of his vision, greyish-white text flickered slightly:

【Bronze City Status: +1...1/50】

Lu Yuan's expression stiffened slightly.

Because once this appeared, it meant he had been drawn into a major event.

He needed to prepare himself in advance.

Lu Yuan lowered his eyes, his face expressionless as he thought.

Just as the report was nearing its end, a knock sounded at the door.

It was a duty officer from the inner city outpost, holding a letter.

"This was just delivered. It's safe, but there's no signature."

Raymond took the letter and inspected the envelope.

It was an ordinary kraft paper envelope with no sender and no postmark.

It was sealed with wax.

A pattern was pressed into the wax seal.

The moment Lu Yuan saw the pattern, a chill flashed through his heart.

It wasn't a family crest or an organizational logo.

It was waves.

Concentric ripples expanding outward, with an extremely tiny, twisted symbol pressed into the very center.

It looked like some ancient script, or perhaps a totem compressed to its absolute limit.

He had seen that symbol before.

At the edge of the Sea of Knowledge, when the sea surged and the flowing colors converged into patterns, they took this exact shape.

The others hadn't noticed the detail.

In their eyes, the ripples on the wax seal were merely decorative.

But Lu Yuan knew what it meant.

The sender knew about the Sea of Knowledge.

And they knew that he, Lu Yuan, had stepped into that forbidden place.

More importantly, they knew he was at this not-so-hidden inner city outpost.

Raymond tore open the envelope and pulled out the paper inside.

There was only a single line of text and an address.

The handwriting was neat, written in standard Imperial Language.

"You saw the colors. So did I. — A.M."

Below was an address in the outer city.

Raymond handed the paper to Helen.

"A.M.? Andre Morris?" Helen frowned.

"It should be."

Karl leaned over to take a look and cursed. "This guy has some nerve, sending it directly to a branch office?"

"'You saw the colors'—what does that mean?" Helen looked at everyone. "Who saw what colors?"

The room fell silent for a moment.

Lu Yuan was silent for two seconds before speaking up.

"This letter was written to me."

Everyone's gaze turned toward him.

"At the scene last night, I used my own method to observe the traces." His phrasing was cautious. "If someone was watching us from the shadows, they might have noticed that my method of observation is different from others."

"So he's looking for you specifically," Raymond said.

"Yes."

"A trap?" Helen asked.

"It's possible." Lu Yuan thought for a moment before continuing, "But this person is currently our only live lead in the missing persons case."

"Then we'll go together," Karl said.

Lu Yuan shook his head.

"The fact that he could deliver a letter here shows he has a clear understanding of the Nightwatchers' internal movements. If I bring people, he won't show himself."

Karl wanted to say more, but Raymond raised a hand to stop him.

"What do you plan to do?"

"I'll go alone. You have the address."

Raymond stared at him for several seconds, his gaze scrutinizing.

"Are you sure?"

"The fact that the other party reached out suggests he has something to say, rather than simply wanting to fight," Lu Yuan said calmly. "Besides, it's daytime. The outer city might be remote, but it's not a deserted wasteland."

"That's not enough of a reason." Raymond didn't immediately dismiss him, but looked Lu Yuan straight in the eye.

Lu Yuan paused, then pointed to himself.

"If something really goes wrong, I have my ways of getting out."

Raymond remained silent for a while.

He knew Lu Yuan had his own methods; everyone present had seen the scene at the abandoned house where six bullets were fired simultaneously.

"Thirty minutes."

Raymond's voice was flat.

"If there is no news within thirty minutes, I'm taking the team in."

He turned to Karl and Ryan.

"The two of you come with me. We'll monitor the perimeter of that street in advance. Don't enter the alley, and don't alert him."

Though Karl was somewhat reluctant, he nodded.

Raymond looked back at Lu Yuan.

"If you encounter trouble, fire your gun. The gunshot will be the signal."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Understood."

It was ten o'clock in the morning when Lu Yuan left the inner city outpost.

Sunlight shone on the stone roads of the outer city as pedestrians came and went, no different from any other ordinary morning.

He walked through the crowd at a steady pace.

The Timekeeper pocket watch was tucked against his chest, its metallic chill seeping through his shirt to his skin.

The "Flame" revolver was at his waist, loaded with silver-plated bullets.

In his pocket was the folded letter.

He was thinking about this A.M.

Someone who could forge identities to infiltrate the inner city nobility, cause three people to disappear in a short time, and precisely identify that he had stepped into that forbidden land.

This person was dangerous.

But they were also likely to possess the very thing he needed most: knowledge about the Sea of Knowledge, perhaps even regarding the path ahead for a Knowledge Seeker of Forbidden Lore.

However, the man likely didn't know about Forbidden Lore itself.

When he had advanced and entered that eerie place, not a single shadow could be seen within the path of Forbidden Lore.

Clearly, the man must have other means.

The Bronze City was safe yet dangerous, and he needed a true advancement.

And A.M. claimed "So did I."

This meant that what he was facing was not just danger, but an opportunity.

Lu Yuan understood this very well.

The buildings of the outer city became older and shorter, and the pedestrians grew fewer.

Eventually, the stone road turned into gravel, and the houses on either side became semi-abandoned warehouses and workshops.

The air smelled of dust, with a faint, lingering hint of...

The fragrance of ink.

It was very subtle.

But Lu Yuan smelled it.

His pace slowed.

No prompts appeared at the edge of his vision.

But his intuition told him he had reached his destination.

Ahead was an old two-story building.

The outer walls were mottled, the windows were intact, and the door was slightly ajar.

It looked like a closed-down bookstore.

A faded sign hung above the door frame, the writing on it already blurred and unrecognizable, with only the last word still vaguely discernible.

"...Sea."

Lu Yuan stood before the door, not entering immediately.

He glanced down at his pocket watch.

Ten eighteen.

Thirty minutes would be enough.

He raised his hand and pushed open the door.