In the room with the curtains drawn, even with the Magic Lamp on, the light remained dim, casting a hazy veil over everything.
A woman was seated at the table.
She crossed her left leg over her right, the surface of her black high heels reflecting the white light of the Magic Lamp.
At first glance, it was a bit dazzling, and the woman would occasionally sway her foot.
The exposed instep was wrapped in a layer of black silk stockings that extended up to her calf.
As for the scenery above, it was hidden by her skirt.
If one were to lie on the ground and look up, they might see it, but that would require the woman’s consent.
Otherwise, a foot would come stepping down~
The woman’s delicate jade-like hand twirled a small black engraving knife. On the black knife, faint ancient blue characters emerged.
On the table before her, an array of eerie items was spread out…
Masks? No, they looked like living human faces!
Rows of women’s faces with different expressions were spread flat on the table.
They were as thin as cicada wings, almost perfectly adhered to the table, as if the table itself had grown faces.
Enya stopped the motion of twirling the knife, placed it on the table, and picked up the cup of tea beside her.
She brought it to her moist pink lips and took a sip, tilting her head back slightly.
“Not bad…” She smiled, then placed the finely crafted teacup back onto its saucer, and brought her hands to the area beneath her ears.
After tearing off the mask from her face, her figure underwent some changes.
She then placed the mask flat on the table, glanced left and right, selected a new one, and pressed it onto her face.
Her figure changed once more, becoming slightly more voluptuous than before.
These were all effects of the masks—only external changes, of course.
Having changed her appearance and figure again, Enya leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and entered a state akin to meditation.
After some time, she opened her eyes and moved on to the next mask.
The Black Engraving Knife obtained from the Face Peeler could precisely cut souls.
Enya had tried using it and found it more effective than she had imagined—even better than her “Survival’s Conception,” the library within her mind.
“Survival’s Conception” required absorbing souls to compile them into books before Enya could obtain others’ experiences and knowledge.
It seemed decent, but in practice, it was uncomfortable to use.
The Black Engraving Knife allowed Enya to directly peel off a portion of someone’s soul.
Through the human-face mask formed from that soul fragment, she could glean information about that person.
With her precise and elegant knife skills, she could ensure that the person would recover after just one night’s sleep.
However, immediately after the mask was peeled, the victim would feel mentally exhausted.
The human soul is chaotic, and human thoughts are multifaceted. Cutting away just one face would not damage the soul’s essence.
Even though this was quite wicked, Enya was no true saint, so she had struck at numerous ladies and wives.
A total of ten masks. Enya wore each one to pry into the shallow memories of these people, collecting information about matters within Lakeside City.
There was all kinds of gossip and scandals.
Of course, she also witnessed some live broadcasts unsuitable for minors. For instance, the wife of so-and-so… cough Anyway, it was nothing good!
While wearing the last mask, Enya suddenly opened her eyes.
“Wait…” Her expression turned serious, and her ample chest heaved repeatedly. Enya slapped the table and said in sudden realization, “Why should I wear them myself?”
Enya had thought of a very puzzling question. Since “Survival’s Conception” required absorbing souls to decompress them, and these human-face masks were themselves soul fragments containing information, why was she using the two separately? Why not just directly put the masks into the library to decompress and compile them into a book? Then she wouldn’t have to watch those scenes!
“Tsk, I’ve been too busy and muddled.”
Enya tore off the mask from her face and neatly arranged the ten human faces on the table.
She placed the folded masks in her hand. As Enya’s will surfaced, the Void swallowed the stack of ten human-face masks.
In Enya’s Sea of Consciousness, another book appeared on the floating library shelf.
The homebody Black Dragon Princess nestled inside lifted her gaze, her red vertical pupils fixing on the location of the new book.
She was about to have the librarian phantom retrieve it, but then saw the book disappear from the shelf again.
The Black Dragon Princess casually withdrew her gaze and continued reading the book in her hand.
Enya had defeated so many Heretic Cult members and had indeed recorded quite a few.
The lives of Heretic Cultists were usually convoluted and bizarre, and Pandrake also had a great fondness for these dark stories.
In reality, on the hand where the masks had just vanished, a gray-white covered book appeared. The book’s name was— Lakeside City Romantic Tales: Selected
Enya squinted.
“After material desires are satisfied, people often seek spiritual fulfillment. But spiritual fulfillment is difficult to achieve, so people settle for pursuing sex.”
“Hmm, so this is what they mean by ‘when well-fed and warm, one thinks of lust’? But that saying probably shouldn’t be used this way, right? Whatever, I’ve used it already.”
Enya looked at the book in her hand and couldn’t help but laugh. She placed the book on the table, opened it, and began reading earnestly.
Although it was all sorts of tidbits and romantic gossip among the ladies, it still allowed Enya to gain a clearer picture of some information about Lakeside City. She could even find threads of interpersonal relationships within it. That was an unexpected delight.
Within Lakeside City, there was a Chamber of Commerce Union.
This union was the largest organization in the area.
It was originally established over fifty years ago by the Lord of Lakeside City of that generation. He granted protection to merchants, and the merchants gave him a cut.
However, as other forces within the union gradually grew stronger, the descendant of the Lakeside City Lord turned out to be a good-for-nothing.
He had grown accustomed to easily taking a cut from the other chamber heads and no longer cared about business.
As a result, his power was steadily hollowed out by money.
Although the Lord still held the chairmanship of the Chamber of Commerce Union, he was merely a pet in a high seat.
Now everyone in Lakeside City knew that the chamber heads were the true power behind the scenes, controlling the entire operation of Lakeside City.
The Lord? The Lord could only assume his position with the support of the chamber heads!
“This structure… why does it seem familiar?”
When Enya saw this, she furrowed her brow slightly. It was as if some sealed memory in her mind was slowly reviving.
Fortunately, Enya didn’t give it a chance to resurrect.
She turned to the next page. After the overview of the overall situation, it moved on to specific information.
It talked about the major chambers of commerce.
Within the Chamber of Commerce Union, there were a total of five major chamber heads: the White Wave Chamber of Commerce, the Marigold Chamber of Commerce, the Abundant Harvest Chamber of Commerce, the Tea Rose Chamber of Commerce, and the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce. There were also some smaller chambers, but they were essentially vassals.
The White Wave Chamber of Commerce was primarily engaged in fishing and shipping, occupying seventy percent of the ports in the north of the city. According to insider information, they had deep connections with water bandits; only their ships were never robbed.
The Marigold Chamber of Commerce was a special chamber primarily dealing in finance and banking. The ladies heard from friends working there that this chamber secretly laundered black money of unknown origin and itself possessed incalculable vast funds.
The Abundant Harvest Chamber of Commerce was formed by the local nobles who banded together. They leveraged their vast lands to manage agricultural exports.
The Tea Rose Chamber of Commerce dealt in the service industry… hmm, various kinds of service industries.
The ladies’ evaluation: the head of this chamber is a young man with a handsome face, and he’s not yet married.
As for the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce… The Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce engaged in import and export trade, as well as high, mid, and low-end product sales.
The commercial street Enya had passed through when entering the city had over ninety-nine percent of its assets belonging to Lily of the Valley, and most of the OEM factories were also theirs.
But the ladies’ impression of Gro was not good. He was not a man who pleased women, and there were rumors about Gro and his butler… cough In any case, very unpleasant rumors.
When she saw this, Enya frowned deeply.
“This isn’t right.”
From the fact that Gro had been assassinated by someone from the Hall of Shadows, it was already clear that someone was targeting him.
It was very likely someone from within the Chamber of Commerce Union, definitely among the four chambers above.
“To the point of sending an assassin, it must be a hatred that makes one gnash their teeth, or envy and jealousy to the point of wanting to kill.”
Enya fell into deep thought. With the information obtained so far, she certainly couldn’t unravel the secret behind it. Fortunately, she was a patient hunter. There was no need to rush!
She didn’t linger too much on the details. She closed the book and returned it to the library in her Sea of Consciousness.
“Now that I’m here, that guy will probably come after me too. For something like this, I just need to wait by the tree stump, no thinking required.”
Enya puffed out her chest, raised her arms high, and stretched her waist. She let out a soft “nnn” before relaxing. Then she picked up the now-cold tea and took another small sip.
She stood up, walked to the window, pulled open the curtain, and looked outside.
The sun had already set behind the western hills. It was now dusk, and it would be dark in a little while.
Through the glass window, Enya saw the people on the streets.
Unlike the many brightly dressed men and women during the day, the ones walking on the street now were mostly people in plain clothes.
They were all in standard uniforms, with tired expressions on their faces, heading toward their respective homes.
And there were also some people with blank looks, heading in the opposite direction.
The two groups brushed past each other without a word.
They were factory workers.
Enya felt a little emotional. She hadn’t expected that Vivienne could achieve this all by herself, influencing the development of an era.
She let out a soft sigh and murmured to herself, “Phew, let’s go back.”
On the other side, inside the small villa in the back garden of Lily of the Valley Manor.
Lucia was standing upright in the living room, while Wendy was already lying lazily on the sofa, using her foot to push the birdcage on the coffee table.