After subduing the three, Anderson looked at the locked door and said.
“Damn… we lost them.”
“Don’t worry, Chief Justice. We’ll extract all useful information from her accomplices.”
The guard captain of the Shrine saluted Anderson with a knight’s salute, then said to the three assassins, who had been beaten to a pulp.
“Talk! Where did Red Sparrow go?”
“I… I don’t know!”
The few Cyan Gold-level assassins still had no idea what had just happened.
Seeing this, the Temple Knight clicked his tongue and said.
“As expected of Red Sparrow’s accomplices, well-trained. Take them away for interrogation!”
With that, a group of Temple Knights hauled the assassins away.
Anderson looked at the exit of the secret passage. After a moment of thought, he drew his knight sword and cleaved the door in two with a single stroke.
Stepping out of the exit, he found himself in a tool room outside the Shrine.
He had never imagined there would be a secret passage of this length here.
Ainola had only been working here for five months, and she had only moved into the Rear Court dormitory area less than a month ago. At most, that was six months total. Even if she had come every day to dig, she couldn’t have excavated such a long tunnel.
More importantly, she had no way to dispose of the excavated dirt.
The only possibility was that there was an assassin’s mole within the Temple Knights.
But whether that mole was helping Ainola, or whether Ainola was using the mole, he couldn’t say.
As for the three assassins, they were clearly Cyan Gold-level assassins from the Moon Shadow Society, likely not closely related to Ainola.
“I never thought Ainola had been right beside me all along.”
Anderson sighed, shook his head, and covered his forehead as if speaking to himself.
“I’ve grown rusty…”
“Chief Justice,” Lewis said to Anderson.
“Red Sparrow has obtained the Eye of Wite key. She will definitely head to the Ancient Ruins in Wording City. If we set up an ambush there, we are certain to catch Red Sparrow.”
“Any plan we can think of, Red Sparrow will think of too. She will surely be on guard… but we truly have no other choice.”
After Anderson finished speaking to Lewis, he waved his hand, signaling him to leave.
The latter saluted with a knight’s gesture and withdrew.
As for Anderson, he took the cloth out of his pocket again. This blue-white striped fabric still carried a faint, fresh fragrance…
Though it might sound a bit perverse, Anderson could indeed smell a very pleasant scent.
The fabric felt a little damp when touched. Was it because of sweat?
“Damn!”
The young man shook his head and muttered to himself.
“What am I doing?”
After calming himself down, he took out the communication magic array and called someone he hadn’t contacted in a long time.
“White Wizard, good evening.”
“Prince Anderson, is there something you need?”
The White Wizard on the other end of the communication spoke just as coldly as ever.
Over these five months, nearly six, she had long let go of her resentment toward Ainola.
Or rather, back then she had only been angry, not to the point of hatred. At most, she had wanted to teach that disrespectful junior a lesson.
As someone who had lived for who knows how long, she wouldn’t go so far as to kill Ainola over such a trivial matter.
“I found traces of Ainola. I’d like you to help me track and lock onto her.”
“That’s no problem, but you know the rules. I need some bodily fluid from her to start the sacrificial ritual.”
With that, Anderson transmitted the front armor protector he had in hand and said.
“Sweat… should be fine, right?”
The person on the other end received the item Anderson had sent and fell silent for a full minute.
Evidently, this string of sacrificial materials was making the ageless White Wizard question her life choices.
To the point that she had to speak up.
“Prince, I don’t usually like to comment on others’ fetishes, but collecting women’s underwear as a fetish is a bit too perverse, don’t you think?”
“No, let me explain…”
Anderson’s face was full of sorrow and helplessness. Of course he would have preferred to use something else to track Ainola, but he had nothing else!
So what could he do? His reputation was already ruined.
Anderson rattled off a long explanation, but clearly, the White Wizard on the other end didn’t believe a word of it. She just said dismissively.
“Fine, fine. But if you like her, I suggest you go straight for her heart, not satisfy yourself with her underwear.”
“…”
Well, there was no convincing her. Anderson’s already bitter face grew even more bitter.
Bitterer than a bitter gourd.
In the end, he gave up trying to explain and said resignedly.
“Just use this to find Ainola’s whereabouts for me.”
“No problem,” the White Wizard said while operating the magic array. “Give me a moment. It’ll be done quickly.”
***
Meanwhile, Ainola, who had fled into Wording City, breathed a sigh of relief as she looked back at the Temple Knights behind her, not forgetting to boast.
“What’s the big deal? I’m still pretty amazing.”
“Stop showing off. Hurry up and give the Eye of Wite to the contact. Holding onto this thing will only invite trouble.”
“I know, I know.”
Ainola certainly understood that it wasn’t just the contact who wanted this item. If the Moon Shadow Society found out she had it, they would stop at nothing to take it from her.
So it was best to hand it over as soon as possible. She had the Fengting Association behind her, so she wasn’t too afraid of the Moon Shadow Society.
But she was just a lone killer with no backing at all. This item was useless to her, so it was better to give it away quickly to avoid a deadly disaster.
“Let’s find the contact first.”
Ainola and the contact had a designated meeting place. Every night at 9 PM, they would meet beneath the Windmill Tower in Wording City.
Checking the time, the other party should be waiting for her there about now.
So, Ainola walked toward the darkness under the moonlight.
But when she arrived at the base of the Windmill Tower, she found that the contact was not there.
The surroundings were eerily quiet, and the smell of the wind was off.
Ainola grew alert, but after waiting for a long time, no one appeared. Just as she thought it might be her imagination, a flustered girl ran over and said.
“Sister Ainola, something terrible has happened! George has been taken!”
Ainola recognized this girl.
She was the oldest child at North City Kindergarten, named Iyali. But due to malnutrition, she looked sallow and thin, and was not very tall.
Ainola had visited North City Kindergarten a few times with the contact, so she had a strong impression of the oldest child.
“Who took him?”
“A group of men in black! I ran fast, so they didn’t catch me.”
As Iyali spoke, her eyes looked very panicked, darting around nervously, and her hands and feet were fidgety.
Ainola knew that was a sign of lying.
And there was another thing that made her suspicious.
Iyali smelled of blood.