Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 1001 Closing Operation?

"Sherman?"

Leonard asked as if to confirm.

The freckled girl with brown curly hair raised her eyebrows in surprise, feeling a little surprised to be recognized so quickly.

"Can't I be some bold young girl trying to hit on you?"

She asked back while suppressing a laugh, her expression lively and vivid, making this face, which was not beautiful or might be easily forgotten as soon as the person turned around, become very attractive.

"intuition."

Leonard smiled mysteriously without further explanation.

There are many abilities that can change one's appearance. As the captain of the "Red Gloves", he knows that a certain sequence of the "Fortune Teller" path can change various external features such as face, height, and body shape at will, and some hypnosis and suggestion abilities can also do this.

But judging from the warning Pales had given her before, Sherman most likely did not use the seal of the "Faceless Man" to change her appearance, but used some ability that made her appear "strange" in the eyes of others, and this power was ineffective against Pales, who had recovered to the strength of an angel.

Seeing that he couldn't deceive Leonard, Sherman stretched out his right hand from under his cloak, with his back facing him, showing him a silver-white ring with many intricate patterns engraved on it.

"It's called the 'Frenzy Ring'. It can not only trigger other people's negative emotions in battle and make them fall into 'frenzy', but also make the wearer look very ordinary, easily ignored and forgotten. Otherwise, whether I like it or not, it would be too easy to attract other people's attention if I don't cover my face."

At this point, she frowned, as if troubled by this matter.

There was no telling how many noble ladies were willing to give up everything to look like her. Moreover, even with this ring on, she still had a different kind of charm, like the girl next door, or a childhood sweetheart, or... Leonard suddenly had a bunch of poems that he had memorized when playing the "Midnight Poet" in his head, but most of them were the kind that might cause the other party to misunderstand if they were read out. He pursed his lips and suppressed the desire to chant. Instead, he called the waiter and ordered Sherman a cup of her favorite milk coffee with double sugar.

"As the war continued, Backlund's coffee shop business became worse and worse. Their coffee varieties also became fewer and the taste was not as fresh..."

While the waiter was away, Leonard glanced at the Backlund Daily on the table again and was inspired.

"The prices in the East District have also risen sharply. The price of bread has increased by half a penny per pound, which is already twice the price before the war. Even if I pay the cannery workers more wages on the grounds of overtime and give the scraps from making canned luncheon meat to families with children, they can only live a hard life to support a whole family..."

Sherman also glanced at the newspaper and whispered.

"It's not just the East District, it's the same for the entire Backlund, or all the cities in Loen. Once Intis reaches the heart of Loen, the situation will become even more serious... By then, even if you sell your cannery and exchange it for food, you won't be able to feed many people."

Leonard sighed and was not optimistic about the future development.

As an armed Beyonder of the Church, his income was not so sensitive to the shortage of supplies and soaring prices for the time being, but he could feel an increasingly tense atmosphere. Even though a curfew was imposed and all police forces were dispatched for patrol, the number of serious crimes in various urban areas had reached five times that of previous years, and most of them were serious crimes such as burglary, murder and theft. The number of cases involving the power of the occult was increasing day by day, causing headaches for all the night watchmen and punishers.

Especially now that Intis has joined the war, the Church of Steam's "Mechanical Heart" has been restricted from moving, and the number of official Beyonders has dropped by one third, it has become very difficult to maintain the stability of Backlund's more than four million people relying solely on the power of Night and Storm.

Thinking of this, Leonard asked:
"How is your cannery doing? I read in the newspaper that many factories in the East District are unable to operate due to lack of raw materials, which in turn has caused an even greater shortage of supplies."

"There is no problem for now. Our raw materials come from the Rorsted Islands, and are regularly delivered to Backlund by Elaine's fleet along the Tussock River. But I don't know how long it can last. Feysac's naval offensive is getting more and more fierce, and now there is Intis's fleet... And every time the materials arrive at the port, they are harassed by the staff. If it weren't for my cannery supplying the military, these raw materials might not be delivered to the factory... In addition, Miss Angelica recently took out a large sum of money and asked me to find a way to buy some of them when those factories are under-operating, and try to maintain production so that those workers will not lose their jobs..."

Suddenly he took out a large sum of money... No, the one who went to the sea to capture the entire family of the "Undying King" Agaritu and took the reward, couldn't it be Angel... Leonard's expression changed slightly, and he asked curiously:

"Elaine? Red-haired Elaine?"

He had seen information about this female Beyonder marked by red hair in the internal documents of the "Red Gloves". She was an Beyonder of the "Hunter" path who had been active in the Rorsted Archipelago for the past six months. She was most likely already at Sequence 5 and had many mid-sequence Beyonders under her. This was enough to enter the sight of the official Beyonders.

"It was her. Like me, she belongs to Miss Angelica. She gave me this 'Frenzy Ring'. Of course, it belonged to Miss Angelica before... Speaking of which, maybe Elaine felt that the negative effects of this ring were difficult to deal with, so she gave it to me."

Then she could also be Angel's "Minor Arcana"... Leonard thought about it and was attracted by another key word:

"Negative effects?" "Well... it will cause the wearer to accumulate physical and psychological desires until they become uncontrollable and fall into frenzy.

"Like the desire to eat, drink, talk, and..."

Having said this, Sherman paused and stopped talking. Instead, she picked up the coffee and took a sip, hiding her eyes, which contained certain emotions, behind the mist.

And what?
Leonard was startled, but after seeing Sherman's slightly red face, he reacted, coughed lightly, and quickly changed the subject:

"I asked you to come here this time to learn about the movements of Mr. K from the Aurora Society in the East District. The situation on the front line has been stalemate recently. Intis and Feysac's spies and Beyonders have been infiltrating Backlund. The Nighthawks and the Punishers are preparing to join forces with the military's intelligence agencies to carry out a large-scale operation to eliminate those dangerous factors... In short, we can close the net here on Mr. K."

Thanks to Sherman's intelligence, the Nighthawks had already mastered the underground gatherings held regularly in the East District, and by tracking the participants, they had located the whereabouts of more wild Beyonders. Now, with the increasing number of vicious cases of Beyonders in various districts, the benefits of keeping them are lower than the harm, so the "Red Gloves" are ready to find an opportunity to shut down these illegal gatherings, especially the large gathering held by Mr. K, the god of the Aurora Society, which is at the top of the list.

"Mr. K hasn't done anything out of the ordinary lately. He even stopped paying high prices for intelligence on The Fool's followers. But he started to get in touch with good-looking attendees, both men and women... He also contacted me, asking me if I wanted to join a powerful, mysterious organization. Everyone there was very enthusiastic and kind. It was obviously some lame excuse... And many unfamiliar attendees spent a lot of money on him, buying all the magical items, extraordinary bullets, and offensive spells they could buy. I suspect they are the Beyonder spies you mentioned."

Sherman said, frowning.

No, that was not an excuse. Maybe it was true, but the organization he was talking about was the "Aurora Society"... Leonard recalled the files about the Aurora Society inside the Red Gloves, and thought about how they liked to develop people with looks far above average into new believers of the "True Creator", and he was thoughtful.

After a moment, he nodded as if he had made up his mind:

"We will 'close the net' at the next gathering... I will lead a team of 'Red Gloves' carrying appropriate seals to capture him in one fell swoop or kill him on the spot... You should attend the gathering as usual to avoid being identified as a leaker afterwards, but do not participate in the battle. Just follow the other wild Beyonders and flee the gathering place."

Sherman agreed solemnly, and then said with some concern:
"He's very powerful, you should bring more people."

"Don't worry. With a whole team of Red Gloves and the Sealed Objects, we can handle it as long as the opponent is not a demigod."

Leonard smiled and puffed out his chest before answering.

----

The East District looked extremely gloomy under the mist at night. Pairs of armed patrol officers passed by the streets from time to time, symbolically maintaining the seriousness of the curfew.

But in the alleys they couldn't see, countless homeless people sat casually in the corners, lay next to the garbage dump, wrapped themselves tightly in dirty clothes, stuffed old newspapers into the gaps between their clothes, and resisted the chill of the winter nights.

Deep inside Broken Axe Alley, Sherman watched Leonard knock on the secret door of the gathering place. After standing for a few seconds under the scrutiny of the guards inside, the door was opened and a deep voice said:

"Come in."

Fortunately, for this day, I had sent a subordinate with a similar build to Mr. "Xingxing" to join the party long in advance, leaving an impression on the guards... Sherman thought about it, waited for two minutes, and then followed the same method to enter the party venue. He took the cloak handed to him by the servant and put it on to cover his face that was easily noticed, and came to the reception room.

She noticed that "Xingxing" had already sat down on the single sofa near the center. She pretended not to know him and quickly looked away. She found a corner and sat down, waiting for the "Red Gloves" to attack.

And this will most likely start with Mr. "Star" pulling Mr. K into a nightmare... Sherman, who has had similar experiences, thought with anticipation.

But until the blackboard at the side was filled with the transaction details and each item was successfully traded, Mr. K announced the end of the party. She was taken away by the waiter through another secret door. The "Red Gloves" did not show up, and Mr. "Star" sat very quietly and even bought a box of pistol bullets that had an exorcism effect.

If they had not discussed how to carry out the arrest operation during the day, Sherman would almost think that he had just brought the other party to join the party.

After leaving Broken Axe Alley and heading to the North District adjacent to the East District, Sherman met at the agreed alley. Then, she asked Leonard, who looked solemn, in confusion:
"What happened? Why didn't you start the action?"

"I was planning to pull Mr. K into his dream, and once I started, the other 'Red Gloves' hiding outside the party venue would also take action simultaneously." Leonard, wearing a windbreaker and black leather gloves, replied in a low voice, "But when I was about to do so, I found that there was a demigod in the party venue... monitoring everyone!"

(End of this chapter)