The name "Leader" was well-known in Backlund's intelligence circles, and since Odis was escorting Hugh Deercha for MI9, several of Cyril's superiors came out to greet him personally.
The officer, the head of the operations section, was in his forties, somewhat portly, and sported a mustache: "'Chief,' please come in, please come in!"
Odis raised his hand and said without needing introductions, "Section Chief Danesi, let's talk here."
They were both intelligence workers; although they had never met, they must have seen each other's resumes and information.
He turned slightly and introduced, "This is Miss Deercha. She has been commissioned by 'The Hound' to investigate Bruce's case."
"During the investigation, she was attacked for unknown reasons, so she asked me for help, and I brought her here."
"Your request has caused Miss Deercha a lot of inconvenience, and I have three requests for this."
Danesi, the head of the Operations Division, quickly said, "Please speak."
"First, this commission is too dangerous, so the reward will be doubled," Odis said.
As he spoke, he looked at one of Danesi's subordinates, a man in his thirties with short hair and a high Adam's apple, as if an egg was stuck in his throat.
Odis sensed the barely suppressed anger in the other person's expression and eyes.
But Odis had never met the other person before, nor did he remember offending him, so he didn't take it too seriously.
At the same time, Danesi immediately asked the people around him, "How much of a reward was promised?"
One of his subordinates replied, "The bounty offered by the Mysticism Research Society is 20 pounds."
Darnesty readily agreed, "I'll give you 50 pounds."
Odis added, "Secondly, Miss Deercha wants to treat me to lunch tomorrow at noon to thank me for the protection I provided. I hope your investigation will not interfere with our lunch, nor that you will use your extraordinary abilities to interrogate her!"
She hadn't made such a promise before, but she knew it was an excuse to get the people from MI9 to release her by noon the next day.
She then began to consider: how should she thank the "leader"?
Darnesie immediately added, "I know what you're worried about. We'd rather develop a talented person like Miss Deercha into our informant than persecute her."
Odis continued, "Thirdly, in the near future, we must protect Miss Deercha and her family's safety as much as possible without disrupting their normal lives."
"That's for sure," Danesi smiled. "Other clues will likely be found during the preservation period."
Odis extended his hand and smiled, "Mr. Danesi, it's a pleasure to meet you today. Your subordinates are all excellent, calm and determined. I think this is inseparable from your outstanding leadership."
Darnese warmly grasped Odis's hand: "You flatter me, or rather, your actions are truly admirable. I don't know how to thank you for your help today."
The two held hands tightly, like best friends of over ten years, and looked very close.
"Our cooperation has always been very pleasant," Odis said with a smile. "Our respective goals have never conflicted."
Darnesty nodded: "You're right."
"But I still need to express my gratitude. I will send someone to deliver it later."
"How could I possibly accept that?"
"This is what you deserve."
"..."
After a long tug-of-war, Odis finally took his leave. Danesi immediately sent a carriage to take the "leader" away. He stood at the gate of the courtyard and watched the carriage drive away. Then he said to his subordinates, "Please ask Miss Delcha to go in and give her statement."
After Hugh followed him into MI9, Darnesie's smile vanished instantly. He told his subordinates, "Upgrade the danger assessment of 'The Leader,' and send a higher-level investigation team to investigate 'The Leader's' background."
He had just heard Cyril say that the "Mechanical Heart" had equipped the "Leader" with a powerful supernatural weapon, and that MI9 didn't even know what the "Leader" looked like. Such a person had to be taken very seriously.
Odis returned to 199 Hayward Avenue and, as expected, received a "thank you" from MI9, along with a "Good Citizen Certificate" and a £60 reward.
He laughed and said, "This guy is really just going through the motions."
Odis had long heard that this Danesi was a man who appeared amiable on the surface but was actually treacherous and cunning behind the scenes.
But I never expected this guy to be so stingy!
After a moment's thought, Odis instructed the servants to post the certificate in the most conspicuous place in the living room. Then, after giving each of the two servants a pound bonus, he used the "teleportation array" in the basement to leave.
After returning to the herbalist shop by carriage, Odis first applied some blood-activating and stasis-removing medicine to her chest. Feeling much better, she continued to make the "Flaming Arrow".
That night, he stayed at another location, 176 River Bend Avenue.
By now, Chebman's accomplices should have found Simon by now.
...
North District, 16 Ernst Avenue, "Nanmu Ballroom".
In the late afternoon, Ms. Mandy, dressed in a professional suit and exuding elegance, heard that Lord Ashburn had come to visit in person and had a waiter escort him into her office.
Prior to this, Asiburn's butler had come twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, but Mandy, following Mr. Gar's instructions, did not meet with him.
When Mandy learned from the newspaper in the morning that Lord Ashburn's house was on fire, she was not surprised, after all, Mr. Gar had decided to warn Ashburn yesterday afternoon.
To Mandy's surprise, Mr. Gar did not ask her to issue a commission to the extraordinary mercenaries; the purpose of the warning had already been achieved.
Mandy spent the entire day thinking about it and feeling uneasy about it.
The fact that the warning wasn't delivered through her indicated that Mr. Garr was somewhat disappointed by her previous slowness, and she had been reflecting on it all day, wondering when she had indeed become somewhat lax in her intelligence work.
Mr. Garr's use of other channels to resolve the issue this time was undoubtedly a warning to her!
At that moment, a waiter knocked on the door, announcing that Lord Ashburn had been brought in.
Mandy snapped out of her daze, took a deep breath, and focused on dealing with Asiburn.
In her view, the fact that Mr. Garr entrusted her with the decision of whether to end the matter of Asiburn showed that Mr. Garr trusted her to a certain extent, and of course she could not betray Mr. Garr's trust.
Asiburn brought a land deed, saying that he admired everything Mr. Gar had done for the women of Backlund, so he bought the large shop to the left of the "Bamboo Ballroom" and gave it to Mr. Gar as a token of his respect.
Mandy felt that Asiburn was very sincere, so she accepted the land deed and chose to reconcile with the lord.
Asiburn finally breathed a sigh of relief and could finally get a good night's sleep.
...
Around 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Wearing a knight's outfit, with messy hair and looking a bit greasy from staying up all night, Hugh Deercha finally returned to the apartment she shared with Fors.
Dressed casually, Fors had to meet a deadline today, so she got up early. When she saw Hugh return, she quickly asked, "Hugh, what important case did you investigate last night? You didn't come back all night?"
Last night, Hugh had someone from MI9 deliver a letter to Fors, but there were many things she couldn't say. She only told Fors in the letter that she had some investigations to do that night and wouldn't be going back.
Since this wasn't the first time there had been a mission at night, Fors didn't take it too seriously, assuming that Hugh's circumstances prevented him from specifying the details of the mission in the letter.
Hugh yawned and said, "Yesterday, I went to MI9!"
Fors abruptly stood up, looked Hugh over again, and asked with concern, "Are you...are you alright?"
It is said that the place is a place where vigilante justice is rampant and the judicial authorities have no right to intervene.
If a wild extraordinary person like Hugh, who has no powerful backing, were captured there, he would have almost no chance of coming out alive.
Xiu waved his hand: "It's nothing..."
She recounted her experience from yesterday afternoon, and to be honest, she herself found it somewhat surreal.
She was chased by a Sequence 7 leader, but only suffered minor injuries. She was taken to MI9 to give a statement, and everyone treated her with great respect.
"The leader!" It's all because of the "leader"!
It was the "leader" who repelled the Sequence 7 and escorted her safely to MI9.
It was the "leader" who helped her negotiate with the people from MI9, ensuring that they did not use any torture or interrogate her with their extraordinary abilities.
Thinking of this, Hugh said seriously, "Thanks to the 'leader's' protection, otherwise this commission would have gotten me into big trouble!"
Fors nodded: "We should indeed thank the 'leader,' but... but the leader probably won't even care about the 50 pounds you earned, right? How should we thank him?"
Xiu said, "At that time, the 'leader' used the excuse that I wanted to invite him to dinner to have the people from MI9 release me this morning."
"I've been thinking about it, how about I treat the 'leader' to a meal?"
Fors was slightly taken aback: "Just a meal?"
"Otherwise what?"
Fors glanced at her friend's flat chest and said, "That's right. Your face is somewhat cute, but as for your figure? Apart from some perverts, no one would make a move on you."
Hugh rolled his eyes: "Thank you for the compliment!"
...
By Wednesday morning, Odis had finally completed the orders for the "Mysterious Queen" and Klein.
In high spirits, he wrote a letter to Aria, a subordinate of the "Mysterious Queen," instructing her to come and collect the goods at any time. He also prayed to the "Fool," asking him to "tell" the "world" that the weapon he needed had been completed.
Soon, "The World" responded, hoping to complete the transaction immediately.
So Odis sacrificed a brand-new "flaming arrow" and a piece of paper recording the recipe and process for making its bullet to the "Fool".
A few minutes later, Odis used the bestowed ritual to obtain 600 pounds in cash, completing the transaction.
Odis was about to go out and buy herself a Fennepot grilled fish or a Dixie grilled meat when her pocket watch suddenly lit up again.
He immediately guessed that Hugh was probably going to treat him to lunch.
Unfortunately, the character of "leader" is a fictional creation, so it's best not to have him eat with others, as that would reveal many of Odis's own habits.
So Odis took out 5 soles and sent his assistant, Kena, to sell grilled fish and meat. He then took a carriage to 77 Hilton Avenue, disguised himself as the "leader," and used the "teleportation array" in the basement to meet Hugh.