Pesfield Street, the "Red Gloves" lounge.
Having finished writing the mission report and returned the sealed artifact, Leonard reclined on the sofa, completely lacking any gentlemanly manners, and looked at today's newspaper.
After the other "Red Gloves" member left the lounge, leaving Leonard alone, he heard an old man's voice in his ear: "You were just affected by a high-level sealed artifact."
The voice came from the "old man" inside Leonard, the angel Pales Zoroaster of the "Thief" pathway.
Leonard paused slightly upon hearing the voice, continuing to read his newspaper: "How come I didn't notice? Is it the sealed artifact on that informant, Odis?"
"No, although Odis also has many secrets, he is also affected by that sealed artifact," Pales said with a smile.
Leonard frowned: "Why didn't you remind me sooner?"
"Because that sealed artifact isn't meant to harm you, it's just stalling for time," Pales said. "If I had warned you earlier, you could easily have gotten involved in some strange and unusual events."
Leonard then asked, "What kind of sealed artifact is it?"
"The Pen of Alszukhod," Pales said bluntly.
Leonard jumped to his feet: "Where is it?"
"0-08" in Backlund means that Ince Zangwell is in Backlund.
"I don't know," Palles laughed. "What? Are you planning to report this immediately and then launch a city-wide manhunt for Ince Zangwell?"
Leonard narrowed his eyes slightly: "Such a vicious wanted criminal has been at large for far too long!"
"If your captain, Soster, asks you where you got the clue, how would you answer?"
Leonard opened his mouth, unsure how to respond for a moment.
"I've said it before, before you reach Sequence 5, just pretend you didn't hear this kind of news," Pales said seriously, a rare occurrence for him.
Leonard took a deep breath, temporarily suppressing the flames of revenge in his heart: "What is '0-08' aiming for this time?"
Pales said, "They probably don't want Karen and the others to catch that 'witch'."
Leonard frowned: "That witch..."
"I know nothing," Pales immediately said. "You'd better know nothing either."
Leonard didn't continue the topic, but instead asked, "Old man, '0-08' should know me, but does it know you?"
"Hehe." Pales chuckled and said, "'0-08' sounds terrifying, but an old man always has a way to deal with it."
The premise is that you don't mess with "0-08".
Leonard absentmindedly uttered an "Oh," as he had been pondering how to safely report the "0-08" intelligence to Soster.
But another problem arises: how do we find "0-08"?
Perhaps once the "red glove" takes action, "0-08" will be able to detect it.
Pales knew perfectly well that if this guy listened to his advice, he wouldn't be Leonard.
...
No. 66, Rose Street.
In the evening, Carl delivered the promised payment, a total of 300 pounds.
The two had a cup of coffee and chatted for a while before Carl left.
As Odis continued his research on the magic array in the "Wilderness of Knowledge" that evening, he immediately noticed the inconsistencies in what had happened that day the moment he entered!
He first lamented that he and Carl must have been out of their minds, dawdling so much after learning the killer's address, which gave the killer time to escape.
Or rather... there is time to transfer.
Odis "recalls" that Triss seems to have discovered that her life is being manipulated by some extraordinary force, and she has repeatedly tried to attract the attention of the official extraordinary beings in order to extricate herself.
Darren's request must be one of the efforts she made.
However, her little tricks were discovered, so "0-08" "reasonably" held off the official Extraordinary, while the "Witch Cult" took the opportunity to move Triss away and destroy all the clues there.
Odis smiled. It was good that he hadn't come into contact with Triss; he didn't want to get involved in this matter.
Then Odis calculated the date and realized that the "Great Smog" would occur next week. He planned to do something under Bernadette's protection.
He wasn't interested in George III's tomb; instead, he planned to save as many people as possible.
This was an idea he had long ago. When he first transmigrated three years ago, he felt it didn't matter whether he cared about it or not.
But after living in the city for a while, Odis saw homeless people on the streets, people who had gone bankrupt for various reasons, were kicked out by their landlords, and stood on the street looking bewildered.
At first, one might sigh and say, "This is a tragedy of our times."
Later, I saw that during the winter, homeless people were dying on the streets every day, while some people worked hard all day but still couldn't solve their food and clothing problems.
At that moment, Odis suddenly realized something: these were living, breathing people, not NPCs in a game. He didn't care what era it was, but he demanded of himself that he not be like most people of this time, indifferent to life.
So he had the idea of saving people.
Before meeting Bernadette, Odis's plan was: don't take risks, don't force things, save as many people as you can.
With Bernadette's protection, Odis felt she could save most people. If Bernadette were willing to strike back at the "Witch of Despair," perhaps this "great smog" would be just like a flu.
As for the fact that this smog made Klein feel the extraordinary disaster and the vulnerability of ordinary people, it had a very important meaning for him.
This has nothing to do with Odis. Just because he's the protagonist doesn't mean he should stand by and watch tens of thousands of people die, just to make him realize something.
Odis felt that if he did nothing, his condition would definitely deteriorate!
Another function of the "Great Smog" was that the royal family used the disaster to cover up the missing persons in Backlund.
This has nothing to do with Odis. The royal family doesn't pay him a salary, so why should he help those ambitious people cover up their conspiracies?
Guided by this idea, Odis planned to make a big splash in the following week.
After recalling his plan, Odis calmed himself and began to study the magic circle he had found in the ruins.
After making some more gains, Odis returned to the real world, went to her desk, opened her notebook, and wrote: I have something to discuss with you.
Then, he took a book, lay half-reclined on the bed, and read while waiting.
To Odis's surprise, by midnight she had received no response regarding Bernadette.
Logically speaking, Bernadette's "invisible servants" should come and visit occasionally.
He had no choice but to rest first and talk about it tomorrow.
At night, Odis had a dream in which he was walking on the street outside, surrounded by a bustling crowd.
Suddenly, Odis sensed danger ahead. Just as he was about to turn away, the pedestrians around him stopped and stared blankly at him.
Bang!
A pedestrian's head was blown open like a small bomb.
Thump thump thump~
This seemed to trigger a chain reaction, with heads around them exploding one by one, and blood and brain matter even began to flow onto the ground.
Odis wanted to escape, but her feet wouldn't budge.
Just then, Odis felt the whole world shake.
Whew~
He sat up abruptly, waking from a nightmare.
Odis was startled. Bernadette, who looked somewhat tired, was standing by the bed. It was she who had shaken Odis earlier.
Odis wiped his face and smiled helplessly: "I didn't expect to be scared by a nightmare."
The "mysterious queen" replied earnestly, "That's your spirituality giving you a warning."
"A warning?" Odis was slightly taken aback. "You... what does the 'Morse Ascetic Order' want to do?"
He realized that Bernadette's warning meant she must have discovered something dangerous to him, and that the danger likely came from the "Morse Penitentiary," given that she had recently been tracking senior members of the "Morse Penitentiary."
"They are somewhere in Backlund, performing a ritual to bring down an evil god," Bernadette said. "The ritual should have already begun."
Odis was taken aback at first, then said, "The official extraordinary beings didn't notice?"
"I don't know," Bernadette said. "This ritual may take several days, so they are doing it very discreetly. I still haven't found out where they are performing the ritual."
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Odis asked, "Not in that Quaternary ruin?"
"I didn't find them in there."
Odis wasn't too nervous: "The official extraordinary beings should be able to detect that, in the worst-case scenario, even demigods can't solve this problem, so they will definitely send angels to disrupt the 'Morse Penitentiary's' operation."
The "mysterious queen" remained silent.
Odis finally realized the seriousness of the situation: "Even the angels can't solve it?"
Bernadette replied, "I don't know either, but I do know that this ceremony was of a very high level!"
Odis put on her shoes, stood up, and stood in front of Bernadette: "Then what should we do?"
"I'm trying to figure something out too," Bernadette said. "If I can find any clues, I'll pass them on to the official Extraordinary through you."
Odis nodded: "No problem."
The "mysterious queen" then asked, "What do you want with me?"
Odis waved his hand: "Never mind, we'll talk about it later."
Clearly, the disaster caused by the "Morse Ascetic Order" is also dangerous, and the "great smog" issue can be put on hold for now.
Bernadette glanced out the window: "That ritual will surely emanate a lot of strange power. In the next few days, many extraordinary events will occur in Backlund."
After saying that, her figure faded and disappeared from Odis's room.
Odis took a deep breath and thought to himself: How could this happen so suddenly?
This event is not in his "memory"!
Then he thought: Why have I been encountering these high-level events lately? The Darrens' request seemed quite ordinary, but it was affected by "0-08". He originally wanted to talk to Bernadette about the "Great Smog" plan, but then he learned that the "Morse Ascetic Order" was carrying out a ritual to bring down an evil god.
Odis suddenly became alert. Everything seemed to make sense, but that was precisely where the problem lay.
He lay half-reclined on the bed again, entering the "wilderness of knowledge" through "meditation".
Here, he has a wealth of advanced knowledge and can think freely without any restrictions.
Odis thought about it carefully. He had been in this world for almost three and a half years, and only in the last few days had he frequently encountered high-level events.
This has happened three times so far: once when I went with Bernadette to explore the ruins of the Trensost Empire, once at the request of the Darrens, and once at the "Mors' Penitence" ceremony that I just learned about.
If it happens once or twice, it's not a big deal, but if you encounter or learn about such extraordinary events three times in a row, then it's definitely not a coincidence.
Odis then realized that all of this had to start with exploring the ruins of the Tronsust Empire.
Before that, the highest-level event he had ever encountered was the joint operation between the "Mechanical Heart" and the "Night Watchers".
As for the monitoring of him by the god of steam and machinery, this was a long-term event, and Odis did not directly encounter this god, so it cannot be considered an encounter.
Odis thought back carefully and, after the exploration was over, he carefully examined his condition and found that he had not been contaminated.
Was it at that time that my fate was manipulated by an unknown entity?
But who was manipulating fate? And how was it manipulated? He had no clue whatsoever.
Because the one who could manipulate their fate so secretly must be a high-level being, but he never encountered any high-level being from beginning to end.
He even wondered: Could it be that "0-08" is still paying attention to me?
After thinking for a while, since there were no clues, this was all I could think of for now.
Back in the real world, Odis certainly couldn't sleep, but he tried his best not to let his mind wander, because no matter what guesses he made now, there was no theoretical basis for them.
Let's deal with the immediate problem first.
He began to plan how to use his intelligence network to quickly determine the location of the "Morse Pentecostal" ceremony.
Soon, it was dawn.
After calming down for a few hours, Odis was no longer so anxious. He ate breakfast properly and then wrote a letter to Mandy, asking her to mobilize all the intelligence personnel to collect information on the strange things that had happened in Backlund in the past few days.
He then wrote to the Backlund Mechanics Society to remind them.
After giving the letter to a coachman who rents out carriages to deliver it to Mandy and the Mechanical Research Society, Odis returned to 77 Hailin Avenue via the "teleportation array" in the basement and took a carriage to preside over the Mystic Research Society.
Dressed as the "leader," Odis emerged from the basement and sat quietly in her seat, watching the members enter one by one.
At 8:30, Odis spoke up: "Let's begin."
He paused slightly and then said, "First, I'll issue a task."
The members were all taken aback. The "leader" rarely issued missions, and when he did, it meant that something dangerous or urgent was about to happen.
"Keep an eye on Backlund's movements for me," Odis said. "If you encounter or hear of any extraordinary events or strange occurrences, gather them up and bring them here to trade with me."
"30 pounds per event, no repeat transactions accepted."
Strange?
This task is somewhat strange.
Member "Hound" asked, "'Chief,' what happened?"
"I have received a secret message." Odis knew very well that now was not the time to hide it: "There is an evil and extraordinary organization that is setting up a ritual in Backlund, intending to bring down their evil god."