The other members were taken aback when Odis revealed some of the information he possessed.
Few dare to hold a ritual to invoke the descent of an evil god in Backlund, because several demigods reside in the city for extended periods, and many more demigods lurk in the shadows, representing their respective organizations and conducting transactions and other business in Backlund.
This is not a good place to hold a divine descent. The old man sitting next to you picking his toes might be a demigod who doesn't want an evil god to disturb his peaceful life.
So when the other party becomes aware of this ritual, they may very well try to disrupt it during the preparation stage.
The fact that a ceremony is still being held under such circumstances, and that the "leader" can still issue corresponding tasks, indicates that the other party's ceremony is very secretive. At least so far, we only know the relevant information, but we have not found the location where they hold the ceremony.
For Odis, the most crucial thing right now is to gather intelligence and make a judgment.
This opportunity also serves as a reminder to MI9 and the members of the secret organization hiding in Backlund.
While some among them may enjoy having their evil gods descend, they may not necessarily want to see other organizations send down their evil gods.
Therefore, Odis proactively released some information.
Member "Hound" asked again, "Which organization is conducting such a ritual?"
Oedipus replied, "The Ascetic Order of Morse."
The members whispered among themselves; as intelligence agents, they certainly knew about the "Morse Penitentiary."
However, this secret organization has never taken any extreme actions. Within the secret organization, it is not the kind of organization that is particularly dangerous or evil.
Why are they suddenly holding this ceremony? And in Backlund no less?
Hugh, sitting in the corner, was a little dazed and felt it was all unreal. She had originally planned to take on some missions to earn some extra money, but how did it suddenly get involved with the evil god?
The "hound," who possessed some advanced intelligence, asked again: "Are they going to send the 'Hidden Sage' to Backlund?"
Odis was about to nod when he suddenly recalled some other information he had received, so he shook his head and said, "I don't know either."
Beneath the mask, "the hound" was somewhat surprised: In other words, it was very likely that another evil god was about to descend!
It is surprising in itself that the "Morse Penitentiary" was not necessarily holding a ritual to bring down the "Hidden Sage".
Most of the other members, though not quite understanding what the two people's questions and answers meant, felt somewhat uneasy and apprehensive.
The arrival of an evil god means that Backlund may become a living hell! All sorts of unbelievable things will happen.
Odis waved his hand: "Let's begin."
This means that the task he just assigned can only provide this many clues.
At this moment, "Hound" suddenly said again: "'Chief', I have an important piece of information to trade with you."
Odis asked, "What kind of intelligence?"
"It involves a case that 'Mechanical Heart' is investigating."
Odis was slightly taken aback: "Alright, name your price."
"20 pounds."
No one paid much attention; at this gathering, intelligence transactions were generally between £10 and £30.
A £20 transaction is clearly not a very important matter.
However, when Odis received the note written in advance by the "hound," he was slightly taken aback.
The note read: "Danesi of the Operations Department introduced Corremond Donahue to the Duke of Celtic. They met this morning and seem to be plotting against you."
Odis put away the note: "I will inform 'Mechanical Heart'."
This is quite important intelligence. Let alone 20 pounds, even if "Hound" were to receive 200 pounds, it wouldn't be too much, since this is something only MI9 knows.
The price of 20 pounds for the "hunting dog" was clearly a smokescreen.
Odis took out two 10-pound notes from his wallet and continued to think about the matter as he watched the waiter hand them to the Hound.
Darnese is the head of the Operations Section of MI9. Last week, when he was helping Hugh solve the problem of an enemy spy organization, he threatened Odis and tried to steal Odis's spoils.
The Duke of Celt was a demigod loyal to the royal family, the one who appeared in the case of Capin.
It is said that he was actually the head of MI9, and that he and Georgina Augustus each headed two different intelligence agencies. Georgina was the King's personal intelligence officer, so the previous plans against the Fussacs were overseen by Georgina.
As for Corraymond, he was a section chief in the Operations Section of MI9, the one with a very high Adam's apple and a throat that looked like it was stuffed with an egg.
His younger brother was once one of the extraordinary bodyguards protecting Capin, but was shot and killed by Odis, so he has always harbored resentment and has been collecting evidence of the "leader's" crimes.
Given that Odis had just offended Danesi last week, his introduction of Corremond to Selt was not simply a matter of having tea and chatting.
This made Odis sigh inwardly; all these thorny problems had come together at once.
Odis tried to calm himself and listened to the members' transactions. The gathering member "Wolverine" issued another task: "Help me find a follower of a secret being called 'The Fool.' Just for finding a useful clue, you can get 100 pounds from me."
"If we find a true believer, we can receive at least a 300-pound reward!"
Behind the mask, Odis smiled to herself, thinking: I don't know if I count as a follower of "The Fool," but I know very well that you are looking for members like me who participate in the Tarot Club.
If it's simply about finding someone, the reward is quite generous.
If it were when Odis first arrived in Backlund, he would have wanted to tie himself up and collect the bounty.
Then he was rescued by the "Mechanical Heart".
At this moment, the sharp-tongued "Elephant" laughed and said, "Are you sure? What hidden being would call themselves 'The Fool'? It sounds stupid. Are all believers idiots?"
Odis looked at him with a smile, without making any comment.
"Wolverine" coldly replied, "This is someone who has demonstrated power in the real world."
The "elephant" pursed its lips, but dared not say anything more.
Joking aside, he definitely couldn't afford to offend the hidden forces within the extraordinary world.
Moreover, he was planning to leave Backlund, and this was his last time attending the party; he didn't want to get into trouble at this time.
Many members were interested in the "Wolverine" mission, but because the bounty was so high, they doubted whether the followers were all really that good.
"No, that's not it," Wolverine explained. "The difficulty of this mission lies in finding them, because I can't provide you with any clues about those believers."
The other members were stunned. So, whether they could find any clues for this mission depended entirely on luck.
After the "Wolverine" mission ended, the trading continued.
At the end of the gathering, Odis said, "I have some extraordinary materials here that you may find useful: the eyeballs of the giant apes of Mount Nasragu, the blood of the black fish, and dust formed from complete parasites."
"160 pounds per serving."
Materials at Sequence 9 don't command much of a premium unless someone is in a real hurry to buy them.
The members who had previously purchased the potion formula from Odis were initially taken aback, but then they began a buying frenzy and spontaneously started raising the price, which quickly reached 180 pounds.
Although the potion recipe is available, the main ingredients for Sequence 9 are not something you can find all at once. Three weeks have passed, and some people still haven't bought a single main ingredient.
Odis waved his hand and said, "There is more than one of these extraordinary materials. You don't need to bid against each other."
"Don't worry if you didn't manage to buy them. I can provide more of these three materials, but it will take some time before I can give them to you."
The main reason is that "Little Sun" is going on a new exploration, and new extraordinary materials can only be provided after he returns to Silver City.
Of course, "Little Sun" hasn't set off yet, but Odis doesn't have time to initiate a new deal with him right now.
After hearing what the "leader" said, the members who needed the materials breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hound" and the others speculated that the "leader" had somehow obtained access to extraordinary materials, enabling him to trade so many at once.
Although these are all materials at the Sequence 9 level, such a "large quantity and plenty" approach is rare.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Odis quickly sold all seven Sequence 9 potions he had, earning 1,120 pounds.
In addition, three other members also had trading needs, ordering extraordinary materials from Odis.
Once this transaction is completed, this gathering will also come to an end.
As usual, Odis watched the members leave, left some gold coins for the waiters to trade information with the other members, and made some arrangements in the basement before leaving.
...
19 King's Road.
This is the residence of Duke Celt. The Duke has black hair and golden eyes, and is dressed in formal attire, giving him a mature and refined air.
He was in the living room at that moment, receiving several guests.
Selt also had his own office at the headquarters of MI9, but he almost never appeared there. However, he was in real control of MI9.
Corraymond was last in line. He watched as people were called away and left, and he felt somewhat nervous.
When it was finally his turn, it was already around 10 a.m.
Led by the butler, Corymond finally met the real head of MI9 in the living room.
Even members of MI9 rarely saw the head of this department, and the person who was usually in the head's office was actually Duke Celt's secretary.
"Have a seat," Duke Celt said to Corymond without any expression. "I heard from Danesi that you have something very important to report to me?"
"Yes." Corymond did not sit down, or rather, he did not dare to sit down, because the Duke exuded tremendous pressure, causing Corymond to lower his head and not dare to look at him.
He took a deep breath, as if organizing his thoughts, before saying, "Someone has learned about some of our very important plans."
Selt didn't ask any questions, so Corremond continued: "In Backlund, there was a very famous intelligence officer who gave himself the code name 'The Leader'."
Serte nodded: "I know."
"He used to protect one of our informants, Hugh Deercha, and it was during this incident that he exposed a major secret," Corraymond said.
"I repeatedly questioned the members of the operations team who were also involved in the operation. At the time, the 'leader' had the waiter shout that he had crucial intelligence about Bruce…"
He paused for a moment before explaining, "Bruce was the 'Substitute Punisher' informant who sold intelligence to the Fursacs."
Claymond was unaware that it was a trap set by Georgina. He only knew that finding this informant was a very important task at the time, as it seemed that he had sold intelligence to an enemy country that had attracted the attention of the higher-ups, and that the King's Guard had even sent someone to kill him.
However, after communicating with the spirits, it was discovered that the secret had been leaked. As a result, MI9 received an urgent mission to investigate the people Bruce had contacted before his death, which led to the Hound issuing the mission at the occult research conference.
However, Claymond had no idea what information Bruce had betrayed.
Selt said again, "I know."
"On the surface, it may seem like nothing, but when we issued the mission, we didn't explain why we needed to investigate Bruce," Corraymond said. "But the 'leader' was very certain that as long as Bruce's name was mentioned, our people would definitely come to our aid!"
"According to the intelligence provided by Hugh Deercha, she did not know anything special about Bruce, and the 'leader' could not have obtained the corresponding intelligence from her."
"This shows that the 'leader' has a way of knowing about Bruce's special abilities."
"Given what happened with Kapin at the time, it's not surprising that the 'leader' could have guessed that our people were monitoring him."
"But if he has no problems, then he should assume that the members of the action team who were monitoring him were doing it for Kapin's case!"
"But the truth is, he used Bruce as an excuse to get our attention, which is very unusual."
"I think he must know some secrets about Bruce."
Selt pondered for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said, "If I remember correctly, the 'leader' seems to have killed your brother."
Corraymond felt even more pressure than before, and a fine layer of sweat immediately appeared on his forehead: "Although there is a personal grudge, I... I mainly did it because I didn't want MI9 to be deceived."
"Heh." Duke Celt chuckled. "That lie is clumsy, but in my opinion, only someone with a personal grudge would investigate so thoroughly."
At that moment, a servant hurried in and respectfully handed the Duke a telegram.
After glancing at the contents of the telegram, Celt said, "'The leader' is quite the talent when it comes to intelligence."
As he said this, he handed the telegram to Corraymond: "Take a look."
That was a report from "The Hounds," whose leader had just warned MI9 that a secret organization was conducting a ritual to bring down an evil god.
Selt remarked, "We hadn't received any relevant reports before this. No wonder Bishop Horamik was willing to personally protect this intelligence officer."
Claymond immediately realized that the director might not investigate the "leader," and he asked, "Then... what about the 'leader'...?"
Selt replied, "Immediately launch a special investigation into the 'Leader'! Once the investigation is complete, I will explain to the 'Mechanical Heart'."
Corraymond breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that he had made the right bet.
For Duke Celtic, the name Bruce concealed a very sensitive secret, and just to be on the safe side, he had to investigate it to put his mind at ease.
Even if it's just a suspicion, we must investigate thoroughly, and even if it offends "the mechanical heart," we must continue the investigation.
Corraymond smirked. The so-called 'special investigation' meant that the 'leader' could be arrested and interrogated first.
There's no need to provide evidence for "Mechanical Heart" or obtain an arrest warrant; anyone who sees him can be arrested, and those around him can also be arrested and interrogated.