Miss Yin Shuyao arranged a private room for her cousin and his friends on the second floor, in the deepest part of the establishment.
Next to them was the private, exclusive room that the mysterious Mr. Horatio had asked her to reserve, which was not to be used for receiving other guests.
What puzzled her, however, was that the room did not seem special in any way.
It wasn't larger, nor was its interior more luxurious; it was ordinary, with no discernible special features.
She had suggested to Mr. Horatio that he switch to a larger, better room, but he still insisted on that one.
Further to the left of the exclusive private room was another private room, for which Mr. Horatio had not placed any restrictions.
Because it was more secluded, it would have fewer guests coming and going than other rooms, making it more private and secure, which was why Yin Shuyao chose it.
The young men took their seats, and Yin Shuyao first handed them the menu.
man took a sip of water, walked in, and greeted them warmly, "Are you Angers's classmates?"
"Yes, Uncle," the young men replied kindly.
"Please, have a seat. You can order anything you like; I'm skilled at preparing every dish. Xiao Yao, please bring some good wine for your cousin and his classmates first. I'll personally prepare some appetizers; I can't leave your entertainment to those newly hired ordinary cooks."
"Ah… you're truly too hospitable, Uncle," the mixed-race youth and his classmates, somewhat unaccustomed to man's enthusiasm, whispered among themselves:
"Hey, Angers, is your uncle always like this?"
Angers smiled and nodded, "Yes, everyone on my mother's side of the family is very warm."
After taking their orders, Yin Shuyao bowed with a smile, "Then, Cousin and gentlemen, if you wish to order more, you can ring the bell, and I will return."
"Alright, thank you, lovely lady," the lively youth led the others in responding to Yin Shuyao.
She carefully closed the door, ensuring it was tightly shut.
Soon, a soft rhythmic tapping on the table accompanied a youthful, vibrant song from inside. The singing, though somewhat soft and ethereal through the door, was still clear: "Do you hear people sing?…"
Yin Shuyao, holding her notepad, turned and walked downstairs, humming this popular folk song from the Middle Hive.
She didn't know who wrote the song, only that the Citizen Army would lead and encourage everyone to sing it during protests and demonstrations. Its melody was uplifting, and its lyrics were powerful, so over time, she learned to hum it too.
She slowly descended the stairs, and just as she reached the last step, a familiar young voice spoke.
"You seem to be in a very good mood today, Miss Yin."
Yin Shuyao froze instantly, then slowly turned her gaze to her side.
The mysterious Childer of Loyalty was dressed like a young factory owner.
Compared to his true identity, his current attire was too unassuming.
He wore a simple English flat cap that perfectly covered most of his face, combined with his deliberately restrained aura and the plain casual wear popular in the Middle Hive, so much so that she didn't recognize him sitting beside her at first glance.
[When did he arrive?!]
"What's wrong?" Seeing Yin Shuyao frozen in place, Horatio, who had never seen her like this before, asked curiously.
"Nothing, Mr. Horatio. When did you arrive?"
"Just now," he replied with a smile.
"I didn't recognize you at all."
"So, this disguise seems to be quite effective?" Horatio looked into her eyes, tapped his flat cap, and asked with feigned nonchalance.
The girl nodded, instantly realizing he was checking the effectiveness of his disguise.
"Mr. Horatio, are you preparing…?"
Horatio nodded, and the girl immediately understood, asking no further questions.
The young man stood up; she discreetly walked towards the bar, and Horatio followed behind her, then turned and entered a VIP room next to the bar.
A square louvered window was set into the wall between the bar and this room.
"What would you like to drink today?" The girl outside the window, her smile restored, asked considerately.
"'Warrior's Proof'."
"No problem."
The girl took out a small amount of gin, brandy, vodka, and dark rum, mixed them with sour fruit juice and pure water. This was 'Warrior's Proof'.
This was a strong liquor originating from the port district.
The most widely circulated story is that during the Gothic War, Sailors created this drink to draw courage from alcohol and demonstrate their resolve to fight Chaos to the death.
Its ingredients were simple; during the Gothic War, supplies were interrupted, and all types of alcohol became scarce.
Sailors drank whatever they had on hand, and if there wasn't enough, they mixed several types of alcohol with water.
After the Gothic War, this drink spread, and over time, what was originally an unremarkable liquor was imbued with the special meaning of "victory in every battle" due to its glorious historical story.
As for Yin Shuyao, according to their pre-arranged code, Horatio ordering this drink meant he wanted her to hand over all the intelligence she had organized to him.
"Where is Yoyo? I haven't seen her in a while." The girl stood in front of the louvered window, performing various skillful movements with her hands as she mixed the drink. She spoke in a low voice, barely audible to anyone but the two of them.
"She's fine, just a bit busy lately, which is why I came here to order the drink myself," Horatio said through the louvered window.
With a graceful upright bottle flip, the bottle rested steadily on Yin Shuyao's fair and delicate hand. After mixing the drink, she placed the glass on a cloth-covered tray, opened the louvered window, handed it in, and then closed the louvered window again.
Once she had closed the dark green louvered window, Horatio took the glass from the tray, flipped open the placemat, and beneath it lay a neatly placed small notebook.
Horatio opened it, scanning the text quickly, ten lines at a time.
The Labor Gang agents of the Black Wing Society, under conditions of assured secrecy, had pre-reconnoitered the terrain near the giant ritual site of the 'Lord of Flesh'.
They had also infiltrated a significant number of personnel who could create chaos on site when the time came, ultimately coordinating with the Imperial official military forces led by Horatio to catch the Cultist off guard.
Quickly memorizing the secret code for summoning the undercover personnel, Horatio destroyed the small notebook with the flame from a candlestick and placed a new one in its place.
This new notebook contained his instructions for the Black Wing Society to investigate the mysterious 'Club' and the location of the illegal publishing house. It also included a check to cover the Black Wing Society's operational expenses and the cost of bribing informants.
He then covered it with the cloth, picked up the glass, and drank the liquor in one gulp.
He opened the louvered window again and handed the tray with the empty glass to Yin Shuyao.
The girl took it from his hand, routinely placing the tray beneath the bar where no one could see, and discreetly extracted Horatio's mission instructions from it.
Then, she used her fair, slender fingers to twist a handle nearby, three turns clockwise, three turns counter-clockwise.
A hidden cabinet slowly extended, and the girl used her fair, slender hand to slip the small notebook into the designated mechanism cabinet.
Their secret intelligence transfer proceeded naturally, without any discernible clues.
Based on the demands of the current special period, Horatio instructed the Black Wing Society to spread its secret network throughout the entire Vegas District.
Leveraging worker clubs and small Labor Gangs spontaneously formed within various professions.
Many members had worked alongside their fellow workers at the same workstation for decades; their relationships could be as close as family.
Through these relationships, Labor Gang members developed informants, which was both naturally concealed and highly effective.
With single-line contacts, the intelligence circle spread outward layer by layer. The informants did not know who they were working for, but they knew that what they saw could be exchanged for money, for scarce resources that could improve their lives.
Therefore, in their daily lives, they paid extra attention to strange and unusual events and locations, then recorded them, secretly exchanging them for a small sum of money with their 'guides' who developed them.
These complex and disorganized pieces of intelligence would ultimately be gathered by the Black Wing Society, and then screened and cross-referenced by Horatio's trusted confidants.
First, information that appeared frequently and had a high occurrence rate would be selected. The more people reported the same event, the higher its authenticity was proven to be.
Then, from these, information clues that met the mission requirements and were noteworthy would be selected and handed over to Yoyo and other agents for investigation and verification.
Finally, the Black Wing Society would hand over the screened and verified information to Yin Shuyao for systematic organization, ultimately delivering it to Horatio.
He himself didn't need to spend much time; from the Navy Department Fortress, without even stepping outside, he could know who was causing trouble thousands of meters beneath his feet.
However, such convenience did not come without a cost.
Currently, a substantial amount of funds is required each month to maintain the normal operation of this intelligence network.
This couldn't help but make Horatio begin to ponder the increasingly massive funding chain.
And the future direction of the Black Wing Society after this incident concludes.