Igwinte at night, Sunnyside Flower Street, the bright moon hung high, and the evening wind was bleak.
The cool evening wind rustled the tall, lush trees lining the street. At this late hour, the lights in the windows on both sides of the street had mostly been extinguished, with only a few windows still showing light.
On the red-brick apartment building, a window was open. Grego was leaning on the windowsill of his room, looking out at the distant park while smoking a cigarette. The ash dripped into the flower bed below, and the large puffs of smoke he exhaled were carried away by the evening wind.
Having endured a day without smoking, Grego was now taking the opportunity to enjoy the pleasure of tobacco. Meanwhile, on the wall not far away, a pair of eyes watching him showed a hint of impatience.
'Why don't you smoke less? How many have you had? Are you trying to die...'
In her own room, Dorothy sat at her desk, watching Grego smoke one cigarette after another by the window through the vision of the gecko Corpse Puppet. Since she started monitoring Grego's window, he had been smoking continuously, without stopping. He had smoked several in a row, which made Dorothy feel a little anxious.
'It seems I can subtly inform him about the dangers of smoking if I get the chance later...'
Dorothy thought silently to herself. Then she saw Grego finally finish his last cigarette and quietly walk back into his room.
Seeing this, Dorothy quickly controlled the gecko Corpse Puppet to crawl to the room's window, observing the situation inside the room from the top of the window. Because Grego's sharp perception in the Vokan forest had left a deep impression on Dorothy, she didn't dare to control the gecko to enter the room.
In his room, Grego sat down at his desk. After lighting the gas lamp in front of him, he opened a desk drawer with a key, took out a small bag from it, and pulled out a pile of reports filled with writing.
Facing the dense words on the report papers in front of him, Grego frowned, then scratched his head. After taking a deep breath, he began to read, occasionally writing something down with the steel pen in his hand.
Grego's expression was somewhat impatient at this time, but the gecko outside the window's eyes lit up. Dorothy could directly see the content of the reports placed on the desk through the gecko's vision.
The corpses revived by the Corpse Puppet Ring are not the various 'undead spirits' Dorothy encountered in games before, but a type of 'living corpse'. Its principle is to reactivate the recently deceased flesh and blood bodies with the Spirituality of the "Cup", using Spirituality as power to drive the bodies to move and remain fresh as if they were alive.
Therefore, as long as the Corpse Puppet transformation is timely, many organs on the body can function normally. Dorothy had experimented; if her control was strong enough, she could even control the Corpse Puppet to speak, because the tongue and other organs remained fresh and intact.
In a sense, the bodies manipulated by the Corpse Puppet Ring are walking corpses fed by the Spirituality of the "Cup". Compared to traditional undead spirits in fantasy works and horror movies, they are more like zombies infected by a virus in zombie films. This also fits the nature of the "Cup".
It is precisely because Corpse Puppets have this nature that Dorothy can borrow some super senses that originally belonged only to animals, such as the gecko's vision.
The gecko's vision is extremely sharp, especially at night. It can enlarge its pupils four times, greatly enhancing its eyesight, to the point where Dorothy could clearly see every word written on the documents on Grego's desk from a long distance away.
Thus, Dorothy indulged in peering at the An Yin Bureau's secret documents.
"Regarding... the report on Red Communion Society member, 'Thirster' Abbott... So the Holy Communion Society contact person in Vokan was named Abbott. According to this report... the An Yin Bureau's raid on his home yielded nothing except a few human bones, suggesting crucial clues were destroyed. Close associates were also interrogated without results, and this situation has occurred more than once... The news must have leaked..."
Peering at the document on the desk in the distance, Dorothy thought this. She felt a hint of worry that the Red Communion Society could predict the An Yin Bureau's actions.
While thinking, Dorothy continued to peer at the documents on Grego's desk. Since Dorothy's reading speed was much faster than Grego's, and Grego sometimes had to scratch his head and flip through a dictionary while reading a report, Dorothy finished a page before Grego had even turned it. This inefficiency made Dorothy feel impatient.
'He's like this even after becoming a civil servant. There's no hope for him. I don't know how desperate the An Yin Bureau was for talent to recruit him...'
Facing Grego's inefficiency, Dorothy couldn't help but complain, but she could only follow Grego's pace and wait for him to slowly turn the page.
"Captain's meeting cancellation notice... Fifth Squad unable to return due to mission... Are there so many hunter squads in Igwinte? It's already the Fifth Squad... And why would Grego have a Captain's meeting cancellation notice... Could he be..."
As Grego turned the page, looking at the note tucked inside, Dorothy couldn't help but complain... She found it hard to believe Grego could hold a high position.
Grego continued to flip through the documents on the desk, and Dorothy also randomly peered at various pieces of information. Because it was random peering, many of the documents she saw were obscured in one way or another, so the information she obtained was extremely fragmented and difficult to piece together into anything meaningful for a while.
Just as Dorothy's mind was getting a bit confused by the fragmented information, Grego's steel pen suddenly dropped to the ground and rolled under the desk. Taking advantage of the moment Grego bent down to pick up the pen, Dorothy saw a relatively complete report page.
...
Regarding the matter of "Gray Hill" holding a mysterious gathering again, although he has been advised not to hold a gathering recently, "Gray Hill's" stubbornness is as always, the advice was ineffective. "Gray Hill" threatened to terminate cooperation with us and cut off the supply of spirit-suppressing bullets, so Mr. James had to agree, but has requested him to reduce the scale of the gathering.
As usual, "Gray Hill's" gathering does not welcome us. The Fourth Squad is on standby nearby to handle emergencies at any time, and the Third Squad is providing support.
This gathering involves the transaction of extraordinary items and materials. "Gray Hill" promises to record all transaction item information for us, and afterwards we have the right to confiscate dangerous goods among them.
Since extraordinary material transactions are involved, people from the Red Communion Society will also participate in this gathering, but it is difficult to determine their identities.
The gathering time is 3:00 PM on April 16th, and the location is 27 Dark Water Lane in the Lower District. Please have the standby teams in place on time.
...
"Extraordinary items and material transactions?"
After reading the document, Dorothy's eyes lit up. She couldn't help but stroke her chin and begin to ponder something.
If she wants to accumulate Spirituality now, the methods are to eat materials rich in Spirituality or directly absorb mysterious knowledge with Spirituality.
Dorothy was currently worried about where to get materials and knowledge. This gathering has potential!