Royal Saint Crown University, King's Campus.
The sky was clear and the sun was bright. The afternoon sun shone through the windows onto the ancient corridor. Students in various attire walked forward in twos and threes, chatting and laughing, and Naifnis was among them.
Naifnis had no companions. She walked alone down the corridor, weaving through the crowd. Her expression was calm, her steps steady, and she walked firmly forward. Although her expression was serious, her beautiful figure and ample chest still attracted the gaze of passing male students. Some male students walking with their girlfriends turned their heads for a while, attracted by Naifnis, before being pulled back by their girlfriends pinching their ears.
'Mr. Brandon said he wanted me to go to the meeting point today to guide the 'Eyes' for him. Does that mean something is following me in secret right now?'
As she walked, Naifnis thought this. And indeed, just as she thought, something was following her now.
At this moment, on the ceiling of the corridor, a small gecko was clinging there, silently following Naifnis's steps. Dorothy herself was currently controlling it from inside the school library.
Dorothy needed Naifnis to lead the way, to guide her small Corpse Puppet to the Secret Knowledge Society's meeting point. There, Dorothy would have a chance to find that Ci Rong.
As long as she could monitor Ci Rong around the clock, the secrets of the Eight Point Nest within this school would be fully revealed to Dorothy.
So now Dorothy needed Naifnis to lead her to the meeting point. According to Naifnis, that was the only place where Ci Rong would appear.
Naifnis proceeded through the campus at a steady pace. She turned and passed through several corridors consecutively, going to increasingly remote areas. The people around her became fewer and fewer. Finally, she entered an empty Stone tower, and from the spiral staircase inside the tower, she looked down all the way, eventually arriving before a wooden door.
Naifnis stopped in front of the wooden door, then knocked a few times according to a pattern. A small hidden window on the door opened, and a pair of eyes inside looked at the scene outside. After that, the small window closed, and the wooden door opened.
"Welcome back, comrade, for the cause of Mr. Ci Rong." The tall male student guarding the door said to Naifnis, and Naifnis also respectfully replied.
"The will of Mr. Ci Rong is the highest goal we pursue..."
After replying, Naifnis walked through the door, and the small gecko also took the opportunity to crawl in.
What appeared before Naifnis here was a large, dimly lit room. The room was supported by several pillars. The windows around were small and few, and were set high up with glass. The sunlight shining in through the windows was limited, so some gas Lights were needed indoors to assist with lighting.
The room was filled with tables and chairs, as well as towering bookshelves. Several students could be seen inside. They were either reading seriously, or kneeling by the wall praying with bowed heads, or muttering incessantly in a dazed state, or shrinking in a corner, scanning around suspiciously.
In a prominent position on one wall, a banner was hung with a slogan that read, "Seek the Unknown, Remember the Boundary." However, this slogan was currently being taken down by two students using ladders, and another one was being put up: "Following Mr. Ci Rong, We Have No More Boundaries!"
While observing the familiar surroundings, Naifnis walked forward. Just then, a girl with short chestnut hair ran up beside her. She patted Naifnis on the shoulder and said with a smile.
"Hey! Neff, you came really early today!"
"Ah... Daisy, you startled me." Startled by the girl beside her, Naifnis said, patting her chest. The other girl looked at Naifnis for a couple of seconds and then replied seriously.
"Why would you be startled? This is in the society, the most secure place for everyone. I saw you were restless just now, do you have something on your mind... I think you..."
Under Daisy's gaze, Naifnis's expression froze on her face, her eyes widened slightly, and her heart pounded fiercely.
Just then, Daisy's tone changed, and she continued speaking with a smile.
"I think you have a boyfriend, my little Neff, you've finally figured it out~"
"No way! Don't talk nonsense!"
Hearing Daisy's words, Naifnis immediately blushed and reached out to push the other girl's head down. The other girl, after standing up again, apologized with a laugh.
"Hahaha, sorry, sorry, just kidding. I just think Neff is a bit proactive today, coming to the society so early. Usually, you come very late." With a hint of playfulness, Daisy said to Naifnis, and the latter responded with a smile.
"Ah... that... I also wanted to see if Mr. Ci Rong is here today. It's been a really long time since I saw Mr. with my own eyes, almost three months, right? I really yearn to see him again now."
"Ah... I see. I understand how you feel. If you can't suppress your yearning for Mr. Ci Rong, it's like this. So you should read Mr. Ci Rong's hidden classics properly. As long as you've read five books like me, you can enter the inner area. The chances of seeing Mr. Ci Rong there will be higher."
"But you're lucky today, Mr. Ci Rong is in the outer area now. He's preparing to raise a new round of donations," Daisy said with a smile. Hearing her words, Naifnis was slightly startled.
"Raising donations? Didn't we just donate half a month ago?"
"That was half a month ago. It's been so long now, it's normal to raise donations again. This time, I deliberately lied and said I broke my leg at school, asking my family to send me 10 pound. This time I can finally donate more."
"Also, do you remember Andy who was pursuing me last time? I'm planning to agree to date him, and then show him Mr. Ci Rong's collection and bring him into the society. His family is quite rich. As long as I bring him in, I'll have made a greater contribution to Mr. Ci Rong."
...
Daisy talked endlessly beside Naifnis. Looking at her friend's current appearance, Naifnis responded with a forced smile, while also secretly clenching her lowered fists.
'Daisy... I will definitely make you normal again...'
...
On the other side, after Dorothy's gecko Corpse Puppet entered the meeting point, it began to crawl around on the ceiling and walls, searching for the figure of the so-called Ci Rong. After a while, at the entrance of a corridor, Dorothy discovered the target's figure.
It was a corridor covered in cobwebs. Perhaps because it hadn't been used for years, the ceiling, walls, and floor of the corridor were covered with a layer of fine and thin cobwebs. At the entrance of this cobweb-filled corridor, two figures were standing there.
One was wearing a proper black suit and black leather shoes, was relatively tall, had short brown-yellow hair, and wore a short top hat and a mask. The mask had a black base with white patterns, and the white patterns were radial lines. The other was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man with a mustache. He looked like someone from outside the school and was talking about something with the masked man in the black suit."
'Found him...'
Seeing the masked man, Dorothy thought to herself. Then she controlled the gecko Corpse Puppet to quickly crawl closer from the ceiling, eavesdropping on what the other person was saying.
"Mr. Ci Rong... we've searched all over Green Shade Town, but we haven't found Barron and Thomas. The people inside No. 23 have also completely disappeared. Not only the police can't find them, we can't find them either. It's as if they completely vanished into thin air!"
The middle-aged man said to the masked man named Ci Rong, and the latter replied thoughtfully.
"That so-called lost and found place is indeed problematic. Those two are probably in grave danger now. I don't know if they broke in themselves and got killed, or if they were discovered and killed..."
"In short, some unknown party must have intervened in this school again, and they even used divination as soon as they arrived. Hmph, is this a declaration of war?"
While speaking, Ci Rong looked at his subordinate in front of him, and then continued.
"Regarding the matter of No. 23, are there any other findings?"
"There are very few other findings... Hmm... We only know that the owner of that house rented it using a fake ID. There were gunshots inside, and a fight occurred. Also... someone once saw a woman enter that house as well, but he was far away at the time and couldn't see exactly what she looked like. He only knew she was a woman with slightly dark skin and a good figure, possibly even a student from this school!"