"Someone is following me!"
In the secret room, new sentences slowly appeared on the """wen hai hang zhi""" in front of Miss Dorothy. Looking at the words before her, Miss Dorothy murmured.
"As expected... I've been targeted."
Just as Miss Dorothy had expected, Naifnis was being followed. The cause of all this was likely her encounter with Mosans at the Golden Contract Bank.
According to Miss Dorothy's thoughts, the nonsensical questions Mosans asked Naifnis were likely a test, to see if Naifnis was a relatively experienced secret practitioner or a complete novice.
Based on Naifnis's description of her replies at the time, she was likely confirmed to be a secret novice, which led to that group tracking her. This suggests that this group might be specializing in targeting secret novices.
"I didn't expect to get targeted again just by buying something. Does Senior Nefelnis have some kind of special physique that makes her easily targeted?"
Miss Dorothy thought to herself, and then began to consider how to help Naifnis resolve this tracking issue.
'It's quite simple to deal with being tracked. Having Naifnis enter the Church District, return to the Golden Contract Bank, or even call the police are all options. While it might be hard to catch them, shaking them off shouldn't be a problem.
'These guys only started tracking her after confirming Naifnis is a secret novice, which proves they are looking for easy targets. This means their own strength isn't great. In that case, perhaps Nefelnis can solve her own problem herself.'
Thinking this way, Miss Dorothy also decided on a method to help Naifnis. So, Miss Dorothy picked up her pen again and drew a pattern on the """wen hai hang zhi""".
...
On the streets of East Tivian, Naifnis, who was riding in a carriage, was extremely anxious. She hadn't expected to be followed. The thought that someone had been behind her since she left the bank until now sent shivers down her spine.
"Miss Dorothy, what should I do now?"
Naifnis anxiously wrote on the history book in front of her. Facing this situation, she habitually sought Miss Dorothy's opinion. Not long after, Miss Dorothy's handwriting appeared on the book, replying to her.
What surprised Naifnis was that the reply wasn't words, but a pattern, a mark.
The pattern was an inverted pentagram within a circle. In the center of the inverted pentagram were two other symbols: one slightly larger, an open eye symbol; and one slightly smaller, a simplified ancient cup symbol.
"This symbol is..."
Looking at the strange symbol that appeared before her, Naifnis thought with confusion. Just as she was puzzled, another new passage of text appeared on the page.
"Find a way to draw this symbol on your hand, then look at it. After that, if you feel anything unusual, do not resist."
"Draw this symbol... on my hand?"
Looking at the pattern before her, Naifnis murmured. Although she was somewhat confused, she immediately followed Miss Dorothy's instructions. She took out her eyeliner from her makeup box in her bag and used the pen to draw on the back of her left hand. Soon after, she had completely drawn the symbol from the book onto her hand.
Due to Naifnis's major, her hands were more skilled, so the pattern she drew was even neater than Miss Dorothy's.
After finishing the drawing, Naifnis, following Miss Dorothy's instructions, focused her gaze on the pattern on her hand. After a while, she indeed felt a strange sensation appear in her mind.
This feeling was the same as when she faced Ci Rong at the River Irrigation Bridge entrance last time. Following Miss Dorothy's instructions, she did not resist this feeling.
After the strange sensation in her mind passed, Naifnis felt a new strange sensation. However, this time the sensation was not limited to her mind but extended throughout her entire body, causing Naifnis to feel a bit flustered for a moment.
Although she was a little panicked, Naifnis still listened to Miss Dorothy's words and did not resist this feeling.
After the second strange sensation passed, everything returned to normal. Naifnis felt that her body seemed to have undergone no changes. So, she wanted to write something on the book again to ask Miss Dorothy, but at this moment, she found that she couldn't move at all.
'What's going on? My body... I can't control my body anymore!?'
Naifnis thought in horror. However, her thoughts could not be translated into expression or language. Instead, at this moment, her mouth began to murmur softly, against her own will.
"Don't worry, Senior Nefelnis, I'll take care of those guys who are following you now. It'll only take a moment."
'I, I'm speaking on my own! And this tone... is Miss Dorothy?!'
Naifnis thought in surprise. At this moment, her body had already started moving uncontrollably. Naifnis watched herself put away her makeup box, close the book, and put everything she had taken out back into her bag.
After putting everything away, "Naifnis" spoke loudly, shouting to the carriage driver.
"Please stop, I'll get off here."
At "Naifnis"'s call, the driver slowly stopped the carriage by the side of the road. Immediately after, "Naifnis" got down from the carriage and prepared to pay the driver the fare.
As a result, "Naifnis" searched for a while but couldn't find the money.
"Senior Nefelnis, I can't find where you put your money. Pay the fare first, and then keep looking at that mark, don't resist, okay?"
Under the driver's somewhat impatient gaze, "Naifnis" turned around and muttered softly to herself. Then, suddenly, Naifnis found that she could feel her body again. At the moment control of her body returned, she almost fell over.
'I, I can control myself again!?'
After finally steadying herself, Naifnis looked at her hand and thought in astonishment. Just then, the driver's impatient voice came from behind her.
"Miss, are you paying the fare or not?"
"Oh! Right away."
The startled Naifnis quickly found the money on herself and paid the fare. After the carriage drove away, Naifnis stood in place.
At this moment, Naifnis remembered Miss Dorothy's earlier instruction, but she hesitated slightly about whether to follow it, because losing control of one's body was unsettling, to say the least.
It wasn't until Naifnis's peripheral vision accidentally caught sight of the tracking carriage parked by the side of the road not far away that she panicked and looked back at the symbol on the back of her left hand. Then, the strange sensation that spread throughout her body struck again.
Naifnis still did not resist the strange sensation. After the sensation passed, she felt her body being controlled again. After looking around, "Naifnis" took large strides forward and walked into a small alley.
Meanwhile, in a carriage parked by the side of the road not far away, Mosans and his subordinates also witnessed this scene.
"Boss, look, that girl got off and went in!"
"Let's follow her."
Mosans gave a stern command. Afterward, he and his subordinates all got out of the carriage together and walked towards the entrance of the alley that "Naifnis" had entered in the distance.