Chapter 128
Lily’s Killing Intent
Lily followed the Antler, wandering through the vast architectural space. She explored the spatial structure of this building. It appeared to be square, yet it felt like a maze—each of the four walls of a room could potentially hide a door or a passage. However, there were rarely rooms that led in all four directions; most typically connected to two or three.
According to Antler, this was a common architectural style from the Giant Dynasty era. There were no L-shaped corridors, and the entire structure was composed entirely of square and rectangular rooms. It was said that this was due to the giants’ blind spots in their vision, making them vulnerable to sneak attacks when passing corners. The sturdy walls, combined with these labyrinthine paths, would force large groups of people to disperse upon entering, becoming compressed into small, narrow “streams” of individuals. Giants disdained the use of traps; otherwise, Lily felt that traps alone would have been sufficient to eliminate a large number of them.
—Consequently, the giants were likely indeed safe from ambush. Lily was acutely aware that Antler had gotten lost—they had passed the same room three times already, yet Antler was completely oblivious to their predicament. Lily, on the other hand, was gradually discerning the path.
The reason for getting lost was simple. The giants’ craftsmanship seemed subpar, resulting in their walls not being uniformly thick. They hadn’t constructed the entire building and then divided it into rooms; rather, it appeared they built each room individually and then expanded outwards to form a structure. As a result, the four walls of the same room might even have different thicknesses. This caused some rooms to be misaligned—turning left, turning left, turning left, turning left, when one should have completed a circle, they were unable to return to the initial room.
Lily’s Spider Silk Perception, however, was increasingly clearly mapping the building’s outline in her mind. Once she could perceive the thickness of the walls, she would no longer get lost here.
While they were taking a detour, Lily, under the guise of “Mr. Gray,” struck up a conversation with Antler. After Lily expressed her curiosity about the Round Table Hall, she keenly sensed that Antler seemed to perceive her as a member of the Strangler Gang. Perhaps it was because Lily’s strangulation skills appeared exceptionally proficient, and the gangs in the Lloyd District already had a considerable number of low-level Extraordinary individuals who followed the Path of Love and Path Adaptation, leading to this misidentification.
Following that, Antler began to strongly imply that he had an inseparable connection with “the organization above your head.” Lily surmised he could only be referring to the Lloyd Society. Although Lily didn’t understand what the mission entailed, she could keenly sense Antler’s intentions. Besides currying favor and building connections, his words were also a test of Lily’s identity—if “Mr. Gray” was indeed a member of the Strangler Gang, then he would undoubtedly know that the Lloyd Society managed the Strangler Gang.
Lily had certainly not had contact with these factions before. Fortunately, when Eivass joined the Lloyd Society, Lily had accompanied him throughout as his personal maid. On their way back, Eivass had already told her about the relationships between the various gangs in the Lloyd District and the Lloyd Society. Therefore, Lily did not admit to being a member of the Strangler Gang. Instead, she boldly escalated, claiming to be a member of the Lloyd Society and citing a high-ranking individual whose codename was similar to hers. To avoid exposing Eivass, she specifically chose someone else whom Eivass did not know.
“…Madame Gray Green?”
Antler clearly recognized this individual and responded naturally, “I’m not very familiar with her, as she primarily manages private lending operations and oversees the small gangs in the Lloyd District, running her own casinos and nightclubs—am I correct? However, I have a very good relationship with your Vice President Boka… one might even call us close friends.”
“Then I would guess you are a minister,” Mr. Gray’s deep voice echoed from the Void. “Vice President Boka has hinted multiple times that he has a close relationship with a certain minister. And you seem so familiar with the Round Table Hall…”
“No need to test me,” Antler laughed heartily. “I am that Dross.”
—Since he was from the Lloyd Society, he was one of their own. Daring to participate in the New Moon Ritual, and appearing not to be a foolish individual who couldn’t see through his own cards… he even recognized Madame Gray Green. Judging by the codename, he seemed to have a good relationship with Madame Gray Green. He was likely her direct subordinate.
“Gray Green” was no pushover. As an Extraordinary at the peak of the Fourth Tier, she was essentially Avalon’s most formidable assassin. Although she had reached middle age and her physical strength had slightly declined, her experience had become even richer, and she had grown more cunning, making her even harder to deal with. She still held a considerable amount of compromising information on many of the Round Table Hall ministers, allowing her to resolve issues by leveraging others’ strengths rather than resorting to her own direct intervention. No wonder “Mr. Gray” wanted to inquire about these matters; he probably intended to use the information to please Gray Green.
This “Mr. Gray” was at least a mid-level member of the Lloyd Society, with his first Path likely around the Third Tier. Although this was his first Ascension Ritual for his Path Adaptation, his skills in Path Adaptation were clearly more polished than those of a typical newcomer. He was highly likely to be a disciple personally trained by Gray Green, inheriting the Mystical Arts she wielded. Gray Green excelled in unparalleled stealth abilities and her exquisite poison-killing techniques.
Antler had originally planned to have Gray Green assassinate his secretary to silence him. However, Madame Gray Green was busy with other matters recently and had not accepted the order. He hadn’t expected the Iris Flower’s spy to be a step ahead. Before he could successfully issue the mission, they had already assassinated Secretary Ruff, and incidentally exposed his involvement in the dangerous goods smuggling. Fortunately, his usual image was favorable, and he held considerable leverage over many individuals in the Round Table Hall, which allowed him to stabilize the situation. Nevertheless, he had to cease his activities. If he caused any more trouble, he might truly be in danger.
With this thought, he decided to befriend Mr. Gray, and thereby establish a connection with Madame Gray Green through this relationship. The next time such a situation arose, he would immediately notify Madame Gray Green to resolve it. As the Kingdom’s Trade Minister, he was exceptionally skilled at utilizing others’ networks. An inconspicuous individual could potentially lead to useful contacts he normally couldn’t reach after just two or three intermediaries. Therefore, if possible, he should offend no one. This was the art of hedging his bets.
However, upon hearing Antler’s words, Mr. Gray fell silent. After a long while, he cautiously inquired, “What is your full name? What is your secretary’s name? What is the name of your illegitimate child?”
This was a verification of his identity. Hearing these questions, Antler smiled. Upon hearing these questions, he immediately confirmed Mr. Gray’s intentions. He was also certain that Mr. Gray was from the Lloyd Society and was indeed one of Madame Gray Green’s subordinates!
“I am Charles Dross. My chief personal secretary was John Ruff, who was assassinated by an Iris Flower spy not long ago… the same person I contacted Madame Gray Green through Vice President Boka to assassinate. It was just that the Madame was too busy recently, which caused a slight delay. As for an illegitimate child… in truth, I have no illegitimate child. I only have an illegitimate daughter, the child of a prostitute. That was one of my few experiences of being defrauded, a source of my shame. I’ve forgotten her name; that prostitute gave it to her. She should be working as a servant in the Moriarty Family now.”
Antler said seriously, “That prostitute was insane and even wanted me to marry her… It took me considerable effort to deal with her before. That was also the first business I entrusted to Madame Gray Green.”
These were the secrets hidden behind the three questions that “Mr. Gray” had mentioned. Both “secretary” and “illegitimate child” were targets he had previously commissioned Madame Gray Green to assassinate. Mr. Gray’s ignorance that it was an illegitimate daughter rather than an illegitimate son could have two explanations: either Madame Gray Green did not relay the details to them, or he intentionally provided incorrect information to verify if he was the true Dross.
Antler continued, “That girl is now taken by her master to be an auditor at the Royal Law University. She might come into contact with my granddaughter now… just in case, I still wish to ask Madame Gray Green to eliminate her as well. Last time, I was slightly soft-hearted and did not accept the ‘package deal’ Madame Gray Green offered. But I must say, I regret it now. She should die quietly, without anyone discovering she was murdered. Let the Moriarty Family bury her normally. After you leave, report this to Madame Gray Green. I want to see news of her death within a month, and I will transfer the money to the agreed-upon account afterward.”
Antler had no fear of being defrauded by leaking his information in the dream. The use of information had a threshold. Not everyone could utilize it. Waking up from a dream inherently meant forgetting many things… knowledge from dreams could not be verified by a lie detector, thus it could not be used as evidence. Even searching one’s memory could not reveal parts related to the Dream Realm. On the black market for Extraordinary individuals, people often sold small booklets detailing their experiences in the Dream Realm. While some contained lost secrets, most were mere ravings. The writing quality of most was poor, often disjointed, some akin to sleep-talking. The content was also mixed with numerous details overlooked due to poor eyesight or forgetfulness, self-serving deductions made with poor reasoning, exaggerations and artistic embellishments of details, self-invented completions of things they hadn’t actually seen, and some individuals deliberately wrote incorrect information to conceal secrets. Such items did not fetch high prices, nor could they be considered evidence or leverage.
Let alone Mr. Gray of the Lloyd Society, he would not be afraid even in front of Madame Red and Inspector Gordon. At the level of Minister Dross, any suspicion without concrete evidence was useless against him. Even with concrete evidence, it might not be effective—as long as he was still useful to Queen Sophia, and as long as the Round Table Hall did not wish for his dismissal, he would at most receive a stern lecture from Her Majesty the Queen. Therefore, placing orders in dreams was the safest approach, and the Ascension Ritual was the simplest method to enter the Dream Realm.
Whether it was smuggling orders to the King or assassination orders to Mr. Gray, a lack of evidence meant a lack of evidence. The entire conversation here would leave no trace, and even if someone relayed it to another, its credibility could not be guaranteed.
“I will report to Madame Gray Green,” Mr. Gray’s voice became lower and more indifferent.
Just then, a heart-wrenching howl erupted from afar. It wasn’t a cry of pain from being attacked… it sounded more like a lovesick man spurned, or a gambler who had lost his fortune. —That was “Lightning’s” voice!
“Go and see.” Antler’s expression immediately turned serious, and he commanded in a low voice.
