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墨書 Inktalez
Cui Ming rarely did paperwork and found it hard to concentrate on writing aboard the yacht. From after dinner until early morning, Cui Ming had been busy, meticulously noting down everything, including some symbols of the magic circles that he could remember, though they were somewhat scattered.
Finally finishing the task, Cui Ming let out a sigh of relief. Sitting for too long had left him with a sore back, so he decided to take a shower and then lay down in bed to rest. In a daze, he felt someone lean against him. When Cui Ming opened his eyes, he saw Miss Fortune beside him. She had covered her face with a black cloth, but he could still easily identify her.
Before Cui Ming could react, Miss Fortune placed her finger on his lips, then moved it to his eyes, gently urging him to close them.
...
Cui Ming woke up to find it was already morning. He looked to his left; his arm was still in a pillow-like position but was empty. He rolled over and got out of bed, heading to the bathroom only to find no one there. Returning to his bed, he sat quietly for ten minutes before getting dressed and knocking on Miss Fortune's door. She opened it shortly after, wearing pajamas and yawning, squinting at Cui Ming with an annoyed expression. "What is it? It's so early."
"Ah?" Cui Ming hesitated for a moment before saying, "I got the information about Silent City."
"Oh." Miss Fortune followed Cui Ming into his room. Looking around at the room and the bed, she added meaningfully, "I said you two were quite noisy in your room last night."
"Ah?" Cui Ming looked confused.
Miss Fortune flipped through a few pages of his notes and smiled with satisfaction. "Not bad; this is exactly what we need."
Cui Ming raised a hand to stop her. "About last night..."
"Last night?"
"You..."
"I?" Miss Fortune looked puzzled. "What do you want to say?"
"After we finished our task, I felt..."
“Business?” Miss Fortune questioned, glancing around the room. “Do you think I spent the night in bed with you yesterday?”
“…” Cui Ming was at a loss for words.
“You're insane,” Miss Fortune shook her head dismissively. “I’m leaving. Last night, I spent the entire night introducing the alliance to the turtle. I need to catch up on my beauty sleep.”
“Ah?” Cui Ming repeated for the third time, watching Miss Fortune leave before returning to his room and closing the door. Did he misread the situation? Impossible. Even though he had been blindfolded during their business, he could still feel her figure perfectly. And the intoxicating sounds he heard were definitely from Miss Fortune. But she claimed to have spent the night with the turtle… Such a low-level lie could easily be exposed by simply asking the turtle.
What was going on?
At nine in the morning, Feng returned, drunkenly heading off to sleep. If this guy had enemies lying in wait, he would surely meet a gruesome end. The turtle and Miss Fortune were packing their bags. The two of them made their way downstairs for breakfast. Cui Ming was distracted and took the opportunity to ask Mos while Miss Fortune was away getting utensils, “Mos, did you sleep well last night?”
“I didn’t sleep at all; I spent the whole night learning about the alliance,” the turtle replied, looking rather unwell.
“How did you learn?”
“Of course, it was Miss Fortune who told me; I just listened.”
What the hell, what the hell, what the hell…
This was unbelievable. Cui Ming recalled last night—a memory he would never forget. It couldn’t have been anyone else; it was definitely Miss Fortune. Although he had been blindfolded, every other detail matched perfectly, including her familiar nibbling on his earlobe and the color of Force he saw when his eyes were open, not to mention that voice… Could it be that Miss Fortune had mastered a technique of duplication? Impossible; she wasn’t a magician or a ninja. The only possibility left was that Mos was lying.
But Cui Ming could guarantee that if Mos were lying, he would definitely notice it. So who was it yesterday? It had to be Miss Fortune; there was no escaping that fact. His senses—touch, smell, hearing—were all telling him it was her. Even his taste confirmed it; they used the hotel’s exclusive toothpaste for high-end rooms. And yesterday, only a few guests stayed in those luxury rooms.
Cui Ming dazedly saw both of them off in their car as it started up. Miss Fortune looked back at the foolish Cui Ming and couldn’t help but smile slightly. Then she pulled out a recorder from her bag: “Keep studying; your memory is really lacking.”
Mos accepted the criticism; he was shaped like a turtle and struggled to grab paper and pen from the back seat to take notes while listening to the recorder's playback. Could he blame himself? He didn’t recognize Eternal Sphere’s script and could only write using his planet’s characters, but they spoke too quickly. It would have been simpler if they recorded two hours of audio and let him listen on his own.
Last night was pretty much the same. After talking for two hours and giving herself a bit of guidance, she took the opportunity to wear her headphones and listen to it all over again before the exam. Then she went to take a bath... and soaked for two hours straight.
Miss Fortune gently stroked the Doran Ring on her finger, a gift from Cui Ming after their fierce battle with Jinjin. Since then, Cui Ming had never mentioned returning it, and she thought it looked beautiful on her, so she decided to keep it for now. However, she wanted to keep it forever; she had given Cui Ming an unforgettable night, and in return, had experienced one herself. Unfortunately, her cursed misfortune lingered, especially since he was a fellow hunter, Beiyue.
After a morning of searching, Cui Ming was willing to bet his life that it had definitely been Miss Fortune yesterday.
When lunchtime arrived, a waiter delivered a letter left in Miss Fortune's room. Cui Ming opened it to find a message from her: "Hey, I kept the ring."
Cui Ming sighed with relief and smiled knowingly.
...
Sadin arrived five days later. The three of them didn’t need any plans; they rested for a night before heading to Dawn Desert. Cui Ming also informed Beiyue, and everything proceeded as planned. Since Cui Ming would accompany Sadin to meet Zhir, this marked Beiyue's first time taking the lead. Beiyue was already familiar with all the details of Cui Ming's plan and contacted the Ye Family and Wandering; once they discovered any leads, they would coordinate their efforts. As Beiyue began organizing everything, he found that executing Cui Ming's plan was quite straightforward.
The plan involved each step being tightly connected. The first action was Zhao Wei, who would use police resources to monitor the prophet's movements. Once something was discovered, they would move on to the next step and notify the Fire Cult. Mi Xiaonan was currently doing charity work in West Lake City with Annie and Liu Meier. Mi Xiaonan mentioned some matters that Liu Meier overheard, enticing her to spill information.
The prophet left for Zhir, Sadin, and Wandering; this was inconsequential. The Fire Cult was left for the Ye Family and Balance Sect. Beiyue's team had the mission of identifying potential leaders of the Fire Cult. This operation had significant timing implications. It was possible that the first batch would be useless; if so, they would follow the plan for dealing with weaklings and eliminate them while disguising themselves as prophets. Then came the second batch.
The Fire Cult would confirm the prophet's presence in a certain city through various channels; as long as the prophet remained, they would come. To deal with the prophet effectively, they needed skilled hands.
Everything seemed logical; however, there was one issue: Beiyue wasn't confident about uncovering the Mastermind. Over the phone with Cui Ming, Beiyue urged him to wrap up matters concerning the prophet quickly and return to Eastern Continent to oversee things. Cui Ming reassured Beiyue not to rush; this plan combined two strategies—though the Fire Cult was drawn out by the prophet, there was no direct connection between them within this plan. The desert side was crucial; they couldn't allow a living prophet to escape; otherwise, their second step of eliminating the Fire Cult would be impossible.
In the first step of the plan, Wandering took action first with a target on the prophet. Once the prophet entered the desert, they needed to prevent him from leaving. If this first step failed, Beiyue’s group wouldn’t be affected; it wouldn’t impact Cui Ming’s core interests. For the second step of the plan, Cui Ming believed he had enough time to return to Eastern Continent.
Cui Ming also worried about Beiyue; he kept emphasizing that the key point lay in the desert. As long as they secured that first step in the desert, traps set for the Fire Cult would be solid enough—even if they couldn't wipe them out completely, they could still make it difficult for them to escape unscathed. Beiyue expressed greater concern over the second step during their call; Cui Ming understood that this was Beiyue's first time leading operations and felt uncertain about responsibilities he needed to shoulder. Fortunately, there was Li Qing—while Li Qing might not devise an entirely comprehensive plan, he was undoubtedly an excellent executor of plans.
Currently unaware that Cui Ming’s first step involved two phases, Sadin only knew he needed to eliminate Mage but didn’t realize that Cui Ming’s main strategy involved using Mage as bait to take down the prophet. To kill the prophet, establishing a connection between Mage and him was essential while simultaneously giving enough time for both sides. Calculating timeframes indicated that it would take at least seventeen days for the prophet to travel non-stop from Silent City to Nordo City or Dawn City; Cui Ming set a deadline of twenty days for himself.
Sadin and Cui Ming were not friends, nor did they intend to become friends. Thus, the three of them entered the Dawn Desert from the York Mountains.
After several days of traveling through the Dawn Desert, they arrived at Pearl Lake. Cui Ming then introduced the plan, privately explaining the second step to Zhir, who nodded in acknowledgment without expressing any opposition or agreement.
The blazing sun beat down mercilessly. Without Force protection and unable to find a water source, an ordinary person would not survive more than two days in the desert. They had set out from Pearl Lake two days ago, heading toward a lost civilization. Zhir did not accompany them, but throughout their journey, they were guided by Sand Soldiers. In his own domain, Zhir could reach any location in an instant.
"Over there," Wind pointed to a distant Sand Soldier.
The three moved toward the Sand Soldier. This time, the Sand Soldier was different; it was not stationed in one place but was leading the way ahead. After climbing over a rocky cliff, they entered a world made entirely of sand. There was no vegetation in sight, no dried riverbeds, and no signs of life—only the overwhelming scent of death. The worst part was the strong sandstorm that raged here. In such a storm, visibility dropped below seven meters, and sand whipped against their faces; without Force protection, it could cause injuries.
The Sand Soldier emitted a white glow, making it quite noticeable even amidst the storm. The three followed it for about two hours when Sadin suddenly stopped and blocked the path of the other two: "There's Void Energy."
They all halted, and the Sand Soldier stopped as well. Suddenly, a small purple dragon about a meter long pierced through the Sand Soldier, which then turned to sand. The little dragon hovered nearby, looking at the three with hostility. "This is a Void Energy Entity," Sadin explained. "It is an energy body formed by condensing a large amount of Void Energy. This entity is controlled by its master, who can see everything that the dragon sees; however, the master cannot stray too far from it, or else the energy body will disappear. Also remember that this dragon is an energy body with no visual blind spots."
Cui Ming asked, "Can we kill it?"
"Yes," Sadin replied. "The energy body will dissipate after being struck multiple times. But I find it strange that energy bodies can take on any color; why choose such a conspicuous purple?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the energy body vanished. Cui Ming smiled wryly and said, "You have quite a knack for jinxing things." (To be continued.)
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