Chapter 690: Chapter 408: Familiar Feeling_3
On the second floor, the corridor’s left side has seven doors, while the right side is lined with windows. Some of the windows were shattered, and others were smeared, perfectly matching the eerie, dilapidated style of a creepy old inn.
"The rooms upstairs are regular ones," Gao Yan said. "But on this floor, while there are seven doors, only one leads to a room. If someone tries to open any of the other six doors, it will trigger an alarm, and escaping the building would be impossible." A sinister expression flickered briefly across his face but disappeared so quickly that Yan Xiaobao almost doubted he had truly seen it.
Yan Xiaobao nodded quietly, understanding that this was the place for collecting, organizing, and archiving all information. It was the heart of Gao Yan’s intelligence operations. Downstairs, people brought in information and received coins as a reward. One could say his business was undeniably thriving. All six tables in the room were occupied, but at the back of the room stood a larger desk. On this desk, Memory Stones and scrolls were scattered haphazardly, placed wherever they could fit. As he approached the desk, Yan Xiaobao instantly realized it belonged to Gao Yan, and he couldn’t help but smile silently.
Standing by the desk, Gao Yan grumbled about its chaotic state, as many Memory Stones littered its surface. In one of its drawers, he discovered a storage stone where he had stashed several Memory Stones and scrolls. He shrugged and smiled bitterly at Yan Xiaobao. "Usually, Xu Biao would handle sorting and filtering the new information we acquire, but unfortunately, he’s been tied up cultivating since yesterday for some unknown reason, so I’ve had to take care of it myself," he explained before sitting down. He stretched out his hand, and two servants promptly appeared carrying a few chairs. Once they arranged the chairs before Gao Yan’s desk, they swiftly vanished from sight.
"I suppose one of the reasons you’re here is to inquire about the Third Prince," Gao Yan sighed, retrieving a Memory Stone from inside his robe. "This contains everything we know about the Third Prince. He rarely appears in public, so most of what we’ve gathered comes from the palace servants. Much of it originates from dubious sources, so take it with a grain of salt," he said as he handed the stone to Yan Xiaobao, who accepted it gratefully.
"Do you need anything else?" Gao Yan scanned the room as he asked, to which Yan Xiaobao nodded. "I need all the information you can gather on the nobles invited to the City Lord’s dinner," Yan Xiaobao stated. Gao Yan nodded in response but remained unmoving. "The City Lord’s dinner..." he muttered, only standing up after a few minutes. He walked to the bookshelf on the far end of the room and returned with four different books. Opening them, Yan Xiaobao noticed that the books had no pages; instead, they contained Memory Stones. Gao Yan eventually retrieved twelve stones, plucking several from various books. Remaining seated, he placed one Memory Stone after another against his forehead. Golden-blue flashes followed as Gao Yan absorbed all the information, one stone at a time. After storing it all in his mind, he picked up twelve empty Memory Stones, repeating the same process with these stones. Silver-blue flashes lit up again as the stored information was transferred back into the new stones. After duplicating the contents onto the stones, Gao Yan handed a set to Yan Xiaobao.
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