After purchasing many necessary living supplies and a few long-lasting food items, Yvette and the others navigated through the narrow, garbage-strewn alleys. They passed several makeshift structures and bought a few freshly baked breads before returning to their rented ground-floor unit.
Firefly had tidied up the remaining spaces and stayed connected to the network, monitoring the movements around The Hive and keeping an eye on the police and military developments in Firth River.
This was undoubtedly the advantage of the mechanical race. The skill of a runic hacker came more easily to Firefly than to Yvette, and with her tireless nature, she could monitor continuously for 24 hours. This significantly lowered the chances of detection for everyone involved.
At the kitchen table, Zero and Lianna sat on stools beginning their meal. Since they had different types of jam fillings, they shared their bread, allowing each other to taste the flavors.
Sensing Yvette’s gaze, Lianna asked, “Sister, do you want to try my bread?”
Yvette glanced at Zero’s dangerous expression and replied, “No, thanks.”
Thinking for a moment, she then asked, “What places did you go through after escaping from Black Tower?”
Previously, she hadn’t asked these questions due to a lack of trust.
“After we left Ish Island, we stayed in Agasha for a while. But then Black Tower’s armed forces started pursuing us, so we took some detours through Raynor and Maple City… eventually reaching the border. I didn’t do much; it was all Yvette’s doing… We saw human smugglers at the border and followed them, took their vehicle to the trafficker’s zone, and then left…” Lianna tilted her head as she recounted.
Yvette noted the cities she mentioned. Apart from Agasha, she hadn’t explored any of the others since the end of the world. Moreover, the cities she had explored, like Kux and other smaller ones, hadn’t shown any signs of the Dream Mist.Could this suggest that only cities Zero passed through had the potential to give rise to the Dream Mist in reality?
After pondering for a moment, she asked, “Have you seen the ‘Hatching’ before? What is it like?”
Lianna shook her head, “We were all injected with strange substances to gain special powers; we’ve never actually seen it. You’d have to ask the ‘Doctor’ who was in charge of the experiments for that.”
“Doctor?”
“I think his name is Dillon Dempsey, an old man. According to Firefly, he produced many mutated creatures using the ‘Hatching’ before you gained your abilities. Both animals and humans—their remains are buried in the forests behind the mountains.”
Upon hearing this, Yvette’s heart raced.
The Corrupted Forests of the Ish Mountains had a significantly more potent aberrant presence than Greyport City or Lua City. Previously, she had never considered the reason and assumed it was mere coincidence, but now reflecting on it, it might be related to that area being a dumping ground for the aberrants.
She turned to Firefly, asking, “Do you know anything about Dillon Dempsey? What kind of person is he?”
Before Zero acquired the ability to infect others, this Doctor Dillon could already create mutant entities, which made Yvette suspect that the origin of the apocalypse might not solely rest on Zero.
Even though she appeared to be the primary suspect now.
“Information about Doctor Dillon, like that regarding the Hatching, has the highest level of access in the base’s database. I’ve been worried about being discovered and didn’t dare touch that information,” Firefly explained. “But from what I know, before the Immortality Project, Doctor Dillon was a well-respected academic, known for his strong stance against unethical human experimentation, and often condemned the Holy Spirit Sect.”
“Yet later he conducted human experiments himself?” Yvette prompted.
“Yes,” Firefly replied.
Yvette shook her head, unimpressed—this kind of scenario felt all too common.
She then pondered that if Doctor Dillon could derive the ability to create aberrations from the “Hatching,” then creatures like the “Insect Species” and other major companies controlling this mysterious substance would certainly be able to do the same.
Moreover, even if Zero were indeed responsible for the apocalypse, it was clear that Black Tower Pharmaceuticals could not escape unscathed, as they would not be anywhere near as virtuous as “Aetherine Omega” claimed in her letter.
……
As evening fell, Yvette attempted to spread the information online that the Reincarnation High Priest Lind Benedict was indeed the “General” of the Ghost Hand Society.
She didn’t attempt to contact Requiem Priest Hoyle, as who knew if he was currently in a state of possession.
However, the results proved discouraging.
Due to the localized network of the Rusted Bone Free City, all messages were strictly controlled, causing any unfavorable information regarding the General to be swiftly deleted upon release, unable to spread and even leading to media rebuttals.
While this was somewhat effective in the outside world, there was no hope of generating sufficient pressure on the General in the immediate future.
Thus, after several days of attempts, Yvette’s focus shifted back to the quest of locating the General’s true form.
Despite the enigmatic methods of the necromancer, their essence remained that of a conventional mage. If she could capture the core body, she could swiftly eliminate it and remove the current troubles.
However, the question remained—how could she find it? Simply sifting through the surveillance footage would be exhausting, and while she could outsource to Firefly to handle the search, that would still take time. Plus, it was uncertain whether the General’s body would even appear in the footage, and even if it did, would she be able to identify it?
Considering this, Yvette glanced at the 150,000 digital coins left in her account and suddenly had an idea. She sent a message to the Igniter: “Do you have a way to locate a hidden necromancer?”
“Miss Nameless, are you referring to the Reincarnation High Priest Lind Benedict?” After a while, the Igniter replied.
“It seems you’re aware of my current situation.”
“It’s hard not to pay attention with such a large commotion,” the Igniter stated. “However, adhering to the principle of not selling knowledge, I will not inform you about related soul magic knowledge.”
“Then what can you do?”
“I can directly provide you with his specific location,” the Igniter said, stunning Yvette.
“……?” Yvette was taken aback. As a top-tier runic hacker and with the assistance of an advanced AI like Firefly, neither could pinpoint the General’s exact location. How did the Igniter managed to do so?
Was there a traitor within the Holy Spirit Sect selling information?
Or did the Igniter possess some kind of mysterious soul magic allowing them to trace the General’s spiritual energy while controlling the undead?
“This will take some time, but it won’t be long. Do you wish to place the order, Miss Nameless?” the Igniter inquired.
“How much?” Yvette suspected this order would be costly.
“Not a dime, Miss Nameless,” the Igniter explained. “Money—or rather, the idea of it—doesn’t hold much importance to us. The reason we charge is largely to gauge your commitment and deepen our understanding of you through contact. Now, we believe we can engage in a more profound collaboration.”
“Collaboration?”
“Yes. We will continue to provide you assistance, and in return, I hope that when we require help, you will also lend your aid and participate in some of our tasks. Of course, the core reason behind all tasks is to ensure the continuation of civilization’s flame.”
Yvette pondered for a moment before responding, “I agree.”
“Very well, thank you for your acceptance, comrade Nameless.” The Igniter sent a smiling emoji. “The location information for Lind Benedict will take about half a month to a month to lock in. During this period, please remain patient.”
……
Curious about how the Igniter would achieve this, Yvette kept a close eye on the latest news related to the Holy Spirit Sect during the following days, while also monitoring various movements.
First, her attempts to spread information outside began to gain traction. The revelation that the mastermind behind the trafficking park was the Reincarnation High Priest caused a significant stir in New Eden. Coupled with the large-scale martial law imposed in Firth River, the hero known as “Nameless” who exposed everything triggered intense backlash from netizens. Many people found ways to bypass online censorship to voice their anger, adding considerable pressure to the already fragile narrative control in Rusted Bone.
Next, Federal President John Tito Lokived took note of the situation. At a diplomatic event, he publicly pressured the Rusted Bone Free City to lift martial law in Firth River, adopting a firm stance.
Finally, within Firth River, the highly respected Requiem Priest Hoyle expressed his strong dissatisfaction with the martial law and subsequently took sick leave, delegating his responsibilities to his subordinates.
These events indicated that the martial law put additional strain on the Holy Spirit Sect itself, leading to discontent even among the official and military forces, although none dared to openly defy the Church.
As Yvette observed and waited, a month quietly passed.
One evening, she finally received the specific location information about Reincarnation High Priest Lind from the Igniter: situated in a mansion for the wealthy near the Soulfire Cathedral.
After having waited so long, her hunt could finally begin.