"Higher than the stars, goddess of night, longer than eternity, you are the Lord of Crimson, the Mother of Secrets, the Queen of Disaster and Fear, the Lord of Sleep and Silence..."
In the simply decorated bedroom, Dunn Smith posed in a praying posture, chanting in a low voice in ancient Hermetic language, praying to the goddess of his faith.
He has been confused recently.
After leaving the "Nighthawks" team, although he quickly gained three more team members to follow him, they could not fill the hole caused by the sudden change in his habitual life for many years.
It was better before, and he still had a lot of things to distract himself from, but now it was different.
He has completed the digestion of the magic potion in his body. The first target Lanerwus has long been dead, and even the serial murderer "demon" has been eliminated...
Now the only target he has left is Ince Zangwill, who is across the huge "demigod" threshold.
Dunn couldn't help but have some self-doubt.
What he was thinking was that it was difficult for him to get involved with even Sequence 8 and Sequence 6 gangsters, and he had no channel for advancement. Could he really catch Ince Zangwill on his own?
If you were on the "Red Gloves" team, maybe it would be possible.
Why did Valeela fake my death and not let me contact the church?
destiny……
Dunn chewed on this illusive answer again, feeling more and more that he had been persuaded too simply.
It was true that there were some things that he "quickly knew" as Valeela said, but there were also some things that he still only had a partial understanding of.
Just like Valeela’s identity——
Even though he has investigated a lot of information, he still has no clear conclusion yet.
Dunn wasn't even completely sure whether Valeela was deliberately concealing something to mislead him, or whether she was open-minded enough not to worry about her investigation...
He asked a lot of key information from the three team members, Harold, Lydia and Admissor, and combined it with information from other channels - mainly past news reports - as evidence, and almost pulled Vali over. All the experiences of more than a year were revealed:
The earliest was the "Banquet at Earl Leavitt's Palace";
Valeera was probably still an "Assassin" at the time, and together with the witch suspected to be Kiri Veitch, she completed this unidentified project.
If Harold hadn't assumed Kiri's identity, it would be difficult for him to connect the dark figure in the newspaper with Valeera.
Then there is "The Death of Corvo the Punisher";
Although the report in the newspaper was just that "a heroic police officer died as a result", based on some of the information Lydia knew, and having had many similar experiences, it was not difficult for him to piece together the general picture of the incident.
The specific process is unknown, but the result of the incident was that a gangster and a "punisher" died, and the witch suspected to be Kiri Veitch and the "assassin" Valeela absconded.
Next up is “Bounty Hunter Rexxar”;
Valeela, who was still a man at the time, first solved a frivolous incident and established a certain reputation. Then she quickly instigated the massacre and promoted the abolition of the Corn Laws to a certain extent.
Combined with the "acting method", it is not difficult to see that this is playing the "instigator".
Further behind is "Transfer Freshman Valeera";
A month after "Bounty Hunter Rexxar" went dormant due to the attack, "Transfer Freshman Valeela" appeared at Huoyin University in Tingen and immediately became the teammate of Crane, Welch and Naya. Team members.
That's the problem!
When Valeera graduated and left, the three of them were immediately involved in Ince Zangwill's conspiracy... In hindsight, this was more like premeditation than coincidence.
Finally, there is "University Lecturer Valeera".
In fact, she avoided Ince Zangwill's arrangement, helped Klein to be promoted to Sequence 8 "Joker", and provided the key "Sun" domain semi-god-level spell, and indirectly participated in Ince's capture of " Selena's Ashes" incident, and saved herself in the end...
All this seems to be a premeditated plan.
Combined with the honorable name he asked from Admissor, Dunn was almost certain of his guess——
Valeela is a member of the "School of Life", and the person whose honorary name corresponds to it is likely to be a "prophet". Her actions are all purposefully exploited, or in other words, with the help of Ince's actions. He wanted to obtain the "Ashes of St. Selena"...but the operation failed in the end.
What he was not sure about was Valeela's true attitude towards Crane.
As for her saying that she believed in the goddess, this was even more doubtful. Dunn thought about it carefully, and he was not even 100% confident in the content of the conversation in that dream...
In addition, because of the existence of the "Prophet", he did not dare to ignore Valeela's reminder and rashly tried to contact the "Night Goddess" church.
So Dunn has been praying more and more lately.
…
While praying over and over again, Dunn described his confusion.
Suddenly, he was inspired and looked at the full-length mirror next to the wardrobe.
The dark brilliance covered the mirror, and Valeela's figure appeared in the mirror amid the illusory waves.
"You——" Dunn's train of thought continued several times, and he asked in shock and doubt, "You have been promoted?!"
In the past, he had to actively apply "communication paste" to the mirror to connect to the mirror. Now that such a change has occurred, the most likely reason is that Valeela's ability has been further improved.
This could very well mean a promotion.
"yes."
In the mirror, Valeera nodded unabashedly and replied:
"A very thrilling promotion.
"I have to thank you for your help, allowing me to digest an extra portion of the potion."
"Besides thanking you, what else do you want?"
While talking, Dunn took out the homemade "Holy Night Powder" and began to create a "spiritual wall" to seal the room.
In the mirror, Valeera just watched without speaking.
After Dunn completed her movements and came to the front of the mirror, she continued:
"It's mainly thanks, and I also want to know what's going on there. It's been nearly two weeks since we last contacted you."
Dunn picked out a few things worth mentioning and briefly explained them.
Since mastering the "acting method" and actually starting to digest the potion, his forgetfulness has improved to a great extent. His speaking habit of "one more thing" has become more and more close to a habit of mouth, rather than an omission. make up--
This shows that the intervals between interruptions in his thoughts are getting shorter and shorter.
Valeera listened to it again and found that it was nothing serious.
If I have to say it, it's just that the team has become more cooperative, and even formed a team to easily kill two low-sequence Beyonder gangsters... In addition to the sense of teamwork and financial gains, Harold's performance digestion has also been greatly improved. progress.
Dunn’s original evaluation was: “According to the standards of the Nighthawks, they are already mature and qualified players. "
This made Valeela feel relieved a lot... Sure enough, it was a correct decision to hand over the task of leading the team to Dunn.
After expressing her gratitude again, Valeera wanted to suggest that Dunn lead the team to leave Backlund, but before she could say anything, she heard Dunn's "raid" words:
"I have basically investigated your past experiences."
