The elevator stopped at the 79th floor of the Explorer Center.
The folding iron door slowly opened, and Sean and the three of them walked into the floor where there was not much light.
The Explorer Building has a total of 101 floors. The higher the floor, the higher the level of characters and events that can be accessed.
For example, the association's risk control center, led by Austin, is located on the 80th floor, while the current president, Phillips, has his office on the 99th floor.
Ordinary low-level explorers have little chance of reaching a world above the 50th floor.
However, Sean and his party had already visited the risk control department before, and this time, they went directly to the 79th floor, the floor where field staff report on special tasks.
Different from the mission center on the 10th floor, the 79th floor has undergone special processing in terms of technology.
Supplemented by the magical skills of some powerful people, what happens in this layer is almost impossible to know from the outside world unless powerful gods deliberately spy on it.
Therefore, there is a different feeling when you step into this level.
First, the lights were a little dim, and there were several men in suits standing not far away. Their faces were shrouded in shadow, which looked a little weird.
Secondly, it is eerily quiet.
How quiet is it?
Sean could hear the breathing and heartbeats of everyone present.
This is a world where "words against one's will" cannot be said.
Ta, tap, tap.
Three men in suits were waiting not far in front of the elevator. Under the leadership of the man in the middle, they walked to Sean.
The lighting next to the elevator illuminated the eyes of the man in the middle.
As bright and deep as the starry sky.
Arthur Merlin lost all his pretense, and the detective looked extremely happy to see Sean again.
He walked up to Sean enthusiastically and patted the New York reporter on the back repeatedly: "It'll be good to be back."
At this moment, Arthur represented the association and was regarded as the upper level that Sean could not reach now. He did not overstep his bounds and just nodded politely.
Following Arthur Merlin, the three of them arrived at the inquiry room.
A circle within a triangle, with a mysterious eye peering in the middle of the circle.
A huge logo of the Society of Explorers is engraved on the ceiling of the inquiry room.
Sean was used to this kind of atmosphere after missions.
There is no intention to interrogate the seekers, but to take seriously everyone who returns from the mystery and the information they tell.
Because there might be a lot at stake.
Arthur Merlin and the two association staff sat down in front of Sean, Moonlight and Ivan quite relaxedly and began to inquire about the details of the mission.
On the Silver Star, shortly after Sean wrote Arthur the letter, the detective wrote back.
The content of the reply was simple - the detective reminded Sean not to provide too much information that "may threaten himself" when reporting on the mission to the association.
This gave Sean a crucial reminder.
In fact, as a Seeker, Sean made a deal with Joseph Milton.
At the cost of taking away his sister, he exchanged for not interfering with Judas Ring's "Son of the Dream" plan.
If Sean reveals all these circumstances, even if the Explorers Association does not try him on charges of dereliction of duty and endangering the public...
Shenting will definitely make Sean unable to eat and walk around.
Although Sean has a clear conscience: "My purpose has always been to save Aaliyah...
"The conflict between the Divine Court and the Judah Ring has nothing to do with me."
But the power system will not listen to this.
Sometimes, for certain forces, choosing neutrality and completing one's own goals means choosing hostility.
Therefore, Sean was already thinking about this issue before he saw Arthur Merlin's reply.
After being reminded by the detective, Sean made up his mind: he would only tell Merlin the real situation to Merlin, who was also a member of the "Candlelight Reading Club", and would never tell anything to the Explorers Association.
Arthur Merlin obviously took this situation into consideration, so he took the initiative to assume the responsibility of task inquiry and made it easier for Sean to conceal it.
Apparently, it's hard to lie on this special floor.
However, Sean adopted a strategy that has worked before: using vague semantics and cutting the truth, telling the truth while concealing the key.
All this, with the cooperation of Arthur, Moonlight and Ivan, was accomplished without any danger.
The truth finally obtained by the association is that in Ocean City, Sean, with the help of Alicia, investigated the location of the Judas Ring.
Without knowing the purpose of Judah's ring, he followed Solomon and the people from the divine court to break into their location and successfully rescued Aaliyah.
As for what Judas Ring’s plan is, Sean said: “I don’t know much about it in detail.”
"They seem to want to use children to carry out some evil actions..."
"Because the people traveling with me were stronger, I was able to leave with my sister."
Each sentence is true, but constructs a different truth.
The truth about a man who only focused on rescuing people, and then succeeded in rescuing because of luck.
Overall, Sean was not only inconspicuous in the entire incident, but he also didn't get much information.
The most critical and sensitive thing is the "historical truth" that Sean and others heard in Tesler's office...
No one asked questions, so he naturally didn't need to hide anything.
In fact, the most dangerous part was passed so naturally.
Next, Sean reported on the process of completing the association's tasks.
Originally, Sean went to Ocean City with a triple mission.
The first and most important goal is to save Aaliyah;
The second level is the task assigned by the association to find the missing King-level explorer, Charlie Jojo, which was the unfulfilled task at the time of the riot at Barton Manor.
The third level is the secret mission given by Arthur Merlin, a colleague of the "Candlelight Reading Club", to assist Alicia Pompeii.
To Sean's own expectation, in the midst of the crisis, he successfully completed all the tasks.
Of course, only the details of the second mission were reported to the association.
There were no details that needed to be concealed in the meeting with Charlie Jojo, so Sean told them everything.
After that, Arthur Merlin asked a few symbolic questions, and the mission inquiry ended.
While sorting out the reports in front of him, Merlin said to Sean: "Not long ago, Qiao Qiao took the initiative to contact the association.
"What he said is consistent with your situation - there is no doubt that you successfully completed the tasks assigned to you by the association.
“So, the impact you caused on Barton Manor has been wiped out, and the association will no longer pursue responsibility for this matter.
"However, it is a pity that although you completed the high-level mission at a low level, there is no other mission reward because you have made up for it."
Sean shrugged slightly: Bringing Aaliya back alive is already the most generous reward...
In this task, he was completely content.
Arthur Merlin shook hands with Sean: "See you next time, Mr. Dickinson."
Hearing the implication of Arthur's words, Sean just nodded politely.
After passing the somewhat heavy questioning session, while walking towards the elevator in the empty and quiet floor, Moonlight bumped into Sean and said in an excited tone: "Let's go there next!"
Sean turned his head in confusion: "Where to go?"
The moonlight clicked on the mask of his "Court Musician" - no doubt he was referring to the "Hall of Thousand Faces".
After completing the mission in Ocean City, regardless of strength or merit, the three of them, Sean, have been promoted to the Queen level.
The promotion ceremony is to go to the front hall and redeem your Queen-level mask.
Obviously, Moonlight is looking forward to her Queen-level mask.
