bookandnovel Chapter 191 Abraham's Rich Mines
Chapter 191 Abraham's Rich Mines
Chapter 191 Abraham's Rich Mines
"The people who know the most about the homeless in Backlund are the small gangsters who profit by exploiting the homeless, prostitutes, thieves, and children."
I've entrusted the task of investigating homeless people to these people this time.
Zilingus is now a lone wolf hiding in Backlund, keeping a close eye on his surroundings. I commissioned the investigation this morning, and Zilingus should have already realized that someone is investigating him.
"I'm requesting permission to go to various locations to gather intelligence. Zilingus is definitely lying in ambush on us."
Evan took another look at the two people in front of him and couldn't help but admire them. After two months of training, Hugh and Fors were indeed much more experienced than they were two months ago.
Having read the original work, Evan was certain that their plan was correct and highly feasible. She also guessed that Hugh and the others might have another reason for doing this: to use this incident to eliminate the gangsters and scum she had previously disliked and found difficult to deal with.
Hugh Deercha didn't take action before because she herself was a member of the underworld, and a very weak one at that, so she could only follow the rules of the lower world and do some work as a mediator and arbitrator.
When she became a member of MI9 and had powerful backers, the constraints she faced did not decrease; in fact, they increased.
MI9 not only controls the intelligence gathering and counter-espionage power of the Kingdom of Rune, but also possesses a considerable number of extraordinary individuals.
Intelligence agencies that collect intelligence and pry into others' privacy are already feared, and those with independent armed forces are scrutinized even more closely, as evidenced by the numerous factions and mixed personnel within MI9.
Therefore, it is highly taboo for MI9 to interfere in matters outside its responsibilities.
In other words, no matter how bad a bastard they see, as long as it doesn't involve nobles, supernatural events, or intelligence matters, MI9 cannot get involved. In this respect, the restrictions on field operations are actually less.
However, agreeing to their actions would contradict Evan's plan.
After all, if Zillingus had been killed or captured beforehand, Evan's plan to maximize his benefits by saving Duke Negan would have failed.
But Evan couldn't openly reject Fors's plan, nor did he have any reason to do so. Finally, Evan's eyes lit up as he turned to Fors and said:
"Your plan is good, but you underestimate the power of Zilingus and his powerful sealing artifact."
If I try to capture him with only my own strength, it's very likely that I'll end up with nothing. I need to report this to other high-ranking members of the intelligence department and get their assistance.
You don't need to worry about your credit being diluted. Finding Qilingus is already a major achievement. As for the operation itself, that's none of your business.
Fors and Hugh exchanged a glance, both realizing that although Evan held a high position and wielded great power, he was merely a Sequence 7 Extraordinary. Leading the team to capture Qilingus, known as the Hurricane General, was indeed beyond their capabilities.
So they all stood up and said to Evan:
"We will do whatever you say."
After Fors and Hugh left, Evan's beautiful secretary reappeared, showing no regard for hierarchy and sitting directly next to Evan. She took his arm, rubbing her ample breasts against him as she spoke:
I just contacted Director Monet's secretary, and Director Monet will have time to meet with you in half an hour.
Seeing that Evan was enjoying himself with his eyes closed, seemingly not having heard her words at all, the female secretary silently reached out and grabbed Evan's weakness, then smiled and said:
"I never expected you to assign me to MI9. It's amazing you even thought of that. Once I'm exposed, your identity will also be highly questionable."
It turned out that the female secretary was actually Helen, the witch of the Gnostic Society. Evan directly arranged for Helen to join MI9 and replace Fors and Hugh.
Feeling a surge of physical desire, Evan opened his eyes, ran his fingers along Helen's cheek, lifted her delicate chin, and said with a smile:
"The most dangerous place is the safest place. Now MI9 is frantically searching for the witch, but they never imagined that the witch was right next to a high-ranking member of MI9."
That way you won't have to hide anymore, and we'll have more time to spend together.
As he spoke, Evan's hand encircled Helen's slender neck, slipped inside the collar of her military uniform, grasped her firm, snowy breasts, and kneaded them continuously. At the same time, he brought his mouth close to hers, their lips meeting.
Helen's looks and figure were already top-notch, and wearing the military uniform added an extra layer of institutional allure. If he hadn't wanted to see Director Monet for a while, he probably would have taken advantage of Helen on the spot.
After a while, Evan pulled his hand out of Helen's blushing military uniform, and even kindly straightened her collar. Looking at the resentful Helen, he smiled and said:
"I have something to do right away, don't rush. Wait for me at the apartment tonight, I'll come to you, we'll have plenty of time then."
Upon hearing this, Helen's anger turned to joy. She removed her hand from Evan's grip and whispered in his ear:
"I'm not changing my clothes tonight, I'm wearing this one, and not just this one. I also got a few other military uniforms in different colors."
With her witch-like sensitivity, Helen naturally sensed Evan's fondness for her military uniform, so she deliberately seduced him.
Sure enough, upon hearing Helen's words, Evan's eyes lit up, his breathing became much heavier, and his leverage seemed to be resurfacing.
At this moment, Helen stood up, smiled, and left the office, displaying an attitude of only caring about starting a fire and not about putting it out.
"That little devil!"
Evan felt the changes in his body and chuckled, then his eyes turned unusually cold.
Evan's decision to place Helen in MI9 was actually a last resort, because Robert's men had a portrait of Helen and were also secretly searching for her.
Evan was confident in helping Helen escape MI9's pursuit, but he wasn't so confident about dealing with Robert's pursuit, especially knowing that Robert was a demigod and could manipulate powerful sealed artifacts.
But Evan doesn't want to confront her brother, doesn't want her possession of the City of Calamity to be exposed, and doesn't want her becoming a witch to be revealed. After all, Evan still feels a little ashamed about this.
Meanwhile, Helen's mother, the ageless witch Christina, temporarily left Backlund, giving Evan the opportunity to deal with Helen.
Tonight, Evan will make Helen his "captive" and subject her to a complete physical and mental transformation.
There are three benefits to doing this. First, in the future, the line that Gnostic controls Evan through Helen will become the line that Evan influences Gnostic in turn. From then on, Gnostic will be unilaterally transparent to Evan.
Evan had always been envious of the Gnostic Society, not because the witches in the Gnostic Society were all psychologically feminine, which would allow him to enjoy the blessing of having multiple wives more comfortably.
Rather, it's because the Gnostic is a well-organized society with vast resources and influence throughout the continent.
Most importantly, they worship the feminine "Primal Witch," who is Evan's envisioned ultimate enemy. If they could get involved, it would be a win-win situation no matter how you look at it.
Meanwhile, based on what Evan had learned during this period, he discovered that the Gnostic Order was not entirely composed of witches as he had imagined; there were also some extraordinary individuals such as "apprentices" and "arbitrators."
This reminded Evan of a rumor that the great noble family of the Fourth Age, the angelic family Tamara, had split, with one part forming the Gnostic Society with the daughter of the Primordial Witch.
In this way, the value of the Gnostic Society becomes even greater. This is the second benefit of controlling Helen. In the future, Evan can influence the Abraham family through the Tamara family within the Gnostic Society.
Evan would not forget that in the original Lord of Mysteries, it was clearly mentioned that the Tamara family had a long history of intermarriage with the Abraham family.
Because of the existence of Mr. "Door", the Abraham family has become a very special existence. Anyway, Evan does not believe that if the Church of the Seven Gods really makes a ruthless effort, they will not be able to find out the whereabouts of the members of the Abraham family.
Needless to say, Roselle had a "mystic" under his command who came from the Abraham family. According to the information Evan had, many Abrahams had united under this devil and pledged allegiance to Roselle.
These people have already been exposed, and Evan doesn't believe that he can't eliminate them all by relying on church methods.
As a result, the Abraham family has survived to this day after losing the protection of the demigods, with only the Aurora Society managing to strike them down by using a ruthless lad.
Therefore, based on these events, Evan concluded that the highest levels of the Church of the Seven Gods had actually been suppressing the Abraham family, mainly because of the existence of "Mr. Door." It's about leaving a way out for others, so that you can meet again in the future.
However, this point was insignificant in Evan's eyes, solely for one reason: the apprentice path that Mr. "Door" belonged to and the "Occupy the House" path that Klein belonged to were adjacent paths, and Klein was the Lord of Mysteries.
The protagonist in the story will definitely become a true god through three paths in the future.
As long as it's certain that Mr. "Door" will be rich in gold coins in the future, no matter how, then the Abraham family is a gold mine in Evan's eyes, a gold mine waiting to be mined.
Evan originally intended to use Fors as a starting point to influence the Abraham family, but the news of Tamara family members in the Gnostic Society gave Evan another possibility.
That is, influencing the Abraham family through the Tamara family's indirect influence.
Of course, all of this is still in the planning stage. Evan has not yet made a clear plan on how to do it, and all plans are based on the Gnostic Society.
For Evan, influencing the Gnostic Society began with corrupting Helen, whom he had "captured." Although he knew that Helen had feelings for him, this would not affect Evan's determination to control and capture her.
Meanwhile, through their time together and subtle conversations, Evan learned that Helen possessed the extraordinary abilities of a "Pleasure" witch, something her mother had given her to control Evan when she left Backlund.
The idea was wonderful, but reality was different. His mother probably never imagined that it was this extraordinary trait that made Evan determined to kill him.
If Evan hadn't fully digested the "witch's" potion, he might still have been interested in arguing with her, but now he had no such intention.
Seeing a treasure right in front of him and not taking action is not in Evan's nature. His desire for Pusheng made him increasingly impatient with the lack of materials, and "capturing" Helen was risk-free yet highly beneficial.
Another advantage of capturing Helen is that even if Robert finds her later, he will not be able to get any more information from her, even if he uses a powerful sealing artifact.
Because when the divination is performed on "Helen", it will be a divination on "the city of disaster".
After waiting a few more minutes to calm himself down from Helen's agitation, Evan changed into his colonel's uniform and headed toward Director Monet's office.
As Evan had predicted, Director Monet greatly praised his plan to lure the enemy out and immediately convened a meeting of high-ranking intelligence officers from MI9.
At a high-level meeting within MI9, Evan explained Fors and Hugh's approach to finding Qilingus and frankly admitted his own weakness, so he brought the matter to the forefront to request assistance.
All the intelligence officers present praised Fors and Hugh Deercha's intelligence capabilities (Evan concealed the role played by Isengard Stanton), but made no mention of Evan's request to activate the sealed artifact.
This is because Evan has been in the limelight for too long in the past two months, and coupled with his brother's upcoming reorganization of MI9, everyone has begun to resist him and wants to share some of the credit for this operation.
After more than an hour of heated debate, it was ultimately clear that Evan's strength was too weak to become the leader of the operation against Qilingus, nor could he take control of those powerful sealed artifacts.
However, under Director Monet's mediation, everyone agreed to first credit Fors and Hugh Deercha for their contributions, and to allow Evan to directly select a document from MI9's warehouse as a reward.
Correspondingly, Evan could only be nominally involved in this operation, but could no longer participate in it; he had to be assigned and commanded by others.
After the meeting, Evan's face turned ashen, and he stormed off first. The others, on the other hand, remained calm and unconcerned, even secretly pleased, mocking Evan for his humiliation and thinking that everyone should give his brother face.
Regardless of what compensation Evan received later, his forced withdrawal from a major operation seemed like a huge loss, an unprecedented one at that.
After leaving the conference room, Evan's ashen face gradually regained its color, and a mocking smile even appeared on his lips.
If Zilingus were so easy to catch, then Adam must have been blind to send him to assassinate Duke Negan!
Indeed, while Evan agreed with Fors and Hugh Deercha's plan and believed, based on the original work, that Zillingus was likely to be tricked, this did not mean that the trap would ultimately succeed.
Adam is a world-class strategist, a true "writer" capable of influencing global affairs.
It's completely different from third-rate writers like James Bond and Ince Zangwell.
In the original story, Zillingus's assassination attempt on Duke Negan was perfect; it was very close to success, but an unexpected incident occurred at the end.
That is, an "observer" learned about the existence of Zilingus in advance and knew some of the abilities of the "Crawling Hunger" seal. So, he accidentally discovered Zilingus's true identity midway, which ultimately caused the assassination operation to fizzle out and end in failure.
In other words, an uncontrollable factor appeared in the assassination plot arranged by Adam. This factor was not Audrey herself, but rather the Gray Fog—Audrey learned too much about Zillingus and the "Shepherd" from the Gray Fog, from Little Sun and the Hanged Man.
Even though Audrey's intervention thwarted the assassination plan, and Zilingus had prepared an escape route beforehand, the Gray Fog caused Klein to inform Azik, ultimately leading to his assassination. (Zilingus's final escape route was the Cathedral of the Holy Wind, the same direction the later assassins fled, suggesting there was a backup there.)
Two unexpected events occurred in Adam's entire plan, both related to Klein's gray fog. Now, Fors and Hugh's plans have no connection to Klein. As long as Evan doesn't interfere, he believes Adam will allow Zillingus to escape unscathed.
That will be the time for Evan to laugh at them, and it will also become an excuse for Robert to adjust their behavior later. They really don't know how to use the opportunity they were given.
Moreover, this matter is another excellent opportunity for Evan, an opportunity to test the Twilight Hidden Earth Society and to find out what hidden power the Twilight Hidden Earth Society has in Backlund.
Back in his office, Evan's face turned ashen again. He informed Fors and Hugh, who were waiting, of the meeting's results, instructing them to cooperate and even telling them that their contributions could not be erased.
Fors and Hugh looked at each other, not expecting this outcome, but at the same time, they felt a surge of emotion.
They weren't stupid; they knew that Evan had intervened to secure their credit ahead of time.
After Fors and the others left, Helen stepped forward and asked in a slightly provocative tone:
"Are you just going to let this go like this? This isn't like you! Should I go and follow those two girls, and give Qilingus a heads-up?"
"Your identity is currently in a sensitive position. Don't do anything reckless. If you are exposed, the consequences will be unimaginable."
Evan frowned, scolded Helen, and then said:
"This operation may be the largest ever by MI9. I suspect that they will definitely be carrying Level 1 sealed artifacts just in case. Don't act rashly."
Helen pursed her lips; she was very unhappy about the time she had been hiding and was always looking for ways to cause trouble.
Not only the hunter "Shang Luan," but the witch is also someone who thrives on chaos and is a master at stirring up conflict. This applies to both witch cults and the Gnostic Society; the very word "witch" speaks volumes. Her provocation just now was simply a reflection of her true nature.
But she now understands Evan's importance and that controlling him requires strategy, so she doesn't confront him directly.
"I don't mean to cause trouble, I'm just curious about why Qilingus came to Backlund at this time."
Every pirate general on the high seas has a background.
The seal artifact called "Crawling Hunger" by Zilingus was clearly made using the "Shepherd" extraordinary property of the Mystic Path.
Therefore, many people believe that the organization behind Zillingus is the Aurora Society.
The Witch Cult has a partnership with the royal family, which is extremely disadvantageous to our Gnostic Society. Perhaps we can use this opportunity to investigate the Aurora Society and maybe even win them over from one of their sides.
Evan chuckled inwardly. It seemed the information he had previously provided to the Gnostic Society had frightened Helen, making her truly believe that the Aurora Society was on the side of the Witch Cult. He shook his head firmly and said:
"If you hadn't brought this up earlier, there would have been room for negotiation. Now that someone else has taken over, the risk is just too great. You should abandon your idea!"
"Didn't you think you could lead this operation, that's why you didn't say anything?" Helen muttered, but seeing Evan glaring at her, she knew she had touched a sore spot and immediately shut her mouth.
Helen always adhered to the principles of the Gnostic Society, pretending to be very vulnerable so that Evan would feel that she was in a dominant position in their relationship. She never ordered Evan around or argued with him, thus making it easier for her to control him.
Evan was always very clear about Helen's feelings, and he used this to his advantage, making her believe that he was under her control, thus lowering her guard against him.
Both sides are masters of drama, but this show is about to end tonight.
"Alright, it's time to get off work now. You can go back to your apartment first. I have something to do, I'll come find you later."
After saying that, Evan left the office and headed down to the basement of MI9.
Most of Evan's previous merits have been converted into his own military rank and position, and the remaining small portion has been used to help Isengard Stanton exchange for the materials he needs to be promoted to "Philosopher".
Even if Isengard Stanton was traded using a seal with relatively minor side effects resulting from the "Scholar" extraordinary trait.
However, there is still a considerable "depreciation fee" at MI9, and the difference can only be exchanged using Evan's merits. So even though he knew that MI9 had the compound eyes to hunt black spiders, he didn't have any merits to exchange for them.
Today, he finally got a chance to get some materials.
Evan arrived at the material exchange counter on the second basement floor, presented the note that Director Monet had just approved, and left after the relevant personnel confirmed that it was correct. A while later, a box came in and was placed in front of Evan.
Evan opened the box in front of him and found a pair of compound eyes made up of countless tiny eyes. Evan could even see countless reflections of himself in them, and felt that his mind had become darker, and he wanted to calculate everything in terms of gains and losses.
The staff who brought the box seemed to be affected, reaching out their hands in a trance, only to be snapped out of their reverie by Evan's rebuke.