Free Web NovelChapter 455: Chapter 455: Causing Trouble as Soon as They Come Out_1
"Have you figured out why?" Lamia looked toward Aiden. fгeewebnovёl.com
"It’s simple," Aiden laid out his guess, "Professor Dodge is dissatisfied with the research results from the Empire, but he might have been expecting Gistas’s achievements, and Gistas indeed made some kind of breakthrough. He doesn’t want to destroy Gistas’s ’infection’ plan, but rather to steal its research outcomes to stabilize his son’s condition."
Gistas Kingdom’s Intelligence Bureau was deploying the "infection" plan, and only at the beginning did an officer go missing. Afterward, whether the plan encountered a bottleneck, was temporarily shelved, or obtained a significant breakthrough and was restarted, Professor Dodge who was stranded in Sunset City, did not make moves like the Empire did.
That is to say, Professor Dodge might have initially tried to stop Gistas’s research and then ignored it after Gistas shelved the project. But when the Gistas military achieved a major breakthrough and restarted the project, he changed his mind, began observing the project’s progress, and plotted to seize Gistas’s research outcomes at an opportune moment.
"Kid, your mind has gotten faster... makes sense. It means he’s been monitoring the Gistas base all along. Too bad, even knowing this, Qiqimora wouldn’t be able to catch him by lying in wait there," Lamia said.
"I think I might have ’crossed paths’ with him at the base a few times already, but neither of us could see each other," Qiqimora said.
"But he will eventually make a move on that base, and his activities in Sunset City won’t be completely traceless. Be patient, we will find him sooner or later," Aiden said.
"But Qiqimora, even if you find the guy, how will you get your hands on the Hand of Oblivion? That guy is notoriously the enemy of witches," Lamia said.
"The enemy of witches?" Aiden was a bit puzzled, "Does Professor Dodge have such a reputation? He’s just a behind-the-scenes instructor and scholar on the Empire’s side."
"Yes, a senior scholar, so he is qualified to participate in such terrible projects, but the secret projects he’s involved in are not limited to just this one." Lamia sneered, "The Empire once conducted some unknown experiments on witches who had committed serious crimes, and Professor Dodge was the overseer. Didn’t your intelligence network delve into this?"
"He was once on a special watchlist during the assemblies, just like you were in the past, Your Excellency. Many radical witches within the Empire’s borders wanted to kill him," Abigail said calmly.
"So that’s the case, no wonder he didn’t seek help from you," Aiden nodded.
At the time, Abigail must have had no small expertise in the "life" authority. She could stabilize her own state of demonization and should have been able to help Professor Dodge as well.
"Ha, the fool just scared himself. We removed him from the threat list when the Empire arrested him ten years ago. Pursuing forbidden knowledge, what he does is not much different from us; it’s just a different title. How many Great Witches were there who truly wanted to avenge the other witches ten years ago? Presia and Vila were just apprentices at that time," Lamia said.
Aiden began to think; his actual goal wasn’t really Professor Dodge. His only purpose was to prevent Mr. Bloodcoat from obtaining the Hand of Oblivion. As long as Mr. Bloodcoat didn’t get it, it hardly mattered whose hands the Hand of Oblivion ended up in.
Therefore, he shouldn’t help Qiqimora seize the Hand of Oblivion; it wasn’t necessarily safer in Qiqimora’s hands than in Professor Dodge’s, and there was no need for him to make unnecessary enemies.
"I do have a notion, Qiqimora," Lamia suddenly proposed with a smile, "Let’s snatch the research results from that base together; naturally, Dodge will come to us, and then we’ll negotiate with him for the Hand of Oblivion. How about that?"
"You always choose what’s in your best interest," Qiqimora could tell that the one who’d benefit the most from this plan was definitely Lamia, "That base holds the dirtiest secrets, heavily guarded, not so easy to take down, and the jailer won’t help us on this one."
"Hehe, even if he were willing, he wouldn’t be of much help, would he? No matter the extent of his intelligence network in Gistas, it’s not likely he has a military force," Lamia glanced at Aiden.
Aiden didn’t respond; speaking of available armed forces, there weren’t none.
But the Vengeance Hall was nothing more than a group of terrorists, and any foreseeable control tactics would also have to go through Halo.
Although he also somewhat wanted to destroy that inhumane base, his top priority was to find Mr. Bloodcoat first.
"Sorry, I’ve already collected enough information on this side. I need to step up the search for my enemy..." Aiden replied calmly.
A knock on the door, unexpected, broke into Aiden’s ears—someone had come looking for him at his office. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
"Excuse me, I have some work to handle." Aiden excused himself from the other meeting participants, "You continue the discussion."
"Take care." Abigail and Qiqimora waved to him.
"Don’t forget what I told you, kid." Lamia reminded.
"Got it." Having said that, Aiden disconnected.
The scenery flashed before his eyes, and Aiden saw his own office again.
"Come in." He called out to the person outside the door.
Veronica pushed the door open and saluted him: "Chief."
"What is it? Is there a problem with Halo?" Aiden asked.
Today, Halo had finally come out of solitary confinement. Considering she had regained her basic sanity and had been relatively well-behaved in solitary—of course, the main reason was that her primary powers had been sealed by the "Wordless Codex"—at her own request, Aiden had allowed her to move around like a regular prisoner. She didn’t need to stay in prison all day, but he had also instructed the guards to keep an eye on her movements.
At this time, Halo was supposed to be out in the yard with the other inmates.
Veronica reported: "The news about her regaining sanity has spread among the inmates, and quite a few have approached her..."
"As expected."
"And then she began preaching to the inmates who gathered around her," Veronica continued.
"Preaching?"
"Yes, she’s been spreading some doctrine about a ’revenge goddess’. I thought it best to report to you first."
"Indeed necessary." Aiden sighed deeply. This revenge goddess, before she was released, he had emphatically stressed several times that she needed to cooperate, and she had appeared to implicitly agree. But the result... as soon as she was out, she started causing trouble.
The "Wordless Codex" had sealed Halo’s powers of "revenge" and "betrayal", leaving "sacrifice"—this power alone wasn’t scary, but it would become troublesome if she acquired devoted followers.
He immediately rose from his seat: "Take me to the yard to see."
