106: Chapter 44 Audience Approach

In late March, some unfamiliar faces began appearing in the Backlund underground market.

They were not from the Aurora Order—those believers always carried a faint, sweet, bloody scent of ritual sacrifice.

This new group of people were dressed decently, spoke with refined phrasing, and were generous but not flashy, appearing like a group of scholars who had stumbled into the black market.

Abraham used three terms to describe them in his weekly routine intelligence briefing: Spectator Pathway, low Sequence, and looking for formulas.

Lu Li read this briefing over and over in his River Bay District apartment.

The Spectator Pathway is one of the rarest Pathways among mid-Sequence Beyonders, and its main ingredients are almost entirely monopolized by the Psychology Alchemists.

Like the Secret Order, the Psychology Alchemists belong to the ancient secret organizations, but the two have completely different operating styles—the Secret Order worships knowledge itself, while the Psychology Alchemists are obsessed with the realms of consciousness and spirit, with most of their members being Beyonders of the Spectator Pathway.

In the original story, Earl Hall's daughter, Audrey Hall, became a Beyonder by exchanging for the Sequence 9 potion formula of the Spectator Pathway with Klein through the Tarot Club, and she joined the Psychology Alchemists.

She later became Miss Justice of the Tarot Club and was one of Klein's most loyal supporters.

But at this point in time, Audrey should not have officially come into contact with the Psychology Alchemists yet.

She had just joined the Tarot Club as "Justice" not long ago and was learning common knowledge of the Beyonder world from Mr. Fool above the gray fog.

The Psychology Alchemists being active in the underground market at this time was likely in preparation for recruiting new members—they were looking for suitable potential candidates for the Spectator Pathway and needed a large number of low-Sequence formulas as introductory teaching materials.

He put down the briefing and leaned back in his chair to organize his thoughts.

The intervention of the Psychology Alchemists did not directly conflict with his actions for the time being, but Beyonders of the Spectator Pathway possessed the ability to see through lies and detect traces of spiritual fluctuations, which was a potential trouble for someone like him who made a living by stealing information and disguising his identity.

He needed to be more cautious in his upcoming underground market activities.

The next evening, he went to Water Pump Street.

Old Eye was using a feather duster to clean a newly acquired set of old prints; seeing him push the door open, he just lifted his chin and took a note from the drawer, placing it on the counter.

The note had been sent by someone on behalf of Vera, and the content was very brief: The Secret Order had noticed the recent activities of the Psychology Alchemists in the underground market; both sides had no conflict of interest regarding the Antigonus Ruins, but there might be competition in collecting the formulas for the Spectator Pathway.

Vera advised the "Traveler" to be careful to conceal his identity when operating in the black market recently; although low-Sequence Beyonders of the Spectator Pathway were not strong in combat, their spiritual perception and face-reading abilities made them very troublesome opponents for information dealers.

"People from the Psychology Alchemists came to see me," Old Eye said, gently tapping the dust on the bookshelf with the feather duster. "A middle-aged woman wearing gold-rimmed glasses, speaking in a measured tone, asked if there were any old books regarding the Antigonus Family. I said yes, but I only sell to regular customers. She smiled and left. Her spiritual fluctuations were very stable, likely around Sequence 7, Spectator Pathway. She didn't try to read my face—at least I didn't feel like I was being read—but she paused at the door when she left, looked back around the shop, and that look was as if she wanted to memorize the location of every book."

Lu Li folded the note and put it into his pocket.

A Sequence 7 Psychiatrist of the Spectator Pathway indeed possessed super-strong observation and memory, but Old Eye had run an old bookstore in Backlund for twenty or thirty years and had seen too many Beyonders; his sensitivity to spiritual perception was not inferior to any low-Sequence Beyonder.

He asked Old Eye if he had revealed anything about the investigation of the ruins; Old Eye said no, he only sold books, not intelligence.

Meanwhile, at the detective agency at 15 Mingde Street, Sherlock Moriarty was receiving an unexpected client.

The person who came was a young noble lady, wearing a simple and elegant light gray long dress and a wide-brimmed hat adorned with a light blue ribbon, and beneath the brim were a pair of bright eyes that carried a hint of unease.

She introduced herself as a friend of Miss Audrey Hall, entrusted by her to consult on a private matter—she was not at liberty to disclose specific details, only saying that it involved a young lady interested in the Beyonder world who hoped to find a trustworthy guide.

After hearing her description, Sherlock already had a judgment in his mind.

This client was most likely Audrey Hall herself, or at least closely related to her.

Audrey Hall was Earl Hall's daughter, coming from one of the most prominent noble families in Backlund, and she was testing the waters at the edge of the Beyonder world.

She needed a guide who was familiar with the Beyonder world and did not belong to any faction.

But he did not intend to proactively expose the client's identity—noble ladies had their own social rules, and bluntly pointing it out would only make the other party feel awkward.

"I can provide some basic consulting services regarding the Beyonder world," he replied in a professional tone. "But for matters involving specific formulas, materials, or Sealed Artifacts, there will be extra charges. Additionally, if the content of the commission involves any church contraband or illegal activities, I reserve the right to refuse."

He paused. "You can tell your friend to rest assured; I will not pry into her true identity. Many nobles have similar worries, which is quite normal."

After the client left, Sherlock took a paper figurine from the drawer and wrote a few words on the back: "Psychology Alchemists active, Spectator Pathway looking for formulas. Possibly related to Audrey." The paper figurine trembled slightly in his palm and turned into ashes.

He leaned back in his chair, thinking about the eyes of the young lady who had just been the client—bright, curious, and carrying a hint of probing.

If Audrey Hall really started to come into contact with the Beyonder world, she would soon need a Guardian who could help her block all those coveting her from the shadows, and he happened to know someone who was good at covering things up from behind the scenes.

A few days later, Lu Li discovered some clues in a shop in the black market that specialized in materials for the Spectator Pathway.

The shop owner was a Sequence 8 Telepathist who specialized in emotional detection and lie identification, and his clients were mostly nobles and businessmen.

His shop was filled with various props used to assist in face-reading—specially made spiritual ink, lenses that could magnify micro-expressions, and a few copies of "Introduction to Basic Meditation Methods of the Psychology Alchemists" that were worn at the edges from being flipped through.

While flipping through samples of spiritual ink in the shop, he noticed a register on the counter, and the page opened to it recorded the sales details of the past few weeks.

Among them was a line with a name signed in elegant roundhand— "A. H.", who had bought an "Introductory Guide to the Spectator Pathway" and a set of spiritual ink samples, with the purchase date being just a few days ago.

This guide was an introductory textbook for training new members within the Psychology Alchemists; ordinary people would not use it, and only those who had just awakened the characteristics of the Spectator Pathway would buy it.

He noted this information, did not stay long, and folded the note into his pocket.

When leaving the shop, he paused briefly at the door—there was a layer of extremely faint spiritual perception residue in the air, not the passive perception of a Telepathist, but the "emotional observation" actively released by the Spectator Pathway.

Someone was observing the emotional fluctuations of everyone entering and leaving the shop. He maintained a calm surface, and his footsteps did not change in the slightest.