112: Chapter 50 Summer Solstice

In early June, a piece of early warning intelligence sufficient to shake the underground landscape of Backlund was placed before Lu Li.

Abraham's latest briefing clearly indicated: around the Summer Solstice, the tides of the Sea of Wraith at Storm Cape would reach their annual peak, and scattered spiritual anomalies had already emerged in the depths of the Fog Sea.

The black sail ship, which had been silent for a long time, remained motionless, but the violently shifting tides themselves were a dangerous signal that a storm was coming.

Lu Li quickly scanned the briefing, and his gaze fell on the shipping records at hand.

The exclusive cargo ship plying between the Southern Continent and Backlund had once again brought back a batch of serpentine ore samples, which were still being stockpiled in the dock warehouse.

Old Kohler's employment contract had been renewed until the end of the year, and his daughter had successfully been admitted to the art school in the Dock District.

After noting down all the key information, Lu Li immediately changed his clothes and headed out, straight for Water Pump Street.

At the same time, inside the detective agency on Mingde Street, Audrey Hall brought a piece of secret intelligence.

Today, she shed her usual caution and polite formalities, getting straight to the point about the anomaly: a new private clinic had opened in the Dock District, outwardly specializing in general psychological counseling, with "Introduction to the Basic Meditation of the Psychology Alchemists" openly displayed in its shop window.

The book cover was unremarkable, with a standard popular science binding, but a special mark was hidden on the title page—a serpent entwined around a quill.

This was a secret symbol she had seen in ancient texts, definitely not a common identifier.

"Mr. Sherlock, what exactly is the problem with this clinic and this mark?" Audrey asked seriously.

Sherlock's eyes darkened slightly as he instantly sorted out the hidden threads.

The serpent entwined around a quill was the exclusive family crest of the client behind the scenes.

Recently, this mark had appeared more and more frequently: on the seal charms in the dock warehouse, in the attachments of the Secret Order ruins report, and in the signature of the recommendation letter for Old Kohler's daughter's art school... Now, it had completely surfaced, taking root in a private clinic catering to young nobles.

The plans of the Psychology Alchemists had quietly shifted from underground to the light of day.

He immediately warned Audrey strictly against approaching this clinic alone; if she needed to investigate, she must go with him.

After Audrey left, Sherlock took out a paper figurine and wrote down a critical warning: The Psychology Alchemists are relying on a private clinic in the Dock District, using legal psychological counseling as a disguise to secretly screen and recruit young individuals with Beyonder potential. This intelligence would be submitted to Mr. Fool at the next Tarot Club meeting.

In the afternoon, inside the shop on Water Pump Street.

After Lu Li finished verifying all the data with Abraham, he directly asked about the details of that suspicious private clinic.

Abraham had already figured out the whole situation and bluntly stated the trick: "The operators are a few low-Sequence Beyonders of the Spectator Pathway. On the surface, they mainly provide emotional counseling and psychological treatment for the children of nobles and wealthy merchants. Their paperwork is complete, their taxes are paid regularly, and they even hire ordinary mortals to be responsible for front-desk cleaning. From a commercial standpoint, you can't find a single flaw."

"But their client screening is extremely bizarre, definitely not a normal business."

"The patients they receive are all young people around twenty years old from affluent backgrounds. Every visitor is subjected to a deep emotional and spiritual assessment. Those who receive an excellent evaluation are secretly introduced to the clinic's 'Senior Consultant' for one-on-one in-depth counseling. All records are kept strictly confidential throughout the process and are never leaked."

Speaking of this, Abraham's tone deepened as he pointed out the most critical point: "Several potential young people have already been selected, and one of them is Audrey Hall."

A cold glint of realization instantly flashed in Lu Li's eyes.

The ambition of the Psychology Alchemists was far greater and more concealed than he had anticipated.

They had completely abandoned the old model of scattered black market recruitment, using a legitimate clinic as the perfect disguise, packaging Beyonder screening as mental health screening, and disguising the basic potion knowledge of the Spectator Pathway as art training materials to precisely harvest young talents with affluent backgrounds and outstanding spirituality.

It was no accident that Audrey was targeted.

Her innate, top-tier talent as a Spectator meant she didn't need intentional guidance; she could accurately capture the emotions of others and predict behavioral trends just by observing, making her an excellent successor for the Pathway.

More importantly, the power, connections, and social influence of the Hall family were top-tier resources that the Psychology Alchemists coveted immensely.

Winning over a young lady of the Hall family was worth far more than recruiting dozens of ordinary low-Sequence Beyonders.

After figuring out the overall layout, Lu Li immediately headed to Old Eye's old bookstore to verify the final key doubt.

While organizing ancient books, Old Eye took off his copper-rimmed glasses and pointed out the timing of their layout: "They chose a very tricky time. After the news of the stable seal of the Antigonus Ruins was made public, all the forces focused their attention on the tidal anomalies at Storm Cape; no one cared about an ordinary new shop in the Dock District. It was precisely during this gap that the Psychology Alchemists directly closed their net and landed."

Immediately after, he revealed a bombshell secret that pointed directly at Lu Li himself.

"The middle-aged woman with gold-rimmed glasses I mentioned to you before is the backstage Senior Consultant of this clinic, at least Sequence 7."

"When she came to my shop that day, she wasn't looking for Antigonus ancient books at all; she was specifically looking for someone."

Lu Li's gaze narrowed slightly: "Looking for whom?"

The look in Old Eye's eyes behind his glasses was exceptionally deep as he slowly spat out the answer: "Looking for you, Traveler."

"She was wearing a specially made silver ring on her hand. The ring face featured a simplified serpent tail-biting pattern, with garnet embedded in the snake's eyes; it is the exclusive mark of core members of the Psychology Alchemists. The inside of the ring is engraved with Hermes script, so her status and position are not low."

"She screened everyone who participated in the ruins debt clearing incident, ruled out the client and the Secret Order, and finally locked onto you."

The truth suddenly became clear.

Long before he advanced to Sequence 6 Cryptologist, the higher-ups of the Psychology Alchemists had already captured his traces.

It wasn't that his actions were exposed, but rather that the incident of clearing the Antigonus Ruins debt had stirred up ripples of Beyonder power that were too vast.

Everyone who was deeply involved in it would be screened, marked, and targeted one by one by top-tier forces in the shadows.

The other party had been lying in wait, laying out plans step by step, from infiltrating the Dock District with marks to the establishment of the clinic for recruitment, and finally, they had precisely locked their gaze onto him.

After digesting all the intelligence, Lu Li's expression was calm, but layers of vigilance had already risen in his heart.

A secret tracking operation targeting him, along with the Psychology Alchemists' full-scale expansion plan, had already quietly unfolded in the early summer of Backlund.

He thanked him and left the bookstore, pushing the door open and stepping out.

The evening gas street lamps lit up one by one, and the hot and humid evening breeze blew against his face, hiding silent undercurrents and murderous intent.

The Summer Solstice was approaching, the peak of the tides was imminent, and the games and net-closing of various forces had already entered a countdown.