120: Chapter 58 Undercurrents

At the end of August in Backlund, a sudden, heavy rain swept through the city.

After a night of torrential downpour, the water level of the Hoi River rose by nearly a foot. All the piers in the Dock District were inundated, forcing the stevedores to pile up sandbags overnight to build temporary levees to block the overflowing river.

The day after the rain stopped, the sky was clear.

Old Kohler brought his young daughter to the old oak tree by the church. The gravel "angel runway" the child had painstakingly paved earlier had been washed clean by the night's heavy rain, leaving not a trace behind.

The little girl squatted in front of the tree roots, her eyes reddening. She shed a few silent tears, but she was not discouraged. She filled her pockets with gravel again, squatted in the same spot, and started paving from scratch, even giving this brand-new little path a name—Angel's Runway No. 2.

In an apartment in the River Bay District, Lu Li was flipping through the weekly underground market intelligence briefing.

At the end of the briefing, the entry [No unusual activity from the black sail ship] had been listed for several weeks. Only this time, a line of new handwritten notes was added below the entry, hiding a secret.

[In the reef area of Storm Cape, fishermen witnessed a small, sail-less boat docking in the middle of the night. It stayed for less than half an hour and left quietly before dawn.]

No sails, no registration number, short-term docking, arriving and departing in the dead of night.

This was definitely not a ghost ship; it was a secret messenger ship exclusive to the Aurora Order.

Lu Li immediately understood the truth.

Ever since the Summer Solstice anchor base was completely drained, all the spare crystal cores in Ince Zangwill's possession had been exhausted. This small boat that appeared in the middle of the night was proof that he was transmitting messages and seeking supplies from the remnants of the Aurora Order at Storm Cape.

He folded the briefing, tucked it into his pocket, locked the doors and windows, and headed straight for Water Pump Street.

Abraham had already prepared a piece of encrypted shipping record. Seeing Lu Li enter, he immediately handed over the file.

The detailed records confirmed his guess.

Late at night on the day before the rainstorm, a special vessel had indeed appeared at the abandoned old pier in the reef area of Storm Cape. The hull was made of gray-white ghost wood unique to the Sea of Wraith, with no official registration markings.

The docking was completely silent. Only one figure in a dark cloak disembarked and stayed on the deserted old pier for a quarter of an hour.

Witnesses said the person who made contact was of medium build, with dark bandages wrapped around their left palm all year round.

The two did not speak or make any unnecessary movements, only quickly exchanging a sealed small lead box. Afterward, the cloaked figure immediately boarded the ship and returned. The entire transaction was clean and efficient, perfectly avoiding all spiritual monitoring stations without triggering any alarms.

"The contents of the lead box must be the spare crystal cores supplied by the Aurora Order," Lu Li said with certainty.

"The Summer Solstice anchor is depleted, and Ince has exhausted his resources. With no other options, he had to bow to the remnants of the Aurora Order at Storm Cape to exchange for supplies. The main force of the Aurora Order is trapped in the Fog Sea and cannot come to Backlund in person, so they can only send a messenger ship to deliver supplies remotely."

"This also means that he has a dedicated contact person hidden in the city."

Abraham tapped his fingertips on the page of the file, analyzing the deeper situation:

"With summer coming to an end, the tides of the Sea of Wraith have entered a period of silence and accumulation. The next peak of the tide will not arrive for at least several months."

"Even if Ince replenishes the crystal cores, without enough tidal dust to support it, he cannot initiate a large-scale ritual. What he desperately needs is not ordinary spare crystal cores, but a high-level Sealed Artifact that can replace the damaged core."

"He lost 0-08 and has no other substitutes of the same level. But the Aurora Order has been digging deep into ancient ruins; it is highly likely that Sealed Artifacts from the Antigonus period remain on the black sail ship."

"He is using the intelligence he holds about Backlund and the secrets of the anchors as bargaining chips to trade with the Aurora Order, exchanging them for the capital to prolong his life and restart the ritual."

"A purely short-term, mutually beneficial game," Lu Li added, seeing through the pros and cons. "Once the main force of the Aurora Order escapes and regains their mobility, Ince, having lost his value, will be discarded immediately."

"He knows this better than anyone, but he has no other choice."

The black sail ship needs to wait until the autumn tidal peak to reshape the wraith puppets and restore full combat power. Before that, relying only on the remaining crystal cores, he simply cannot last until the situation improves.

In a desperate situation, even if it is a partnership of drinking poison to quench thirst, he has no choice but to accept it entirely.

Lu Li put away the file and bid farewell to Abraham. When he walked out of Water Pump Street, night had completely enveloped Backlund.

Passing by the Mingde Street church, he caught a glimpse of the gravel runway under the old oak tree that had been destroyed by the rain. A short section had already been repaved, the traces of childhood innocence standing out clearly in the night.

The next morning, at the Mingde Street detective agency.

Audrey arrived as promised, without a hat, her long golden hair tied up with a light blue ribbon, holding her notebook, her expression calm.

Isabelle had sent another private letter, the tone more urgent than before. The letter explicitly mentioned that an internal high-end salon at the clinic was about to be held, urging Audrey to confirm her intention to attend as soon as possible.

Sherlock unfolded the letter, precisely reviewing the other party's motives:

"Isabelle has lost her patience."

"The fact that the ore crates in the Dock District were secretly searched confirmed for her that the snake-patterned variant ore that the Psychology Alchemists had been searching for so desperately had already been taken and sealed away by someone in advance."

"She checked various clues and found the authorization records for the private laboratory. All permissions were only open to one black market codename—Traveler."

"She had secretly inquired about this codename, but it was blocked layer by layer by the Secret Order. She couldn't find any real information and was left helpless."

Audrey nodded slightly and voiced her own concerns: "She deliberately attached the client's exclusive emblem to the invitation. It is clearly a way to test my reaction, suspecting that I am the one with the codename 'Traveler.' But I only entrusted you to investigate the ore samples at the time and did not directly contact the core resources. She shouldn't have been able to trace it to me."

"No need to worry," Sherlock calmly dismantled the flaw. "You used your real name when commissioning the investigation, and the person who handled it was a freight company manager who owes me a favor."

"Isabelle only needs to inquire a little to know about your unusual attention and knowledge regarding the snake-patterned ore, but she will never be able to verify the deeper information."

"The one who truly holds the authority for the ore and controls the core resources is the codename Traveler, not Audrey Hall. The two clues cannot overlap; she cannot get any solid evidence."

He raised his hand to pour tea, pushed a cup of warm black tea in front of her, and gave a sound plan:

"Accept the salon invitation, but remain a spectator throughout. Do not express an opinion, do not take sides."

"This is the standard procedure for the Psychology Alchemists to recruit newcomers. Before joining, they will arrange for a senior member to have a one-on-one interview. You can take this opportunity to observe the other party's purpose up close and grasp more intelligence."

Audrey took a sip, her fingertips steady. The black tea in the cup was as still as a mirror, without the slightest tremor. Her state of mind had become completely calm and determined.

A few days later, on the outskirts of the Old Industrial District.

Lu Li was conducting his routine regional patrol. After the rainstorm, the old pipes and walls revealed many subtle traces that were usually covered up.

His eyes locked onto the entrance of a drainage branch pipe.

The degree of rust on the iron fence here far exceeded all the surrounding pipes. The signs of aging were obvious, but the hinges, which should have been rusted shut and stiff, still had a layer of fresh, fine lubricating oil.

The oil marks were brand new. They were not left over from maintenance in early summer; they were applied by someone in the last few days.

Someone had deliberately come here.

Lu Li immediately squatted down and took out a spirituality detection needle to lightly touch the edge of the fence.

The spirituality concentration fed back by the detection was extremely low, deliberately suppressed and diluted by someone, but the composition characteristics perfectly matched the spiritual dust from the drained Summer Solstice anchor base.

The truth was already clear.

After replenishing the crystal cores, Ince had quietly returned to the Old Industrial District.

But upon his return this time, he did not try to restart the damaged anchor base; instead, he secretly recovered the mold markings and mycelium root remnants left over from the spring.

At that time, the blocking charm had failed, and the remaining mycelium had not completely dissipated, still maintaining a faint spiritual connection that could track the trajectory of the anchor and leave traces of activity.

Suspicious and cunning, he was cleaning up all the flaws, erasing every clue of his own lurking.

Lu Li put away the detection needle, took out his notebook, and followed the direction of the drainage branch pipe to redraw and plan a brand-new key patrol route.

The situation was becoming clearer.

Ince had hooked up with the Aurora Order, replenished his crystal core reserves, and temporarily stabilized his downward trend, but he was still deeply trapped in a predicament.

The autumn tide had not yet arrived, the combat power of the black sail ship could not recover, and the cooperation with the Aurora Order was short-term and utilitarian, and they might backstab the discarded pawn at any time.

He was like a trapped beast that had imprisoned itself.

Fifteen years of lurking, countless betrayals and killings, had forged the cage that trapped him. Every groove of the bars was carved with countless blood debts: the sacrifice of Dunn, the passing of Old Neil, the damage to the Chanis Gate, and the deep pollution of 0-08.

The cage was solid, and the path ahead was blocked.

But Ince Zangwill would never sit still and wait for death.

He could endure for fifteen years, could bear thousands of sins and lie dormant until now. A desperate situation was never his end; it would only force out his crazier, more unscrupulous fangs.

Under the silent Darkness, a more dangerous counterattack was already brewing in the shadows.