121: Chapter 59 Hibernation

Early September. The dry heat that had long occupied Backlund finally faded, replaced by the faint chill of autumn.

After several days of continuous drizzle, the water level of the Hoi River rose steadily, washing away the lingering summer heat from the banks.

Children in the Dock District no longer rushed to the warm, shallow waters to play; instead, they squatted on the mottled stone piers, holding crude fishing rods, trying to catch willow leaves swept down by the autumn wind and floating with the current.

The latest intelligence report from the underground market indicated a key change: the overall spiritual fluctuations in the Storm Cape sea area had dropped to their lowest point of the year.

That mysterious sailless messenger ship had completely vanished since it last docked at the reef area on a rainy night.

At the end of the report, Abraham had added a note in steady handwriting: "The black sail ship has no public movements. Fishing boats near the reef area witnessed a small, sailless boat briefly docking at the old pier in the dead of night, departing rapidly before dawn. Its movements are suspicious."

Lu Li ran his fingertips over the rough paper, a flash of realization crossing his eyes.

He had long seen through the crux of the matter: that was not the legendary ghost ship, but a secret messenger ship exclusive to the Aurora Order.

Since the anchor base of the Summer Solstice was completely drained and its core destroyed, the reserve of spiritual nuclei that Ince Zangwill had hoarded was exhausted. This time, he had finally made contact with the remnants of the Aurora Order lurking in the Storm Cape.

The secret docking on that rainy night was essentially a covert transfer of supplies. The sealed lead box exchanged by the two parties on the abandoned pier in the reef area contained the very spiritual nuclei he desperately needed.

However, the situation had not been reversed.

After summer ended, the tides of the Sea of Wraith entered a new, long accumulation cycle. Within at least several months, they would not be able to reach the peak required to support high-level rituals.

In other words, with just this batch of spiritual nuclei, Ince was completely unable to restart any large-scale Beyonder ritual.

Spiritual nuclei were merely basic consumables. What he currently lacked most and needed most urgently was a brand new, stable, unsealed spiritual anchor.

Lu Li carefully folded the report, tucked it into his inner pocket, confirmed that the doors and windows were locked and there were no abnormal spiritual fluctuations nearby, then pushed the door open and headed toward Water Pump Street.

Inside the spiritual materials shop, a faint scent of Spirit World dust permeated the air, clean and cold.

Abraham was lowering his head, sorting through a batch of Spirit World dust transported back from the Southern Continent. Hearing Lu Li's complete deduction, he showed no extra surprise and directly pulled a neatly bound, detailed file from a hidden drawer and handed it over.

The file recorded all sightings and spiritual detection details in the reef area over the past half-month.

The sailless messenger ship near Storm Cape had indeed only appeared publicly once, but the old pier it docked at was by no means an ordinary abandoned wharf; it was a backup supply point secretly built by the Aurora Order years ago, which had not been recorded on official nautical charts.

Deep within the wooden piles of the pier, standard blood sacrifice runes of the Aurora Order were engraved.

Eroded by years of sea wind and soaked in seawater, the surface of the runes had long become mottled and blurred, making them unrecognizable to ordinary Beyonders. However, the residual, faint spiritual fluctuations remained clearly discernible to the vision of high-level individuals or those of the same faction.

"The official nautical charts of the Church's Sea Patrol have absolutely no record of this pier." Abraham raised his eyes, his tone firm. "The fact that the messenger ship deliberately chose to dock here is enough to prove that the Aurora Order still retains a complete and secret supply and communication network in the reef area of Storm Cape."

"Ince used this network to replenish his spiritual nuclei reserves, but almost all of his previously exposed anchors have been destroyed and sealed by us."

He reached out and pointed to several invalid points marked on the file, sorting out the situation one by one:

"The mold marks in the abandoned branch pipe of the Old Industrial District have long been completely blocked by spiritual barriers, and the spiritual nuclei of the anchor base are completely shattered and scrapped; around the ghost ship wreckage at the third berth, all spare rune fragments were destroyed by flame traps; the core sealing node outside the Chanis Gate has been firmly locked by holy water charms, and the spiritual pathway is completely severed."

"On the surface, he has nowhere left to go."

After a brief pause, Abraham stated the most critical hidden danger, which was also the biggest crisis at present: "But he still has a retreat that no one knows about. Deep within the underground drainage network of the Old Industrial District, there are many abandoned branch tunnels that are not even marked on the Secret Order's distribution maps. When he served as a Nighthawk back then, Ince happened to be responsible for the maintenance of the sealing nodes in this area. For a full ten-plus years, he has been clearer than anyone about the distribution, structure, and spiritual residue of those hidden branch tunnels."

Meanwhile, at 15 Mingde Street, the Moriarty Detective Agency.

Warm yellow light spilled through the glass windows, tea fragrance curled in the room, and the atmosphere was quiet and relaxed.

Sherlock Moriarty placed the completed commission report into a cowhide envelope with calm and composed movements. Across the desk, Audrey held a cup of warm black tea and softly recounted recent developments.

She had formally replied to Isabelle, politely accepting the invitation to participate in the clinic's internal salon. Her wording was measured—gentle yet distant—clearly expressing her willingness to participate while deliberately maintaining a distance, revealing no extra attitudes or thoughts, and concluding only with thanks and anticipation for the exchange.

"Well done." Sherlock nodded slightly, giving a precise judgment. "Neither refusing nor being too eager; it's balanced."

"This reply will make Isabelle categorize you as a candidate, but she won't immediately initiate deep recruitment. For a period of time, she will continue to observe and test you. It is highly probable she will deliberately create 'accidental' encounters—perhaps a chat at the church entrance, or a meeting at the Old Book Exhibition Hall, precisely tailored to your identity and preferences."

Audrey pondered slightly, then looked up and asked: "If we really meet by chance at the exhibition hall, how should I respond? Should I take the initiative to ask about the snake-shaped patterns and the Antigonus Ruins, or should I remain indifferent and pretend to be passing by?"

"Just pretend to be passing by." Sherlock's tone was calm as he pointed out the core logic of the game. "The Beyonder knowledge you display in front of Isabelle must be deliberately lower than your level in this agency. Let her believe that you are just a newcomer full of curiosity about the extraordinary world, just peeking through the door, rather than an opponent who has already mastered the Sequence 8 Observer's high-level abilities and possesses independent judgment and thinking."

"Only in this way will she lower her guard and treat you as a junior who can be guided and recruited, rather than a threat that needs to be guarded against."

Audrey carefully noted these words in her notebook, sorted out all subsequent response postures, and then rose to leave.

After the office door closed, the room returned to silence.

Sherlock took out the thin paper figurine from the depths of the drawer and wrote a clear line on the back:

"Audrey accepted the salon invitation, plans to observe with a low profile, hiding her true strength. It is highly probable that Isabelle will create accidental encounters to test her; need to keep monitoring."

Mist surged above the gray fog.

In the towering palace of eternal silence, the Fool sat at the head of the long bronze table, overlooking everyone below with a cold posture and heavy majesty.

Miss Justice was the first to stand up and report, truthfully relaying the preparation progress of the clinic's internal salon and her planned strategy of observing—hiding her strength throughout the process, keeping a low profile to observe the movements of all parties, and absolutely not rashly exposing her own Beyonder level and cognition.

Following her, the Hanged Man stood up and spoke, reporting the latest anomalies at sea: "New types of ghost ship tide dust have been detected in the depths of the Fog Sea. The composition matches the samples collected at the Old Wharf a few months ago, but the concentration has increased significantly, highly concentrated around the old pier in the Storm Cape reef area."

He made a precise deduction: "The traces of dust spilled from a lead container, combined with the fresh spiritual fluctuations on the pier's wooden piles, confirm that Beyonder supplies must have been unloaded and exchanged there recently. The Aurora Order's secret supply point is still active; the disappearance of the sailless messenger ship is just a temporary dormancy."

Silence spread for a moment above the long bronze table.

Klein nodded slightly, his low, calm voice resounding through the palace: "Continue to monitor the spiritual fluctuations in the reef area."

He paused slightly and added a command with hidden meaning: "If the small, sailless boat appears again, there is no need to intercept or disturb it; just accurately record the docking time and the duration of the stay."

The Tarot Club meeting concluded, and everyone's figures dissipated one by one into the gray fog.

In the empty palace, only the Fool sat alone in the high-backed chair, his fingertips rubbing the cool paper figurine, his eyes deep, thoughts surging.

The single appearance of the Storm Cape messenger ship, the Aurora Order's unbroken secret network, Ince's replenished spiritual nuclei reserves... all clues connected into a clear thread.

The tidal peak had not yet arrived, and high-level rituals could not be started. Ince's top priority was to seize a usable spiritual anchor.

And those unrecorded abandoned branch tunnels in the Old Industrial District, those sealing nodes that only he had maintained personally and which were engraved with his ten years of work traces, were his final trump card and reliance.

Days passed in a flash.

Autumn grew stronger, and continuous autumn rain repeatedly washed the streets of Backlund and the barren land of the Old Industrial District.

Lu Li patrolled the outskirts of the Old Industrial District as usual and, in a hidden corner covered by weeds, discovered an abandoned branch pipe that had been washed out by the rain and exposed.

The iron fence at the entrance of the branch tunnel was rusted and mottled, indistinguishable from the dilapidated traces of surrounding old facilities, and was extremely misleading. But when Lu Li leaned down to look closely, he keenly captured a fatal flaw.

Deep in the gaps of the fence hinges, a layer of very faint amber mineral lubricating oil remained. The texture was brand new, and it had been left for a very short time, completely out of place with the years of accumulated rust and mold around it.

This oil composition was exactly the same as the oil stain in the abandoned lead bottle next to the Summer Solstice anchor in the spring.

The truth was already clear.

After replacing the spiritual nuclei and lying low to recuperate, Ince had long since quietly returned to the Old Industrial District. Only this time, he avoided all the conspicuous main pipelines and known sealing nodes, choosing this secret old path that no one recorded or paid attention to.

Lu Li put away the spiritual detection needle in his hand, condensed several thin, hidden spiritual imprints with his fingertips, precisely covering the surroundings of the branch tunnel entrance, locking all spiritual fluctuations in this area.

Then he recorded the precise coordinates in detail and carefully collected a sample of the lubricating oil residue from the hinges, storing it properly.

He knew better than anyone that this was by no means a simple return exploration.

This was the back door Ince had hidden for fifteen years.

During his fifteen years as a Nighthawk in Tingen, he had handled, maintained, and recorded countless sealing nodes. Among them, a large number of failed nodes, weak spiritual pathways, and hidden dead ends had never been recorded in official archives or the Secret Order's distribution maps; they were a secret reserve belonging to him alone.

He did not need to redraw mold marks, nor did he need to create a brand new anchor.

Which sealing nodes that the world deemed completely failed still retained weak spiritual connections, which could be quickly modified and put into use, which could become secret strongholds... Ince had long had the most complete and accurate secret map in his mind.

Night fell, and the lights in the River Bay District apartment were dimly lit.

Lu Li sat at his desk, organized all the clues, wrote a complete report, and thoroughly clarified the current situation:

The Aurora Order's Storm Cape secret supply network continued to operate, and Ince had replenished his spiritual nuclei consumables; the Sea of Wraith tides would take several months to reach their peak, and high-level rituals could not be started; the other party's only goal at this stage was to seize a stable and secret new spiritual anchor.

The unrecorded abandoned branch tunnels in the Old Industrial District, which retained the secret back doors from Ince's tenure and had residual, unbroken spiritual pathways, had become his core reliance for dormancy, planning, and waiting for a counterattack.