“According to that man...” The young investigator swallowed hard, a fanatical look in his eyes. “It seems to be... a legendary treasure that can open a brand-new era!”
Cecil looked at the flushed young man before her, her face expressionless.
Open an era? A treasure?!
She felt her blood pressure soaring.
What a load of nonsense!
These two Moon Lord believers who had crossed lines were wasting their talent by not writing third-rate knight adventure novels!
What was even worse...
This young investigator, who had been strictly screened by the Seventh Agency and should have possessed high arcane literacy...
He actually believed it!
These two brainless idiots actually fell for such a low-quality lure that wouldn't even fool a three-year-old on the street?!
Cecil took a deep breath of the cold hallway air.
She forcibly suppressed the urge to blast the man's head apart with an 【Arcane Missile】.
Stay calm.
Someone was clearly trying to use this method to lure the Seventh Agency's attention toward the Golden Rose Hotel.
But what was their purpose?
Without a site inspection, she couldn't quite figure it out.
However, this at least proved that the Golden Rose Hotel indeed had something worth investigating.
“Let me ask you.” Cecil pondered for a moment, her gaze as sharp as a blade. “What were you doing when you heard the conversation between those two?”
“Oh!” The young investigator blinked and quickly reported honestly. “We were across the street, attempting to arrest a suspect who had forced his way into the crime scene of Room 517!”
He hurriedly added: “However, based on our preliminary assessment, that person didn't have any spiritual fluctuations. He was just an ordinary person who seemed a bit mentally unstable.”
“Originally, we planned to use force, shove him into a carriage, and bring him back for questioning.”
“But just as we were struggling with him, this happened...”
“What?!” Ms. Cecil's beautiful eyes widened suddenly. “You went to arrest someone?!”
She suppressed her fury, which was almost erupting, and let out a terrifyingly low growl.
“Who told you to arrest ordinary people?!”
“Did the branch manager not tell you that you were only allowed to stake out the place and were forbidden from taking any intervention actions?!”
The young investigator trembled all over, terrified by the sudden burst of violent killing intent.
“Idiot!” Cecil cursed through gritted teeth.
“You two brainless fools, do you have any idea why I didn't have the Golden Rose Hotel cordoned off immediately this afternoon?!”
“W—Why?” the young man asked stutteringly, his eyes clear and foolish.
“Because I didn't want to alert the target so soon!”
Cecil spoke in a low voice, her tone carrying a hint of hysteria on the verge of collapse.
After saying this, she didn't forget to glance back warily at the tightly closed guest room door.
She was afraid that her out-of-control roar would be heard by Charlotte inside the room.
She turned back and glared fiercely at the rookie in front of her.
“Damn it!”
“Do you really not know how slippery the target we're trying to catch this time, John Baker, actually is?!”
“Not only is he a skilled thief...”
“He also carries more than one medium-risk containment object!”
“He has an extremely strong sense of counter-reconnaissance—he's ten thousand times more sensitive than a rat in a sewer!”
“Furthermore!” Cecil took a deep breath and dropped the most critical piece of intelligence. “He even has a special containment object that can perfectly change his appearance and spiritual fluctuations at any time!”
Hearing this, the young intern investigator finally realized how big of a mess he had made.
His face turned deathly pale instantly.
He was clearly terrified by Ms. Cecil's horrifying mood and the severe consequences.
He became even more at a loss, his legs turning weak.
“I'm sorry! Ms. Cecil! I really didn't know...” He bowed repeatedly in apology, his voice tinged with a sob.
A sense of exhaustion from the disappointment of his incompetence welled up in Cecil's heart.
Was this the fresh blood the Seventh Agency was recruiting now?
“Listen.” Cecil looked at him coldly and issued an ultimatum. “If the target learns the news in advance because of your incredibly stupid actions today...”
“Both of you... can pack your bags!”
“Ms. Cecil!!!” The young investigator was nearly in tears.
He suppressed his panicked voice and began to plead desperately for his superior to show mercy, as if grabbing onto a life-saving straw.
“Shut up!” Cecil interrupted his wailing without mercy.
“You now, go back to the branch immediately and notify Branch Manager Guardian!”
Cecil's brain worked at high speed, quickly adjusting the original surveillance plan.
“Tell him we need to launch the investigation into the Golden Rose case immediately!”
“Have him bring all his men and surround that building completely!”
She shot a cold glance at the still-shaking young man.
“As for the fatal work error you two committed today...”
“Find a way to make up for it in the upcoming operation!”
“Yes!” Like a man catching a final glimmer of hope, the young man straightened his back and responded loudly.
“Hiss!” Cecil sucked in a breath of cold air, startled by the loud shout.
She quickly warned him in a low voice, “Keep your voice down!”
The young man was so scared he immediately covered his mouth tightly.
He nodded frantically and let out a muffled, indistinct grunt: “Yes!”
“Then get going!” Cecil waved her hand impatiently, dismissing him like a fly.
She lowered her head and, by the dim light of the corridor, looked at the exquisite pocket watch hanging on her chest.
The hands on the dial had already pointed mercilessly to eight o'clock in the evening.
Time was too tight.
If the situation had already developed to this point beyond recovery, her best and only reliable choice now was to return to the room, personally call a carriage to send Charlotte home, and then immediately rush to the Golden Rose Hotel to meet with Branch Manager Guardian!
However, just as Cecil had planned everything out in her mind and was about to act, she noticed that the young investigator, who should have been relieved to leave, hadn't gone yet!
Instead, he stood there fidgeting, looking somewhat reluctant to leave.
This abnormal behavior made Cecil's brow, which had only relaxed for a second, furrow deeply again.
“Why aren't you leaving yet?” Cecil's tone had dropped to freezing point, her eyes flashing with killing intent. “Is there something else?!”
The young man shivered from the killing intent. He stood there trembling slightly, his hands nervously rubbing the hem of his clothes.
“M—Ms. Cecil.” He swallowed, his voice carrying extreme fear. “C—Could you take a look for me...”
He pointed to his forehead and pleaded with a miserable face, “I haven't caught any spiritual curse, have I?”
Cecil was stunned. She looked at this eccentric person with a face full of absurdity.
“Why would you think you've caught a spiritual curse?!” What kind of bizarre logic was this?
The young man became even more uneasy. He pulled his neck in and answered stutteringly, “I... we heard those two say that the ordinary person seemed to have some kind of curse on him.”
“...” Cecil was so angry she actually started laughing.
This level of stupidity actually left her without the strength to even get angry.
Contagious? Did he think a spiritual curse was a severe flu?! That it was airborne?!
She lazily lifted her eyelids and glanced at him with Spirit Vision.
“No,” Cecil pronounced the verdict coldly.
“And,” she crossed her arms and added in a cruel, cold tone, “you two were tricked.”
Cecil warned him through gritted teeth, “In the future, don't believe such stupid scams!”
“Ah!” The young man suddenly let out a cry of disbelief.
His expression was as if his entire worldview had completely shattered.
Cecil forced herself to ignore the rookie, who was broken by the harsh reality, and stopped paying him any mind.
In the hallway, only the young investigator remained, cowering because of the excessive shock and the collapse of his beliefs.
He muttered to himself in despair, “I... I was tricked?”
“There is no One Piece in this world?”
Rate on N.U.
