Chapter 455: Chapter 455: Causing Trouble as Soon as They Come Out_1
"Have you figured out why?" Lamia looked toward Aiden.
"Itâs simple," Aiden laid out his guess, "Professor Dodge is dissatisfied with the research results from the Empire, but he might have been expecting Gistasâs achievements, and Gistas indeed made some kind of breakthrough. He doesnât want to destroy Gistasâs âinfectionâ plan, but rather to steal its research outcomes to stabilize his sonâs condition."
Gistas Kingdomâs Intelligence Bureau was deploying the "infection" plan, and only at the beginning did an officer go missing. Afterward, whether the plan encountered a bottleneck, was temporarily shelved, or obtained a significant breakthrough and was restarted, Professor Dodge who was stranded in Sunset City, did not make moves like the Empire did.
That is to say, Professor Dodge might have initially tried to stop Gistasâs research and then ignored it after Gistas shelved the project. But when the Gistas military achieved a major breakthrough and restarted the project, he changed his mind, began observing the projectâs progress, and plotted to seize Gistasâs research outcomes at an opportune moment.
"Kid, your mind has gotten faster... makes sense. It means heâs been monitoring the Gistas base all along. Too bad, even knowing this, Qiqimora wouldnât be able to catch him by lying in wait there," Lamia said.
"I think I might have âcrossed pathsâ with him at the base a few times already, but neither of us could see each other," Qiqimora said.
"But he will eventually make a move on that base, and his activities in Sunset City wonât be completely traceless. Be patient, we will find him sooner or later," Aiden said.
"But Qiqimora, even if you find the guy, how will you get your hands on the Hand of Oblivion? That guy is notoriously the enemy of witches," Lamia said.
"The enemy of witches?" Aiden was a bit puzzled, "Does Professor Dodge have such a reputation? Heâs just a behind-the-scenes instructor and scholar on the Empireâs side."
"Yes, a senior scholar, so he is qualified to participate in such terrible projects, but the secret projects heâs involved in are not limited to just this one." Lamia sneered, "The Empire once conducted some unknown experiments on witches who had committed serious crimes, and Professor Dodge was the overseer. Didnât your intelligence network delve into this?"
"He was once on a special watchlist during the assemblies, just like you were in the past, Your Excellency. Many radical witches within the Empireâs borders wanted to kill him," Abigail said calmly.
"So thatâs the case, no wonder he didnât seek help from you," Aiden nodded.
At the time, Abigail must have had no small expertise in the "life" authority. She could stabilize her own state of demonization and should have been able to help Professor Dodge as well.
"Ha, the fool just scared himself. We removed him from the threat list when the Empire arrested him ten years ago. Pursuing forbidden knowledge, what he does is not much different from us; itâs just a different title. How many Great Witches were there who truly wanted to avenge the other witches ten years ago? Presia and Vila were just apprentices at that time," Lamia said.
Aiden began to think; his actual goal wasnât really Professor Dodge. His only purpose was to prevent Mr. Bloodcoat from obtaining the Hand of Oblivion. As long as Mr. Bloodcoat didnât get it, it hardly mattered whose hands the Hand of Oblivion ended up in.
Therefore, he shouldnât help Qiqimora seize the Hand of Oblivion; it wasnât necessarily safer in Qiqimoraâs hands than in Professor Dodgeâs, and there was no need for him to make unnecessary enemies.
"I do have a notion, Qiqimora," Lamia suddenly proposed with a smile, "Letâs snatch the research results from that base together; naturally, Dodge will come to us, and then weâll negotiate with him for the Hand of Oblivion. How about that?"
"You always choose whatâs in your best interest," Qiqimora could tell that the one whoâd benefit the most from this plan was definitely Lamia, "That base holds the dirtiest secrets, heavily guarded, not so easy to take down, and the jailer wonât help us on this one."
"Hehe, even if he were willing, he wouldnât be of much help, would he? No matter the extent of his intelligence network in Gistas, itâs not likely he has a military force," Lamia glanced at Aiden.
Aiden didnât respond; speaking of available armed forces, there werenât none.
But the Vengeance Hall was nothing more than a group of terrorists, and any foreseeable control tactics would also have to go through Halo.
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Although he also somewhat wanted to destroy that inhumane base, his top priority was to find Mr. Bloodcoat first.
"Sorry, Iâve already collected enough information on this side. I need to step up the search for my enemy..." Aiden replied calmly.
A knock on the door, unexpected, broke into Aidenâs earsâsomeone had come looking for him at his office.
"Excuse me, I have some work to handle." Aiden excused himself from the other meeting participants, "You continue the discussion."
"Take care." Abigail and Qiqimora waved to him.
"Donât forget what I told you, kid." Lamia reminded.
"Got it." Having said that, Aiden disconnected.
The scenery flashed before his eyes, and Aiden saw his own office again.
"Come in." He called out to the person outside the door.
Veronica pushed the door open and saluted him: "Chief."
"What is it? Is there a problem with Halo?" Aiden asked.
Today, Halo had finally come out of solitary confinement. Considering she had regained her basic sanity and had been relatively well-behaved in solitaryâof course, the main reason was that her primary powers had been sealed by the "Wordless Codex"âat her own request, Aiden had allowed her to move around like a regular prisoner. She didnât need to stay in prison all day, but he had also instructed the guards to keep an eye on her movements.
At this time, Halo was supposed to be out in the yard with the other inmates.
Veronica reported: "The news about her regaining sanity has spread among the inmates, and quite a few have approached her..."
"As expected."
"And then she began preaching to the inmates who gathered around her," Veronica continued.
"Preaching?"
"Yes, sheâs been spreading some doctrine about a ârevenge goddessâ. I thought it best to report to you first."
"Indeed necessary." Aiden sighed deeply. This revenge goddess, before she was released, he had emphatically stressed several times that she needed to cooperate, and she had appeared to implicitly agree. But the result... as soon as she was out, she started causing trouble.
The "Wordless Codex" had sealed Haloâs powers of "revenge" and "betrayal", leaving "sacrifice"âthis power alone wasnât scary, but it would become troublesome if she acquired devoted followers.
He immediately rose from his seat: "Take me to the yard to see."