“Has my reconnaissance been detected?”
Seated in a secluded spot in the library, Dorothy flipped a gold coin into the air, then swiftly covered it with her hand. Feeling a decrease in spirituality, she slowly lifted her palm. Lying on the back of her other hand was the now dull and lusterless coin, showing heads.
“As expected... my reconnaissance has been noticed…”
Dorothy understood immediately upon seeing the divination result. There was only one possible explanation for Thorn Velvet’s unusual behavior earlier—he had detected her surveillance. That’s why he quickly changed the subject, avoided discussing any classified information, and immediately entered the stone door to cut off her reconnaissance.
As for how she was discovered, the most probable explanation was those spiderwebs.
The spiderwebs... they only appeared after the corridor. Thorn Velvet deliberately moved into the corridor when discussing secrets. The moment he abruptly changed the topic seemed to coincide with the moment her gecko corpse marionette touched the web…
“That means... those dense spiderwebs must be some kind of mystical sensor. If anything unusual touches them, Thorn Velvet will sense it. That’s how he detected my gecko corpse marionette.”
“Tsk... I was careless. So the Eight-Spired Nest actually has counter-surveillance measures. I didn’t anticipate this at all…” Dorothy reflected.
When she previously dealt with the Crimson Eucharist, their hideout had virtually no counter-surveillance. Her small corpse marionettes could come and go as they pleased, stealing key information without anyone noticing. But now, the Eight-Spired Nest had clear counter-surveillance measures, making them a level above the Eucharist.
Even after realizing her reconnaissance had been exposed, Dorothy wasn’t flustered. Instead, she felt a bit surprised and puzzled. It was obvious that her gecko corpse marionette had been discovered, yet why hadn’t they taken action? “The gecko marionette was clearly noticed, but they didn’t try to eliminate it to make me lose a reconnaissance marionette. Instead, they simply entered the stone door to cut off surveillance and waited for my marionette to leave. That doesn’t add up.”
“And when Thorn Velvet changed the topic, he was deliberately pretending not to notice my marionette. Why would he do that?”
A new doubt emerged, and Dorothy furrowed her brows slightly. As someone skilled in deception, she could tell that Thorn Velvet was putting on an act—pretending not to know. He was definitely up to something. Putting herself in Thorn Velvet’s shoes, she quickly thought of a sinister possibility.
“Could he be… pulling that trick?”
“No, I need to verify this.”
With that thought, Dorothy altered the path of her gecko corpse marionette, which was crawling back toward her within the school. Instead of returning immediately, she directed it toward another direction. Then, she stood up from her seat and made her way to the library’s restroom.
Inside, she took out her magic box, releasing a raven corpse marionette. She let it fly out through the restroom’s ventilation window, soaring into the sky.
Guiding the raven, Dorothy directed it toward the gecko marionette’s location. The raven entered the building and perched on a stone beam in a corridor.
Now, she simply waited.
Soon, the gecko corpse marionette appeared, crawling along the wall. Just as it passed beneath the raven, Dorothy, using the raven’s vision, noticed two small black spiders following closely behind it.
“As expected... he pretended not to notice me so I wouldn’t be alerted. He’s tracking me instead.”
Watching the tiny black spiders tailing her gecko marionette, Dorothy felt a wave of relief. She had figured it out in time. If she had blindly recalled her marionette, she would have completely exposed herself.
Her conflict with the Eight-Spired Nest was just beginning. If her true self was exposed now, she’d be doomed.
Avoiding a crisis, Dorothy let out a deep breath and started contemplating her next move.
“Phew... what now? Shaking off the trackers is easy—I could just cut off my connection with the gecko marionette or have the raven eat the spiders. But that would instantly signal to them that I’ve noticed their trick.”
“It’d be simple to deal with these tracking spiders, but is there a way to turn the tables on them instead?”
As she pondered in the restroom, an idea gradually formed in her mind.
“I got it… maybe I can do this…”
Just as she was about to retrieve something from her magic box, an impatient knocking sounded at the restroom door. Dorothy suddenly realized she had been inside for quite some time. Quickly, she pushed open the door and stepped out, letting a hurried girl enter.
After leaving the restroom, she swiftly exited the library and headed to an empty stairwell. There, she temporarily had the raven marionette find a place to rest. Then, she spent an additional point of Revelation to expand her marionette control limit.
Next, she took out her magic box, enlarged the exit, and controlled two human corpse marionettes to crawl out and stand before her.
One was Brandon. The other was Edrick—both of them were among Dorothy’s frequently used marionettes.
Looking at the two standing before her, she smiled and said, “Mr. Brandon, Mr. Edrick, I’ll leave the next act to you.”
“Of course, Miss.”
“We won’t disappoint.”
After briefly responding, Brandon and Edrick departed, leaving Dorothy standing alone with a smile.
“You’re putting on an act for me? Well then... I’m quite good at acting myself.”
…
King’s Campus, West Side of Royal Crown University.
Inside a clock tower, on the wall of a spiraling staircase, a gecko was climbing upward with great effort. Close behind, two small black spiders trailed its movements, never losing sight of it.
After an unknown amount of time spent crawling, the gecko finally arrived in a storage room near the top of the clock tower. Waiting inside were two figures.
Both were men. One wore a trench coat and a fedora, his face gaunt, nose high, and eyes deep-set—a traveler hardened by the road. The other was young and handsome, dressed in a neatly tailored suit with meticulously combed hair.
As soon as the gecko entered the room, the trench-coated man shifted his gaze toward it. He extended his hand to the floor and spoke in a soft, amused voice.
“Oh… you’re back, little one. Tell me, what did you see and hear?”
At his words, the gecko scurried to his palm. The man closed his eyes, gently stroking the gecko as if he were perceiving something.
And all of this was silently observed by the hidden spiders in the shadows.