Volume 3 The Walker in the Dark Ninety-Six, Tracking
Minna must make a quick decision whether to escape through the window immediately or hide first, either of which she may be discovered. She noticed a noise on the roof, apparently there was another eavesdropper besides her, and decided to do nothing for the time being.
She was right, and when Esparo and the messenger heard a noise from the ceiling, they immediately called for someone to chase after them, and the former stayed in the room for a short time, as if he had locked something up, and then jumped out of the window.
Minna was secretly glad that she was hiding in the blind corner between the curtain and the windowsill, blocked by a curtain, and the night was dim, and she deliberately restrained her breath, and Esparo didn't notice it at all. As soon as he left, she made sure that there was no one in the room, so she jumped out and looked around, and noticed that there was a black cabinet in the corner of the room, about two meters high and one meter wide, and when she touched it, it did not seem to be made of wood, but the texture was quite strong, and the large lock on it was obviously made of stainless steel. She pulled out her dagger and tried it, but she couldn't leave a trace on the lock or the cabinet. It seems that this is the thing that Esparo locked just now, I don't know what important items are in it?
The lock was made by a dwarf made by Wisha, Minna recognized the markings on it, and it seemed that she would not be able to open the cabinet for a short time, and when she heard a voice approaching the room outside, she immediately made a decision and turned to leave.
Suddenly, a huge black shadow passed in front of her eyes, she was startled, and hurriedly stopped, and then she felt a wind coming towards her, and she couldn't help but crouch down to dodge, and when she raised her head again, there was already a strange bird in front of her.
The bird was more than a meter tall, but when it raised its wings, it was more than two meters long, and its whole body was pure black, and it had a lumpy crown of flesh on its forehead. It was purple and black, its eyes and claws were bright red, and the tips of its claws were very sharp, and when it rested on the table, it grabbed a lot of crumbs from the birch table.
Its red eyes stared straight at Minna, giving her a creepy look, but at the slightest movement of her eyes, the bird raised its wings in attack. Minna, a little jealous of its claws, quietly moved her hand behind her back and conjured a sturdy ice sword. Slowly move your feet towards the window.
The blackbird fluttered with its wings, and Minna slashed the ice sword, grazing the edge of its claws as it flew up to the ceiling. He turned around and rushed towards her again. Minna was in a hurry, knowing that if she couldn't find a way to stop the bird, she would wait for those people to come back. She couldn't run away, so she played an ice barrier, stopped it, and saw that the bird fluttered a few times before it made a crack on the ice wall, and hurriedly made a thick ice barrier, pushing the blackbird to hit the wall, and then let the ice extend in a circle, forming an ice "spider web" to fix the blackbird. Although there was a constant cracking sound in the ice. But that was enough time for Minna to escape. Before anyone outside could return to the room, she quickly jumped out of the window and disappeared into the night.
At dawn, several ships carrying spices quietly sailed out of the docks and sailed up the river to the north. Perhaps because of the intrusion of people one after another, their actions are very quiet. Few people in the town of Orry noticed their departure.
Minna stood on the edge of the dock, watching their boat go farther and farther away, feeling a little regretful in her heart.
Who the hell was the other person last night? Friend or foe? Most of those who infiltrate private homes like this are either local mercenaries or official intelligence agents. If it was the former, she was not interested, but now it seems that the latter is more likely. Which country will send it?
It's like Easter has a security agency. Several other countries also have their own local intelligence systems. But each has its own characteristics.
For example, Shaonan. The spy is to blend in with the common people. Ordinary life is no different from ordinary people. It is only responsible for monitoring the movement of local public opinion or irregular behavior in the crowd. No one knows if the people around them are secret agents. No one knows if they will one day become a secret agent. Minna: In very casual circumstances. Luba is found working as a handyman at the Academy of Magic, her husband Wise. I will receive a small allowance every month. As a reward for monitoring the words and deeds of his students. But he except for the occasional conversation with the students. There is no need to do more. That's when she found out. How different the Shaonan Spy is from East.
There is no national intelligence agency in Wisha. But the big gangs have important sources of intelligence. There are also quite a few intelligence traffickers. Most of them are active in taverns, casinos, brothels and other places. I met Frido back then. is one of the representatives.
Noga is a spy for everyone. Everyone has to provide the official with what he knows, free of charge. However, some soldiers from the army were sent to various places to collect intelligence. The smell of the military land is quite strong. However, the major nobles also have a lot of people. Inquiring about various secrets and secrets for employers.
There is no intelligence agency in Van A. But it has opened temples of light all over the continent. All the monks in the middle of the temple. While listening to someone else's confession. It is inevitable that many secrets will be heard. They don't leak the content though. But if you hear something important in the dialect. They will definitely not hesitate to report to the Central Holy See.
Think about it this way. The mysterious man eavesdropping on the rooftop. It's more like a security agency. Could it be another colleague? Could it be that it is a grassroots intelligence officer sent to the local area? Inadvertently found a problem before tracking it down?
Minna hesitated slightly, then turned and walked towards the town office. It was not yet full dawn, and the gate of the town office was closed, so she did not go in, but turned into a side road, came to a small street park, and sat down on the third bench from east to west.
By the light of the morning light and illumination, she hurriedly wrote down the last night's findings on the note, and when she saw that there was no one left and right, she bent down to touch the bottom of the chair, dug out a small wooden box half the size of a palm, opened the lid, put the note inside, and stuffed it back under the chair. She wandered the streets as if nothing had happened, approaching a small shop, drawing a mark at the foot of the wall outside the shop before returning to the docks.
She had already bought a small boat last night (the cost of which was paid by the Security Department, of course), half-used, ordinary, cramped, but it was in good working order, nimble in her movements, and had enough space for her to get up and sleep. She got into the boat, pulled out a small crystal ball, and entered some magic. The ball shows the whereabouts of the spice ships.
She had quietly done something to one of the ships last night, and even if she couldn't smell the fragrance or see the shadow of the ship, she wouldn't lose it.
She drove the boat away from the dock quickly, and according to the signal displayed on the small crystal ball, she followed the spice ships far away.
Heading north, the ships reached Encore. Minna followed them ashore, and when she saw that they had moved all the spices into a house, and for a moment she did not move, she went to a boy named Daniel, who had been adopted by Father Riddle, who was an apprentice in a nearby tung oil shop, and asked him to keep an eye on the movement in the house. I hurried to the appointed meeting place.
Outside the door, Minna saw the sign of her colleague, knew that the person from China had arrived, and was overjoyed and entered the house. only to find that there was only one person left: "Uncle Luma, why are you the only one?" β
After Luma greeted her, she said with a wry smile: "They all went out, saying that they found clues to human traffickers." They thought I was old. Just let me stay and wait for you. β
Minna frowned: "Over there at the Duras family... How many people came? β
"The young lady's brother came in person, brought a few guards, and three other people, two of whom were children of declining nobles, and all of them had younger siblings in the family, and one was that his fiancΓ©e had disappeared, and it was suspected that something similar had happened. The rest is our own brother. β
Minna looked down and thought for a moment and asked, "Didn't Melori stop it?" So many people... Even if you're all on the surface, I'm a secret agent. β
"Just disguise yourself." Luma wasn't too worried about that. "As for the question of whether it is reliable... You can rest assured that the agency has an agreement with the Duras family, and the children of those families... When it's over, maybe it will help us. After a pause, he added: "Since your father was injured, we have not been able to find a suitable person in the aristocratic circles. Mallory thinks the kids are good and can give them a chance. β
Knowing that the above people had their own plans, Minna didn't pursue it any further, and instead asked, "How many days have you arrived?" It came so fast. β
"We arrived yesterday, and now we have the passage from the Van A's side, and we came directly without a detour, which saves a lot of time than before. It would be nice if Van Ah had opened the country earlier. β
Minna remembered Father Riddle, who had worried that it might not be a good thing. Van Ah has lived a peaceful life for thousands of years. It is inseparable from the closure of the country, once it is opened. I wonder what impact it will have on people in their country?
Minna hurriedly drank the magic wolf and transformed, changed her clothes again, and the one who had gone out returned. She introduced herself as Mint from the Shaonan Intelligence Division, who had been ordered to come and help. Little Duras and the children of the declining aristocracy did not take her as a new thin black boy seriously, but just said hello casually, and went back to the room, seeming a little annoyed and a little frustrated.
Minna didn't care, and went straight to say hello to her colleagues. She had dealt with most of these people, and they knew each other well, but only one person from the Southern Intelligence Department of the country had not met before, because she did not know Minna's identity and past, and was deeply surprised by her youth.
The two sides took out the information they had and exchanged it, Minna naturally told what she had seen and heard in Ori, and Luma immediately got up and wrote an urgent letter to report back to the country, while several other people had already discussed:
"The person who entered Balasig can still escape, this matter must be investigated, who let him go? Who is that guy in prison now? β
"I think the most important thing is to find out if anyone else has escaped. You must know that Balasig is holding a felon, or a political prisoner, in case... Those gods left without knowing it, and we didn't know it, so it would be troublesome after that. Rebellion can happen again at any time! β
"I don't think this kind of thing is very common, the Balasig Hell Captain and the Warden are rotated every year, and each one wants to do better than the previous one, and if it is the first three who have happened, the new one this year will definitely report to His Majesty. He didn't say it, which means that there are not many such things as to arouse suspicion, and those you are worried about are serious offenders, but they are also members of the royal family, and it is said that His Majesty often sends envoys to the Inner Court to offer condolences, and if they escape, they will be discovered immediately. β
"But the Hedda family did escape, and Minter saw it with his own eyes, so at least it shows that there was a person who could get the key to Balasig's prison to do this. We have to find out about this person as soon as possible. β
Everyone was silent for a moment, Minna thought for a moment and said, "Anyway, now I can probably deduce that Esparo has served a certain country, and that country wants to attack us East. He is in the same group as the people of the abduction and trafficking syndicate, and if we find out the people of the syndicate, we may be able to find out which country is plotting against it. β
"Is there anything else possible besides Wisha and Noga?" After writing the letter, Diloma turned around and interjected, "Anyway, the Hedda family has had a close relationship with these two countries since the past, and now it is normal for him to completely take refuge in the past. β
Someone next to him shook his head: "We must always determine which country it is, otherwise we will be very passive when preparing for war." β
There was a sudden whistle outside the window, and Minna immediately got up and rushed out, and Danny was standing under the street lamp, and when he saw her, he hurriedly said, "Those people are going to go in a carriage!" Minna immediately said a few words to her colleagues who had followed, and hurried to the vicinity of the house, just in time to see the carriage of Esparo and others disappearing around the corner, and she hurriedly followed. I'm the dividing line between the transition time and the scene
Three days later, in the evening, in the desert of south-central Wisha, Minna crouched behind the sand dunes, looked at the camp in front of her, and saw that there was no movement, so she relaxed a little, took out a water bag and drank a few sips, and stuffed half a piece of bread down.
She has been lying in ambush here for nearly two days, and she has also quietly entered the camp to investigate, and has a preliminary understanding of the terrain and the schedule of the camp personnel. This kind of place always reminds her of unpleasant experiences in the past, but it also saves her some time to gather intelligence. According to the information heard by the detective, several truckloads of girls had just arrived during the day, and if there were no accidents, there should be a "big man" coming tonight or tomorrow, and Esparo and the black-clothed messenger would also be present.
Minna was a little excited, and the puzzle soon had a chance to be solved.
There was a slight sound of horses' hooves under the sand, she quickly slid down the sand dunes, hid on the other side and listened carefully, and found that the sound of horses' hooves stopped two kilometers away, and after a slight neighing of horses, it took half an hour before she saw her colleagues and little Duras and others bending over with their heads bowed.
As soon as Luma arrived, Minna asked, "Why do you want to get off your horse when you get so close?" What if someone finds out? β
Lu Ma pouted: "Young masters can't go that far, and we can't help it." β
Little Duras's face flushed, and he changed the subject: "We rushed over as soon as we received the letter, how is it now?" The young man whose fiancΓ©e had disappeared also came up and asked eagerly, "Is Arsina in the camp?" β
Minna said: "I saw a girl who was very similar to your description, I don't know if it is, she came here today, and there will be big people coming later, you guys take a break, and then you will have the strength to fight with them." β
Hearing this, everyone sat down to rest, and Minna continued to pay attention to the situation in the camp. In the middle of the moon, Luma patted her on the shoulder: "You can rest first, we will take shifts." Minna smiled: "I'm not tired...", before the words fell, a crisp ringing sound was heard in the distance.
Minna quickly turned her head to look, and saw a huge carriage in the middle of the night, pulled by eight horses, quietly approaching the camp.
Minna suddenly felt that something was wrong, why didn't there even make a sound in such a big carriage except for the bells hanging outside the carriage?
(It's the last three days, so let's vote a few more.)