83: Chapter 21 Tarot Meeting

A few days later, in the apartment in River Bay District.

Lu Li was hunched over his desk, organizing recent commission records, when the Fate Anchor on his chest suddenly gave a faint tremor.

This was not a warning of danger, nor was it a location lock.

It was a resonance with Sefirah Castle.

He put down his fountain pen and slowly closed his eyes. He let his spiritual perception trace upwards along that thread of faint resonance.

Above the gray fog, the outline of an ancient, magnificent palace appeared faintly at the edge of his perception.

Someone was convening a meeting above the gray fog.

More than one person.

Several hazy spiritual projections were slowly condensing at the edge of the gray fog. Each human silhouette had its appearance and gender obscured by the thick gray fog, leaving only blurred figures.

The Tarot Club had officially been established.

Klein Moretti had ultimately established this secret Beyonder organization above the gray fog.

There were only two members for now.

One was Audrey Hall, a Sequence 9 Spectator, codenamed Miss Justice.

The other was Alger Wilson, a Sequence 7 Seafarer, codenamed Mr. Hanged Man.

Lu Li steadily retracted his spirituality, having no intention of peeking into the content of the meeting.

The Fate Anchor possessed a passive resonance with Sefirah Castle, allowing him to perceive every time the Tarot Club convened. However, he had long ago set a red line for himself: never eavesdrop on the inside information of the meeting, never interfere with the choices of the Tarot Club members, and only provide support in the dark during life-or-death situations.

He took out his notebook, neatly recording the frequency and approximate time intervals of this meeting, and then refocused on the tasks at hand.

During this period, the situation in Backlund had stabilized.

The remnants of the Aurora Order, after being continuously cleared by the Mandated Punishers, had completely gone into hiding.

In the underground black market, the buyers who had been purchasing large quantities of relics related to the Antigonus Ruins had completely disappeared.

The strange scratches that had been increasing day by day on the storage locker in Old Eye's back alley had also completely stopped.

Lu Li's life returned to a regular routine.

Every day, he commuted between the River Bay District apartment and the Water Pump Street black market, accepting commissions to earn money as the anonymous intelligence broker "Traveler," while steadily digesting his Sequence 7: Swindler potion.

A few days later, in the evening.

As Lu Li finished his black market transactions and walked out of a corner of the Underground Commercial Street, he bumped into Sherlock Moriarty.

Sherlock was standing under a dim streetlamp, holding an old newspaper in his hand, looking down at an official report on the renovation of the Old Wharf in River Bay District.

Their gazes met, and there was no extra small talk.

Sherlock folded the newspaper and spoke up: "Old Eye sent word. The Secret Order has submitted a formal appraisal application to the Backlund Geological Research Institute."

"The batch of serpentine samples shipped from the Southern Continent has been confirmed as fragments of the seal base of the Antigonus Ruins. The appraisal results have been classified as top-secret files by the Secret Order and will never be made public."

He took the note depicting the snake-like ring from his trench coat pocket and handed it to Lu Li.

"The commission is concluded; this item is returned to you."

Lu Li took the note and glanced at the patterns on it.

This was the hint note he had previously left at Old Eye's bookstore to discourage subsequent Beyonders from investigating the serpentine. Now that the Secret Order had settled the matter, this note was indeed useless.

He raised his hand to tear up the paper, threw it into a trash can by the street, and looked up to ask: "How did you handle that associate professor at the Geological Research Institute?"

"I told the other party that the ore had been swapped by a competing mining company from the Southern Continent." Sherlock's tone was flat. "The party that swapped it has already entrusted a Lawyer to pay compensation far exceeding the value of the ore. The compensation was sent by the Secret Order under the guise of the mining company, and that associate professor is convinced."

After a pause, Sherlock changed the subject to another matter.

"Recently, someone has been inquiring about your whereabouts throughout Mingde Street."

"Excluding the Aurora Order, the Mandated Punishers, and the Secret Order. The person who came has a standard Backlund accent, is well-dressed, spends lavishly, and claims to be a private secretary for a high-society gentleman, looking for Beyonder experts in the East Borough who specialize in secret affairs. The physical characteristics described by the other party match yours highly."

Lu Li quickly reviewed all traces of his identity in his mind.

The East Borough laborer, the anonymous black market intelligence broker "Traveler," and the fake-named tenant in the River Bay District apartment—the three identities were separated from each other and had no connection.

Vera of the Secret Order had only seen his silhouette at the wharf; Old Eye and Abraham adhered to the rules of the black market and would never leak secrets at will.

The only people who knew his full appearance and movement patterns were Old Kohler, the Landlady, and the Sherlock in front of him.

He did not argue, just nodded faintly: "Understood."

After speaking, Lu Li put on his canvas backpack and walked away towards the River Bay District.

Sherlock watched him walk away, his fingertips touching a small paper figurine.

Using his spirituality to urge his fingertips, he wrote a tiny note on the back of the paper figurine: A third-party force is targeting the target in the East Borough; reduce public ground actions in the near future.

After writing, he put the paper figurine back into his sleeve, lowered the brim of his hat, and turned to walk into the depths of Mingde Street.

Returning to the apartment, Lu Li sat at the table, reviewing all traces of his actions in the black market during this period one by one.

He accepted intelligence commissions, always using a fake name for each order, changing transaction locations randomly, and avoiding fixed patterns throughout the process.

Since someone had accurately locked onto him, it was highly likely that a piece of intelligence he had listed had touched the core interests of a secret force.

He picked up his fountain pen and wrote a memo in his exclusive shorthand, deciding to suspend accepting new commissions and wait for the wind to die down.

A few more days passed.

In the main passage of the Water Pump Street black market.

Lu Li encountered Audrey Hall by chance.

At this moment, Miss Justice did not recognize him.

At the entrance of a shop specializing in materials for the Spectator Pathway, a young girl wearing a light gray cloak stood still.

She lowered her head to examine a silver brooch, which was engraved with introductory meditation runes of the Psychology Alchemists, in perfect condition.

Audrey rubbed and examined it repeatedly, with obvious hesitation in her eyes, unable to make up her mind to buy it.

Behind her stood a tall, middle-aged butler.

The butler had a very strong sense of propriety; his gaze was neither too far nor too near, neither offending the lady's privacy nor failing to detect surrounding movements immediately.

Lu Li passed by the shop entrance, only glancing out of the corner of his eye, and then walked straight ahead.

The only daughter of Count Hall, a Sequence 9 Spectator, the future Miss Justice of the Tarot Club.

The two had no intersection at the moment.

He was just a secret Guardian drifting outside the Tarot Club, relying on the Fate Anchor of Sefirah Castle.

The moment he approached Audrey, the Fate Anchor gave off a faint spiritual fluctuation.

This was not a resonance with Sefirah Castle.

It was the natural spiritual repulsion between the Spectator Pathway and the Marauder Pathway.

The Spectator is good at seeing through all lies; the Swindler is good at weaving all illusions.

Two abilities rooted in the spiritual origin coexisting in the same space would produce weak friction, like two magnets of opposite poles, pulling and deflecting each other from a distance.

Lu Li restrained his spiritual perception, turned into a side alley, and went to Abraham's exclusive shop.

At the same time, Audrey put down the silver brooch and turned to look at the butler beside her: "Is there a cafe with good taste nearby?"

The butler bowed and responded: "There is an authentic Intis-style cafe next to the Old Wharf in River Bay District, Miss can go there to rest."

In Abraham's shop, Lu Li sat down and took the warm black tea, speaking softly.

"Just now in the main passage, there was a low-Sequence Spectator Beyonder with excellent spiritual talent. She was choosing meditation rune accessories of the Psychology Alchemists; she is a newcomer who has just stepped into the Beyonder world."

"Recently, the number of foreign Beyonders in Backlund has surged, and all major secret forces are laying out plans in this metropolis."

He took the opportunity to tell the shopkeeper all the intelligence about the lurking of the Aurora Order and the investigation of the East Borough by third-party forces.

Abraham did not stop turning the ledger, responding calmly.

"The matter of inquiring about your whereabouts was passed on to that detective by Old Eye; it has nothing to do with me."

"Old Eye asked me to remind you that those people who look like gentlemen's secretaries are still entrenched in the Mingde Street area."

"Their target is not the serpentine, nor various seal runes. It is the person who successfully entered and exited the Antigonus Ruins and survived to clear the debt of the ruins. You completed the debt clearance in the ruins; this record is of extremely high value to top-level forces."

Lu Li tapped his fingers on the table, his expression indifferent: "Let them investigate."

"My black market commission file requires double verification of the Nighthawks number + exclusive secret code to retrieve. Even if they find the pier at the Old Wharf, they can only find a few remaining silver-white spiritual remnants after the wraith fog dissipated."

After speaking, he took a bundle of space perception charm fragments given to him by Vera of the Secret Order from the cloth bag at his waist and pushed them to the center of the table.

"Help me resell these to the Apprentice material shop; the pricing doesn't need to be too high, just enough to pay the rent for two weeks."

Abraham accepted the charm fragments and took out the latest issue of the underground market briefing from the drawer.

"The remnants of the Aurora Order have completely hibernated, and there will be no large-scale blood sacrifices in Backlund in the short term."

"The Secret Order has sealed the serpentine appraisal report and terminated all investigations into items related to the ruins."

"The serpentine theft case at the wharf has been completely closed by the official internal investigation due to the arrival of the compensation."

Lu Li checked the intelligence item by item, confirming that his black market action alert level could be lowered.

After leaving the shop, he went to Old Eye's old bookstore on the way and exchanged the remaining money from the commission for a batch of basic raw materials for space perception charms.

Twilight shrouded Water Pump Street, and the evening breeze was cool.

Lu Li put on his backpack, walked calmly, and walked back to the River Bay District apartment.