Chapter 821: Small Team Operation

In the evening, in Trier, District 20, named for its cemetery, 35 Saint-Nones Street.

Francia, Jianna, and Anthony, each in different states of invisibility, arrived outside Room 6 on the fifth floor, confirming the environmental details for their final preparations.

According to data from the "Periodic Table," the suspected "Man in the Mirror" member of the "Moss Ascetics," Nikila, was in reality an ordinary clerk working for a grain company, leaving and returning home punctually every day, living an extremely regular life.

Nikila's only unusual trait was his unmarried status at thirty-five or thirty-six, attributed to severe intermittent migraines that deterred women.

The instant she finished reading the file, Francia's mind conjured a thought:

Consistent with the 'Seekers of Secrets' being persistently influenced by the evil god 'The Hidden Sage'…

"Could the 'Man in the Mirror' of the 'Seeker of Secrets' pathway also be fed knowledge by 'The Hidden Sage'?"

Recalling the file's contents, Francia exited her invisibility, conjured frost, and let it surge into the lock, freezing into ice.

Thus, she obtained a crystalline key and effortlessly opened Nikila's door.

While the real-life clerk had not yet returned home, Francia took out a mirror and performed divination to avoid potential traps or alerting mechanisms within the apartment.

"The bedroom, living room, and secondary bedroom each have a full-length mirror, and there are fifteen or sixteen portable mirrors—tell me you're not the 'Man in the Mirror,' and who'd believe you?" Francia checked the room twice, muttering to herself.

She was also conveying the gathered information to Jianna and Anthony outside the door.

Of course, the sheer number of mirrors could also mean Nikila was a "Witch," but clearly, this person was neither a woman nor a woman of charm.

Francia walked to the full-length mirror in the living room and spoke to Jianna and Anthony, whose figures had appeared in the hallway outside:

"I'll lie in wait behind this mirror. You follow the planned strategy to force the target into this mirror—if he can use the mirror world, then he's confirmed as the 'Man in the Mirror,' Griffiths."

As Francia spoke, black flames ignited throughout the room, silently erasing all traces left by their earlier search.

Jianna nodded slightly and specifically warned:

"Be careful—there might be an ambush behind this mirror. Didn't Lu Mi'an encounter one just like it before?"

"Don't worry. 'Mirror Divination' told me there's no ambush, and of course, I won't fully trust or rely on divination—I'll stay alert." Francia felt Jianna's concern, smiled warmly, and pulled the "Seven-Stone Bracelet," now with only two diamonds left, from her "Traveler's Satchel," tossing it toward the door.

As she threw it, she couldn't help muttering inwardly:

"Old gone, new comes; old gone, new comes…"

Once Jianna caught the "Seven-Stone Bracelet," Francia emphasized again:

"Once Nikila enters this mirror, immediately 'Teleport' away and use that fixed mirror-world entrance to assist me."

"No problem." Anthony put on gloves, closed Nikila's apartment door, and pressed his palm against the lockhole to warm the metal, which had grown colder from the ice key's influence.

This was to prevent Nikila from sensing the residual cold when he opened the door.

After Jianna and Anthony left, Francia took out the crystal-clear "Ice Talisman" and fastened it around her neck.

Then she reached out and pressed her palm against the living room's full-length mirror.

With a flash of icy light, she silently passed through the glass.

Behind the mirror lay nothingness—a vast network of deep, dark tunnels, spiderwebbed across Francia's vision.

Francia, closely monitoring her surroundings, quietly exhaled and murmured to herself:

"No ambush."

Having confirmed this, she leaned closer to the mirror, peering through the glass to observe the apartment's living room:

Nikila had not yet returned; outside, the twilight was unnervingly silent.

Francia's mind involuntarily tensed. She raised her right hand, pinched her temple, and sighed:

"If Lu Mi'an were here, it'd be better…"

This operation's plan had been proposed and refined by her as the leader, costing her countless brain cells and burdening her with the responsibility of achieving the objective without letting Jianna or Anthony suffer serious harm—she simply couldn't relax.

In the past, Lu Mi'an had handled and shouldered these tasks; she only needed to question and unleash her imagination, completing her own portion.

"Sigh, being the team leader is exhausting—no slacking off…" Francia steadied herself and patiently waited.

Inside the café opposite 35 Saint-Nones Street.

Jianna, now a black-dressed girl with her hood removed, sat by the window, chatting with Anthony about various anecdotes of Trier.

Suddenly, she rested her left elbow on the coffee table, pressed her palm against her side-flowing, reverted-to-natural-ash-blonde hair, and lowered her voice slightly:

"The target's back."

Anthony, feigning fascination with the beautiful woman across from him, glanced with the corner of his eye toward the apartment across the street.

A two-story public carriage had stopped by the curb, and a thirty-something man stepped out, wearing a black wool overcoat and a half-high silk top hat.

The man stood nearly one meter eighty, walked with steady steps, had a lean, angular face, and unusually deep black eyes.

It was indeed Nikila… Anthony looked at Jianna and nodded with a smile, confirming she had not mistaken the target.

Jianna immediately sat upright, withdrew her left hand, and turned her gaze to the cuckoo clock inside the café.

She smiled faintly at Anthony:

"Three minutes left."

She meant they must begin the operation in three minutes.

The reason for waiting three more minutes in the café was to avoid the "Seeker of Secrets"'s instinctive post-return surveillance.

This detail had been discussed and agreed upon by Francia, Jianna, and Anthony.

…………

Nikila, wearing the half-high silk top hat, slowly climbed the stairs to the fifth floor and stopped outside Room 6.

He did not immediately open the door; instead, he raised his right hand and pressed his temples.

Then he closed his eyes and reopened them, his irises now stained with deep purple, shimmering with mystery.

"The Eye of the Seeker!"

Nikila normally used a special "Wizard" spell to dampen the effects of the "Eye of the Seeker," to avoid sudden death—but he could not fully suppress it. Now, he unleashed it fully, scanning every detail inside and outside the room, and the surrounding area.

Cockroaches on the ceiling, hairs in the hallway cracks, a neighbor cooking before a coal stove, dust drifting in the room's air, children running up and down the stairs, rats hidden in shadows, pedestrians passing by the front and back streets—all appeared in Nikila's deep purple eyes as a chaotic, overlapping scene.

Simultaneously, Nikila saw veils of shadow enveloping everything, and every mirror's surface shimmered with a dark, watery glow.

Before the gaze behind the shadow-veil became unmistakable, Nikila ended his reconnaissance early and closed his eyes.

If he looked further, he did not know what he would encounter or what might happen—but now, his heart was already filled with fear.

"Phew… the 'Eye of the Seeker' is dangerous. The 'Listener' of the 'Secret Prayer' pathway listens; we see. Both easily touch what should not be touched, always at risk of dying inexplicably…" Nikila pulled a brown leather scroll from an inner pocket of his black wool overcoat and softly chanted a Hermesian word—"Myopia."

The scroll immediately ignited with dark, flickering flames and rapidly turned to ash.

The mysterious purple in Nikila's eyes sank deep into the darkness of his pupils.

After completing this, Nikila took out his key and opened the door.

He had confirmed: the entire building and both adjacent streets held no suspicious figures, no hidden enemies in the shadows, and no abnormal traces.

Entering the living room, he shut the door behind him, unbuttoned the top buttons of his wool overcoat and white shirt, and relaxed onto the long sofa, letting his arms rest on either side.

Behind the full-length mirror, Francia saw this and, as Nikila leaned forward to grab the beer on the coffee table, extended her right palm slightly beyond the mirror's surface, pressing it tightly against the glass.

As Nikila sat back on the sofa, Francia immediately withdrew her right hand.

Glug, glug—Nikila drank his beer while reading the newspapers he had brought back, indistinguishable from any ordinary clerk.

Time passed second by second. Seeing the three minutes had elapsed, Jianna and Anthony left the café, turned into a nearby quiet alley, and completed their preparations: hiding in shadows and psychological invisibility.

They swiftly returned to the target's apartment and took up their prearranged positions.

At this moment, Nikila was still reading the newspapers, undecided whether to go out for dinner or simply cook something at home.

Suddenly, Nikila felt his throat dry and itchy, as if he hadn't drunk water in a long time.

He coughed once, and instinctively thought:

"I've already drunk half a bottle of beer—why is my throat so dry and itchy?"

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than he coughed again.

A strong unease surged within him.

This is wrong!

As Nikila instantly became alert, Jianna, hearing two consecutive coughs from the adjacent wall, immediately broke free from the shadows, and despite her hood still on, reversed the "Arrow of the Bloodthirsty" and plunged it into her own heart.

Her ash-blonde hair seemed to lengthen slightly; her contours grew softer, her features more exquisite.

Previously, Jianna's beauty had served to highlight feminine charm; now, beauty itself had become an independent force—seductive because it was beautiful.

Through the door, she caused the shadows beneath Nikila's feet and the surrounding darkness to coalesce into illusory yet solid black chains, each wrapping tightly around the target.

(End of Chapter)