Chapter 68: The Search - Dorothy’s Forbidden Grimoire

Chapter 68: The Search In the early morning, on the Flower Road apartment building in Igwynt. Gregor, who had just crawled out of bed, dressed and yawning, pushed open his door. Entering the living room, he noted the absence of his sister's presence in the vast room. Unconcerned, he proceeded to freshen up and then retrieve the breakfast prepared by Mrs. Hank downstairs. Placing the breakfast on the table, Gregor casually ate a bit and prepared to leave. Before heading out, he knocked on Dorothy's door, calling out loudly. "Wake up, Dorothy, or you'll be late." After his call, Gregor waited briefly, but no response came from behind the door. Seeing this, he turned the doorknob and opened Dorothy's door. The door was unlocked, and Gregor easily pushed it open to find an empty room with neatly made bed, a tidy desk, and a small bookshelf lined with books. The clothes and backpack that usually hung on the rack were nowhere to be seen. "Huh... has she already left? Well... two pieces of her bread were missing earlier. She's been getting up so early lately. Does she have something going on?" Closing the door to Dorothy's empty room, Gregor drank a glass of milk before heading downstairs. He didn't think much of it, as this had been a common occurrence in recent mornings. His sister seemed to have become much more diligent lately, always waking up earlier and leaving in a hurry. 'Perhaps I'll ask her this evening if there's anything special going on at school.' With this thought in mind, Gregor exited the apartment building and briskly walked towards the city. After nearly an hour's walk, Gregor finally arrived at his workplace, located at the base of a high-rise at an intersection. This ten-story building, known as the Cypress Building, was a shared asset of the Igwynt City Government. It used to house the city hall, but after the government relocated, it was rented out to a few small companies for office space. In fact, not all governmental bodies had moved out of Igwynt. In the basement of this building, the Prit National Security Bureau – Igwynt Branch, known more commonly as the Hunter Bureau – still operated. "Whew... another day at work... hopefully no overtime..." With a sigh, Gregor stepped into the building, watched unnoticed by a gaze from across the street. "Ten minutes later than usual today, Gregor..." On the rooftop opposite the Cypress Building, Dorothy sat behind the wall, watching Gregor enter the building through the eyes of a crow marionette perched on a streetlamp below. She mused quietly. Dorothy sat cross-legged on the deserted rooftop, surrounded by scattered sheets of paper. They were drawings of various patterns in pencil, which, upon closer inspection, were detailed maps of the surrounding streets and floor plans of several buildings. Numerous points on these maps and plans were circled and marked. Sitting on the ground, Dorothy began examining the scattered papers around her, methodically viewing each one. She had annotated the locations on each map, such as the first and second floors of the Cypress Building, the ground and basement floors of the Wicken Building, Birch Wood Avenue, Blue Grass Avenue, and so on. These were thorough maps of both the indoor and outdoor areas of the local neighborhood, drawn by Dorothy through a systematic investigation using small animal marionettes over the past few days. The purpose of these maps was to aid Dorothy in accurately locating the Hunter Bureau's premises in Igwynt as well as all its entrances. Indeed, to catch a mole within the Hunter Bureau, one must know who all the personnel are. The most effective way to achieve this is to infiltrate with reconnaissance marionettes, though it's highly perilous. Dorothy speculated that it was unlikely for an Hunter sub-bureau headquarters to lack means of counter-surveillance. Controlling marionettes, created through extraordinary means, to enter its premises risked being detected by the bureau's anti-surveillance measures. Her hypothesis was not unfounded. In her occasional surveillance of Gregor, she had glimpsed internal resource allocation reports from the Hunter Bureau, clearly indicating that the bureau periodically purchased quantities of "light" from the Glowing Church for internal counter-surveillance. This led Dorothy to surmise that Hunter’s premises might have spiritual surveillance cameras powered by "light," capable of detecting extraordinary intrusions. Although Dorothy possessed the Ring of Shadows, its "shadow" spiritual power was limited. Who knew how intense the "light" detection was within Hunter? Finding a mole was a long-term investigation, and Dorothy doubted she had enough "shadow" power for the task. Moreover, using the ring through a marionette came with complications. Taking all these factors into account, Dorothy cautiously refrained from deploying marionettes directly into the Hunter Bureau, opting instead for a safer but more time-consuming approach. Examining each point on the sheets of paper, Dorothy slowly observed the numerous marked locations, all labelled as "entrances." "Spanning an entire block, three buildings, nine entrances... Huh… Igwynt's Hunter Bureau does have some confidentiality measures." Surveying the marked points on the maps, Dorothy remarked that through her recent thorough investigations, she had discerned the specific structure of the Igwynt Hunter sub-bureau. The bureau's main office was situated underground below the Cypress Building, with its entrances disguised as ordinary doors scattered across three nearby buildings, including the Cypress Building itself. All were on the first floor, leading to downward staircases. Hunter Bureau employees posed as ordinary nearby workers, using these hidden entrances to come and go. Locating these entrances wasn't difficult. Dorothy simply needed to inspect each room behind every door in the surrounding neighborhood with her marionettes. Any that deviated from the normal room configuration or appeared suspicious were potential targets. For example, in a hallway with a row of doors, if one opened to a staircase or corridor instead of a standard room, it was suspicious due to its non-standard construction. Dorothy could place her marionettes on the hallway ceilings, waiting for passing pedestrians to open doors and peering inside at opportune moments. Another method involved tracking building cleaners to see which rooms were never addressed. Dorothy even sent marionettes into the building's ventilation system to identify any fake rooms not connected to it. There were numerous other strategies – now, with the control ring enhanced by spiritual energy of "beginning," Dorothy could direct spider marionettes, expanding her reconnaissance capabilities, though insects were still beyond her control. In sum, after expending ample time and effort and employing a variety of tactics, Dorothy identified nine hidden Hunter Bureau entrances. With a few more days of deploying a maximum number of marionettes to monitor these exits, she could compile a record of the comings and goings of Hunter Bureau members. Within this roster lay the mole Dorothy sought.