Chapter 70 - 69: A Race Between Several Parties
Chapter 70: Chapter 69: A Race Between Several Parties
Special departments from the United States, the United Kingdom, and France were all searching for the sender of the email. And they weren’t the only ones—Qin Xiaoxia had taken an interest as well.
Qin Xiaoxia was eager to find them immediately.
It wasn’t that he was worried about his cover being blown.
From start to finish, the email was written in a self-righteous tone. Every line dripped with bitter disappointment at the French authorities’ inaction, and it adopted a tone of stern admonishment.
’Hmm, since they didn’t ask for money or anything, they’re probably just a bunch of hot-headed, righteous youths who have no idea what they’ve gotten into.’
’In that case, there’s no risk of my cover being blown.’
’And if they were a bunch of crafty old swindlers from Dawn who knew the inside story... heh, then there’d be even less to worry about.’
’Qin Xiaoxia knew better than anyone what the members of the "old Dawn" were like. They could swindle a man to his death without batting an eye. Forget about catching them—just getting a straight answer would take more than a little effort.’
’Of course, the first scenario was more likely. After all, he was the one who had inherited the Scepter. Any "official" members still out there would surely know that.’
’And since they were warning France, they were almost certainly French themselves.’
...
Philier and the others were gathered in the Philier family’s attic, scanning online news sites and TV reports on a computer.
Nothing! There was absolutely nothing! Not a single piece of news had been leaked!
They were all on pins and needles.
They’d sent the email, and while the recipients were surely in a hurry, the senders were in an even bigger one.
"Don’t they have any reaction at all? Huh? Did they just delete our email like it was spam?"
An impatient young black man exclaimed, pacing back and forth across the attic.
"Alright, Buck, stop pacing. You’re making me dizzy. Maybe our email went straight to their spam folder. What if they never even saw it?"
Philier had no sooner said this than the Oliers Brothers shot back in fierce opposition, a mere half-second later.
"Impossible! We didn’t just send the email, we *placed* it directly in their inbox! We even flagged it as important. Unless they’re blind, there’s no way they missed it! Our tech doesn’t fail!"
"Whoa, whoa, okay. I’m not questioning you two. It was just a thought. Don’t get so worked up..."
Although Philier was a mountain of muscle, his personality wasn’t nearly as coarse as his appearance suggested; he was surprisingly gentle.
"So what now? Do we just wait? Or keep looking?"
"Or... what if we log into the temporary email we used to send it? Maybe they replied?"
A girl’s voice piped up.
In truth, the same thought had already crossed everyone’s mind.
"No, absolutely not... If they took that email seriously, logging into that account now would be a death sentence. It wouldn’t matter how many IPs we bounce through, they’d find us instantly. We’re confident in our skills, but we’d never be arrogant enough to think they’re all idiots..."
The Oliers Brothers always had a habit of speaking in unison.
"That’s true. The total silence could just mean they’re waiting for us to take the bait!"
And indeed, as the group was locked in their heated debate...
...that very inbox was already overflowing with at least two dozen emails from the special departments of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
At the same time, several teams of elite IT specialists were monitoring the account around the clock, working in shifts. Even the email provider’s backend tech department had been given a heads-up.
If Philier’s group dared to log into that account, even for a single second, they would be exposed instantly.
Moreover, they weren’t as safe as the Oliers Brothers believed.
The email may have appeared out of nowhere, but leaving absolutely no trace is nearly impossible. Sifting through the torrent of data would be incredibly tedious, but for the Supernatural Research and Response Department, which had been on the case from the very beginning, finding them was not out of the question.
Besides, there was the time they had spent searching all over France for the Secret Place. If someone had noticed them by some fluke, it would create an easy lead.
...
Qin Xiaoxia was still keen on "rescuing" the group who sent the email. It wasn’t because their strong sense of justice meant they were necessarily good people, but rather because he felt their technical skills were impressive. Plus, they had clearly already been "indoctrinated by Dawn." With a little persuasion, he could add their strength to his own.
He couldn’t act directly. For one, he didn’t want to expose himself too much. For another, he still had to keep an eye on the Statue of Comir, which was far more important than this group of amateurs.
The most convenient person for the job was Eagle Baru.
’If I give her a little boost,’ Qin Xiaoxia thought, ’Su Su’s divination might have a special efficacy for this task.’
’Then, as long as Baru makes first contact with help from my end and gets their names, everything will be fine.’
Qin Xiaoxia was confident he could then help them erase the "traces" of those names.
He might have to use his last Gold Coin, but as long as the Magic Energy Crystal kept producing—and with some Gold Ore—Doudou could forge new Wishing Gold Coins on its own.
The next day, at night local time, Jenny stood alone at the airport’s arrival gate while Mark and Joey "strolled" along the airport’s perimeter.
She waited for over half an hour before Qin Xiaoxia finally emerged.
In Jenny’s excited eyes, her great Mentor was, at that very moment, lamenting the cost of his round-trip plane ticket.
The group met up in the parking lot.
Qin Xiaoxia was pleased with their cautious approach, even though it was ultimately useless where he was concerned.
His Perception would immediately alert him to any targeted auras in the environment—not just those aimed at him, but also those targeting Jenny and the others, in whom he had embedded his Magic Power.
Baru was already waiting at Su Su’s maternal grandmother’s old house.
As soon as Qin Xiaoxia stepped into the house, he felt that it was completely different from before.
Su Su’s maternal grandmother had been a Spirit Medium, so she had chosen a rather remote location for her house.
The place had been cleaned until it was spotless, and the dust covers had been removed from all the furniture. It was clear that someone had been visiting regularly.
’Looks like it’s become their temporary meeting spot,’ he mused.
Qin Xiaoxia hadn’t brought a translator this time, because he had already mastered a "derivative skill" of the Magic Language.
He still couldn’t speak fluent English, but by using this low-level version of the Magic Language—something akin to telepathy—he could at least make them "understand" his words with even greater clarity than normal speech.
Seeing Qin Xiaoxia enter, Baru quickly put something down and shot up from the sofa.
Qin Xiaoxia’s sharp eyes caught sight of the book: a gaudy-looking volume titled *Knightly Virtues*. The corner of his eye twitched.
"Greetings, Mentor!"
Baru dropped to one knee, bowing his head and placing a clenched right fist over his heart.
"Baru, the true meaning of a Silent Knight cannot be learned from a book."
The voice that came from Qin Xiaoxia’s mouth was like a reverberating chant, yet everyone present could clearly perceive its meaning, leaving them all in awe of the miracle.
"Mentor, I understand what you mean. But I’m not studying the book’s pedantry; I’m using it as a reference for its structure. Our Dawn has been in decline for a long time, and much has been lost. Restoring the Silent Knight Order will take time. It requires not only strength, but also a basic structure, even etiquette."
Baru spoke with sound logic, but Qin Xiaoxia felt the guy was already lost in his own heroic Knight fantasies and couldn’t be saved.
Still, he had a point. A disciplined system that fostered unity over disorder was a good way to improve cohesion, which was the whole principle behind the training formations of new recruits.
"You make a fair point, but don’t let it consume too much of your energy for now."
"You all know why I’ve come, don’t you?"
That went without saying. The group had discussed the matter countless times recently.
"Good. Now, tell me everything you know, in detail."
Although he had addressed them as a group, his gaze was fixed solely on Baru.
Baru didn’t hesitate. He stood up and recounted, down to the last detail, everything he had learned from within the 19th Division of the American organization.
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