Mystery: Gray Walker

Chapter 142 Attacked?

What will happen after activation?

"Anchor points release pre-set mental commands," Vera said. "It could be making her do a specific thing, it could be making her say a specific message, or it could be—something worse."

She paused, frowned, and said, "Moreover, this anchor point is protected by multiple layers of defense. When I tried to trace it back to the source, I triggered the first layer of defense. If I went any further, the anchor point might activate prematurely. So I stopped."

Clarisse's expression turned grim: "Can you determine the caster's sequence?"

"At least sequence 5, or even more likely sequence 4."

Vera said, "This kind of subtle and covert technique is not something that low-to-medium sequence individuals can achieve. And I sensed it—"

A familiar scent.

"Familiar?" Green pressed.

Vera hesitated for a moment, then looked at Clarice. Clarice nodded, indicating that she could speak.

"It has the feel of an 'audience' approach, but it's mixed with something else."

Vera said, "It's like a mixture of the 'audience' and 'demonic' pathways. This is unusual, because different pathways of power are usually incompatible, unless—"

"Unless what?" Green felt a chill.

Vera was silent for a few seconds, then slowly said, "Except for Fie, who is a 'Fallen One,' also known as a 'Favored One.'"

The moment those words were spoken, the temperature in the room seemed to drop instantly.

He was deeply impressed by the person he was attached to.

He already knew this when he joined the Church of the Night and studied those scriptures. The personal physician, Ms. Veronica, was a follower in the incident at Viscount Linus Fairfax's manor dinner.

They worship unique external gods or evil gods, and pray for divine "blessings" through sacrifices, distorted rituals, or direct exposure to corruption, thereby gaining powerful and bizarre strength. However, the price is also the greatest: their souls will gradually be annihilated and they will eventually become puppets of the gods' will.

These fallen followers have been almost completely infiltrated and controlled by those insane, inhuman wills, making them dangerous and unpredictable beings.

Vera continued, adding that the power of the "spectator" approach lies in observing, understanding, and influencing the mind. If a fallen follower masters this power, it means they can not only uncover secrets and implant suggestions, but also potentially distort perceptions of reality, weaving deadly mental traps. The "anchor point" in Sura's subconscious may be more complex than we imagine.

"You mean," Clarice's voice was icy, "that there's at least a Sequence 5 corrupted audience member active in Oberhafen, and that he's targeted Sura?"

"I'm afraid so."

Vera said, "And the anchor point was installed no more than forty-eight hours ago. That is to say, it was implanted while Sura was under the protection of the Sheriff's Office after the Hayes family tragedy."

Green felt a chill run down his spine: "Is there a mole in the police department?"

"Or, the caster has the ability to contact Sura without alerting the guards."

Vera said, "In either case, it means that the enemy we are facing is more dangerous and more elusive than we thought."

She walked back to the sofa and looked at the sleeping Sura: "The good news is that the anchor is currently stable. As long as the activation conditions are not triggered, Sura will be fine. Moreover, now that I know of its existence, I can set up reverse protection to prevent it from being activated remotely."

"Can you undo it?" Green asked.

Vera shook her head: "With my abilities, the risk of forcibly detaching it is too great. The anchor is already deeply bound to Sura's subconscious; forcibly separating it could damage her mental core. I need time to study it, and may need to consult with high-sequence viewers at headquarters."

Clarice walked over to Green and whispered, "This means Sura must remain under our protection. If that Fallen One discovers the anchor point has been probed, he might try to activate it directly, or take more extreme measures."

Green looked at Sura, who was sleeping peacefully. Her brows were slightly furrowed, as if she were having some unsettling dream.

"What is her purpose? Why would she target my family?" Green asked, puzzled.

He was just a low-ranking advisor who had just joined the Night's Watch, and almost everything that was happening now was related to him.

This puzzled him greatly.

From Viscount Linus’s dinner party to the death of old Bob, then to the death of his aunt, Emily’s disappearance, and Sura’s memories being altered.

"I can't figure this out either, but I now suspect that your aunt's death and your cousin's disappearance are related to old Bob's affair." Clarice tapped her fingers lightly on the table, as if pondering something.

"Are the two things related?" Green asked.

Clarisse nodded and continued, "Although I don't know their true intentions right now, I have a very bad feeling. There have never been so many extraordinary events in the past month. It's like—something has been broken, or attracted."

No sooner had she finished speaking than a sharp, piercing telephone ring broke the tense atmosphere in the room.

The telephone was in the corner of the living room. Clarisse frowned, clearly annoyed by the untimely interruption.

She walked over and picked up the receiver.

"I am Clarice."

At first, her expression was just a little impatient, but soon that impatience vanished instantly, replaced by an expression of disbelief.

"What did you say? St. George's Hospice? Attacked?" she asked incredulously. "Is it confirmed to be a deliberate attack? Not an accident or an internal malfunction?"

Green's heart sank.

St. George's Hospice, the Church of the Night's residence in Oberhafen, was ostensibly a tranquil sanatorium, but in reality, it was an important stronghold for the Night's Watch, serving as a safekeeping and archive for low-risk sealed artifacts.

Attacking there—that's practically a declaration of war against the Church of the Goddess of Night!

In the northern continent, especially in the United States of Byronvis, how many years has it been since such a rampant attack, directly targeting church premises, has occurred?

Vera also stood up, her face full of shock.

An urgent report came from the other end of the phone.

Clarisse listened, her expression growing increasingly grim. She occasionally interrupted, asking crucial questions: "Casualties? — Intruder characteristics? — Target area? — Preliminary damage assessment?"

The air in the room seemed to freeze, with only Clarice's brief questions and faint sounds coming from the other end of the phone.

Green felt his palms sweating, gripped by an unease even stronger than when he learned that Sura had been implanted with an "anchor point".

The enemy's actions were bolder and more reckless than he had imagined.

"—Two guards sustained minor injuries, grazed by shadow-type abilities, and suffered slight spiritual erosion; these have been treated. One clerical staff member on duty that night was severely traumatized and is experiencing temporary cognitive disorientation. Vera, you might need to check on them later."

Clarice quickly spoke to Vera, then continued into the microphone, "The intruders left no bodies or obvious physical traces. They used a high concentration of spiritual smoke or some kind of shadow-jumping ability to trigger all the outer warning runes, but—they briefly interfered with the core node of the inner protective array in a way we hadn't recorded, for about fifteen seconds. In those fifteen seconds, they broke through the inner defenses and rushed straight into the archives room—"