Mystery: The Witch of Desire

But Ms. B seemed to read his mind and took the initiative to speak with a smile:

"The success in hunting the Demon Throat Honey this time is all thanks to your tracking. I've decided to offer you some extra reward."

"Huh? Such a good thing? But I don't know myself why I was able to track down that bullet, or why I have such a morbid desire for money... There have been so many strange things lately, could it be because of that female statue?"

Reeves pondered for a moment, deciding to ask Ms. B for advice when the time was right. Since she had posted the mission to steal the statue from the Hyena Gang, she should know something about it. However, Reeves didn't intend to ask now, lest Ms. B ask for his answer as payment; he trusted that this beautiful woman was capable of doing so.

He politely expressed his gratitude to Ms. B:

"Thank you for your generosity, so what is the reward?"

Ms. B smiled meaningfully:

"You can choose between two things: the heart of the Magic Throat Honey, or the throat of the Magic Throat Honey. You don't have to tell me your choice right away; you can tell me at the gathering next Monday."

"Hmm, the reward is actually from this Demon Throat Honeybee we just hunted? It's a supernatural creature, so its materials should have some unique uses. Heart and throat? Logically speaking, the heart should be more valuable, but the Demon Throat Honeybee's supernatural ability is related to its cry, so does that mean its throat is more precious? Plus, given Ms. B's personality, she gave me two choices, definitely trying to mislead me into choosing the cheaper item, so I might be better off choosing the throat..."

Levi quickly completed the analysis in his mind, but he was in no hurry to make a choice. He could wait until the party tomorrow night to make his choice. In the meantime, he could gather more information to determine the value of the two items.

“I currently have 335 pounds 11 sulph 7 pence, which is enough to buy some useful items at the party. The Assassin's Potion is almost finished, and it would be even better if I could buy the Instigator's Potion or its recipe. Hmm, with my current money, it probably isn't enough. However, I am now Rowling's creditor. If she pays off all the debts, I will have more than 1200 pounds, which should be more than enough to buy the Instigator's Potion.”

Reeves was already looking forward to tomorrow's gathering. He imagined it all as he returned to the cemetery entrance with Ms. B.

On the way back, now that the mission reward had been finalized, Reeves confidently asked:

“Miss Cynthia, I have a question for you. I’m curious about what the Hyena Gang’s statues are for. They seem to value them very much.”

Chapter 41 The Undead

Ms. B thought for a moment and said:

“Those statues are the medium through which the Hyena Gang establishes a connection with the evil god they worship. Through the statues, they can pray to that evil god for blessings and power.”

Levi then asked:

"So, what type of power are those? What are their functions?"

Ms. B gave Levi a meaningful look and joked:

"I don't know either. Once you become a core member of the Hyena Gang, you can try praying to that great master yourself."

Levi wisely kept quiet, but couldn't help but wonder: perhaps that tracking ability was one of the powers bestowed upon him by that great master?

Neither of them spoke after that, and they quietly walked through the cemetery.

When Ms. B reached the newly laid public burial site outside the cemetery, she suddenly stopped.

Reeves also stopped and followed Ms. B's gaze:

Beside the rows of tombstones, a frail figure drifted about. It was vaguely discernible as a woman, her form indistinct, out of place in the surrounding reality.

Even from dozens of meters away, Levi could sense her pale, stiff face, like a hanged ghost, as if she harbored deep resentment.

Undead!

Although he had heard of them before, this was the first time Levi had ever seen a real undead. These creatures exuded a sinister aura that made people feel extremely depressed.

Ms. B didn't say much, gesturing for Reeves to go around her. Reeves nodded slightly—this undead was not their target, and there was no need to get entangled with it.

He followed behind Ms. B, bypassing the spirit's front, carefully moving forward in the shadows while keeping an eye on its movements.

As he passed by the side of the undead, Levi suddenly felt a chill.

When he looked at the spirit again, he was shocked to find that she had turned her head away at some point.

A pair of scarlet eyes were staring intently at him.

It was only then that Reeves noticed a certain familiarity in the female ghost's features...

"Beatlene! The Beatlene who asked me to deliver the letter!"

He paused for two seconds, then recognized the face that was filled with pain and numbness.

The undead raised its head and let out a silent shriek, then its figure flickered and rushed towards him.

Ms. B frowned slightly and glanced sideways at Reeves:

"What kind of romantic entanglement have you gotten yourself into? It seems like she's got her eye on you."

Levi sighed, a sense of foreboding rising within him. The two hurried toward the cemetery exit, but the spirit was moving incredibly fast, closing the distance bit by bit.

Is there a way to deal with the undead?

"I asked, somewhat uneasily," Reeves asked.

Ms. B spoke casually:

"I can burn your little lover with black flames, but that will cause her immense pain—are you willing to do that?"

Reeve fell silent.

Ms. B clicked her tongue, then pulled out a sun-shaped talisman, its surface radiating a faint, holy light. She infused the talisman with a wisp of spiritual energy and casually tossed it towards the spirit. The talisman instantly emitted a warm and gentle glow, the pain on the spirit's face gradually melted away, and its form slowly dissipated.

“Recently, there has been a noticeable increase in unnatural deaths in Tingen. Some bodies have been hastily buried in churches before the churches could even properly cleanse them.” Ms. B paused, a slight smile playing on her lips. “Oh, and remember to give me the money for the Sun Emblem, ten pounds.”

Reeve nodded, took out a banknote, and handed it over.

Ms. B did not answer and smiled:

"You man, you really have no sense of humor at all."

The two quickly left the cemetery and parted ways at the entrance.

Ms. B smiled and gave him some advice:

"Stay put in the Hyena Gang and try to become a leader, infiltrate their inner circle... I believe you have the ability, darling."

Reeves simply nodded in agreement. He was in a heavy mood and had no interest in arguing with Ms. B.

Walking home from Raphael's Cemetery, he lay down and dozed off for a while. Just as dawn broke, he left a note for Emily, then went to his rented room on Iron Cross Street, changed into women's clothing, put on the "Vanity Butterfly," and headed straight for the Kingfisher Bar.

Rowling was sitting in the house checking accounts and dealing with the ladies' various chores—she had been quite exhausted these past few days.

After signing a bill for drinks, she rubbed her eyes and was about to stretch when a graceful figure appeared before her.

"Livia? You're here so early?"

Rowling's tone carried a hint of surprise, but also a touch of disbelief.

Reeves' handsome face looked somewhat haggard, and he asked bluntly:

"How are the arrangements for the girls going?"

"Progress is going fairly well." Rowling smiled. "Of the forty girls, ten plan to leave and find other ways to make a living, and I gave each of them some travel expenses; fifteen are willing to stay as dancers, waitresses, or singers; and there are fifteen... who are willing to continue being girls. They have been out of normal society for too long, and if they don't do this job, they probably won't even be able to support themselves."

Reeves nodded, then tentatively asked:

"What about that little girl from last time? The one who was just abducted, the one who refused to take customers and deliberately quoted high prices—she must have chosen to leave, right?"

Rowling's expression suddenly darkened.

After a few seconds of silence, she slowly spoke:

"She's dead."

Levi's heart tightened. Although he had a premonition, hearing it with his own ears still brought a wave of sadness.

"How could he have died...when did this happen?"

Rowling's voice was low and somber, as if she were recalling something painful:

"Died on the same night as Samira."

Levi was suddenly jolted.

"On the very night we killed Samira, she hanged herself in her room."

Rowling opened the drawer and took out a crumpled letter.

"This is what she left behind, a letter to her parents in Backlund. I guess she always wanted to send this letter, but never found the opportunity... She probably couldn't see any hope, so she..."

Reeve felt as if his heart had been twisted violently.

That afternoon, he rejected Beatrice, personally shattering her hopes, and so…

"Give me the letter."

Levi took the letter and carefully put it into the inner pocket of his clothes.

If one day he could go to Backlund, he wanted to personally deliver this letter to Beatrice's parents.

"Give me another revolver, along with some bullets, and deduct it from the 900 pounds you owe me. Also, do you have any cash? Could you give me as much cash as possible?"

Reeve made two more requests of Rowling: he needed weapons to arm himself and money to attend tomorrow's party.

Rowling rubbed her head, feeling a bit of a headache.

"So you really do treat me like your butler, Mrs. Livre?"

Despite saying that, Rowling still found a delicate ladies' revolver for Levi. Its small grip was made of pure silver, and it felt very comfortable in the hand, which could effectively reduce recoil.

The pistol also came with thirty rounds of standard ammunition and five rounds of special ammunition. Revy loaded five standard bullets and one special bullet into the cylinder—so that he could turn the cylinder as needed to select which bullet to fire.

In addition, Rowling also scraped together £200 in cash and gave it to Reeves, as she needed cash flow to keep the bar running and couldn't squeeze out any more funds.

Reeve put away the guns and cash with satisfaction, and then took a few newspapers from Rowling's desk.

As he picked up the newspaper, Levi noticed a portrait tucked inside.

His pupils constricted instantly:

The person in the portrait is himself!

Chapter 42 Forest Spirits

Below, in smaller print, was written: Rivi Garcia. Another female companion was Emily Nolan, 1.65 meters tall, with long blonde hair and blue eyes…

He forced himself to remain calm and looked at Rowling, asking casually:

"What is this portrait?"

Rowling glanced at the portrait and casually replied, seemingly unconcerned:

"Sent from the Riverside Theatre. They were infiltrated before, and the statue of the Great Master was stolen. Wright, the Riverside Theatre's second-in-command, went to track down the infiltrator and died along with him. The Pursuer Princeton is in charge of investigating this matter. He probably obtained the appearance of another person at the scene by psychic Wright's body. Now, the entire Hyena Gang is looking for this person."

"They really are tracking us... But the Hyena Gang would never guess that the person they're looking for is already a member of the Hyena Gang..."

Reeves pondered to himself, while also feeling quite fortunate that there was no portrait of Emily. She had entered the house after Wright's death, so Princeton did not see her appearance during his psychic encounter.

In that case, as long as Emily uses a pseudonym and changes her hairstyle and appearance, she shouldn't be recognized.

Reeve said goodbye to Rowling and returned to his room.

He had made up his mind: spend his days at the bar gathering information and looking for an opportunity to infiltrate the core of the Hyena Gang. He would go home to rest at night.

Opening a copy of the *Tinggen Daily*, Riveh casually glanced at the headlines:

"Baron Hoy died of illness, and his widow, Lady Sharon, inherited an estate of over £20000..."

"Mr. Carroll's electrical wiring improvement project welcomes investment..."

"The Riverside Theatre's new production, 'Forest Spirits,' premieres, with popular actress Xia Lani playing the Forest Spirit..."

"A murder has occurred at the Goldfish Hotel, resulting in two deaths and one injury..."

Reeves' gaze lingered on the Goldfish Hotel murder case. This news item only occupied a small portion of the second page—because several other unnatural deaths had occurred in Tingen around the same time. But the crucial point was that he and Emily had stayed at that hotel.

Recalling Ms. B's statement that "there has been a significant increase in unnatural deaths in Tingen recently," he couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding.

After much deliberation, Levi decided he should go check out the Goldfish Hotel. He had a strange feeling that the murder case was somehow connected to him.

Reeves tidied himself up, went back to his safe house on Iron Cross Street, changed into men's clothing for easy movement, and took a gun, a dagger, and a bronze mirror. Now that Rowling controlled the Kingfisher Bar, no one dared to bother him anymore, and he could come and go as he pleased.

After changing his clothes, Levi boarded a public carriage and got off at the entrance to Windmill Street. To avoid revealing his true appearance, he also bought a baseball cap at a general store to cover his face.

Walking to the entrance of the Goldfish Hotel, Levi circled the hotel a few times, observing the situation—everything seemed normal, not at all like a murder had just occurred. Several workers in overalls were sitting on the steps outside the hotel, leisurely smoking and chatting.

He walked into the lobby and went to the front desk. The receptionist was no longer Blake, the one he had once threatened with a dagger, but a strong and capable young man.

"Hey buddy, I'd like to stay at a hotel."

Reeve walked to the front desk with a smile, while the young man simply tossed a bunch of keys aside and continued looking down at a stack of newspapers.

"Pick a room yourself, one souvenir per night."

"Prices have gone up quite a bit..."

As Reeves took out his money, he casually remarked: