The Last King Of Darkness
Chapter 196 - 141 The Treasury

Chapter 196: Chapter 141 The Treasury

Rod, of course, did not refuse.

Egger told him that his control over his Characteristic had leveled up, and that his white smoke could substitute for his senses to a certain extent. Just by extending the slightest wisp, he could catch glimpses of nearby scenes and hear nearby sounds.

Using this ability, he had learned of a piece of news—Manolo Bana was going to have a secret meeting with some important figure.

The location was at his residence, and the time was today.

So they decided to risk an adventure tonight to get evidence, to clear these pests from Trolian’s team.

Anna fully supported their action. She would prove in a special way that they had returned to the secret branch base.

As long as they weren’t caught on the spot with the evidence, it wouldn’t matter.

Of course, the fewer people involved in such matters, the better.

So Egger decided to invite only Rod and Reslin.

Rod was versatile, with a wide range of methods, Reslin would provide frontal coverage, and he would take care of reconnaissance.

Manolo Bana’s mansion was located in the eastern part of the Upper City. To avoid detection, Egger decided to enter the Upper City from the sewers of the Lower City District and then attempt to sneak into the mansion to capture the images and sounds of their secret conversation with the Recording Crystal.

That was Egger’s entire plan, which sounded very simple.

It actually was very simple.

But simple things sometimes worked wonders.

The more complex the plan, the more variables there were, the more points at which it could fail.

Moreover, Rod had an ace up his sleeve that could greatly increase their chances of success.

That was the Mist Pendant.

This item of Spirituality that Miss Qingyu had given him had been returned by the Judgement Court. Qingyu admitted it was a gift from her, and after Rod’s guilt was established, the Judgment Chief returned all his items to him.

The pendant’s effect was incredibly strong. Initially, in the Judgement Court, Rod wore the pendant and walked straight up to Gregor. No one noticed, and it allowed Gregor to be taken down by surprise.

Was a mansion of an official more guarded than the main hall of the Judgement Court?

It seemed like this time, they could make a big move again.

Filled with confidence, Rod and Aigreslin set out.

They first made their way covertly from the academy and then entered the sewers at the very heart of the Inner City District.

The difference in height between the sewers of the Upper City and those of the Lower City District was several hundred yards, and they were very complicated and winding.

But under Rod’s lead, they safely reached the Upper City from the Lower City District without encountering any danger.

Egger couldn’t help but exclaim, "The king of the sewers indeed!"

Rod objected, "Stop talking nonsense; it’s because I have a sewer map given to me by Professor Bins. I’ve studied all the layouts of the upper stratum’s sewers."

Reslin laughed, "Who but the king of the sewers would study such things?"

"You’d better go and carry out the mission!"

Reslin changed his clothes, and after confirming there was no one around, he climbed out of the sewer.

He would trade with the people of Manolo Bana’s mansion under the identity of a black market merchant, offering large quantities of Spiritual materials at unbeatable prices, and insisting that they send out a lot of their staff and guards to the city outskirts to collect them.

If that failed, he would find another way to distract their attention and cover their operation.

Afterward, Rod and Egger arrived at the sewers beneath the mansion. Egger turned into white smoke, stretching up from various holes in the main tunnel.

Rod heard the central mass of white fog muttering to itself.

"Pah! Disgusting!"

"Who the hell ate butter fruit and got diarrhea?"

"This guy has hemorrhoids, ugh..."

"Mm, this is a hall, outside is a courtyard."

"This is a bedroom, ugh, two fatties..."

"This is the bathroom, huh, this little girl isn’t bad."

Rod suddenly felt that he should report Egger’s ability to the academy.

After a moment, he suddenly heard him say, "There’s Spiritual Energy sealing here, this must be the place."

Then, Rod saw the thick of white smoke in front of him split off another wisp, the voice coming from inside it.

"Rod, this strand of white smoke will follow you, guiding you along a safe route. I will warn you if there’s any significant danger, but please note that the smoke separated from my main body can’t talk. Pay close attention to the twists of the white fog in front of you; if it’s very violent, you need to be careful."

"Okay."

The white smoke shot into the air.

Rod put on the Mist Pendant, injected Spiritual Energy, a faint glow enveloped him, and he followed the white smoke to the ground.

This was a quiet alley on the side of Manolo Bana’s mansion, with not a soul in sight.

The now barely visible white smoke climbed over the high wall and shook at the top of the wall to signal safety to Rod.

Rod’s Spiritual Energy flickered, he exerted force under his feet, and his figure soared up, leaping onto the high wall.

Looking around, the mansion was large, composed of many buildings, not heavily guarded, and with few patrolling guards.

The white smoke in front of him shook wildly, so frantically it seemed about to jump around.

But Rod didn’t think much of it. The effect of the Mist Pendant was strong, and even though he stood on the high wall in bright surroundings, no one noticed him.

It seemed to be able to deflect people’s attention.

Rod jumped down from the high wall.

The white smoke descended in front of his eyes, continuing to lead the way.

It seemed to understand the power of the Mist Pendant and wasn’t so cautious anymore, moving even more swiftly.

The journey was very smooth, and Rod soon arrived outside the room where Egger had detected the anomaly.

The white smoke wavered a bit, signaling it could go no further, and from now on, it was up to you.

Rod nodded, activated the Eye of the Soul, which had a certain X-ray vision ability. Under minimal physical obstructions, he could see people behind walls.

The room was divided into a main hall and a subordinate hall. Rod carefully entered through the subordinate hall and soon spotted that familiar soul—

Iron Mask Manolo Bana.

He seemed to be waiting for someone.

Rod wasn’t sure to what extent the Mist Pendant could work. In the Judgement Court, most people’s attention was already drawn by Gregor’s impassioned speech. But if he appeared directly in an empty room, the focus of attention on him, the Mist Pendant might not be effective.

Rod looked around and quickly noticed that one side of the main hall had long French windows with frosted glass that obscured the view, but the space beneath the windows was hollow, just enough to fit a Recording Crystal in.

Rod immediately ran over, carefully hid by the window, and gently probed in with the crystal held in his hand.

A moment later, Rod saw layers of Spiritual Power Waves in the center of the hall, and a person walked out from the fireplace on the edge of the wall.

Rod discovered that this person was none other than the King Candidate, Jon.

His raspy voice came from the room.

"Gula, you are under surveillance, why would you meet with me at such a sensitive time?"

"Your Highness Jon, I feel that the situation is very bad. Gregor’s curse has dealt us a heavy blow. The boy’s punishment was trivial, proof that the winds have shifted in the Royal City."

"I know," Jon’s voice was impatient, "These things need not be said here; you could have written them in a letter."

"Your Highness Jon," Manolo Bana spoke faster, "I think we should strike a lethal blow against Qingyu and Xingge as soon as possible. Amoli and Krama share this opinion..."

Jon impatiently interrupted him, "I’ve said it before, what we need to do now is to resist the Dark Tide fully, to protect as many people as possible... That’s it, don’t contact me using the emergency signal for nothing."

Accompanied by a series of Spiritual Power Waves, Jon left the room.

Rod immediately put away the Recording Crystal and quickly ran out of the subordinate hall.

The white smoke came flying, showing him a new escape route.

Rod followed the white smoke in a mad dash, soon ready to leave the main house.

Just then, Rod’s heart suddenly quickened, a feeling of palpitations long absent emerged, as if something unknown was drawing him in.

It was a Dream Fragment!

Rod immediately realized, shifting his gaze downward.

It was in the vault below.

What to do?

Reslin’s cover had ended and the more people there were, even with the Mist Pendant, the situation became very dangerous.

He hadn’t left without trace, if found, that would be dangerous.

Now was the best chance to escape.

But if he missed this chance and wanted to revisit the place, with the Manolo Bana family on guard, that would be nearly impossible.

Without much hesitation, Rod bit the bullet and turned to run down the staircase on the side.

The white smoke flew around for a long time before realizing Rod was gone; it frantically darted about but could no longer find any trace of him.

And at this moment, Rod had already reached the basement of the mansion.

A huge steel door stood in front of him, engraved with spiritual patterns.

Strong Spiritual Energy flowed within the patterns, blocking any probing attempts.

There was no one around, Manolo Bana seemed very confident about his steel door.

Hmph.

Rod sneered, how naive.

Under the view of the Eye of the Soul, he could clearly see the trajectory of each thread of Spiritual Energy. The inner distribution of the energy resembled a three-dimensional projection before his eyes.

Rod quickly found the energy core—a small, inconspicuous sphere on one side of the steel door, like a mundane decoration surrounded by many similar dummy adornments.

Rod touched the sphere, but there was no response.

He attempted to inject Spiritual Energy, but a barrier appeared on the sphere, preventing his energy from entering.

The sphere’s Spiritual Pressure was high, Rod tried several times, but was unsuccessful.

He tried to destroy the sphere, but it was exceptionally sturdy, certainly not something Rod could shake.

What to do?

Should he use the "Spiritual Power Fifth Layer Melody"?

But with such a big commotion, the other party couldn’t fail to notice.

And what if it didn’t break open?

Without mastering more advanced techniques, Rod temporarily lost confidence in "Justice Execution."

What to do?

Rod glanced up and saw many figures passing above; shouts came down:

"Hostile Spiritual Energy intruder!"

"Find him, quick!"

Egger had been discovered.

Even though no one had come down yet, it was clear that this place was also unsafe; he needed to leave quickly.

Rod stared at the sphere, deep in thought, when suddenly, a flash of lightning crossed his mind!