Chapter 1 A Sleepless Night

The Saint Goddia Hotel was a very high-end hotel in the southern part of Lingdun, with luxurious and exquisite decorations in the rooms.

Last night, when the two passed by the hotel, they thought about finding a place to spend the night.

If they could pick a good one, they naturally wouldn't mistreat themselves.

But after all, something had just happened. If someone checked in late at night, it would easily be noticed by those with ulterior motives.

So, the two didn't register at the front desk and directly climbed over the wall into room 4001.

They had secretly borrowed it for the night.

In the morning, Suren woke up on the hotel's luxurious king-size bed.

He looked at Sabina lying beside him and praised her silently.

Pure and desireless?

No!

In front of a succubus, there was no qualification to be desireless.

The night's tossing and turning actually made Suren, a fifth-tier professional with a top-notch physique, still feel a little tired after a night's rest, which showed how much energy it consumed.

[B-005-Succubus], not to mention other abilities, but only in terms of charm, was definitely the ultimate charm technique in the world.

Moreover, the talent ability would also increase with the rank improvement.

Although Suren had learned it long ago, Sabina's current pleasure skills were becoming more and more proficient. That night, Suren fully enjoyed the ultimate experience of his senses floating in the clouds.

Probably because he made a slight noise, Sabina next to him also opened her eyes.

She looked at Suren's eyes on her and asked with a smile, "Master, did you have a good rest last night?"

Suren looked at the meaningful ambiguity and cunning in her beautiful eyes and shook his head helplessly.

Succubi were good, but they really shortened lifespan.

On the contrary, Sabina had been tossing about all night. Not only was there no trace of fatigue on her charming face, but her complexion was ruddy, and she became more radiant.

She looked at Suren's overwhelmed expression and couldn't help but chuckle.

It was all her credit, so how could she not be happy?

At this moment, Sabina felt something. Her beautiful eyes suddenly lit up, and she couldn't hide her excitement and said, "Eh, Master! I feel that my understanding of the law at this moment is almost enough to advance to the fourth tier!"

Suren was also slightly surprised when he heard this and asked, "So fast?"

Sabina had been trapped in the third tier for a long time, and her foundation was solid enough, but she lacked the understanding of the fourth-tier law and had not been able to condense the elemental barrier.

This threshold was a big one, and most low-level professionals were trapped here for life.

And Sabina's own comprehension ability was not very outstanding, and most of her energy was spent on intelligence work. Therefore, without great opportunities, it was almost impossible for her to rely on her own comprehension to cross this threshold.

However, she had a special talent.

Sabina's talent was the family bloodline inheritance [Succubus], and there were also secret inheritance methods in her family.

This kind of secret method was somewhat similar to Suren's [Death Harvester], which was to directly absorb other people's insights and turn them into her own use.

She had tried it before, and the effect was very obvious.

But she clearly said that it was still a long way off. Unexpectedly, after this night, it actually worked?

Sabina nodded and did not forget to flatter her master, saying, "Yes. It's mainly because you are amazing, master. Your understanding of the law has already reached the sixth tier, which is three major ranks higher than me. Just absorbing a little bit can make me gain a lot..."

"Oh?"

Suren naturally heard the hint of flattery and joy in Sabina's tone and was really happy for her.

Now the situation in Lingdun was complicated. If his maid could advance to the fourth tier as soon as possible, her ability to protect herself would be greatly improved.

This was good news.

But...just the amount, the effect shouldn't be so exaggerated.

Sabina obviously saw his doubts, blinked her eyes again, and explained with unconcealed excitement: "I used the second-stage talent secret technique last night. I didn't expect it to be so good! Not only the fourth tier, but even the fifth tier, even the sixth tier of the law, I feel that I have some ideas."

Suren suddenly understood.

But when he heard the second-stage talent in Sabina's mouth, his eyes suddenly became slightly unnatural.

Generally speaking, the second-stage talent would greatly enhance the ability of the first stage and would also awaken some very special abilities.

Sabina's [Succubus] after the second stage was called [Ever-Changing Succubus].

It was the literal meaning.

After the second stage, not only the mental power, charm, physical toughness...and other original abilities were greatly improved, she also gained the new ability of "ever-changing."

This was definitely a god-level skill with max compatibility for an intelligence professional.

As long as Sabina had seen a person, she could perfectly imitate and change.

Not only the appearance, but even the aura was exactly the same.

If Suren didn't have soul perception ability, it would be difficult to distinguish the real from the fake.

However, his soul perception was the ability brought by the second-stage [S-004-Death Harvester]. Not to mention whether there was another person in the entire plane who had awakened this extremely rare S-level talent. Even if there was, it was almost impossible to reach the second stage.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, Sabina's transformation ability was extremely difficult to expose.

This ability was also the most important reason why she could gain a foothold in Lingdun in a short time and safely collect intelligence.

This ability was excellent for disguising and collecting intelligence on weekdays.

But last night, Sabina showed the wonderful use of this ability in pleasure.

So, while enjoying multiple times the pleasure, she also gained multiple times the insights?

Tsk tsk, a wonderful talent.

......

Suren thought of some of the charming scenes last night.

Sabina keenly captured some changes in him and said with charming eyes, "Master, do you want me to help you get up?"

After waking up, Suren didn't plan to stay in bed.

Hearing this fragrant proposal, he still refused decisively.

Succubi were good, but one couldn't be greedy.

What's more, they had sneaked into the hotel room. Although no one disturbed them in the second half of the night, the hotel would continue to welcome guests after dawn. Although they could perceive the arrival of people in advance, it was also easy to be caught off guard and disturb their mood.

Suren lifted the quilt and got up decisively, leaving the gentle homeland, only saying, "There is serious business today."

"Oh."

Sabina responded obediently and said, "Then I will help you dress, master."

This service was finally serious.

Although Sabina was getting more and more "presumptuous," she never forgot her identity.

She got up and busied herself.

In Luying, maids serving daily life were standard for nobles. If there were no three or five young girls in maid uniforms to serve washing and brushing teeth in the morning, others would suspect that you were bankrupt.

Suren didn't have the aristocratic master's habit of enjoyment. He wanted to do it himself, but Sabina refused.

From washing to dressing, he didn't do much himself. Sabina was like a qualified maid, always handling everything well.

......

Not long after, it was already bright outside the window.

The roar of steam locomotives came from the streets, and the city of Lingdun was gradually waking up.

Sabina had just helped Suren put on his clothes when one of her encrypted communicators rang.

She walked over, picked up the handbag on the bedside, looked at the message, and turned to report to Suren: "Sir, the Shadow Duke sent a message saying that what happened last night has been resolved, the person who leaked the information at the ball has been found, and the matter has been clarified. So, they want to give us an explanation."

"..."

Suren listened without speaking, and a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.

This was the situation expected last night. If a member violated the rules of the ball, the organizer would intervene to resolve it.

Unexpectedly, it was resolved in just one night. That person's energy was indeed not small.

Suren didn't want to risk showing his face again, but he was still thinking about the batch of imported equipment.

Thinking that there was really no problem with the ball party at the moment, and considering various possible risks, he said, "Okay. Contact them to see how they want to explain."

Having obtained permission, Sabina replied with the communicator.

Soon, she received a reply, saying: "They have caught all the people. Except for a few who died in the interrogation, the survivors have been sent over and want us to take a look. Then, there is some compensation for the Shadow Duke's apology."

"People have been sent over?"

Suren's eyes turned when he heard this, and some responses immediately appeared in his mind, saying: "Then let's meet in an open place."

This was just right.

As long as the person was still alive, he could search the soul.

The truth of the matter could not be concealed by a few nonsense words.

Sabina nodded and asked, "Then shall we meet at the National Congress Library Square? There are not too many people there in the morning, and it is very open. And Mr. Black is also there, so there should be no problem."

Sabina knew the situation in Lingdun better than herself, Suren also felt that the arrangement was okay, and said: "Okay, let's meet there."

.......

Suren and Sabina quickly dressed neatly, left a thousand Lisol cleaning fee in the room, and hung a cleaning sign on the door.

The room aunt would happily pocket the money and then quietly clean it up, instead of gossiping and complaining everywhere that two thieves came and messed up the room last night.

The two jumped down from the balcony on the fourth floor.

In an empty alley at the street corner, Suren took out a steam motorcycle. After starting it, he carried Sabina all the way, shuttling through the streets and alleys of the city.

Twenty minutes later, they had arrived at the block next to the National Congress Library Square in the Franklin District.

After putting away the motorcycle in advance, they walked all the way and did not find anything unusual.

There was no ambush of high-level professionals, no large number of professionals hidden, everything was normal.

The sky was gray, and a few rays of sunshine occasionally sprinkled on the square through the clouds in the morning.

The fountain was gurgling, and a few early-rising pigeons were already foraging on the square.

When Suren came, he happened to see a ragged boy wearing a duckbill cap attracting a chubby pigeon with a few crumbs of bread, then grabbing it and stuffing it into his clothes and running away quickly.

It was only eight o'clock now, and the square manager had not yet gone to work. It was also the best time for the homeless to catch pigeons to improve their food.

Suren walked all the way with a black umbrella as a cane, and Sabina.

It was not a rest day, and there were not many people in the square, so he could see everything at a glance.

A refrigerated truck with the words "South City Meatpacking Plant" sprayed on it was parked on the edge of the square.

There were two people in the cab, both third-tier professionals.

There were also six in the carriage.

But for Suren, there was no threat at all.

Sabina took a look and confirmed: "That's the Red Oak Society's car."

Suren nodded, and the two walked over.

Sabina participated in the ball with the disguise identity of "Countess Demacula", and did not need to hide. The two walked over directly.

The people in the car seemed to recognize Sabina, opened the door and walked down.

These were two burly men in suits and windbreakers. The leader with a scar on his face looked at Sabina and said respectfully: "Honorable Madam, the people have been brought to you."

With that, he greeted another to open the truck compartment.

Sabina glanced at it and showed the indifference that a high-ranking nobleman should have and asked, "What exactly is going on?"

The scarred man said: "It was Maira Truman of 'Red Parrot Trading Company' who leaked your information at the ball. A total of four people participated in the ball, one driver and one singer waitress. But the sorry thing is that the woman couldn't hold on during the interrogation and is already dead. In the car are Truman and his two introducers, as well as a few related personnel."

Suren had some impression of that "Red Parrot Trading Company". This was a family company of a large plantation owner in the southern part of Luying. It mainly traded in bulk agricultural and pastoral products such as crystal cocoa, cotton, and wood. It could be regarded as a century-old wealthy family in the south. Even in Lingdun, Truman could be regarded as a first-class rich man.

Sabina listened without any expression and asked the scarred man: "Don't you mind if my people ask about the situation in person?"

The scarred man said respectfully: "Of course. Duke Shadow sent us to bring people here to give you an explanation. You can dispose of them as you please."

Sabina glanced at it, and Suren, the "bodyguard," naturally immediately understood.

He went directly into the car and closed the compartment door with a "bang".

Inside were six people with scars all over their bodies, still hanging on their last breath, but they looked like they had been tortured a lot last night.

Suren identified the soul of one of them, and it was indeed the member he had met at the ball last night.

Seeing someone coming up, the two who were still awake immediately showed expressions of despair and begging on their faces.

But Suren didn't have time to waste time with these people.

He took out a sharp dagger and neatly slit the throats of the six people.

Six groups of "gray mist" appeared on the corpses. After Suren harvested and digested them, he immediately knew the ins and outs of last night's conspiracy.

The two introducers were completely unaware and were purely implicated.

Only that Truman was the mastermind.

As Suren expected, someone was using that batch of imported machinery to fish.

Not only in the Round Moon Ball, but also in many black market channels.

As long as Suren paid attention to mechanical news in Lingdun City, he would almost come into contact with various versions of "bait".

Once interested, he would definitely be hooked.

It was just because Suren had only been in Lingdun for two days and had not had time to stroll around, so he first went to the ball.

But the problem also came, this Truman was just a pawn.

He was just following the predetermined plan to leak the news, and he didn't need to participate in the back, and he didn't know much intelligence.

Moreover, Suren killed the driver who discovered the conspiracy last night, and those behind the scenes knew that the matter was exposed and were very decisive and directly cut off this line.

The "上线 (shàng xiàn)" that Truman could contact had been silenced.

Therefore, in the end, he didn't know who the mastermind was.

Of course, it didn't matter if he didn't know.

Anyway, Suren could guess that there were only a few families who could make a rich man a contact.

Compared to how things happened, Suren was not very interested.

On the contrary, he was more concerned about the sequelae.

Since he could be fished last night, then the intelligence might have been leaked.

The good news was that after carefully searching Truman's memory, Suren found that these people did not know Sabina's identity at the ball.

They were just fishing according to a specific procedure.

If the fish was hooked, they would continue to the next step, and the ambush was another person.

Even the dead driver didn't know that the person in his car was "Countess Demacula."

If it was not exposed, there would be no big problem.

Suren also breathed a sigh of relief.

......

Suren got the intelligence he wanted and deliberately delayed for a while before getting out of the car.

It made people think that he didn't kill people as soon as he went up, but really "interrogated" for a while.

However, the two men in suits didn't care what he was doing up there.

These people's intelligence had been extracted, and there was no value anymore.

The guests could kill them if they wanted.

Seeing Suren get out of the car, Sabina immediately understood the meaning behind his calm expression.

Now that there were no sequelae, it was time to ask for compensation.

The scarred man obviously understood as well, and without waiting for her to speak, he directly said: "Duke Shadow asked me to bring his most sincere apology to the Madam. The Duke also said that the follow-up troubles have been cleaned up, and will definitely not disturb your life, and also guarantee that such a thing will never happen again at the ball in the future, please rest assured."

With that, he took out a box. When he opened it, it was a gold coin with an old pipe pattern printed on it.

Sabina obviously knew what this was, and an imperceptible different color flashed in her eyes.

The scarred man handed over the gold coin box and said: "The Duke said that last night's transaction will be carried out according to the contract, and the batch of goods will be shipped normally according to your needs. The subsequent payment will not need to be paid and will be used as an apology gift from our Red Oak. Moreover, the Duke also asked me to bring this token as an apology gift for last night's accident. Please accept it, Madam."

Suren appraised it and found that there was nothing special about it, so he naturally helped Sabina accept it.

These two gang members were also very straightforward. After telling their intentions and agreeing on some matters about the delivery at sea two days later, they didn't stay much and drove away directly.

......

After waiting for the truck to disappear at the street corner, Suren curiously said: "Is there anything special about this pipe gold coin?"

Sabina's eyes flashed with thought, and she said in a deep voice: "This is a token. It can allow that Duke Shadow to personally solve a problem once."

After a pause, she was afraid that Suren would not understand the meaning of this gold coin, so she explained: "I have never seen this gold coin, I have only heard that someone at the ball got it before, and it seems to have solved a great trouble. Although I don't know exactly what was solved. But there is a legend circulating in the ball that using this gold coin can solve all the troubles in Lingdun! For example, if you want to sleep with a certain royal princess, you can use it."

"So that's how it is..."

Suren heard this and realized that this was how the rumors came about.

Moreover, since Sabina said it, it meant that it was probably really possible?

He looked at the pipe gold coin again and immediately felt that this adventure was not a loss.

The claim that it could solve all problems was obviously exaggerated, but it was indeed invaluable.

From attending the ball yesterday to dealing with those who leaked secrets today, the actions were swift and decisive. Suren also saw that this Duke Shadow was more mysterious and had more energy than the rumors said.

At least that batch of imported equipment was worth billions of Lisol. They said they would give it away, and they did. Ordinary gang bosses didn't have this courage.

Moreover, after this incident, Suren also tested it out. The ball party was indeed not the same people as those who were fishing.

At least for now, they had no hostility towards them.

After what happened last night, outsiders might not know what happened, but the Duke Shadow, who interrogated those people, must have guessed why Suren needed this equipment.

If the news was accurate enough, that person might have even guessed that Sabina, disguised as "Countess Demacula," was possibly directly related to "Dawn" in this purchase of equipment.

But today, instead of sending someone to ambush, they gave gifts instead. Probably, they were really not interested in the mechanical technology and neural mechanical technology in Suren's hands.

It was also possible that this was a show of goodwill, a fear, or other reasons.

But with this magnanimity, it was definitely not an ordinary gang.

The Duke Shadow, or the power he represented, must be standing at a very high level.

High enough to be one of the few people who saw the scenery at the top of the Luying pyramid.

This made Suren even more curious about his identity.

He even guessed that the Duke Shadow behind him might be the Lance family behind Yekaterina.

After all, his cheap fiancée was also one of the few people in the Luying Empire who met this condition.

But according to the current intelligence, it didn't seem to fully meet the conditions.

This made people very puzzled.

......

Suren and Sabina didn't stay in the square for long, and didn't even bother Mr. Black. They left directly.

They got good news and a lot of rewards early in the morning, and both of them were in a good mood.

Before long, the news obtained last night about "Buckchi Biopharmaceutical Company" producing medicine also had feedback.

That new drug was called [Scarlet Potion], and the purpose was to specifically treat the red death disease that was gradually spreading at the bottom of Lingdun. The original plan was to release the new drug in a few days.

The problem now was that there was no way to detect the problem with this potion.

Moreover, the major shareholder behind this pharmaceutical company was the Rodriguez family, one of the six councilors, and ordinary people were not qualified to stop it.

Therefore, normal means could not stop Buckchi Company from selling the new drug.

Once sold on a large scale, the number of people contaminated by parasites would skyrocket.

But Suren didn't need to worry about this,

He had already passed the news to Yekaterina.

Others' words were not reliable, but she would definitely believe him.

Although he didn't know what his fiancée was going to do, Suren knew that since the Lance family chose to marry the ambitious Regardi family, they must have a big plan.

If the imperial power was really controlled by the God believers, it was definitely not what the Lance family wanted to see.

Suren didn't bother to worry about the [Scarlet Potion] problem anymore. The main reason was that even if he wanted to worry about it, he couldn't get involved in matters at that level.

But intuition told him that there seemed to be something strange about the matter.

Clearly, there was a big pharmaceutical company producing medicine. If Suren hadn't happened to see through it in advance, a large-scale contamination would have inevitably occurred.

But why would they "go to the trouble" of arranging for the gang to spread the medicine in advance?

And such an important person personally took care of it?

He thought of the "Curator" he had taught before. That guy could control the [Ghost Bride], so his strength must be extremely strong. Even among the Outer God believers, he was probably a high-level member of the cardinal archbishop level.

Intuition made Suren feel that there were probably some tricks behind this matter that he had not realized.

But the next Round Moon Ball was still in half a month.

He told Sabina to inform the Mirror organization's intelligence personnel to investigate the origin of the "Curator" and also check whether there was anything abnormal in the area where the Vaughn Brotherhood was entrenched before.

.......

The matters had been explained, and the remaining investigation still needed time.

Suren and Sabina drove to Luying Royal Academy.

There was serious business to do today.

He was going to see the situation of the [Isaac Alchemy Manuscript] that was kept in the Royal Academy and also see his big disciple, Jike, whom he had adopted and left to his own devices.