"If I were a member of the Holy Communion Society, then everyone present would have met the same fate as those corpses in the study downstairs."
On the spire of the Buck Mansion's roof, beneath the hazy, wind-swept sky, the man in the grey-black trench coat stood silently, uttering dangerous words. Hearing this, Grego and the others' vigilance couldn't help but heighten a notch, their grip on their weapons tightening.
"You, are you threatening us?"
Listening to Edrick's words, Turner continued to shout loudly, and Edrick continued to respond.
"Threaten? No, no, no, I have no need to threaten you. I'm just stating the facts."
"You..." Hearing Edrick's words, Turner couldn't help but want to make a move for a moment, but was immediately stopped by Grego.
"Wait, don't be impulsive yet."
After stopping Turner, Grego looked seriously at the man not far away, then turned his head and whispered to Eilina beside him.
"Eilina, is your Spirituality still enough? Take a look at his situation."
"Understood."
Listening to Grego's words, Eilina's gaze was fixed on Edrick. As her expression became focused, streaks of orange-yellow light circled the edges of her pupils.
Just like that, Eilina stared intently at Edrick for a moment, then her brows furrowed slightly.
"No, I can't see. I can't see any trace of Spirituality. I can't determine what kind of Extraordinary he is in terms of Spirituality. He is either a "Shadow," or he has a "Shadow" Extraordinary item on him, and his Spirituality is not low. I can't see through him at all right now..."
Eilina said seriously. Listening to her words, Grego and Turner's expressions became even more serious.
Eilina's detection was ineffective, which proved that the opponent's anti-detection ability was very strong. With Eilina's current Spirituality reserves, she couldn't see through him at all. With the opponent's situation completely unclear, all choices had to be made more cautiously.
"Heh... Actually, you don't need to be so nervous. I'm not your enemy. Put down the guns pointed at me. It would be troublesome if they accidentally went off."
With a light chuckle, Edrick then glanced around. Although it seemed like a normal glance, he saw all the Hunter's hidden sniper positions aimed at him. This caused the two Captains, who knew the Hunter's deployment situation, to be slightly startled.
That guy knows our defensive deployment. He has a clear grasp of the current situation. How did he do it?
Thinking of this, the Hunter Captains couldn't help but be startled. The atmosphere on the scene became even more solemn. They knew him, but he didn't know them. The manifestation of the information gap made the Hunter more cautious. They all kept raising their psychological estimation of the man in front of them, which also made them even more hesitant to act rashly.
For a moment, the scene was silently quiet for a few seconds, and then Grego broke the silence and said.
"Those people in the study downstairs... you killed them?"
"Just a simple cleanup, there was a small accident." Edrick continued to respond, while Grego continued to question.
"Did you come here specifically to attack the Holy Communion Society? Was the Burton case last time also done by you? Were the two messages at the bureau both sent by you?"
"That's right. Are you satisfied with my intelligence?" With a slight spread of one hand, Edrick said with a smile. Hearing his words, the three looked at each other, and then Grego continued to speak seriously.
"Are you... or are you using us as pawns?"
"Not exactly pawns, but we believe that since we have come to Igwinte, we should show the hidden rulers of Igwinte the respect they deserve. Those flowers were just a small reminder of goodwill. We believe it is very impolite to do things in Igwinte without notifying the masters here."
While speaking, Edrick's gaze was fixed on Grego, and then he continued to speak.
"Please do not misjudge our goodwill, otherwise we cannot ensure who will ultimately pay the price for the misjudgment. Please believe that we are always very happy to cooperate with the official side. This time, didn't the flowers help you avoid a loss? Mr. Mays House..."
Edrick's words were very confusing, initially baffling the three of them. However, the final direct address made Grego and the two people beside him feel a sudden shock in their hearts.
'He knows our true identities, this organization knows far more than we thought...'
Such thoughts surfaced in the minds of the three, which not only pushed their nerves to the extreme, raising their vigilance to the highest level, but also made them even more afraid to act directly.
"What is your purpose in coming to Igwinte?!" Grego continued to ask with a stern face, while Edrick waved his hand in response.
"Our purpose... Heh, it's not impossible to tell you, if you're not afraid of the risk of losing control on the spot..."
After Edrick finished speaking lightly, the three of them and the surrounding Hunter team members couldn't help but be startled, and then quickly understood the meaning of this sentence.
The purpose of this organization involves great secrecy, and this secrecy contains forbidden knowledge. Listening to him explain the purpose is equivalent to verbally transmitting a secret transmission. At their current level, if they listened to it all, they might be strongly infected by Spirit Sight and lose control, which is very dangerous!
A purpose that contains Spirit Sight, what could it be? For a moment, the Hunter were both fearful and curious, and of course, some didn't believe in evil.
"Hmph... It only involves a small Holy Communion Society, how much of a secret can there be?" Turner said bluntly. Although the Holy Communion Society committed evil deeds in Igwinte, it was far from being an ancient society with powerful influence. It was hard to imagine what great secret could be hidden in their actions.
Facing Turner's words, Edrick continued to speak without any change in his expression or tone.
"The iceberg only shows a corner, the morning star only appears sparsely. A ship would never think that the water surface is just small rocks and proceed safely. If you only act based on appearances, things will go wrong. As a Hunter Captain, you should know this better, Mr. Turner."
Listening to Edrick's words, Turner was momentarily speechless. He had originally planned to stand firm and make the other party reveal their purpose, but it would be terrible if it really involved strong Spirit Sight.
At this moment, although Edrick had not made any move, his words alone had already put enough pressure on the Hunter trio. Even Turner, who had a relatively reckless personality, did not act rashly at this time.
'A corner of the iceberg... Does he mean... The water of the Red Communion Society is deeper than we previously thought? It involves more unknown, deeper things?" Pondering Edrick's words, Eilina thought, and at this moment, Edrick, looking at the silent scene in front of him, finally smiled slightly and said.
"What I said just now was a warning... I also waited here for you to convey this warning. Now I should go, see you again..."
While speaking, Edrick turned around, and seeing this, Grego quickly asked one last question.
"Hey! What is the name of your society?"
Listening to Grego's words, Edrick's figure paused slightly, and then he slowly said with his back to Grego and the others.
"You can call us...
"Rose Cross"
After speaking, Edrick leaped down from the spire under everyone's gaze, jumping from a very high position towards the building below, disappearing from everyone's sight. And over there was the rolling Iron Mud River.
...
Somewhere on the Silver Riverbank, a hidden place with dense bushes, there was a dry sewer pipe opening. As a sound kept coming out and amplifying from inside the pipe, a small hand finally pushed open the decayed iron grate of the pipe opening.
Dorothy laboriously climbed out of the dry sewer pipe, dusted herself off after standing on the ground, then let out a long sigh, and then looked towards the Buck Mansion towering in the distance.
"Phew... Speaking riddles is really fucking tiring. I should get out of here quickly..."
After saying that, Dorothy picked up her suitcase and ran all the way in the direction away from the Buck Mansion, followed by Brandon who came out later.