After leaving the local Nighthawks outpost disguised as a private detective agency, Leonard looked at Daly Simone, who had actively proposed being in his group, and asked, "Where should we start? Any suggestions?"
Dressed with an aura of eerie beauty and mature allure, Daly pulled up the hood of her spirit medium's black robe and glanced at
Leonard looked at the red glove on his left hand, deliberated for a moment, and said,
"Let's start as Captain Suster arranged. It might turn up some clues, but it's probably useless. I suspect Lady 'Eye of the Goddess' knows this too and just gave us something to do to confuse
"Why do you say that?" Daly asked, not joking, her expression unusually serious.
Leonard glanced around, his voice unconsciously dropping low, "As far as I know, '0-08' has the property of 'if you know it, it knows you.' Although we don't know its true name or abilities and only use a self-devised code name, which should normally keep us unaffected and at the edge of its attention, as a 'Red Gloves' team actively investigating the Spiritualist Church and repeatedly discussing Ince Zangwill's problems, I think our situation might already be known to '0-08.' If so, Ince Zangwill can learn that his abnormal state has been exposed and can consciously create coincidences and take evasive actions."
Daly recalled the information related to Ince Zangwill and nodded. "Suster mentioned this issue at the very beginning, but not as clearly and distinctly as you did. He was still at the stage of deducing possible factors from failed outcomes. "So, on one hand, Lady 'Eye of the Goddess' has us investigate the situation of Beyonders and materials of the 'Hunter' pathway in the surrounding area, pretending things aren't settled yet. On the other hand, she's already preparing to use specific items to set a trap and wait for Ince Zangwill to show himself when the evil spirit is dominant?"
Leonard turned and walked as he spoke. "That's probably it. But I'm afraid it won't be able to fool '0-08'..."
Daly followed slightly behind and to the side, saying thoughtfully, "I think there's still hope for success. Don't forget, one of the Goddess's epithets is Mother of Concealment."
"Can this counter '0-08'? Does the Church have someone high up or a sealed artifact that can counter '0-08'? No wonder '0-08' was once acquired by the Church and sealed in the depths of the cathedral..." Leonard's green eyes lit up, his spirit invigorated.
Daly nodded slightly, and her expression softened.
A few seconds later, her eyes narrowed sharply, and she blurted out, "Could '0-08' know about our discussion just now?"
Leonard's expression froze. He dared not affirm it, nor shake his head. They looked at each other, and for a brief moment, neither of them spoke.
........
In some room, a slightly pale hand turned the notebook on the desk to the beginning and flipped through it page by page:
"...After leaving
"For an evil spirit of the 'Red Priest' pathway, such a promise is not guaranteed to be kept, but Ince Zangwill had no other choice.
"In his view, there were many coincidences in this series of events, but in essence, it was an inevitability. At least, Sauron Einhorn Medici's ability to construct a story was several times his own.
"...After confirming the destination was Dong Bailang on the Southern Continent, Ince Zangwill took a ship to the Furious Sea... Every time, he would enter the colonial islands of Intis, irrationally provoke the official forces, hunt Beyonders from the 'Hunter' pathway, and before danger arrived, sober up just in time, cover his tracks, and flee far away.
"This seems like a coincidence, but the problem is that it was the same coincidence every time. Wasn't it too coincidental?
"From a logical and rational standpoint, too many coincidences imply the hidden existence of some factor or rule. The reason Ince could accomplish this was that he wrote the previous passage, using the power of the '
"...Ince Zangwill additionally purchased Beyonder materials from the 'Praiser' and 'Warrior' pathways. This is very reasonable, as he needs to cover up the traces of the evil spirit using him to collect various items from the 'Hunter' pathway, preventing others from discovering that everything is happening with his tacit consent and without any resistance. Furthermore, both the 'Praiser' and 'Warrior' pathways have the ability to resist the dead and expel evil spirits. Any clever person, thinking carefully about it, would undoubtedly discover this and thus confirm their judgment about Ince Zangwill's possession by an evil spirit.
"...After multiple provocations, Tony Down of the Iron Blood Cross Order finally locked onto Ince Zangwill and began pursuing him. In this process, this 'War Bishop,' determined to become a 'Conqueror,' did not hide or restrain his abilities at all. Especially when a storm just happened to cut off his pursuit, he made a grand appearance in front of a shipload of ordinary people and dragged out the person pretending to be Ince Zangwill.
"This was a bit of a coincidence, but not surprising. The Iron Blood Cross Order's belief is that the supernatural should manifest and rule over ordinary people. And Tony Down, being arrogant and domineering, always used his own power to shatter others' doubts and had unwavering self-confidence. So there was nothing wrong with his behavior.
"Similarly, he was so overconfident that he overlooked the possibility that Ince Zangwill was also on that ship. This didn't quite match his hunting instincts, but everyone makes mistakes in this world!
"When Ince Zangwill disembarked at Midway Island, he sensed a gaze from first class, but he didn't mind. This was exactly the effect he wanted. It was the best development if a passenger happened to recognize him! Hah, happened...
"...Neither too early nor too late, right before Suster's 'Red Gloves' team took action, Ince Zangwill met with Pallenk Tassib of the Pallid Hand, the faction of the
(Scratched out marks) "...The development of the situation was rather strange. Daly Simone and Leonard Mitchell of Suster's 'Red Gloves' team didn't have enough clues to deduce, yet they seemed to have formed a conclusion. This came from a letter sent by Reinette Tinecker...
"What exactly went wrong? Ince Zangwill was quite puzzled by this. In his view, unless they could directly catch Pallenk Tassib or other key figures of the Spiritualist Church, no one could have reached a conclusion so quickly.
"This made his preparations a bit hasty, but luckily, this outcome was what he wanted.
"...The 'Red Gloves' team led by Suster discovered Ince Zangwill's anomaly from telegrams received from various locations. Daly Simone used this to propose the hypothesis of possession by an evil spirit, which was generally agreed upon."