Chapter 362: Such An Organization
The villa used for lunch and the presentation of birthday gifts was ridiculously large. The doors were wide open, and the first-floor hall was set up like the usual banquet for guests to eat and mingle.
Although he had only been here a day, Lin Jie was already familiar with the process and was starting to feel a little bored.
After all, there was only one thing to do, and that was to mingle, mingle, and mingle. He could easily imagine the same things repeating over and over for the next three days.
Even if Lin Jie"s mouth was his livelihood and he was usually willing to talk, it didn"t mean he was willing to slog away nonstop for three days.
Most of these exchanges were ineffective and filled with all sorts of lengthy diplomatic rhetoric. Hearing this over and over could make one"s head swell.
Moreover, from the current look of things, it would take some time for these people to overcome the trauma from the previous day and take the initiative to seek him out... Lin Jie himself couldn"t guess how long that would take.
Fortunately, there was still delicious food and three new customers to help Boss Lin tide over the boredom.
That had been what Lin Jie originally thought. He had already been ready to welcome the meaningless chatter and dazzling array of delicacies the moment he stepped through the doors.
"Venerable Mr. Lin, h.e.l.lo. Please wait a moment." An elderly man with a head full of white standing by the door bowed and extended his hand respectfully to intercept Lin Jie. The old man was decked out in a brown vest over a white shirt and wore a pair of gold-rimmed gla.s.ses.
Lin Jie stopped. He knew this face, for it belonged to the elderly butler of A16 Manor. During the previous events, Lin Jie could always see the elderly butler directing the other servants throughout.
Lin Jie asked politely, "Ahh, it"s the butler. Is there anything I can help you with?"
The elderly butler broke out in cold sweat when he noticed Lin Jie"s slight smile. "No, no, I wouldn"t dare to trouble you. It"s just that the young miss has instructed me to lead you to the side hall if I see you. She hopes to be able to have you join her for lunch."
"Oh..." Lin Jie realized that Young Miss Ji had sent someone to wait for him here.
Perhaps she had also considered the fact that I would feel bored... Haa, how thoughtful. It was a stark contrast to the Young Miss Ji in Lin Jie"s impression that got rid of all the sc.u.mbags that wronged her.
"That"s really considerate." Lin Jie nodded. "Since it"s Miss Ji"s invitation, of course I"ll have to come along."
The old butler made an inviting gesture and pointed to the other corridor. "This way, please. I"ll lead the way for you—uh, but those few with you…"
Lin Jie noticed the troubled look on the elderly butler"s face and reckoned that perhaps Miss Ji might tell him some more private things, such as the previous hurt she suffered because of sc.u.mbags that jilted her. If that were so, it might indeed be inappropriate for others to be present.
So he turned around and said, "The two of you stay here for now. It would be awkward if Charlotte comes back later and can"t find any of us. You guys wait for her and have a good chat later."
Greg and Fitch exchanged glances. Even if they were unwilling, they were in no position to decline and could only agree.
"Have a good lunch and remember to send my regards to Charlotte." The smiling Lin Jie waved at them as they entered the hall. He reckoned that it was a good idea to let those two talk. It had only been a short while, but they were already getting along so well. With that out of the way, he returned his attention to the butler and said, "Thank you."
The elderly butler wiped away the sweat on his forehead and hurriedly replied, "It"s no trouble. No trouble at all. It"s my honor to be at your service."
With that, he lowered his head and led the way, leading Lin Jie along the corridor to the side hall on the ground floor of the villa.
——
Not long after Lin Jie left.
Greg and Fitch entered the hall, but they didn"t move with the crowd, instead choosing to find seats nearest to the doorway.
They had no intention of chatting with others after all. Boss Lin had asked them to wait for Charlotte, so they had naturally chosen the most suitable location where Charlotte would see them immediately.
However, the two didn"t speak much after taking their seats as they had already finished exchanging information earlier in the morning. The two of them still disliked each other, and if it wasn"t for the t.i.t-for-tat confrontational exchange early, they had nothing else to talk about.
Greg set up a small magic barrier before taking out his communications device to start reporting the current situation to Secret Rite Tower.
"What? A never-before-doc.u.mented Supreme-rank?! Are you certain the report is accurate?! We didn"t notice any abnormalities, nor did the Truth Union"s aether surveillance detect any fluctuations..."
Winston"s reaction of shock was roughly what Greg had antic.i.p.ated. It was rather similar to his own reaction back then.
"I"m certain it"s true, and you can only choose to believe it. I saw it all with my own eyes, and there were two other witnesses as well. The reason you all are unable to observe or track her is because she has mastery over the law of time and instantly reversed time, returning everything back to the original point.
"Other than those who experienced all of it personally, everyone else has already lost their relevant memories over time.
"Aside from that, the person I asked for your help to investigate last night, Fitch, a test subject of the Path of the Flaming Sword, obtained some very important information via Boss Lin"s intervention…"
"Fitch?"
"Yeah, it roughly goes like this…" Greg told him about Fitch"s accidental acquisition of a part of the Supreme-rank"s memories as well as the information he got from Fitch. "There are a total of ten Supreme-rank leaders in the Path of the Fire Sword. However, these leaders don"t have a comprehensive cooperative relationship with one another, possibly even being unaware of the existence of the others, which is why we haven"t been able to find their origins. These ten Supreme-ranks use the codenames of "Angels" respectively... And the names of these "Angels" originate from a book from the Lower District. Moreover, what they control is far more than we"ve investigated..."
Winston"s tone got more solemn. "Go on."
Greg continued, "We haven"t been able to find out all this time, but the ones that gave the elixir to Fitch are the Dark Elf elders who control the Ash Chamber of Commerce."
"Impossible!" Winston couldn"t help blurting out. "The Ash Chamber of Commerce was also a target of the Path of Flaming Sword from the internal conflict between Cherry and Congreve previously... If their elders were already in cahoots with the Path of the Flaming Sword, why would they need to nurture a mole?"
Greg shook his head. "Captain, you"ve forgotten what I just said—the Path of the Flaming Sword doesn"t have a comprehensive cooperative relationship between their leaders, possibly being unaware of each other"s existence."
Winston found this to be rather ridiculous. "You mean… one of those Path of the Flaming Sword "Angels" controls the Ash Chamber of Commerce, and it was another one that tried to infiltrate and instigate Congreve"s defection?
"d.a.m.n, what is this..."
How could there be such an "organization" in the world?