When the plot-skips players into the game world

Lily followed Antlers, wandering aimlessly within the vast architectural space, feeling her way through the spatial layout of the building.

It looked square and proper, yet labyrinthine -- every room's four walls might contain doors or passageways. However, almost no rooms led to all four directions; mostly, they led to two or three.

According to Antlers, this seemed to be the standard style of architecture during the era of the Giant Dynasty. There were no L-shaped corridors, and the entire structure was composed solely of square and rectangular rooms.

This was supposedly because the giants had blind spots in their field of view, making them susceptible to ambushes at corners.

The sturdy walls combined with the maze-like layout forced large troops entering the building to disperse and condense into a very small and narrow "bundle" of people. Giants, however, disdained the use of traps; otherwise, Lily felt that traps alone would be enough to wipe out a large number of people.

--- Ultimately, it might be true that giants could not be easily ambushed or assaulted.

Because Lily was acutely aware that Antlers was, in fact, lost -- they had passed the same room three times, yet Antlers had no clue he had lost his way.

Lily, on the other hand, was gradually becoming familiar with the paths.

The reason for getting lost was simple. The giants' craftsmanship was apparently not very refined, resulting in walls of uneven thickness. Instead of constructing the entire building and then dividing it into various rooms, they seemed to have built it one room at a time, expanding outward.

For this reason, even the four walls of the same room could vary in thickness. This created rooms that were misaligned -- turn left, turn left, turn left, turn left, and though one should have made a full circle, it was impossible to return to the starting room.

Lily's "Silkthread Perception" was growing sharper, tracing the outline of the building in her mind. Once she could sense the thickness of a wall, she would no longer get lost here.

In the meantime, as they made their way, Lily engaged in conversation with Antlers while pretending to be "Mr. Grey."

As Lily expressed her curiosity about the Round Table Hall, she keenly sensed... that Antlers was treating her as a member of the Strangler Party.

Perhaps because Lily's strangulation skills appeared exceptionally proficient, combined with the fact that many low-level Transcendents of the Path of Love and the Path of Adaptation were present in the Lohar District, he was mistaken.

After that, Antlers hinted repeatedly that he shared a close and inseparable connection with the "organization above" Lily.

The only possibility was the Lohar Society, Lily thought to herself.

Although Lily didn't understand how to manage her current mission, she could keenly feel Antlers' intentions.

Beyond cozying up and trying to establish a relationship, these words were also a test of Lily's identity... If "Mr. Grey" truly was a member of the Strangler Party, then he would definitely know that the Lohar Society was in charge of the Strangler Party.

Of course, Lily had never had any contact with these powers. Fortunately, when Aiwass had joined the Lohar Society, Lily, as her personal maid, had accompanied her throughout.

On the way back, Aiwass had explained to her the relationships between the various gangs in the Lohar District and the Lohar Society.

Therefore, Lily did not admit she was a member of the Strangler Party but instead boldly took a step further -- she declared herself to be a member of the Lohar Society and reported a high-ranking name similar to her codename. To avoid exposing Aiwass, she deliberately chose someone Aiwass didn't know.

"... Miss Grey Green?"

Antlers clearly knew the person, responding naturally, "I'm not very familiar with her, as she mainly handles the business of civilian loans and is also in charge of managing the small gangs in the Lohar District, operating her own casinos and nightclubs -- I am not mistaken, am I?

"However, I have a good relationship with your Vice Chairman Boka... even to the point of being close friends."

"Then I guess you must be a certain minister."

The deep voice of Mr. Grey came from the void, "Vice Chairman Boka has hinted several times that he has a close relationship with a certain minister. You are also quite familiar with the Round Table Hall..."

"No need to probe," Antlers laughed heartily, "I am that Drost."

--- If he's one of the Lohar Society, then he's one of us.

Daring to partake in the New Moon Ritual and appearing to be someone who wasn't foolishly blind to his own weakness... even knowing Miss Grey Green. Judging from the code name, it seems he had a good relationship with Miss Grey Green. It is very possible that he is a direct disciple of hers.

"Grey Green" was not an easy target.

As a Transcendent at the peak of the fourth Energy Level, she was basically the strongest assassin in Avalon. Although she was now middle-aged and her physical strength had declined slightly, her experience had grown deeper, and she had become even more cunning, making her even harder to deal with.

She also had blackmail material on many ministers of the Round Table Hall, so when faced with some troubles, she didn't need to act personally, she could just use the leverage to solve problems.

No wonder "Mr. Grey" wanted to ask him about these matters. Probably he wanted to take the intelligence back to win Miss Grey Green's favor.

This "Mr. Grey" should at least be a mid-level member of the Lohar Society, with a strength in the first Path likely around the third Energy Level. Although this was his first advancement ritual for the Path of Adaptation, his skills in Adaptation were clearly more exquisite than those of a normal newcomer.

He might very well be a disciple personally trained by Grey Green, inheriting the Mystical Skills she mastered.

What Grey Green excelled in was her unparalleled Stealth ability, as well as her sophisticated assassination capabilities.

Antlers had originally planned for Grey Green to kill his secretary as a silencer. However, Miss Grey Green was busy with other matters recently and had not taken the job.

He just hadn't expected that the Iris Flower spies would be one step ahead. Before he could successfully issue the task, they preemptively killed Secretary Raff, and incidentally exposed his involvement in dangerous goods smuggling.

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Fortunately, his usual image was decent, and he had leverage over quite a few people in the Round Table Hall. Only then could he barely stabilize the situation. But even so, he had to stop.

If another incident occurred, he might truly be in trouble.

With this in mind, he decided to ingratiate himself with Mr. Grey and, through this connection, establish a line with Miss Grey Green. The next time something like this happened, he had to inform Miss Grey Green to deal with the aftermath immediately.

As the Minister of Commerce, he was particularly adept at borrowing others' networks of relationships. A seemingly insignificant character could potentially, after two or three degrees of separation, bring him into contact with useful individuals who were normally out of reach.

This was why, if possible, it was best not to offend anyone. This was the art of hedging bets.

But upon hearing Antlers' words, Mr. Grey fell silent.

After a long while, he cautiously asked, "What's your full name? What's the name of your secretary? What's the name of your illegitimate child?" Read latest stories on empire

He was confirming his identity.

Upon hearing this, Antlers revealed a smile.

He immediately understood Mr. Grey's intention when asked this question. He also confirmed that Mr. Grey must be from the Lohar Society and was indeed under Miss Grey Green!

"I am Charles Drost, my chief personal secretary was the John Raff who was assassinated by an Iris Flower spy not long ago... He is the same person I contacted Vice Chairman Boka about to arrange for Miss Grey Green to assassinate. It was only because the lady has been too busy recently that there was a slight delay.

"As for the illegitimate child... In fact, I don't have an illegitimate son. I only have an illegitimate daughter sired with a prostitute. That's one of the rare instances I was cheated, my shame.

"I've forgotten her name, it was given by the prostitute. She should be serving as a maid in the Moriarty Family by now."

Antlers spoke earnestly, "That prostitute was insane; she even wanted to marry me... I spent quite an effort disposing of her. That was also the first deal I made through Miss Grey Green."

These were the secrets behind the three questions "Mr. Grey" had asked.

Whether it was the "secretary" or the "illegitimate child," they were all targets he had once engaged Miss Grey Green to assassinate.

Mr. Grey didn't know that it wasn't an illegitimate son but a daughter, which suggested two possibilities—one was that Miss Grey Green hadn't mentioned the details to them, or he deliberately got it wrong to verify if he was speaking to the real Charles Drost.

Antlers continued, "The girl has now been taken by her master to attend the Royal Law University as an auditor. She might come into contact with my granddaughter... Just in case, I would like Miss Grey Green to kill her too.

"Last time, I was a bit soft-hearted and didn't accept Miss Grey Green's 'package deal.' But I have to say, I regret it now. It's best to have her die quietly, without letting anyone discover it was murder. Just let the Moriarty Family bury her normally.

"After you leave, go report this to Miss Grey Green. I want to hear of her death within a month; afterwards, I will deposit the money into the agreed-upon account."

Antlers was not worried about being defrauded in the Dream Realm, divulging his information.

The use of information has its thresholds. It's not something everyone can utilize.

Waking from a dream, one naturally forgets many things... Knowledge from dreams cannot be verified for truthfulness through a lie detector. Not enough to be taken as admissible evidence.

Even searching through memories, one cannot see the parts involving the Dream Realm.

In the black market among Transcendents, people often trade small booklets. Those are their experiences in the Dream Realm. Indeed, some contain lost secrets, but most are filled with wild ramblings.

The majority of people's writing is not very good, illogical, some like sleep talking, and the content is riddled with many ignored details due to blindness or forgetfulness, irrational conclusions, exaggerations and artistic liberties with the facts, and self-completion of things they clearly did not see, and some are even deliberately incorrect to conceal secrets.

Such things do not sell for much. They certainly can't be considered evidence or leverage.

Let alone Mr. Grey from the Lohar Society. Even in front of Lady Red and Inspector Gordon, he would not be afraid.

At the level of Minister Drost, without conclusive evidence, no suspicions can be used against him. Even with evidence, it may not be of any use—as long as he is still useful to Queen Sofia, as long as the Round Table Hall does not wish for him to be dismissed, at most he would be reprimanded by Her Majesty.

Therefore, placing orders in the Dream Realm was the safest method. And the promotion ritual was the simplest way to enter the Dream Realm.

Whether it was the smuggling order issued to the King or the assassination order given to Mr. Grey, no evidence meant no evidence. The conversations here would leave no trail of evidence, and what was heard could not be reliably conveyed by others.

"I will report to Miss Grey Green," Mr. Grey's voice became even lower, colder.

Just then, piercing shrieks suddenly came from afar.

It was not the scream of someone under attack... but rather closer to a lovesick man jilted in love or a gambler who has lost everything.

—That was Thunder's voice!

"Go take a look."

Antlers immediately became serious and ordered in a low voice.

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