Failed Night Raid

An hour earlier—

The Nighthawks' two-wheeled carriage traveled through the silent streets of Tingen City's Eastern District.

Because they were facing a Beyonder, Dunn Smith had not brought Caesar, who usually drove the carriage, along with the team. Instead, he had Fry sit in the driver's seat while he, Luo Yao Leiting, and Sica Theon sat quietly in the carriage, taking turns holding the Sealed Artifact to spread out its Negative Effects.

2-105, "Blood Vessel Thief," was the name of this Sealed Artifact. The "2" in its designation meant that it was a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact—dangerous, requiring careful and restrained use. Its confidentiality level was restricted to bishops, Nighthawk squad captains, and above. The Tingen City Nighthawks possessed only three Sealed Artifacts of this grade, and to deal with Mrs. Sharon, this Blood Vessel Thief was the most suitable.

It looked like a thick, stiffened blood vessel. It gave its wearer a chance to steal one of a target's abilities; even powerful High Sequence Beyonders had a chance of falling victim to it. If Sequence 8 Midnight Poet Sica Theon used it to steal the invisibility ability of Mrs. Sharon, who was Sequence 7 or Sequence 6, the chances of success were quite high. Once the theft succeeded, Mrs. Sharon would lose that ability for ten minutes, while the holder of Blood Vessel Thief could use it as if they had trained with it for years. A Midnight Poet with formidable close-combat abilities who could also turn invisible would become an opponent Mrs. Sharon would find difficult to deal with.

Of course, the other side of a Sealed Artifact's powerful abilities was inevitably equally dangerous Negative Effects. Whether or not gloves or other protection were worn, anyone who touched it would gradually have their life stolen away. It was not obvious at first, but if contact continued, outward symptoms would appear after half an hour. Even a Sequence 5 close to Demigod level could not endure two straight hours of contact.

However, repeated testing by the Church had shown that as long as there were three or more holders, the Negative Effects could be greatly slowed.

Inside the carriage, they took turns holding the thick blood vessel. Each person held it for three minutes before passing it to another.

With this rotation, even a Sequence 9 would not suffer fatigue severe enough to affect combat within two hours, much less show physical signs of aging.

Dunn accepted the Blood Vessel Thief Luo Yao handed over. Even through his gloves, the hand touching the Sealed Artifact felt numb, and a faint current seemed to flow through his entire body. Yet it was so subtle that he would barely notice it without paying close attention.

He glanced out the window. On the pitch-black road, Gas Lamps continuously slid backward. Compared to the noisy, chaotic docks and the lively yet orderly Northern District, Tingen City's Eastern District seemed peaceful and tranquil. Tingen's rich merchants and political figures lived here, mostly in villas with gardens. The population density was low, but its status was anything but.

Once they passed the intersection ahead, they would reach Olsner Street...

Dunn knocked on the movable partition behind him, and Fry's deep voice came from the driver's seat. "Captain, what is it?"

"Stop at the intersection. Don't get too close to the target."

"Understood."

At Fry's cry of "Whoa," the horse pulling the carriage obediently came to a stop. The two-wheeled carriage halted at one corner of the intersection.

Dunn was the first to step down from the carriage and inspect Olsner Street by the dim Gas Lamp light. Luo Yao and Sica got out after him. Seeing no one around, Fry casually tied the reins to a nearby lamp post.

Not far from them was Mrs. Sharon's residence, a two-story house hidden within a garden.

According to the plan, Dunn Smith would first use his Nightmare ability to pull Mrs. Sharon into a Dream. Even if she was not asleep at the moment, Nightmare would make an unprepared target drowsy and swiftly enter a Dream, as though coaxing an infant to sleep. If there were other servants in the residence, Dunn could also quickly send those ordinary people into slumber, preventing them from being drawn into the battle.

Once Dunn succeeded, the other Nighthawks would swiftly enter the residence and head for Mrs. Sharon's location. Whether to capture or kill her would depend on the situation at the scene.

It would be best to kill her... Dunn Smith thought to himself.

When their strength was comparable—or even weaker than the opponent's—trying to capture an experienced Beyonder alive was not very realistic. For Beyonders, having their hands and feet bound was not an especially difficult problem to solve. They might even counterattack while unconscious. If they clung to wishful thinking and tried to capture Mrs. Sharon alive, she might use an ability they did not know about to escape, or even kill the teammates present in a counterattack.

That was also why he had been unwilling to let Daly come along. Though Daly had repeatedly expressed her willingness to join the operation, he had decisively refused her, leaving her in low spirits throughout the combat meeting.

Dunn looked around at his team. Fry, Luo Yao, and Sica were all watching him, awaiting his orders.

His teammates trusted him so much. He had to protect them...

Shaking off his somewhat chaotic thoughts, he handed the Blood Vessel Thief, which he had held for three minutes, to Fry and ordered softly, "Prepare to begin the operation."

The Nighthawks nodded in unison to show that they understood.

Dunn bent down and sat on the step beside the carriage door, clasping his hands tightly and closing his eyes. The surrounding night seemed to deepen by several degrees.

He was using Nightmare's Beyonder ability. Its effective range extended a hundred meters. With only a little time and uninterrupted preparation, he could make the target fall asleep and enter the Dream Nightmare had prepared for them.

The other three Nighthawks waited patiently nearby. From their experience, it would take the captain around five minutes to silently pull a Beyonder into a Dream. Then he would bring one teammate into the Dream and signal that they could begin their attack.

This was also Nightmare's greatest limitation. To pull a Beyonder of similar strength into a Dream, the user had to enter the Dream as well. If Nightmare interrupted the Dream and woke up, the target would awaken too and receive a spiritual warning.

Yet in less than a minute, Dunn Smith opened his eyes and stood up amid their astonished gazes.

Facing his teammates' puzzled looks, Dunn wore an equally strange expression. Frowning, he explained, "There are only two Maids in the residence. They're both ordinary people, and I've already put them to sleep. But Mrs. Sharon isn't home. I questioned the servants in the Dream. She hurried out half an hour ago."

"Could Miss Granger have lied? Perhaps Mrs. Sharon never invited her here tonight?"

Luo Yao Leiting, with black hair, blue eyes, and slender brows, immediately suspected that they had been deceived by the so-called informant, Angel Granger.

"Unlikely. Between my Dream and Daly's use of the Truth-Telling Goblet, if she had lied, it would have been difficult for her to evade both our tests," Dunn denied that possibility.

"Then perhaps Mrs. Sharon had something come up and went out? It might be some political figure's banquet, or an invitation from a lover. After all, this is the busiest weekend night in high society." Sica Theon, the white-haired woman skilled at devising novel plots, offered another possibility.

That did make some sense... Upon hearing it, Dunn felt that, given Mrs. Sharon's status in Tingen City, there was a good chance she had been invited at the last minute to some political figure's "event."

So what now?

Everyone's gaze focused on their captain, Dunn Smith.

Dunn rubbed his temple with his gloved right hand and sank into thought.

"I told you, we're already here. Are we really going back empty-handed?"

Helping one another, they climbed over the wall, scaled the balcony behind the house, and entered Mrs. Sharon's residence from the second floor. As Sica pulled Fry—the only one among the four who did not belong to the Sleepless pathway—onto the balcony, she spoke softly.

"You sound like a petty burglar breaking into someone's home." Luo Yao followed Fry up to the second floor and quietly replied.

After learning that Mrs. Sharon was not home and the servants were all asleep, the four Nighthawks did not bother concealing themselves. Instead, they strode ahead as though they were in their own home. Based on the information Dunn had obtained by questioning the servants in the Dream, he led the way and headed straight for Mrs. Sharon's bedroom door.

After looking to either side and seeing that his teammates were ready, he turned the handle and opened the bedroom door.

The bedroom curtains were tightly drawn, but the Gas Lamps had not been extinguished. Under their glow, the bedroom's furnishings were exceptionally luxurious, completely at odds with the plain exterior of the small house. A broad bed stood at the center of the spacious room, with velvet bedding piled messily to one side. The dressing table by the wall was covered with all kinds of cosmetics, and jewelry boxes lay carelessly open, revealing jewelry that gleamed in different colors. Suggestive sheer clothing and stockings had been tossed onto a rocking chair, while the half-open walk-in closet was filled with dresses of different styles.

The air was also permeated by a scent that made one's blood race.

The most eye-catching object in the entire room was a Full-length Mirror placed at the center of the carpet. Its surface had been smeared with an unknown dark-red liquid. An extinguished candle stood before it, surrounded by scattered flower petals Dunn did not recognize.

"It looks like Magic Mirror Divination."

Corpse Collector Fry's hoarse voice sounded. He shared the same pathway as Medium Daly and knew quite a bit about Spirit Mediums and divination.

They immediately tensed, standing back to back as they cautiously scanned their surroundings.

Divination was a method Beyonders both loved and hated.

A teammate's divination could help them learn about dangers ahead of time, locate overlooked items, and even speak with the dead like a Medium. But attacks against enemies capable of divination were rarely truly sudden. Diviners could see through their ambushes or surprise attacks in advance, or even lay traps in return, causing an Official Extraordinary operation to end in failure.

Had Mrs. Sharon divined the Nighthawks' operation tonight and fled in advance?

Fleeing would be one thing. What they feared was that she had used divination to gain an information advantage, then laid an ambush and turned them into prey.

Fry pressed a hand to his forehead and entered Spirit Vision, carefully examining the surroundings.

"I found no spiritual radiance. She probably fled."

Only then did everyone relax. Luo Yao frowned and muttered to himself, "Mrs. Sharon wouldn't use Magic Mirror Divination for no reason. Who warned her?"

"It was probably when the captain brought Miss Angel Granger back this morning. Quite a few people nearby witnessed it. If Mrs. Sharon has information channels, it wouldn't be difficult for her to learn about it," Sica analyzed.

Dunn opened his mouth, attempting to explain that he had told the surrounding residents he was merely investigating Cole Granger's disappearance. But thinking back on it now, he also felt that he should not have worn a police uniform and used a police carriage to go to the Granger residence. By his usual habits, he should have brought Angel Granger back to Blackthorn Security Company for protection in the latter half of the night, and kept as low a profile as possible along the way.

But at the time, the Nighthawks' own carriage had been out, and he had also wanted to use the police identity to intimidate Angel Granger... No, none of those reasons held up. Why had he thought that behavior was reasonable at the time?

No matter what, this operation counted as a failure. All they could do now was gather as much evidence of Mrs. Sharon's crimes as possible, then notify the Church and Tingen Police upon returning and issue a Wanted Notice.

"...Then she surely asked the Magic Mirror questions like, 'Did Angel Granger betray me?' and 'Where is she now?' Naturally, we would have been exposed right before her eyes." Sica continued, imitating the tone of a divination while gesturing before the mirror with both hands.

The expression on Dunn's face froze.