Xio Derecha's Application to Join

When the Mysticism Research Society was first established, Odys decided that new members would be admitted by recommendation. Any member could recommend someone they trusted at a gathering. Odys would then use his own channels to conduct an investigation, announce the results to everyone, and decide whether to invite the new member to join.

This was quite different from the other Beyonder gatherings in Backlund. Through this system, Odys could maintain a certain degree of control over the otherwise extremely loose organization.

In truth, the establishment of the Mysticism Research Society was a mutually beneficial collaboration between Odys and the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery.

Before this, the Church of Steam's sources of information had basically been limited to its believers. Its believers were relatively pure, with most of them being workers, so its channels were extremely limited.

This was especially true regarding the Beyonder world of Backlund. The Church of Steam had very little understanding of it. Ever since Odys began organizing these gatherings, the Church of Steam had used the clues obtained through their trades to successfully crack several Beyonder cases and predict the sabotage activities of several secret organizations.

Only then did the Church of Steam gradually begin to take Odys seriously, allowing him to falsify expenses with relative ease.

At the same time, Odys used these gatherings to begin building his own intelligence network. Every attendee had been carefully selected by him, allowing him to obtain the latest intelligence on Backlund through their exchanges.

At first, no one paid much attention to the organizer. After all, he was only a Sequence 9. But the gatherings were quite effective, and everyone was willing to attend.

Later, Odys gradually displayed his extensive knowledge of mysticism and the mysterious atmosphere he had created, causing everyone to slowly put away their contempt.

Everyone was stunned when they heard the recommendation from the member with the gruff voice. The last time a new member had joined had been two months ago.

A female member wearing a mask said, "Lion, the culprit behind the Serial Murder Case was just shot dead, and the official Beyonders' martial law hasn't been completely lifted yet. This isn't a good time to recommend a new member."

Lion said, "I just think that the bounty hunter's channels would be very useful to us. Besides, martial law will be lifted someday."

The tall member called Hippo, who had spoken first, asked in a deep voice, "What kind of information channels does she have?"

"She has a lot of connections in the East District." Lion spread his hands. "Everyone should know that the East District is a lawless place. It hides many secrets."

The other members were slightly stunned. Some of them had certain channels in the East District, but they were basically unstable, because the intelligence dealers there were replaced far too quickly.

Seeing that no one objected, Odys, the Leader, said, "All right. Next week, I'll assess the person you recommended."

Lion nodded. Following the usual procedure, he wrote down the information about the person he wanted to recommend and had a servant deliver it to the Leader sitting opposite him.

Odys opened the note and saw that Lion's recommendation was indeed Xio Derecha!

At this moment, Hound, who had no distinctive features from the outside, asked Lion, "Has anything unusual happened in the East District recently?"

"A lot of vagrants have suddenly disappeared," Lion replied.

Peacock asked with a smile, "Could stingy Lion be planning to become a philanthropist and support the vagrants in the East District?"

The other members laughed along. Even a banker couldn't fill this bottomless hole.

Lion, whose voice was gruff, had a rather good temper. He didn't get angry, but instead explained, "I received a commission to investigate several vagrants who suddenly disappeared from the East District..."

At this moment, Giraffe, whose neck was slightly longer than an ordinary person's, interrupted in a delicate voice, "I received such a commission too!"

Monkey and Cheetah said almost in unison, "So did I."

The four people who had received the commissions exchanged looks. The other members also found it rather strange. It seemed unnecessary to issue four commissions just to investigate a few vagrants.

After a brief silence fell over the gathering, Odys, the Leader, said, "This commission is very unusual. The four of you must be careful. Don't get caught up in any dangerous incidents."

Odys had reached this conclusion through reasonable deduction. Of course, he knew that the vagrants had been captured by human traffickers and secretly sold to the Royal Family.

The reason the Royal Family needed this labor was to build George III's mausoleum. This was a massive conspiracy. At present, aside from certain important members of the Royal Family, Odys might be the only person with a God Almighty's-eye view who knew the whole story.

The fact that Lion and the others had received such missions clearly meant that a major figure in the Beyonder world had already noticed the Loen Royal Family's plans and was conducting an investigation.

But such an investigation, with traces that could be followed, was clearly meant to conceal the truth—or, rather, to divert the Loen Royal Family's attention. Lion and the others could become cannon fodder at any time.

Lion, Giraffe, and the other two also realized that something was seriously wrong and thanked the Leader for his warning.

Hound suddenly said to Lion, "I'll pay five pounds for the information on the person who issued that commission."

Lion cleared his throat and said with a smile, "What do you take me for? I'm a man of professional ethics..."

"Ten pounds."

"All right. I'll give you a portrait of the client later. But you have to use Beyonder methods to interrogate them. Don't damage my reputation."

Hound nodded. "Naturally."

Next, Hound spent another thirty pounds to purchase the information on the other three clients.

Odys knew very well that Hound was a member of MI9. They would definitely be interested in this kind of information.

Peacock raised the next topic. "Ladies and gentlemen, does anyone know the specific details about the Serial Murder Case being solved?"

Giraffe asked with a smile, "Haven't you read the newspapers?"

Peacock retorted, "Would you believe what's written in the newspapers?"

Hound, whose appearance was unremarkable, said, "I heard that the reason the culprit killed people was to prepare for a promotion ritual."

He paused, then continued, "If anyone wants to know what the promotion ritual is, you can make a private deal with me. I'll give everyone a discounted price—fifty pounds!"

Several members stirred restlessly. At this gathering, it was often possible to trade for extraordinary information like this.

Peacock said in a rather unfriendly tone, "Can't you say something valuable?"

Odys spoke up. "I've heard some slightly more detailed information."

Everyone turned toward the Leader. Generally speaking, the Leader's intelligence was relatively reliable.

Odys said, "I heard that the culprit behind the Serial Murder Case wasn't human."

Monkey, whose arms were slightly longer than an ordinary person's, nodded and said indignantly, "A scoundrel like that deserves a good scolding to vent our anger."

Odys could only repeat seriously, "He wasn't human!"

Everyone was slightly stunned. They all understood what the Leader meant.