Chapter 1473: Chapter 1467: Deducing the Enemy’s Whereabouts

"Now, you can go."

In the basement, Ronald was explaining his thoughts to Costate.

Nicole hadn’t been idle during this time. She directly turned around and ordered Gordie, who had only just been rescued from prison not long ago:

"But my personal suggestion is, you’d better leave this city immediately. Otherwise, if we ’happen’ to run into you in town later, don’t blame me if I hit too hard."

"This... I understand!" Gordie’s expression froze for a moment, but clarity quickly returned to his eyes.

He decisively turned around and walked toward the huge pit the four of them had blasted open when they came down. His body moved with an agility that didn’t match his age as he leaped straight out of the basement.

On the surface—

Ronald and the others could continue controlling this Caster and drive him in the subsequent search for The Book of Exposition.

But in reality?

Since the Nine Commandments secret society was already scheming against Ronald and his group—

In order to ensure this plan went smoothly, they would inevitably monitor the movements of the three during that period, to respond to all kinds of possible emergencies.

How could they smoothly keep Ronald and the others under surveillance?

—By using a Spell.

Any one of these three, taken alone, was top-tier combat power on the occult side, wiping out ordinary opponents with ease.

To lock onto them with Spells while keeping it hidden from the perception of all three—

The difficulty of that was no less than annihilating them head-on in open combat. It was never really a viable option to begin with.

Since direct Spells wouldn’t work, they could only use an indirect approach.

The problem thus shifted to the human angle.

Gordie, who had been rescued from prison by Ronald and the others and then forced to lead the search for The Book of Exposition, naturally became the best target for this role.

What was Gordie’s state when Ronald and the others first encountered him?

—Unconscious!

This old man, whose background was completely known to the Nine Commandments secret society, was at their mercy while in a state of total unconsciousness.

With the methods and capabilities of the occult side—

They naturally had a human "camera" installed on him, capable of remotely monitoring Ronald’s group without alerting the three of them.

Gordie himself might not be aware of this.

But once Ronald and the others discussed it openly, and combined with Nicole’s attitude on the surface—

This Caster who once held quite a high status naturally had no desire to wade deeper into these muddy waters.

Instead, he chose to leave decisively, and at the same time find a way to check for, or deal with, any surveillance that might be on him.

...

Just like that, Gordie’s figure quickly vanished from the underground laboratory. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Nicole then drew back her gaze and naturally turned to size up the remaining people still under the control of Ronald’s Word-Spirit.

The investigator girl’s eyes instantly turned cold and dangerous.

Gordie had just provided them with information on The Book of Exposition, and with his merits and faults offsetting each other, plus his hostile stance toward the Nine Commandments secret society, letting him go was naturally not a problem.

But the people in this laboratory were entirely loyal to the Nine Commandments secret society, every one of them a complete enemy in every respect!

Nicole naturally had no intention of showing her cheerful, lively side to the enemy.

So, during the short span of less than three minutes while Ronald was explaining his idea to Costate, Nicole was drawing runes with one hand as she walked past each Caster in the laboratory one by one.

Only now did Nicole truly look like an ace investigator on an infiltration mission.

Every person she passed fell to the ground without exception under the assault of her rune Spells, the rise and fall of their chests ceasing in the blink of an eye.

With almost no Magic Power leaking out, making it impossible for outsiders to sense any Spells at work, it all looked like a relaxed, casual stroll. In the span of a few breaths, everyone in the basement collapsed to the ground.

The only ones still standing and able to talk were Ronald and his two companions.

Nicole walked back to Ronald’s side, her face shifting into that unique cute smile of hers as she asked:

"So, did you manage to explain everything clearly to Costate?"

Ronald nodded in response:

"Let’s go, we’re heading out right now!"

...

Once they were done dealing with this laboratory that served as bait and misdirection—

The three left the underground and returned to the surface, but then did something uncharacteristic: they did not continue their search.

Standing there on the ground above the residential district, Ronald began chanting an incantation.

"Starting from the relationship between the entire earth and the sky, we will begin to construct our cognition!"

Enhanced by the extremely high speed of Astronomy Master—

The three of them accelerated straight up from one corner of the city and, in the blink of an eye, arrived high in the sky.

They gazed down below.

Dawn had already arrived, but the city was still in chaos.

As Nicole adjusted the runes carved on her body, shifting from a stealth configuration to one suited for frontal combat, she finally opened her mouth to ask Ronald:

"Ronald, since you said all that just now, you must have a plan now too, right?"

Ronald nodded slightly.

He didn’t answer Nicole directly. Instead, he stretched out his hand toward the distance and pointed at the wilderness around the city beneath their feet.

Nicole immediately understood what Ronald meant:

"You’re saying those people are hiding outside the city?"

Only then did Ronald nod and explain:

"That’s right. If the people from the Nine Commandments secret society want to achieve the goal of their plan, the first thing they can’t do is stay inside the city."

"They know quite a few of my Spells and understand that staying here would greatly increase their chances of being discovered. Especially with my Reconnaissance Spells that are specialized for tracking people— even if they hid inside a barrier that blocks detection, they still couldn’t guarantee absolute safety."

Ronald’s voice faded a little at this point, and Nicole followed the logical train of thought an investigator should have and said:

"But at the same time, as personnel stationed here to delay our actions as much as possible, they have to stay close enough to the city so that they can respond in time to any emergency!"

"Which means they can’t be too far away from the city!"

What Nicole was thinking was completely consistent with Ronald’s analysis.

And as the girl laid out her reasoning, Ronas also took in the surrounding terrain around the city at a glance, then picked out the most suspicious target:

"Among the nearby topography, only this place is the most suitable."

Ronald was pointing at a canyon to the south of the city.

Two cliff walls as tall as mountains stood under the light of the eastern dawn; one side as bright as the newly lit sky, the other still shrouded in darkness.

Who knew how many years ago, a river had carved a straight, broad avenue between those two cliff faces, and as time quietly passed, the water that once flowed here had long since vanished without a trace, leaving behind only this ravine to serve as the road people traveled today.

The reason Ronald was pointing there—

Was because the cliff walls on both sides of the canyon were high enough. As long as someone was at that height, they could easily overlook the surroundings, even every building to the south of the city.

And the canyon itself was a straight path leading to the southern city gate.

Which also made it convenient for them to rush back to the city in time and respond if they discovered any problems.

Looking over the entire metropolitan area around the capital, this was the only place truly suited for watchers to hold as their stronghold!