The Spy Revealed

The owner of the house was shaving in front of the mirror when he heard the door of his house being smashed open and banged against the wall. His hand trembled, leaving a half-inch long shallow red scar on his chin. He then immediately threw the razor into the basin and tore off a few letters posted on the wall, crumpling them into a ball and throwing them out the window. Although he knew he could not stop anything, he still ran into the living room and saw the guards with rifles and Elin Thias in the lead. The door had been smashed apart, only half of it remaining connected to the wall, like a defeated dying man half paralyzed.

Elin gestured to his men to search the house, his eyes never leaving the owner standing in front of him. The owner did not show the slightest intention to conceal the facts. He just watched coldly as the guards made a mess of the room.

"I always find it strange," Elin fiddled with a crystal paperweight on the table, "that when we crack down on illegal gathElings, the targeted people always say useless things like 'we did nothing'. But you Twilight Hammer cultists are different. Seeing your silent look, I know I didn't get the wrong person."

"We accept all that should be accepted," the owner said. "Everything is arranged by the gods."

"In my opinion, you guys just hate yourselves too much to figure out east from west. Whatever, your attitude always makes my job easier."

The guards searched the whole house, not looking for evidence of the Twilight Hammer cultist's identity, but for action plans, Twilight Hammer prayers and other things that could indicate the behavior of the cultists. When the owner saw a guard climb out the window and back in with the crumpled ball of paper he had just torn up, then flatten it out on the table, he could not hide his disappointment. It recorded the meeting places he knew about recently.

The guard searching next door found a door leading to the basement. They called Elin, who turned to look, then turned back to the owner.

"Tell me, what's in there?"

"That's just where I keep my clutter."

"Looks like a hell of a lock on that door. Give the key to my boys so they can preserve that pretty big lock. What do you think of this suggestion?"

"You're going to smash it anyway. Fools only destroy."

"Being accused of 'only destroying' by idiots like you who spend all day dreaming of ancient tentacles choking you to death is really unpleasant. I'm not asking," Elin drew a dagger and pointed the tip at the owner's throat, "now go open that damn door."

The owner did not move, uttEling the four words "we will not—" before being struck on the neck and then the lungs with the end of the dagger by Elin, falling to the ground. Elin bent down and said to him:

"How was that moment just now? Felt very heroic to die, didn't it? 'Refusing the enemy's orders even with a dagger pointed at you'—it sounds really good." But I was just joking with you," Elin fished a keychain out of the owner's breast pocket and threw it at his men. "Don't think of yourself as that important, that's the mistake you Twilight cultists keep making again and again."

Realizing he had been mocked, the owner cursed under his breath, struggling to get up but was held down by several guards. Elin climbed down into the basement, came out less than a minute later.

Abandoning that strange dignity, the owner began arguing loudly:

"Did you find anything? I bet there's nothing in there. You just broke into a doctor's house—"

"Indeed there was nothing, just as I expected." Elin looked out the window, "This operation was really easy. It seems my temporary partner did a good job."

A detective dressed in plain clothes like Elin led several guards in, escorting four men in dark purple robes. The patterns on the robes clearly showed their identity: Twilight cultists engaged in some kind of ritual.

Seeing these people brought in, the owner was obviously surprised. He started fidgeting, his wrists rubbing constantly against the ropes behind his back.

"Did you get them all?" Elin asked the detective.

"Not a single one left."

"Well done, Cannon. Your old man probably wasn't as fast as you."

Cannon ignored Elin's obvious taunt. His full name was Cannon Modertane. His father, Moshay Modertane, had once been the highest ranking human security officer in Auberdine, but was now retired. Over the years, Cannon could be said to have become accustomed to, and at the same time tired of, the various comparisons between him and his father.

"How did you do it? Not a single escape, were you willing to be humiliated by these foolish mortals?" the owner asked the bound cultists.

"It's not our fault," one of them replied. "Their men were already guarding the exits. They already knew that ..."

There was a secret passage leading from the basement to the outside. When they heard the abnormal noise, these cultists who were originally huddled in the basement conducting a small worship ceremony had already crawled into the secret passage, but did not expect Cannon to lead men to surround the exit above.

"How could this be...did they know? Did someone leak it out? No one else should have known about this secret passage...was one of you a traitor? Answer me!"

"That's enough," Elin said. "Don't get so excited. That's not what you should be concerned about."

"I know you," the owner suddenly turned to Cannon, "you and your father will be punished. And you," he said to Elin, "will be condemned by Heaven."

"Are you saying I'll be treated better?"

To Elin's surprise, Cannon actually retreated slightly under the owner's glare, then seeming to cover up his unease, viciously kicked one of the cultists in the back. The man's nose went straight into the ground, his whole body writhing in pain. Then he knocked down a second one.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Elin reached out to stop Cannon.

"He's afraid," the owner said.

"I'm not afraid."

"I know who betrayed us," the owner looked at the ground, then up. "There was someone who taught me how to dig this tunnel without causing collapse. He's not at this gathEling today. Dores Stryfe—it was him."

Elin remained expressionless. He just signaled to his men with his eyes to escort these people away immediately.

"May the darkest flames devour him, Dores—the man who betrayed the ancient gods. He will know what a fate worse than death is. He will never again have the chance to embrace the sweet death bestowed by the gods—"

The owner's voice grew louder and louder. Elin had to gag him, "I just can't stand this nonsense," he said, "every time they say this, I hate my job! I'd rather go catch drunkards than these crazy Twilight Hammer cultists."

Cannon was about to follow them out, but Elin grabbed him.

"Wait a minute. I have something to say."

"What is it?" Cannon stopped at the door.

"What was your performance just now?"

"You mean..."

"Showing weakness in the face of mere Twilight Hammer cultists. Then losing control and using unnecessary violence."

"When it comes to using unnecessary violence, I'm clearly far inferior to you."

"Can I be compared to you? I beat that guy because he dared to play the hero in front of me; you kicked those two because you're weak. You retreated in the face of people who should be scared to death of you, Cannon. Do you know how big a mistake this is?"

"No, I don't. And I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill. You want me to catch people, I caught them, what else?"

"We are always struggling against the people we target. No matter the situation. One moment of weakness and you're done for. You can ask your old man..."

"Don't mention him," Cannon said. "This has nothing to do with him."

"You're really troublesome. The only one in the world who's probably afraid of you is your old man. Excessive fatherly love."

Cannon's eyes seemed to turn aimlessly left and right, always avoiding Elin's eyes.

"I heard he's arranged more than ten blind dates for you because he thinks you're almost thirty and still not married, which is really unseemly for an only child of a retired security officer. But you rejected them all. Your old man really has it hard."

"Are you done?"

"Learn to be smarter in the future. No one needs a security officer who doesn't even dare to face the people he arrests."

Cannon did not answer, he just went out to catch up with the escort team.

Troublesome kid, Elin thought. In fact, this operation was originally to be completed by him alone, but he suddenly found Cannon. Cannon reluctantly took on the task, muttEling "that's not my jurisdiction".

Although reprimanding Cannon was very important, there was now a much more troublesome matter at hand. That is, the arrested person actually guessed Dores' traitor identity. Although there was no evidence, such things did not need evidence. Just a little suspicion, the venomous branches would grow.

Elin and Jorgen had recruited Dores to do spy-like work out of necessity. After an accident fifteen years ago, the Twilight Hammer cultists in Auberdine lost their complete, unified form: members did not know each other's names; no member had a complete list of cultists; every few cultists acted independently in circles, making a comprehensive crackdown completely impossible. So, Dores' help was very limited. To get more intelligence, the risk would be multiplied.

However, Elin did not expect to see signs today that Dores would no longer be able to continue working. He was suspected. There was no guarantee that this news would not spread.

Perhaps, Elin thought, it was time for Dores to withdraw.