Chapter 1081: Chapter 1081

"So, what exactly does Duke want by inviting us to dinner?"

In the spacious office, Yan Yue stood beside the round desk, looking at the people around her.

"According to the message he sent,"

Lin Chichi rubbed her brow, "it’s a ’welcome banquet’ specifically for you, Sister Yan Yue, to refresh you after your journey."

"Why do I feel that this welcome banquet is more like a trap?"

Yan Yue shook her head, "At this critical moment, this guy suddenly sends an invitation, I always feel he’s up to no good."

She looked up at Lin Chichi, "Chichi, you’ve had contact with this ’Duke.’ What kind of person do you think he is?"

"Ambitious, and a bit unscrupulous in his methods,"

Lin Chichi recalled for a moment, then spoke softly, "He’s not the head of the Trok Republic, but it looks like he’s completely sidelined the real person in charge, ’Zennany,’ and has become the actual ruler of this side of the World Tree."

"Do you think he could be involved with the Rong Guang Society?"

Yan Yue asked softly.

Lin Chichi shook her head, "We still have no clues on the Senwen disappearance case, and the suspected Daybreak person in charge related to the Rong Guang Society got away."

Then, pondering, she looked at Yan Yue, "But given Duke’s character, even if he isn’t a member of the Rong Guang Society, he might still be somewhat involved with them for the expansion of his power. The fact that he’s inviting us over at this time does seem a bit unreasonable."

"Can we just not attend the banquet?"

Yan Yue mused, "Director Li is on his way here, and at the latest, he will arrive tonight. We can turn down his invitation and wait for Director Li’s arrival."

"That might be what he wants."

Hearing this suggestion, Lin Chichi paused slightly, then said slowly,

"If he really is in contact with the Rong Guang Society, our refusal could become his ’excuse’ to make everyone feel that we don’t respect him,

"Then he could unite the World Tree Organization of the Trok Republic with the Rong Guang Society to target us as ’foreign enemies.’"

She looked up at Yan Yue, "Then we won’t have any control, and it seems the Rong Guang Society itself has a need to sacrifice ordinary people, which usually grants great power.

"We’re short-staffed now; if we lose the initiative and they start their sacrifices, it might grow out of control like a rolling snowball."

Yan Yue nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, and spoke in a low voice, "We need to seize the initiative. The more disadvantaged we are, the more we need to take control of the situation ourselves and not let our enemies develop rapidly."

She murmured softly, "If Duke is indeed collaborating with the Rong Guang Society but not taking direct action, it’s very possible that he hasn’t completely taken hold of the Trok World Tree Organization, so he needs a reason to get everyone on his side.

"Since their organization isn’t a united front, there’s something we can exploit."

Lin Chichi nodded slightly, turned to glance at Mr. Rudel, who was sitting in the corner of the office, resting with his eyes closed, then whispered to Yan Yue, "Since Duke has seen your movements, does he also have a track on Mr. Rudel’s?"

Mr. Rudel opened his eyes, who was resting with them closed, "I’ve been using aliases to rent helicopters and even detoured on my way here. They’re most likely only aware that someone has arrived, not that I’m here. I’ve wandered the world for many years, and I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve."

Hearing Mr. Rudel’s words, Yan Yue had some realization, she looked at the people around,

"If they don’t know we have a Transcendent with us, we can definitely go to the banquet. If he has no ties to the Rong Guang Society, then we can harness his power to investigate the Rong Guang Society in full force."

She looked at Mr. Rudel, "If he’s indeed connected to the Rong Guang Society, Mr. Rudel can take direct action and subdue him."

At this moment, Mr. Rudel had once again slightly closed his eyes, but upon hearing Yan Yue’s words, he nodded slightly in agreement.

This meant that he had agreed to her plan.

So, Yan Yue turned her gaze back to Miss Lin Chichi and spoke slowly,

"Although we are few in number, it’s difficult to stop them when they start the Sacrifice on a large scale,

"But with our top fighting power, we can swiftly carry out decapitation strikes to subdue their top leaders and take control of the situation before they stir up trouble.

"They set this banquet to trap us, to lure us over, but likewise, at this feast, their top leaders also have to be present. Under the sheer gap in absolute power, it turns into the ’Banquet at Hong Gate’ we have set for them.

"A flock of sheep inviting the lion will only become the lion’s feast."

Miss Lin Chichi listened quietly to Yan Yue’s words until she was finished.

But just as she was about to speak, her phone vibrated.

She opened her phone to find that she had received an anonymous email.

She clicked on the email with some confusion.

The email contained just a simple sentence, [Duke has nefarious plans, be wary of deception.]

Along with the email, there was an attached zip file.

When she saw the contents of the email, Miss Lin Chichi’s gaze froze, and she immediately downloaded the compresses zip attached to the email and unzipped it.

Soon, an image document appeared in her field of view.

She opened the file, and immediately, a dense layout of firepower points and sentry positions appeared on her phone.

Yan Yue, seeing her actions, asked with some curiosity.

"Trok World Tree’s headquarters, which is where Duke is organizing the banquet at Dew Morning Building, the defense layout," Miss Lin Chichi placed the phone on the desk and slid it towards Yan Yue.

Yan Yue picked up the phone, glanced through it briefly, then, somewhat surprised, raised her head looking at Miss Lin Chichi, "Where did you get this from?"

Miss Lin Chichi shook her head, "I just got this anonymous email in my work inbox, and this attachment came with it."

She walked over to Yan Yue, took back the phone, and opened the file she had just viewed.

Yan Yue looked at the contents of the file, fell silent for a moment, then said slowly, "It seems that on Duke’s side, someone is helping us."

Then she raised her head to look at Miss Lin Chichi, "Who do you think it could be?"

"Within the Trok World Tree Organization, the only person capable of obtaining a detailed layout and who might possibly help us is one person."

Miss Lin Chichi looked at Yan Yue, their eyes met, and then they almost simultaneously said,

The two exchanged glances, and Yan Yue asked in a low voice, "Chichi, what do you think of Zennany?"

"On the surface, she seems very calm and submissive,"

Miss Lin Chichi recalled, "But I can feel that deep down, she is shrewd and not as ’submissive’ as she appears."

"It seems that our ’Puppet Queen’ is not content to be just a puppet,"

Yan Yue glanced at the email and murmured, "With this in mind, we also have a candidate who can stabilize the situation in Feklay after our success."

Lin Chichi nodded lightly.

"In that case, our current plan is set . We agree to attend Duke’s banquet and turn it into a counter-ambush. Before they make their move, we’ll deal with Duke and take control of the situation. As for the anonymous email, we can also try to initiate further contact."

Yan Yue let out a breath, looking at Lin Chichi’s somewhat worried face and smiled, "Don’t worry, Chichi. This time we’ve got a B-level entity backing us, and with a traitor on their side, it’s a sure win."

Looking at Yan Yue’s confident smile, Lin Chichi nodded.

Yan Yue saw that the girl was still pondering and didn’t delve further into the issue.

She walked to the back of the office and brought out a silver-plated, elongated box from a corner with effort.

The box’s surface was engraved with a knight standing amidst roaring flames, holding a custom-made knight’s sword and looking into the distance.

Yan Yue placed the box on the desk in front of the girl, and with a gentle voice while the girl looked on puzzled, she said, "This is something I dug out from the World Tree’s warehouse in Yika, the treasure of the lot,"

She looked up at Mr. Rudel sitting by the side, coughed lightly, and whispered, "This seems to be a C-level Extraordinary Item."

Mr. Rudel next to her remained with his eyes closed, as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

Yan Yue slowly opened the box to reveal its contents.

A knight’s sword with cloud patterns carved from mithril on its hilt and sheathed in a snow-white scabbard appeared within Lin Chichi’s field of view.

"It’s called ’Holy Heart’,"

Yan Yue continued to explain, "This sword is said to only be wieldable by those with a pure and resolute will. The purer and more resolute the wielder, the greater the power it can exhibit,"

She pushed the box towards Lin Chichi, "Minister He said that this sword should suit you, but be careful. According to records from Yika, if one’s will is impure and fragile, it’s very likely to turn into a fool by this sword, or even be burnt to ash directly. None of the higher-ups who used to control the World Tree of Yika were able to wield it successfully."

She glanced at the knight’s sword in the box, then at Lin Chichi, and said slowly, "I suggest you try it out little by little, and only continue if you can handle it."

Lin Chichi nodded slightly, reached out and gently touched the snow-white scabbard.

At that moment, a fierce sensation, as though her soul was burning, spread from the sword and engulfed her whole body instantaneously.

Her complexion turned white at a visibly rapid pace.

Yan Yue, noticing her change, looked at her worriedly.

Lin Chichi shook her head slightly, then placed her entire hand on the scabbard and drew the knight’s sword out.

The surging flames continued to scorch her soul, making her feel as if she was standing in the midst of a blazing lava flow.

She clenched her teeth tightly, her other hand gripping the hilt of the sword.

Yan Yue looked at her anxiously.

The silvery-white blade, cold as ice, was abruptly drawn halfway out. Mr. Rudel, sitting in the corner, lifted his head to glance at the girl drawing the sword.

A powerful surge of energy instantly swept across the room, blowing back Yan Yue, who was closest, several steps.

Lin Chichi immediately sheathed the blade and placed the knight’s sword back into the Sword Box, reaching out to help Yan Yue.

The moment she felt weak and nearly collapsed to the ground.

Yan Yue reacted quickly and reached out to steady her, "Chichi, be careful."

Mr. Ruodel, who had been watching, narrowed his eyes again.

Lin Chichi shook her head and glanced at the silver-white Knight’s sword, "Just a bit drained. I’ll be okay after some rest. This sword, it’s rather powerful."

"You are the truly formidable one,"

Yan Yue sighed, "You actually managed to pull it out. Even lightly touching that scabbard burns like crazy."

"In truth, it wasn’t so bad; the flames weren’t that strong,"

Lin Chichi said softly, "If you can endure the initial pain, it gets much better after that."

"That wasn’t strong? It was incredibly intense, okay?"

Yan Yue glanced at the girl next to her, who looked cute but had an exceptionally profound gaze, and said gently, "Minister He’s judgment was not wrong, you can wield this sword, but don’t overdo it and hurt yourself, okay?"

Lin Chichi curved her lips into a cute smile.

Seeing that adorable face, Yan Yue was momentarily speechless, then shook her head and said, "Never mind, I won’t lecture you. I still need to arrange things for the people I brought over, I’ll take care of that first."

Lin Chichi nodded, watching Yan Yue leave.

"I’m a bit tired myself, I’m going to rest for a bit."

Mr. Ruodel, who had been sitting in the corner, also stood up and spoke slowly to Lin Chichi.

Lin Chichi nodded again.

Mr. Ruodel turned and walked out of the office.

Soon, one by one, people left and the office quickly became empty.

Lin Chichi sat in front of the Sword Box that contained the Knight’s sword, her gaze lowered.

For some reason, she felt a faint worry in her heart, as if she had overlooked some crucial piece of information.

Just then, a staff member dressed in a white coat walked in and handed Lin Chichi a document, "The preliminary identification results of fingerprints and traces from the floor where Mr. Senwen disappeared have come out."

These samples for identification were collected at the Dew Morning Building. When Lin Chichi moved to this fortress, she brought these samples and the identification staff with her.

However, she did not expect that with just those samples, the identification staff would be able to complete the task so quickly.

"Thank you, you’ve all worked hard."

She took the documents, opened them, and read the content inside.

The staff member watched her deeply engrossed in reading and slowly retreated out of the office.

The girl gazed at the report, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if she had fallen into some contemplation.

Time went by, second by second; occasionally, she paused to glance at her cellphone before continuing to review the information.

Eventually, she placed the documents on the desktop, resting her forehead on her hand, staring at a particular page, seemingly plunged into deep thought.

After a certain moment passed, that contemplation seemed to turn into enlightenment, and rapidly into shock and concern.

The girl suddenly stood up from her chair, picked up the document, and walked out of the office.