The torrential downpour gradually shifted into a drizzling rain, washing over the front courtyard of the Guangfu Funeral Parlor.
This place had just witnessed a brutal battle, with bricks, stones, and rubble scattered everywhere on the ground.
Inspectors lay strewn about haphazardly in the muddy mire.
Lin Jie looked at Inspector Squad Captain Cavendish, who was lying face up in the pile of broken stones, his chest still rising and falling faintly.
This "Gardener" had now fallen into a state of shock-induced coma due to severe blood loss and massive internal organ trauma.
Lin Jie crouched down and began searching through the inner pockets of Cavendish's trench coat.
A commander of this level usually carried the operational directive docunts for this mission, or so form of encrypted communication device that could directly contact headquarters.
Soon, Lin Jie's fingers touched a hard tal cylinder.
It was a portable docunt tube made of brass, its surface covered in engraved runes. This design was typically used to preserve paper orders in extre environnts.
Lin Jie expertly unscrewed the sealed cap of the tube and poured out the tightly oil-paper-wrapped docunt inside.
By the dim, yellowish light of the storm lantern held by William, Lin Jie unfolded the docunt.
It was an operational brief directly issued and signed by the I.A.R.C. Internal Investigation Division.
The first part of the docunt detailed specific tactical deploynts and authorizations for "Eliminating Association Traitors," which was within Lin Jie's expectations.
But when his gaze swept to the second part of the docunt, his eyes instantly froze.
It was a brief for another parallel mission codenad "Holy Grail Pursuit."
"Based on anomalous high-frequency Aether Fluctuations captured by the European Spiritual Monitoring Network within the past forty-eight hours, we have confird the appearance of the high-value target codenad 'rlin' on British soil."
"Coordinate positioning indicates his spiritual signature appeared in the Tintagel area on the northern coast of Cornwall. This region historically shows significant geographical overlap with Round Table legends."
"Given the target's extre danger level and his possession of core secrets sufficient to subvert the Association's foundation, the Council has authorized the European Branch Special Operations Group to imdiately proceed to the area for containnt and apprehension."
"Ensure control of the target before he relocates or makes contact with third-party forces. If apprehension fails, on-site termination and destruction of all related relics is authorized."
Lin Jie's fingers tightened around the thin sheet of paper.
Tintagel.
The legendary birthplace of King Arthur, also the location of the ancient castle ruins perched on the cliffs, perpetually battered by North Atlantic waves.
This was no coincidence.
That old man who left a voice in the insignia, that sage known as the "Oak Sage" or "rlin."
He had revealed himself on purpose.
And he chose to appear at the very sa ti the keepsake of his forr companion "Gawain" was discovered, in that place symbolizing the origin of the Round Table Knights.
It was like a signal spanning half a century.
He was waiting.
"Our destination is clear now."
Lin Jie rerolled the docunt and tucked it into his own chest pocket. He stood up and looked at his teammates around him, who were clearing the battlefield and tending to the wounded.
"The Association has also detected the Oak Sage's trail. They are mobilizing heavy forces to Cornwall, England."
Julian was helping William bandage a scrape on his arm. Hearing this, he jerked his head up, a flicker of shock in his eyes.
"Cornwall? Tintagel Castle?"
As a scholar with an intimate knowledge of European occult history, he imdiately understood the special significance of that location.
"It's the heart of Celtic mythology, also one of the legendary earthly gateways to Avalon."
Lin Jie added coldly, "We must find him before the Association's main force locks down the area."
Lin Jie looked towards the eastern sky, which was already beginning to show the pale light of dawn.
"That old man holds the truth about the nature of this world, and the answers I seek. I can't let him fall into the hands of the hawks."
This was a new race.
Only this ti, the finish line was no longer a laboratory deep in the tropical rainforest, but the mist- and wave-shrouded British wilderness thousands of kiloters away.
"We have to go."
Su Sanniang's voice ca from the shadows of the main hall.
This female Hongn boss had changed into dark, practical close-fitting clothes suitable for action, carrying an old rattan suitcase she only used for long journeys.
She looked at the funeral parlor, now riddled with bullet holes and scorch marks, her eyes revealing a trace of reluctance, but more of the unique resilience and decisiveness of a true person of the jianghu.
"This place is exposed. With so many of these foreign devil Inspectors dead, the colonial governnt will surely go mad with a city-wide manhunt. Although Hongn isn't afraid of trouble, I can't let hundreds of my brothers fight the army head-on just for one of my shops."
"Where will you go?" Lin Jie asked.
"Back to Tangshan, or lay low on other islands in the South Seas." Su Sanniang shrugged. "Anyway, as long as I have my skills, I can make a living anywhere."
She walked down the steps to stand before Lin Jie.
From her chest, she pulled out three yellow paper charms folded into triangles.
These were not ordinary Daoist talismans.
These three paper charms were crafted from a tough bark paper soaked in tung oil and cinnabar, cut into the vivid shapes of three small human figures.
"A parting gift for you."
Su Sanniang pressed the charms into Lin Jie's hand.
"These are the Hongn's secret 'Paper Horse Substitutes.' In a critical mont, these things can save your life."
"Just drip a drop of blood on the paper figure. When you suffer a fatal injury, this paper figure will take the calamity for you once."
It was an imnsely precious gift.
In the field of the occult, any artifact involving causality is priceless. Creating such a paper charm likely required Su Sanniang to expend trendous effort and Spiritual Material.
"Thank you."
Lin Jie solemnly accepted the three paper charms. He didn't refuse, nor did he utter polite words of thanks.
In the jianghu, accepting a gift from an elder is itself a form of acknowledgnt and respect.
"Don't die, kid."
Su Sanniang took one last look at Lin Jie, then at his teammates behind him.
"Although the place you're going is even more dangerous than Borneo, I believe you bunch of troublemakers will outlive everyone else."
"If you get a chance to return to the South Seas, rember to co find for tea."
After saying this, she picked up her suitcase and turned towards the funeral parlor's back door.
Several loyal Hongn disciples were already waiting there. They would escort this Red Pole away from this place of trouble.
Watching Su Sanniang's disappearing figure, Lin Jie felt a wave of quiet respect rise in his heart.
This was a true person of the jianghu.
Capable of picking things up, and capable of letting them go.
"We can't stay here any longer either."
Lin Jie turned around, the cool composure of a commander returning to his face.
"Rember that ergency contact point Ethan gave us earlier?"
"Rember." Evelyn nodded. She had already shouldered her reorganized technical backpack. "It's at an abandoned smuggling dock on the west side of the Johor Strait. There's a ship already on standby there."
"That ship isn't under I.A.R.C. jurisdiction. It was arranged through an extrely covert smuggling route of Ethan's family in the Far East." Julian added, "The Captain is a Dutchman who recognizes only money, not people. Give him enough gold, and he'd even dare smuggle the British Queen out of London."
"And Ethan prepared a big gift for us."
Lin Jie pulled out a leather pouch from his chest. Besides the map and notes, it now contained several brand-new passports and identity docunts.
These were the contingency plan Ethan had specifically given him before leaving New York, originally just in case, but now they were truly coming in handy.
"From now on, we are no longer hunters."
Lin Jie distributed the exquisitely crafted Dutch passports to everyone.
"We are spice rchants from Rotterdam and their entourage, forced to take a smuggling ship back to Europe after encountering pirates in the South Seas."
"Rember this identity until we set foot on British soil."
The four of them quickly cleaned up the traces left at the scene.
They destroyed or buried all the standardized I.A.R.C. equipnt and insignia, keeping only the core Grotesque Armants and essential survival supplies.
They shed the protective coloring of "legal Investigators," transforming back into lone wolves prowling the dark forest.
The rain had stopped, but the sky remained oppressively gloomy.
Four figures, using the cover of the last vestiges of night before dawn, silently scaled the funeral parlor's high wall and disappeared into the labyrinthine depths of Chinatown's alleys.
One hour later.
A desolate stretch of beach along the Johor Strait.
The seawater here was turbid, filled with floating garbage and rotten wood, the air thick with the sll of dead fish and fuel oil.
A steam freighter that looked dilapidated on the outside, its hull covered in rust stains, was anchored not far from the shore.
It flew no national flag. Thin black smoke rose from its funnel, like a beast ready to flee at any mont.
The ship's na was the "Black Seagull."
It was a ghost ship that perpetually operated on the fringes of the law, specializing in transporting contraband.
A pitch-black dinghy rowed out from the shadow of the larger ship and stopped at the shore.
Onboard sat two sailors with brutish faces and sawed-off shotguns at their waists. They warily sized up the four "guests" standing on the shore, who looked sowhat disheveled yet possessed an air of distinction.
"Spice rchants?"
One of the sailors spat out a wad of chewing tobacco, asking in broken English.
"The gold is here."
Lin Jie didn't waste words. He directly tossed over a small, heavy cloth bag.
It contained the gold coins advanced by Ethan.
The sailor caught the bag, weighed it in his hand, and opened it to glimpse the alluring golden sheen inside.
His fierce face imdiately broke into a greedy, ingratiating smile.
"Get aboard, gentlen and lady."
He made an inviting gesture.
"The Captain is waiting for you."
The four boarded the dinghy.
As the dinghy rowed towards deeper water, Singapore's brilliant lights gradually receded from their view.
Lin Jie sat at the stern, looking back at the awakening city.
"Europe."
Lin Jie murmured the word softly, his fingers touching the insignia in his pocket.
"Wait for ."
"Since you've set this trap spanning half a century, let see what kind of ending you've prepared."
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