Chapter 469: Witch's Bay

‘Howard doesn’t seem like the type to betray his friends,’ he thought.

“They don’t know who recommended us anyway,” Elise said. “It’s better to be careful.”

The main issue was that the door opening with a slight push was unnerving in itself. What if it closed on its own after she and Sean stepped inside? That would be even more suspicious.

As Elise spoke, she stepped through the door, a cluster of lightning crackling in her hand, ready to smash it into an enemy’s face at any moment.

But as it turned out, she was overthinking things.

There was no one in the room.

Not a single person.

It was a standard clothing studio. Though small, it was fully equipped with plastic mannequins, clothing racks, mirrors, and other tools. The only thing missing was the designer.

On the workbench sat an unfinished cup of coffee. Sean touched it; the cup was already cold.

Everything seemed to tell them that Owl really hadn’t come to work yet and had forgotten to lock the door when she left yesterday.

But would someone in the intelligence business really be so careless?

Elise scanned the small room. She couldn’t see anywhere a person could hide, but she called out anyway, “Hello, is anyone here?”

“We’re here to have some clothes custom-made.”

“…”

The air remained just as silent as before.

Until a CLICK.

The door, which had seemed to be ajar, had actually closed by itself.

Elise was stunned.

She hurried to the door to check it, twisting the handle. It wouldn’t turn.

Not only had it closed, it had locked.

Through the crack, a faint, ring-shaped glow could be seen where the lock met the doorframe.

It was a Magic Lock.

And a high-Tier one at that.

The window next to the workbench was also locked tight, turning the studio into a sealed room.

Elise’s expression darkened. “What do we do? Force our way out?”

The lock was made by a Wizard, and the walls probably had an Array embedded in them. A Wall-Piercing Spell might not work. If not, they would have to break down the door by force.

“Don’t be hasty,” Sean said, still observing.

This kind of rendezvous usually involved a password. Sean figured the reason they couldn’t find anyone was that they didn’t have the right countersign.

He replayed Howard’s words from last night in his mind, and his gaze fell upon the mannequin in the corner. He suddenly understood.

‘Could it be… that?’

Elise followed Sean’s gaze, confused. “What’s wrong with it?”

Sean said, “It’s not wearing any clothes.”

Elise was speechless.

‘Is that what men focus on?’

Sean continued, “I mean, we might have to dress it.”

Howard had described Miss Owl’s features in painstaking detail, which meant the information had to be useful. But right now, there was no one in the room besides him and Elise. The only thing they could use those features on was this mannequin.

They had no other ideas for the moment, so they might as well give it a try.

“Elise, hand me the wig from the cabinet. The one with the big, golden waves.”

“Okay.”

“And the underwear. A C-cup.”

“Which kind of C?” Elise asked.

C was just a general range; there were many different specific models.

Sean didn’t know about these things. “Just grab any of them.”

So Elise picked a lace one with a front clasp.

She winked at Sean. “I’m guessing you like this type.”

Sean was confused.

“Am I really that kinky?”

“Aren’t you?”

“I am. You guessed right.”

Elise was speechless.

Sean put the wig and underwear on the mannequin, then added, “She also has a mole near the corner of her right eye. Can you put some makeup on it?”

“Sure,” Elise said. This, she was good at.

She didn’t even need to look for cosmetics in the studio; she carried her own.

And as she used an eyebrow pencil to dot a “mole” next to the mannequin’s eye—

CREAK.

A door opened.

Not the main door this time.

It was a secret door hidden behind the wig cabinet.

Elise was shocked.

‘No way, did Sean really guess it right?’

‘This guy… is he really that smart?’

For a moment, the way Elise looked at Sean changed completely. She wasn’t a little girl like Yisha; she wouldn’t look at someone with adoration. Her gaze was more like she was looking at a monster, wanting to crack open Sean’s head to see how it was wired.

“Don’t look at me like that. Just the basics.” Sean brushed non-existent dust from his clothes, his chin slightly raised, and walked calmly toward the secret door.

Elise hurried after him, muttering under her breath, “I really don’t get what that guy Howard was thinking.”

If they had to dress and put makeup on a mannequin, why not just say so? He had to give them half the information and make them guess. If Sean’s mind hadn’t worked so fast, they could have been searching all day and never found the person.

But in reality, it wasn’t that Howard didn’t want to tell them; it was that the method for the “password” was “dynamic” and changed periodically. The only constant was the “key”—Miss Owl’s features.

The last time Howard came here to find Owl, the situation had been completely different.

The room had been full of people, like a party.

If you said you were looking for Owl, no one would pay you any mind, or everyone would claim to be Owl. You still had to figure it out on your own.

After Sean and Elise entered the secret door, they found themselves facing a spiral staircase leading up.

It was clear the real studio wasn’t on the 45th floor, but on a higher one.

Sean made a point to notice that he and Elise climbed about three floors’ worth of stairs before finally reaching a large iron door.

The iron door looked like one for a fire exit, but pushing it open revealed a dimly lit, large room with walls covered in monitor screens. Everyone was busy with their own work, the incessant clacking of keyboards filling the air. It closely resembled a secret operations center from a movie.

“Welcome to Witch’s Bay.”

A blonde woman came up to greet them with a smile.

Anyone who could open the secret door and find this place was a guest referred by an old friend, so there was no need for too much worry.

“How should I address you two?” the woman asked with a smile.

“Ain,” Sean said, and casually gave Elise a new name as well. “This is my girlfriend, Elisabeth.”

Elise was speechless.

“Mr. Ain, Miss Elisabeth, hello.”

The woman extended a hand. “I’m the person in charge of Witch’s Bay. You can call me Owl.”

Sean shook her hand and offered a polite smile. “Hello, Miss Owl.”

“Shall we get straight to business?” Owl said with a laugh. “As you can see, I’m quite busy here. But don’t worry, Mr. Ain, you’re a friend of an old friend of Witch’s Bay. You have the right to cut in line.”

“Then thank you, Miss Owl,” Sean also smiled. “I’d like to ask for your help in looking up a person.”

The woman led Sean to one of her subordinates, who was in the middle of writing some code. She patted his shoulder, and he immediately understood, exiting his current interface and opening a program with an eye icon.

“Just tell him the name,” the woman said.

“His name is Fan Ke’er,” Sean said without hiding anything. “The Bright King’s Court’s Captain of the Forbidden Guard.”

He briefly explained the situation.

The subordinate froze and looked at the woman.

The woman, in turn, glanced at Sean with a hint of surprise.

‘The person he wants to investigate is the Captain of the Forbidden Guard… This man doesn’t seem so simple.’

Considering it was their first meeting, Sean would naturally be a bit guarded with her. ‘Then the name he gave earlier, Ain… is most likely a fake name too.’ But Owl didn’t press the matter. Instead, she gave her subordinate a look, signaling him to get to work.

Witch’s Bay was only responsible for providing the information clients wanted and didn’t get involved in anything else, so there was nothing to be afraid of.

Being in this line of work meant they would inevitably come into contact with many things they shouldn’t. Plus, they frequently hacked into local government databases… In other words, they had done plenty of things that violated the laws of the Church Court; one more wouldn’t make a difference.

“Boss, I’ll need some time,” the subordinate said.

People from the Bright King’s Court weren’t as easy to investigate as ordinary people. He couldn’t just input a name to pull up files and then use facial recognition to cross-reference it with city surveillance. First, as Captain of the Forbidden Guard, Fan Ke’er’s personal information was classified as “Top Secret.” It wasn’t in the local government databases and couldn’t be accessed. They couldn’t just go and hack the Bright King’s Court’s internal network; the risk was too great, and they might not even succeed.

Second, from what Sean said, Fan Ke’er was in Austin Castle on a mission. The Golden Coast’s government and police department would have been notified in advance. Trying to access police surveillance at a time like this would be asking for trouble.

They would have to use another method.

For example, contacting Witch’s Bay’s informants active on the outside.

According to Sean, Fan Ke’er had brought a large contingent this time, including cavalry. Anyone who saw them would surely have been impressed.

They could use offline intelligence to piece together a rough route and simulate all of Fan Ke’er’s possible destinations.

“I assume Mr. Ain isn’t in a hurry?” Owl asked.

Sean smiled. “I’m not.”

Owl said to her subordinate, “Do it your way, then.”

“Yes, Boss.”