Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 344 - 56 - Secret Discussion Between Captains_1

Chapter 344: Chapter 56 - Secret Discussion Between Captains_1

"Captain Cruel, you’re late," Indulgence playfully wagged a finger in front of Cruel and said, "You know, being late for a date with a girl is the worst thing you can do."

"You’re not ordinary women and this is no date. Without blood and shrieking, how could it be called a date?" Captain Cruel was now over forty, but from the outside, he looked like a ten-year-old boy with a haircut typical for children, always with that innocent and adorable appearance. His favorite pastime was to use this appearance to pretend to be lost in other cities, easily duping sympathies from women who would take him home or to desolate places. He would then proceed to torture his victims to death. For him, only in the moment when a woman dies after suffering torment, could he feel physical pleasure.

One’s monstrous proclivities made him despised by countless people. But due to his Legendary Rank abilities and superb disguises, he always remained unattainable. In pursuit of pleasure through his cruel hobbies, he continuously changed his disguises and identities until an incident in the City of Knowledge five years ago when he choose a popular dancer as his prey and everything changed. Thanks to an avid admirer who held a high position in the adventurer guild, the dancer was saved, but it was too late as her right calf had been sawed into and due to excessive pain, she went insane. This incident caused a city-wide outrage prompting the Demigod heads of two major guilds to jointly track him down. They hounded him until he had nowhere to run and was forced to retreat to the City of Innocence.

However, the furious Demigods were not content with just cornering him into the city. They even enlisted a retired Goblin Demigod and threatened the City of Innocence with war if they did not expel Cruel. This event pressured the three leaders of the city considerably. In the end, with the mediation from the City of Freedom, both sides took a step back. The City of Knowledge abandoned the chase, and the City of Innocence vowed that Cruel could not step out of the city in his lifetime. If he violated this clause once, he would no longer be protected by the city.

For both parties, the dispute was a disgrace, hence, only those who were involved in the incident or knew about it dare to talk about it many years later. Since then, Cruel hasn’t dared to leave the city and became the only person in the City of Innocence who was truly deprived of his freedom.

"Just say what you’re here for," Passion spoke up from behind Indulgence, "Or do you want to come in and have a proper conversation?"

"I’d rather not," Cruel responded with a shrewd look in his eyes, retreating a half step and cautiously surveying the room, licking his lips with a smile, "I wouldn’t want to step foot in your territory where you have unlimited defense rights."

"Then speak here," Passion stoically replied, "Why did you call us? What do you want?"

"I know you don’t like me, just as I don’t like you. But aren’t you curious? Why did I vote for you in the previous meeting?" Cruel lowered his voice, sounding secretive: "Or to be more explicit, don’t you wonder about the traitor?"

"What traitor?" Indulgence asked, taken aback.

"There’s no need to insult our intelligence," Cruel responded, an innocent smile on his boyish face contrasting sharply with the ferocity and bloodlust in his eyes. "Not only am I privy to the traitor’s existence, but also most of us among the seven are aware. However, Captain Insanity and Curiosity suspect it’s the two of you, with your investigation being just a charade. I believe otherwise; the true traitor is someone else. As for Suspicion, why do you think he called the last meeting? Insanity and Curiosity would never initiate such a meeting no matter how much they distrusted you. Why then did Suspicion take that step?"

"Because he’s always Suspicious," Indulgence responded, her eyes dancing while maintaining her smile, "Suspicious people always do strange things. Why would that be surprising? Isn’t that right?"

"Absolutely!" Cruel burst out laughing, "Indeed, there’s no need for surprises. I was unnecessarily astonished. Anyway, since I’ve spoken what I wanted to, I’ll leave you two lovebirds to enjoy your sweet time."

"Won’t you stay a while longer?" Indulgence asked cordially, "We’ve brewed tea inside, have a cup before leaving."

"He he," Cruel retreated, disappearing into the noon sunlight, leaving behind uninterpretable laughter.

"What do you think are the chances of Suspicion being the traitor?" Passion asked, picking up the brewed tea and took a sip.

"Actually, Suspicion does have a high possibility," Indulgence closed the door, her face suddenly darkening, "His top subordinates have gone missing for more than two months, coinciding with the start of the sacrificial ritual. He claims they have been sent on missions, but is it really so? Moreover, two more subordinates vanished this month. He again insisted that they have been sent on missions. Intelligence, however, shows that one of them has fled the underground base. Besides, within the organization he controls, there have been unusually frequent movements of supplies recently in the Fifth District. All signs point to him. If he is truly the traitor, then his secretive attempts to inform us about the intention to jointly investigate the traitor before the last meeting was absurd as his actions only aroused our suspicions further."

"But if it really was him, then Cruel’s visit would have been completely meaningless," Passion said, shaking her head: "He wouldn’t kindly remind us of such things, and besides, all five others are suspects, himself included."

"I don’t think Cruel is likely to be the traitor," Indulgence stated: "Don’t forget his past, he survives entirely by depending on the City of Innocence. The last thing he’d want is for something to happen to it."

"That’s assuming there’s no enticing benefit," Passion added: "If the temptation is large enough, he won’t hesitate at all."

"That’s true," Indulgence nodded: "So, essentially, his visit didn’t clarify anything."

"No, he has already disrupted our line of thought," Passion sighed: "Moreover, he mentioned the inscrutable Captain Insanity and the strongest Captain Curiosity, but deliberately left out the most mysterious, Elegance. With just a few sentences, he brought everyone’s likelihood back to the same level. I think he likely doesn’t know who the traitor is either, he is just trying to eliminate potential rivals through us."

As a matter of fact, within the Shadow Hand, the three guild leaders wouldn’t care about the infighting and killings amongst their subordinates, as long as their assigned tasks are completed and there are no open fights. Whoever secretly kills whom doesn’t matter. This attitude promotes the underground warfare between the seven managers which is fought for more power, with each one on guard against being suddenly annihilated.

Under such circumstances, alliances and betrayals among the managers have become as commonplace as eating and sleeping. Among the seven, each has been an ally but often they become covert enemies again within a month. Or to put it another way, even if they become allies, they are still covert enemies.

"Seems like we have to make a simple choice," Passion contemplated as she rested her chin in her hand: "What do you think, should we trust Suspicion’s side, or believe in Cruel’s words?"

"Pfft!," Indulgence choked on his tea with laughter: "My dear, please don’t make jokes with such a serious face. Besides, this joke is quite old, lacking any originality."

"I think even though it’s an old joke, it’s still pretty funny," Passion’s icy demeanor thawed, revealing a brilliant smile: "I respect the one who came up with this joke sometime before."

"Yes ... Huh?" Indulgence’s delicate eyebrows twitched, making a seemingly laughing, yet not laughing statement: "We have another visitor."

"And it’s her of all people," Passion quickly fell back into her usual icy manner: "This is likely to make things even more chaotic."

"It won’t make things worse," a calm and gentle voice came from outside the door. Without hesitation, the guest outside pushed it open: "I’m just here to let you know it’s not me."

"Captain Insanity." Indulgence rose to greet her: "It’s hard to believe you would visit in person."

The newcomer was another one of the seven high-ranking female leaders. She looked like she was in her thirties, not necessarily beautiful but definitely attractive. From the outside, Captain Insanity looked shy and introverted, more akin to a scholar who’d spent years immersed in books. No one could have imagined that this introverted woman, in a fit of rage eleven years ago, had committed 74 mass-murder in the Falar Empire and the Neville Federation in just ten months. The body count, confirmed by statistics, was close to seven thousand. After each massacre, her favorite thing was to collect some of the victims’ blood to make lipstick, and after applying it, leave a blood lip print on paper.

The manhunt for Captain Insanity was always posted on the Adventurer’s Guild’s task board, but due to the lack of public outrage amongst professionals, not many people were willing to take the task of hunting her down. Especially when everyone knew that she was like a madwoman, no one would risk their lives against a Legendary Rank lunatic for some bounty. Moreover, this lunatic was a headache-inducing assassin.

Insanity pushed open the door, walked into the room without a second thought, and shut the door behind her. Again, she repeated: "It’s not me." (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome you to visit qidian.com and vote for recommendation. Your support is my biggest motivation. Please visit m.qidian.com for mobile users.)