Chapter 368: Finding the Mole (1)

Matilda stared at Kai’s back as he flew away before shifting towards Bree.

"Where is he going?" She asked.

"To make sure Spissos was really working alone. He is paranoid." Bree shrugged her shoulders, though she didn’t blame him for being like this after what happened. "Let him be. I reckoned he wouldn’t take long."

"If Spissos was really working with someone, then it must be an insider." Matilda rubbed her chin. It was only natural for Spissos’ accomplice to be someone on the inside to let him through the inspection to enter the hive. "How can Kai find a mole in this circumstance?"

Currently, there are a few thousand people living in the hive.

One Angel could bring a dozen or even more family members from the surface, so the number might even be more than a few thousand. Most of them were ordinary and frail, hard to really tell distinctly from one another, especially with their masks.

Even if Kai believed the mole was among the Guard Angels, it would still be difficult.

His only method would be to interrogate every single Guard Angel one by one.

And that would take more than a day.

By the time he was finished, the mole might already slip away without anyone noticing.

"It’s easy for him," Bree replied nonchalantly. "Everything happened during the night."

"Hm? What do you mean by that?"

"His divine bloodline is tie—wait a minute, you don’t know his real divine bloodline?"

"No, he didn’t tell me anything. I know it’s most likely not Moros, though."

"Pfft..." Bree covered her mouth with one hand and pointed at Matilda with the other. "Just earlier, you boasted about how close you are with him, acting smug and all, but I guess you’re not that close to him after all. Or maybe you thought you were close, when you’re not."

"You knew?" Matilda’s brows furrowed together. "That’s a blatant lie."

Bree flicked her braided hair over her shoulder smugly.

"Nope. He told back on his first day. Well, whatever—you can think what you want."

"Wait, you’re not lying? Then tell me."

"Not telling. Clearly Kai didn’t trust you, so I won’t tell."

"He didn’t trust me back then, but he trusts me now. Spill it!"

"Blee~"

Bree turned on her heel and walked away, entirely ignoring Matilda’s exasperated plea.

She marched toward the hive’s street, wanting nothing more than a warmer place.

Just then—the Guard Angel who saw them arriving earlier finally reached them. She placed a hand on her sheathed sword and then stared at Bree and Matilda. "State your business," She demanded; her tone official but strained. "Speak or else I’ll be forced to use force."

Normal Angels or even High Angels weren’t allowed to enter the hive.

It was a very strict rule set by the AAA.

Officially, the reason behind this rule was so that the students would not be distracted—from their training, as their training would dictate their life and death in the Second Sky. But many knew that it was bullshit.

In reality, the rule exists to bar students from bonding with their families.

Any injustice would be exposed more easily, and that would build resentment towards the academy.

On the contrary, if the students were kept away—then their minds would force themselves to believe that as long as they performed, then their families would be treated better. Imagination would beat reality every time.

Naturally, the Guard Angel needed to be extremely stern.

Bree spared her a single, dismissive glance before letting out a sharp, incredulous scoff.

"Seriously?" She asked, making sure that the Guard Angel was being serious. Seeing that there was nothing but seriousness in the Guard Angel’s eyes, she shook her head. "You are a Guard Angel of Eventide Academy, and yet you didn’t recognize the mask of the man mounting the beast?"

For a second, the Guard Angel was utterly confused.

She blinked, looked up at the night sky, and caught sight of the massive Griffin circling above.

Her eyes narrowed, focusing on the rider, and then she sucked in a sharp, terrified breath.

At the sight of the red dragon mask, her blood ran cold—a Red Prince.

Almost instantly, the Guard Angel snapped her spine straight and slammed a fist against her chest in a rigid salute. Her full body was trembling at the realization. "My deepest apologies! I was blind. It will not happen again."

"It better not happen again." Bree waved a hand. "Just take us somewhere warm and quiet."

Of course, their reason for being here was Abigail, but she wasn’t going to be hasty.

Bree had half a mind to demand the Guard Angel take them straight to Abigail. Surely, one of them knew about her arrival—as the entire hive was surrounded by Guard Angels. However, Bree held her tongue.

She decided to wait.

Let Kai do what he needed to do first before making a move.

If she started asking around about Abigail and everyone that was in contact with her—then it might alert the mole, causing the mole to go into hiding. And that’d only make it a lot harder for Kai. Not a good strategy to do.

Meanwhile, high above, Kai had already cast the Nigh-phantom.

He needed to lay low while he scanned the hive.

Now that his Imprints had grown significantly stronger after completing the quest, he found he could extend the veil of the Nigh-phantom outward—wrapping the Griffin’s big wingspan in darkness as well.

It was a strain; his control over the extension was still imperfect and clumsy.

But it was enough to turn them into a ghost in the sky.

As he circled the Hive’s airspace, watching the sparse few people still working the night shifts, he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. He focused entirely on feeling the night, exercising his status as the First Son of the Primordial Night.

And then, he called for the night.

Slowly, the familiar, icy embrace wrapped around him. A comforting weight against his skin. He didn’t speak aloud; he simply projected his demand into the darkness. Find the accomplice of Spissos. Give me a lead.

Kai need not rely on anything other than the night.

Everything that transpired around Abigail had happened during nighttime.

And the night, as he had learned, was alive, and it witnessed everything.

Someone like him could extract the information from it.

As long as it was willing, it could show him exactly what he needed to know.

Ever since his mastery over the night had deepened through his brutal training in the House of Night in order to contend against the Ending of Impersonation, he was confident on his relationship with the night.

Now, the night would obey him.

And as expected, it answered.

A memory flashed behind his eyelids.

It was a sharp, sudden snippet of vision from a bird’s-eye view.

A figure—no, a woman—moved through the shadows of the hive. She was clad in the distinct uniform of a Guard Angel. The vision rippled and faded, but the image of the mole was seared into his mind.

Kai’s eyes snapped open.

He blinked once and looked down at the labyrinthine streets of the Hive below.

Meanwhile, a woman walked down the street slowly, almost limping on one leg.

She was following a dense crowd of people trudging toward the warehouse for the packaging of mana ores—which would soon be handed over to the AAA. Just then, a cold, unnatural chill raced down her spine.

Her survival instincts screamed at her to look up.

Not too far away—piercing through the cloud vortex and entering the Hive’s airspace—was a massive Griffin. Her eyes narrowed at the figure riding it; a man wearing a menacing mask, a red dragon mask.

Even from a glance, she knew exactly who this was.

It was none other than the Red Prince who had been rising in popularity.

Her heart pounded violently against her ribs, but her face behind her mask remained flat—as though the Red Prince could see through the mask. She remained composed, but her instincts were telling her to take more precautions.

She glanced to the side, spotting a patch of exposed dirt near a stone wall.

Subtly, she slipped away from the flow of the crowd.

Most of the people were extremely tired from having to work at this time, so it was very easy for her to do this. She then crouched down near the patch—and grabbed two handfuls of dirt like scooping water.

And then, she smeared it aggressively onto her arms and face.

She dulled the natural cleanliness of her skin—making her look rougher and more weathered than she already was. As a final precaution, she shoved dirt under her fingernails before she quickly melted back into the group of workers.

As she walked, she could feel a shadow circling above her.

Despite her desire to look, she didn’t. She knew better.

For some reason, the shadow’s presence was unnervingly light—barely a whisper against her senses. She reckoned a Legacy Imprint was involved, cloaking the Red Prince’s presence. She would be exposed if she looked up right now.

It would be a fatal mistake that would cost her her life or maybe worse.

Inside her mind, she rapidly reviewed every single move she had made.

Nothing would betray her.

Even if the Red Prince stood directly beside her—he wouldn’t be able to discern her. She had changed her identity, blended seamlessly into the lower class, drank a vial to shrink her body size to match a normal human, and wore a necklace that fully suppressed her mana.

She was a ghost.

Soon enough, the towering walls of the warehouse loomed ahead.

Her eyes sparkled as, on the back side, she knew there was a safe place that she could use as a shelter—a hidden alcove for her to wait out the storm until things calmed down. ’Spissos told me to keep watch, but it’s not possible with him around.’

Rumble—!

Just then, the ground violently shook, and a harsh, sudden wind blew through the street.

Many people stumbled and fell.

Her eyes widened, a sudden, suffocating presence washing over her. The Red Prince was right beside the group. He dropped down near the warehouse gate with a heavy thud and then waved his hand, telling people to keep walking, to ignore him.

Like a timid cat, the woman kept her head down and followed the crowd.

She maintained her cover.

Eventually, it was her turn to pass the gate.

Relief began to wash over her—a sweet, cooling balm against her frayed nerves as she stepped through the threshold, walking past the Red Prince. She made it to the other side, and now it was only a matter of patience to slip to the safe place.

Just then, a hand reached out and held her shoulder firmly.

Her heart stopped dead in her chest.

"You, stop right there."