Shadow of Espionage

The Ashmist Mountain region lay to the southwest, perennially shrouded in pale purple sorcery mist, where snow arrived half a month later than in the north.

Coupled with the fact that the deadly crisis of shaking off his pursuers last night had passed, Li Size pulled his collar tight and felt a bit warmer.

However, the mysterious middle-aged man wearing the runic ring was clearly the root cause that made Felina decide to assassinate him.

Li Size rubbed his freezing red hands, completely at a loss about this, and could only rely on Gloria and the police station's sorcery tracking methods.

Therefore, before parting ways, Li Size tugged at Gloria's sleeve, inviting her into the shadows where the street's sorcery lamps could not reach, and lowered his voice:

"Deputy Chief Gloria, if that mysterious man isn't caught, I'm afraid there are still sorcery traps waiting for me. So I have an idea..."

Li Size planned to hide at home for three days, letting the police station fake the news of Felina's successful assassination to lure the man out, and then catch them all in one fell swoop. This was called rooting out evil completely!

Gloria patted Li Size on the shoulder, her eyes full of satisfaction, and laughed loudly:

"I really didn't misjudge you, kid. You're much smarter than those big guys under my command who only know how to carry sorcery shields!

Come work at the police station after you graduate.

You and I think alike. I've already asked a friend in the city to investigate that unregistered man..."

Pausing for a moment, Gloria glanced at Felina, who was handcuffed with sorcery cuffs, and sneered:

"Daring to use necromancy to harm people in my territory, we must... root out the evil completely!"

Perisman and the others touched the sorcery daggers at their waists, not feeling embarrassed by their boss's scolding.

Although they had only known Li Size for three days, his resourcefulness and courage to clash head-on with a sorcerer had already won over these men, treating him as half a brother of their own.

The smarter their brother was, the safer it was to hang out with him.

Li Size was thrilled internally, thanking her repeatedly, and then leaned close to Gloria's ear to whisper:

"Boss, there's another small favor I'd like to ask of you."

Gloria raised an eyebrow and tapped her fingers against her sorcery belt. She was a bit impatient at first, but seeing that this kid was somewhat pleasing to the eye, she still said:

"Speak!"

Li Size glanced at Felina and said:

"You also know that tonight I was supposed to go home to discuss the academy's equipment procurement. Now that Felina is arrested, I'm afraid the dean will back out.

The station will definitely have to communicate with the dean. Could you mention it in passing and help me secure the continued cooperation? I'll just stay home and organize this matter during this time."

"You kid almost got killed by necromancy, and you're still thinking about this!

Aren't you worried that Felina lied to you and there is no procurement at all?"

Gloria glared at Li Size, asking in astonishment. This kid really had a big heart.

Li Size scratched his head and smiled slightly:

"No! I know she didn't lie to me!

Although I still have questions, like if she killed me, how would she report to the dean and complete the procurement."

Gloria stroked her chin and said seriously:

"This transaction of yours is worth dozens of gold coins...

To be honest, after this incident, if I were the dean, I definitely wouldn't continue cooperating with you. If I step forward to speak for you, I'd be using my own reputation. It doesn't make sense to help for free, right?"

Li Size's heart skipped a beat. Just as he expected...

Having anticipated this, Li Size raised one finger and whispered:

"One gold coin, as thanks to the boss for helping."

Boss was the private nickname Perisman and the others had for Gloria, and Li Size didn't sound unfamiliar using it.

Gloria put her hands on her hips and shook her head:

"My reputation is only worth one gold coin? No way, five gold coins!"

"Cough! Cough! Boss, my family works ourselves to death doing this and we can't even earn that much. Leave me some money for porridge. Three gold coins, not a copper more!"

Li Size hurriedly waved his hands and said.

Gloria beamed with joy, and Perisman and the others also started laughing:

"Deal! At least you have a conscience, kid. It wasn't a waste for me to help you!

From now on in Ashmist Mountain Town, as long as you don't break the law, mentioning my name will work wonders.

By the way, don't forget the fee for the evil-warding potion I gave you last time.

Hmm, is the energy detector broken?"

Seeing Li Size pull out an intact energy detector, he noticed the corner of Gloria's mouth twitch, revealing a trace of disappointment on her face...

Having been extorted for a large sum, Li Size refused to admit defeat verbally, touching his pocket and saying:

"Boss! Reimburse me for the fifteen copper coins I spent on communication fees these past few days."

"What communication fees? It's getting late, and we still have to go back to record the sorcery statements.

Revan, use the sorcery motorcycle to give this kid a ride. He still owes me three gold and ten silver coins, so don't let him die."

Gloria waved her hand and quickly left with her men, leaving Li Size and Revan in the cold wind.

Li Size sighed. This flower of the police station really... loved to extort people.

Li Size finally relaxed. He had intended to sleep in until noon, but as soon as dawn broke, he was called to the police station by Tiflin, who ran over to the blacksmith shop saying Gloria had new intelligence to discuss.

At the entrance of the Ashmist Mountain Town police station stood a stone tablet engraved with glowing runes, and the sorcery lamp at the door was still lit.

Gloria pulled over a capable young man slightly older than her and introduced him to Li Size:

"This is my senior brother, Captain Sven of the Internal Affairs Bureau in Gele City."

"Not bad! Young and promising. Gloria spent the whole morning telling me about you. To be praised by my junior sister, you're not bad at all, kid!"

Sven patted Li Size on the shoulder, greeting him with a smile, and then pulled out a contract stamped with a runic seal and handed it to Li Size.

"This is a confidentiality agreement. Sign it first before we talk."

'Any violation of this agreement shall be deemed as treason!'

The eight glaring scarlet words at the bottom of the contract were written in sorcery ink, piercing the eyes. Li Size's heart sank:

Things were getting more and more complicated.

He didn't sign immediately, holding up the contract and asking Sven:

"Can I first understand a bit about the Internal Affairs Bureau?"

Gloria looked at Sven, and seeing him nod, she smiled and explained:

"The Internal Affairs Bureau is the highest intelligence agency directly under the Archduke's leadership. All cases involving classified secrets are handled by them."

Li Size never expected to come into contact with the country's highest intelligence agency just three days after transmigrating. His head throbbed, and he rubbed his temples, sighing:

"Can I choose not to sign?"

Gloria laughed, and Sven shook his head:

"You're already involved, and this concerns our upcoming top-secret mission. You have to sign it."

Li Size took a deep breath, frowned, and mocked:

"Do I get paid for signing?"

Sven looked at Li Size, then at Gloria, and laughed:

"You two are really alike, haha!"

Gloria didn't dare put on airs in front of her senior brother, covering her mouth and laughing:

"This kid, he's about to die and he's still thinking about the school's order.

He gets incredibly bold when he sees gold coins. I can't compare to him."

Sven chuckled dumbly:

"There's no money for signing. But if you participate in this plan, I can register you as an unofficial member, with a monthly allowance of twenty silver coins, and you can also receive free sorcery protection amulets."

Li Size helplessly signed his name, shrugged, threw the contract to Sven, curled his lips, and said:

"Just a drop in the bucket."

Sven laughed out of amusement, while Gloria raised her eyebrows and acted coquettishly:

"Senior brother, don't you dare steal people from my Ashmist Mountain police station."

"Cough, cough!" Sven adjusted the badge engraved with radiant runes at his waist and coughed awkwardly twice:

"We can talk about the kid Li Size later. Let's first discuss the Counterespionage Plan—the strategy of planting a nail inside the enemy's body.

"Perisman, you guys head out first and close the door behind you. Don't let any sound from this room leak out..."

Li Size frowned, muttering in his heart:

"Counter-espionage? Or did I hear that wrong?"

What kind of sorcery spy case was this?

Li Size slapped his thigh, instantly feeling like he had gotten involved in something massive. A monthly subsidy of 20 silver suddenly seemed like a really bad deal, didn't it?

Li Size curled his lips, cursing inwardly:

"Evil sorcery capitalists..."

Sven took out a glowing sorcery crystal from his coat, projecting a blurry image:

"Perhaps it's the guidance of sorcery. The portrait Gloria sent to the city using communication runes is related to an espionage case involving the Feiting Federation that we've been working on recently..."

As he spoke, Sven used his finger, adorned with a rune ring, to pull out two portraits. One was the one Gloria had sent using a flying message rune, and the other was one he had saved using a sorcery scroll.

The man in the portrait was exactly the same as the undocumented man Felina had mentioned in Li Size's memory. They were definitely the same person.

Sven pointed at the portrait and explained:

"His name is Rice, an illegal immigrant.

According to intelligence provided by an overseas informant, this person is a newly promoted level-eight member of the Feiting 'Stalkers'. He was ordered to infiltrate Gele City about two months ago to establish a spy network, and his purpose is temporarily unknown.

We originally learned of his entry time and location through the border monitoring station, but he used an unknown invisibility sorcery to evade detection.

He didn't enter as originally planned, and we've been tracking his whereabouts without finding any traces. I didn't expect my junior martial sister to find him first."

Sven patted Li Size on the shoulder and said with a smile:

"You guys really helped us out a lot in cracking this spy case!"

Li Size stroked his chin, and Gloria raised an eyebrow. The two asked in unison:

"Is there money involved?"

They then looked at each other, their eyes shining with the light of gold coins—one look was all it took to know that they were both money-lovers. They were definitely kindred spirits.