MM Racing Chapter 1241 Nefer's Suspicion
Chapter 1241 Nefer's Suspicion
Just as Nefer and Diluc were about to finish their conversation, a figure burst in.
It was the most capable employee of the Secrets House, the young treasure hunter "Yakoda" who was active in Nordekale.
She had blonde hair braided into a pigtail bow that swayed gently as she ran.
What's most striking is her right arm, which is a mechanical hand. Although it's not a real hand, it doesn't affect its dexterity at all.
"Boss, I'm back!" Yakoda shouted as she strode into the inner office area, completely unaware of Diluc.
Seeing Akoda's reckless behavior, Nefer coughed lightly and gestured towards Diluc.
"Cough cough..."
It was only then that Akoda belatedly noticed that there were other people in the office. She followed Nefertari's gaze and met Diluc's calm eyes.
Upon realizing the other person was a stranger, Yakoda's excitement vanished instantly, replaced by embarrassment. She quickly stopped talking and took a step back.
"Ah! I'm so sorry! I was so focused on talking about the ruins that I didn't notice the boss was entertaining guests. I was so careless! I'll go out first and come back to report to you later!"
As she spoke, she turned to walk towards the door, afraid of interrupting their conversation.
Diluc waved to Akoda and said gently:
"No need. My conversation with your boss is over for now. You two can continue."
Immediately afterwards, Diluc deliberately stepped aside, leaving the two women alone.
……
After Nefertari and Diluc avoided the situation, when facing her employee "Akoda," the airs of an intelligence network boss that she had previously maintained vanished completely.
She even stretched lazily, propped her legs up on the edge of the table, and asked Yakoda, who was still looking at the doorway, in a languid tone as if she had just woken up:
"Stop looking. Tell me, how's the investigation going? If you miss crucial information like last time, you're out of this month's bonus."
Akoda snapped out of her reverie about Diluc and, upon hearing her boss mention the mission, panicked. She quickly averted her gaze, strode to her desk, and reported rapidly:
"Oh? Don't worry, boss, I definitely didn't miss any information this time! I've found out everything you assigned me!"
She took a deep breath and said clearly, "The first thing is that the 'Lunar Distance Force Experimentation Bureau' that the Fools built on Pahari Island is almost completed."
"The Frostmoon Children clashed with a patrol of the Fools near Paha Island yesterday, but they didn't gain much advantage."
“Also, regarding the statues of the Moon Goddess.” Yakoda paused, then added, “Besides the statue on Xixi Island, the bases of the other two statues have been fitted with strange metal devices by the Fools.”
“Those devices look like energy receivers, but I asked a lot of people and they didn’t know what they were used for. The Fools are very tight-lipped about the information.”
After listening, Nefer dangled her legs, which were resting on the edge of the table, and gently swung them. She thought of the Moon Singer "Lauma" from the Frost Moon Child.
Now, the Fools are not only conducting experiments on Paha Island, but they've also disturbed the statue of the Moon Goddess. Lauma is probably going to have a headache about this for a while.
"It seems that the Moon Singer of the Frostmoon Child is going to have a headache for a while," Nefer sighed softly, then looked at Yakoda.
"By the way, I remember I also asked you to keep an eye on Zhidong's movements. Didn't you find anything?"
Yakoda scratched her head and then told a story that she found terrifying.
"Well, the fleet that came from the Winter Solstice to steal the Heart of Nata has returned."
"When they docked at the port of Nordkale, the ships were unloaded with wounded people, stretchers were carried back and forth, and there were also many corpses covered with white sheets."
"I asked the port workers, and they said that the fleet was hit particularly badly this time! When they went there, the ships were full of soldiers and weapons, but when they came back, less than a quarter of them survived, and a full three-quarters of them died!"
"Moreover, most of the survivors went insane, talking nonsense, which was particularly frightening!"
Upon hearing Yakoda say that the Winter Fleet had suffered heavy losses, with three-quarters of its men killed, Nefer lowered her legs, which had been resting on the edge of the table, and leaned forward slightly.
"That bad? Tell me more details. What exactly happened at the port? Were there any unusual things about the corpses and wounded?"
She had initially thought that the Winter Fleet would at most suffer a mission failure and minor losses, but she never expected it to be defeated so thoroughly. This far exceeded her expectations and made her even more curious about Nata's hidden power.
Seeing that the boss was interested, Yakoda tried hard to recall what she had seen and heard at the port of Naxia Town, and said it all in detail:
"According to the porters, many parts of the ships were blackened by fire, and some even had large holes, indicating that they had been through a fierce battle."
"Then they started unloading the bodies and the wounded. Most of the bodies were charred, blackened lumps, and their features were completely unrecognizable. Only human shapes could be barely discerned. They were piled up on the open ground of the port, like small mountains."
She paused, a look of disgust on her face.
"The residents of Nasha Town were terrified when they saw it. Many of them went to protest to the Fools, saying that piling up so many charred corpses at the port could spread diseases and ruin everything."
"But the Fools didn't care at all. They even sent soldiers to surround the corpses and prevent the residents from getting close. Later, it seems that some of the strange corpses were burned, and the rest were taken somewhere unknown."
When Nefer heard "charred corpses," she frowned instinctively, and the first thing that came to mind was Nata's Vulcan.
After all, "burnt" and "flame" are closely related, and the fire god, as the demon god of Nata, is also known as the "god of war," so it must have been her doing.
"Is that so? It seems the Fools have really messed up this time. No wonder he is known as the God of War."
"The Fools sent the First Seat, the Second Seat, the Fourth Seat, and the Last Seat, a total of four executive officers, along with a massive fleet. With such a powerful lineup, they still couldn't defeat Vulcan."
"As expected, a demon god is still a demon god. Even when facing the top combat power of Zhi Dong, he can still remain undefeated."
Thinking about this, Nefertari became increasingly curious about the "Shao Yun" that Diluc had mentioned.
Yakoda scratched her head; she had actually found out some other details, which she recounted at this moment:
"But, boss, I've also heard that besides flames, there are other terrifying things on the battlefield."
"At that time, there were many locusts on the battlefield. Those locusts would burrow into people's noses, ears and eyes, and eat people alive until they were turned into skeletons. The scene was extremely bloody."
"There is also a colorless and odorless poison gas. Once a person inhales it, their body will instantly rot within seconds, eventually turning into a pile of minced meat."
"Of course, the most terrifying thing was this: a huge fire suddenly broke out on the sea, turning the Fools' large iron ships into molten iron. The boiling seawater cooked anyone who fell in, tearing their flesh apart without them even having time to scream..."
At this point, Yakoda couldn't help but cover her mouth, her stomach churning.
She forced back her nausea and said, "Ugh...how scary, I'm definitely going to have nightmares tonight."
After hearing Yakoda's description of the incredible scenes of locusts eating people and rotting ulcers, Nefer instinctively shook her head. These scenes were just too unreal.
"Locusts eat people, and miasma causes instant ulceration... Isn't that too bizarre? Is it real?"
"You didn't just listen to the movers embellish their story and then made up a bunch of details in your own mind, did you?"
In her many years of intelligence work, she had seen many brutal descriptions of battlefields, but she had never heard of such a bizarre and terrifying scene. It seemed more like a fictional story than a real battle.
Seeing that her boss didn't believe her, Yakoda nodded vigorously, her cheeks flushed red with anxiety, and hurriedly explained:
"It's true! I didn't make this up! I got this information by spending my own pocket money and buying several bottles of wine at the flagship tavern for a Fool's soldier who was in pretty good spirits!"
“He was drunk at the time, and he started talking a lot. He told these details himself, and his voice was trembling with emotion. It didn’t sound like he made it up!”
She paused, then added, "He said that many of his comrades who fought alongside him died under these bizarre attacks."
"His hands were shaking when he said this, which clearly shows that he has suffered severe psychological trauma. He absolutely cannot be wrong!"
As she spoke, Yakoda unconsciously shivered, a look of lingering fear on her face, and muttered to herself:
"Hmm... I hope this horrific scene will never happen in Nordkale."
"If locusts were to eat people or miasma were to cause ulcers in our area, the first thing I'd do is pack my things, take you, boss, and run away with the buckets!"
Seeing Yakoda's anxious yet fearful expression, Nefer knew she wasn't lying.
Although Yakoda was impulsive, she was never ambiguous about the authenticity of information, especially since it was information she had obtained by spending her own pocket money, which must have been carefully verified.
She fell silent, her fingers tapping lightly on the table. Her intuition, as a seasoned intelligence dealer, began to kick in, and she continuously processed the information brought by Diluc and Akoda in her mind.
Diluc says that Shao Yun may have settled in Nata, and that Shao Yun has the power to kill the Wind God; Akoda says that the Winter Fleet suffered a crushing defeat in Nata, encountering a strange attack that was not caused by Vulcan's power...
Two seemingly unrelated pieces of information gradually connected in her mind, outlining a prediction.
"Nata... has the strength to severely damage the fleet led by the four executives... if it wasn't Vulcan... could it be... that all of this was... done by Shao Yun?"
……
Let's return to the present moment, inside the Room of Weariness.
During their previous meeting at the Nordkalé Museum, Nefertari and Diluc finally reached a cooperation agreement.
Diluc settled in Nata and secretly monitored Shao Yun's movements, regularly sending information to Nefer about Shao Yun's living conditions, interpersonal relationships, and potential unusual behavior.
In return, Nefert will pay Diluc a substantial commission fee, and half of it will be paid as a deposit on the spot, enough for Diluc's initial living and exploration expenses in Nata.
At that moment, Diluc took out an encrypted letter from his inner pocket, opened it, and began to read it. The letter detailed the key areas of surveillance and the methods of intelligence transmission.
After he finished reading the letter, he twitched his fingertips slightly, and a pale red flame spontaneously ignited, enveloping the letter.
The letter quickly turned to ashes and disappeared completely.
“Right now, Shao Yun doesn’t suspect me, which is a good start,” Diluc muttered to himself, his tone carrying a hint of calm scrutiny.
During the daytime interaction at Shao Yun's house, although Shao Yun was surprised by his arrival, he did not show any vigilance and even warmly welcomed him, which created favorable conditions for his subsequent surveillance work.
But then he frowned and fell into new thoughts.
"Finding a place in Nata that can both be used to establish a vineyard and conveniently monitor Shao Yun is really difficult..."
His main purpose in coming to Nata was twofold: first, to find a new place to settle down, rebuild his vineyards, and get away from the conflicts in Mondstadt;
Secondly, to complete the cooperation with Nefer and monitor Shao Yun.
These two objectives need to be met simultaneously, which makes site selection a difficult problem.
We must consider both the planting conditions, such as terrain and water sources, and ensure that we can observe Shao Yun's movements at close range, but not too far away, nor too close to arouse suspicion.
Just then, he suddenly remembered the Dawn Winery in Mondstadt. As the current owner of the winery, if he wanted to stay in Nata for a long time, he had to first settle the affairs of the winery.
"No, before that, should I sell off my Mondstadt assets first..."
"Forget it, let's just hand over Dawn Winery to the Knights. I don't know how long Shao Yun will stay in Nata... What if they suddenly leave..."
"No, there's nothing left of Mondstadt worth cherishing... Fine, let's give it to the Knights of Favonius... Consider it my final contribution to Mondstadt."
……
(Tianqi Horse "Death": Guess why I became wary? If he hadn't stayed on the second floor, I would have killed him already.)
……