Lord of Mysteries: The New Black Emperor

Chapter 72: Non-affiliated Personnel

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Daly waved her hand in front of her nose. "The smell here is unbearable. We'd better move back to the first floor to continue this conversation."

Scarface instantly understood Daly's intention and lifted his leg, ready to leave.

"Wait!" Hobert suddenly smiled and said, "There are a few things I'd like to discuss with you both while we're still here."

Now that he had a powerful Sealed Artifact in hand and fully controlled the situation, Daly naturally wanted to leave. If Hobert could be coaxed into putting the Sealed Artifact down and following them out, that would be even better.

But Hobert wasn't going to fall for that!

Daly smiled. "Smart young man. Feel free to state your terms."

Hobert said, "Let me say this again: I am the son of a Commander. You don't need to treat me like some wild Beyonder. I'm willing to cooperate with your investigation, but I will only accept doing so in a room at the church. Don't even think about taking me underground!"

Daly nodded. "You saved us earlier, so naturally, we will treat you with enough courtesy."

Hobert continued, "My second condition is that we share the spoils of this operation. The statue belongs to me."

Daly spread her hands. "That's not for me to decide, but I'll apply to my superiors on your behalf."

"I've already established a special connection with this Sealed Artifact," Hobert smiled. "It allowed me to learn the method of sealing the statue."

Daly was slightly taken aback. "I'll be sure to include that in my report."

Hobert said, "Alright, I think it's time we cleaned up this place."

He had already weighed his options. Unless he planned to escape with the statue, he would inevitably have to negotiate with the official Beyonders.

The key was, in about ten minutes, Hobert would have to release the statue. If he chose to run at that point, Daly and Scarface would surely chase after him, putting him in a disadvantageous position. Thus, he made the choice to bargain with the official Beyonders.

Using the Sealed Artifact, Hobert moved the corpses of the Henry couple out of the earth. Without that terrifying wraith-like power, the two bodies had lost all vitality and were now just ordinary corpses.

Then, Hobert moved all the bodies to the basement door.

He noticed that the Sealed Artifact's control over space was limited to a height of only about three or four meters, just enough to reach the basement door.

It was clear that this basement was designed specifically for this Sealed Artifact.

Back on the first floor, Scarface fetched three body bags from the carriage and packed the corpses. He then briefly explained the situation to the police officers outside, giving them a few more instructions.

Only after that did Hobert, Daly, and Scarface together escort the two corpses and two Sealed Artifacts back.

Because the statue required a different holder every twenty minutes, and the new holder had to be at least ten meters away from the previous one, Daly requisitioned a police carriage.

The person holding the statue rode alone in the police carriage behind them. When the twenty minutes were nearly up, both carriages would stop simultaneously, and someone from the front carriage would switch to the rear one to replace the holder.

Hobert initially rode with Scarface in the Church of the Evernight Goddess' carriage. Scarface glanced at Hobert. "The name's Borgia."

Hobert smiled. "Hello, Borgia. I assume I don't need to introduce myself?"

Borgia replied, "You handled yourself well."

"Thanks," Hobert knew that Borgia was referring to his adept handling of the supernatural event today.

The two fell silent after that, until Borgia was replaced by Daly.

Daly smiled. "It's hard to imagine you're just a Sequence 9. When I first entered the world of Beyonders, I didn't have such quick adaptability."

Hobert modestly replied, "Just luck."

"Luck is a crucial element in the world of Beyonders," Daly said, getting to the main point. "I've been thinking. If you're a military-affiliated Beyonder, my superior might not agree to let you keep the statue.

"But if you're willing to become one of our informants, that changes things. I think our captain wouldn't refuse your request, especially since you've shown us such goodwill."

She smiled charmingly. "Before we reach the church, you might want to think about it."

Hobert fell into deep thought. Establishing a cooperative relationship with official Beyonders seemed like a pretty good offer. Earlier, he had bluffed about having a military background, but if anything serious happened, the military wouldn't care about him at all—only Christian would genuinely help him.

As the saying goes, "It's good to take shelter under a big tree." Having official Beyonders backing him would save him a lot of trouble.

Moreover, using official Beyonders to gain convenience and assistance was also a way of working the system.

After a few minutes of consideration, Hobert said, "It's possible, but I have three conditions."

Daly made a gesture for him to continue.

"First, we'll only be in a cooperative relationship. I'll provide information that may be useful to you, and when necessary, you'll offer me help. I'll try my best to complete tasks within my capabilities, but I reserve the right to refuse.

"Second, if I'm involved in any combat, I get a share of the spoils.

"Third, I need an official document from your organization. With it, I'll be treated as a regular member of the Nighthawks team when encountering other Beyonders."

Daly responded, "There's no precedent for the third condition, but the others are reasonable requests. I'll pass them along."

"Thank you."

Hobert then took his turn holding the Sealed Artifact, and when Daly took over again, they finally arrived back at the church.

True to her word, Daly placed Hobert in a private room at the back of the church, leaving Borgia to guard the door.

Hobert finally felt at ease. By now, Barton had probably received his telegram and informed Christian of his situation.

With Christian stepping in, he was confident there wouldn't be any more danger.

A couple of hours later, the sun was setting, and the sky was tinged with the hues of dusk.

Hobert's stomach growled, and he called out to Borgia outside the door, "Your superior sure is slow."

At that moment, Daly returned, accompanied by a middle-aged man in his forties with short hair and wearing a formal suit. His gaze was like a calm lake, giving off a rare sense of tranquility.

"That's because you made so many demands, I had to report them to the bishop," the middle-aged man said with a smile.

Borgia greeted him, "Captain."

Once inside, Daly introduced him. "This is our captain."

The middle-aged man extended his hand. "You can call me Captain Thomas."

Hobert stepped forward to shake hands. "Nice to meet you, Captain Thomas."

After the three sat around the table, Captain Thomas continued, "You are free to use the Sealed Artifact obtained from the Henry household. However, it must remain in our custody. You'll only need to submit a request to me before using it.

"Of course, this is contingent on you becoming one of our non-affiliated personnel. Yes, non-affiliated. Thank Roselle for inventing such a term, which has made our system much more flexible."

Hobert twitched his mouth at this, suddenly reminded of a certain group that always seemed to be carrying the burden.