After experiencing the collapse of Tintagel and the life-and-death struggle at Stonehenge, the physical stamina of this small team was nearing its limit.

Julian walked in the middle, the scholar appearing exceptionally anxious at this moment.

In his hands, he held the scroll of parchment that Merlin had handed to Lin Jie in the final moments.

Using the light from the storm lantern in Evelyn's hand, he attempted to decipher the text on it.

"I can't read it."

Julian's voice was hoarse, carrying a deep sense of defeat.

"This doesn't make sense."

He brought the parchment closer, his fingers gently tracing the dark red script.

"The text on this is a mixture of Old English, Latin, and a type of hieroglyphic symbol I've never seen before. Looking at each individual word, I can understand their meanings. For example, 'beginning,' 'restraint,' and 'breach of contract.'"

"But..."

Julian raised his head, looking towards Lin Jie walking at the very front.

"When these words are combined, they become a jumbled mess. The grammatical structure is completely chaotic, as if someone cut up a legal codex and then randomly pasted it back together."

He pulled out [The Scribe's Papyrus] from his chest. When he laid the papyrus over the parchment scroll, the words remained quietly on the parchment.

"Is it ineffective?" Evelyn asked in a low voice. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Julian shook his head. He put away the papyrus, his expression grave.

"The papyrus can only translate languages."

"But the thing on this parchment scroll is not an ordinary language."

Julian pointed to a complex emblem at the edge of the parchment.

It was a circle formed by twelve swords, with a snake biting its own tail in the center.

"This is the seal of the original Round Table Knights."

Lin Jie stopped walking.

He turned his head, glancing at that scroll of parchment.

"Put it away for now."

"Since Merlin gave it to me, it means there must be a time for it to be opened."

He turned around, his gaze directed towards the distant east.

At the edge of that gray horizon, a massive dark cloud was faintly visible.

That was the exhaust of the Industrial Revolution, the black smoke spewed from countless factory chimneys, and also the breath of this empire's heart.

London.

"We need to pick up the pace."

Lin Jie tightened the collar of his trench coat, covering the lower half of his face.

"Before dawn, we must blend into the city."

...

Four hours later.

The outskirts of Surrey County, western suburbs of London.

Marcus led the group off the main road, plunging into a dense oak forest.

There was an abandoned mill here, half of a waterwheel still soaking in a murky stream, emitting creaking sounds.

"That's my contact point."

Marcus pointed to a broken window of the mill.

An inconspicuous black cloth strip hung there.

"Before I left London, I arranged for a few trustworthy brothers to keep an eye on several key locations."

"If the cloth strip is black, it means urgent information."

Marcus had the others stay in the woods on alert while he strode towards the mill.

A few minutes later, he returned.

Following behind him was a boy who looked only twelve or thirteen years old.

The child wore work clothes covered in grease, his face smeared black, clutching a tattered hat tightly in his hands.

This was a typical London street urchin, also the lowest capillary of this city.

"This is Little Tom."

Marcus introduced, his face looking terribly grim.

"He's been responsible for watching the Richmond area."

Lin Jie's heart constricted. Richmond area.

That was the new address the Arthur family had moved to.

"Something happened?"

Lin Jie walked up to the child, trying to make his voice sound less icy.

Little Tom was clearly frightened by the stern, lethal aura emanating from Lin Jie. He instinctively shrank back behind Marcus.

"Don't be afraid."

Marcus patted the child's shoulder.

"Tell this gentleman what you saw."

Little Tom swallowed, his voice trembling slightly.

"Sir... that police uncle's house was surrounded the night before last."

"By whom?"

"By a group of people wearing black trench coats."

Little Tom gestured.

"They drove those horseless carriages, with strange emblems printed on the sides, like a scale."

I.A.R.C. vehicles.

And specifically, Enforcement Division vehicles.

"They sealed off the street."

"That police uncle... Mr. Weston, he stood at the door with a shotgun, trying to stop those people from entering."

"But the leader, he just waved his hand, and Mr. Weston fell down."

"And then?" Lin Jie's fist clenched.

"Then they took away a little girl."

Little Tom's voice dropped.

"She looked very strange at the time... Her eyes were closed, as if asleep, but around her..."

The child paused, as if recalling a scene that frightened him.

"Around her grew many flowers."

"Right on that stretcher, those flowers emerged from under the blanket, the color was that kind of... glowing purple."

"Those men in black put her into an iron box covered with papers, then took her away."

Lin Jie fell silent.

William stepped forward, gently patting Lin Jie's shoulder.

"Stay calm. The fact that they didn't execute on the spot means Lily has value to them."

"Value?"

Lin Jie sneered coldly.

"Of course she has value."

He remembered the distorted and grand dreams depicted in Lily's paintings.

"Taking her away at this critical juncture."

Lin Jie took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the rage in his heart.

"Ackerman must have discovered something."

"What about the Westons?" Lin Jie asked.

"They've been placed under house arrest."

Little Tom answered.

"Those people set up sentries around the house, not allowing anyone in or out."

"Good."

Lin Jie nodded.

As long as they were still alive, there was still hope.

He fished a gold coin from his pocket and pressed it into Little Tom's grease-stained hand.

"Forget everyone you saw today."

"Go buy some food, then leave London, hide in the countryside for a while."

Little Tom looked at the gold coin in his hand, his eyes wide as saucers.

He nodded, turned, and vanished into the woods, disappearing like a nimble rabbit.

"We need to get into the city."

Lin Jie turned around, looking at his teammates behind him.

"We can't take the usual routes. We need to go to a place they wouldn't expect."

"Where?" Julian asked.

Lin Jie's gaze passed through the gaps in the trees, looking towards the eastern district of the city shrouded in smog.

That was London's filthiest, most chaotic, and darkest place.

There was no law, no order, only survival and death.

"Whitechapel."

Lin Jie uttered the word.

...

The London East End at night was like a giant rotting beast.

Thick smog mixed with the dampness of the Thames turned this place into a sunless maze.

Dorset Street.

This place known as "the most depraved street in all of London" still maintained its nauseating vitality.

Cheap prostitutes stood in dark doorways soliciting business, drunks lay vomiting in roadside gutters, pickpockets and robbers watched every passerby from the shadows of alley entrances.

A group of six, wearing shabby overcoats and pulling down their hat brims, quickly traversed this street.

The lethal aura they carried instinctively made the malicious gazes around them shrink back.

In this place where the strong preyed on the weak, intuition was often more reliable than eyes.

These "passersby" were not to be trifled with.

Lin Jie stopped in front of a dilapidated three-story apartment building.

11 Dorset Street.

That was the place he had stayed on his first night after arriving in London.

"Rat's Nest."

The main door was still ajar. Lin Jie pushed it open and walked in.

A familiar smell of cheap tobacco assaulted his senses. The first-floor lobby was littered with tenants lying haphazardly.

They were mostly dock coolies or vagrants, spending a few pence to buy a bunk here, or just a rope to sleep slumped over.

Behind the counter sat a burly man.

He was counting a pile of copper coins stained with grease, his fat face full of greed and shrewdness.

Donovan, the manager of this apartment, also one of the most famous local bosses in this area.

"No beds left."

Donovan roared without turning his head, still focused on the coins in his hand.

"If you want to sleep on a rope, two pence each."

"We want the best room."

Lin Jie walked up to the counter, his fingers lightly tapping on the greasy wooden board.

"And absolute quiet."

"Quiet?"

Donovan snorted with contempt. He looked up, his small eyes flashing with mockery.

"This is Dorset Street. If you want quiet, go to Westminster Abbey..."

His voice suddenly choked off.

Because he saw a silver coin.

A shilling, extremely rare in this slum, shimmering with a captivating luster.

But that wasn't what made him shut up.

What truly made him feel suffocated was the hand resting on that silver coin.

It was a slender, powerful hand, with a strange ring on its knuckle.

Donovan's gaze followed that hand upward.

He saw a face, an Asian face.

Black eyes, an indifferent expression, and that kind of calm that seemed to have crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The gates of memory were instantly smashed open.

Two years ago.

Also at this very counter.

That Easterner who was being hunted, yet could still produce silver coins.

That freak who frequently came and went from this place gathering information during the Whitechapel serial murders.

"I-It's... you?"

Donovan abruptly stood up, his bulky body causing the liquor shelf behind him to rattle.

"You... how did you come back?"

Donovan instinctively looked towards the door, as if searching for the people who had once hunted Lin Jie.

"Business."

Lin Jie offered no explanation, flicking that shilling into Donovan's lap.

"That's the deposit."

"I want the suite at the very end of the third floor."

"And, I don't want anyone to know we're here."

"Including the police, including your cronies, and also... anyone who looks like trouble."

Lin Jie released a sliver of the pressure from [White's Airspace].

Just a sliver.

Yet Donovan felt as if his heart had been seized by a cold, giant hand.

His legs went weak, nearly making him kneel on the spot.

"U-Understood!"

Donovan nodded frantically, cold sweat on his forehead falling like raindrops.

"Third floor... third floor is empty right now!"

"That's specially reserved for... for distinguished guests!"

"I'll take you up right now!"

He frantically grabbed a bunch of keys from the wall, trembling as he came out from behind the counter, leading the way like a humble servant.

The tenants in the lobby, though they didn't know what had happened, seeing the usually overbearing Donovan in this state, all wisely shut their mouths or buried their heads even lower.

The room on the third floor, though still shabby, was at least cleaner than downstairs.

The windows were boarded up with thick planks, leaving only a crack for ventilation.

This suited Lin Jie perfectly.

Closing the door and sending Donovan away, only the six members of the team remained in the room.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy. Everyone knew this was only temporary peace.

Ackerman's dragnet was tightening. They were like a few rats that had scurried into the sewers, liable to be dragged out by that giant cat at any moment.

"We can't stay together all the time."

Lin Jie spoke, breaking the silence.

He walked to the window, observing the street outside through the crack.

"The target is too big, and our tasks are different."

He turned around, looking at Marcus and Silas.

"Marcus, you take Silas and leave this place."

"Silas's injuries need quiet recuperation. The environment here is too poor and unsafe."

"More importantly, in the Association's records, he should already be a dead man."

"If he's discovered, it will attract even bigger trouble."

Marcus nodded. He knew Lin Jie was right.

"I have a few old friends in the factory district on London's South Bank."

Marcus said gravely.

"That's union territory, the Association's hand can't reach there. I can place Silas there."

"But..."

Marcus glanced at William and Julian, finally settling his gaze on Evelyn.

"What about Evelyn?"

"She's not combat personnel, nor a formal Association hunter."

"This matter had nothing to do with her from the start. Bringing her is too dangerous."

Lin Jie looked at Evelyn.

The young lady of the Marconi family was currently sitting on the edge of the bed, holding those [Echo Goggles], carefully wiping them with a piece of flannel cloth.

Her face showed fatigue, her trench coat was stained with mud and grease, but this couldn't hide the stubbornness in her eyes.

"Marcus will take you to a safe place."

Lin Jie's voice softened a little.

"When the heat dies down, you can return to New York, or go anywhere you want."

"You've already done more than enough. The road ahead is the abyss we have to face."

Evelyn stopped her movements.

She raised her head, those brown eyes looking directly at Lin Jie.

"I'm not leaving."

Her answer was simple, yet firm.

"Why?" Lin Jie frowned.

"Because we're friends."

Evelyn stood up.

"In New York, after you helped me sabotage Edison's plan."

"You became my friend."

"And..."

She pointed to her head.

"In my father's notes, there are still many mysteries about that 'Eastern technology' left unsolved."

"And if I leave, who will help you analyze all that damned data? Who will help you see through walls?"

Evelyn put on those goggles. Her eyes behind the lenses were calm and determined.

"I'm staying."

Lin Jie looked at her.

After a long moment, he sighed, yet a faint curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Alright then. Welcome back to the team, Miss Marconi."

He turned his head, looking at Marcus.

"So it's settled. You leave now, while the night isn't completely over."

Marcus wasted no words.

He helped Silas up and walked to the door.

Just as he was about to push it open, he stopped, turning back to look at Lin Jie.

"Don't die, Lin."

"After I get the piper settled, I'll come back to find you."

"Then, we'll stir up this muddy water and turn everything upside down together."

"Take care."

Lin Jie nodded.

The door closed, leaving only four people in the room.

Lin Jie, William, Julian, Evelyn.

This was the original Iron Triangle, plus one indispensable technical support.

This was their entire hand of cards against this vast empire.

Lin Jie walked to the table, spreading out that parchment scroll. Though he couldn't read the text on it yet, he had an intuition.

The answer lay beneath this city.

"Rest."

Lin Jie blew out the candle, darkness enveloping the room.