Jeanne looked with some confusion at the Black Snake before her, who had seized control of his subordinate's body. Did his influence truly reach this far? She felt she might have underestimated Kashchey's power; the ability to switch freely between prepared vessels was certainly fitting for someone with the title of a god.
The problem was, Jeanne knew next to nothing about souls. She had almost no involvement in mysticism. As for Originium Arts, perhaps because her body lacked adaptability to Originium, her research remained strictly theoretical, with no practical ability to manifest them.
"I wouldn't be able to set foot on foreign soil if you weren't here. This power of mine has its limits, you know."
Kashchey took out a cross hanging by his side and shook it twice at Jeanne as he explained. While his ability was formidable—allowing him to switch to a prepared vessel given enough time—it wasn't the "omnipotent shadow-walking" Jeanne imagined.
"I can only project myself to Lungmen right now because I'm using some minor tricks to link here, and it only works when you are nearby."
Because Lungmen once belonged to him, he naturally had hidden some inconspicuous assets here. Unfortunately, most of them were dismantled by Wei Yenwu after he took over. He had gathered every remaining scrap of his legacy just to barely manifest here when Jeanne was in the vicinity.
"Really? I don't believe you!"
Jeanne had plenty of experience with Kashchey's unreliability. This man was a master of word games and sophistry; that was how he had kept Talulah in the palm of his hand. But such tricks were useless against Jeanne. If it came down to a war of words, she could render him speechless—or at the very least, make him shut up.
"You think a guy who's been tortured by you for three years has any 'majesty' left? Do you think the damage caused by your prayers and punishments over those three years can be recovered so quickly?"
Kashchey felt a surge of grief and indignation. He was once a terrifying existence that made children stop crying! A grand villain with ideals and ambitions! But since meeting her, his "successful life" progress bar had instantly reset to zero.
Thinking of his former glory, Kashchey couldn't help but feel a bit sad. How had he fallen to such a pathetic state? He couldn't even compare to those shards of gods in Yan anymore.
"Let's keep this brief! I don't have much time left here. The energy consumption for this level of manifestation is too high."
Kashchey felt his grip on the puppet weakening. Soon, he would be snapped back into Talulah's soul and would need a long rest to recover.
"I secured a specific list of noble spies yesterday. In a few days, Ursus will have a secret exchange with Lungmen regarding this matter, so you don't need to worry too much anymore."
Securing that list was a stroke of luck for Ursus. If Jeanne hadn't been chased by them, Lungmen wouldn't be making such big moves now, and those nobles wouldn't have been so quick to cough up the information. However, there were simply too many spies; it wasn't realistic for Jeanne to catch them all alone. Thus, they dispatched a trusted agent to Lungmen to negotiate with Wei Yenwu, ensuring Ursus maintained the initiative.
"Also, you should thoroughly check that company associated with Rhine Lab. There might be a bigger fish in there than you imagine! When those guys were being evasive about that place, I knew the water there was deep..."
Jeanne remained silent, listening to Kashchey ramble. Despite saying he was short on time, he didn't seem to care once he started talking. Eventually, he vanished without even saying goodbye, clearly exhausted by the trip to Lungmen.
It was good news, at least. She finally had allies in her search, and there was even a possibility of someone taking over the task for her.
The Pythia spy, having regained his senses, gave Jeanne a subtle nod, packed his things, and left. Looking at him, one would never guess he was a spy; he truly looked like a simple street performer.
Jeanne lingered in the park for a long while, her mind blank or perhaps deep in thought. Once she was sure no hidden eyes were watching, she prepared to leave. By now, the park was filling up with elderly people for morning exercises. Among the crowd, she spotted an elderly man surnamed Lin.
His appearance was far too striking. When a giant "rat" emerges from a crowd, you can't exactly pretend you didn't recognize him!
The Rat King, who was practicing health-preserving fist techniques, spotted Jeanne. He stopped his routine and walked over, greeting her in a gravelly voice.
"My, I didn't expect to see you again so soon, little girl. This isn't a place young people usually like to visit!"
The Rat King observed Jeanne, curious about her presence. This wasn't a tourist spot, and even local youths rarely came here. However, he didn't pry; everyone has secrets, and digging too deep is bad manners.
"Ahaha, I was just curious about how Yan's elderly spend their mornings. We don't have this habit back home," Jeanne replied with a smile. She noticed his voice was quite hoarse, as if he were suffering from internal "heat" brought on by stress. It seemed he had quite a lot on his mind, perhaps even enough to affect his health.
"Morning exercise! It's nothing worth a special trip. Just us old bones getting together to chat about family while moving our bodies."
The Rat King chuckled. It was the first time Jeanne had seen a rat (excluding Mickey) smile. He leaned on his cane and chatted idly with her, like a person who had been holding in words for too long and finally found a familiar face.
They walked together toward the park gate. The Rat King suddenly tapped his cane on the ground, indicating the way out. As Jeanne prepared to leave, he spoke in a voice so low it was almost a whisper:
"Child, I don't know what you're planning. But I must warn you: Lungmen is becoming very tense. For a while, stay away from the slums."