Chapter 178: 178

Before entering the house, Michelle remembered something and turned back to look at the group of men that surrounded them. She didn’t need to think much to know that once she and Ivona stepped into the house, they would go tell someone of higher rank to come help.

And there was no telling how powerful that someone would be. So there was no need to risk anything.

Taking long strides toward the group, one by one, Michelle grabbed their foreheads and activated her memory manipulation skill. She made it so they remembered her and Ivona’s presence in the city, but they wouldn’t think about it unless someone stimulated it.

And even then, they wouldn’t say where the two of them went. She made them completely forget that part before having them leave.

Finally, she turned her focus to the house. Being a former assassin, she had the inkling to sneak in, but she held back. She didn’t know who was in the dark and who was in the light. And no matter how it was, it could quickly turn the other way.

“You won’t go in.” Ivona glanced at the house, able to guess Michelle’s thoughts. “So we’re going to continue moving around here and search for information?” It somehow sounded like a question, suggestion, and guess all at once.

“Yes…” Michelle nodded. “But I don’t know where to go first.”

“Does that even matter?” Ivona lifted a brow.

Michelle shook her head. “Not really…”

“Then what’s the problem?” Ivona continued asking.

A frown formed on Michelle’s face. She was thinking about going around the city to create a map of it in her mind, but she could be spotted by someone.

That wasn’t such a problem, but—”This city is strange,” she suddenly said.

“That was obvious from the start,” Ivona nodded a bit. “What about it?” She tilted her head a bit. “That shouldn’t affect our investigation of the Sloan family.”

“True…” Michelle smiled a bit. She wasn’t acting like herself. When she was still an assassin, there were many times when she had to put her life on the line by entering places she knew nothing about. And she had always managed to come out alive.

It wasn’t like her to be so anxious and cautious. She did like to have her plans thought out, but the thrill of doing risky and unplanned things was even better. For some reason, after waking up as Michelle Grace, she had forgotten about that. She didn’t like that.

“Then let’s go!” Ivona just broke into a run deeper into the city.

With her smile widening, Michelle kicked into the ground and leapt after Ivona, following closely behind.

“So what do we do now?” Ivona asked through the run. “Scout the whole city first? Or scout for information straight away?”

“We can do both at once!” Michelle said as she summoned her soul energy, moving it to her feet. Then, with each step, she left behind a footprint of soul energy. That way, she could know where they already went and also sense the surroundings of the footsteps.

It was similar to the net of spirit energy she sometimes used, but the difference was that it could be much bigger and she had to move around the whole space where she wanted to put it.

Since Michelle didn’t conceal her soul energy, Ivona, who had been around Anastasia for quite a while, could feel it and glanced at Michelle. “You are acting reckless now!” She smiled.

Michelle shrugged. “If this angers them, then they are just petty!”

For a long time, the two kept running around the city, and even when the night fell, they were still in the slums. The city was much bigger than the Capital city in the Land of Exile, so it wasn’t possible to map it out in one day.

Stopping in one of the many dark and empty alleys, Michelle looked at Ivona. “Do we continue throughout the night or find a place to rest?” she asked, because she wasn’t sure about Ivona’s long-time stamina. But it was clearly high because Ivona didn’t seem tired even after running around the whole day.

“Let’s continue,” Ivona said confidently. After she had broken through the Spirit rank, her stamina had greatly increased and she didn’t need to rest after just a day of movement. Throughout the day, the two didn’t push themselves extremely, so her stamina was quite stable.

“Good!” Michelle nodded a bit. She herself wasn’t the least bit tired because both her soul and spirit energy were coursing around her body. She couldn’t use her spirit energy outside her body, but she could use it to reinforce her muscles.

And with her soul energy, she was using it to leave the marks all over the city, so it was a bit spent. But the marks were very faint, so the drainage was small and thus the rest of the soul energy could be used to further reinforce her muscles.

So, under the veil of night, two slim figures continued running through the streets of the slums at high speed. And one more figure was jumping over the rooftops above them, watching them closely.

Michelle was aware that Noctis was probably somewhere around, but she could never guess that he was so close. After he was spotted by Michelle in the tavern’s courtyard, he had been thinking of ways to increase his stealth. He couldn’t accept the fact that he was discovered so easily.

And since he was a direct subordinate of the Dark Lord, he had quite some talent, so improving his stealth techniques wasn’t that hard. When he was following Michelle around for just a few days, she could no longer feel his presence.

But she still knew he was there. Sometimes, she would still catch a flicker of his aura. He was a powerful individual, so completely hiding his aura was basically impossible.

Especially to someone of her level.

The power difference between them was so great that a flicker of his power could kill her. So any change in his energy was caught.

When morning neared, Michelle and Ivona had finally reached the rich part of the city. That didn’t mean they had mapped out the whole of the slums.

The slums were like a ring around the rich city, so they only mapped out one side, and not the whole. Statistically, it would be one quarter of the whole slums.

Entering the rich city, Michelle felt like scoffing at the difference. Stepping from one street to the other, though the bad stench lingered, the place looked diametrically different.

While the slums were creepy, damp and dirty, with small half-fallen huts, the rich part was clean, with big and tall buildings, looking straight out of a fantasy.

Both Michelle and Ivona had to admit that if the whole slums were just an act to hide the subordinates of the two seemingly opposing families, it was perfectly carried out. It looked genuine.

“Will we continue?” Ivona asked as they strolled around. Michelle still kept leaving the footprints of soul energy behind.

“No!” Michelle shook her head. “Let’s start gathering information actively. It will be more effective.”

“So we will continue mapping out the city at night?” Ivona guessed.

“Sounds like a good plan!” Michelle nodded.

So the two girls found an inn where they got themselves cleaned up and had a change of clothes, to look like ordinary richer people. Then, they split apart, going to gather information by different methods.

Ivona was supposed to find information dealers, while Michelle, still dressed as a man, went to a brothel. There, most people gossiped without any care of the world.

At the start, Ivona had it harder. The city resembled the base of a big cult, so finding any information dealer was nearly impossible. It took her three days to find one. But once she found him, it was easy to get information. She just needed to lie here and there, pay something and she left with a bunch of information. Then, she continued searching for more information dealers. She needed to confirm whether the first one told her the truth.

Quite the opposite, Michelle had it easy at the start. She just dressed nicely and strolled into the brothel. Her shifting weapon was in the shape of a fan, making her quite elegant even though she looked barely fifteen. And her deep purple eyes made people doubt her age. All that, coupled with her long silver hair and purple clothes, made her look like a talented cultivator.

Also, she used some soul energy to prevent others from checking her cultivation level, which added another layer of mystery. And protection.

Everything was going smoothly. Only a moment after entering the brothel, Michelle was sitting by a low table, looking at a podium where some beauties were dancing while one was sitting above them on a swing, singing while playing on a small harp. It was quite a spectacular scene, but Michelle was bothered by the sound in the rest of the hall. The men who came for entertainment were discussing the girls, and the more rude ones were even shouting at them.

Michelle was going to let it go, but one of the nearby young masters approached her. “This Young Master, who do you think dances the best?” he asked, something dark in his eyes.

A thought flashed in Michelle’s head: “So it seems I’ve attracted a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

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