After the "video call" with Salvatore ended, Hand of Winter, who had been standing at the door for a while, finally knocked on the door and walked in.
He was a rather thin old man.
He looked tall and thin, like a withered scarecrow or a lanky ghost.
The old man was wearing a light gray gown, and his face was very pale and bloodless. His snow-white and slender hair was so sparse that it was almost transparent, and subtle age spots could be seen on his temples and corners of his eyes.
His pupils were silvery white...as if they were completely shrouded in fog. At a glance, he looked like a blind man with pure white eyes.
The most conspicuous thing about him is not the little finger of his left hand with the ice ring on it, but the scarf around his neck.
The old man wore at least seven or eight dark gray woolen scarves, covering them from his nose to his chin, and even his shoulders. Except for his silver-gray eyes, his facial features were completely covered, and nothing was revealed.
.
"Your Highness, the results of the interrogation are out."
A low and very light voice sounded muffled from under the scarf: "Can I report to you now?"
"No problem, Uncle Zolgen."
Annan nodded slightly.
There was some respect in his voice.
Although he has completely lost his memory, in fact, it was the Hand of Winter who watched Annan grow up when he was a child - and even when Ivan was a child, he watched him grow up.
In the Hand of Winter, the "ring finger" is responsible for handling housework, and the "thumb" is for management.
The "little finger" is called the "unwanted finger", that is, the "hidden finger". What they are responsible for is "work that does not need to be seen"...such as espionage, torture, and assassination.
, creating perjury and other activities.
Generally speaking, Hands of Winter are advanced from wizards of the incapacitated school. However, the position of the little finger requires an additional profession of Rogue.
It is said that before Annan was eight years old, Zolgen intercepted at least ten waves of assassinations against Annan; and before Annan was born, his mother Anya Rasputin would also be protected by Zolgen.
The reason why Annan was assassinated was simply because he was separated from Ivan.
At present, the top management of Hand of Winter is not complete - because the power is very powerful, it is better to lack than to overdo it.
This is a new rule that only appeared after the defection of Vladimir, the Defying Winter... Before that, the "Ten Fingers" were always full. There were even many alternate seats, which directly led to the Winter
Fights can also occur inside the hands.
And thanks to "Winterbreaker" for sounding the alarm.
He reminded Ivan that the real power of the Principality of Winter is not held in the hands of those ministers...but in the "ten fingers" of the Hand of Winter.
The right little finger of the previous generation was also a member of the defection. Since then, all his disciples have been purged... Until now, the "right little finger" faction is still managed by Zolgen.
Roughly speaking, the rule of the Hand of Winter is "the left hand is inside and the right hand is outside." Just like the left hand is used to block attacks and protect vital points, while the right hand is used to hold a weapon to attack others.
Currently, there are four rings left in the right hand of the Hand of Winter - except for the most important "thumb" as the commander-in-chief, which is kept by "Victor" personally designated by Ivan, the other four rings are all empty, and the power
Merged into the left hand.
Spies that were previously buried abroad and have not been activated will no longer receive any orders and are allowed to live their own daily lives; while those who have already begun to transmit intelligence to the Principality of Winter are also ordered to find a way to lurk again.
...For example, "Dad" is like this.
And more manpower was used for internal surveillance and management. So in fact, the number of "counter-espionage" personnel in Winter doubled for no reason. Because of the sudden abundance of manpower, it directly led to the spies on Noah's side.
Everyone was named and found out, and without exception, they were arrested.
They couldn't send the information back at all.
——This is what Daliyuan Old Bread was curious about before, the real reason why "Lin Dong suddenly shrunk the scope of intelligence". Essentially, it was because of the change in the rights of "Ten Fingers", which caused the ten fingers to become six fingers... not because of Lin Dong.
There have been some big changes within Dong, or some secret information that cannot be known to outsiders.
This is the real secret that the Noahs must not know.
"...To sum up the above, I think Yuri Freeze needs to be arrested immediately."
Zolgen held his hands tightly against his trouser legs, and stood upright with his unusually slender body like a slender ghost. He did not read his notes, but very skillfully recited the information obtained from the torture directly to Annan.
To put it simply, this operation was indeed the work of the Northland Alliance. To be precise, it was the private behavior of three of the Northland Alliance - Viscount Peter, Viscount Ostov and Count Yuri.
They didn't just assassinate Annan.
After comparing it with the previous investigative information of the Hand of Winter, Zolgen keenly discovered that there was a strange amount of money in the frozen wind leader. It was listed as "purchasing green fire for daily use", but after careful investigation, it was discovered that this amount of money had a strange whereabouts.
The money flowed to a town in the underground world called "Saltpeter Ranch".
The rulers of this town, the "Blood Hand Brothers", have an inexplicable relationship with Nata County in the Kingdom of Noah - a large amount of demon blood produced by the "Mushroom Eaters" gang has only flowed into Noah's local area.
.The rest were sold to Saltpeter Ranch.
After that, that batch of demon blood flowed into the Freezing Wind Territory in the Winter North through the relationship between Saltpeter Ranch.
"Yuri Dongfeng was previously prosecuted for researching forbidden rituals. He paid a large amount of compensation and delivered three of his estates to avoid prison. But the previous forbidden rituals were to communicate with dream creatures
'The ritual... In this ritual, the poisonous dust of Hermes needs to be used, so the material 'fallen with a pure heart' is needed.
"Looking back now... those materials should just be the residue after the failure to create demons. They may not have created poisonous dust at all, let alone communicate with dream creatures."
The old man's eyes were cold and emotionless: "Considering that they may have successfully created demons, I think the frost beast troops need to be dispatched to seize them. Anyone related to the forbidden ritual should be arrested."
To dispatch the frost beast troops, permission from the "index finger" or above is required. His announcement was actually somewhat overstepping his authority.
And if the action is so big, it may touch the already sensitive nerves of the Northland Alliance.
Annan thought for a moment and asked, "Have you told my father?"
"Grand Duke Ivan instructed me to report to you first on future matters, Your Highness Annan."
Zolgen replied.
"...Don't worry yet."
Annan was silent for a long time and frowned slightly: "You said the assassin's weapon is... venom?"
"It is a standard spell [Venom-Heart Failure]. Once hit, the blade will break and remain in the muscle. At the same time, the blade will cast a "Heart Failure" spell on the person in contact every three seconds."
The old man replied calmly: "This is the technology of the Shaoya family in the United Kingdom."
There was no emotion in his words, just as Annan's previous reply did not exist - there were no rhetorical questions or follow-up questions.
Like a cold puppet.
“So—investigate from here first.”
Annan tapped his index finger on the table and said slowly: "We must know who is involved, so that we can know who our enemies are and what their purpose may be. Only then can we know who is involved.
Who can be won over and who cannot be trusted."
"We have very few available personnel in the underground city, and it is difficult to go to Saltpeter Ranch to conduct efficient investigations."
The old man replied without emotion: "But we have three spies in the underground world who have become 'diggers'. But once activated, they may be exposed and lose their rights. Although this is not 100%, but
The 'Wise Ones' are quite difficult to deal with, and you should use them as disposable pieces."
"...No, that's not necessary either."
Thinking of this, Annan's heart moved slightly.
Speaking of which, Lin Yiyi and the others are at Saltpeter Ranch now.
Seems like that would allow them to do a reverse investigation from the other end...
Then the corners of Annan's mouth slightly raised, revealing a winning smile.
The silver-haired boy narrowed his eyes.
He said slowly: "I should be able to get fairly accurate information about this very soon."