Chapter 4 The Ring

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At the dark bottom of the valley, at the scene of the riverbank tragedy, Dorothy sat on a wet and cold rock, carefully reading the letter in her hand. Her brows were slightly furrowed as she seriously pondered the contents of the letter and analyzed the information she gleaned from it. To be honest, the content of the letter surprised her greatly.

From the letter, it could be deduced that the guy who was apparently the leader of the bandits she had shot was named Edric. He should be the boss of the local underworld forces in a place called Wokan.

It seemed that Edric had previously wanted to join a certain organization and even wrote an application. The letter Dorothy now held was the reply. The organization that Edric yearned for gave Ed a special initiation test for joining the organization. The content of the test was actually to hijack a white-haired girl around thirteen years old at a specific time and place. And it was obvious that this girl was Dorothy herself!

The primary purpose of this group of bandits hijacking the carriage was not for money or valuables, but for an ordinary rural girl from a farming family like Dorothy!? What the heck is this?

Thinking of this, Dorothy pressed her fingertips against her forehead and carefully searched through the memories of the original owner of this body once again. She found nothing special. Dorothy had been obedient, smart, hardworking, and conscientious since she was a child. She had no money, no special abilities, no strange patterns in her eyes, and there was nothing messy or strange sealed in her body. It was just that her hair and eye colors were a bit rare... How could a mysterious organization have their eyes on her?

For a moment, Dorothy was completely puzzled. After thinking to no avail, she shook her head and then turned to analyze other information in the letter.

The specific details of this mysterious organization were currently unknown. However, one thing was certain: they were not a bunch of good guys. They had dealings with bandits like Edric, ordering him to kidnap someone, and they were always avoiding the Hidden Security Bureau and the church. Leaving aside the church, the Hidden Security Bureau sounded like a government agency. Those who avoided the government were surely criminal organizations. Otherwise, Edric, this bandit, wouldn't have thought about joining.

Moreover, the letter also mentioned the extraordinary realm and extraordinary items...

Thinking of this, Dorothy looked at the pile of "trophies" she had just taken from Edric beside her. After rummaging through the pile of 'trophies' for a while, she found a ring. She had taken it off Edric's hand earlier, originally thinking she might get a good price for it.

Dorothy placed the ring under the light and examined it carefully. The ring was entirely made of copper, and there was a faint, fine pattern engraved on the outer circle. Looking closely, these patterns seemed to be a circle of eerie little figures dancing hand in hand.

Judging from the content of the letter earlier, Edric had a ring called the Corpse Puppet Ring (a ring that can manipulate corpses), an extraordinary item. Could this be the one!?

With this thought in mind, Dorothy put the ring on her index finger. The moment the ring slipped onto her hand, she felt something strange.

Suddenly, Dorothy felt as if her spirit was extending outward, condensing into two lines stretching into the distance. At the end of the extension were exactly the two strange hounds lying motionless on the ground.

Seeing this situation, Dorothy took a deep breath. Then, with a mental movement, the two hounds that should have been dead actually began to twitch. Then they stood up and gradually moved towards Dorothy. Seemingly because they were roared at close range by The Roar of the Dragon before and fallen to the ground, the two hounds had severe fractures. They limped as they walked, moving extremely slow.

Sure enough... these two dogs were actually corpses from the beginning, right? Edric used the power of this ring to manipulate them to make them move. No wonder that they stopped moving after Edric died. So this bandit leader unexpectedly possessed such an extraordinary item...

Seeing the two hound corpses standing up under her control, Dorothy felt a sense of surprise in her heart. In Dorothy's original recollection, she had never seen such a strange phenomenon. The extraordinary phenomenon in front of her surpassed Dorothy's original experience...

"Apparently, this world is not as simple as it appears on the surface..."

Touching the strange ring on her hand, Dorothy sighed and murmured to herself. Then she turned to another envelope in her hand.

Opening the second envelope, Dorothy began to read the letter paper inside. Compared to the previous one, the content of this letter was much shorter.

...

Dear Mr. Edric:

We have received your reply. We just knew you wouldn't miss this rare opportunity. We have instantly sent someone to Wokan with the reward that will soon belong to you. They will arrive soon. After you accomplish the task, you just need to take a photo of the target and then put the photo into the mailbox in front of the abandoned house at 24 North Street, Wokan.

Our people will confirm whether you have successfully accomplished the task based on the photo. If confirmed, we will wait for you at the center of the western forest in Wokan at around midnight on the day after you submit the photo. When you hand over the target to us, we will also give you the generous reward.

Our people will await your news in Wokan for three days. Wish you a smooth operation.

...

After finishing reading the letter, Dorothy put both letters back into the envelope. This was obviously the mysterious organization's second reply after Edric replied to them. Dorothy also obtained considerable information from this letter.

'It seems that there are currently people from that mysterious organization in Wokan. Isn't Wokan the town I'm going to later? I need to be more careful when entering the town later. Although I don't know what this organization wants with Dorothy, if it's a criminal gang, it definitely won't be a good thing...'

Thinking like this, Dorothy then used a dagger to cut a piece of curtain cloth from the overturned carriage compartment. Dorothy cut the cloth in half. One part was used to wrap the "loot" she had collected, and the other part was intended to be used as a headscarf to cover her hair when entering the town later.

After getting everything ready, Dorothy set off. Before setting off, just in case, she continued to control the two zombie dogs with the Corpse Puppet Ring to act as bodyguards. But unfortunately, the fracture of these two dogs was too severe, and they simply couldn't walk fast.

'I didn't expect that even this section of Unrelenting Force would be so powerful. Although these two dogs can still move, they can no longer be used as combat power in this state...'

Looking at the two zombie dogs in front of her that could hardly stand up because of severe fractures, Dorothy thought to herself. Then, after thinking for a while, she tried to lift her control over the two zombie dogs. After watching them fall to the ground again, Dorothy shifted her gaze to the corpse of Edric lying beside her.

During her attempts, Dorothy successfully linked the "spiritual threads" extended from the Corpse Puppet Ring to Edric's corpse and made him stagger to his feet. Looking at the revived bandit leader with vacant eyes and a pale face, Dorothy took a deep breath.

"I'll use him for now..."

As Dorothy spoke, Edric, now a silent corpse, quietly picked up the gas lamp on the ground and held up the black umbrella again to keep the pattering light rain off Dorothy, just like a servant attending to a noble young lady.

After that, Dorothy packed up her belongings and left the scene of this tragic incident with her "servant".