“There''s no way she can prove her identity. And Ivana sounds like a Russian name," the woman
reminded the man.
Luca shot a nce at the man and turned to look at the woman, then she said, "You have the face of
someone from A City too. Could it be that you''re using a name from A City too?"
"How could that be? We all use titles." The woman thought Luca was suspicious. Although she got the
name correct, there were a few questionable points that aroused her suspicion.
The main problem was that Luca did not have the tattoo of the Ind of Despair on her.
"Fine. I shall leave since no one believes in me," said Luca.
There was no way Luca could prove her identity other than showing the message on her phone. She
did not even bring the weapon she got from the Ind of Despair along with her as she had gone to
work earlier.
A knife was held to Luca''s neck in a blink of an eye. "You can''t leave."
Luca slightly cast her eyes down and saw the de that was against her neck. Her skin would cut open
and her flesh would tear if she took a step forward. Then, her veins would burst.
"What do you want?" Luca remained calm even though someone was holding a knife to her neck.
Luca was good at fighting, but she did not intend to start a fight.
"It''d be great if you''re one of the members of the Ind of Despair. Everyone can take it as a
misunderstanding. If you''re not, then we''ll be exposed. That''s why you can''t leave," the man exined
as he pulled Luca into the building and locked the door behind her.
"She''s certainly not one of us. Perhaps she has already killed that person. Then, she came here on
behalf of her. Her purpose is to go against us," the woman said with confidence.
"Believe it or not, I''m the only member of the Ind of Despair without a tattoo." Luca nced
sideways to look at that woman.
"How''s that possible? The tattoo is our mark, and everyone has it on their body. You''ll have the tattoo if
you''re someone from the Ind of Despair," said the woman resolutely. Then, she said to the man,
"This woman isn''t as simple as she looks. We can''t let her go now. Otherwise, we should..."
The woman made a throat-slitting gesture and said, "Kill her."
"Why did you ask me toe here?" Luca was not the least bit frightened when she heard that the
woman was nning to kill her.
“How can I tell you? You probably have a listening device on you." The woman scowled. The man who
was holding a knife to Luca''s throat never once moved it.
"Then you should be able to tell me who assigned the mission to you, right?" Luca asked.
"I can''t tell you that either." The woman knew how to keep a secret well.
Luca looked at her helplessly. "Was it Abel or Shanks?"
The woman''s expression changed once Luca mentioned the two names.
No outsiders would know the names of the pivotal figures of the Ind of Despair. Luca actually knew
them, and she made no secret of the fact that she knew them by calling out their names...
The knife held at Luca''s throat slightly loosened once the man heard what Luca said.
Luca looked around her and saw something like a sack at one of the corners. Then, Luca recalled what
Shanks had told her before.
Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.
"It''s probably Shanks, right? He''s the one who instructed me to check the herbs, huh?"
The woman snarled at Luca while listening to her. "How much did that betrayer tell you about us?"
"Tsk. Hand me your phone. Let me give Dr. Shanks a call, then you''ll know how much I know about the
Ind of Despair," said Luca.
The woman was dubious about the idea. She gave the man a look when she handed her phone to
Luca.
If this woman dared to call for help, he would be able to kill her immediately.
Luca entered a string of numbers on the phone in front of them.
The expressions of the man and woman changed at the same time.
The call was answered after Luca tapped on the call icon. "Who is this?"
Shanks'' voice came from the other end of the line.
"It''s Luca," replied Luca.
Shanks was surprised. It was the first time Luca contacted him since she left the Ind of Despair.
"Have you found what I wanted?"
"No. I''m being held hostage now just because I don''t have a tattoo on me.." Luca said in a helpless
tone and shot a nce at the woman.
The look on the woman''s face changed after she heard Shanks'' voiceing from the other end of the
line.
"She doesn''t have a tattoo on her." Shanks proved her identity. "Let her take a look at the herbs.
Deliver them to the ind if they''re genuine."
"Yes, Dr. Shanks," replied the woman immediately. The knife held at Luca''s throat was moved away at
the same time.
"I''m sorry." The man apologized. "I was just being cautious."
"I understand." Luca hung up the call and rxed her neck. Then, she asked, "Where are the herbs
you found? Let me take a look at them."
The woman carried over the two sacks of herbs. "They''re all here. Some of them are packaged, and
there are namesbeled on them."
As Luca opened the sack, she was greeted by the herbs'' pungent smell.
However, herbs were not the only things that had such a smell. Sometimes, sun-dried branches or
leaves would smell like this too.
“Let me take a look. Don''t mind me." Luca grabbed a stool and sat on it. She began to distinguish the
herbs.
Although Luca told them not to mind her, the man and the woman stood beside her and watched her.
They were like children waiting for their exam results. They waited for Luca to tell them whether the
herbs were genuine or not.
Some of the herbs that Shanks was looking for were difficult to find. Even an experienced physician
would tell them that he had never heard about the herbs.
If it were not for Shanks'' superb clinical skills, they would have wondered if they were being fooled.
The woman frowned while she watched Luca separate the herbs into two piles.
There must be a pile of genuine herbs and another pile of fake herbs, but the woman had no idea
which pile was the one with genuine products.
As the woman watched one of the piles of herbs grow bigger, she became worried that those were fake
herbs. She would get scolded by Shanks for not taking her job seriously.
Luca looked and smelled the herbs she held in her hands. It did not take long for her to finish
identifying all the herbs.
"These are fake. You''ll have to keep looking for them." Luca pointed at the bigger pile of herbs.
The man frowned, "That much?"
They had collected the herbs from the vigers and physicians who stayed in the deep mountains and
forests. It was unlikely that there were so many fake herbs and medicines in those ces.
"Yes." Luca dusted off the scraps of the herbs on her hands and rose to her feet.
"How''s that possible? It took us a lot of effort to collect all these. We evenpared the herbs with the
photos that Dr. Shanks had sent us." The woman refused to believe it, and she thought Luca was
making things difficult for them on purpose.
"Youpared them with the photos? Do you know anything about medicine?" Luca asked.
The man and woman shook their heads.
"There are many nts that look alike in this world, but their efficacies differ greatly. Some of these are
just wild grasses that look simr to the herb. They have no medicinal properties in them. To put it
bluntly, you''ve been fooled," Luca said coldly without feeling sorry for them.
She knew how much money the two of them had spent and how much effort they had put to look for
these herbs.
Still, the money belonged to the Ind of Despair, so there was nothing to be sorry about.
Their efforts were wasted, and there was nothing she could say about it.
"Miss, I know we made a big mistake for treating you like that just now. But can you go through them
again?" The man and woman had the same thoughts and asked Luca in a kind and polite manner.