Chapter 271: Chapter 173: Black Cocoon X Urushibara Osamu, Pandora Invasion Plan
"Is he your collaborator?"
Black Cocoon shook his head, interrupting, "Unfortunately, there is no partnership between me and Bernardo, we’ve never even met."
He extended a streak of restraint belt from his fingertips, "My real collaborators are the Eternal Abyss Shark ’Yaguba’ who has infiltrated the Anecdote Terrarium, and the owner of this little shark, the Third Prince ’Cezar’... And both of my collaborators have their own agendas — Yaguba’s goal is to devour the Legendary Whale, to complete his race’s revenge; whereas Cezar’s goal is to leave the Whale Terrarium alive."
"A struggle for royal power, isn’t it?"
"Exactly, the Third Prince is an illegitimate child, yet the King shows favoritism towards him, so the royal family joined with the Black Death Cult’s leader ’Bernardo’ to afflict the King with the black death, so they can get rid of the Third Prince during this period... this way, no one will be left to compete with them for the throne."
Urushibara Osamu was silent for a moment: "I see, when Bernardo and I talked about this earlier, I thought some details seemed blank, lacking... With your supplement, I roughly understand what happened inside the Whale Terrarium."
Black Cocoon shook his head again, "I see you are planning to invade the Whale Terrarium with Bernardo, but unfortunately, you only know the intelligence about the chaos inside, with no leader, but you haven’t found a crucial breakthrough."
He intensified his tone, "And I... can provide you with this breakthrough."
Urushibara Osamu looked up at him, "You’ve said so much, you must have more in mind than just providing me with free intelligence."
"Of course, Commander, haven’t you noticed that the goals of my two collaborators actually do not conflict with your brigade’s interests?"
Urushibara Osamu thought for a moment, "The goal of the Eternal Abyss Shark is to devour the Legendary Whale; the treasures of the Box Garden Kingdom are dispensable to it. The Third Prince’s goal is to escape from the royal power struggle and leave the Whale Terrarium safely... indeed, their goals do not conflict with our brigade’s objectives."
"Exactly, talking with smart people is always a breeze," Black Cocoon sighed, "If you are willing to cooperate with me, I will inform my collaborator ’Yaguba’, and by then, you’ll join forces to combat the Whale Terrarium’s strongest force, ’Royal Court Team’."
He lowered his voice eerily, "And as long as you defeat the Royal Court Team, for your White Crow Travel Brigade, entering the Royal Palace will be like entering an uninhabited land... then no one will be able to stop you, and the treasures in the vault will be at your disposal, but..."
At this, Black Cocoon suddenly raised a finger, "If you are suspicious that my intelligence is false, then this valuable opportunity for cooperation will fly away... I never betray my collaborators, Commander, as long as you cooperate with me, all my actions will be to your advantage."
"In fact, even if the series of intelligence you just mentioned is true, it doesn’t change much," Urushibara Osamu said, "The most important intelligence, you’ve kept silent about until now."
Saying this, he lifted his deep-set eyes from the poker, meeting Black Cocoon’s gaze.
"After all, this is my biggest bargaining chip, how could I give it away right at the beginning?" Black Cocoon said, "I must be sure that you will cooperate with me before I can tell you this crucial intelligence."
"This indeed is a very free partnership; I can betray you, and you can betray me," Urushibara Osamu said, "And neither of us worries about each other’s betrayal."
Black Cocoon said eerily, "Exactly, my purpose is simply to let the brigade make a mess inside, whatever you do can stir up chaos, giving my two collaborators a chance to escape...
"And your goal is even simpler, every member of the White Crow Travel Brigade, as long as they see something interesting, will pounce on it regardless of the cost, and you, the Commander, especially so. Life and death mean nothing to you."
Saying that, he tapped the railing lightly with his fingers, "By the way, Red Dragon stands on the Third Prince’s side, and by then he’ll most likely fight alongside your brigade against the Royal Court Team members."
He clicked his tongue, "Of course... with Red Dragon’s mind-numbingly foolishness, he might act to protect the Terrarium against you, despite its low possibility."
"Red Dragon..." Urushibara Osamu contemplated for a moment, "So much chatter, you haven’t uttered a word of the most critical intelligence."
The two knew: the most crucial intelligence in this negotiation was the landing site for the Legendary Whale’s next appearance.
After a moment’s silence, Black Cocoon slowly spoke, "August 1st, Norway, the port of Bergen."
"I hope you don’t disappoint me; do your best, Commander," Black Cocoon scratched his jaw, "As for which port exactly, I think you can judge for yourselves by then, after all, with such a huge commotion the Legendary Whale will cause, you surely won’t play deaf, will you?"
"I’ve received the intelligence," Urushibara Osamu suddenly said, "By the way, you might want to take a look at your book."
Black Cocoon lowered his eyes and flipped through the Hamlet in his hand, only to find that every page was stuffed with a playing card, a glance revealed a King of Spades, a Jack of Hearts, a Joker, a Little Joker... it was unclear when Urushibara Osamu had placed them there.
"So?" Black Cocoon closed the book, shaking his head indifferently, "This prank is interesting, though a bit immature compared to mine... My pranks always strike the heart, like sending someone diapers, or sending someone diapers... Oops, seems I’m stuck on diapers."
Urushibara Osamu said leisurely, "Such a bland reaction... it seems you’re meeting me with a clone."
"What else do you expect? No way I’d use my real body to meet a cold-blooded killer like you, Commander," Black Cocoon said. He casually tossed the borrowed Hamlet from the bookstore owner, letting thousands of playing cards flutter and mingle with the pages, getting lost in the night.
"Then catching you has no meaning," Urushibara Osamu said, "What a pity."
Black Cocoon tilted his head to look at him, saying with interest, "Commander, although I’m honored to be your quarry, it’s a great pity that you’re likely never to catch me in this lifetime."
Finished speaking, he slowly stood up, like a circus performer, standing motionless on the railing, gazing sideways at the brightly lit long street.
"Hope you survive... even villains need a villainous savior."
Urushibara Osamu did not respond.
"Lastly," Black Cocoon said, "I’m always good at leaving an interesting suspense for each of my collaborators, so they’ll look forward to our next meeting."
At this point, he suddenly lowered his voice, "Urushibara Ryuri... she’s still alive."
The moment he heard that name, Urushibara Osamu’s fingers playing with the poker cards hesitated slightly.
After a while, he slowly raised his head, asking coolly, "You know this name?"
"Yes, that’s the look. Such a delicious look, even Blue Arc and Ghost Bell gave me this look, it’s truly delightful... even though you deliberately tried to make your tone sound calm, you couldn’t hide that hint of surprise."
Black Cocoon spoke slowly.
He thought to himself: Looks like I made the right bet; this Urushibara Ryuri does have something to do with the Commander. What exactly is their relationship? I’m terribly curious.
Since Urushibara Ryuri was the Salvation Society’s undercover agent sent to the Rainbow Wings, does the Commander also have any association with these two organizations?
At this juncture, Black Cocoon broke the silence:
"If you want to know about her, you must ensure the safety of my two collaborators, Commander...
"I hope you don’t have any crooked ideas in this cooperation, like capturing my collaborators to threaten me, otherwise our future cooperation shall cease.
"And you... as an untrustworthy collaborator, will not get any information about ’Urushibara Ryuri’ from me."
As his words fell, Black Cocoon’s body tilted backward like a toppled non-tumbler toy, falling into the boundless darkness, and then disappeared, dissipating into a misty steam.
Urushibara Osamu watched his departure silently from the corner of his eye, after a long while, he conjured a Crow from his fingertips.
As the Crow flew away, his figure too scattered into a flurry of Crow Feathers.