“There's no way she can prove her identity. And Ivana sounds like a Russian name," the woman reminded the man.

Luca shot a glance 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 Island 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 Island 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 blade 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 Island 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 explained 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 Island of Despair without a tattoo." Luca glanced 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 Island 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 to come here?" Luca was not the least bit frightened when she heard that the woman was planning to kill her. Têxt © .

“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 Island 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.

"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 Island 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 Island 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 glance at the woman.

The look on the woman's face changed after she heard Shanks' voice coming 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 island 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 relaxed 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 names labeled 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 villagers and physicians who stayed in the deep mountains and forests. It was unlikely that there were so many fake herbs and medicines in those places.

"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 even compared 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.

"You compared them with the photos? Do you know anything about medicine?" Luca asked.

The man and woman shook their heads.

"There are many plants that look alike in this world, but their efficacies differ greatly. Some of these are just wild grasses that look similar 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 Island 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.