Another handful of solar heretics who had infiltrated by smuggling ship from Cold Harbor were unearthed and imprisoned in a church near the port area.

Vanna returned from the cell area beneath the church and went to the common room of the upper chapel, where the district bishop in charge of the church was already waiting.

"Inquisitor Vanna," the slightly emaciated bishop of the region saluted the young inquisitor, "may the waves protect your soul. ”

"May the waves protect your soul," Vanna replied to the bishop, and then walked to the side chair with a somewhat tired footsteps, "In the harbor area alone, this is already the second group of solar heretics to be thrown into prison, right?" ”

"Yes, we caught a dozen people three days ago - they were caught and stopped in time when they tried to kill a citizen, and now this is the second group, and they alerted a meter reader when they were performing a dark ceremony in an apartment building," the district bishop nodded, his eyes slightly worried, "and unknowingly, so many cultists have infiltrated it...... Luckily we found out early, otherwise their dark rituals wouldn't have killed many people. ”

"Poland is a transportation hub on the vast sea, and the last four years have been calm, which has paralyzed a lot of people's nerves," Vanna nodded, "but ...... It's not clear if we'll find out sooner or later, but it's likely that the heretics who arrived early have been operating in the dark for some time, only recently to be revealed. ”

The regional bishop glanced at the inquisitor's expression, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "I heard that many people have been arrested in other regions?" ”

"Yes, there are in almost every city," Vanna did not hide, "and now the underground cells of almost every church are incarcerated by the sun-infant heretics, from a few to dozens...... But most of them are the lowest minions, operating in the city-state in order to find out information, and they have not undergone much training, so they are easily exposed...... The true upper priest has not yet been discovered. ”

Vanna's tone unconsciously became serious at the end, with a faint worry on her face.

Since the discovery of these heretics' search for "Sun Fragments", the Poland authorities and the church have reacted quickly, launched a large-scale search and arrest through hidden channels throughout the city, and actively mobilized citizens to report and investigate, and the results of this series of actions are not insignificant-

In a very short period of time, the whereabouts of a large number of cultists who did not have time to react were exposed, and these filthy and bloody cultists are now almost filled with the underground prisons of various churches, and their number is almost equal to the number of cultists found in the city-state in the past four years combined.

However, so far, those who have been caught are just minions who are acting indiscriminately, at most there are some low-level priests who hold "mass-produced holy relics" and have just received blessings, and those real high-level powers are still hidden behind the scenes.

This made Vana faintly irritable.

"The fact that there are results every day, but they have not been able to grasp their 'backbone' gives me the feeling that the situation is still deteriorating out of sight," she said to the regional bishop in front of her, "With such a large number of cultists operating in the city-state, it is impossible not to have a high-ranking commander behind them, but this 'commander' has not yet appeared." ”

After a moment of contemplation, the regional bishop slowly spoke: "According to the results of the current interrogation, these minions are only at the behest of the 'messengers', and the so-called 'messengers' are a group of low-level priests who listen directly to the voices of their heirs through imitation sun masks...... Do you say that there is an heir of the sun already lurking in the city-state? ”

"The Son of the Sun lurks in the human city-state? Seriously...... It's logically unlikely," Vanna frowned slightly, "although they have great power, they also have obvious 'traces of existence', and the foul and foul smell can't be hidden at all...... The city-state is full of churches and patrolling guardians, and theoretically there shouldn't be a 'blind spot'. ”

"So it's just speculation," the regional bishop shook his head, "I also know that the Sun Heir is difficult to hide in a civilized society, but those low-level 'emissaries' do carry the Sun Mask with them, and even if they are not directly controlled by the Heir, they must have maintained contact with the Sun Heir to a certain extent...... After all, mass production of holy relics is also a holy relic, and those cultists also have to consider the cost of action, and they will not make meaningless arrangements. ”

Fanna curled her finger to her chin and suddenly spoke in thought: "I read the interrogation transcript yesterday, and those heretics are mainly asking about the extraordinary events that happened in the city-state eleven years ago...... They think that has something to do with the debris of the sun? ”

"It seems so now," the regional bishop nodded, "and while they don't know where their intelligence came from, they seem to be convinced that it was the sun fragments that caused the 'chemical plant riot' in Poland eleven years ago...... I remember you were ...... back then."

The regional bishop said, suddenly stopped, he looked at the striking scar on Vanna's left eye, and lowered his head slightly: "I'm sorry, I lost my words. ”

Fanna subconsciously raised her hand and brushed the scar on her face, but soon smiled indifferently and shook her head: "It's okay, it's just a scar, you're right, I'm also a witness to the riot, there's nothing that can't be said." ”

"There were also those cultists in that riot, and as many as 100 of the saboteurs arrested afterwards were solar heretics," said the regional bishop in a deep voice, "but now the solar heretics who have infiltrated the city-state are asking for the truth about the events of eleven years ago...... It's like they really don't know what happened here eleven years ago, don't you think it's weird? ”

“…… Either that, eleven years ago, it was the solar heretics of the city-state of Purand who acted on their own, so the cultists of the other city-states didn't know the truth here, or ...... Eleven years ago, the appearance of Sun Fragments in Poland was just an accident, or the work of some third party, and the heretics who participated in the riots back then were only used as gunmen," Vanna said lightly, "According to the interrogation records of that year, the 'saboteurs' who were captured at that time were indeed in a state of delirium, and their madness was not out of control, but more like they were influenced by powerful forces. ”

“…… Chasing twisted and strange things, and being dominated by strange powers, becoming firewood for the flames of chaos in the chaos, and finally being abandoned in the ashes......" sighed the regional bishop, "what a miserable life. ”

Vanna didn't speak for a moment, she just stood up silently and came to the window of the lounge.

Through the window, she could see the situation in the harbor area from afar - the total lockdown of the entire port has ended, many of the piers and piers have been reopened, but Pier 1 is still in the highest level of lockdown, and the beautiful and brand-new steamship "White Oak" is still quietly moored at the end of the pier, under constant monitoring and daily purification ceremonies as planned.

The crew of the White Oak has been transferred to the Central Cathedral - they are now under the highest level of surveillance as the parties involved in the close contact with the Lost Country.

The church is inhabited by heretics who follow the Black Sun, a "Lost Homecoming" that has come into contact with the Lost Country is moored in the harbor, and a group of seafarers who have met Captain Duncan up close and live in the Central Cathedral...... It's a big head to think about.

The sun had already set, but it was not yet time for day and night, and the bishop of the region had lit several oil lamps in the room in advance, and the flickering flames were reflected in the glass windows.

Vanna withdrew her gaze towards the port area, "I heard that the out-of-control notification document for Anomaly 099 has been sent to the port area?" ”

"Yes, it was just delivered this afternoon, would you like to take a look?" The regional bishop said as he pulled out the folded papers from his side, "For some reason, it was a little later than expected. ”

"Show me," Vana reached out to take the paper, looking directly at the setting sun by the window, while casually explaining, "It's normal to be a little later—after all, Anomaly 099's runaway situation is unique, it broke free from the seal in a head-on encounter with the ghost ship, and the bishops of the various city-states must carefully weigh the wording and information in the announcement document in case this document is about to be distributed to all the routes from creating too many 'directional connections'...... Otherwise, what was supposed to help the captains avoid risk could instead link them to the Lost Country. ”

In the dim light of the approaching sunset, the closest oil lamp to Fanna in the lounge suddenly jumped, and the flames in the oil lamp crackled slightly, accompanied by the word "lost country" that she unconsciously said casually.