There are a total of six core blocks and twelve avenues or avenues in the core of the city-state of Caster, and the Golden Street is the secondary area below the block.

As the core area of the northern part of the city-state, the Idrisu neighborhood is mostly occupied by factories, or the entire northern city is a factory area.

It's just that the neighborhood of Idrissu is inhabited by either senior managers of factories or people with special skills, and the three main streets north of Idrisus are inhabited by workers.

Wayne and Tina walked out of the Dumitru neighborhood, heading east through the city-state's central area, and then turning north to the Idrisu neighborhood.

But it was clear that with the size of the northern city, it would be difficult for him to find Lacey.

"Tina, can you find Lacey?"

Wayne had to turn to Tina for help, he had just checked the area covered by the psychic perception, and he didn't find Lacey or Carly.

The white-haired girl took his hand, "Tina, Horizon." ”

When Wayne opened his eyes again, the scene around him had changed to a different one.

In the dark and dead world, only he and the white-haired girl beside him remained, as well as ......

"Hee-hee-ha, meet again, young Mr. Wizard."

The demon clown crouched between the two of them, one moment close to Tina, the next to Wayne, the red eyes under the mask full of excitement.

Wayne: "......"

Damn, why is this here too?

"Tina, can you see him?"

"Tina, all the time." The white-haired girl clenched his hand, and her originally empty eyes were a little more colorful, "Clown, shut up." ”

"Hee-ha-ha...... Shut up? Little girl, you don't know me...... Not! ”

Bang.

Before he could finish speaking, it was as if an invisible force had slammed the clown to the ground.

Wayne only felt that countless shadows were surging around him, and those shadows seemed to be the boundless malice, horror, despair, coldness, and dead silence of this dark world......

Hiss!

"This is ......" Wayne gasped as he looked at the clown who was being suppressed, "Tina? ”

The clown's face was bruised and bruised, and his eyes were fierce and cruel, "Quick, let, she, let go, let go, me!" ”

He was wearing a black gown, embellished with gold lines, but his posture was very unsightly, his head was stuck to the ground and his ass was cocked, like a rooster about to be pulled by the neck.

"Tina, shut up."

The white-haired girl's fingers moved, and more shadows emerged from the darkness, wrapping around the clown's blood-red mouth.

"Woo, woo?"

Wayne looked at Tina in a daze, and then at the demon clown on the ground, it turned out that the white-haired girl was the most powerful one......

"Woo Kuyan Tefu Lu!"

Mr. Clown gritted his teeth with his hands on the ground, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move half a minute.

Wayne spread his hands and said secretly, "I'm sorry, Joker, oh no, Mr. Leonard, I can't help it."

Then he turned his head to the northeast, looking for Lacey and Carly, and soon found them through the moving shadows around them.

This ability is really convenient......

I saw that in the dark world, the figures of Lacey and Carly were clearly visible, as if they were standing in the spotlight.

Not only that, but in addition to the two of them, there were several other clear objects that appeared.

"Those things are ......"

[You witness the "Taboo 0-34 Revival Coffin", the fate trajectory has changed to a certain extent, and the current encounter progress is 30/100.] Comment: I advise you not to look at it. Special Rewards: Survival Points +10, Origin +1, Spirit Level +1, Resilience Level +1. 】

[You witness "Forbidden Item 0-78 Rover's Left Eye", the trajectory of fate has changed to a certain extent, and the current encounter progress is 10/100. Appraise:...... Special Rewards: Survival Point +3, Spirit Level +1, Tenacity Level +1. 】

Sensing the red prompt message in his mind, Wayne stopped looking at it and hurriedly said, "Tina, cancel the spiritual vision." ”

"Tina, the horizon is canceled."

Wayne couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as he looked at the scene around him that had returned to normal.

The white-haired girl's spiritual ability is convenient, but it is also really scary.

Rover's left eye should be the forbidden object that belonged to the Church of the Dawn, could it be on the statue of the Lord of the Dawn in the previous chapel?

There are also a few other bright lights just now, can't it also be taboo?

"Let's go, let's go meet up with Lacey first."

"Tina, go."

Wayne took her hand and looked at the clown doll in her other hand, I don't know if it's an illusion, how do you feel that the doll's expression is a little loveless?

Joker: Hee, hee...... It hurts, it hurts, my heart hurts so much...... Hahaha......

……

……

"Damn Yegor, I've already contacted him and asked him to arrange for Tina to come over, it's noon, what about people?"

Lacey sat on the roof of the broken house and cursed, looked at the sky, and saw that the day was more than halfway over, and her face was even worse.

"I guess, I'm already on my way."

Carly sat next to her, staring at the high wall in the distance, not knowing what the scene was like outside the city, "Captain, have you ever been outside the city-state?" ”

Lacey followed her gaze and said casually, "I've been there, it's similar to that in the city-state." ”

Is it about the same?

Carly asked curiously, "There, too, there are so many people with bad intentions?" ”

She followed Euan from the sea to the city-state of Custer as a child and never left.

She remembered that Euan had warned her that she should never run outside the high walls, it was dangerous.

"Most of them are aberrations, and there is a lack of materials outside the city-state, especially the brilliance of your dawn."

Lacey recalled, "I remember that not long after I joined the Secret Division, I followed Old Jack, well, and Rogette on a mission to the villages outside the city. ”

"The village is the size of two Basil neighborhoods, but the environment is very poor, even worse than the Laos neighborhood, and people become distorted almost every day because of the red moon pollution."

"But it's a lot better than the mountains and forests where there is no shelter, and it's a place that can barely survive."

"That's right."

Carly nodded thoughtfully, behind that high wall, there should be a lot of heretics who need to be sanctioned, right?

"Don't worry too much about people and things that aren't in front of you, Carly."

Lacey said, "I would like you to become the Holy Maiden of the Church of the Dawn, in that case, the situation of the city-state of Caster, as your hometown, will definitely improve." ”

"I, I'll try."

Saint......

A hint of confusion flashed across Carly's face, could she really become a true saint?

"Let's talk about the case again."

Lacey saw that her expression was wrong, and changed the subject: "When I went to the fabric factory yesterday, I already found that many workers were not in the right state, and some images of the corpses of the porters were also found during the process. ”

"In addition to this, the disappearance of Mr. Michelle, the head of the factory, and it is now certain that he met with a suspicious person before his disappearance......"

"The next direction of the investigation is to find the suspicious person, as well as those who left through the secret passage...... What do you think? ”

Carly hesitated, "I, I think those workers should know something, and when I asked them yesterday, there were a few people with very strange expressions. ”

"Workers......"

Lacey pondered, "Then when Wayne and the others come, let's go back again." ”

Agreed?

So I'm right?

Carly had a happy look on her face, just now she was worried that saying the wrong thing would affect Lacey's judgment......

"It seems that you have a preliminary understanding of the work of an investigator, and I believe that after a while, you will become a qualified investigator."

"I'll study hard."

At this time, Lacey noticed two figures walking in the distance, and his expression was relieved, "They are finally here." ”

Carly also saw Wayne and them, and got up and waved, "We're here." ”

Wayne and Tina, following the direction they found in the vision, took half an hour to reach the factory area.

It has to be said that the area of the Idrisu neighborhood is much larger than the other neighborhoods, and after passing through several residential areas, there are factories that are far apart.

However, interestingly, Wayne found a bone eater here that he hadn't seen for a long time.

[Because your toughness level is greater than level 8, the Bone Eater Insect attack fails!] 】

【……】

Since leaving his settlement, he has received at least 8 attacks from the Bone Eaters, which are no longer rewarding him.

"Wayne, we're here."

Hearing Carly's voice, Wayne waved to them from afar, and saw Lacey and the others running towards them, and he waited with Tina.

"Vice Captain Luo An, what gift do you want to prepare for the captain's daughter's birthday today?"

"Of course it's the doll, but I've already saved the gold pounds."

"A doll costs 1 gold pound 5 shillings, damn the fabric factory, are their hearts distorted?"

“……”

Well?

A group of city guards happened to pass by Wayne, and he looked at the pale men.

Is it a delusion?

[You are locked by Roan Kallio's killing intent.] Comments: A parasitic species infested by the Osteoeater, who is eager to capture you and sacrifice to the Osteoeater. Reward: +1 Survival Point. 】

【……】

[You are locked in by Zailul Pinedo's killing intent. Comments: A parasitic species infested by the Osteoeater, who is eager to capture you and sacrifice to the Osteoeater. Reward: +1 Survival Point. 】

Ten Killing Intent Locked?

Ten city guards?

Wayne frowned, these people were all controlled by the Bone Eaters?

He thought for a moment, then removed the musket from the holster at his waist and stopped in front of the city guards, "Guys, can you wait a minute?" ”

The city guards led by him were wearing bronze armor, representing his status as the captain in the city guards, and saluted as usual: "Mr. Investigator, you are blocking our way, is there something wrong?" ”

"Going way?"

Wayne shook his head while loading his bullets, "That's not good, I've been attacked by bone eaters several times before, and since we collided, I can't let you leave so easily." ”

"Huh?"

"Shhh

A black aura flashed on the faces of the city guards, and their eyes were sometimes clear, sometimes trance-like, as if they were receiving some orders.

And the city guards who led him were still smiling: "I think there should be a misunderstanding here......

"Misunderstanding?" Wayne laughed, "With such stiff and unnatural expressions and strange body movements, do you really think you are normal?" ”

Hearing this, the city guards stopped pretending, and their faces showed hideous expressions, "You really damn it, Mr. Inquisitor." ”

"Wouldn't it be nice to say that earlier?"

"Kill him!"

"Shhh

Bang, bang......

For these city guards, who were only one line stronger than ordinary people, Wayne was almost one shot.

There was not even a chance for the death trait to trigger, and in the blink of an eye, the nine city guards were eliminated, leaving only the people who led them to wait for Lacey and the others to come over and see if they could find something.

[You use your musket to kill Zaylul Pinedo (Bone Eater Parasite).] Evaluation: Poor scum. Special Rewards: +2 Survival Points, +1 Marksmanship. 】

【……】

"You, die!" The only remaining city guards roared and rushed over, their standard knives waving and slashing down.

Wayne plugged his musket back, snapped his fingers, and flashed to Tina's side.

"Niko, Rook."

Two phantom clones cast two enchanting spells on the poor city guard captain who was parasitized by the bone eater: "Mens, Di." ”

"Die, kill you, die......"

"Sacrifice to the Mother, your bones and your body belong to the Great Mother......"

"You're finished, you're all finished, the Great Mother Emperor will devour the entire city-state and turn this place into an abyssal purgatory, hahaha......"

Looking at the city guards who were wielding long knives and slashing desperately, Wayne shook his head.

Bone Eater Mother, when will she become a mother queen?

As far as he knew, according to the strength of the abyssal creatures, the bone-eating mother worm was at most comparable to the level of a second-level calamity, and it was far from devouring the entire city-state.

Is it true that the parties to the city-state that are in danger all the time have no way to deal with it?

"What's going on?"

When Lacey and Carly arrived, they looked at the corpses of the city guards who had been shot in the head all over the ground and asked.

"Ah," Wayne said, gesturing to a few small gray-and-white bugs crawling out of the corpse, "Bone eaters." ”

"Bone eaters?" Lacey's face changed slightly, and she and Carly glanced at each other, "Those workers from yesterday are parasites?" ”

"Huh? Worker? ”

"It's the case we investigated yesterday, no wonder I don't think the appearance of those workers is quite right, it turns out that they are all parasitized by bone eaters."

Lacey stepped forward a few times to explode those bone eaters, and said hatefully: "Wayne, you now go to the city guards stationed in the Idrisu neighborhood for help, and go directly to the Michelle cloth factory to meet." ”

"Carly, let's go."

"Okay."

With that, the two women ran towards a factory in the distance.

Wayne was stunned for a moment, looked at the back of them leaving, and then looked at the captain of the city guard who was still talking nonsense, so what should I do with this thing?

After a moment of thought, he summoned the mechanical door and let the mechanical puppet Zero who stayed inside come out to breathe.

"Baba," Zero said as he stepped out of the mechanical door, jumping nimbly on his hands and feet, his childish voice cheering, "Look at me, I can control my body." ”

When the driver saw it come out, he couldn't close his mouth with a smile, and kept circling around his mechanical head, "Zero." ”

"Not bad, not bad."

Wayne saw that it was covered with a faint layer of black glow, and it seemed that it would soon come in handy with the death trait attached.

"Take this guy and we'll go."

"Yes."

Zero saluted, but looked at the city guards who were still brandishing their long knives and slashing, and scratched their heads, "Is he attacking?" ”

"Hmm."

Wayne flipped his hand and shot through the arm of the city guard captain with a musket, and after seeing him drop the long knife, he nodded, "It's okay now." ”

Zero's eyes flashed with a clear emotion, did he want to control it like this?

It walked over and picked up the captain of the city guard, "Is that so?" ”

"yes, that's great."

Wayne gave it a thumbs up and dragged Tina along the path she had come, remembering that the city guards stationed in the Idrisu neighborhood were not far from the residential area.

"You're going to die, you're going to die, haha......"

The captain of the city guard was carried by Zero, his hands drooping, but his feet were still struggling.

Click, click.

"Ahh

When Wayne looked back, he saw that the two legs of the city guard were also drooping, and it could be seen from the twisted shape of the legs that he would have to be disabled for at least life.

It's bad enough to be parasitized by bone eaters, and it's not good to be honest to be honest and suffer such torture?

"Is that so, Baba?" Zero looked at the captain of the city guard who was no longer moving, and invited the merit.

“…… It's great. Wayne squeezed out a smile and gave another thumbs up.

The child is still young and needs to be taught...... There's a long way to go.

Zero gave a thumbs up, as if greatly encouraged, and grabbed the poor city guard and tossed it around like a toy.

"I, I, the mother emperor will definitely kill, kill you, kill ......"

Click.

"Woo, woo, woo......"

"He's too noisy, Baba."

"You're doing a great job."

Wayne didn't look back, and continued his encouragement education, deciding that he would definitely find time to teach Zero well in the future.

Otherwise, this child is afraid that he will learn badly......

He also counted on Zero to help him craft bullets, guns, and even other mechanical golems.

Tina looked back at the movement behind her, and a twinkle in her eyes flashed when she saw that the captain of the city guard was speechless.

Is it like this?

Then she turned her head away, and the fingers holding the clown doll moved slightly.

For the first time, the clown's fierce eyes showed a touch of pity, woo woo...... Uh-huh, mmm-hmm......

(woohoo...... Don't don't don't ...... ）

……

……

Wait for Wayne to be in front of the garrison in the Idrisu neighborhood and let Zero blow up the poor captain of the city guard and remove the bone eaters in it.

The garrison city guards exploded one after another, and Captain Flick did not hesitate to lead three teams of hundreds of city guards to follow Wayne to the factory area.

"If you dare to use the Abyss Creature Parasite City Guard, I must make him pay!"

Wayne let Zero return to the mechanical gate and asked, "Captain Flick, have you encountered this before?" ”

"From time to time, people from the Abyss Sect summoned some Abyssal creatures to come over, but there had never been such a large casualty. That's an elite veteran stationed in the watchtower, and he was ...... like that."

"Watchtower?"

Wayne frowned as he looked at the watchtower on the high wall to the north.

The Bone Eaters had just appeared in the Laos neighborhood before, but now they were factory workers and city guards stationed on the periphery, and they always felt that they were not randomly chosen parasitic targets.

"Let's rush to the factory first and ask Captain Lacey's opinion."

"That's it......"

It wasn't long before Wayne arrived at the Michelle Cloth Factory with the city guards. Lacey and Carly were already cleaning up the parasitic workers in the factory.

"The Great Mother!"

"Devotion ......"

Hundreds of workers had turned their eyes to pure black, their faces full of madness and excitement, and they pounced on Lacey and them with vigorous steps.

"Aceril."

"Divine Salvation!"

Lacey showed no mercy, wielding her two-handed axe across a parasite.

But Carly was obviously a little unbearable, and she was standing behind Lacey to assist.

And this situation has improved after Wayne and others arrived.

Even if those parasites were strengthened by the bone eaters, they were still a little worse than the city guards.

Almost in a flash, the parasitic workers were crushed by the city guards.

"Is there any way to save them?"

"No," Lacey shook her head coldly, wiping the blood from her body.

Bit her lip, Carly stepped forward without saying a word, her hands attached to Dawnlight and pressed against the parasite's head, trying to purify the bone eater.

Lacey did not stand in the way.

Even an experienced investigator like her couldn't calmly kill all the parasites.

Unfortunately, as the bone eaters were purified, the workers did not survive......

"Damn, most of the people here are already parasitized."

Lacey briefly exchanged a few words with Captain Frick, and told them to control the remaining workers and forbid anyone to enter or leave.

"What we have to do now is to quickly find the bone-eating motherworm, otherwise more people will be parasitized."

Wayne looked at the busy city guards, as well as the crazy workers, "Captain, what are you going to do?" ”

"Is that the mysterious man who met Mr. Michelle?" Carly thought of something.

"It should be him."

Lacey said with a solemn expression: "But now there is another more important matter, we must notify the city-state high-level as soon as possible and comprehensively investigate the residents of the city-state." ”

"Captain, you mean it's not just here?"

"I also hope my suspicions are wrong......"

“……”

Wayne was well aware that Lacey's suspicions were right.

Ten days had passed since he first encountered the Bone Eater Motherworm...... For such a long time, I don't know how many people that female worm has parasitized.

But even the Idrisu neighborhood, which does not border the Laos neighborhood, has so many parasites, so there must be other neighborhoods too.

I don't know if the bone-eating mother is still in the Laos neighborhood......

After the four of them had discussed, Lacey directly asked Captain Frick to arrange for several city guards to inform the council, the noble council, and the secret secretary respectively.

And Carly even wrote a letter, in the name of the Church of the Dawn Church Saint-in-Waiting, asking the Krems Cathedral to send a clergy to assist in the investigation.

While Lacey and the others made some responses in an orderly manner, Wayne took Tina around the factory.

[You are locked by Yanupi Pinker's killing intent.] Reward: +1 Survival Point. 】

【……】

[You are locked by Matteo Haines' killing intent. Evaluation: There is a big fish, it depends on whether you can find him. Reward: +5 Survival Points. 】

Five survival points?

Wayne glanced at the panel, frowning slightly, according to his experience since he obtained the panel, that person's strength was at least the level of Collins.

"Tina, use psionics."

He had just sensed his surroundings and didn't notice anything, so it was up to Tina to see if he could find something.

"Tina, Horizon."

As darkness fell, Wayne glanced around and saw an extremely conspicuous figure crouching in the corner of a three-story building not far away.

And not far from the shadow, Melbert was staring at the shadow......

Wayne scolded secretly: Damn, it turns out that the guardian knight has already discovered the person behind the troublemaker?

"Woo woo woo ......"

Well?

Wayne glanced at the clown who was still lying on the ground, and couldn't help but shake his body.

Damn, Tina is so ruthless?

At this time, the demon clown, the mouth that was originally blocked by the shadows, has now been tightly sewn by the silk threads turned into shadows.

Not to mention speaking, I can't even open my mouth......

He could only use his vicious and cruel eyes and whining voice to signal Wayne to hurry up and rescue him.

Wayne just didn't see it, and directly asked Tina to cancel the psychic state.

So you summoned a ghostly vicious dog to abuse Lao Tzu last night, and your mouth was shut up, right?

Well deserved!

After the two of them left the psychic state, Wayne hurriedly found Lacey and whispered, "I found out where the person who was hiding is." ”

"Where?" Lacey's expression was fierce, "I'm going to kill him!" ”

"Follow me."

Wayne knew that the black shadow was watching them, so he didn't stop, and directly led a few people to surround the black shadow's location.

At this time, the black shadow was frowning at the parasites in the factory that had suffered heavy losses, and also found that the figures of Wayne and the others had already run towards him.

"Has it been discovered?"

The black shadow had a headache, but he didn't expect such a change to happen at the last moment.

But after thinking about it, he hurriedly left the hideout, and now he couldn't be caught by the secret department's people, otherwise the consequences were not something he could bear.

[You are locked by Matteo Haines' killing intent. Appraise...... Reward: +5 Survival Points. 】

"Ran away?"

When they arrived at the house, they only found a few bodies of the owner, and the dark shadow was long gone.

But when Tina was asked to use Psionic again, she didn't find anything...... It was as if the shadow had vanished from the city-state of Caster.

"Tina's psionic abilities are not omnipotent, and it is difficult to detect them if they go beyond a certain distance or use some special props."

The white-haired girl nodded slightly, "Tina, that's it." ”

Lacey glanced at the clown lying on the ground, and asked Tina to turn off her vision.

Fortunately, Tina hated Carly and didn't let her enter the Psionic Vision with her, otherwise seeing the Joker's appearance, the secret of the secret division would be exposed.

Wayne noticed that Melbel was also missing, did he chase the dark shadow away?

Thinking of this, he glanced at Carly, but didn't say anything.

"Captain, can we now confirm that this case is a mess behind someone's back, do you want to continue the investigation?"

"I'm afraid we won't be able to investigate," Lacey shook her head, "and this matter is no longer something we can handle." ”

As she spoke, she poured a bottle of developing medicine into the room, and when she saw the mysterious figure that appeared in the room in the past two days, she gritted her teeth and said, "Sure enough, it's him." ”

Carly looked at the figure and bit her lip, she thought of the factory workers parasitized by the bone eaters for the first time to kill a person.

Definitely, that heretic must be sanctioned!

"Let's go, go back."

Lacey's face was cold, and he wrote down the location of the house, and led the people back to the cloth factory.

Soon after they returned, the city-state officials who had been notified sent their officials to come, but some did not come.

The secret division consisted of two ministers, Yegor and Abbot, with several men from the fighting department.

A member of parliament came, but he only brought a few note-takers, and after he came here, after learning about the situation, he asked one of the note-takers to report back to the parliament.

And the people of the noble council did not come, saying that the matter did not involve the noble district and was not within their responsibility.

Similarly, neither the Church of Dawn nor the Church of the Storm came, for similar reasons to the Council of Nobles......

Although Carly was a little disappointed, she didn't say anything, after all, she was only a candidate for sainthood now, not the real saint crown of the Dawn Church.

On the contrary, the major newspapers in the city-state were like cats smelling fishy, and many reporters came to enclose this cloth factory with a large area.

"May I ask Mr. Councillor, will what happened in the factory spread to the entire city-state?"

"No, there is a detailed strategy on the part of the council."

"Then why are these poor workers parasitized, and why hasn't the city-state's circle opened?"

"An investigation is still needed, and when the investigation is clear, the council will work with the Secretary of the Secretariat and the City Guard to make an update."

"Excuse me......"

After these people arrived, Wayne and the others were left to dry, and it was not until three o'clock in the afternoon that they were told that they could go back.

"That's the end of it?"

Wayne looked at Yegor and the others, who were still discussing, a little confused.

What about the next steps?

Don't have to track down the whereabouts of the bone-eating mother?

And the mysterious figure who is hiding behind the scenes and doing all this?

"The tracking has been handed over to the Warheads," Lacey calmed down, "Besides, the council will coordinate with the city guards to scour the neighborhoods and remove parasites over the next two days." ”

Carly's face turned gloomy, "A lot of people will die, right?" ”

"I don't know how many people died, but it's clear that this is not an unusual thing."

"Huh?"

Wayne looked at Lacey, he had the same guess, always feeling that someone behind it was planning something.

"For abyssal creatures like the Bone Eater Motherworm that can cause widespread casualties, the rune circles in the city-state have specialized detection capabilities. But this time ......"

Lacey took a deep breath, "What is unusual this time is that that person can actually invalidate the rune array, which is definitely not something that the Abyss Sect can do, unless ......"

Wayne's expression moved, "You mean that there are people within the city-state who cooperate?" ”

Since outsiders can't do it, it must be something wrong internally, which is a very simple truth.

"Well, but it can't be ruled out that the person has a way to avoid widespread detection......"

Wayne frowned, maybe the Bone Eater Mother Worm could avoid detection, but it was impossible for all of these people to be parasitized by the Bone Eater Worm.

And it was only now that it was discovered, and it was obvious that there was a problem on the rune circle's side.

"Minister Yegor, do they know this?"

Lacey nodded, "He's already informed me to investigate the rune circle later." But ......"

At this point, she paused and motioned for a few people to leave the place first.

After they left the factory area and came to the residential area, Lacey said with a headache: "If you want to go to the city-state rune circle to investigate, you still need to apply to the council and the noble council from the top of our secret department. ”

"Yegor is not sure that he will be able to apply, so let us go back and wait for the notice first."

"Understood."

Wayne knew that as long as there was a follow-up direction for the investigation.

I'm afraid that the high-level leaders of the city-state will not act, and let the bone eater mother worm continue to divide the bone eater worm.

Why don't you go back to the Laos neighborhood later?

(End of chapter)