On the eastern outskirts of Beckland, a group of night watchmen in black trench coats appeared among the ruins of the ruins, and they quickly searched through the ruins in a team of three, and soon gathered together again.

"Your Excellency, four bodies have been found, the altar has been completely destroyed, and it seems that it was caused by an explosion inside."

A captain of the Nightwatch reported.

The Archbishop he called was none other than the Sage Anthony Stevenson of the Diocese of Beckland, who resealed the seal "0-17" after returning it to the Chanis Gate, and then led half of the night watchmen to the area to search for traces of the "Witch Cult".

"Try divination to find clues, but remember not to channel, the ghosts here are not gone."

He looked at the sky with a frown, commanded, and then led a group of night watchmen to push open the inner door of the ruins, and continued down the passageway.

Along the way, they found a number of recently inhabited rooms, some belonging to guards, some to detainees, and it was clear that there were people moving under the ruins not long ago, and even the shells of kerosene lamps were hot, but by this time both the guards and the innocent people in captivity were nowhere to be seen.

It wasn't until he entered the deepest room that Anthony stopped.

"This is the last place they stayed......"

After looking around with a deep gaze, the sage said slowly.

Suddenly, the oil lamps in the hands of several of the night watchmen who followed lost their light, and the whole room became dark.

After a few moments, everything was back to normal, and the walls around the room seemed to evaporate, but there were no secret doors or passages behind them, but unexcavated stone walls.

"Bring '2-155' down and try to track it down."

Anthony was silent for a long time, and then commanded the night watchman beside him.

————

At the same time, the Eastern District.

A four-wheeled carriage with a police badge slowly drove down the street, occasionally avoiding obstacles on the ground, some of them were unmanned, dead horses, some were survivors asking for help, and some were freight wagons heading out of the East End, covered with white cloth and stacked on top of each other in long strips of "goods" below.

It wasn't until the carriage was completely stopped and unable to move forward that five night watchmen jumped down from it.

They wore thin trench coats that made it easy to move, half-height silk top hats, and blood-red gloves on their hands.

"It's not far away, walk forward, be careful, although the smog is no longer fatal, there may still be some danger."

The middle-aged man who took the lead looked at the obstacle in front of the carriage, frowned and commanded, and then continued to run ahead first.

Several night watchmen behind him answered in low voices, and followed their captain.

Leonard Mitchell, who was at the end, looked gloomy at the freight carriage in front of the carriage parked in the middle of the road, the white cloth on its body was half lifted, and a random corpse could be seen underneath.

"What the hell is going on, old man?"

He didn't know who he was asking, with a tremolo, but in a very low tone, for fear of being heard by his teammates in front of him.

"My senses come from you, how can I know what you don't know?" An old voice came from Leonard's ear, containing a hint of imperceptible shock, "But I guess it may have something to do with the high-level extraordinary people of the witch path, the last time there was such a large-scale disease, it was hundreds of years ago...... It's just not clear if their purpose this time is to sacrifice or to hide some larger conspiracy. ”

"Sacrificial ......"

Leonard muttered a repetition with a grief in his eyes, he had only seen a similar scene in Tingen three months ago, when the Aurora Society sacrificed the lives of nearly 100 people in an attempt to give birth to the heirs of the "True Creator", killing his captain and teammates. But now, there are hundreds of dead people in his sight, and the entire East End, the entire Beckland doesn't know how many dead there will be.

So who will be the target of this sacrifice? What is the purpose?

With a lot of questions, he hurried after his teammates in front of him, and soon came to a deserted street.

It would be inaccurate to say that there are no people, there are countless miserable victims lying on both sides of the street, and the doors and windows of the buildings on both sides are closed, as if the entire street has long been abandoned, but Leonard knows that with the population density of the East End, there are at least hundreds of people living here.

At this time, there was silence.

"The hint for divination is here."

Sost, the leader of the Red Glove Squad, said slowly.

Without divination, you can see that this is the worst-hit area of the Eastern Side, where there are no whispering sobs or curses, no moans and cries for help from survivors, only deathly silence. But the smog here was the lightest they had seen along the way, and they could even see the sun beginning to set in the west overhead.

"There are traces of battles, bullet holes, shells, ice that has not yet melted......"

"A broken wand, keep it carefully, there may be new discoveries in divination......"

There was no time to feel sad, and several night watchmen quickly got into a working state, quickly dispersed and conducted a detailed search around, trying to find out the truth about the great haze.

Leonard gently picked up a bullet casing on the ground and brought it in front of his eyes to observe.

"Storm Convergence ......" He quickly recognized the intricate patterns and the Night Emblem on the bullet casing, and stood up and walked towards Sost, "Captain Sost, are there any other squads involved in the battle?" ”

"We were the first to arrive, and the rest of the team was searching for other locations in the Eastern End, where there were also traces of large ceremonies, and His Excellency the Archbishop had gone to the outskirts with half of the remaining men, and it was unlikely that he would be faster than us."

Sost replied, looking at Leonard with curious eyes, then moving to his hand.

It is strange that the only saint in the Diocese of Beckland who belongs to the Church of the Night is Archbishop Anthony, and other than that, only the "Sword of the Goddess" stranded here has similar strength. Could it be that the latter arrived ahead of schedule and solved the source of the great smog? But his fighting style doesn't seem to use pistol bullets......

Leonard pinched the bullet casing a little wordlessly, lost in thought, hoping that the old voice in his head would give some hints, but this time, the other party was also silent.

"Captain, the rest of the squad has arrived."

Leonard's thoughts were interrupted by the voice of another Nightwatchman, who looked to the side to see three Nightwatchmen hurrying in without red gloves, who were not part of the "Red Gloves" and were sent to explore in the other direction so as not to face the most dangerous enemies.

"Lord Sost," led by a "Nightmare", with deep eyes, but with exhaustion and worry, it seems that he has seen many post-disaster scenes on the way here, "We found a sacrificial ritual not far from here, according to the identification of the traces left behind, it is part of the larger ritual, there are three places, and the central point is here. ”

"In addition, there is a corpse of a young woman next to that altar, suspected to be the presiding officer of the sacrifice, with no external injuries on her body, but the extraordinary properties have been removed."

As he spoke, the nightmare looked at Sost with a puzzled gaze, as if suspecting that the "Red Gloves" had sabotaged the sacrifice in advance and dealt with the extraordinary.

"It's a pity that I don't know the exact situation, maybe only His Excellency the Archbishop knows the full picture of the incident......" Thorst shook his head and lowered his voice, "but I heard that this time the church has activated a '0' level seal. ”

Behind him, Leonard's eyes widened slightly, and he lowered his head.

"Old man, do you know which one it is?"

He asked silently.

After the battle to hunt down the "Apostle of Desire", Leonard has personally understood the power of "Level 1" seals, almost every one of them has the ability to be no less than that of a high-level extraordinary, and above this "0" level......

"You're getting bolder and bolder to ask about things of this level," replied the voice in his head, with a playful tone, "I can only say that the less you know about them, the longer you can live......

The vague answer apparently didn't satisfy Leonard, who looked into the middle of the street, imagining the battle that had taken place and the origin of the shells.

"Boom—"

Suddenly, several thunderclaps exploded, and the raindrops the size of beans fell intensively, and the sun, which had just tried to let its sunlight penetrate the haze and sprinkle onto the ground, was covered by dark clouds, and a heavy rain came without warning.

The wind blew and blew away the smog that still hung over Beckland, and the rain spilled down, carrying away germs that had clinged to the streets and buildings.

However, in the hard-hit areas such as the East District and the Wharf Area, the doubts and anger of the living and the resentment and reluctance of the dead are still wandering around.

————

Queens, the luxury villa of the Hall family.

Audrey Hall stood quietly in the living room on the east side of the first floor, looking out the window at the dark clouds and the faint sound of thunder.

The belated storm had blown away the yellowish fog, and although the haze had changed from a palpitating iron-black to a common hue before that, it was only then that she was sure that the great crisis in Beckland had gradually dissipated......

…… Right?

She looked worriedly at Susie at her feet, the transcendent dog who was already able to communicate with people normally, and even began to think about complex problems, also looked out the window with a bitter face, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Click-"

The door was pushed open, and Earl Hall entered, tired, and handed the coat and hat he had just taken off to the maid.

Audrey immediately greeted her and asked with concern:

"Dad, what's going on?"

"It should have been settled, but the exact process is not clear," Count Hall grinned and touched Audrey's head, "My little princess, you have done you a great favor, and His Majesty should give you a one-ton medal." ”

Hearing this compliment, Audrey's heart jumped. Unlike the previous ones, this time she really played a key role, relaying the information gathered by Mr. Fool and his followers to the Church of the Goddess, so the sense of accomplishment was much stronger than before.

But soon, she calmed down in Count Hall's worried expression, and asked softly:

"Is the situation in the East End bad?"

"It's not just bad, it's already ......," the Count sighed, weighing the words so as not to frighten his daughter...... The statistics are estimated to be available in a few days, but there are probably tens of thousands of casualties in the eastern area alone, and there are also a large number of patients struggling on the line of life and death in the nearby factory and dock areas. Both the church and the military have sent manpower, and all the hospitals and churches in Beckland are busy, but they are only a drop in the bucket, and patients will continue to die these days. ”

"I didn't expect the smog that occurs every winter to become so deadly...... Try not to go out these days, the plague will spread, and the law and order situation will predictably get worse. ”

Tens of thousands, or even more......

There was a rare look of confusion in Audrey's eyes.

"Daddy......" she said hesitantly, and then summoned up more courage, "What should we do, can the medal you just said be donated to the Eastern District?" And the gift you said you gave me after the coming-of-age ceremony......"

Earl Hall raised his eyebrows, as if shocked by his daughter's words, and after a moment he replied with a smile of relief:

"Don't worry, Audrey, I have promised the Church of the Goddess to donate no less than 50,000 pounds in cash and materials for the treatment and resettlement of survivors after the disaster, and other nobles may also pay some, but in the end, if these are to be implemented, it depends on the decision of the one in the Sodrak Palace......"

50,000 pounds, that sounds like a lot, but it's not even enough for our family to spend a social season, and even if you add donations from other nobles, plus His Majesty's decision, can you really avert the effects of this disaster?

Audrey pursed her lips and looked out the window, looking at the rain clouds that were gradually drifting, and her heart was heavy as if she was pressing on something.

Susie at her feet rubbed her leg lightly and looked at her master with some concern.

Thanks to the leader of the alliance (づ ̄ ̄ 3 ̄) づ~☆

(End of chapter)