Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 373 The city in the rain

On the eastern outskirts of Backlund, a group of Nighthawks wearing black windbreakers appeared among the ruins that only had ruins left. They formed a team of three and quickly searched the ruins, and soon gathered together again.

"Your Excellency the Archbishop, four corpses have been found. The altar has been completely destroyed. It seems to have been caused by an internal explosion."

A Nighthawk captain reported.

The person he called the Archbishop was none other than Saint Anthony Stevenson of Backlund Parish. After the sealed object "0-17" returned to Chanis Gate, he re-sealed it and then led half of the night watchers. The reporter came here, looking for traces of the "Witch Sect".

"Try divination to find clues, but remember not to channel spirits. The evil spirits here have not dispersed yet."

He frowned and looked at the sky, gave instructions, and then led a group of night watchers to push open the inner door of the ruins and continue to move forward along the downward passage.

Along the way, they discovered multiple rooms that had been recently occupied, some belonging to guards and some belonging to detainees. It was obvious that there were people moving underground in the ruins not long ago. Even the casing of the kerosene lamp was hot, but At this time, neither the guards nor the imprisoned innocents were anywhere to be seen.

Anthony didn't stop until he entered the deepest room.

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

After looking around with deep eyes, the saint said slowly.

Suddenly, the oil lamps in the hands of the following Nighthawks lost their light, and the whole room became dark.

After a while, everything returned to normal. The walls around the room seemed to evaporate and disappeared without a trace. However, there was no secret door or passage behind, but an unexcavated stone wall.

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

Anthony was silent for a long time and then gave instructions to the night watcher beside him.

----

At the same time, East End.

A four-wheeled carriage with a police badge was driving slowly on the street, occasionally avoiding obstacles on the ground. Some of them were unmanned carriages with dead horses, some were survivors seeking help, and some were driving against them, heading towards them. The freight carriage driving outside the East District was covered with white cloth, and underneath were long strips of "goods" stacked together.

It wasn't until the carriage was completely blocked and unable to move forward that five Nighthawks jumped out.

They wore thin trench coats that were convenient for movement, half-high silk hats on their heads, and gloves as red as blood on their hands.

"The distance is not far. Go forward on foot and be careful. Although the haze is no longer fatal, it may still be dangerous."

The middle-aged man who took the lead looked at the obstacles in front of the carriage, frowned and gave instructions, then took the lead and continued running forward.

Several Nighthawks behind him responded in low voices and followed their captain forward.

Leonard Mitchell, who was left behind, looked gloomy. He looked at the freight carriage parked in the middle of the road in front of the carriage. The white cloth above its carriage was half lifted, and he could see a body underneath. Bodies placed randomly.

"Old man, what is going on?"

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

"My senses come from you. How can I know something you don't know?" An old voice came from Leonard's ear, containing a hint of subtle shock. "But I guess it's probably related to the witch's path." It is related to high-sequence extraordinary beings. The last time there was such a large-scale disease was hundreds of years ago... I just don’t know whether their purpose this time is to sacrifice, or to conceal some larger conspiracy."

"Sacrifice..."

Leonard murmured and repeated, with uncontrollable sadness in his eyes. He had only seen a similar scene in Tingen three months ago. At that time, the "Aurora Society" sacrificed the lives of nearly a hundred people in an attempt to make " The son of the "True Creator" was born, killing his captain and teammates. But now, there are hundreds of dead people within his sight. The entire East District and the entire Backlund don't know how many dead people there will be.

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

Full of doubts, he hurriedly followed his teammates in front and soon came to a deserted street.

It is not accurate to say that there is no one. There are countless victims lying in miserable death conditions on both sides of the street and in the corners of the alleys. The doors and windows of the buildings on both sides are closed, as if the entire street has been abandoned long ago. But Leonard knows that with the population density of the East District, here There are at least hundreds of people living there.

At this time, there was silence.

"The divination hints are here."

Sost, the captain of the Red Glove Team, said slowly.

No divination is needed to tell that this is the most severely affected area in the East District. There are no whispers and curses here, no groans and calls for help from survivors, only deathly silence. But the haze here was the lightest they had seen along the way, and they could even see the sun starting to set above their heads.

"There are traces of battle, bullet holes, bullet casings, ice that has not yet melted..."

"Keep the broken wand carefully. Divination may lead to new discoveries..."

With no time to feel sad, several night watchers quickly got into work mode and quickly spread out to conduct a detailed search around the area, trying to find out the truth about this heavy haze.

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

"The storm is gathering..." He quickly recognized the complicated patterns on the bullet shells and the Holy Emblem of the Night, stood up and walked towards Sost, "Captain Sost, are there any other teams participating in the battle?"

"We are the first ones to arrive. There are other teams searching other locations in the East District. There are also traces of large-scale ceremonies there. Your Excellency the Archbishop has taken the remaining half of the people to the suburbs, and it is impossible to be faster than us."

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

That's strange. The only saint in Backlund Parish who belongs to the Church of the Night is His Excellency Archbishop Anthony. Apart from that, only the "Sword of the Goddess" staying here has similar strength. Could it be that the latter arrived in advance and solved the source of the smog? But his fighting style doesn't seem to use pistol bullets...

Leonard silently held the bullet casing and fell into deep thought. He hoped that the old voice in his head could give some hints, but this time, the other party was also silent. “Captain, other teams have arrived.”

The voice of another Nighthawk interrupted Leonard's thinking. He looked to the side and saw three Nighthawks without red gloves rushing over. They did not belong to the "Red Gloves" and were therefore sent in another direction. Explore before you come face to face with your most dangerous enemies.

"Your Excellency Sost," the leader was a "Nightmare" with deep eyes, but with fatigue and worry. It seemed that he had seen many post-disaster scenes on the way here, "We discovered something not far from here. There was a sacrificial ceremony. According to the identification of the traces left behind, it was part of a large ceremony. There were three places in total, and the center point was here."

"In addition, there is the body of a young woman next to the altar. It is suspected that she is the host of the sacrifice. There is no external injury on the body, but the extraordinary characteristics have been taken away."

As he said this, the nightmare looked at Sost with doubtful eyes, as if he suspected that the "Red Gloves" had destroyed the sacrifice in advance and eliminated this extraordinary person.

"Unfortunately, I don't know the specific situation. Perhaps only the Archbishop knows the full story..." Sost shook his head and lowered his voice, "But I heard that this time the church used a '0' Level sealed artifact."

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

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

he asked quietly.

After the battle to hunt down the "Apostle of Desire", Leonard has personally understood the power of "1" level sealed objects. Almost every item has the ability to be no less than that of a high-sequence extraordinary person, and the "0" level sealed items above this …

"You are getting bolder and bolder, and you actually ask about things at this level," the voice in his head replied, with a joking tone, "I can only say that the less you know about them, the longer you can live. …”

This vague answer obviously did not satisfy Leonard. He looked towards the center of the street, imagining the previous battles and the origins of these bullet casings.

"Boom—"

Suddenly, there were several bursts of thunder, and large raindrops fell densely. The sun, which had just tried to let its sunshine penetrate the haze and shine on the ground, was covered by dark clouds, and a heavy rain came without warning.

The strong wind blew away the haze that still hung over Backlund, and the rain fell, taking away the germs clinging to the streets and buildings.

However, in severely affected areas such as the Eastern District and the Dockside District, the doubts and anger of the living, and the resentment and reluctance of the dead are still lingering around.

----

The Hall family's luxurious villa in Queens.

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

This belated violent storm blew away the thick yellowish fog. Although before that, the haze had changed from the palpitating iron-black color to a common color, but only at this moment did she know for sure that Backlund was The big crisis has gradually dissipated...

……Maybe?

She looked worriedly at Susie at her feet. This extraordinary dog ​​that could communicate with people normally and even began to think about complex problems was also looking out the window with a bitter look on her face, wondering what she was thinking about.

"Click-"

The door was pushed open, and Earl Hall walked in with a tired look on his face. He handed the coat and hat he had just taken off to the maid beside him.

Audrey immediately came forward and asked with concern:

"Dad, how's it going?"

"It should have been solved, but the specific process is still unclear." Earl Hall forced a smile and touched Audrey's head. "My little princess, you have been a great help. His Majesty the King should send you a message." A medal that weighs a ton."

Hearing this compliment, Audrey's heart jumped. Different from the previous times, this time she really played a key role in conveying the information collected by Mr. Fool and his favored ones to the Goddess Church, so the sense of accomplishment was much stronger than before.

But soon, she calmed down under the worried expression of Earl Hall, and asked softly:

“Is things bad in the East End?”

"It's not just bad, it's already..." The Earl sighed, thinking carefully about his words so as not to scare his daughter, "... the statistical results are not expected to be out for a few days, but there are probably tens of thousands of people in the East District alone. Casualties, there are also a large number of patients struggling on the line of life and death in the nearby factory areas and dock areas. The church and the military have sent manpower, and all hospitals and churches in Backlund are busy, but it is only a drop in the bucket. These days Patients will continue to die."

"I didn't expect that the smog that appears every winter would become so deadly... Try not to go out these days. The plague will continue to spread, and the security situation can predictably get worse."

Tens of thousands, or even more...

Audrey had a rare look of confusion in her eyes.

"Dad..." She started hesitantly, and then she mustered up more courage, "What should we do? Can the medal you just mentioned be donated to the East District? And the gift you mentioned for me after the coming-of-age ceremony. …”

Earl Hall raised his eyebrows, as if he was shocked by his daughter's words. After a moment, he showed a smile of relief and replied:

"Don't worry, Audrey, I have promised to the Goddess Church to donate no less than 5 pounds in cash and materials for the treatment and resettlement of survivors after the disaster. Other nobles may also pay some, but in the end, If these are to be implemented, it depends on the decision of the person in Thordrak's palace..."

Fifty thousand pounds, that sounds like a lot, but it is not even enough to cover our family’s expenses for a social season. Even with the donations from other nobles and His Majesty the King’s decision, can the impact of this disaster really be eliminated?

Audrey pursed her lips and cast her gaze out the window, looking at the approaching rain clouds, feeling as if something was weighing down her heart.

Susie next to her feet gently rubbed her legs and looked at her master with some worry.

　Thank you to the leader of "No Prayer Ten Strings" (づ￣ 3￣)づ~☆

　　

　

(End of this chapter)