Mystery: Good Witch

Chapter 47: Failed to Capture
On the street leading to the dock area, a hired carriage was galloping.

In order to avoid being discovered by Tris the Instigator, the two Nighthawks did not take a four-wheeled carriage with a police logo on it, but hired one randomly on the street.

Listening to the occasional yelling from the coachman driving outside the window, Tingen City Night Watch Captain Dunn Smith looked at Leonard Mitchell who was sitting on the opposite seat.

The latter was carefully arranging his equipment, the holster under his armpit, the revolver in the holster, the ammunition in the windbreaker and the pockets of his trousers. He carefully checked them one by one and put them back in place.

Since the target was only the Extraordinary of Sequence 8, this time they did not use the sealed item like they did when they captured Mrs. Sharon, but would only fight with the abilities of a few Nighthawks and ordinary weapons.

Dunn didn't organize his own guns like him. In fact, he seldom used pistols for combat now, and he carried guns more often as a deterrent to ordinary people.After being promoted to Sequence 7 "Nightmare", his way of fighting has approached that of an Extraordinary in the true sense, relying on the extraordinary ability bestowed by potions to fight instead of fists, feet and weapons.

Leonard stuffed the last set of ammunition into the loader, and put it in the left pocket of the windbreaker for easy access at any time. After finishing everything, he looked up at Dunn, as if he was a little puzzled.

"Captain," he hesitated for a while before asking, "Why don't you bring Miss Granger with you? Although we have a portrait of Tris the Instigator, she has seen a real person with her own eyes. If Tris really dares to appear in the underground trading market again, only she can quickly find the target."

"Conversely, Tris has also seen her. A person who rejected the invitation yesterday suddenly changed his attitude and approached you today. Aren't you vigilant?"

Dunn asked back with a smile, he had learned from Angel the details of their contact last night.

"That's not a reason." Leonard's expression became serious. "She can completely serve as an observation post in the dark, or even directly guard the lobby of the Dragon Bar, just staring at the entrance. There is no need to approach the other party at all. Once Tris shows up, we can do it."

"You still doubt her?"

"Don't you have doubts?" Dunn leaned back on the seat, and changed his legs to make himself more comfortable. "A wild Beyonder who just became an 'Assassin' not long ago reported the Beyonder mentor who led him to start. The other party even inexplicably broke into the Nighthawk's residence and died for no apparent reason."

"After joining the Nighthawks with this achievement, she 'ran into' two other 'assassins' and 'instigators' of the same path, and tried to draw our attention to the Gnosis Society through various clues. Is this a coincidence, or is there a conspiracy?"

Leonard tilted his head slightly, as if he was listening carefully, but his eyes squinted, and he didn't look at Dunn on the opposite side. Later he frowned and replied: "It's not unusual for Extraordinary people of the same path to easily meet each other, and it doesn't constitute a reason to doubt her... Moreover, the battle with Sharon Hoy is very dangerous. Even if I fight again under the same circumstances, I'm not sure I can win, let alone unscathed."

"If she approached us with a purpose, even if she released a little water during the battle, what you saw when you returned to the company should be the remains of Ms. Daly and me."

"That's right." To Leonard's surprise, Dunn didn't refute him, but nodded in agreement. "Daly also introduced me to the battle in detail. She specifically emphasized that Miss Granger saved her twice. And this time she ran into Triss in the Dragon Bar. If we didn't tell it, we wouldn't know about it. And if the arrest is carried out in the usual way, it is almost impossible to catch the 'Assassin' path Extraordinary who is good at hiding, just like another 'instigator' we want, Cole Granger, has been around for nearly two weeks , there is no clue at all, and even the divination against him has failed."

"At least she is doing her best when it comes to dealing with the criminal Extraordinary."

"Then how do you..."

Leonard was even more puzzled now.

Dunn Smith lowered his voice, as if he didn't want the driver across the door to hear: "It's not her who I suspect, but the strange attitude from above."

"Did you know that yesterday I faxed Miss Granger's identity investigation and the battle against Sharon Hoy to the Holy Church, and at the same time submitted an application for her to become a full-fledged member."

Leonard also leaned forward, getting closer to his captain. The two of them seemed to be secretly planning some conspiracy, whispering in the dark car.

"According to the normal process, the Holy Church will reply in about a week. If there is a need to obtain more information, or if the contribution is considered insufficient, it will even be extended. Do you remember how long you waited when you joined the Nighthawks?"

"Four weeks? Or five weeks?"

Leonard was a little embarrassed.That was already three years ago. He had just become a Extraordinary at that time, and his first mission was to follow Dunn to capture the cultists who were secretly performing evil rituals.Not familiar with extraordinary powers, he not only lost his target, but also almost fell into the river, which caused his evaluation to drop a lot, so that the Holy Church repeatedly delayed for a month before agreeing to his application to become a full-time member.

This is of course his deliberate concealment, but the sanctuary's strict review of personnel who join the nighthawks can also be seen. Even the potion distribution authority of Sequence 9 can be delegated to the captain level, and to become an official nighthawk must wait for the sanctuary's approval.

"But this time, after less than 24 hours, the church sent a telegram to reply early this morning." Dunn seemed to have not noticed Leonard's mental activities, and continued on his own.

"Is that agreed?" Leonard raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise.

Dunn nodded.

"Klein Moretti, who joined at the same time as her, is not yet an official member. He needs to wait for the Sealed Artifact 2-049 from the Backlund Diocese and find the notes of the Antigonus family before he can be considered a contribution and become an official member."

"The difference between the two new members of the Holy Church is so obvious. Even if Angel Granger assisted in killing Sequence 6 and was confirmed as a member of the 'Witch Sect', Sharon Hoy, their reactions were too strange, like..."

He tried to form words to describe the too-quick decision of the Templar.

Upon seeing this, Leonard took the initiative to answer the conversation: "It seems that I have been waiting for you to send a telegram to apply?"

"Hmm..." Dunn opened his mouth, wanting to express it in his own words, but in the end he repeated Leonard's words, "That's right, it seems that he has been waiting for me to send a telegram."

"But what does it have to do with you not allowing her to participate in the arrest operation?" Seeing that the captain didn't suspect Angel himself, Leonard asked curiously, "Isn't it because of protecting her?"

"Didn't I just say that when she appears, it's easy to scare the snake and make Triss escape early."

There was a smile in Dunn Smith's gray eyes, as if the low-pitched discussion between the two just now happened in a dream rather than reality.

Then what are you talking about...

Leonard was dumbfounded, still feeling that the captain was hiding something from him.

While the two were staring at each other, the carriage stopped slowly with the driver's "Woo--".

The small window in front of the carriage was pulled open, and the coachman asked in an indistinct voice: "Gentlemen, the road ahead is blocked. If you want to go to the Dragon Bar, you can only go there on foot, or do you need to go to other places?"

He saw that the two were wearing windbreakers on a hot day, talking furtively in the car. They were not serious people, and they didn't want to be blocked by the police, so out of professional ethics, he asked in advance.

"What? Blocked?"

Surprised, Leonard ignored the driver, but pushed the door and rushed out of the car. Dunn followed closely behind. The two walked around the car and came to the front, looking in the direction of the Dragon Bar.

The entrance of the bar, which was not noisy during the day, was already crowded with people, and people kept coming out from the entrance. Two men with guns standing on the left and right of the entrance recognized their faces before letting them go.

It seemed that most of the people crowded at the door were traders who had been kicked out of the underground trading market. Although they were dissatisfied, they obediently obeyed the orders under the "command" of guns.What's more, there are several burly men standing on the high place, wearing standard uniforms and carrying gray-white mechanical boxes on their backs. The pipes protruding from the boxes are connected to the strange and complicated rifles in their hands.The gunmen occupy the commanding heights, their falcon-like eyes sweeping around, and the muzzles aiming at the crowd from time to time effectively increase their obedience.

"High-pressure steam rifle?" Leonard murmured, "It's over, such a big battle, Tris must have run away."

Ignoring the screened crowd at the entrance of the bar, he looked around, trying to find the target hidden among them.

But Leonard also knew in his heart that this was futile. If he was Tris, escaped from the Dragon Bar by chance, and escaped from the siege of these burly men, he would naturally run as far as he could. How dare he continue to stay here?

Dunn Smith seemed to be calmer than Leonard. He glanced at the door of the bar and found someone he knew. He walked over with his hands in the pockets of his windbreaker, but his frown showed that his mood was not as stable as it seemed.

"Swain, what's going on here?" He asked the leader of the group of people standing around the entrance of the bar, who was wearing a worn navy officer's jacket, and was whispering something to the others. His short, messy brown hair seemed to have not been washed for a long time, and the grease on it was reflecting in the sun.

Hearing Dunn's inquiry, the brown-haired old man turned his head, looked at Dunn Smith with blue eyes, and paused for a few seconds before remembering the other party's identity.

"It's you, Dunn Smith, long time no see."

The same brown-haired Captain of the Nighthawks nodded, as a greeting, and asked again: "What's going on? You failed to capture that 'instigator'?"

After thinking about it, this was the only reason that would lead to chaos in the entire underground trading market, and even the high-pressure steam riflemen of the "Mechanical Heart" were dispatched.

Swain seemed to have been suffocated by Dunn's words. He cursed a few times before replying: "It's all the fault of those steam guys. An informant with a mechanical heart found the purchase items that the 'instigator' was swaggering in my market and was negotiating with people. He didn't notify my people, but left in a hurry to find his upline, probably because of the high bounty."

"As a result, Tris discovered the problem. It should be that the informant had been staring at him before leaving, and he noticed him. Before the big troops arrived, this guy ran away."

The old man spat and stared at the crowd at the entrance of the bar, wondering if the informant he was swearing at was among them: "If he informs me directly, informs the 'Punisher', and can send someone to watch, it won't be like this. What's the use of them screening ordinary people here now? Tris probably won't be in the dock area anymore."

Perhaps because of their different identities, Swain, the owner of the Dragon Bar, can express his emotions here, but Dunn, who is a Nighthawk, needs to pay attention to the case itself. He thought for a while, and then asked, "Tris was still negotiating the price before he escaped? Did you ask the person he traded with?"

"I did this before I retired anyway, so I asked about it a long time ago!" Swain shook his head. "There are no useful clues. He is just looking for shadow lizard scales and golden mandala flowers. Juice is also fine."

None of them belonged to Extraordinary items... Dunn thought to himself, maybe he was preparing items for some kind of ceremony, so he committed the tragedy of the Clover, and hurried to Tingen City to continue the crime?
or……

Dunn thought of the ability of the "instigator" and made another bolder guess:
Tris has already achieved certain promotion conditions by encouraging passengers to kill each other on the Clover, and is preparing the next sequence of potions for himself?

(End of this chapter)