From Prisoner to Si Chen..

Chapter 473 Clues
That night.

It's already past ten o'clock.

Gillan is still busy in the chairman's office.

Three hours ago, support teams from the Mechanics Union, the Chamber of Commerce, the Church of the Atonement, and the Church of Our Lady had all arrived at the Triumph Building to meet with the committee.

Gillan also met with them in person and had a private chat with Aurora.

The two had not met in real life for a long time. Aurora, who had become the mainstay of the Holy Mother Church, seemed to have a lot to say to Gillan, but due to the urgency of the current situation, she had to put it aside.

The four teams were attacked by the enemy, suffering heavy losses, and the survivors were exhausted physically and mentally. As the temporary head of the committee, Gilan had to personally comfort them.

At present, they have been arranged by Maiev to stay temporarily in a room several floors above, to rest for a while and wait for Gilan's subsequent arrangements.

Jilan put down the intelligence summary in his hand and rubbed his temple.

Looking at the pile of folders in front of him, he now understood how tired Teacher Pala was on a daily basis.

There are hundreds of people in various departments of the committee, and they are busy with many affairs every day. There are as many as twenty or thirty important matters that require the approval of the top leadership.

And in such critical periods, intelligence needs to be updated several times every hour to avoid missing the opportunity to react.

Gilan must carefully read every piece of information and make corresponding deployments after careful consideration, without any room for carelessness.

Tuk Tuk.

At this time, the door was knocked again.

Gillan didn't even need to use her clairvoyance to know that the person coming was Maiev, because she was the one who was responsible for reporting the situation all day.

"Come in." Jilan called softly.

"Yes."

The door opened, and Maiev, looking tired, hurried over and handed over an interrogation report.

"Captain Gillan, Siegel and I have closed down three black market trading bases and arrested a total of 3 people... After multiple investigations and pursuits, we finally caught one of the employers who issued the bounty."

"Here's his information, along with the interrogation transcript."

"But we didn't get any useful clues..."

Gilan nodded and took the report.

He lowered his eyes and glanced over it.

The employer who was arrested was named Homero Downs, 32 years old, male, the fourth son of a viscount family. He had a mediocre reputation in the past and was a mediocre nobleman.

After investigation by the committee, it was found that this guy had never been exposed to the mysterious world in the past, let alone being aware of the various channels and rules of the black market.

Therefore, the issuance of a bounty commission for committee members is fraught with doubts.

More importantly, when Maiev and his companions captured Homero, he had lost his self-awareness. His eyes were open, his face was expressionless, and he could not speak. He was like an empty shell.

"Sir, we have deduced that Homero Downs is just a pawn. He is most likely possessed by the devil and then manipulated into issuing commissions on the black market."

Maiev said solemnly.

Gillan put down the report and nodded.

"Well, it is very likely."

"But now the clues are broken again... If it is really the work of the Eclipse Society, then they will definitely not stop here. There will be more tricks waiting for us in the future."

Maiev frowned and said in distress.

Ji Lan sighed secretly.

Although the Mystical Investigation Committee is the Empire's sword and shield against the mysterious side, it is limited to general mysterious events.

When facing high-level powerful enemies or powerful cults such as the "Eclipse Society", many weaknesses are exposed.

Especially the intelligence network.

Jilan thought for a moment and ordered:
"Maiwei, go upstairs and invite the leader of the Church of the Atonement. I want to ask him for help."

Hearing this, Maiev also thought of something.

The area where the Church of the Atonement excels is intelligence, and perhaps they have some clues about the "Eclipse Society".

"Yes, sir."

Maiev bowed and turned to leave.

Soon, a middle-aged priest wearing a black vestment and a gold-plated pendant with two birds on his chest followed Maiev to the chairman's office.

"Father Jennings Musa, the High Priest of Atonement, meets Mr. Gillan Iros."

The priest performed a rite of atonement toward Gillan, folding his arms and bowing seventy-five degrees.

"Father Jennings, do you know that someone in the capital's black market has offered a bounty on committee members?"

Gillan said softly.

The priest nodded, and immediately understood why Gillan had called him here, but he smiled bitterly:
"I just learned about this, but it seems that the employers behind the scenes are all puppets being manipulated. After the bounty was issued, they all lost their self-awareness without exception and became empty shells."

"As for the mastermind behind them, we don't have any accurate clues."

"Even you can't find it?"

Ji Lan raised his eyebrows.

After thinking for a while, he said in a deep voice:

"Father Jennings, I intend to contact the 'Withered Nobility' behind you. Please provide a contact method."

"Huh?" The middle-aged priest was surprised.

The Church of Atonement is controlled by the Withered Nobility. Almost no one knows about this except the highest level of the empire and Chairman Pala.

Even in the church itself, only high-ranking priests like him or even core members at the level of bishops are qualified to know.

"Mr. Gillan, I'm sorry, I don't have the authority to contact the 'Withered Nobility'. Apart from the bishop, it is usually those adults who contact the church unilaterally..."

Jennings said apologetically.

Ji Lan frowned.

At this moment, he suddenly remembered that among the congratulatory letters he had received before, there was one from the "Withered Nobles".

Since the other party has expressed goodwill in making friends, there is no reason not to leave contact information...

After figuring this out, Gillan took out the letter, opened it, and read it again. However, he found nothing new.

Gilan poured the black rose petal that came with the envelope into his palm and examined it carefully. He used his spiritual vision to observe the petal.

This time, Jilan discovered that there were actually extremely obscure and complex patterns hidden on the petals.

Wow.

He pulled out a blank piece of paper from the table, then picked up teacher Pala's pen, unscrewed the pen cap, and copied the patterns on the petals onto the paper.

rustle……

Soon, a complex magic circle appeared on the paper. But since Gillan was using the furnace spiral and only knew alchemy, not magic, he had no choice but to hand the paper to Jennings.

"Father, please activate this magic circle."

"This is……"

Father Jennings took the paper and was quite surprised when he saw the magic circle on it.

"Demon Summoning Formation?"

"It should be the magic circle used to contact the 'Withered Nobles'."

Gillan explained.

Jennings nodded, then activated his spiritual power, raised his index finger which was emitting a faint black light, and placed it on the paper.

Bear!
The paper then burned and turned into ashes.

An invisible mysterious magnetic field radiates.

Tuk Tuk!

Almost the next second, there was a crisp sound from the office window, and the three people present turned their heads to look.

I saw a fat crow landed on the windowsill, jumped twice, and then knocked on the glass outside the window with its beak.

"Maiev." Gilan called.

The woman nodded to show that she understood, and then walked over to open the window.

The crow flapped its wings and landed directly on Gillan's desk. When he got closer, he realized that it actually had two heads, and two pairs of scarlet eyes stared at Gillan.

"Hello, I'm 'Julian'."

The crow head on the left opened and closed its beak, making a strange sound. The crow head on the right followed suit and introduced itself:

"I'm 'Juliet'."

"We are the 'Withering Messengers'."

"So it's a familiar..."

Jilan raised his eyebrows and said to Crow:

"Hello, I plan to contact 'Withered Nobility' to seek some help."

"Wow, Mr. Gillan Iros, you finally contacted us..."

At this time, the raven-haired man named Julian spoke with the voice of a young man.

"I wrote you a letter before, but I thought you didn't see it."

Jilan suddenly realized that this crow messenger should be a medium like a "megaphone", and the one he was communicating with might be a member of the "Withered Nobility".

"Sorry, I'm quite busy at this time."

He made an excuse.

The crow laughed and said:

"It's okay, it's okay. Mr. Gillan is now a big shot in the empire, so it's understandable that he's busy with important matters... I guess you contacted us this time because of the black market bounty."

Jilan was a little surprised. He didn't expect that the other party could guess what he wanted.

"Yes, I wonder if you have any relevant clues? I can buy the information in an 'equivalent exchange'."

"Haha, of course there are, and they are very detailed clues... But forget about the deal. We plan to make friends with Mr. Gillan, so this intelligence will be a gift to you."

"Is that so?" Gilan thought about it and smiled. "I am honored to be friends with you, the Withered Nobles."

"So good!"

Julian the crow threw his head back and laughed loudly.

It spread its wings again, circled over the table, and landed on Gillan's shoulder again.

The two crow heads approached and whispered:
"The person behind the puppet's release of the bounty on the black market is one of the seven chiefs of the Eclipse Society, a demon lord named 'Dog-Bo' Schnauzer."

"After doing all this, it boarded a train heading south and left the capital. It should still be on the way now."

"Well, I see."

Ji Lan's eyes narrowed.

It’s this old acquaintance again, “Uncle Dog” Schnauzer.

"Which train is this?"

"The Black Swordsman."

Julian spoke in a man's voice.

Juliet on the side added:

"The next stop is 'Cockburn City' and will arrive around six tomorrow morning."

Cockburn City...

Located in the state of Palin, a blue zone.

And that place seems to be the headquarters of the "Record Society". It is also an important commercial city with well-developed transportation and a large population.

Gilan narrowed his eyes and thanked the crow on his shoulder.

"You're welcome, my friend."

The two-headed crow said this, flapped its wings, flew out of the window, and disappeared into the night sky.

Gilan stood up and said to Maiev:
"Maiev, notify the logistics committee and prepare a transport plane for me. I will go to Qyburn City alone to hunt down the leader of the Eclipse Society."

(End of this chapter)