Unexpected Discovery

The woman's flippant tone and ostentatious clothing instinctively repelled Sandella, but in front of the Lord, she suppressed her impatience and extended her hand to shake the other's. The hand was so thin she could almost feel every bone, and its temperature was frighteningly cold.

It wasn't the first time she had dealt with a Priest of the Divine Mechanism Cult.

But this was the first time she had ever seen a Priest like this.

"Don't let Miss Govi's young age fool you; in terms of strength, she's a Master-level Divine Minister," Li Qi said with a smile, "More importantly, she has a talent for manipulating secret divine artifacts, which will definitely help you deal with the Cultists. She hasn't been here from the Old Continent for long and isn't too familiar with Glorious Fortress yet, so please look after her."

Despite being a hundred times unwilling, the Lord had spoken to this extent. To refuse further would be foolish. Sandella could only agree, "I will do my best, subordinate."

Returning to the Lookout Tower, Sandella closed the door and, with a grim expression, looked at the Divine Mechanism Cult Priestess who was scanning her office with great interest. "Let's get this straight: this case is under the jurisdiction of the City Guard. You must act under my instructions, understand?"

"Aren't we in a cooperative relationship, not a superior-subordinate one?" Govi removed the cross from her back. As it landed, the wooden floor creaked mournfully; clearly, the thing was quite heavy. "If you're worried I'll steal the City Guard's credit, there's no need. My only goal is to eliminate the Cultists."

"Everything should be done with organization and discipline; this is the fundamental guarantee for us to exert our greatest strength!"

"Pfft." Govi couldn't help but chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" Sandella asked coldly.

"Nothing... I just wanted to ask Commander, have you ever fought against Cultists?"

"I graduated from the Capital Military Academy and followed the army onto the battlefield—"

"So you've never truly faced Cultists head-on," Govi interrupted her directly. "I'm sorry, perhaps your achievements and strength are outstanding, and your command skills are quite impressive, but frankly, in the face of real Cultists, these don't mean much. When confronted with unimaginable fear, a person's breakdown comes faster than they expect. Your so-called organization and discipline are only a tiny bit tougher than a piece of toilet paper."

Sandella's gaze was sharp, but the other party was completely unfazed, still wearing a faint smile, as if she hadn't realized she was insulting the entire City Guard.

If she weren't someone the Count had introduced, Sandella would have already thrown her out of the office.

"...Since Priestess says so confidently, you must have considerable experience dealing with Cultists? Please tell me, what does one rely on to fight Cultists?"

"Madness."

"What?" Sandella wondered if she had misheard.

The woman giggled, "It's madness! Only by being crazier than them can you possibly avoid being led by fear and maintain that sliver of will! Of course, if you truly go mad, then there's nothing that can be done... Hahahaha..."

By the end, she burst into unrestrained laughter.

This kind of person can be a Priest?

Sandella looked at her in disbelief. Is something wrong within the Divine Mechanism Cult?

"Madam, this is..." Woody entered the office carrying a stack of files and paused slightly upon seeing Govi.

"A Priestess from the Divine Mechanism Cult, assisting us in this investigation," Sandella coughed twice. "Alright, I can take your experience into consideration. You can wait downstairs for now. If you want to understand the case details further, I can have my subordinates bring you the files..."

"No need. Just find out the identity or whereabouts of the Cultists and tell me," Govi put the cross back on her shoulders and walked out of the room with light steps.

"She's a Church Priestess?" Woody looked surprised.

"The Count introduced her, could it be fake?" Sandella replied irritably and sat down at her desk. "Let's hear your investigation results."

"Yes, I've checked all the individuals illegally detained at Wangshui Manor; most of them are Enslaved Laborers," Woody quickly spread the files he was holding on the desk. "Their backgrounds are all quite simple. Director Kuiqi... uh, the culprit Kuiqi captured them probably just for simplicity and convenience."

Sea Guard Alien Race, Enslaved Laborers... These two points were indeed the lowest strata of Glorious Fortress; no one would care even if they died in a gutter.

It wasn't that Glorious Fortress openly encouraged slavery, but it wasn't as thoroughly prohibited as on the Old Continent. After all, pioneering required a large labor force, and not everyone liked coming to such a relatively desolate and dangerous place, so the higher-ups turned a blind eye to the Company's practices.

Besides, there were Sea Guard wealthy individuals in Glorious Fortress.

But Sandella knew clearly that these were not things that could be brought to the surface. She hadn't expected the head of the North City Police Station to be so insane as to play such a bloody game right in the city.

"These Enslaved Laborers... besides their identities, do they have any other common points?"

Woody couldn't understand, "They're all Enslaved Laborers, do they need common points?"

Sandella sighed. Although she disliked the Divine Mechanism Cult Priestess, she did feel an aggressive sharpness from her—a confidence born from countless trials, and the root of why people like her were good at taking the initiative. She rarely saw such sharpness in her own subordinates.

They were loyal, but their abilities were always a little lacking.

"Take a good look, these people aren't the weak or the infirm. They are between 15-30 years old, with sound limbs, the most needed labor force for the factory. If it were just to satisfy some criminal urge, Kuiqi wouldn't have needed to capture these people and throw them in a black jail."

Woody suddenly understood, "You're right..."

"You and I both know that Cultists don't appear without reason; they're more like flies, only landing on cracked eggs," Sandella grouped these Sea Guard files together. "We can't rule out the possibility that these Enslaved Laborers attracted the Cultists. They should all be in the Medical Camp now, right?"

"Yes, I've arranged for people to guard them closely."

"Good. Go and ask them later, one by one, separately," she paused here, then added, "Don't use interrogation tactics. Don't forget, they are the victims in this case."

Seeing Woody nod, Sandella shifted her gaze to the remaining files. There were fewer of these people, mostly mercenaries, detectives, and reporters. A bright red mark was labeled under each of their names: "Deceased."

"Their information was found in Kuiqi's bedroom; it's possible there are omissions," Woody explained proactively. "We compared them with previous serial murder cases and can basically confirm that they were all targets for execution. However, due to the fire at the Theater this time, many bodies were burned beyond recognition, so we can't confirm which batch of victims they belonged to. Also..."

He hesitated to speak.

"Go on."

"The families of the North City Police Station officers have been making a lot of trouble these days. They don't believe their family members would do such heinous things and believe someone must be held responsible for their deaths," Woody lowered his voice. "If we insist on classifying these officers as Kuiqi's accomplices, we'll face considerable public pressure."

This pressure would clearly also negatively affect the City Guard taking over the police station's duties.

Sandella was silent for a long time. "I understand. I will consider the wording when preparing the case report."

Woody breathed a sigh of relief.

For some reason, she felt her heart grow heavier.

In the midst of this wordless atmosphere, Sandella suddenly noticed a name half-hidden among the layers of paper: Cote Dane.

She felt like she had heard of this person somewhere before...

Sandella pulled out his file and, after a moment of thought, quickly found the information related to him in her memory.

That's right... three weeks ago, someone had stopped her on the street, desperately begging for help. At the time, she had dismissed him as someone grasping at straws and had ignored him.

The name the person had been shouting was Cote Dane.