Take Him Away, Take Him Away
The row of armored and armed guards, wielding alchemical spears and short cannons, neatly parted to make way for Lu Yuan and his group parked their steam carriage at the gate, leaving one member to guard and provide backup. Lin En and Lu Yuan then led the rest of the team across this basic Defense Line and stepped into the courtyard.
After crossing the outer gate Defense Line, the entire castle unfolded before us. The spacious courtyard was planted with a large number of hardy trees, their branches covered with snow-white or light silver leaves. Interspersed among the trees were some dark green shrubs. The silver-white and dark green leaves were covered with a layer of snow, creating a dreamlike scene under the courtyard lights.
The group walked along the stone path through the courtyard and soon arrived at the inner entrance of the castle's main building. This was the second line of Defense Line, guarded by the guards maintained by the officials living in the castle.
Lin En walked up the steps, took out his pass, and went forward to negotiate. After the inner guards verified it, they dared not stop him and had to let him pass. However, the arrival of Lin En and his group immediately attracted the attention of some people.
Just as the guards at the door were negotiating with Lin En and they understood the reason for Lin En's arrival, one of the guards' eyes flickered slightly, and while his companion continued negotiating, he turned around and ran ahead down the corridor.
The guard rushed to find Herbert, the head of the water conservancy department, to report that someone outside was there with a warrant from the Knight Academy to arrest him. At the same time, he hurried to notify higher-ranking officials in the castle to come and protect each other.
Inside the castle were various rooms for officials to work in. When Lin En led Lu Yuan and the others along the corridor to the office of Herbert, the head of the water conservancy department, there were already three or five other City Hall officials gathered at the door, trying to obstruct them in every way.
The reason these people rushed over to protect each other as soon as they heard rumors is very simple: they currently lack effective means to confirm whether each other has been Contamination.
If the Knight Academy were to simply come and arrest people, those officials who were somewhat guilty, even if they were not Contamination, would panic when faced with arrest, fearing that the Knight Academy could arrest whomever they wanted.
Although the Knight Academy has gradually taken over the power of Watch City, these officials are absolutely unwilling to see this situation occur. No matter what methods they use, they will give all sorts of reasons and try their best to obstruct Lin En and Lu Yuan from arresting people.
The City Hall official at the very front, with a stern face, raised his hand to block the door and rebuked Lin En:
"Captain Lin En, even if you are from the Northern Territory Knight Academy, you can't disregard Imperial regulations when you act. Watch City currently beset by internal and external troubles, and the most urgent task is to stabilize local power. Herbert is in charge of the city's water conservancy maintenance. How can you arrest people just like that?"
Another official standing nearby immediately stepped forward and echoed in a deep voice:
"Indeed, Herbert is an official appointed by the Imperial Central Committee. If your Knight Academy were allowed to come and arrest people on any pretext, wouldn't the people of Watch City be filled with unease?"
Faced with the two men's obstruction, Lin En sneered and shouted at the official at the front of the line, naming him by name:
"Walter Page, you're a Second Level member of parliament in charge of finances, right? Don't rush to speak up for him. I'll need to talk to you after I've dealt with Herbert's matter!"
"You approved all those projects he submitted, weren't you afraid he'd use the money for some Heretic or shady business? You approved the funds without investigating properly, so you bear some responsibility for that!"
As Lin En spoke, he turned to the city security official who had chimed in and shouted:
"And you too, Connor Hughes. You've been negligent in supervising your men. At the No. 3 heating boiler plant, there are only two Night Watcher. I won't say anything if they're too low-ranking to notice."
"But you clearly had a Third Order guard on duty inside the furnace, yet this lax supervision still occurred. You bear responsibility for this, and you can't escape it!"
Lu Yuan, who stood aside and watched coldly, neither spoke nor interrupted to help. Hearing Lin En's reprimand by name, Lu Yuan silently memorized the names of Walter, Connor, and the other obstructing officials.
Lu Yuan had a very clear plan in mind. Anyone who dared to cause trouble tonight would have their names written down tomorrow. Once they were Contamination, Lu Yuan would not be lenient in the slightest. He would arrest them if necessary and Deprivation everything he could with the Sea of Knowledge.
While silently memorizing names, Lu Yuan also scanned the group of officials in front of him with the Gray-White Text in his vision. He did not see anyone who was a follower of the evil god, nor did he see anyone who was Believer Transcendent. Furthermore, there was no obvious Contamination after their Transcendence entries. Lu Yuan could not determine whether they had been Contamination or whether there were traitors based solely on the simple gray and white entries.
This is also a limitation of Gray-White Text, because regardless of whether it is a special medicine or a dormant spore, there will be no obvious Contamination while viewing a personal entry.
Unless the person's physical condition or the Pathway of Contamination is already very obvious and can no longer be hidden, Lu Yuan's Gray-White Text can be of great use. But when that happens, Lu Yuan doesn't actually need to observe them deliberately; they will reveal their own clues.
Walter and Connor, who had been singled out and reprimanded in the corridor, turned pale. Lin En stopped arguing with them and directly invoked the highest wartime martial law order in the Northern Territory, forcefully retorting to the crowd:
"Don't try to fob me off with these common rules. We've already discovered that the No. 3 auxiliary boiler room at the No. 3 heating boiler plant is completely covered with Heretic and Eerie Inscription!"
"According to the latest wartime policy, the entire Northern Territory is now governed entirely by the military orders of the Northern Territory Knight Academy. Our authority supersedes local regulations. Anyone who dares to obstruct our investigation of Heretic cases will be arrested on the spot as if harboring accomplices!"
The officials who tried to obstruct the process were rendered speechless by the rebuke, and no one dared to intervene again. Lin En waved his hand, and his team immediately rushed into the room and dragged out the water resources chief, Herbert. Before being taken away, Herbert struggled desperately, begging for mercy and shouting at the top of his lungs:
"You can't treat me like this! I'm a hero of the Watch City's water conservancy project; the entire city's water system maintenance depends on me..."
Considering that the suspect could not be kept in the same carriage as everyone else to avoid Contamination, a separate steam carriage covered with Sealing Inscription was specially prepared outside the courtyard gate. Lin En immediately separated two members from the seven-man team who wore Inscription accessories to escort the pleading Herbert to that separate Inscription carriage and keep him under guard.