Intersecting Sources of Pollution
The accompanying pharmacists and elite guards who were on standby immediately rushed forward and used specially made anti-magic iron handcuffs and Sealing Inscriptions to firmly lock the limbs of the fourteen people.
They then pried open their jaws and forced each of them to drink a whole bottle of [Sanity-Stabilizing Potion] made with High-Grade Holy Water, temporarily halting the Mutation Pathway their bodies. The fourteen were then quickly carried into the separate interrogation Isolation room behind the training ground!
In just a couple of moments, the sudden incident in the center of the drill ground was swiftly and decisively quelled. The remaining teams were not affected in the slightest and continued their screening and registration in an orderly manner according to the original pace.
Standing on the second-floor observation deck, Lin En watched as the fourteen men were carried into the Isolation room at the back. Remembering the scarred old Night Watcher's last words before losing consciousness—that he hadn't left the city in the past few days—he immediately turned to Lu Yuan beside him and whispered:
"Advisor Lu Yuan, since these fourteen people haven't left the city in the past few days, their infection must have occurred within the city. While the High-Grade Sanity-Stabilizing Potion has just calmed them down, I'm going to the Isolation room immediately to oversee their interrogation and verify their movements. Please wait a moment on the platform."
Lu Yuan nodded slightly upon hearing this, watching Lin En hurry down the stone steps on the side of the corridor to the Isolation room at the back. He himself continued to stand by the railing, looking down at the brightly lit training ground below, quietly waiting for the final screening by the last two teams and the results of the interrogations at the back.
In the brightly lit training ground below, the last two remaining squads of Night Watcher were proceeding in orderly fashion, stepping quickly to the long table in small groups and pressing down on the snowflake-shaped [Wailing Crystals ] in the metal troughs to conduct the final screening.
Lin En had already gone down the stone steps on the side to the rear independent interrogation Isolation room to oversee the questioning of the fourteen infected people, while Lu Yuan stood alone by the railing of the second-floor observation deck, looking down at the last few teams below completing the registration.
Among the Gray-White Text before them, several Night Watcher had already become Believer Transcendents. Clearly, some were beyond redemption; they had been betrayed and dragged into the Abyss of Heretic.
They simply failed in their duties as Night Watcher, and this is how they ended up... sigh!
Lu Yuan didn't know what to say.
Just as the entire screening was about to be completely finished, a muffled and violent explosion suddenly came from the direction of the city defenses in the far distance, outside the towering stone walls of the closed training ground. The heavy shockwave traveled from an unknown distance, causing the snow on the eaves of the training ground's corridors to slide down in a rustling sound!
The Night Watcher and ten Captains lined up below the training ground all changed their expressions and turned to look in the direction from which the explosion had come.
To prevent cross-infection and leaks of information, the entire large military training ground has been completely sealed Isolation since the gathering of personnel last night. The surrounding stone walls and iron gates are tightly sealed, and those inside cannot see the situation outside.
On the second-floor observation deck, Lu Yuan also turned to look at the distant night sky. The chief of the Night Watcher and the Fourth Order head of the Knight Academy on the main viewing platform below frowned upon seeing this.
Judging from the direction the sound came from, it seemed to be the location of the city wall. He immediately took out a [Communication Crystal] engraved with sound transmission Formation Patterns from his pocket, injected a sliver of rationality into it, activated it, and directly contacted the people stationed at the city wall Defense Line to inquire about the situation.
Just a few breaths later, a clear and steady report came back from the front lines through the faintly glowing [Communication Crystal] in the main grandstand.
While the main force of the second and third tiers of the Night Watcher were being recalled to the training grounds for testing tonight, a group of people secretly attempted to sneak up to the city gates and create chaos, trying to forcibly open or close the gates, and even tamper with the Alchemical Cannons mounted on the Watch City walls to completely destroy them.
Fortunately, the Lantern Knight and the Morning Bell Knight were already stationed at the city gate and the artillery Defense Line, and they caught the troublemakers red-handed.
However, in the moment they were subdued, the other party acted desperately and detonated some Alchemical Gunpowder they were carrying, which affected a tampered Alchemical Cannon used for city defense, causing the explosion. All the troublemakers have now been apprehended and locked down, so there's no need to worry about the training ground.
Just as the [Communication Crystal] on the main stand was put away, Lin En, who was carrying a stack of interrogation records and hurrying up the second-floor corridor from the Isolation room at the back, received the same notification. Lin En rushed to Lu Yuan's side, his face showing surprise and delight, and said to Lu Yuan in an excited tone:
"Advisor Lu Yuan, that's great! We have new reinforcements! The Lantern Knight and the Morning Bell Knight from the Knight Academy have actually arrived!"
Upon hearing Lin En's words, Lu Yuan, who was standing by the railing, was momentarily stunned.
In Lu Yuan's memory, after the caravan broke through the branch mountain road where the second avalanche had occurred, at the fork in the snowfield outside the mountain, the Morning Bell Knight had clearly led another team off in a different direction.
Moreover, the Lantern Knights had already separated from him after entering the city, so Lu Yuan couldn't help but turn to Lin En and ask:
"Hmm? Are you sure it's these two knights?"
Lin En, who had remained at the Watch City workshop outpost, had no idea about the details of how Lu Yuan and his men split up on the way. Hearing Lu Yuan's question, Lin En shook his head somewhat blankly and honestly replied:
"I don't know about that. I just received the message from above. All I know is that the arrival of the Lantern Knight and the Morning Bell Knight seems to have been arranged in advance by the Rock Grand Knight Commander and the Academy's higher-ups."
Seeing that Lin En was also unaware of the inside story, Lu Yuan nodded slightly and didn't ask any more questions. Since they were already here, they would follow their plan. Besides, with an extra Fourth Order, the Heretics were in for a lot of trouble.
After a brief moment of surprise, the Night Watcher on the training ground below quickly regained their composure. The final checks of the last two squadrons were now complete. The Night Watcher's Watch leaders and the more than five hundred Night Watcher had been proven innocent had their own important tasks to attend to, and soon began to assemble and prepare to leave.
Turning his gaze away from the training ground below, Lin En handed Lu Yuan a transcript of the statements he had just compiled from the isolated Isolation room at the rear, along with a street map marked with red circles.
Lu Yuan reached out and took the stack of statements still stained with ink, then looked down and flipped through them, casually asking Lin En beside him:
"Have all fourteen Night Watcher confessed? The old Night Watcher from the Fourth Battalion who stabbed himself in the left leg with a dagger just now claimed he hadn't left the city in the past few days. Where exactly did they come into contact with the source of the Source of Pollution?"