Bad News, One After Another
Upon hearing Lu Yuan's question, Lin En nodded solemnly and lowered his voice to give Lu Yuan a detailed report:
"Advisor Lu Yuan, the joint interrogation by the three parties has cross-referenced their movements over the past seven days. Of these fourteen people, eight are highly likely to have unknowingly ingested alcohol or food laced with the [Pathway Contamination Potion], while the others most likely consumed it voluntarily."
Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan, who was reviewing the statements, paused slightly, his brows furrowing deeply. He looked up at Lin En and asked in a deep voice:
"Voluntary? Are you sure?"
In Lu Yuan's view, the Night Watcher, regardless of their beliefs or the Transcendence Paths they followed, were inherently hostile to the supernatural and Heretic. How could they possibly willingly take that [Pathway Contamination Potion]?
Were they scammed?
Faced with Lu Yuan's questioning, Lin En hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, before nodding again and explaining in a complicated tone:
"It's too early to definitively determine the nature of the incident, but those individuals were unable to provide any coherent explanation during interrogation and couldn't produce any reasonable evidence of passive exposure to the Source of Pollution. In the end, we can only file the case as voluntary consumption."
Upon hearing Lin En's explanation, Lu Yuan's eyes instantly turned cold, and he pressed on with a hint of anger in his voice:
"Unable to provide a clear explanation, they're just going to treat it as voluntary? Who made that judgment? Was it the Night Watcher leadership, the Knight Academy, the Church, or those nobles and politicians in the city?"
Lin En glanced at the main stands below, which were gradually emptying out, and replied with a wry smile in a low voice:
"During the joint interrogation just now, the noble representatives from the City Hall took the lead, while the church representatives only verified the degree of Contamination. As for the Night Watcher... since several Deputy Chiefs had already left with their men to carry out other defense duties, the remaining interrogators did not express a clear opinion and simply accepted the nobles' conclusion."
Hearing that the nobles were in control, and that the Night Watcher had not commented since the Deputy Chief had left, Lu Yuan felt a surge of indescribable helplessness and anger.
At this critical juncture, although he possessed the personal order of the Rock Grand Knight Commander, that order was only valid within the Knight Academy's internal system. Furthermore, he couldn't readily reveal his own trump cards. Faced with the actions of the noble politicians in the City Hall who were using this as an excuse to smear the lower-ranking Night Watcher, he couldn't act directly for the time being.
Forcibly suppressing his anger, Lu Yuan took a deep breath and pointed to the trajectory map in his hand, signaling Lin En to continue.
Seeing this, Lin En pointed to the location circled in red Mo Shui on the trajectory map and continued reporting to Lu Yuan:
"Apart from those few people whose origins are unclear, the eight Night Watcher accidentally ingested the Source of Pollution, although belonging to different brigades and patrolling far apart, all of them had gone to the same herbal medicine shop on the western edge of the inner city to buy warming wine or Hemostatic Grass between three days ago and yesterday."
"Our people just checked the records based on the confessions and found that the owner behind that herbal medicine and grocery store is the same herbal medicine warehouse that was the upstream supplier of the Heretic black Clinic that we uprooted in the Old City three days ago!"
"After the illegal Clinic in the Old City was shut down, the remaining stock and accounts in that herbal medicine warehouse were all taken over last night by a convoy of vehicles from the steward of the powerful Earl's Mansion in Watch City, and directly transported to the Earl's Mansion compound in the western part of the inner city!"
As soon as Lin En finished speaking, the [Communication Crystal] in his arms suddenly flashed twice rapidly.
Lin En quickly took out the [Communication Crystal] and held it to his ear to listen to the urgent message inside. His already tense expression instantly turned extremely ugly.
After the voice transmission ended completely, Lin En put away the [Communication Crystal], gritted his teeth, and said to Lu Yuan in a deep voice:
"Advisor Lu Yuan, the third piece of bad news has arrived!"
"Half an hour ago, the two advance teams of six men that I sent out to keep an eye on the western part of the inner city just sent back an urgent report. A Believer Transcendent disguised as a caravan follower was spotted by our people on a street corner. He escaped by scaling walls and eventually climbed over the back door of that powerful Earl's Mansion!"
"Our men had just reached the alley entrance when the guards inside not only covered the Believer Transcendent's escape but also detained one of our most pressing Vanguard Team members. Then, the Earl's Mansion's Private Soldiers guards and the City Hall's sheriff jointly sealed off the entire block, using their noble immunity and the city's curfew to forcibly remove the rest of us!"
On one hand, the herb warehouse of the Earl's Mansion, where a low-ranking Night Watcher accidentally ingested a Contamination potion, was taken over by the Earl's steward; on the other hand, Believer Transcendent whose whereabouts were exposed escaped into the back gate of the Earl's Mansion on the street and detained the Academy's Vanguard Team.
Several previously scattered clues suddenly came together, all pointing to the Earl's Mansion in the western part of the inner city, where the gates were tightly shut!
Standing on the second-floor balcony, Lu Yuan's eyes turned completely cold after hearing these words. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately and decisively gave the order:
"Then just surround it! The reason given is that members of the Knight Academy have gone missing inside!"
Looking at Lin En, who was stunned, Lu Yuan shook his head inwardly.
Lin En is usually diligent and conscientious in carrying out missions, running errands, and investigating cases. However, when faced with a powerful earl's Earl's Mansion backed by the City Hall, his first reaction was to find it troublesome and difficult. He never even considered simply sending people to surround the Earl's Mansion. It can only be said that he was still a bit inexperienced.
Fortunately, he not only had the personal order of the Rock Grand Knight Commander, but also received news from the city defenses that the Lantern Knight and the Morning Bell Knight had arrived in Watch City. With these two Fourth Order knights in the city to support him, even if he surrounded an Earl's Mansion, those noble politicians in the City Hall would not be able to use any immunity to pressure him!
Upon receiving Lu Yuan's order, Lin En's spirits immediately lifted. He nodded emphatically in response and promptly took out the [Communication Crystal] to issue an order to the advance team guarding the outer streets of the Earl's Mansion to seal off all entrances and exits on the spot.
Just as Lu Yuan and Lin En hurried down the stone steps of the second-floor observation deck, preparing to head to the Side Gate of the training ground to leave by carriage, a Knight Academy lantern-bearing apprentice with a small lantern hanging on his body was guarding the shadows below the deck.