Chapter 144 Breakthrough
The most valuable treasures of the famous wood carving collector William J. Bancroft, those precious wood carving artworks that have appeared in magazines and newspapers, are all there, at least 99% of them are still there.
In addition, the entire Red Wall Farm can be said to have been completely looted...
All the gold and silver utensils in all the rooms were swept away, and all the gold and silver candlesticks in all the rooms, including the corridors, were missing; even the gold-rimmed decorations on the doors, wardrobes , and cabinets were not left behind, as they were all pried away with tools such as screwdrivers and knives.
Smaller ornaments, mechanical clocks, jewelry...all valuable and small items were swept away. Even the curtains that were woven with gold threads to keep them crisp had the gold threads pulled out, leaving only tattered gauze fluttering in the wind.
The most important thing is that during the initial investigation of the Church of Gold Coin, the statue of the birth of a baby, which was highly suspected to be a sealed object and was said to be the posthumous work of a certain wood carving master, was not found by the night watchmen even after they turned the entire mansion upside down.
The Gold Coin Church may not care if folk exorcists steal things while doing commissioned work, because what is stolen is not their property anyway; but if the Sealed Objects that they have been eyeing for a long time are taken away, it will overwhelm their acceptance.
The night watchmen searched the house again and again, carefully, breaking open all wooden containers that could hold objects, wooden wall furniture, and even some large wooden carvings.
Nothing was found.
The captain of the Night Watch, who had been brewing anger for a long time, gradually saw his face turn from red to white, and then from white to blue.
The sealed object was intercepted!
After hastily gathering the team and returning to the city, the captain of the night watch immediately went to find the official who was in charge of the exorcist. When he explained the situation to the official, the slightly fat bureaucrat in the church system almost dropped his eyes to the ground: "How is this possible?!"
"The seal has indeed been taken away." The captain of the Night Watch said unhappily, "You really found an incredible guy!"
"This..." The fat official's forehead was covered with sweat. "This, I, I... No, otherwise, try to buy it back with money? That 'Von Alphonse' seems to be very short of money."
The captain of the Night Watch immediately raised his voice: "Go!"
The fat official turned and ran.
The captain of the night watch sent the fat official off to do his work, and then headed straight for the bounty society.
Yesterday during the day, the exorcist who called himself "Von Alphonse" came to settle the commission. In order to avoid encountering a scammer, the Gold Coin Church did a little research on this person's background. Although they were unable to track down Von's activities in the city, the brat who appeared with Von was easy to find. Without much effort, the Gold Coin Church found the Perfect Dream Photo Studio behind Von - a photo studio that specializes in defrauding women of their money.
"Von Alphonse" really is a bastard who will do anything for gold, accepting all kinds of life-threatening commissions and even going to great lengths to cheat women out of their money. However, the captain of the Night Watch does not hold out much hope for buying back the Sealed Artifact with money - since this guy has already obtained the Sealed Artifact, he doubts whether this bastard will offer an outrageous price that the Church cannot accept.
Generally speaking, there are two ways to solve disasters.
The first method is to completely eliminate those associated with the disaster like a plague.
This execution is not limited to the physical body, but also includes the spiritual body - without completely executing all the information of the related persons that exist in this world and can exchange and interact with this plane, it is impossible to stop the spread of the "disaster".
The biggest reason why the Redwall Farm disaster caused by the "birth statue" became a chronic disease was that the "survival" of the study maid and four local low-level servants misled the investigator "Goldfish", causing "Goldfish" to misjudge the scale and spread of the disaster... He thought that the first valet who heard the baby's laughter had an affair with the cultists and missed the opportunity to execute him.
After "Goldfish" died from the curse, the Night Watch quickly executed the study maid and the four low-level servants. However, the sealed object that was not properly contained had already affected the entire farm. They could not enter the farm to expel the remaining victims' spirits... unless they were willing to pay the price of at least half of the local Night Watch's lives.
The second method is to forcibly end the disaster by containing the sealed object - this also requires the sacrifice of many lives. The disaster will not stop spreading until the information of the related persons is stored in the material plane and the sealed object itself is found.
The exorcist who called himself "Von Alphonse" claimed that he had resolved the Redwall Farm incident overnight. Everyone should have thought that he had adopted the first solution - both the official in charge of connecting with the exorcist and the captain of the night watch believed that perhaps this exorcist who was good at dealing with ghosts had some means of remotely expelling spirits, otherwise it would be impossible to explain why this person could eliminate more than a dozen ghosts just one day after registering.
They never expected that this man was even more ruthless than they thought, and his appetite was even bigger than they imagined... That bastard actually took the Sealed Artifact!
Sealed objects have no collection value for individuals. Even in the underground black market where everything can be bought, there will be no such commodity as sealed objects.
There is an individual or a non-governmental organization that seeks to obtain the Seal, and they usually have only one use for it... to blackmail the city hall of any large city!
The captain of the Night's Watch cannot sit idly by and watch the situation deteriorate to this point.
Bounty societies are not officially permitted legal organizations, but they often have close ties with local official organizations.
Kelly Simon, president of Innadri's underground bounty association, has been a frequent visitor to cocktail parties and dinners hosted by Innadri's upper class. When respectable gentlemen and ladies have any undisclosed needs that need to be met, she always shows up at the right time.
The Oak Bar in the bar district of St. Joseph Street looks like an ordinary bar on the surface, but it is actually the external business window of the Bounty Society. When there are no large banquets in the city, Kelly Simon always stays on the second floor of this bar.
After hearing the captain's request, Kelly Simon, who had always been omnipotent, spread her hands to show that she was powerless: "I'm sorry, Your Excellency, no bounty hunter would be willing to go against an exorcist who holds a seal. You know, if I knew there was such a person on the street where I live, I might choose to take a short trip."
"Don't be quick to refuse, lady." The captain of the Night Watch said calmly, "I just hope you can help contact the lich Enwei. I know you can find him."
"This... Your Excellency, please believe that I did not mean to shirk my responsibility..." Kelly Simon said apologetically, "Mr. Enwei heard that the Nightmare Butcher appeared in Innadri and left last month."
"What?!"
"Mr. Enway seems to have some problems with the Nightmare Butcher... But you know, who would dare to ask Mr. Enway about his unhappy past?" Kelly Simon said regretfully, "I heard that His Excellency the Third provoked the Nightmare Butcher not long ago. I really hope Mr. Gould can persuade the Lord of Innadri more."
The captain of the Night Watch 's face twitched constantly.
How should I put it... Regarding the matter of Nightmare Butcher Yang running to Innadri to support an illegitimate child of a noble, the Gold Coin Church has always had an ambiguous attitude. The biggest reason is that they don't want to have anything to do with that famous madman on the continent.
But he was very upset that Enwei, the lich he had the greatest hope for, was disgusted and left by the Nightmare Butcher...
The lich Enwei is an extremely rare friendly spellcaster among black magicians who is willing to maintain good relations with official organizations; although this friendliness is only relative... but at least this legendary figure never maliciously attacks people from the church, and when the money is in place, he is willing to accept commissions from official organizations.
The captain of the night watch left the Oak Bar with regret. Before he could figure out a solution, the fat official who was in charge of connecting with the exorcist brought back another piece of bad news:
Von Alphonse's assistant, a young man named Brook, claimed that the strange wood carving that his master accidentally obtained was bought by a passing black magician on his way back to Innadri.
The black magician who happened to run into the exorcist von Alphonse… called himself Yang.
In the hall of the Exorcist Registry, the captain of the night watch spat out blood in front of several officials and clerks.
"Von Alphonse!!" The captain of the Night Watch roared in a panic, "Kill this idiot! Don't let him leave Innadri alive!!"
The fat official let out an "Ah" and showed a terrified expression.
"What else have you not said?!" the Night Watch Captain yelled.
"He, he, he, he has left." The fat official was about to cry, "The kid named Brooke said that they have earned enough funds and have to go back... When my people went there, they were loading the equipment of that scam photo studio onto the carriage. They may have left the city by now..."
The captain of the Night Watch almost spurted blood again: "Chase him--!!"
Soon, the knights who protected the Gold Coin Church and two temporarily requisitioned cavalry teams of the city defense army chased after them along the three roads of north, east and south.
Southwest, the township road leading to Westham was calm...
While Innadri was in chaos, in the mountains west of Westram, Sam Hank and twenty or so comrades who had been recruited into the town hall in advance and had been officially assigned as operators were staring blankly at a spectacle that shattered their worldview...
Sam Hank and others were ordered to escort several undead and the equipment they carried to complete the terrain survey mission from Westram to the edge of the Tarantan Wasteland; when it was necessary to enter the Tarantan Wasteland, more undead would come to assist them.
Sam and others are not unfamiliar with railways paved with iron tracks. In Nadelli, there is a magic steam train track that goes directly to the capital of the Rhine Kingdom. In order to prevent people from stealing the rails, the city police have also set up mounted police to patrol the railway line.
Before walking out of the town, Sam and the others did not feel that this mission was much different from the missions they had performed when they were soldiers. The only difference was that the important people they had to protect and assist had changed from nobles to undead.
It was not until they left the town that the mayor of the undead town, Ji Tang, appeared before them in a strange pneumatic car that they had never seen in the city... no, it had never even been seen in newspapers or magazines...
