Chapter 150 The Security Team in an Awkward Position
How many "infected people" are there in Westram?
This is a problem that Walton could hardly imagine.
But one thing is certain—Charlie Rex! This man has a great deal to do with the suspected disaster in Westram!
"Did Charlie Rex's actions come from the instructions of the Nightmare Butcher?" This is the question that Captain Walton is most concerned about.
"That... is hard to tell for now." The plain-looking middle-aged man swallowed his saliva and said, "The ghost of the Nightmare Butcher exists openly in Westram. There is a delicatessen run by the undead on the main street in the town... There are construction sites that only allow the undead to enter and exit, and even the position of the mayor is held by the undead."
"A delicatessen run by the undead?!" Walton said in astonishment.
The female agent nodded seriously. "This store sells extremely cheap salt, food, and spices. Because of this store, all the stores under Baron Marcus' name have been closed."
Salt and grain are always the most stable and profitable businesses.
The shops engaged in salt and grain business in Martin Street Market are actually private properties of Baron Marcus, the former Lord of Westham - including the store that Ms. Mia visited when she first purchased grain, which seemed to be run by an old couple.
The undead destroyed the old order of Westram, but did not attack civilians, and even took the initiative to maintain the stability of Westram. These salt and grain shops did not take the initiative to expose themselves, but "lurked" and waited for Baron Marcus to "take back the old territory" - until the undead delicatessen opened and took away all the business, making it difficult for these shops to continue operating.
Captain Walton was silent for a moment, then uttered four words: "Win people's hearts."
The people are stupid and short-sighted. As long as they can see real short-term benefits, they don't care whether the people who rule them are just or evil.
After a pause, Captain Walton asked in confusion, "Where did the Nightmare Butcher get so much salt and food to buy people's hearts?"
"This... is just like the 'Cloth of the Dead'. There is no way to find out its source." The female agent lowered her head in shame.
"It's not your fault. The identity of the Nightmare Butcher is a mystery. The Inquisition has been investigating for many years but still cannot trace his origins." Walton shook his head. "No one knows where he was born and which country his strange features come from."
When Nightmare Butcher Yang became a wanted criminal on the mainland sixty years ago, many individuals and organizations who were eyeing the sky-high bounty spontaneously participated in investigating his background.
The end result is...no result.
Yang's black hair seems to be consistent with the common dark hair style of Kenyans, and the contours of his facial features are also closer to Kenyans, but the difference in skin color and eye color is very large, and his body shape is even more different.
At first glance, Yang's dark pupils seem similar to those of the Sokree people in the south, but a closer look reveals that they are different. The pupils of the Sokree people are almost pure black, while the pupils of the Nightmare Butcher are actually dark brown; coupled with the Sokree people's iconic black skin and white hair, it can be determined that Yang is definitely not from the south.
Yang's pale yellowish skin color is similar to the race of the people in the Eastern Norsk Federation, but his hair color, eye color, and facial features are very different...
Even the bounty association, which is the best at investigating clues, could not uncover the true origins of this madman.
"Yang is willing to use salt, grain and cheap undead cloth to win people's hearts and minds and make the people of Westram accept the existence of the undead. He also sent his men to serve as the mayor. It is obvious that Yang is not just planning to make a fortune in Westram." Walton said to himself, "So - is it Charlie Rex who is behind this?"
The agents looked at each other, and the middle-aged man spoke first: "We have contacted some security guards, temporary workers, and two town hall clerks. These people are similar to the original soldiers of the city defense army. They don't mention the 'Nightmare Butcher' very much, but are full of praise for Lord Rex."
"Yes." The female agent said, "According to the intelligence we have obtained, Nightmare Butcher Yang rarely shows up in the town. On the contrary, Charlie Rex is very active. This new lord can be seen everywhere on the main road in the town every day."
The middle-aged man added, "We have seen this new lord several times during our investigation. He is very popular with the local townspeople and seems to be very close to the people. However, he always appears with the undead mayor. We are afraid that the undead will see through our disguise, so we dare not approach him easily."
"Is that really the case..." Walton frowned, and the gloomy young man who had followed Yang appeared in his mind again.
The young man who had the light silver hair color common among the upper class people in the Rhine Kingdom and looked elegant and respectable, had an increasingly evil temperament in Walton's memory.
After thinking for a moment, Captain Walton said firmly: "Contact Horn's people. We need to sneak into the town hall and obtain evidence that Charlie Rex is related to the disaster."
The ones who are best at dealing with disasters are the high-ranking priests.
In order to convince the high-ranking priests of the Fiery Sun Church and the Gold Coin Church to take action, Walton must obtain strong enough evidence!
The scouts of the Knights of the Blazing Sun Church were quite capable. Before sneaking into Westham, these spies deliberately spent two days scouting the surrounding villages, sneaking in under the guise of "local villagers from remote villages who came to the town to work in groups", and even found a house that was rented out at a low price as their base.
The treatment of temporary workers recruited daily on the main street in the town is still very attractive to farmers. Not only have a large number of townspeople who went to the countryside to do odd jobs during the autumn harvest returned, but many farmers who have finished their autumn harvest work at home have also moved into the town, allowing those townspeople with extra properties to make a small sum of "hot money" - Westham, which has been experiencing a long period of population loss, has quite a lot of vacant houses, which cannot be rented out or even sold.
These scouts did a very good job of camouflage in all aspects, but... they were still exposed.
As the plain-looking middle-aged man came out of the alley, two security guards who were secretly following him spotted him.
"There's movement." Jimmy, who pretended to rest at the door of a grocery store, put down the water cup provided by the store owner and whispered to his partner, "Let's go, follow."
The partner nodded in understanding and stood up with Jimmy. The two of them followed the target from a distance as if they were on a routine patrol.
A middle-aged man dressed like an ordinary townsman walked more than a hundred meters along the road where small vendors were operating, and turned into another alley.
Jimmy and his partner did not follow in, but stopped far away.
"It turns out that the people in Shuijing Lane are in cahoots with this gang." said the partner.
"Didn't I tell you that these two gangs have problems? They might be in cahoots with each other." Jimmy snorted coldly. "Who among the villagers who come to town to work as temporary workers doesn't quickly stock up on salt and cloth after getting their daily wages? These two gangs often come back empty-handed!"
The partner nodded in agreement...
The scouts of the Blazing Sun Church and the spies of the city defense army probably never dreamed that although both sides were very professional and disguised themselves as if they were the real deal, they would fail at the point of not stockpiling salt and buying cloth...
"Hey, after the last incident with the Sokri caravan, I thought no spies dared to come, but now another one has come in so soon." The partner said excitedly, "We have done a great job this time. Jimmy, who do you think we should report to?"
Jimmy uttered an "uh" and froze.
The security team transformed from the original militia team currently has no captain; the security team members' daily patrols and guard duties in the town continue the shift order of the original militia team.
The salaries and logistical supplies (meals, uniforms, equipment, etc.) of the security team are the responsibility of Ms. Mia from the Logistics Department of the Town Hall. The team's rules and regulations are formulated by Mayor Ji Tang, and the authority for dispatch and appointment lies with Lord Rex.
Such chaotic management would definitely cause problems in other places, but it is difficult for anything to go wrong in the special environment of Westram - Ms. Mia, who is in charge of logistics and finance, and Mayor Ji Tang, who is in charge of discipline, never interfere with the operation and dispatch of the security team, and Lord Rex only uses them as tools to maintain order; the three people who have the right to interfere in the security team never take the security team's "military deterrence" seriously.
Whether in front of the natural disasters or Rex who has strong military power, the strong militia of the security team really doesn't rank high...
Normally, everyone just went to work and got paid, and the happiest moment of the day was waiting for the work meal. Now that he had carefully thought about who he should go to to receive the reward for his meritorious performance, Jimmy realized that their security team, which seemed quite respectable and well-paid in the eyes of the townspeople, was actually in a very embarrassing situation:
Whether it's Ms. Mia, Mayor Jitang or Lord Rex, the way they manage them is just like letting the sheep run wild.
They are all their immediate superiors, but they don’t take them seriously... …but they don’t ignore them on purpose either.
Jimmy silently lowered his head and covered his face.
The partner also slowly figured out what was going on, and his face looked extremely distressed - the three superiors were the kind of people who were so busy that they never paid any attention to them on weekdays. If they rashly went to report to them and they found that they had no time to take care of the matter, how would they get the credit?
"How about, how about...we go and discuss it with Boss Hal?" The partner hesitated and said hesitantly.
Jimmy pondered for a moment and nodded reluctantly.
Hal Maxwell, the boss of the guard department, has nothing to do with the security team and is not even their immediate superior. But to be honest, Hal is the one who has the closest relationship with the security team in the "Tarantan faction" - those who can now wear uniforms and continue to receive salaries from the town hall were all released by Hal; their former boss and a small number of teammates who failed to obtain Hal's permission are still suffering in the guard department.
"What the hell do you have to do with me?!"
In the former militia headquarters, now the general affairs office of the detention center, Hal rolled his eyes and uttered these words when faced with the little brother who came to ask for help.
Anyone who has been in the detention center doesn't know Hal's temper. Jimmy and his partner smiled and tried to persuade him in a flattering way:
"Boss Hal, those two gangs look very unusual, especially the one in Shuijing Lane. They might be even stronger than the mercenaries in the Sokri caravan last time."
"Yes, Boss Hal. Besides, they live in a crowded place like Martin Street. If they really have bad intentions, it will be a big trouble if something happens."
Hal picked his ears.
How to put it...he is not very willing to clean up Rex's mess.
Although Rex didn't actually have much hatred towards him, he just couldn't stand that pretentious boy.
But...he is living very happily in Westham now.
After the mercenaries from Sokri were recruited by that bastard black magician Yang to serve as some kind of professional mentors, the number of the bastard undead that often harassed Hal dropped sharply. Hal didn't even have to go to the main street in the town to manage the construction site. He just had to keep an eye on the more than a thousand prisoners in the guardhouse.
He is in charge of a large group of people, and there are so few harassing undead that he only has to deal with a few who come to him tirelessly every day. He is respected wherever he goes. Hal doesn't want to be disturbed in this peaceful and comfortable life.
"Well, let me see how capable these guys are..." Hal blew on his nails, stood up, and smiled wickedly, "You guys go back to your work, and I'll report your performance to that idiot Rex later."
Jimmy and his partner looked grateful.
With Boss Hal coming forward, Lord Rex will definitely value their contributions!
