Chapter 270: Undead: Obey the Law
The undead took less than two hours to perfectly solve the "Kent Bennett Disappearance Case" that had plagued Moses Port for twelve years. When the matter was reported to the local court, the prophet of the court, Carida, who was about to take coercive measures to expel the undead, and the knights of the Gold Coin Church summoned by Carida were all stunned.
"What are you saying? Repeat it from the beginning." Prophet Carida, who was a few years younger than Bishop Cromwell, once thought there was something wrong with his hearing.
The errand boy honestly recounted everything that had happened in the Night Watch building not long ago, including the fact that Miss Phoenix left her secretary at the Night Watch headquarters to "translate and copy" the dead language books on their behalf.
The Night's Watch, like the Inquisition, is a violent organization belonging to the Church and is considered a department of the same level. Both organizations must obey the orders of the regional bishop. The only difference is that the leaders of the Night's Watch often do not stay in office for long, and early retirement is common, making it difficult for a strong leader to stay in office for a long time like the Inquisition.
The Prophet Carida has been in office for more than fifty years, and during these fifty years, there have been three captains of the same level of the Night's Watch... In front of Carida, the captain of the Night's Watch naturally has to maintain the etiquette of a junior.
“…Too much to know that such a thing would happen.”
After hearing the whole story, Carida's recent resolute attitude to forcibly expel the undead couldn't help but soften.
Of course, Carida knew how dangerous the highly suspected disaster area . Carida also helped when the Night Watch sealed off the area.
Compared with the ability to solve the incident so efficiently, quickly, and without any casualties (except for the undead), tolerating the dirty and chaotic undead to roam around in the city does not seem to be something that is too unacceptable...
Carida sighed. She understood the captain of the Night's Watch's intention of sending someone to tell her the details. Obviously, Cromwell was right about the choice of "hiring the undead". If she insisted on opposing it, it would give Cromwell a reasonable excuse to suppress her or even ask for her transfer.
Just as she had always been disgusted with Cromwell, a selfish man, Cromwell had always been disgusted with her inflexibility.
"I understand." Carida said with all his strength, "Please tell your captain that the court will not interfere in this matter for the time being."
That night, Carida spent a sleepless night, reading through all the books related to the undead and even books on mysticism in his study, trying to find records in history of dark creatures like the Tarantan Undead that have the wisdom to deal with events.
The next morning, after staying up all night, Carida was about to go to the library of the court to look for information when the night watchman sent someone over.
"Those undead found the shadow demon in the port area? In just one night?!"
After hearing the news brought by the Night Watchman, even though he was mentally prepared, Carida couldn't help but gasp.
The Shadow Demon in the port area is an "urban legend" circulated among the locals in a small circle. According to the rumor, there are deceased foreign sailors who can't find their way home and often wander around the port area at night. Anyone who is unfortunate enough to see it will lose the memory of "home". No matter if they are respectable gentlemen or odd jobs, they will gradually lose their minds and become wanderers in the port area.
The contents recorded in the archives within the church are much more bizarre and sinister... In fact, people who see the Shadow Fiend will not lose their family memories, nor will they become homeless, but they will lose some normal human emotions.
Some people will lose their perception of beauty and goodness, some will lose their sense of the boundaries between evil and justice, and some will lose their sense of ethnic identity with the human race, and cognitively they will be separated from human society and human race.
In other words...people who are unfortunate enough to run into the Shadow Fiend may not look much different from normal people on the surface, but where others can't see, these people, without exception, will gradually move towards the world of criminals!
Since thirteen years ago, the church has dealt with more than ten criminals who were corrupted by the shadow demon in a secret or semi-public manner.
The most brutal killer even committed a series of murders that shocked the entire country.
All written information about Shadow Fiend is second only to the level of disaster in the existing archives of Moses Port.
"Yes, sir." The night watchman who came to deliver the letter was also in an incredible trance, and said in a hoarse voice, "Our people entered the port area together with the undead. In the first half of the night, these undead just ran around the streets and made noise, but unexpectedly scared those daring drunkards and night wanderers back home."
"In the middle of the night, these ghosts got tired of searching aimlessly and started to figure out how to catch fish in the harbor... Our people did say that, they stole the nets from the fishermen's boats and tried to steer the boats... Our people also tried to stop them, but they ignored us."
"The undeads moved the boat to the middle of the river, and my colleagues... saw the shadow demon! It appeared on the boat driven by the undeads!"
"No wonder we couldn't find any trace of the shadow demon no matter how hard we searched the port area. It was hiding at the bottom of the river!"
"The undead fought with the shadow demon on the narrow boat. After the shadow demon fled to the bottom of the water, they chased it down... They entangled with the shadow demon in the Barcelo River for a long time. My colleagues could only occasionally see waves surging on the water."
The prophet Carida was speechless after hearing this... That's right, the shadow demons hiding in the water will make everyone helpless, but the undead don't need to breathe, so they can stay in the water as long as they want.
"Two hours ago, at dawn, the undead came out of the water, and their number was reduced by nearly half... but they also killed the shadow demon." The night watchman who delivered the letter said in a dreamlike voice, "Not only did they kill the shadow demon, they also found its lair at the bottom of the river and brought up some boxes of gold coins and jewelry, as well as a human skeleton. Judging from the clothes, this shadow demon seems to be a big pirate who fled to Moses Port many years ago."
The prophet Karida pinched his brows hard.
The pirate, whose hands were stained with blood during his lifetime, caused the corruption of humans who witnessed his existence. This is indeed an answer that can reasonably explain the characteristics of the Shadow Demon.
The great pirate who fled to Moses Port hid his treasure in the deep water area in front of the port area. For some reason, such as the ventilation pipe was blocked, swept away by the waves, or cut off by the propeller of a ship passing on the river, he died silently in an underwater cave... Then of course he would not leave there, he would guard his wealth day and night.
"Well, it seems that Moses Port really needs these mysterious Tarantan Undead." Carida sighed deeply, "Since these undead can communicate and help humans solve problems, then we really shouldn't reject them too much."
The night watchman who brought the letter hesitated and stammered, "This... Your Excellency, this is exactly why the captain sent me here..."
"Oh? Is there anything else?" Karida asked quickly.
The night watchman swallowed and said with difficulty: "There are more undead coming to Moses Port. After the shadow demons in the port area were dealt with, Miss Phoenix asked the Leo family to bring more than a dozen carriages of undead into the city."
"Now, these undead who are curious about everything are running all over the city."
Carida stared at the night watchman seriously, trying to confirm whether what he said was true.
The night watchman who delivered the letter forced out a flattering smile with difficulty: "Actually... when I was driving here, some undead climbed onto my car without asking where I was going. I wanted to chase them off, but——"
Before the night watchman finished his explanation, Carida heard a terrified scream from the old servant who was cleaning the yard.
Karida walked quickly to the window and opened the floor-to-ceiling curtains.
In the courtyard, two undead spirits squatted in front of the flower bed that Carida had cultivated herself. They pointed at the precious flowers that had just sprouted buds, as if they knew how to appreciate green plants.
From the perspective of the study on the second floor, Carida could see how these two undead souls valued the precious flowers in the flowerbed... They even knew not to step on the fine sand that had been carefully selected in the flowerbed.
The screaming old servant standing at the other end of the flower bed did not attract much attention of the two undead. They just glanced in the direction of the old servant and then continued to comment on the precious flowers, as if they were discussing something very seriously.
Carida: “…”
Coming uninvited and breaking into someone else's garden is certainly considered an unwelcome act, but... they didn't trample on her flower beds, nor did they attack her servants. Instead, they admired the flowers she had cultivated herself. If these two "fellow enthusiasts" were not undead but just ordinary people, Carida would have gone downstairs to chat with them about their cultivation experiences.
Carida slowly turned around and looked at the frightened night watchman, and said stiffly: "These undead... understand the most basic human social etiquette?"
The night watchman nodded vigorously.
Of course he refused when the undead climbed onto his carriage, but the two undead were very "sensible" and took a small bag of sugar (rock sugar) wrapped in clean oil paper as fare... If he continued to drive them away by force, he would seem even more unreasonable than the undead.
Carida felt that she should go to the Night Watch Building and confirm with her own eyes the activities of these undead.
Carida changed into the priest robe of the Inquisition and went downstairs. The two undead squatting in the garden's eyes lit up and they ran to her.
Carida even took out the priest's staff...but the two undead did not take any action. Instead, they danced and gestured in front of her.
Carida was still confused and didn't understand the undead 's intentions, but they seemed to have figured out something and walked away disappointedly, then continued to squat in front of the flower bed, admiring the beautiful flowers from all over the continent.
Carida: “…”
The strong-willed Prophet suppressed the dangerous idea of exploring the thoughts of the dead and got on the carriage driven by the Night Watch.
The carriage came out of the central city where the prophet lived and entered the city where the Night Watch building was located. Carida even saw groups of undead walking onto the streets under the leadership of the Night Watch.
Wherever these undead go, they will cause screams, but the undead seem to have gotten used to this treatment. No matter how passers-by or merchants react, they don't care. They don't chase, intimidate, or attack. They just look around curiously and communicate with each other using the sound of their jaws colliding.
Karida couldn't help but pinch her brows again...
A day ago, when Carida saw a large group of undead taking to the streets, she would definitely jump out of the car immediately to eliminate these guys who invaded human society, but now... she could understand the thoughts of Bishop Li Gene of the Innadri Diocese.
The degree of harm they cause is similar to that of gang members, and to some extent they are even more "law-abiding" than gang members. They also have the ability to deal with dark creatures. Although it is still difficult for people to open their hearts and minds to accept this group of undead, it is indeed not so easy to make up their minds to tear their faces apart.
