Chapter 363 "The Eternal Sleeper"
The arrogant young nobleman, wearing the labor protection gloves and work clothes familiar to the Chinese people, and rubber shoes, numbly took the hammer and smashed it against the crumbling yellow mud wall.
Amid the flying dust, the wooden boards in the yellow mud broke and the two-meter-high walls of the shed collapsed.
The young nobleman, whose face was covered with dust, stepped back repeatedly and almost bumped into a strong man who was carrying garbage down the mountain.
This sturdy man had an extra anklet on his feet compared to the others, and was obviously not a good person. He glared at him fiercely, almost scaring the young nobleman to death, and he hurriedly apologized.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and dismantle it! If any group fails to complete the progress, the whole group will work overtime. Don't even think about finishing on time!"
The supervisor not far away noticed that the lazy and habitual criminal had stopped and shouted over here with a loud speaker.
The people who were busy dismantling sheds and clearing garbage all glared at the good-for-nothing young master in the same group.
The aggrieved young nobleman had no choice but to harden his heart and dive back into the flying dust...
The prisoners' engineering team's guards were not all as violent as Innadri's warden Hal, who would beat people half to death at will, but they were not too polite to the prisoners either. The assigned workload was non-negotiable, and if it was not completed, the entire group of prisoners would have to work overtime, and if they missed mealtimes they would have to go hungry.
After it got dark, the young nobleman returned to the prisoner camp. Exhausted and limp, he lay down on a straw mat and fell asleep on the spot.
Not long after, the young man seemed to be having a nightmare and made groaning sounds... Fortunately, the prisoners in the same barracks with him were all sleeping soundly, otherwise, he might have been beaten up.
There were thousands of prisoners in the prisoner-of-war camp, with more than ten people crammed into each tent. You can imagine how poor the living conditions were.
The young nobleman, who was half asleep and half awake, seemed unable to endure the terrible environment. In the second half of the night when everything was quiet, he suddenly sat up quietly, pushed away the stinky feet of the man next to him, leaned over the ground, tiptoed over the prisoners sleeping on the ground, and climbed out of the tent silently.
The militiamen on night watch yawned as they patrolled between the tents, trying their best to keep their bloodshot eyes open as they passed by the young nobleman who was slowly crawling on the ground.
Three night guards sat in the shed outside the duty room near the gate of the prisoner camp, chatting about their own children.
When the young nobleman, crawling on his hands and knees like an animal, passed outside the duty room, the older supervisor shivered and complained, "I'm old and I'll ," and stood up and went back to the duty room to get his coat.
The young nobleman slowly crawled out of the prisoner camp, and his squirming figure disappeared into the darkness.
The next morning, the prisoners were awakened by the sound of gongs. They stood up complaining and yawning as they gathered outside the tents .
When it came time to call the roll, the guards discovered that a prisoner was missing.
"Someone escaped?" Ms. Mia, the chief housekeeper of the Logistics Department, was very surprised when she heard the news: "How is it possible? There are so many militias guarding inside and outside, who could escape?"
"One person is missing indeed." The temporary chief of the prisoner camp, Ban, who came to report the situation, said with a troubled look, "The strangest thing is that the person who escaped is the one who is least likely to escape."
"Who is it?" Ms. Mia asked.
"Raphael Amos Ezekiel, the grandson of Ezekiel." Ben explained, "The Ezekiel family has committed many crimes. Seven out of ten adult men have been hanged. Those who are lucky enough not to be hanged are either marginalized people who are not valued, or useless young masters who even need servants to help tie their napkins. This Raphael is the latter."
Ms. Mia understood immediately...
A good life can indeed make people strong and healthy, but there is also a chance that it will produce useless people who can do nothing.
"How could a young man like this get away by himself? Did someone come to rescue him? Are there any accomplices of Ezekiel's family who haven't been caught yet?" Ms. Mia frowned.
"This is also what confuses me the most." Ben was even more confused. "Rafael's two cousins, uncle, and his brother are also imprisoned in a nearby barracks. Those four are all here."
Ms. Mia tilted her head slightly, with question marks all over her forehead.
The Logistics Department spent a whole day investigating but was unable to find out the disappearance and whereabouts of Rafael Amos Ezekiel, so they had to report the news to the City Hall.
After the Sheriff's detectives came to investigate for the whole morning, they nervously ran to the City Hall and suggested asking the Night Watch investigators to get involved in the matter.
Zhao Zhenzhen, who originally didn't care much about this matter, suddenly became alert.
Although Zhao Zhenzhen once seemingly nonchalantly ordered people to burn the problematic evil god statue, this does not mean that Zhao Zhenzhen does not take the evil god issue seriously - she was an eyewitness who personally participated in the "Red Wall Farm" incident and knew very well that there were indeed some dangerous and strange things in this alien world.
"Agent Stanford, are you sure this is not an ordinary missing person case?" Zhao Zhenzhen confirmed.
Agent Pearson Stanford, who was in charge of investigating the matter, said solemnly, "Rafael's bed is in the middle of the prisoner barracks. That is the worst position. There are people all around, and fresh air is difficult to circulate. The sleeping experience will be very poor. Obviously, this young master is not respected by the prisoners in the same barracks."
"The prisoners in the same barracks confirmed my guess. This young master often hindered the progress of their team's work. If it weren't for the guards keeping an eye on him, he would have been punished countless times. This means that the possibility of the prisoners in the same barracks helping him escape is very low."
"Another question is that Rafael, who was doing heavy physical labor, could barely hold his plate during dinner. It was impossible for him to have the strength to walk out of the barracks on his own without being discovered or alerting others."
Stanford didn't even mention the possibility of militia or guards helping Master Raphael escape, and Zhao Zhenzhen wasn't stupid enough to ask...
As the most solid stepping stone for Coulson O'Neill to ascend to power, the numerous crimes committed by the Ezekiel family were repeatedly publicized throughout the Adler territory and were completely pinned to the pillar of shame in history.
Even if someone is bribed with money and dares to take risks, it is useless - the militia and guards on duty at night all act in groups of several people, so even if some individuals want to have bad intentions, they have little chance.
After eliminating multiple possibilities, the remaining possibility, no matter how low it is, can only be the final answer.
"I understand." Zhao Zhenzhen thought for a moment and nodded, "There is no need to ask the Night Watch for help. The relationship between us and the Gold Coin Church in Dutata City is not as close as that of the Church in Innadeli. Let's find another way."
Agent Stanford's eyes lit up. Was this wise and almighty undead lady going to personally deal with the cult-related incidents that were giving the night watchmen such a headache?
Then, Zhao Zhenzhen led Agent Stanford to meet Kingsley, who was squatting in the Lord's Mansion in Dutata City to help Lord Yang look after the house.
"I don't want to get involved in anything related to the cult."
The red-haired boy, who was lazily curled up in a bamboo recliner reading a book, immediately rejected Zhao Zhenzhen who came to his door with an expressionless face.
Zhao Zhenzhen looked at him in shock.
"What's that look in your eyes? Do you think all spellcasters have mental resistance as abnormal as Yang's?" Kingsley said unhappily, "For a normal spellcaster like me, getting involved with cultists is as disgusting as someone accidentally stepping on SHI when going to the toilet. No, it's even more disgusting than that. Other things are easy to deal with, but I'm not interested in this kind of thing. Go, go, go, don't disturb my rest."
Zhao Zhenzhen was simply impressed by this guy, and when she left the house, she mentally made a note of this unreliable local spellcaster.
"It seems that the players are the only ones left." Zhao Zhenzhen said helplessly, "Agent, are you willing to cooperate with the undead?"
Agent Stanford: "Uh..."
To be honest, I feel a little bit resistant, but I am also a little curious and looking forward to it...
Not long after, Miaobishenghua, who was helping his apprentice change jobs, received a private message from Ye Zhenzhen in his friend list: "Huahua, do you want to do a hidden mission?"
"Yes, yes, yes! Sister Zhao, wait for me!"
Ten minutes later, Miaobishenghua, who was teleported from Exile Town, appeared in the City Hall of Dutata City with someone he had caught to help him give me medicine.
"Investigating incidents involving cultists?"
"That's right." Zhao Zhenzhen took out a thin stack of documents and handed them to Miaobishenghua with shining eyes, "Take a look at this first."
During the reign of Ezekiel's family, the slums outside the city were the hotbed for cult incidents.
However, the Duta City Hall at that time was indifferent to this. It was just , and at most a few city dwellers were involved. This kind of thing really couldn't alarm the gentlemen in the central city... So when Zhao Zhenzhen took over the local government affairs, the records related to the slum cult that could be found were even more ridiculous than the outline of a lazy writer.
Fortunately, Miaobishenghua didn't know that this world was not a game, and he had no dissatisfaction with the "mission text" in his hand...
"'Eternal Sleeper'? The code name for the evil god? There are really many evil gods in this game. This is the third one." Miaobishenghua quickly flipped through the files and said this calmly and straightforwardly.
Agent Stanford who was standing nearby was shocked. It was indeed the undead that Ms. Zhao had found. The evil god that most people were afraid of was not taken seriously at all.
"Sister Zhao, aren't more than half of the slum scenes outside the city gone? All the NPCs have also moved away. Where can we check this?" he asked brilliantly.
Zhao Zhenzhen's expression remained unchanged as she calmly took out the addresses of several blocks...
If there is an unknown cult organization hidden in the slums, then the possibility that the members of this organization will respond to the call of the city hall and voluntarily move to the south to become farmers or accept the arrangement of the Civil Affairs Department to become ready-made farm tenants and hired farmers is not great.
It is more likely that it is quietly lurking among the hundreds of thousands of residents who remain in the city.
The reason is very simple. This evil cult in another world is not like the cult on Earth which is called a cult but is actually a fraud group whose ultimate goal is to defraud money and goods.
During the period of relocation and resettlement of poor households, this cult organization remained silent; it only emerged strangely after most of the slums had been demolished, and it started with the prisoners in the prisoner camp, which also fits Zhao Zhenzhen's speculation - it is difficult for this cult organization to develop believers among the original slum residents.
As long as people can see the hope of living by their own hands, it is unlikely that they will pin all their hopes on a cold and heartless god, especially when this god is a recognized evil god, rather than a clay puppet on Earth who can be dressed up as a benevolent father by just beautifying it with his mouth.
The city hall's relocation activities may have caused this cult to suffer a serious loss of personnel and put it in a precarious situation...
In other words, the disappearance of Raphael Amos Ezekiel could very well be a sign of a counterattack by a cult filled with anger and resentment towards the new Duta City Hall.
