NOVPUBChapter 100: Chapter 99 Opening Ceremony Gift
Chapter 100 -99 Opening Ceremony Gift
At the same time, in the West District of Magnificent Castle.
Shandela rode her horse furiously with her deputy following closely behind, and after galloping through two dilapidated streets, they stopped at an alley that was cordoned off by layers of city guards.
“Whoa—” The commander dismounted, and immediately, a soldier approached to take the horse’s reins, “Ma’am, the missing brethren are in the alley.”
Shandela, with a stern face, pushed through the crowd and walked into the depths of the alley.
“Ma’am!”
Upon seeing her, a team leader hurriedly stepped forward to salute. Behind him lay two city guard warriors, pale-faced, with several of their comrades caring for them.
Shandela recognized the man, “I remember you. Your name is Shidong…”
“Sidong Bradley.” The other quickly responded.
Right, the team leader of Squad Fourteen, and it was he who made her aware of the fact that members of the Heretical Cult had infiltrated the city.
“Huff, huff…” It was then that her deputy Woody caught up, gasping for breath, “The people… did you find them?”
“My squad found them,” Sidong immediately replied, “We were ordered to search for the whereabouts of the missing personnel. While we were outside the alley, we heard faint cries for help. On entering, we discovered the callers were indeed the ones the city guards were looking for. To not disturb the scene, we didn’t bring them back to camp but notified you immediately.”
“Well done,” Shandela commended as she knelt beside the two soldiers. They were both members of the Second Squad and elite within the city guards, one named Vala and the other Fanteer, who had lost contact two days prior. At the time of their disappearance, their assigned mission was to surveil the Jeddy Brothers’ Newspaper Office.
“Ma’am… sorry, we… were attacked,” Vala, who was in a slightly better condition than the other, stated. Even so, he appeared exceptionally weak, his lips cracked and bleeding from dryness.
“They haven’t had anything to eat or drink for two days,” Sidong said gravely, “When we found them, their hands and feet were tied to stakes, with blindfolds over their eyes and their mouths gagged. Fortunately, Vala managed to bite through the cloth strip, finally able to call for help.”
“Did you see Judy in person?” Shandela asked.
“Yes… we confirmed… it was her. She… she didn’t die,” Vala replied with difficulty.
Though she had anticipated this result, Shandela still felt a substantial weight in her heart upon confirmation.
To avenge Dane, another person of kindness threw herself into the flames of hatred.
With this, many aspects of the situation became clear.
The theater arson and the attack on the Northern Police Station both stemmed from Judy bringing in members of the Heretical Cult. Perhaps her initial intent was just to exact revenge on the criminals, but once the cultists arrived, how could they possibly leave so easily?
“And then?”
“Then we followed… her to see where her current hideout was…and then in an alley near Oak Street… we were… suddenly attacked…”
“Did you see the attackers!?” Woody asked impatiently.
“Commander… no. It’s like they planned it all along… they jumped down from the rooftops, by the time we heard something… cough cough… our heads were already bagged with cloth.”
“Damn heretics!” The deputy slammed his fist against the wall with force.
In fact, this incident was a sheer humiliation for the city guards; in broad daylight, they had brazenly attacked the lord’s troops. The audacity of the enemy was sky-high!
Shandela also felt angry.
In the past week, most of the city guards had been deployed to the countryside fog region to suppress the rebellion of the miners, which had left her desperately short-handed. Despite the lord emphasizing that the murder case at the northern police station was closed, she remained unconvinced and had not completely withdrawn the surveillance teams, only reducing their numbers. Little did she expect that this reduction would lead to their coming up short.
But beyond her anger, she felt somewhat puzzled.
Theoretically, there was no need for the cultists to spare these two people’s lives. The slums were a considerable distance from the Jeddy Brothers’ Newspaper Office, and transporting the bodies there would have taken significant effort. If they had killed them and thrown them into the sea, turning the disappearance into a mystery, she wouldn’t even be sure at this point if all of this had anything to do with Judy.
Why did the enemy spare the soldiers’ lives?
Was it because they feared inciting the enmity of the city guards?
Shandela surveyed the surroundings, trying to find a trace of the enemy. There were several kinds of footprints around, including the military boots of soldiers, and the bare feet and cloth shoes of the poor. However, just a bit further out, the latter two were severely obliterated, indicating that the footprints had been deliberately cleaned up.
The enemy was clearly not a novice, demonstrating a seasoned awareness of anti-surveillance.
Shandela walked another ten or so meters outwards, and as she approached the city guard blockade line, she suddenly noticed something shimmering hidden in the mud. Upon picking it up, she found it was a unique scale—thicker than a fish’s and edged with iridescent colors, signifying it belonged to a Seaguardian.
Many different races lived in the slums, including Seaguardians, which didn’t seem unusual, but as she understood, most Seaguardians were scaleless. Only those with the purest bloodlines could grow scales on their faces and arms.
“Damn,” she couldn’t help but curse.
It seemed the miner rebels had indeed colluded with the heretical cult.
The lord’s concerns were justified.
“My lord!” Woody hurried over from behind. “I just remembered that two days ago, the newspaper reported a fire on Oak Street; it seems a residence was burned down, but no casualties were reported. And the place where the soldiers were attacked is less than 500 meters from Oak Street.”
“You mean… the fire was just a ruse, and the enemy decided to burn down the residence to cover their tracks after discovering Judy was being trailed?”
“Quite likely!”
“Then we’re a step behind again,” Shandela sighed. Since everything could have been burned away, the scene would definitely not hold any valuable evidence. However, since they had come this far, they had to take a look at the burned-down residence—what if there were eyewitnesses around who could provide clues? “Let Shidong take good care of those two, we’re heading for Oak Street.”
…
After leaving the West District, the two headed north. Passing by Fafu Avenue, Shandela’s attention was caught by a large crowd.
They were gathered in front of the Yeni Temple, occasionally bursting into cheers, lively and bustling.
She subconsciously pulled on the reins, slowing down her mount, and crossed over to the direction of the crowd.
This was the first time she had witnessed such a noisy scene since the lifting of the city’s martial law.
Upon drawing closer, Shandela was surprised to see that the temple’s main doors seemed to have been renovated. Even the formerly dilapidated stone columns had been newly painted, with the entire entrance along with the outer walls now whitewashed and looking both bright and clean. Below them, two gold-plated signboards were hung side by side, reading “Gate of Destiny Pharmaceuticals, Partner of Yeni Temple.”
Beneath the signboards were red silk ribbons and large silk flowers, with several baskets of fresh flowers placed around.
Two nuns with platters full of candies occasionally tossed handfuls into the crowd, while the onlookers cupped their clothes to catch as many of the free sweets as they could, causing the cheering.
“Why is Yeni Temple giving out relief food? I thought they were supposed to be short on money, right?” asked Woody, puzzled.
“Nobody gives out candy as relief food,” Shandela said dismissively, “and besides, this probably doesn’t have much to do with the temple. Gate of Destiny… that’s an extravagant name I’ve never heard before. Let’s ask a local about it.”
