Deep Sea Embers

Another small group of Sun heretics who had infiltrated on smugglers from Cold Harbor were picked out and imprisoned in a church near the port area.

Vanna returned from the prison area under the church and came to the lounge of the upper church. The regional bishop in charge of the church here was already waiting in the room.

"Judge Vanna," the slightly thin regional bishop saluted the young judge, "may the waves protect your soul."

"May the waves protect your soul," Vanna returned the greeting to the bishop, and then walked to the seat beside her with somewhat tired steps, "In the port area alone, this is already the second batch of Sun heretics thrown into prison, right? ?”

"Yes, we caught a dozen people three days ago - they were caught and stopped while trying to kill a citizen, and now this is the second batch, they caused a stir while performing dark rituals in an apartment building The alertness of a meter reader," the regional bishop nodded, with a slightly worried look in his eyes, "So many cultists have infiltrated in unknowingly... Fortunately, we discovered it early, otherwise the key to their dark rituals would not be known. How many people died."

"Pland is a transportation hub on the boundless sea, and everything has been calm in the past four years, which has paralyzed many people's nerves," Fanna nodded, "But... we can't tell yet whether we discovered it sooner or later. , those heretics who arrived early have most likely been operating in the dark for a while, and have only been exposed recently. "

The regional bishop glanced at the inquisitor's expression, hesitated for a moment and asked: "I heard that many people were arrested in other regions?"

"Yes, there are them in almost every city," Fanna didn't hide it. "Now, almost every church's underground prison contains captured Sun heretics, ranging from a few to dozens of people... But most of them They are the lowest-level minions who operate in the city-state in order to gather information. They have not received much training, so they are easily exposed... The real high-level priests have not been discovered so far. "

When Fanna finished speaking, her tone became serious unconsciously, with a faint worry on her face.

Since the actions of these heretics looking for "shards of the sun" were exposed, the Puland authorities and the church responded quickly and launched a large-scale manhunt in secret channels throughout the city. They also actively mobilized citizens to report and investigate. This series of actions The results are not unfruitful——

In a very short period of time, the whereabouts of a large number of cultists who had no time to react were indeed exposed and arrested. These dirty and bloody cultists are now almost filling the underground prisons of various churches. Their number has almost reached the number of cultists discovered in the city-state in the past four years. Sum.

However, so far, those who have been arrested are just minions who move around randomly. At most, there are some low-level priests who hold "mass-produced sacred objects" and have just received blessings. Those real high-level powers are still hidden behind the scenes.

This made Vanna feel a little restless.

"There are results every day, but they can never catch their 'backbone'. This gives me the feeling that the situation is still deteriorating out of sight," she said to the regional bishop in front of her. "Such a large number of cultists are in the city-state. It is impossible for them not to have a high-level commander making overall arrangements for the event, but this 'commander' has not shown up yet. "

The regional bishop pondered for a moment and then spoke slowly: "According to the current interrogation results, these minions only obey the orders of the 'messengers', and the so-called 'messengers' are a group of grassroots priests who directly listen to the messages from their descendants through imitation sun masks. Voice... Do you think there is a descendant of the sun already lurking in the city? "

"The Children of the Sun are lurking in human city-states? To be honest... it's logically impossible," Vanna frowned slightly, "Although they have powerful power, they also have obvious 'traces of existence', and their dirty and foul smell is not hidden at all. Don’t get up… There are churches and patrolling guards everywhere in the city-state, so in theory there shouldn’t be any ‘blind spots’.”

"So it's just a guess," the regional bishop shook his head. "I also know that it is difficult for the Sun's descendants to hide in a civilized society, but those low-level 'messengers' do carry sun masks with them. Even if they are not directly controlled by the descendants, they are definitely To a certain extent, we have maintained contact with the Sons of the Sun... After all, mass-produced sacred objects are also sacred objects, and those cultists also have to consider the cost of action, and they will not make meaningless arrangements."

Fanna put her fingers on her chin and suddenly spoke while thinking: "I read yesterday's interrogation record. Those heretics were mainly inquiring about the extraordinary events that happened in the city-state eleven years ago... They thought it was related to the sun fragments. ?”

"It seems so now," the regional bishop nodded. "Although they don't know the source of their intelligence, they seem to be convinced that it was sun debris that triggered the 'chemical plant riot' in Pland eleven years ago... I I remember you were also..."

As the regional bishop spoke, he suddenly stopped. He looked at the eye-catching scar on Vanna's left eye and lowered his head slightly: "Sorry, I made a mistake."

Fanna subconsciously raised her hand and brushed the scar on her face, but she quickly smiled calmly and shook her head: "It doesn't matter, it's just a scar. You're right. I was also a witness to the riot. There's nothing I can't do about it. Said.”

"The group of cultists were also present in that riot. As many as a hundred of the saboteurs arrested afterwards were Sun Heretics," the regional bishop said solemnly, "But now the Sun Heretics who have infiltrated the city-state are inquiring about ten people. The truth about the incident a year ago... It’s like they really don’t know what happened here eleven years ago. Don’t you think this is strange?”

"...Either, the Sun Heretic from the city-state of Purander acted without permission eleven years ago, so the cultists in other city-states did not know the truth here, or...the appearance of the sun fragments in Purander eleven years ago was just an accident , or it was the work of a third-party force, and the heretics who participated in the riots were only used as gunmen," Fanna said lightly, "According to the interrogation records of that year, the 'saboteurs' who were captured at that time were indeed They are all in a state of unconsciousness, and their madness and loss of control does not seem to be due to their original intention, but more like they are affected by a powerful force. "

"...Chasing twisted and weird things, being driven mad by the weird power, becoming fuel for the fire of chaos in a state of confusion, and finally being abandoned in the ashes..." The regional bishop sighed, "What a tragic life. "

Fanna didn't speak for a while. She just stood up silently and came to the window of the lounge.

Through the windows here, she can see the situation in the port area from a distance - the total blockade of the entire port has ended, and many piers and piers have been put into use again, but Pier 1 still maintains the highest level of blockade. The beautiful and brand-new steamship "White Oak" is still quietly moored at the end of the trestle, undergoing continuous monitoring and a daily purification ceremony as planned.

The crew of the White Oak has been transferred to the Central Cathedral - as parties who had close contact with the Lost Home, they are now receiving the highest level of monitoring.

The heretics who followed the Black Sun were imprisoned under the church. A "lost ship" that had come into contact with the Lost Home was moored at the port, and a group of sailors who had met Captain Duncan at close range lived in the Central Cathedral... Just thinking about it makes my head spin.

The setting sun had gradually set, but it was not yet the time for day and night to change. The regional bishop lit several oil lamps in the room in advance, and the swaying flames were reflected on the glass windows.

Fanna looked back towards the port area: "I heard that the out-of-control notification document about Anomaly 099 has been sent to the port area?"

"Yes, it was just delivered this afternoon. Do you want to take a look at it?" the regional bishop said as he took out the folded documents from his pocket. "For some reason, it's a little later than expected."

"Let me have a look," Fanna reached out and took the file, looking at it directly through the sunset next to the window, while explaining casually, "It's normal to be a little later - after all, the out-of-control situation of Anomaly 099 is very special. After breaking away from the seal during the head-on contact with the ghost ship, the bishops of each city-state must carefully weigh the wording and information direction in the notification document to prevent the document that will be distributed to all shipping routes from generating too much direction. "... Otherwise what is supposed to help captains avoid risks may instead connect them to the Lost Home."

In the dim light of the setting sun, the oil lamp closest to Vanna in the lounge suddenly jumped. As she unconsciously said the word "Homeless Ship" casually, the flame in the oil lamp made a subtle crackle. Voice.