Combining the known information, the outline of events slowly took shape in his mind.
Although there were still many unknown "black box" details, as a non-involved party, he could reluctantly already assess the situation.
So, unlike Ms. Susan, who was casually chatting about trivial matters, after Wayne roughly sorted out his thoughts, besides a belated "cold sweat," almost only one word remained in his mind—
Awesome.
Last night's events were clearly not an "accident," but a premeditated "plan" involving "multi-party linkage."
Whether Bishop Corleone was the proactive initiator who planned it in advance, or the passive counter-attacker after others' conspiracies unfolded, at least judging by the outcome alone, Bishop Corleone seemed to maintain control of the situation until the very last moment.
Otherwise, the result of "the society's rebellious faction suffering heavy losses, while the Cathedral side seemed to show little casualties" would appear unreasonable.
If there were to be a reckoning, Tom Hagen would probably be among the first sacrificed; promotion would be out of the question, but "ascending to heaven" would be more likely.
Battle reports can lie, but battle lines cannot.
Even if Father Tyrrell was the "mantis stalker" who ultimately reaped the fruits of victory, he should not have gained an "overwhelming" advantage.
It's less like a "Xuanwu Gate classic reappearance" or "His Majesty easily dissolves in water," and more like "Zhao Gao and Li Si tampering with the imperial edict," or the illegitimate succession of brother to brother in the Great Song Dynasty, like the "Golden Coffer Alliance"—not fighting you while you're alive, but stirring up trouble after you're gone.
Although this blame might have been placed by Father Tyrrell afterwards, no matter how one looks at it, Bishop Corleone's final move of "taking a large group of people down in one go" seemed very bold and ruthless.
Damn it,
No wonder he's called a "descendant of april grass," and Wayne is just a "little guy" in his eyes.
If it were a hundred years ago, Bishop Corleone would indeed seem like the kind of fierce person who could lead "scalping" and "blanket giving"...
Here I was thinking of making the captives feel "grateful," yet others, even when passively counterattacking, directly "went on the road together."
"Civilized society" is truly terrifying.
...
Back at the restaurant, there was a long line outside the back door, all little kids of "child labor" age, and judging by their clothes and appearance, they probably were.
Lina had no idea what she was up to; it was almost like a job fair now, with children entering one by one to provide information privately, and then receiving free food of corresponding specifications from Willie.
Upon seeing Wayne, Lina came over to share information, and then her attention quickly shifted:
"$1500! Plus Moliere's $1000, I didn't expect this trip to be so worthwhile."
Wayne actually had an even bigger surprise.
He pulled out a map from a pile in the room, pointed at it slightly, "I just met with Mr. Russell, and according to him, the security for the steam train lines in this section, this section, and this entire area will all be reserved for our Detective Agency from now on. We can sign the contract anytime."
Lina's eyes lit up, instantly as bright as a new queen of pop who wins a major award right after her debut in a TV show:
"Then won't we have a large stable income without even solving cases? Father Tyrrell has taken over as Bishop now, so when will he pass away?"
Ah, this...
That's not how you calculate it!
But Lina's excitement didn't last long; she soon realized the problem, like an actress who "thought she would win an award but was actually just nominated and running alongside":
"But given the current staffing of the Detective Agency, for such a large area, just patrolling it once would probably take months, and we wouldn't be able to open enough offices at all."
Wayne already had an initial idea at this point, "If worse comes to worst, we can consider using a 'Formal Agent plus peripheral members' model to piece it together first, form a framework, and then slowly identify and correct problems. Let's discuss this after Inessa returns. You have so many people here today, what have you gained?"
"Oh, a lot. But the information children know is often more 'superficial' and needs to be organized before reviewing. As of now, at least there are no signs of a 'great purge'; all sectors are eerily quiet."
That's right, most people are probably still busy gathering information, just like the Detective Agency.
What needs to be guarded against now are those who might know information but whose attitudes are unclear, such as local intelligence organizations.
Calling Doug into the room, Wayne quickly explained his proposed rhetoric and theories to him, then told him to go recruit the captives in the basement, and to make an initial judgment on whether they were "usable or not."
Those who are interested can be talked to slowly, and for those who are not, someone can play the bad cop first, to avoid a situation where even the partner personally coming forward can't handle it, which would then only leave the option of "killing the chicken to scare the monkeys," but it shouldn't come to that.
At most, it's something that can be resolved by politely sending them to the church; there's no need to stake his own reputation.
Reviewing the information provided by the children with Lina, it must be said that although these little ones all worked as newsboys, shoeshine boys, and the like, people who make a living on the streets do tend to be more astute; their average level should surpass Tony's in Blackstone Town.
Although their areas of activity were limited, many children had good observational skills, and their distribution range was wide. Some were said to have come from half of Richmond; just compiling the "places where incidents happened last night" that they knew of made the entire perspective different.
"Last night was not just a general 'emergency.' There were so many locations where incidents occurred alone, thankfully we weren't affected."
As the children provided information one by one, Lina's two maps were quickly marked with a large number of "circles" and "crosses." One was purely for recording, while the other would be marked after the information was cross-verified, eliminating possible false information and interference.
But even so, it was clear that Richmond was actually quite "lively" despite its apparent quietness last night.
Wayne was leaning over, peeking at the side, and pointed, "This spot is too close to our restaurant, only one block away. Could it be targeting us?"
"Not sure. But I already had Liam go check it out earlier. No murders happened there; it was the Landlord who felt something was off after reading the newspaper today, went to check, found a bunch of people missing, and reported the tenants as 'missing.' Now there are rumors of ghosts there."
"Extraordinary evil spirits?"
"Not likely. Liam is quite sensitive in that regard; sometimes even Peter gets discovered by him. If there were evil spirits, he'd definitely run faster than a horse."
That amazing, actually getting certified by Lina and Peter?
Then there's already one candidate to take over at the First Office.
Even if he can't get things done, at least there's no need to worry about a "total annihilation"; at least he can leave a survivor to report back or something.
