Chapter 599: Following
Sanders released the pigeon from the carriage, leaving a message for the workshop that he wouldn't be back for dinner tonight.
Wayne kept his distance and followed the child, intending to see for himself how other people's houses were haunted.
It was still early, and the child clearly wasn't in a hurry, walking leisurely, occasionally looking around to see if anyone was following him.
Although the child wasn't too professional, keeping up with him in a carriage was a bit troublesome. To avoid being discovered, they occasionally had to predict his route and go around to the next intersection to wait for him.
Fortunately, Wayne had been wandering around the Dock Area and ran into Peng Zhang, who was collecting intelligence there.
Peng Zhang and the other local Agents, who came from various organizations, were now members of Lina's intelligence team. Some of their methods completely replicated Lina's style.
So, after he understood Wayne's needs, he used loose change to mobilize several street children who were familiar with the Dock Area, letting the 'local snakes' help follow the 'outsider'.
With someone else handling the tracking, Wayne saved a lot of trouble. He followed Peng Zhang to their dormitory to rest briefly, planning to take over the relay when it got dark, and also to observe the intelligence team's daily work.
Passing through deep, narrow, and smelly alleys, Peng Zhang led Wayne through the back door into a residential building. The layout of the houses here felt cramped, and the wooden walls had a decayed feel, but the advantage was that it was located in the middle of a row of terraced houses, with a street in front and a messy alley behind, making it difficult for others to encircle them.
A pigeon coop hung in the corridor. Peng Zhang glanced at the cigarette ash on the ground, casually put a handful of beans into the pigeon coop, and while leading the way, introduced to Wayne:
"Housing in the Dock Area is cheap. This is our open residence in the eastern part of the Dock Area; there's another one in the west. The assigned personnel for the two residences are separate and are not normally mixed. Besides these, there's also a backup safe house, used only in emergencies, where emergency medicine and firearms and ammunition are regularly updated."
Wayne felt a bit speechless. What kind of standard was Lina using to build this intelligence team?
However, a cunning rabbit has three burrows. The intelligence team's daily operations seemed more like a solo action model, so being careful was not wrong.
Peng Zhang watered the flowerpot on the windowsill. Wayne then indicated that there was no need to specially light a fire for coffee, just any drink would do. Then he poured Wayne some wine and lit the kerosene lamp to start writing the day's intelligence report.
Wayne was genuinely curious how Lina made them so disciplined. "Do you all do this every day now?"
Peng Zhang turned and sat up straight. Wayne gestured for him to relax, and then Peng Zhang continued to answer:
"The specific situation depends on the task division. Sometimes we also stay overnight at the residence in Richmond city. However, the process is largely similar: going out to collect intelligence, contacting our respective informants, and then summarizing and reporting as quickly as possible."
Wayne thought for a moment, "Do you feel any difference now compared to when you were with the postal system?"
"Hmm…"
Peng Zhang pondered for a while, "It's still executing tasks, but Miss Lina makes us think about our escape route in advance if we encounter danger, and she also regularly informs us of news from the Detective Agency or other teams. I don't know how to describe it… but I feel more like a member of an organization now, and I also know what I should be doing."
What Wayne originally wanted to ask was about the differences in specific methods, not these things.
But listening to Peng Zhang, Wayne was reminded of the changes in a bunch of Agents after Lina took them to Atlanta and they returned.
Lina, in a sense, was quite cohesive. It seemed like she easily became the big sister among a bunch of children wherever she went…
Considering her professional experience and faith background…
Damn it, they said I was like a missionary, but it's no wonder she was locked up by the Holy See.
Having Lina lead an intelligence team whose members didn't even have consistent skin tones was truly a professional match in every sense.
Once the summarized daily intelligence was carried away by the pigeon, Peng Zhang began to busy himself preparing dinner for Wayne and Sanders, who had finally found a place to park.
This place was a temporary dormitory, not regularly inhabited, and bachelors were often quite adaptable. Even the kitchen utensils weren't complete, but with sausages and regenerated cheese and sauce supervised by the chef as a base, even eating it with boiled potatoes was delicious.
The few young boys Peng Zhang found were quite reliable. Roughly every hour or so, someone would come to update the latest location and, incidentally, exchange some food from Peng Zhang's hand.
When Wayne felt it was about time, he took the last arriving boy with him into the carriage and went near the alley where the dirty child had been dozing earlier. The environment here felt quite familiar.
After confirming the situation, Peng Zhang gave the boys some loose change. Wayne briefly recalled the map of the Dock Area and then confirmed with Sanders next to him, "Did we come to this area today?"
The coachman was clearly more concerned with routes and directions. Sanders nodded upon hearing this, "If I remember correctly, if you walk to the end of that alley, it should be where "Slingshot" and his group were setting up their stall today."
It really was back in the Sailor Gang's territory…
Following the child and watching the haunting didn't require too many people. Peng Zhang and his team frequently operated in the Dock Area, so some faces were best not shown.
After the boys dispersed, he stayed in the alley to guard the carriage. With Sanders as his bodyguard, Wayne took over the surveillance.
He didn't have to wait long before the dirty child stealthily emerged from the dark alley. He seemed even less familiar with the area than Wayne, sticking to the 'streets' and only temporarily ducking into alleys to hide when he might encounter passersby.
Wayne guessed he might be afraid of being discovered or robbed, which made following him easier. He just had to try to stay parallel to him in the dark alleys.
There were quite a few strange part-time jobs in the Dock Area. Walking along the dark alleys, it was actually more lively than the streets outside. From time to time, one could see prostitutes waiting for business in some alleys, and there were also some people, alone or in groups, standing darkly, doing who knows what.
Wayne and his group quietly dealt with a wave of people who approached with knives; the rest remained peaceful.
When the dirty child seemed to be near his destination and began to confirm which specific house it was, Wayne quickly chose a high spot—which was actually just climbing onto the top of a broken shed—and saw the dirty child waving a "Slingshot", 'spinning a fan' there.
In the simplified line of sight, a disturbed Light Point spun into a circle, then a 'meteor' flew up, the dirty child slipped away, and the object hit a window.
That thing felt like a hornet's nest; it quickly exploded after flying in. The Light Point spread out into a swarm, gradually rising and disappearing. Faintly, there seemed to be a very thin dotted line extending above the 'swarm', not too long, but the other end of the line seemed to disappear into the void.
Looking with the naked eye, that cluster of Light Points was even more illusory, with a silhouette somewhat resembling the legendary Gorgon, but unfortunately, the resolution and contrast were not high.
The situation roughly matched the known intelligence; it indeed had a bit of a remote control feel. Soon, 'Ah—' sounds of a horror movie came from inside the house, followed by sounds of crashing, shouting, gunshots, and so on.
Unfortunately, the 'swarm' had already drilled into a room that couldn't be seen from the outside, leaving the rest of the scene purely to imagination, with no live horror show to watch.
Wayne stared at his pocket watch, roughly confirming the duration of the opponent's extraordinary ability. He planned to go back and confirm the situation with Lina, ask why that female Demon still wasn't behaving, and also intended to talk to the opponent to see if their extraordinary ability could transmit information.
If throwing a ball could scout, then only using it for 'haunting' would be too wasteful.
If it were combined with the owl, throwing the object above the previous secret base, Wayne and his group wouldn't have needed to sneak in a few days ago. They could have just scouted it once and then fled, letting the people inside figure out how to catch the Demon.
Just thinking about it was quite useful.
Pondering these things along the way, Wayne and Sanders quickly walked in the opposite direction around the corner, taking a shortcut to return to the carriage.
Then, before they could duck into the dark alley again, a carriage came from the other side of the intersection.
The carriage seemed to be just passing by. It came from a distant direction and wasn't going to the place where the 'haunting' had just occurred.
But the person in the carriage clearly recognized Wayne. After stopping by the roadside, the carriage door opened, revealing several monks in uniforms identical to those of the Bishop's guard members—Wayne had just seen one of them a few days ago.
The impact of the 'haunting' commotion was spreading through the nearby neighborhood. Many houses were lighting up one after another, and some curious figures had already appeared at the windows of those houses.
The monk who had previously been sent to remind the Detective Agency 'not to use extraordinary abilities on ordinary people' clearly noticed the neighborhood that had been 'woken up in the middle of the night'.
He originally seemed to want to greet Wayne, but after observing the neighborhood for a while, his gaze quickly returned to Wayne: "It seems someone over there has been frightened by a Demon again?"
Ah, this…
It was one thing before, but now that the Detective Agency was about to confront the Sailor Gang, a 'haunting' incident occurred in their territory that very night.
And to make matters worse, he was near the scene and was encountered by the monk who had originally come to convey the Cathedral's will…
Wayne felt a bit speechless, "If I say I came tonight to investigate a haunting, would you believe me?"
The monk's hand touched his forehead: "I hope so… If Tiriel hadn't given instructions before, if such incidents repeatedly occurred within Richmond, the Cathedral would definitely follow up, at least arranging for people from the Exorcist Association to investigate."
Wayne understood his meaning, "Don't worry, I promise there won't be a next time! Hmm… there shouldn't be…"
"…Thank you for your understanding and cooperation."
After the monk finished speaking, he sighed powerlessly and shook his head before closing the carriage door.
Seeing him like that, Wayne, on the contrary, felt relieved and waved at the carriage, "Please give my regards to Tiriel."
It was a false alarm. As soon as the carriage had gone a little further, Wayne quickly slipped away, leaving this troublesome place.
