Chapter 614: Lending a Hand
As night fell, the crowds who had been listening to sermons or watching the excitement near the small square gradually dispersed, and the captives still tied there had long lost their temper, quietly waiting for time to pass.
The overt bustle of the Dock Area slowly subsided, but those who were supposed to be busy had just finished resting and were about to become active again.
Merlin had considered Wayne's intention in gathering some gang members for public display, but he clearly preferred to imagine the Detective Agency as a group of good people at the moment:
"The method you proposed, Wayne, seems to be very effective. This not only increases the public's vigilance against the plague but also reduces the objective resistance of the Dock Area gangs to official investigations, preventing hidden dangers from being concealed in the shadows."
"More importantly, through such a high-profile public action, we can also test the determination of the other party to implement their scheme."
"If the other party terminates the plan because of this, then even if we don't find the specific people, we can factually avoid casualties among innocent civilians in the Dock Area; but if the other party still does not stop their actions, it proves that they are indeed coming with malicious intent, and we will not need to hold back when capturing and executing them."
Wayne also felt that Merlin's words made a lot of sense and very much hoped that he would report this content to Tiriel later. "So, what should we do tonight?"
Merlin appreciated Wayne's cooperative attitude and explained in detail:
"For now, I plan to have everyone act separately and continue searching for problematic mad rats. We will continue to follow up on the accident you mentioned tomorrow, but tonight, the focus is still on clarifying the source of the problematic rats, followed by understanding their current distribution in the Dock Area as much as possible."
"Our numbers are limited, and the Dock Area is too large. The difficulty of this task is indeed not low. However, compared to before when only my group was investigating alone, there are now many more people, so it should be easier to achieve results."
"Yes!"
The monks and Detective Agency members gathered around responded in unison, and then, once Merlin had marked the areas to be investigated tonight, they departed in batches.
Inessa was genuinely cooperating with the investigation, and Wayne and Lina also had to put on a show—the latter's recent hidden task was to take people to seize the opportunity to build good relationships with these Cathedral guard members and secretly obtain some internal information from the Cathedral.
As for Connal and several members of the sales team, they had already received instructions from Wayne in secret to find opportunities to go to the homes of several Sailor Gang leaders to "look for rats" and continue with the 'porcelain-touching' scheme.
After all, "petty revenge" is about "from morning till night."
The feud between the Sailor Gang and Wayne was not over, and the reporter's case had not been withdrawn yet, so the Detective Agency had to grind them down in a way that villains could understand—it was a tit-for-tat countermeasure. If they wasted 'jianghu' righteousness on such treacherous villains, it would not show respect for those proper martial arts heroes.
With the identity of health inspectors for plague screening, the Agents did not have to worry about the issue of "illegal entry."
If the Sailor Gang refused entry or tried to resist, they would gladly receive 24 hours of public display, or be suspected of committing more serious assault charges; if they did not resist, the Agents would visit their homes every night, openly collecting various criminal evidence from their residences, and sooner or later, they would reduce their numbers to the point where they could not collect "head fees" from laborers at the docks.
It would be even better if the Sailor Gang lost their minds and tried to start a gang war.
What bad intentions could unpaid part-time public welfare workers who screen for plague until late at night have? The selfless actions of the Cathedral and City Hall also could not be slandered by petty villains. If gang members dared to fire the first shot in such a situation, it should not be difficult to win over public opinion among the citizens. Wayne felt he had a chance even if it was a race to the bottom.
The process was a bit cumbersome, but the effect could be clean and residue-free, and by leveraging others, it was also effortless.
...
"So, Mr. Wayne, do you have any instructions for coming tonight?"
Perhaps the public display of those gang members had an effect, as James Damody had a slight PTSD regarding Wayne's night visit, even his probing seemed a bit cautious.
Wayne, on the other hand, looked perfectly aboveboard, shifting all the blame to the Cathedral: "Alas, it's all because of the task assigned by His Grace the Bishop, which makes my people busy in the Dock Area even in the middle of the night. The area I'm responsible for screening is nearby, so I just stopped by to see you."
James Damody seemed very understanding. "My subordinates are currently free. Is there anything we can do for you?"
"Hmm..."
Wayne put on a hesitant expression, but in reality, he was not polite at all. "I suppose you already know what the Church and City Hall want to do. They now want to screen the Dock Area for a possible plague, currently suspecting illegal immigrants, and also believing that the source of infection might be some abnormal-looking rats. I am also an outsider in the Dock Area and not familiar enough with the situation here, so I may need more people to assist with the screening."
"We are very willing to help. Is it enough just to look for rats?" James Damody asked.
"It's best to also pay attention to suspicious-looking individuals."
Wayne tried to guide the other party's thinking in the direction he wanted. "The Dock Area is so large; relying solely on your subordinates probably won't be enough. You can pass the message to the leaders of other gangs and have them also arrange for people to participate—we don't want to rashly enter others' territory and cause unnecessary conflicts. If they can send people to screen their own territory, it might be a good thing for everyone, and they can directly ask me if they have any questions."
Gang members, one by one, claimed their territory was "their own," so how could they not contribute to their own affairs?
"I understand." James Damody quickly nodded, clapped his hands, and instructed a subordinate who appeared at the doorway, "You should have heard what Mr. Wayne said. Tell people to pass this message to the gangs friendly to us."
"Yes!" The subordinate's figure quickly disappeared again.
After speaking, James Damody turned back to explain to Wayne: "We are not on good terms with all gangs, and some places do not welcome us either. But Mr. Wayne, rest assured, these messages usually spread very quickly in the Dock Area. It is estimated that by tomorrow, everyone who needs to receive the message will know."
This is for the best. Ordinary people might not detect hidden extraordinary signs, but as long as "people" are involved in anything, it is often not without warning.
Wayne didn't think the gangs would all seriously start self-screening as soon as they heard the news, as they probably felt that not getting involved was already benevolent enough.
But if the Sailor Gang could be singled out as an example... it might still give them a little bit of initiative.
—If they don't help drive away the plague, then the "Plague God" impersonated by the Detective Agency won't leave either.
As Wayne was thinking this, a "boom" sound echoed, and a yellow flare suddenly bloomed in the night sky a little further outside the window.
This flare was something Wayne had encouraged Merlin to get for shared use; its igniting effect was slightly different from the version the Detective Agency originally used.
The purpose of specifically changing the flare type was simple: to cut ties with certain outlaws who had previously set off flares and summoned heretical deities in Richmond when they were targeted later. At that time, even people from the Cathedral could be brought out to testify that these flares were provided by them and had nothing to do with the Detective Agency.
And according to the agreement between Wayne and Merlin, yellow meant that important information related to extraordinary factors had been discovered, significant enough to call for available people to come quickly for reinforcement.
James Damody's gaze was also drawn to the flare. "That seems to be within the Sailor Gang's territory."
"Hmm," Wayne responded, "I'll go take a look."
