Chapter 627: Filth
Geometrically speaking, three points can define a plane.
And with the graphics known, combining the previous two nodes with the location where the fireworks just rose, most possibilities can be directly excluded based on their relative positions.
Wayne briefly sketched it in his mind halfway there and found that the place he was rushing to was surprisingly “correctly” positioned.
It was roughly the intersection of the “crescent” and “cross” in the distorted Pluto symbol.
Wayne was not the only one who could think of this. When he arrived, Inessa was already in the ruins of the collapsed house, rummaging through the debris—houses with certain conditions in America would have a part called “shingles” on their roofs, which were actually stacked, slanted wooden strips, somewhat like louver windows.
So, the roof debris was mostly large pieces, making people look quite small inside.
Wayne’s first reaction upon entering the small yard was, “What the hell? Where did this plague doctor come from?”
Then his second reaction was, “Inessa is so experienced. I should have worn a bird-beak mask too.”
The smell in this place was too strong…
It looked like this was a place for garbage sorting, not a “garbage incineration plant,” nor was it quite like those “recycling stations” that buy old items at low prices—the latter had pawn shops or second-hand stores as alternatives in America—it was more like a business of “purely picking up garbage for reuse.”
The garbage in the yard didn’t seem to be self-produced by the Dock Area. There were many bones and shells of shrimp, crabs, and shellfish in the kitchen waste, and the smell of butter and cheese after decomposition was especially disgusting. The food consumed was quite good, and one could even see beautiful silk scarves with large stains, probably from a wealthy neighborhood in Richmond or places like hotels and clubs.
As for the collapsed house in the small yard, although it occupied a large area and had a high ceiling, it was actually just a large “single-room wooden cabin,” the kind with a very simple internal structure.
It wasn’t to say that people couldn’t live there, but it wasn’t much different from living directly in a garbage dump.
In fact, the garbage in the small yard was piled higher than the collapsed house at this moment. Although the vicinity was not a densely populated residential community, it belonged to the “shantytown” area within the Dock Area. However, the neighbors’ ability to tolerate it without driving people away was truly impressive.
Connal, who was squatting beside the actual “garbage mountain” in the small yard, quickly put down the thick needle connected to the catheter after turning his head and waved frantically at Wayne.
After standing up and making way, he also looked down and teased "Slingshot", “The boss is here. Looks like the part below your neck won’t need amputation today.”
Seeing only two people lying on the scene, Wayne felt a slight sense of relief.
Only two portions, he should be able to handle it.
"Slingshot"’s upper clothing had been stripped off during the emergency rescue, and his trouser legs were rolled up, revealing his calves. Ointment had been applied to his body, and empty medicine bottles and injection tubes were nearby.
However, the color of his skin had obviously turned gray and dull. If he were displayed on a meat stall, even black-hearted merchants would have to admit it wasn’t fresh. Fortunately, the injection was given at the junction of his neck and shoulder, which seemed to have some effect. A safe zone had spread around the needle mark, and the areas above his neck and below his ankles could still be considered “barely normal.”
Wayne didn’t delay. He placed his palm on "Slingshot"’s heart and lungs and began to absorb.
If viewed only from the perspective of simple lines, Wayne felt as if he were pumping water from a pond. As the extra extraordinary power was absorbed, the “little dots” were forced to surface one by one, then floated on their backs.
He rummaged through the first-aid kit, found a bottle of medicine recommended by the monks, and threw it to Connal, asking him to help administer it to "Slingshot". Wayne himself also took out some holy water and took a gulp, then walked towards the other Agent nearby.
This was a new member who had just joined the Detective Agency. He hadn’t even officially started work yet and had already suffered a work-related injury. If his luck was a bit worse, he might even die in the line of duty.
Wayne continued to absorb while secretly pondering in his mind.
If this person submitted his resignation tomorrow, how should he do ideological work for him…
Connal seemed to have been instructed by Inessa, or perhaps it was his own practical experience summarized from “long illness making one a good doctor.” His mouth hadn’t stopped since just now. While administering the medicine, he continued to speak, seemingly to prevent the two from falling asleep.
After teasing them for a couple more sentences, Connal, though still busy with his back to Wayne, spoke words that sounded as if they were directed at Wayne:
“When "Slingshot" and his team came to investigate, they didn’t find anyone here, but they found it suspicious and searched their way in. After they entered the house next door, they suddenly encountered an attack from a rat swarm.”
“It’s hard to say if it’s lucky or unlucky, but they hadn’t fought the rat swarm for long before the curse broke out. It felt like they accidentally triggered some kind of trap. However, the damage caused by the curse was indeed more severe.”
Wayne’s hands didn’t stop. After finishing the absorption, he then administered medicine to the new Agent. “Are there no other casualties around?”
“No. Merlin also came over just now. When he saw that we had already started first aid, he left some medicine and took his people to other possible ritual nodes.”
Connal had just finished speaking when Inessa emerged from the pile of ruins, casually tossing a few dead rats, held by their tails, next to the garbage mountain. Her voice, coming from a distance and getting closer, sounded a bit muffled:
“Just now, I found traces of recent soil disturbance in the corner of the yard… According to my speculation, the original owner of this place might be lying underneath now. As for more specific details, it will require verification by the Church.”
“The good news is that after that node was destroyed yesterday, those people might have already been alerted. That’s why they chose to abandon their original plan, no longer ensuring the stability of the ritual arrays, and even treating them as ‘gifts’ for the investigators.”
“The bad news is they might have already fled?” Wayne tried to guess.
“Possibly.”
Inessa walked to the side, pulled out a map, and spread it out with a “swish” on the relatively clean pavement here.
Wayne gently set down the new Agent who had just been given medicine, patted his shoulder to encourage him, and then leaned over to the map, squatting with Inessa to look.
This map was brought out from the Cathedral by Merlin. Even he only had one copy, and its content was more detailed than the ones the monks distributed to everyone.
Inessa didn’t make any marks on it. Her finger pointed to several places in succession: “Currently, it seems that the remaining ritual arrays for this ceremony are probably distributed in these locations.”
Wayne looked at the annotations for those locations: a tannery workshop, a raw material transfer warehouse for a rubber processing plant, a waste disposal site for the city street cleaning department…
Goodness.
Tanneries and dried, unprocessed rubber were notoriously “foul-smelling” in this era. The former was a centralized processing site for animal carcasses, while the latter required the addition of alkali solution during collection to prevent coagulation, and if left for too long, it would have an ammonia and rotten egg smell, which usually only improved after vulcanization. As for the waste that needed to be centrally disposed of by street cleaning departments in those days, it was mainly accumulated horse manure on the roads, plus this “garbage sorting yard” where Wayne and the others were currently located…
I didn’t expect this Silent Sect to be such a “fragrant” organization…
Wayne quickly pulled his thoughts back and continued to ask about serious matters, “After they destroy the nodes like this, will it still cause plague-like effects?”
Inessa pondered for a moment: “I think the possibility should be low now, but prevention is probably still needed. When I was still in Windsor, I once participated in dealing with a cholera plague created by the Silent Sect. The medium was also rats at that time, but it was planned more covertly, and the ritual array was of a higher specification.”
“The key step in that plague outbreak was that a large number of infected rats acted almost simultaneously, contaminating all the wells and bathhouses around the town in a short period. Afterwards, hidden infected rat carcasses and multiple traces of feces and urine were also found in the mills and market warehouses. By the time people noticed something was wrong, the plague had already spread.”
“However, the Dock Area does not have the same natural conditions and living habits. The communities are relatively isolated from each other, do not produce food crops centrally, and merchants are more regional. There are also several branch water systems flowing through the Dock Area, making it more convenient for residents to draw water, and there are no public facilities similar to bathhouses.”
“But I didn’t expect that they still almost completely copied the ritual from back then. Perhaps they thought the Holy Spirit Church had no experience in this area and didn’t need to plan too meticulously, or perhaps there were participants who successfully escaped back then, but they only knew the content of the ritual and lacked the ability and knowledge to make adjustments.”
So that’s it.
No wonder Inessa’s progress was so fast after only a little less than a day of not seeing her. It really was a case of “fellow villagers meeting fellow villagers,” and they both chose to bring advanced experience to America.
With a successful case to copy, Wayne relaxed a bit. “It sounds like the cholera was already quite severe when you started dealing with it back then. How did you eventually control the plague?”
Inessa’s eyelids lowered, and her gaze fell to the ground: “At that time, the Hunters were all busy pursuing the ritual planner who had received Coatle’s blessing. We only learned afterwards that the surrounding land nobles and the Windsor Church, fearing another rampant plague, conspired to falsify the news and sealed off the affected towns and villages. The Hunter Association’s high-level also remained silent about it.”
Hmm…
As expected of the Kingdom of Windsor….
