Chapter 643: Price and Bargaining Chips
If the Cathedral didn't issue an order to stop the plague investigation, then the "Red Armbands" could remain active in the Dock Area for about another week.
That should be just enough time to deal with those behind the gangsters who ambushed them earlier.
However, when dealing with ordinary people, there's no need to rush like when searching for ritual nodes. The Detective Agency could take a half-day off today.
After all, they also needed to give the "big shots" hiding in the shadows some time to react. If they did nothing, Wayne would find it difficult to identify them.
Instead, it was Lina's suggestion that left Wayne more conflicted.
She was like those mysterious witches from myths, appearing out of nowhere and placing a box in front of someone, then saying, "Although opening it might bring good luck, it's more likely to bring disaster, so whatever you do, don't open it."
Finally, after everyone finished lunch, Lina took the "stone" she had chosen. "Slingshot", who was most severely injured in this operation and most enthusiastic during the promotion, received a piece of "cured meat." Inessa took the remaining "soft tube" to brew the injections.
Wayne, on the other hand, returned to his small wooden house, his stomach full, contemplating the lump of "asphalt."
The last time he absorbed an excessive amount of extraordinary power, he didn't receive a warning from his spiritual intuition before exploding. It seemed spiritual intuition didn't care about such suicidal actions.
Wayne's hesitation wasn't really about "fear of death." After all, his internal "blue bar" was already overflowing, and even if he exploded again this time, he should... probably still be salvageable.
His main concern was waste.
Advancing to the intermediate level could fail. Wayne himself had attempted and failed several times. Currently, his "stomach" still had a lot of contaminated spiritual power to digest, and his condition wasn't very good.
If something went wrong, it wouldn't just ruin a high-grade extraordinary material; it would also consume the extraordinary power he had stored, which would be a net loss.
Theoretically, even if it wasn't used for advancement, this item could at least serve as an emergency "big blue potion." It was definitely more reliable than "playing with explosions."
Just as Lina said, it felt like there was no need for it yet.
However, extraordinary materials have a "shelf life." If a decision isn't made in time, it will be a case of "the child wishes to nurture, but the parents are gone."
Fortunately, Inessa seemed to have been pondering this issue as well.
As Wayne hesitated, preparing to begin absorbing, the occasional crow calls outside the window suddenly fell silent, and then her figure appeared hurriedly by the window:
"I suddenly thought of a compromise. In the 'Formation Preparation' recorded in that ritual handbook, there's a method to indirectly preserve extraordinary materials. Although I can't achieve the effect through sacrifice like they did, it seems possible to modify the key steps using an alternative solution."
"This way, you won't have to rashly attempt it due to worrying about the spiritual power in the extraordinary material dissipating. Since it hasn't truly been made into a potion, its nature won't undergo a drastic change, allowing for more leisurely timing in your choice."
There was such a good thing?
Wayne was a very simple person and believed everything had a price. "Will there be any side effects?"
"It will require a lot of medicinal herbs and other raw materials, and it might slightly reduce its quality. Assuming you have the purchasing qualifications, the cost would be around $200. If you go to the Exorcist Association to procure them now, it should still be in time."
Inessa thought for a moment, "And the preservation period isn't particularly long, probably not exceeding a year. It also needs to be stored in injection form, so by then, it might only be absorbed through 'injection.'"
200 dollars, that's not a low cost... And a decrease in quality is an even bigger problem. Wayne has been stuck for a long time trying to advance a level recently.
But Wayne still agreed without any hesitation.
Are you kidding me?
Injecting himself and then having a "breakthrough in battle"—just imagining it based on Inessa's appearance, it sounds super cool, doesn't it?
I'm investing in this project.
And more importantly, compared to one or two losses, in the long run, a method that can preserve extraordinary materials is more valuable.
If the "shelf life" can be extended, then all the extraordinary materials harvested by the Detective Agency's various offices can be collected by the partners for unified management and allocation.
From a structural perspective, it would also give the Agents on external missions a greater sense of "belonging" and "cohesion."
...
"Mr. Secretary of State, I apologize for taking up your working time. However, I believe some situations must be reported to you in person in a timely manner."
Sheriff William of the Richmond Police Station entered the office, guided by the Secretary of State's private secretary, his demeanor very restrained.
Andrew Pryor, sitting behind the desk, wasn't much older than Sheriff William, but the difference between people was like that. Family background, education, connections, reputation—these things, accumulated one by one, could create an unbridgeable chasm between two people face to face.
An excellent politician can often make himself appear friendly in any situation.
Andrew Pryor looked up from the brief of reports awaiting approval, a smile on his face. "Please, have a seat, Sheriff William. I apologize, but I have a pre-arranged meeting shortly, so this conversation can only be about 5 minutes."
This man actually didn't have the qualification to be received by him in the state government. Even if there were official government affairs to handle, the ones who should come would at least be department heads from Richmond City Hall.
But as a local who understood Virginia, he was very clear about which officials might bring him important news worth noting, so he was willing to offer these people opportunities to demonstrate their stance and abilities.
—So-called governance was never something that could be accomplished solely by respectable gentlemen. Even the smallest decree actually needed to be carried out by "people."
Only rookie politicians who believed they held "public opinion" and could make everything go their way would underestimate the seemingly omnipresent, fragmented power in the hands of officials.
Hearing he only had 5 minutes, Sheriff William, who had already drafted his thoughts several times, quickly filtered the information he knew in his mind.
He stopped with the pleasantries and went straight to the point, aiming to leave a good impression on the other party within the limited time:
"We received a report that an attack occurred in the Dock Area the night before last. The victims were Wayne Constantine and two monks from the Cathedral. One of the monks was reportedly severely injured and unconscious on the spot, and is still not out of danger."
"Based on the clues I've gathered from my visits, there were over a dozen people involved in the attack at the scene, but only six bodies were left behind. According to informants, those bodies all belonged to illegal immigrants who had smuggled themselves in, currently residing in the Ireland district of the Dock Area. They were all gangsters or peripheral members who took orders from the Ireland Violent Group."
Andrew Pryor's gaze sharpened subtly upon hearing this, then immediately returned to its gentle state.
The Secretary of State was not responsible for the city's public safety. He had heard about the events in the Dock Area these past few days, but he hadn't paid too much attention to the specific details.
Knowing that the Cathedral had already traced it back to those eccentric Windsor people, his focus these past two days was on whether his subordinates had made a timely break to avoid Bishop Tyrrell blaming him.
As for a monk being severely injured and unconscious... when he received this news, he only felt that the gangsters in the Dock Area were indeed a bunch of good-for-nothings.
Church people were not untouchable, but since they chose to attack, they should never have left survivors and witnesses.
Even more ironically, among those who survived the attack was a rather well-known private detective—that guy could even devise investigative methods to identify perpetrators of cold cases through "fingerprints." He should have been the primary target for elimination.
For such a fatal blunder to occur, even if the gangsters who planned the attack were completely wiped out by people sent by the Cathedral, it wouldn't be regrettable or surprising.
However, after listening to Sheriff William's account, all his previous mockery seemed to fall back on himself.
Why were the bodies left at the scene by the attackers from the Ireland Violent Group?!
Some things were not secrets to Richmond's upper society. The fact that Sheriff William was eager to inform him of this news in person indicated that he also knew who the Ireland Violent Group was working for.
He had just managed to deal with the aftermath related to those Windsor people, and he didn't expect a clumsy attack to drag things back into the open again.
What in the world was O'Sullivan, that idiot, doing?!
Andrew Pryor's expression remained calm, as if the matter had nothing to do with him. "Sheriff William, do you have any professional suggestions regarding this attack?"
Sheriff William quickly stated the countermeasures he had considered in advance:
"From the autopsy report, it's clear that two of the attackers were executed some time after being injured. The bullets that wounded them and the bullets that killed them were different, and the positions and angles of the shots were completely different."
"Combining this with the situation at the scene, it can be inferred that the attackers might have come from other gangs in the Dock Area. Perhaps they originally intended to attack members of the Ireland Violent Group but accidentally injured the monks from the Cathedral."
"Or there's another possibility—someone attempted to attack the Cathedral monks, and the Ireland Violent Group members were trying to stop them but unfortunately all died on the spot. But this explanation would need to be corroborated by the parties involved. I've had people visit Mr. Wayne's meat processing workshop these past two days, but unfortunately, they haven't encountered him."
This answer indeed broadened Andrew Pryor's thinking. He pondered briefly, and his expression also appeared more relaxed. "Both of these inferences are indeed very reasonable. I believe we will soon find a way to confirm one of them."
At this point, the Secretary of State's face again broke into a smile:
"Richmond will soon hold another mayoral election, and there should be corresponding personnel adjustments in the Police Station afterward. I believe that with your ability and experience, Sheriff William, you may soon receive a well-deserved promotion."
Sheriff William immediately stood up straight. "Yes! I will complete the investigation as soon as possible."
Andrew Pryor also rang the bell on his desk, preparing to call in his private secretary. "My secretary will be responsible for communicating with you regarding subsequent developments. I hope you two cooperate well."
