"Nothing else..." Marseille finally calmed down. He scratched his head and said embarrassedly, "It's just that I saw a lot of patients over there. I think there are too many people lying at the street corner..."
"Lying at the street corner? What's going on?"
“This… is…”
"We speculate that this is what we are talking about." Harrison coughed and took over the conversation. "It may be that the local medical level is too low, and the neonatal mortality rate is too high. Even if many people survive, they have congenital disabilities. Most of these people will not survive the winter and will freeze to death. The homeless people on the streets should be composed of these babies and those with diseases."
"?" Marseille couldn't help but look at him again.
Harrison said "we speculate" instead of "Marseille speculates", which is not to steal the credit, but to help him share the risk.
If this speculation is wrong, he will be in trouble because of this sentence. He never thought that this sarcastic guy would have such thoughts.
"A person with a disease?" Hitzfeld raised his eyebrows.
"People who are infected with infectious diseases." Harrison explained, "In many remote areas, because the prevention and control methods are outdated, the parish will roughly arrest the infected and isolate them."
"But this is not the work of the Order."
"Indeed not. According to the information we have gathered, Bishop Dicket never implemented an iron-fisted rule during his lifetime. This result is their own custom."
"custom?"
"Those people believe that being infected with the disease is a curse." Harrison paused and frowned. "Whenever a sick person appears in their home, they will directly drive him out and 'let nature purify their evil thoughts'. If he can come back healthy later, they will accept him back, but if he can't come back..."
Darent couldn't stand it anymore and muttered, "What kind of barbaric custom is this..."
He had lived a long life and was well-informed, but he had not had much contact with these primitive people, and he had no interest in talking to monkeys that might still have the habit of eating humans.
"You have to admit that this might be effective!" Marseille looked at him dissatisfiedly, "That's why they are so strong! Much stronger than ordinary people!"
"It's just natural selection." Darent also got excited. "You're not going to tell me something about 'existence is justified', are you, big idiot? I learned that in middle school. This rule doesn't apply to civilized races!"
"That's not what I'm saying! I'm asking you not to look at them with prejudice!"
"Your ability to express yourself is very poor. I recommend that you speak less."
The argument soon died down as they gradually realized that the people who really had the final say were keeping silent.
Hitzfeld, she rested her hands on her chin and fell into deep thought, as if she was thinking about something.
"..." They wisely chose to remain quiet, fearing that any loud noise would disturb her.
The silence lasted for three minutes, and they felt like every second of it was an eternity.
Except for Belmaren who didn't care, even old Bal looked at her a few more times in surprise.
The little detective back then...is he so arrogant now?
"Is it common?" Hitzfeld asked suddenly.
"What?" Marseille didn't react for a moment.
"I want to ask you if this phenomenon is common. Does it only occur in areas where Buro and Sara people live together? Does it also occur in other places?"
"This... this I don't know... We only investigated the Buro area. We also asked the funeral directors, and they admitted that there were indeed a lot of bodies that needed to be cleaned up there."
Undertaker is one of the few professions that is respected by both the black and white worlds. They are the only ones who can shuttle through dark alleys to sort out corpses without the police asking too many questions.
Because this is for the good of the city. Without these corpse collectors, what will happen if the bodies rot? It is not a big deal now because it is an icy month. If it is a hot month, the bodies will rot and stink after a few days, and there may be a plague.
"Did you check their ID?" Hitzfeld narrowed his eyes slightly. "Did you consider that there might be something wrong with the undertakers?"
"Count?" Several golds looked at each other in fear, and then looked at her together: "What do you mean?"
"Whether it's killing the undertaker and replacing him, or disguising himself as a corpse and bribing these vultures to help transport it, he can perfectly avoid all kinds of inspections... This is also a very old-fashioned way of hiding and escaping. You should have asked clearly at the time."
Ah this...
Marseille and others were sweating.
It may be common sense to your profession, but it is definitely not to us!
"But it doesn't matter." Hitzfeld twisted his hair and looked into the void in the middle. "If they are hiding in this way, there will be too many traces. It's never too late to investigate. If we want to investigate, we will definitely find it."
"We are willing to make another trip." Qiao Xi, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, "We are willing to make up for our previous mistakes with actions."
Hitzfeld glanced at him.
"Not urgent."
"You probably haven't had a rest for a day and a night. Go back and get some sleep first. This matter doesn't have to be solved with gold."
Josie looked a little anxious. He wanted to say something but was blocked by Harrison.
"Then let's go and rest, Count."
"Go."
Harrison took the lead and bowed to her, then pulled Marseille and left first.
"Get someone to keep an eye on them," Hitzfeld turned to Darent.
"I don't suspect them of being traitors, but they just haven't slept for a long time, so they should be tired... Let's see if the dream world has any effect on them. If you can find someone else, you can go in and take a look."
"Is that weird thing hiding in the dream world?" Darent asked while quickly recording in a small notebook, sticking out his tongue, "Manpower? Where can I find manpower now?"
The local agents of Shadow Lion were either killed in the previous insect attack or disappeared in Fran Middle School. There may be survivors in other places, but their internal communications have been completely cut off.
He didn't even know how many people were still alive and where they were now. It would take most of the day just to find and contact them.
That's why I didn't assign you too heavy a task.
Hitzfeld ignored him and continued giving orders to the other people, leaving the task of investigating the undertaker and the corpse collector to Carlo.
"If you want to go, Frick can go with him. Belmaren can also go. You can just keep an eye on him. You can wait until High Priest Falam wakes up and go with him... I allow you to bring the troops with you."
"What about the safety here?" Frick narrowed his eyes and glanced at old Barr who was sitting next to him.
"With Mr. Glarant here, this won't be a problem." Hitzfeld said calmly, "It's useless for you to stay if you can break through his power."
It's useless.
Thinking of the huge strange face she saw in the night fog, and the vague sight that... the strange face retreated on its own initiative after Hitzfeld appeared, Frick had a feeling in her heart - as if she was the strongest one among these people.
Ok.
He nodded.
Since this is an order, he should just carry it out honestly.
People left one by one, leaving only old Barr sitting on the sofa smoking his pipe.
"You don't just suspect the person who collected the corpse, do you?" He took the initiative to speak. "I can see that the questions you asked are very meaningful."
"We have interrogated suspects in prison before, and there is clear evidence that they were threatened and bribed." Hitzfeld did not comment.
"In addition, I have obtained a piece of evidence that may be crucial - the high infant mortality rate in Manion may not be limited to mixed residential areas."
"Huh? How do you say that?"
"It's just a guess."
Hitzfeld shook his head.
She was referring to Mel Collin, the accountant who worked for the "Cockinson brothers".
When she interrogated this guy, she asked a lot of irrelevant questions. She really didn't think much about it at the time. Those questions were just to disrupt Colin's thoughts and paralyze him. But now that she thinks about it, it's not normal for a family like Colin to have that kind of situation.
His original words: He had brothers and sisters, but they all died young, and he is the only one alive today.
This is extremely abnormal... You know, although Sarah's current medical level is a bit outdated in her opinion, for example, they can't even get a place like a sterile room and can only disinfect the room as much as possible, but at the very least, a rural doctor can do a job like delivering a baby.
As the most stable kingdom in the east, Sara's stable development has brought about convenient internal transportation, and convenient transportation has facilitated the spread of knowledge. Many pamphlets on health prevention printed in Port Vien can even be circulated to Nanxinze, so the level of doctors cannot be used as an excuse for sophistry on such issues.
The high mortality rate among the natives may be due to discrimination, and doctors are reluctant to go. But you, a Sarawak with relatively normal conditions, can't be so poor that you can't even afford a barefoot doctor, right?
Hitzfeld vaguely felt that there was a hidden danger behind this matter - that is, it seemed that most people in the city of Manion were only children, and those with brothers and sisters were the exception.
In a disaster-stricken place that encourages people to have more children, could this situation be normal?
But she had no evidence, so she was going to investigate it herself now.
"Where are you going?"
Seeing her stand up and make a move to leave, Old Bal stood up as well reflexively.
"I promised Mel Colin at Sisburg that I would protect his parents and family if he confessed."
Hitzfeld briefly told her what she was going to do.
Even if they are not evil, the dark side of human heart is very scary.
She dared not delay this matter.
She wanted to nip the threat in the bud before it happened.
Chapter 6: Dry Season, Rainy Season, and Flower Season (k)
Xia Yibing was not notified because Hitzfeld wanted her to have a good rest.
She didn't even bring Old Baal with her, even though she still had some questions about Sixus that she wanted to ask him, but she knew that they were actually unimportant, and besides, she was not completely without someone to protect her.
Angus Belmaren, perhaps the most unruly gold of all time, was following her closely. He chose not to go with Frick to check for the body collector, and kept chattering to her as he walked.
He thought that since the Countess possessed "power comparable to his own", she should not be so hesitant. He felt that the only problem here was the giant-faced monster that had retreated to the small hill near Fran Middle School. Currently, there was no news of it retreating and the entire hill was shrouded in thick fog. As long as they didn't have to face this thing, what else was there to worry about?
Directly impose military control, summon all the people like Hayden and Colonel Cab, and lock up all the executives of companies that traffic in human beings. Investigate whomever you want and arrest whomever you want. That's the right thing to do!
"It's still a bit troublesome." After getting into the car, Hitzfeld first felt the comfortable seat cushion, and then explained to Belmaren in the passenger seat.
"First of all, the enemy has already revealed himself. The man named Marlon Exon can be identified as a high-ranking member of Eclipse. And according to the confession of Captain Matt, who has already died, there were unusual disappearances in the entire West Sinna Parish a few years ago. Eclipse must be behind this."
"Are you talking about those insect people?" Belmaren frowned. He also heard about the attack on the administrative building. "I don't think they are a threat."
The body can expand to a height of one hundred meters, which sounds like a very troublesome ability at first. However, as Xia Yibing had guessed, the opponent did not use this ability at first but was beaten to the point of being on the verge of death before using it, which shows that the opponent cannot control this power. For those insect people, this kind of expansion is not a good thing.
Because they cannot control it, they may be dying when these symptoms appear. Their souls will return to the dream world after expansion, and the expansion will only last for a moment.
As long as he was aware of this, did not engage in conflict in buildings, found an open area to defeat and kill it and then paid attention to avoiding it, the insect man seemed easy to deal with in his opinion.
"I'm not talking about the Zerg." Hitzfeld shook his head. "I'm saying that they planned this a long time in advance. This long time may be much earlier than we thought."
"Ten years ago?" Belmalen frowned and looked back.
"It's hard to say." Hitzfeld nodded to him. "It could be ten years - or it could be longer. The details will depend on what we find out."
"But what does this have to do with whether we can arrest people?"
"It's a big deal." At this point, Hitzfeld's eyes suddenly became sharp, "Because I have to make sure that not all the people in the parish are being held hostage by some people."
"Besides, some things take time to prepare. This is the first time someone has brought an army to investigate the evil disaster. I don't want to cause too much trouble."
Belmalen obviously didn't understand what she meant, but Hitzfeld couldn't say more to him.
All I can say is that if he was smart enough, he would have been able to guess from some clues what she was worried about and waiting for, and in fact she did not hide anything about these plans.
No one spoke, and the journey became quiet. The two began to focus on the street scene outside the window, where they could see a big-bellied water tanker driving slowly, spraying water mist on both sides of the road.
"What's that doing?" Belmaren frowned.
"Antivirus." Hitzfeld said, "The news should have reached Hayden. The parish administration must do something no matter what. He knows we are watching."
"Is that water?"
"It's probably alcohol."
"Will spraying like this be effective?"
"That's not our business."
The driver was a white silver, who was very sensible and did not ask any questions on the way. He only reminded the passenger when he was 3 minutes away from the destination: "If the address those people provided is correct, we will soon reach Ke Lin's house."
Before getting off the car, Hitzfeld called out to the Whitebeard Knight: "By the way, Angus, were you once a member of the Bro people?"
"Yes, what's wrong?"
"Do you still retain the customs of the Buro people? I mean, do you know the tribal secrets that the old Buro people should know?"
"You're totally wrong to set your sights on me." Belmaren teased her for once. "I was quickly taken away by Red. Except for the fact that I was born here, everything in my life has nothing to do with them."
That means we know nothing. It seems there is no need to worry about him having any troubles or entanglements in his life like Carl.
Hitzfeld hummed and didn't ask him any more questions.
When they arrived at Colin's house, they got off the car and found that the house had been cordoned off and there were two police officers with rifles standing guard. Upon asking, they found out that they were sent by Sheriff Dabe.
