Deep Sea Embers

Another small group of sun heretics who infiltrated from Cold Harbor on a smuggling ship were picked out and imprisoned in the church near the port area.

Fanna returned from the prison area under the church and came to the rest room of the upper church. The regional bishop in charge of the church was already waiting in the room.

"Judge Fanna," the slightly emaciated regional bishop greeted the young judge, "may the waves protect your soul."

"May the waves protect your soul," Fanna saluted the bishop, and then walked towards the seat beside her with tired steps, "Just in the port area, this is already the second batch of sun heretics who have been imprisoned, right?" ?”

"Yes, we caught a dozen people three days ago - they were caught and stopped in time when they tried to kill a citizen, and now this is the second batch. The vigilance of a meter reader," the regional bishop nodded, with a slightly worried look in his eyes, "unknowingly, so many cultists have infiltrated in... Fortunately, we discovered it early, otherwise their dark rituals would not know the key How many people died."

"Pulland is a transportation hub on the boundless sea, and everything has been calm for the past four years, which has paralyzed many people's nerves," Fan Na nodded, "But... it is still uncertain whether we will discover it sooner or later. , those heretics who arrived earlier have most likely been operating in the dark for some time, only recently being exposed."

The regional bishop glanced at the judge's expression, hesitated for a moment and asked, "I heard that many people were arrested in other regions?"

"Yes, there are almost every urban area," Fanna didn't hide anything. "Currently, there are sun heretics who have been caught in the underground prisons of almost every church, ranging from a few to dozens of people...but most of them They are the minions at the lowest level, they are active in the city-state for the purpose of spying on intelligence, they have not received much training, so they are easily exposed... The real upper-level priests have not been discovered so far."

When Fan Na said the last thing, her tone became serious unconsciously, with a hint of worry on her face.

Ever since these heretics' search for the "shards of the sun" was exposed, the Pland authorities and the church responded quickly, and launched a large-scale raid in secret channels throughout the city, and actively mobilized citizens to report and investigate. This series of actions The results are not insignificant——

In a very short period of time, the whereabouts of a large number of cultists who did not have time to respond were exposed and arrested. These dirty and bloody cultists are now almost filling the underground prisons of various churches, and their number is almost equal to the number of cultists found in the city-state in the past four years. Sum.

However, so far, those who have been arrested are only those who acted indiscriminately. At most, there are some low-level priests who hold "mass-produced holy objects" and have just received blessings. Those real high-level powers are still hidden behind the scenes.

This made Fan Na slightly restless.

"There are results every day, but they still can't grasp their 'backbone', which gives me a feeling that the situation is still deteriorating out of sight," she said to the regional bishop in front of her, "such a large number of cultists in the city-state It is impossible not to have a high-level commander behind them to make overall arrangements, but this 'commander' has not yet appeared."

The regional bishop pondered for a while before speaking slowly: "According to the results of the current interrogation, these minions only obey the orders of the 'messenger', and the so-called 'messenger' is a group of low-level priests who directly listen to the instructions from their descendants through imitation sun masks. Voice... Do you think there might be a son of the sun already lurking in the city-state?"

"The Sons of the Sun are lurking in the human city-state? Seriously...it's logically impossible," Fanna frowned slightly. "Although they have great power, they also have obvious 'traces of existence'. Can't get up...the city-state is full of churches and patrolling guards, theoretically there should be no 'blind spots'."

"So it's just a guess," the regional bishop shook his head, "I also know that it is difficult for the children of the sun to hide in a civilized society, but those low-level 'messengers' do carry sun masks with them. Even if they are not directly controlled by the children, they must To a certain extent, we have maintained contact with the Son of the Sun... After all, mass-produced sacred objects are also sacred objects, and those cultists also have to consider the cost of action, and they will not make meaningless arrangements."

Fan Na curled her fingers against her chin, and suddenly said in thought: "I read yesterday's interrogation record, those heretics are mainly asking about the extraordinary event that happened in the city-state eleven years ago...they think it has something to do with sun fragments ?”

"It seems so now," the regional bishop nodded, "Although they don't know the source of their information, they seem to believe that the sun fragments triggered the 'chemical factory riot' in Pland eleven years ago... I I remember you were also..."

The district bishop stopped suddenly as he spoke. He looked at the eye-catching scar on Fan Na's left eye and lowered his head slightly: "Sorry, I made a slip of the tongue."

Fan Na subconsciously raised her hand and brushed the scar on her face, but soon smiled lightly and shook her head: "It's okay, it's just a scar, you're right, I was also a witness to the riot, there's nothing wrong with it Said."

"The gang of heretics were also present in that riot. Among the saboteurs arrested afterwards, as many as a hundred were sun heretics," the regional bishop said in a deep voice, "but now the sun heretics that have infiltrated into the city-state are inquiring about ten The truth of the incident a year ago... It seems that they really don't know what happened here eleven years ago, don't you think it's strange?"

"...Either, the sun heresy of the Puland city-state acted without authorization eleven years ago, so the cultists in other city-states did not know the truth here, or...the sun fragments appeared in Puland eleven years ago was just an accident , or it was written by a third-party force, and those heretics who participated in the riots were just used as gunmen," Fan Na said lightly, "According to the interrogation records of the year, the 'sabotage elements' who were captured at that time were indeed They are all in a state of insanity, and their madness and loss of control do not seem to be out of intention, but more like being influenced by a powerful force."

"... Chasing twisted and weird things, and then being dominated by strange forces and going crazy, becoming the firewood of the chaotic fire in the muddle, and finally being abandoned in the ashes..." The regional bishop sighed, "It's really an extremely sad life. "

Fan Na didn't speak for a while, she just stood up silently, and came to the window of the lounge.

Through the window here, she can see the situation in the port area from a distance—the complete blockade of the entire port has ended, and many piers and trestles have been put back into use, but Pier 1 still maintains the highest level of blockade. The beautiful and brand-new steamship "White Oak" is still moored quietly at the end of the pier, receiving continuous monitoring and daily purification rituals as planned.

The crew on the White Oak has been transferred to the Central Cathedral - as the parties who have had close contact with the Lost Homeland, they are now receiving the highest level of monitoring.

The heretics who followed the black sun were imprisoned underground in the church, a "ship lost and returned" that had been in contact with the Lost Homeland was moored at the port, and a group of sailors who had met Captain Duncan at close range lived in the Central Cathedral... Thinking about it makes me dizzy.

The setting sun was gradually sinking, but before the turn of day and night, the regional bishop lit a few oil lamps in the room ahead of time, and the swaying flames were reflected on the glass windows.

Fan Na withdrew her gaze towards the port area: "I heard that the out-of-control notification document about anomaly 099 has been sent to the port area?"

"Yes, it was just delivered this afternoon. Do you want to have a look?" the district bishop said while taking out the folded documents from his pocket. "For some reason, it was a little later than expected."

"Show me," Fan Na took the file, looked directly at the sunset by the window, and at the same time explained casually, "It's normal to be late—after all, the out-of-control situation of Anomaly 099 is very special, it is After breaking free from the seal in the direct contact with the ghost ship, the bishops of the various city-states must carefully weigh the wording and information in the circular to prevent the document that will be distributed to all routes from being too 'directive' Contact'...otherwise what is supposed to help the captains avoid risk may instead link them to the Lost Home."

In the dim light of the approaching sunset, the oil lamp closest to Fanna in the lounge suddenly jumped, and the flame in the oil lamp crackled slightly as she unconsciously said the word "Lost Country" Voice.