Chapter 473 Clues

That night.

It's past ten o'clock.

Gillan is still busy in the chairman's office.

Three hours ago, support teams from the Machinery Union, the Chamber of Commerce, the Atonement Church, and the Holy Mother Church had arrived at the Triumph Building to meet with the committee.

Gillan also met them in person and chatted with Aurora alone.

The two have not met in real life for a long time. Aurora, who has become the mainstay of the Holy Mother Church, seems to have a lot to say to Gillan, but due to the urgent situation at the moment, she has to put it down.

Four teams were attacked and killed by the enemy, suffering heavy losses and leaving the survivors exhausted both physically and mentally. As the temporary head of the committee, Gillan also had to comfort him personally.

At present, they have been arranged by Maiev to stay temporarily in the rooms on the upper floors, taking a short rest and waiting for Gilan's follow-up arrangements.

Gilan put down the intelligence summary in his hand and rubbed his temples.

Looking at the pile of folders in front of him, he now understood how tired Teacher Pala was on weekdays.

There are hundreds of people in various departments of the committee, and there are many busy matters every day, and there are as many as 20 or 30 important matters that require the approval of the top leadership.

And during this critical period, intelligence needs to be updated several times every hour to avoid missing the opportunity to respond.

Gilan must carefully read every piece of information and make corresponding deployments after careful consideration. There is no room for sloppiness.

Tuk Tuk.

At this time, the door was knocked again.

Ji Lan didn't even need to use his spiritual vision to know that the person coming was Maiev. Because she was responsible for reporting the situation all day today.

"Please come in." Gilan called softly.

"yes."

The door opened, and a tired-looking Maiev hurried over and handed over an interrogation report.

"Chief Gillan, Siegel and I seized 3 black market trading bases and arrested a total of 49 people... After multiple investigations and pursuits, we finally caught one of the employers who issued the reward."

"Here's his information, along with the interrogation transcript."

"It's just that we didn't get any useful clues..."

Gillan nodded and took the report.

He lowered his eyes and browsed.

The captured employer's name was Homero Downs, a 32-year-old male, the fourth son of a viscount family, who had an average reputation in the past and was a mediocre nobleman.

After investigation by the committee, it was found that this guy had never been exposed to mystery in the past, let alone understand the various channels and rules of the black market.

Therefore, the announcement of a reward for committee members is full of doubts.

What's more important is that when Maiev and the others caught Homero, the man had lost his self-awareness, his eyes were open, his face was expressionless, he couldn't speak, he was like an empty shell.

"Sir, we deduce that Homero Downs should be just a chess piece. He was most likely possessed by the devil and then manipulated to release the commission on the black market."

Maiev said in a deep voice.

Gillan put down the report and nodded.

"Well, it's indeed very possible."

"It's just that now the clues have been broken again... If it is really the work of the 'Eclipse Society', then they will definitely not stop like this, and there will be dirty tricks waiting for us in the future."

Maiev frowned and said in distress.

Ji Lan sighed secretly.

Although the Mysterious Investigation Committee is the sword and shield of the Empire against the mysterious side, it is limited to general mysterious incidents.

When facing high-level powerful enemies, or powerful secret sects such as the "Eclipse Society", many weaknesses will be exposed.

Especially intelligence networks.

Ji Lan thought for a while and ordered:

"Maev, go upstairs and invite the leader of the Atonement Church. I plan to ask him for help."

Hearing this, Maiev also thought of something.

The Atonement Church's strongest area is intelligence. Perhaps they have some clues about the "Eclipse Society".

"Yes, sir."

Maiev bowed and turned to leave.

Not long after, a middle-aged priest wearing a black sacrificial robe with a two-bird gilded pendant hanging on his chest followed Maiev to the chairman's office.

"The High Priest of the Atonement, Jannings Musa, has met Mr. Guillain Iros."

The priest performed an atonement ceremony towards Gillan, that is, folding his arms and bowing seventy-five degrees.

"Father Jennings, do you know about the black market in the capital and the fact that someone is offering rewards to committee members?"

Gillan said softly.

The priest nodded and immediately understood Gilan's intention of calling him, but he smiled bitterly:

"I just learned about this, but the employers behind the scenes all seem to be manipulated puppets. After issuing the rewards, they all lost their sense of self and became empty shells."

"As for the man behind the scenes, we don't have accurate clues."

"Even you can't find it?"

Ji Lan raised his eyebrows.

After thinking for a moment, he said in a deep voice:

"Father Jennings, I plan to contact the 'Withered Nobles' behind you, and please provide a contact information."

"Huh?" The middle-aged priest was surprised.

The Church of Atonement is controlled by the Withered Nobles, and almost no one knows about it except the highest level of the empire and Chairman Pala.

Even the church itself, only senior priests like him and even core members at the bishop level are qualified to know.

"Mr. Gillan, I'm sorry, I don't have the authority to contact the Withered Nobles. Except for the bishop, it's usually the adults who contact the church unilaterally..."

Jennings said apologetically.

Ji Lan frowned.

At this time, he suddenly remembered that among the congratulatory letters he had received before, one was from the "Withering Nobles".

Since the other party has expressed his goodwill in making friends, there is no reason not to leave his contact information...

After thinking about this, Gillan took out the letter, opened it and read it again. However, nothing new was discovered.

Gillan poured the black rose petal included in the envelope into her palm and looked at it carefully.

He unfolded his spiritual vision and observed the petals.

This time, Ji Lan discovered that there were actually extremely obscure and complex patterns hidden on the petals.

Wow.

He pulled out a blank piece of paper from the table, then picked up teacher Parra's pen, unscrewed the pen cap, and copied the patterns on the petals onto the paper.

rustle……

Soon, a complex magic circle appeared on the paper. But since Gillan was on the furnace spiral and only mastered alchemy and not magic, he had no choice but to hand the paper to Jennings.

"Father, please activate this magic circle."

"This is……"

Father Jennings took the paper and was quite surprised when he saw the magic circle on it.

"Demon Summoning Array?"

"It should be the magic circle used to contact the 'Withered Nobles'."

Gillan explained.

Zhan Ningsi nodded, and immediately activated his spirituality, raised his index finger with a faint black light, and landed on the paper.

Bear!

The paper then burned and turned into ash.

An invisible mysterious magnetic field radiated.

Tuk Tuk!

Almost the next second, the office window made a crisp sound, and the three people present turned their heads to look.

I saw a plump crow landing on the window sill. After hopping twice, it knocked on the glass with its beak outside the window.

"Maev." Gilan called.

The woman nodded to express her understanding, then walked over and opened the window.

The crow flapped its wings and landed directly on Gillan's table. When I got closer, I realized that it actually had two heads, with two pairs of small scarlet eyes staring at Gilan.

"Hello, I'm 'Julian'."

The crow on the left opens and closes its beak, making strange noises. The crow head on the right followed closely behind and introduced himself:

"I am 'Juliet'."

"We are the 'Blight Messengers'."

"It turns out to be a familiar..."

Ji Lan raised his eyebrows and said to the crow:

"Hello everyone, I plan to contact the Withering Nobles to seek some help."

"Hoho, Mr. Gilan Iros, you finally contacted us..."

At this time, a young man's voice came out from the raven head named Julian.

"I wrote a letter to you before, but I thought you didn't see it."

Gillan suddenly understood that this crow messenger should be used as a medium like a "megaphone", and the person he was communicating with might be a member of the "Withered Nobles".

"Sorry, I'm quite busy at this time."

He made an excuse.

The crow laughed and said again:

"It's okay, it's okay. Mr. Gillan is now a big shot in the empire, and it's understandable that he's involved in important matters... The reason you contacted us this time must be because of the black market bounty."

Ji Lan was a little surprised, but he didn't expect that the other party actually guessed what he wanted.

"Yes, I wonder if you have any relevant clues? I can purchase the information in 'equivalent exchange'."

"Haha, of course there is, and it's a very detailed clue... But forget it about the transaction. We plan to make friends with Mr. Gillan, so this information can be given to you as a gift."

"Is that so?" Jilan thought for a while and smiled. "I am honored to be friends with you, the Withering Nobles."

"So good!"

Julian the crow threw his head back and laughed.

It spread its wings again, circled around the table, and landed on Gillan's shoulder.

The two crows came close together and whispered:

"The person behind this manipulation of the puppet to issue a bounty on the black market is a devil lord named 'Dog Uncle' Schnauzer, one of the seven chiefs of the 'Eclipse Society'."

"After it finished doing this, it got on a train bound for the south and left the capital. It should still be on the road at this time."

"Well, I understand."

Ji Lan's eyes narrowed.

It's this old acquaintance, "Uncle Dog" Schnauzer again.

"I wonder which train it is?"

"The Black Swordsman."

Julian made a man's voice.

Juliet on one side added:

"The next stop is Cockburn City, which will arrive at around six o'clock tomorrow morning."

Cockburn City…

Located in Perrin State, Blue Zone.

And that place seems to be where the headquarters of the "Recording Society" is located. It is also an important commercial city with developed transportation and a large population.

Jilan narrowed his eyes and thanked the crow on his shoulder.

"You're welcome, friend."

The two-headed crow said something, flapped its wings and flew out of the window, disappearing into the night sky.

Jilan stood up and said to Maiev:

"Maev, inform the logistics committee and prepare a transport plane for me. I will go to Cockburn City alone to hunt down the leader of the Eclipse Society."