It was cloudy last night and it rained heavily after dark.
Hanfeng City is high in the north and low in the south, and drainage is poor. Every time it rains, severe waterlogging occurs in the craftsman area in the south. Countless simple shacks are soaked in knee-deep or even waist-deep water.
There was all kinds of dirt floating on the water, and there were a lot of drowned animals. Occasionally, you could see fleeing rats and snakes crawling around, and it was not unusual to see a few floating corpses.
It's just that there are a lot of floating corpses this morning.
The officials of the Inspection Office were wearing cloaks and standing on high ground with sullen faces. A team of about a hundred coolies were holding rakes and clearing the debris that blocked the drainage ditch. The dirty filth gave off an unpleasant smell and was smokey.
The gentlemen who came to inspect all covered their noses.
"Sir, another corpse has been fished out." A coolie foreman reported loudly.
The rake worked hard and pulled out a lot of rags, branches and other debris. A corpse that had soaked until it turned white was mixed in the debris and was pulled up to the bank of the drainage ditch, along with a dozen other corpses.
A sheriff went over to take a look and came back with a report: "The deceased's chest was severely injured, and half of his ribs were broken, just like pork chops on the chopping board. This is the seventeenth corpse, a typical murder."
The officials were in no mood to watch any more. Only Powell endured the stench and inspected among the rows of corpses. The wounds of the deceased were level and cut by sharp blades.
Generally speaking, sharp blades are often short and narrow, making it difficult to cause particularly large wounds. The wound in front of you is wide and large, and a fatal blow. You can imagine that a very unique heavy sword struck it mercilessly.
Human bones are very hard. It is easy to smash them, but it is not easy to cut them open. Powell’s fingers touched the stubble of the deceased’s sternum and said, “The murderer used an enchanted weapon, and it was not an ordinary enchanted weapon.
.”
Enchanted weapons are very expensive, not ordinary.
There are four to five hundred knights in the city guard of Cold Wind City, and only one-third of them have enchanted weapons. Sophisticated weapons often cost thousands of gold coins, and they often require generations of accumulated wealth to purchase.
"The only people who can afford enchanted weapons are lords. Why would they come to the Artisan District to kill these trash fish?" The Sheriff of the Inspection Office accompanied Powell and used a stick to lift the collar and hair of the deceased. "It's a lame rope."
No, he is actually dead."
There was a unique tattoo under the collar, and under the wet hair was an ugly face with fish eyes. Powell also recognized the deceased as a famous thief in Coldwind City and a person like Ruffian Harry.
"Someone is doing good deeds," the Sheriff said happily. "The ones who died are the guys we wanted to catch but couldn't. Now many gentlemen in the city are going to jump on the bandwagon."
The Inspection Office is responsible for public security and order, but it is restricted by the aristocratic lords in the city, so that it can only catch the lowest level thieves. Behind the villains of some status, there is usually a powerful person who cannot be touched.
"So far, no important figures in the city have been found to have been killed." The Sheriff smiled cheerfully, "The ones who died are all nameless homeless people, so it doesn't matter what our inspection office does."
A nameless homeless person?
Powell understands the mentality of bureaucrats very well. They like the situation to be calm, and what they hate most is when something goes wrong and they are unable to communicate. The underground strength of Cold Wind City was almost wiped out last night, but they would just ignore it.
But the Inspectorate Office to which Powell belongs cannot pretend to be invisible. After the officials from the Inspection Office leave, all the bodies will be pulled to the Inspectorate Office. But nothing will be found, because...
"The souls of the dead have all dissipated." Old Bank, the 'Chief Prophecy', followed Powell, also staring at the corpse.
"Do you think a necromancer is taking action?" Powell's heart moved and he asked the old wizard.
Old Bank shook his head, "There is no need to go to such trouble, as long as the weapon used by the murderer has the effect of 'eliminating evil'. Anyone who owns such a weapon is difficult to deal with."
The old wizard just shook his head, but did not say how difficult it was to deal with. He was just ordered to come to cooperate with the investigation, but the people who died in the murder were just urban foxes and rats. The noble wizard group had nothing to do with them, so they would not give it.
Get yourself into trouble.
The members of the wizarding group also withdrew.
Powell could only walk to the high ground next to the drainage ditch, where a carriage was parked.
The people from the Inspection Office and the Wizarding Group left, leaving only the people from the Supervision Office. Before he could speak, a window of the carriage opened, and the Inspector General, El, revealed half of his old face, rolled his dim eyes, and asked actively
...
"According to the report, you were at the scene when the murderer attacked the 'Moulin Rouge'?"
"Yes." Powell nodded, "But I didn't see the murderer. I only knew that he rode around in a carriage and committed crimes, and his target was the underground forces in the Craftsman District.
The waterlogging has not yet been drained, and the casualty statistics have not yet been completed. But judging from the current situation, half of the well-known villains in the city are dead, and the rest have fled in panic. This is a purposeful purge."
Old El shook his head, "This is not a purge, this is a demonstration. It is difficult for us in the Supervision Office to find the person to be killed at the exact time. This is someone showing their strength.
Woolen cloth."
Entering the Cold Wind City for the 'second time', Zhou Qingfeng had not met any prominent figures in the city except for the official meeting with Fabro. Both the head of the wizard group and the chief inspector were very confused about this sudden murder.
But others can't care, but Chief Inspector El can't care. The Inspectorate Office he controls is the secret eye of Cold Wind City. In order to save costs, many city foxes and social rats have some privileges to act as spies of the Inspectorate, and are protected by it.
Fortunately, this eyeliner network has been cut into pieces. It is not easy to find people to do many dirty jobs. Old El suddenly found that he had lost many sources of information, and it was difficult to exert influence on the affairs of the city.
For example, yesterday, Powell was ordered to cause trouble for the 'Harmony Warehouse'. Now unless the Office of Supervision takes action on its own, no one will do this job - the underground forces in Cold Wind City are dying and they can escape, but whoever has enough to eat will be fine.
Come to die?
But because of this, Old El, who was accustomed to staying in the darkness, quickly made an accurate judgment - someone was showing off his strength and cutting off the inspector's eyes.
All the forces in Cold Wind City are now divided into two factions. Who suddenly takes action to massacre these seemingly insignificant gangsters? Or maybe someone is warning the Office of Supervision and telling the carnivores in the city, "Don't mess with me."
Who is this person?
"There aren't many people who are capable of taking action." Old El said with a sullen face, "But I can't think of anyone who would use such a bold method to warn us.
None of the dignitaries in the city are interested in this matter. The murderer was not from our Supervisory Office, so I can’t get angry about it. He is such a cunning guy."
Powell was relieved when he heard this. The investigation of this kind of case will only be a bottomless pit, and no one wants to take it over. So he asked: "Your Excellency, what you ordered yesterday..."
"Let it go first." Old El turned around and sneered: "I need to investigate carefully. It seems that someone is targeting our Supervision Office."
The matter seemed to have come to an end, but this was just a temporary wait-and-see, and there would be more tests next. Powell watched Old El board the carriage and leave, and he was secretly frightened.
At present, the situation in the city seems to be calm, but in fact there is an undercurrent surging, and a slight mistake will lead to an uproar. If someone who causes trouble really comes in to interfere, the situation will be even more unpredictable.