"Welcome to Silent Hill."
Standing on the train station platform, which looked as if a typhoon had swept through leaving everything in ruins, Instructor Emmett Sayer raised his cane toward the Central Administrative Province’s investigator stepping off the train.
Hmph, mainlanders probably have never seen what a real typhoon is like.
With the pride unique to those born by the sea, he shook hands with the young man wearing a top hat and dressed in a black formal suit: "Emmett Sayer Quasar, instructor stationed in Carterburg for the Goddess of Harvest Church. While passing by here, my apprentices and I got wrapped up in the affairs with the Benevolent Church."
"I’ve heard about your situation, it’s truly unfortunate," the young man said regretfully to Emmett Sayer: "Zem Mayer, head of the third division of the Royal Special Investigative Office."
"Welcome to Silent Hill, the bishops have been doing everything they can to clean up the corpses. They’re too numerous, and if we don’t deal with them quickly, a major epidemic might break out."
"I know, the bishops are always busy. Then they hand all the seemingly unimportant tasks to you, just like our chief does."
This kind of conversation instantly bridged the distance between them. Emmett Sayer smiled: "Just call me Quasar, it’s simpler than my full name, and it’s what everyone familiar with me calls me."
"Then call me Zem, my name is fairly simple. I’ve heard this matter is rather complicated, and I’d like to inquire about just how complicated it really is." Zem finished, perhaps thinking of something he turned to look at his partner: "This is Jiaxi Sheringham, my Watson."
"Greetings to you, sir Instructor, I am a devout follower of the Goddess of Harvest." The young man smiled broadly: "I will keep a tight lip."
Faced with Zem’s question, Emmett Sayer shrugged: "I have nothing to disclose. The bishops have imposed a gag order on us. If you want to ask, you should start by finding a breakthrough with them."
"Oh, those old men again. But now that they’ve imposed a gag order, it means that this matter is really, really complicated indeed," Zem said, using two consecutive adjectives.
Emmett Sayer led them out of the platform to a replacement vehicle in front—half of the city’s population had vanished in just half a month. Today, as he came to meet people, a church member responsible for handling corpses had given him this oil-burning modern four-wheeled vehicle. To be honest, although the exhaust was somewhat nauseating to him, and the engine noise a bit loud, but... this thing was genuinely interesting.
Emmett Sayer planned to save some money and buy one for himself.
"Wow, a Santander 1788, Mr. Quasar, where did you find this vintage car? It’s even older than my dad," someone’s Watson exclaimed in surprise.
"From some unlucky fellow." After saying this, Emmett Sayer got into the car: "Fasten your seat, I suggest you buckle up, I’m about to depart."
"How many miles can this old car run, 10, or 20?" Jiaxi jumped directly into the back seat, laughing at Zem as he came in.
The latter expressionlessly fastened his seat belt.
"Oh, my God, can’t you stop acting like a child!" Jiaxi exclaimed dramatically.
Glancing at the rearview mirror hanging above the car window, Emmett Sayer smiled as he inserted the key into the ignition.
Malin was testing the three boys that Jessica had brought back. These children could ignore the infection, which surprised all the bishops. So as soon as the matter here was concluded, the bishops asked Malin to take charge of bloodline tracing and spell formation affinity for the three boys, just as he used to do at the Goddess of Harvest Church, only Malin wasn’t proficient in spell formations; he was just in charge of overseeing things. Naturally, the spell formations were to be done by the local Goddess of Harvest Church—fundamentally, these three boys were currently Malin’s servants.
Sydney Union does not recognize slavery. The parents of these three boys, out of desperation, sold their children and could not possibly send them into a fire pit. Malin also couldn’t adopt them, so making them the first batch of servants of the family was the most suitable option. And if they performed exceptionally well in the tests, Malin wouldn’t mind freeing the boys from their servitude, allowing them to become free citizens and then taking them on as apprentices.
Bloodline tracing involved drawing blood. Although the three little guys were frightened, they were brave enough to complete the procedure without crying or making a fuss, under Jessica’s encouragement, which greatly relieved her: "I thought they would give me a headache," the wolf-girl remarked by Malin’s side.
"I thought so too; they’re too young, especially Rose." Malin said, patting Jessica on the shoulder: "Come, let’s do the spell formation affinity for them; you go get Clovis."
Lillim, Maya, and Clovis had each fetched a stone slate, Jessica swapped with Clovis, who came over to stand with Malin and Faye, holding an observation scope to begin observing.
"Wait a minute, haven’t we forgotten something?" Malin, as he raised the scope, suddenly remembered his past self.
Clovis was taken aback: "Test Reagent!"
So Jessica scurried into the hall and came back lugging the metal bucket. Looking at the metal bucket, Malin felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.