Although I still don’t fully understand why Amos stole Joseph’s carrier object...
"But since you survived, I suppose that means Amos eventually died, right?"
Annan asked with a curious and puzzled face, uttering in a naive and innocent voice, "What exactly happened back then?"
Based on Joseph’s demeanor that he saw in the live broadcast... The Joseph Backer of the past did not seem as calm and complacent as he is now.
When he was young, he was the fierce type of tough guy who could perfectly play the role of Jason with a mask and tour Travis Town in Texas with a chainsaw.
Of course, that’s not to say he looked very much like Teacher Guo’s Jason...
Annan had no doubt that if Amos truly appeared before Joseph... This brave and just big hammer brother would surely smash his skull without mercy.
Could Amos’s head be tougher than a hammer?
"Amos’s final death... was rather ridiculous."
Joseph’s expression was complex, "I don’t know if you have seen the newspapers from back then... They mentioned that Amos was arrested by the police."
"Do you know about this? It was quite famous back then."
Annan made a sound of acknowledgment.
That was the incident mentioned in the newspaper that Salvatore gave him.
"Then I suppose you know that at that time the police were seeking assistance from ’professionals in the field’..."
Joseph chuckled softly and pointed to himself, "I’m ashamed to say, I was that ’professional in the field’."
...Indeed related and indeed in the field.
Therefore, Annan respectfully nodded his head in agreement.
He inquired further, "So what happened?"
"The scene in that nightmare was actually twisted. Because in fact, I went in with the City Guard... yes, through the main entrance."
"Although I don’t know where he got the information, we were indeed ambushed by him."
Joseph spoke gravely, "Our group consisted of thirteen people, along with five professionally trained police dogs."
"Apart from me and Chief Hellehem, there was the former chief of police Jobe Boro, who was demoted due to the unsatisfactory handling of Elle’s disappearance case, as well as five armed officers and five shield-bearing officers."
"There were only two Transcendents in the team, me and Chief Hellehem. But we were both silver-rank Transcendents... I am a Decree Wizard, and he is a Linked Messenger. Our combination was very strong."
Annan had seen the profession "Linked Messenger" in the pile of miscellaneous books from Salvatore.
It is a silver-rank advancement in stealth-related professions.
Almost upon seeing this profession, one could deduce that they must have come from official backgrounds.
For ordinary people, the supernatural ability of this profession is meaningless.
Its value comes from "Energy Linking." As long as people within his line of sight possess the special badge made by the Energy Linking messenger, they can transfer energy among one another.
In simple terms, he can act as an intermediary, connecting the Mana Pools of nearby Wizards, allowing them to borrow mana from other allies; he could distribute the injuries of one ally among others nearby; or concentrate the wounds of everyone around onto a single ally.
He could also let the front-row fighters use the stamina of the warriors in the back during a Charge, or concentrate the self-healing abilities of numerous ordinary soldiers to rapidly heal someone’s injuries, and he could even make someone bear the exhaustion of everyone... If it’s a known curse, that would be possible too.
The cost of this ability didn’t need to be paid by the "allies" entirely.
If there were conscious prisoners of war, the badge could be forcibly bound to them, used to bear the role of a battery or a shield.
This was a rather rare and quite powerful profession under specific circumstances.
However, when fighting alone, they were considerably weak—aside from their silver-tier stealth abilities, they possessed no supernatural abilities suitable for battle. Moreover, their powers required them to be "within sight" to be used, so they almost inevitably had to sneak in at the end of the team.
Teaming up with Decree Wizards, known for their comprehensive abilities, strong control, and outstanding team-enhancing abilities, along with a bunch of expendable City Guard officers, their combination could be described as all-purpose.
Yes, at least half of those ten officers were, in fact, expendable soldiers positioned to bear the brunt of the injuries for Joseph...
"But, shortly after we entered the hall, the chandelier in the middle suddenly crashed down. One person failed to dodge in time and was directly killed, while another was severely injured. However, after the search by the police dogs, we found the quirk in his painting... and the approximate location of the basement.
"Although we found the location, we couldn’t immediately enter the secret passage leading to the basement. So we dispatched an officer to urgently call for some explosives to blast the passage open."
"After that, we saw him between the second and third floors. Our warnings through gunfire were ineffective, and we still gave chase... But considering his identity and reputation at the time, we didn’t dare to shoot him directly; we could only chase him down to subdue him."
Joseph obviously regretted this as he spoke.
He shook his head and sighed, "If the chief had been more decisive back then and shot him immediately.
"By the time we reached the fourth floor, he had activated an unknown cursed artifact. Five bullets came from the future; they struck me down somewhere I couldn’t see.
"Along with me, four other officers were shot. Among them was the former police chief, Jobe Boro. Two of them were shot in vital spots and died on the spot, while the remaining two, though only hit in the shoulder and arm, were bound by a strong curse... As ordinary people, they were unable to bear any Curse Binding."
—Three officers died unfortunately, and two others, due to the overly gruesome scene, suffered immense mental shock and went mad on the spot, dying from grave injuries several days later.
Annan envisioned such a report in his mind.
Among these three officers, two must have been killed by the "Stilled Time’s Gramophone." The third must be the one crushed by the chandelier...
As for the other two who "went mad on the spot," they likely were the ones hit by the Dirty Blood Bullets...
"There are already three dead by now, right? But I remember the report said there were only five deaths in total."
Annan asked, "Besides them, was no one else injured afterward? And what exactly is that ’colored meatball’? Is it his divine child?"
Joseph fell silent for a moment and nodded.
His expression was somewhat dim.
He said softly, his voice low, slightly ironic, but also with an undertone of fear, "Of course... we were with the Energy Linking messenger.
"If there were two people who would die sooner or later... how could the others be injured?"