Colin's testimony has already proved that this was not an accident. Although Belmaren was neurotic, his suspicion this time was indeed correct. There was something fishy about the death of the parish head, and there was a force behind it secretly manipulating it.
But why would they do such a thing?
Although Bishop Dickert cannot satisfy everyone due to estrangements and conflicts, Hitzfeld believes that he does have a good reputation among both groups compared to those radicals.
He was the one who came to mediate wherever something went wrong. Even though he didn't accomplish anything great in Xixin, he dedicated his entire life here. Isn't it possible to move people with such a person?
Who would want to kill someone like that, what good would it do them?
"It's not because of us," she said suddenly.
"Maybe they want to blame us for their deaths, after all, 'we came and they died' - that's what it seems like."
"But this is not the main purpose. Bishop Dicket died seven days ago. At that time, they didn't even know that the White Shadow Palace would send someone over. They had already decided to kill the district head, so their core purpose was to intensify the conflict."
Bishop Dickert's main role in the diocese is "reconciliation."
With many years of experience, he has become a figure in many people's hearts. There are some things that he must bear witness to, and if someone else were to bear witness, neither side would accept it.
So looking at this intuitively, what would happen without him?
Conflicts will intensify.
The Sara people would think that the natives in the mountains were ungrateful and had ambushed and killed the highly respected district chief bishop.
After this "prison incident", the natives in the mountains believed that the envoys sent by King Sarah were avenging Dekker, and they directly executed Josiah and others without a public trial or solid evidence.
If these things ferment, conflicts will explode.
So what if they brought an army?
Perhaps more than 500 Flintstone Knights are equivalent to 500 tanks. If she makes good use of this force, she will not be afraid of the so-called "chaos".
But she was here to investigate the case, not to represent Sara and start a war with the mountain tribes...
"It was very carefully planned."
she commented.
One thing leads to another, so if she were in this position, what she would have to do next is to make sure that the "special envoys" would have no way to defend themselves.
Thinking this way, she naturally connected the skeleton and corpse case in Manion with what happened here.
"You are locals," she immediately asked the guards, "Have you heard about the recent wreckage murders?"
"Yes, Count."
The jailers nodded.
This case was a hot topic and caused panic in a certain area. Because it only happened in Manion and there was no case in Sicinna, many people even gave up their many businesses in Manion and moved their families to Sicinna.
Anyway, the two cities are very close, and can even be said to be the northern and southern halves of one city. This kind of relocation is much more convenient than moving to other cities in the mainland.
"Do you know the exact news?"
She lowered her voice.
"I mean... there's a police station across the street. Don't you have any police friends?"
Jail guards, prison guards, who says prison guards are not police officers?
They were all policemen, and the two sides were so close to each other. If Hitzfeld said that no one here knew the relationship between the two sides, he would definitely not believe it.
As it turned out, she was right. These prison guards did know some people and knew a lot of inside information.
"You mean," Hitzfeld took a deep breath, "...in the archives that have been checked, almost all the dead are 'natives'?"
“Yes… that’s right.”
Those people didn't know why her face turned so bad when she heard the news, so they could only answer honestly and cautiously: "Some are brown and black-skinned natives from the desert island, and some are olive-skinned mountain people."
"Is the judgment accurate?"
"I heard them say that the skeletons of different races are different. Of course I can't tell the difference, but I don't think they would make such a mistake."
"Where are the Saras?"
"Not a single one."
"Not missing?"
“There are disappearances, but no deaths.”
Hitzfeld's eyes were wide open and he was speechless.
She could imagine that as long as the news here was leaked and exploded, and then when they tried to explain it - when she tried to use her title of "Earl of Xieyang" and her achievements as a "famous detective" to endorse it, someone would reveal such a "truth"...
Then the situation might really get out of control, and at the very least the military would have to be deployed.
Who is planning this?
Everything is interconnected and airtight...even the special envoy sent by the White Shadow Palace to deal with it has taken it into account.
Why would they do such a thing?
Provoking conflicts...What benefits do they get from provoking conflicts?
She must have been too absorbed in her thoughts and remained squatting in front of the corpse for too long. When she came to her senses, her legs and feet were numb and sore.
There was a sound of quarreling nearby. It was the warden who was interrogating the "prison bosses" who had come one by one - he was still thinking about what Hitzfeld had told him about the betrayal of one of his men.
This is obvious - Colin's information cannot be seen by the public, so there must be accomplices inside Sibsburg.
"We don't understand what you're talking about, sir." The captains of the prison guards were a little puzzled. "This... you've always been the only one with the key. As for arranging for Colin to take that road alone... the prisoners have always gone to the playground by themselves, right? He's not the only one... these death row prisoners are also like this!"
They all cried out that they were wronged, even though Belmullen had rushed over in his own way and forcibly broke one guy's hand. These people just cried and said that they had never "taken bribes."
It was getting louder and louder here, and Hitzfeld became so annoyed that he almost wanted to just throw the bodies upstairs.
But she had a habit of finishing whatever she was doing, so she tried her best to suppress her annoyance, and while listening to the noisy information over there, she continued to check the remaining bodies to make sure nothing was missed.
When checking the second to last person, an unexpected discovery was made.
She pointed at the thing that had been soaked until it turned white and asked the people around her: "Who is this?"
"That Josiah," someone replied. "He is the youngest of these people. I am not mistaken!"
Young indeed.
Looking back at the body, Hitzfeld was certain.
He has brown hair, fair skin and a childish face. Although he is very tall, he can only be described as a young man who has not yet grown out of his childishness.
That's why you can stand on the side of the natives for love, right?
According to modern morality, this is nothing, but in the relatively closed and conservative gray fog era, such a decision requires courage.
After shining the flashlight for a while, Hitzfeld suddenly noticed that there seemed to be something behind "Josiah"'s neck.
"Turn him over."
She directed Ashley.
Ashley pouted and did as she was told.
But after flipping through it, her eyes widened—this Josiah actually had a terrible tattoo on his back!
That's a snake.
A big snake.
The body of the big snake is not... let me use a vulgar description here... it is not coiled up like excrement, it is in a state similar to a soaring dragon, with its sturdy body winding on the skin... The most terrifying things are the distorted human faces on the snake's body.
No - it's not just a human face, it looks more like a complete piece of human skin, and it is actually made up of these human skins that make up its snake skin.
It was the first time Ashley had seen this kind of monster, and coincidentally, someone here knew what it was.
"This is the 'Phantom Snake'." The warden saw the commotion here and walked over and said, "I can't remember exactly what the Phantom Snake is... but it should be the patron saint of their tribe."
"Guardian?" Ashley didn't understand.
"The mountain people like to worship things," the warden explained. "I know some people from the Dab Tribe. I've seen them hold sacrificial ceremonies, and they offer sculptures of this thing during the ceremonies."
He wanted to tell all the details, hoping that his contribution would be greater than his dereliction of duty.
Hitzfeld stared at the tattoo for a moment, then had all the bodies turned over.
Belmalen also came to help. Everyone else took off their armor because they felt too hot, but he was still wearing it.
"Nothing else!"
He looked at the girl.
"Only that Josiah has!"
At this moment, it can be said that once again, everyone's eyes are on Hitzfeld.
The situation became increasingly bizarre and strange, and some people began to feel uneasy, hoping that this man who was rumored to have once fought against the evil god could come up with a plan.
Hitzfeld stood up and staggered off his dirty gloves.
"Shoot the body."
she said softly.
"Count?" The warden was stunned. "...I don't understand?"
"Don't ask why."
Hitzfeld looked at him coldly with his one eye.
"Shoot the body."
The warden spread his hands. He felt that the order was unreasonable, but after all, the other party was a special envoy.
He ordered the guards to shoot the bodies.
"Bang! Bang!"
Gunshots began to echo through the hallways.
These people were very careful in their actions, and because they were afraid that stray bullets would hit the countess, they fired their guns close to the corpse.
Is this a broken jar?
They thought to themselves.
It will be hard to explain if these bodies are made public... Each of them has at least three bullet holes. I hope this guy can handle the subsequent troubles.
One after another, it was soon Josiah's turn.
The prison guard in charge of him didn't pay much attention, but simply put the pistol against his vest - pressing down on the scary snake head, and then pulled the trigger.
"boom!"
"Pfft!"
The bullet penetrated the flesh as expected, but in the next moment, the man felt a terrible force surging from below, and his neck felt cold, and then the world was spinning.
"Back off!"
Belmalen roared and rushed forward immediately.
He saw clearly that the corpse named "Josiah" suddenly jumped up after being shot, and swung his hand back. His fingernails were like a row of sharp blades, directly cutting off the prison guard's head!
monster!
Having already determined in his heart that the thing that came back from the dead was no longer a human, Belmaren swung his warhammer at it, and just when the creature was trying to get up, he smashed it away with the hammer, and it hit the wall with a clang.
If it were a normal person, he would have died after being hit by this hammer.
The cutting of the rotating hammer, the collision of the hammer smashing down, the collision of the hammer hitting the wall...it was enough to kill that man three times.
But "Josiah" seemed to be fine.
His spine seemed to be broken, and his upper body was as soft as noodles. He crawled up little by little in this strange posture, turned his head, and stared at Hitzfeld with a pair of bright black eyes.
"How did you find out?"
he asked softly.
"This body is indeed dead. I'm sure there are no flaws left."
"Asshole!" The warden pointed his cane at him like a gun, "You're not Josiah, are you? Who are you?"
"Because it suddenly occurred to me that if your spy is someone among the prison guards, there is no need to let Colin pass on information to you in this way."
Hitzfeld said calmly.
