Behind the
Saint Anthony, the Archbishop of
Saint Anthony's clean-shaven face betrayed no obvious emotion at this moment, and his deep, dark eyes likewise held no hidden storms. Yet everyone who passed by him could feel their souls tremble, and an indescribable, uncontrollable fear surged from the bottom of their hearts.
"Your Grace, after an inventory, none of the mystical materials are missing, including various potion main ingredients and Beyonder characteristics..."
"Your Grace, all the potion formulas are in their original positions. It is preliminarily determined that no one has touched them in the past eight hours..."
"Your Grace, all the prisoners held on the first floor are still here; none escaped, none died..."
"Your Grace, various documents and ancient texts have neither been damaged nor moved in the slightest..."
"Your Grace, all the Sealed Artefacts of levels '3' and '2' are present; not a single one has been taken..."
"Your Grace, the three '1'-level Sealed Artefacts remain sealed, with no signs of having left their respective areas..."
"Your Grace, the sealing core is still intact, without any damage..."
"Your Grace, it has been confirmed that nothing extra is here, and no dangerous traps remain..."
"Your Grace, we did not find any enemy disguised as an internal guard who infiltrated. It seems he, it seems he simply evaporated..."
As the deacons reported one after another, the situation gradually turned strange.
They could not imagine how a cunning and powerful Beyonder, having taken an extremely high risk, after meticulous planning and using every possible method, finally entered behind the Chanis Gate yet took nothing and merely strolled around before leaving!
This made it seem as if he had done it simply to prove his ability, or specifically to help the Church find loopholes in the Chanis Gate guarding procedures.
Sost, a deacon leading a Red Gloves team, looked around and cautiously spoke a conjecture:
"Your Grace, could it be a requirement for some Sequence's advancement ritual?"
Having been involved in capturing "Demons," he habitually guessed in this direction. Starting from Sequence 5, different
If that were the case, Sost felt he could already see the infiltrator's sneering smile, saying, "Even the Church of the Goddess of the Night's Chanis Gate, I can come and go freely, no different from going to a department store. Those Nighthawks can only rage in impotence after the fact."
We must catch him! Sost quietly clenched his gloved hand.
Saint Anthony was about to speak when another Nighthawk deacon, Daly Simone, proposed a second possibility:
"Perhaps when the infiltrator tried to take a Sealed Artefact, he was affected by a negative effect, died on the spot, and was devoured clean?"
Saint Anthony nodded thoughtfully and said:
"I'll go down to the third floor and take a look first."
Saying this, he steadily descended to the second underground floor and opened the path to the third floor at a hidden location.
The other deacons, lacking sufficient rank and authority, could only wait where they were.
Saint Anthony soon arrived at the small third floor. He swept his eyes and initially confirmed that the Sealed Artefacts "1—29" and "1—80" had no abnormal changes.
Following strict procedures, he used "1—29" to observe the interior of "1—80" and found that "0—17" was lying there, its eyes half-open, just as usual.
During this process, Saint Anthony approached three times and retreated three times, sometimes changing positions, sometimes shrouding himself in a layer of night. He dared not be the least bit negligent.
—Even as a Saint, he did not dare underestimate any item here. Not to mention "0—17," which occasionally breaks its "container" and causes the seal to temporarily fail; even "1—29" and "1—80" were extremely dangerous objects. Anthony did not want to degenerate into a "forgetful person" who would need to relearn how to eat and drink, let alone become part of the dream between reality and illusion.
No problem... Anthony silently breathed a sigh of relief and began to restore the two outer Sealed Artefacts to their previous state.
After a few minutes, the Nighthawk deacons saw His Grace return to the upper floor.
"It is possible that the infiltrator died from contact with a Sealed Artefact," Saint Anthony said, his pronunciation of the word "died" slightly indistinct.
He gave no further explanation and instead ordered:
"Regardless, this matter must be investigated thoroughly. The infiltrator likely has accomplices! The fact that he could infiltrate Saint Samuel Church without making any noise indicates that the target is very familiar with this place, familiar with the recent rotation schedule of the internal guards, familiar with the Nighthawks' handover procedures, and possesses the ability or an item to change appearance. Additionally, he had help from a Beyonder holding a holy artefact of the Night Pathway, or that ability belonged to him personally.
"Considering these conditions, look into whether any servants or priests have experienced obvious spiritualism or inducement, whether any bishops have betrayed the Goddess, and look into the faithful who have recently frequented the Church... Also, look into the neighborhoods where those faithful live. Perhaps they did not intentionally leak information but were stolen from. As for you all, I will handle the investigation myself.
"Also, find the missing servant and see if there are any clues."