New Gods of North America.

Chapter 613 Showing to the Public
Wayne, following the guide and the thug, spent almost a day wandering through several communities inhabited by the Erlan people. They didn't have time for a detailed house-to-house search, prioritizing visits to families connected to the accident.

Just as the sun was about to set and the workers' normal "day shift" was about to end, they hurried to the place they had arranged to meet with Brother Merlin and the detectives.

The Irish gang's reaction was more restrained than Wayne had expected. Apart from encountering another group of thugs in another block that morning, they didn't receive any further reinforcements for most of the day.
The number of prisoners who were paraded through the streets by Sanders increased from "one" to "three," while the rest were sent back, leaving only the legitimate gang members.

The meeting place was chosen next to a small market in the dock area. There was a small square there, which was a place where the city hall, churches, or politicians would give speeches, post notices, and organize impromptu gatherings.

Many workers would bring their daily wages to this place to buy food and daily necessities on their way home, making it somewhat similar to one of the "commercial areas" in the dock area.

When Wayne arrived, Inessa and her entourage were already there, and Brother Merlin and several other monks were already preaching to the passersby.

Meanwhile, Connor and the agents from the sales team were still busy tying their captured prisoners one by one to a row of broken streetlights.

Sanders' eyes widened slightly as he led the prisoner over and immediately questioned Connor, "How did you manage to capture so many people? Almost twenty, right?"

Connor, however, showed no remorse, pointing at the prisoners and explaining to Sanders:
"As per the agreed plan, we will publicly punish the gang members who obstruct the investigation. That row over there are the Sailor Gang members we specifically captured, and this group over here is still unclear. They were all secretly put into 'sleeping spells' by Miss Lina and the intelligence team, so they won't show themselves in public. We just brought them all back."

Wayne, listening nearby, was utterly dumbfounded. What kind of "sleeping spell" was this? Several of the prisoners had bumps on the back of their heads; they'd clearly been knocked unconscious or something.
This technique was deliberately made too crude; it probably didn't even bite a large spider...

In contrast to Lina's lack of martial ethics, Merlin's preaching was much more formal.

They were all dressed as monks. Although the people in the dock area may not all believe in the Holy Spirit, they seemed to show more respect to the clergy than to the city government staff.

One of the groups was located not far behind Wayne, where a monk was explaining to a group of laborers and civilians surrounding him:
"Investigating the epidemic is a beneficial thing for everyone. We will only give these people a light punishment. We will not take them away or hand them over to the police, nor will we fine them. We will just keep them here for 24 hours, during which time we will allow them to drink water and relieve themselves."

"However, this also represents the attitude of the church and the city hall. No matter who it is, no matter who is behind them, we will not allow anyone to obstruct the investigation of the epidemic. This is both a punishment for these people and a warning to everyone in the dock area - the church does not advocate the use of violence to solve public problems, but it is not afraid of violent confrontation."

This was the solution Wayne came up with after he had completely misled Brother Merlin.

By not taking people away or transferring them elsewhere, the situation can be kept within the dock area, reducing potential variables.
The punishment of being publicly displayed for 24 hours may sound shameful, but it is actually not serious. It can achieve the publicity effect that Wayne wants and make the general public see things more clearly, without directly putting gang members on criminal records or causing personnel and economic losses to the gang. It should not cause an excessive reaction from the gangsters and the big shots in Richmond.

Based on this, as long as the detective agency maintains a proper balance, the gangs probably won't openly fight the "red armband" members; at most, they'll attempt some limited confrontations behind the scenes.
Such an unrestricted fighting "arena" is actually the agents' comfort zone.

—At least that's what Wayne himself planned.

He moved closer to Inessa, and the two began to discuss the results of today's investigation. Wayne hadn't done much serious work today, but at least it wasn't a complete waste of time. "There seems to be a deeper issue with that dock accident. The actual number of dead is higher than the police count, and some bodies haven't been handed over. Even if we assume the most harmless scenario, their bodies likely have obvious signs of homicide, otherwise there would be no need to handle them secretly."

Inessa nodded. “I will follow up on this lead and report it to Brother Merlin later. We haven’t made much progress in our investigation of the plague today. Although we have placed rat traps in some neighborhoods, we haven’t found any more problem rats yet. We estimate that they will only become active after dark, and their numbers may not be as many as we think.”

"Did you encounter a similar situation when you were at the Hunter Association?" Wayne asked.

“Quite a few,” Inessa recalled briefly. “From the Enclosure Movement, where sheep ate people, there have been many cases of Windsor nobles cooperating with hidden organizations to create plagues or disasters and drive people into the cities. The situation even spread to Elland and the Old World at one point. Because the Windsor royal family and the Church of England do not openly encourage this behavior, the methods of the hidden organizations are very varied, and we haven’t been able to pinpoint a target yet.”

"On the other hand, it is precisely because their methods seem so secretive that those problematic rats seem more like the work of an experienced clandestine organization. They could very well be the 'outsiders from the Old World' that Bishop Tyrell told you about on the spot."

This isn't good news for Wayne, since when doing freelance work, the fewer variables the better.

He thought for a moment, then continued, "Based on your speculation, what kind of conspiracy might they be plotting right now?"

Inessa pondered for a moment: "I went to see those problem rats that Brother Merlin caught today. In the food they gnawed on and the water they drank, only trace amounts of extraordinary power remained, and it dissipated quickly, but it didn't seem to cause the food to spoil or mutate, nor did it infect other rats. I suspect their effect might be more direct, for example, they might directly bite living people—we've already experimented with healthy live rats today, but unfortunately, we haven't seen any abnormal reactions yet."

Wayne was more worried about the Black Death. "Was there something wrong with the blood of those problematic rats?"

"We have also conducted experiments involving blood injections, and so far no abnormalities have been observed."

Well……

If the plague didn't spread through contaminated food and blood, then it wouldn't resemble the Black Death.

If a mad rat bites... um... it can't be rabies, can it?
Wayne's heart tightened slightly. "Doug brought the owl over to catch mice last night. It shouldn't have taken the opportunity to steal any food, right?"

Inessa shook her head. "No, the owl was fed before being brought over. Besides, the birds Doug raised will normally only eat food that people feed by hand."

That's good.
Otherwise, if the owl goes crazy, it will be hard to catch.

No wonder Doug kept reminding himself to feed the peregrine falcon; there was another reason behind it.

(End of this chapter)