New Gods of North America.

Chapter 627 Filth
From a geometric point of view, three points can define a plane.
Given the known shape, and considering the two previous nodes plus the location where the fireworks rose, most possibilities can be eliminated based on their relative positions.

Wayne briefly sketched out the location in his mind halfway there and realized that the place he was heading to was actually in a pretty "correct" position.
It's probably the intersection of the crescent moon and the cross in that distorted Pluto symbol.

Wayne wasn't the only one who thought of this. When he arrived at the scene, Inessa was already in the ruins of the collapsed house, searching through the rubble—in America, houses with the means have a section on the roof called "wooden shingles," which are actually stacked, sloping wooden strips, somewhat similar in structure to louvers.

Therefore, the roof remains are mostly large pieces, making people inside appear quite small.

Wayne's first reaction upon entering the courtyard was, "Holy crap? Where did this plague doctor come from?"
His second thought was that Inessa was more experienced; he should have gotten a bird beak mask to wear too.

The smell here is just too strong...

This appears to be a waste sorting facility, not a "waste incineration plant," and it's also quite different from those "waste recycling stations" that buy scrap materials at low prices—the latter have pawn shops or secondhand stores as alternatives in the United States—it's more like a business of "purely collecting and reusing trash."

The garbage in the yard didn't seem to be from the dock area itself. There were a lot of bones and shells of shrimp, crabs and shellfish in the kitchen waste, and the smell of rotten butter and cheese was particularly disgusting. The food was quite good. You could even see exquisite silk scarves with large stains, probably from a wealthy neighborhood in Richmond, or a hotel or club.

As for the dilapidated house in the courtyard, although it occupied a considerable area and had a relatively high ceiling, it was actually just a large "single log cabin" with a very simple internal structure.

It's not that people can't live there, but it's not much different from living directly in a garbage dump.

In fact, the garbage in the courtyard was already piled up higher than the collapsed house. Although the neighborhood was not a densely populated area and was considered a "shantytown" in the dock area, the neighbors' ability to refrain from driving people away was truly remarkable.

At this moment, Connor, who was squatting next to the real "garbage mountain" in the courtyard, turned his head and quickly put down the thick needle with the infusion tube attached to it, waving vigorously at Wayne.
After standing up to make way, he looked down at "Slingshot" and joked, "The boss is here. Looks like you won't need an amputation below the neck today."

Seeing that there were only two people lying on the ground, Wayne breathed a slight sigh of relief.

It's only enough for two people; I should be able to finish it.

"Slingshot's" shirt had been removed during the emergency treatment, and his trousers were rolled up, exposing his calves. His body was covered in ointment, and there were empty medicine bottles and syringes nearby.
However, his skin had become noticeably grayish and dull. If he were placed on a butcher's stall, even unscrupulous vendors would have to admit that he was not fresh. Fortunately, the injection was given at the junction of his neck and shoulder, which seemed to have some effect. A safe area had spread around the injection site, and the area from his neck upwards and from his ankles downwards could still be considered "barely normal".

Wayne didn't waste any time; he placed his palm on "Slingshot's" heart and lungs and began to absorb the energy.
If viewed solely from the perspective of minimalist lines, Wayne felt as if he were pumping water from a pond, with the "little dots" being forced to surface one by one as extra, extraordinary power was absorbed, then lying on their backs, belly up.

He rummaged through the first-aid kit and pulled out a bottle of potion recommended by the monks, tossing it to Connor so he could fill "Slingshot." Wayne himself also pulled out some holy water and took a swig, then walked over to another agent nearby.
This is a new member who just joined the detective agency. He hasn't even officially started working yet, and he's already suffered a work-related injury. If he's even less lucky, he might even die in the line of duty.

As Wayne continued absorbing the nutrients, he secretly pondered to himself.
If this person submits their resignation tomorrow, how should I persuade them to change their mindset...?

Connor seemed to have received instructions from Inessa, or perhaps it was his own practical experience gleaned from long-term illness; his mouth hadn't stopped moving since the beginning, continuing to talk while administering the medication, seemingly to prevent the two from falling asleep.
After making a couple more jokes, although Connor was still busy with his back to Wayne, his words sounded as if he were speaking to Wayne:
"When 'Slingshot' and his team came to investigate, they didn't find anyone here, but they came in because they thought it was suspicious. After they entered the house next door, they were suddenly attacked by a swarm of rats."

"I don't know if it's lucky or unlucky, but they hadn't been fighting the rat swarm for long when the curse broke out, as if they had accidentally triggered some kind of trap. But the damage caused by the curse was indeed more severe."

Wayne's hands didn't stop. After finishing the absorption, he then fed the new agent the medicine. "Are there any other wounded people around?"

“No, that’s all. Brother Merlin just arrived and, seeing that we had already started first aid, left some medicine and took some people to other possible magic array nodes.”

Just as Connor finished speaking, Inessa emerged from the rubble, casually tossing a few dead rats, held by their tails, beside the mountain of trash. Her voice, growing louder as she approached, sounded somewhat muffled:
"I just discovered signs that the soil in the corner of the yard has been disturbed recently... Based on my speculation, the original owner of this place might be lying down there now. As for more specific details, we'll have to wait for the church to investigate."

“The good news is that after that node was destroyed yesterday, those people were probably alerted. That’s why they chose to abandon their original plan, no longer ensuring the stability of the magic array, and even leaving it as a ‘gift’ for the investigators.” “The bad news is that they might have already escaped?” Wayne tried to guess.

"possible."

Inessa walked to the side, took out a map, and spread it out on the relatively clean road surface.

Wayne gently put down the new agent who had just been given the drug, patted him on the shoulder to encourage him, and then moved closer to the map, squatting down with Inessa to look at it.

This map was brought out of the cathedral by Brother Merlin; even he only had one copy, and its contents were more detailed than the ones distributed to the others by the monks.
Inessa didn't mark anything on it, but pointed to several places in turn: "It seems that the remaining magic circles of this ritual are distributed in these locations."

Wayne glanced at the labels on the locations: a leather tanning workshop, a raw material transfer warehouse for a rubber processing plant, and a waste dumping ground for the city's street cleaning department...

Good guy.

Leather workshops and sun-dried, unprocessed rubber were notorious for their foul odor in those days. The former was a centralized processing site for animal carcasses, while the latter required the use of alkali solutions during collection to prevent coagulation, and would develop an ammonia and rotten egg smell if left for too long. This odor was generally improved after vulcanization.
These days, the waste that needs to be dumped for street cleaning is mainly horse manure piled up on the road, plus the "garbage sorting site" that Wayne and his friends are currently in...

I never imagined that this Tranquility Cult would be such an interesting organization...

Wayne quickly pulled his thoughts back and turned to the more important matter, "After they destroy the nodes like this, will it cause a plague-like effect?"

Inessa pondered for a moment: "I think the chances are slim, but we still need to take precautions. When I was still in Windsor, I was involved in dealing with a cholera epidemic orchestrated by the Tranquility Cult. The vector was also rats, but the planning was more covert, and the magic array was of a higher standard."

"The key step in that outbreak of plague was that a large number of infected rats moved almost simultaneously, contaminating all the wells and baths around the town in a short period of time. Afterwards, hidden infected rat carcasses and traces of feces and urine were also found in the mill and market warehouses. By the time people noticed something was wrong, the plague had already spread."

"The dock area does not have the same natural conditions and living habits. The communities are relatively isolated from each other and do not produce food crops in a concentrated manner. The vendors are also more regional. There are several branch waterways flowing through the dock area, making it more convenient for residents to get water. There are also no public facilities like bathing beaches."

"However, I didn't expect that they would still copy the ritual almost exactly. Perhaps they thought that the Holy Spirit Church had no experience in this area and did not need to plan too meticulously. It may also be that there were participants who successfully escaped back then, but the other party only knew the content of the ritual and did not have the ability or knowledge to make adjustments."

I see,

No wonder it's only been a day since I last saw her, and things have progressed so quickly on Inessa's side. It seems like we've found kindred spirits, and we've both chosen to bring our advanced experiences to America.

With a successful case to follow, Wayne relaxed a bit. "It sounds like cholera was already quite widespread when you started dealing with it. So how did you eventually bring the plague under control?"

Inesa lowered her eyelids and looked down at the ground: "At the time, the hunters were busy hunting down the ritual planner who had received the 'Koyatl's' blessing. We later learned that the surrounding land nobles and the Church of Windsor, which was once again ravaging the plague of fear, had colluded to tamper with the news and sealed off the affected towns and villages. The higher-ups of the Hunter's Guild also remained silent about it."

Well……

As expected of the Kingdom of Windsor...

(End of this chapter)