New Gods of North America.

Chapter 638 A Gamble
After making a bold hypothesis, the next step is to carefully verify it.

Brother Merlin clearly hadn't expected that the investigation team, which had worked together so diligently and fearlessly just last night, would already have two members secretly turning against them today.

So his suggestion that "everyone should get a good rest tonight and get back into shape as soon as possible to continue tomorrow" inadvertently gave some people with ulterior motives an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Although the church claims it "needs to rest," it is still uncertain whether those cult members have any further plans.
Therefore, although no large-scale operation was planned for tonight, necessary surveillance posts still needed to be set up. So, with Wayne and Lina's tacit cooperation, the detective agency obtained the two outposts closest to the Rabbit Gang's territory, and no one questioned their motives.

Even Brother Merlin was quite worried. "Wayne, you were attacked by an unidentified group last night. Why don't you stay at the place left by those cultists tonight to avoid any further accidents?"

“Don’t worry,” Wayne patted his gun holster under his arm, “We private investigators are used to being the ones seeking revenge.”

Objectively speaking, Wayne and Lina cannot yet be certain that the places they suspect actually harbor those cult members.
Moreover, Wayne didn't actually intend to keep all the extraordinary materials for himself. After all, those guys had committed acts of malice comparable to terrorist attacks. If the incident couldn't be officially concluded according to procedure, the people from the cathedral keeping an eye on the dock area could negatively impact his subsequent plans to crack down on the gang.

The only solution is for everyone to compromise: the detective agency will find an opportunity to secretly steal a few of the spoils beforehand, and the rest will be handled according to the cathedral's wishes.

After nightfall, the detective agency's carriages began their journey towards the designated surveillance post.

The partners' vans were all empty, and everyone squeezed into the covered freight wagons for a meeting. Even Doug, who had only come to deliver pizzas, was pulled in.

Wayne's opening remarks sounded fairly respectable: "Lina and I suspect that those cultists may have temporarily abandoned their original safe houses and instead secretly seized accommodations nearby. However, this is just our speculation at the moment, and the monks at the cathedral have been working hard these past few days. There's no need to add extra workload for them, so it's best if we confirm the situation first before informing them to make the arrest together."

Inesa probably thought the reason sounded acceptable, so she didn't object.

However, she still felt it was not a safe approach. "The average rank of those cult members should be quite high. Even Connor was quickly and severely injured when fighting alone. If he hadn't received timely medical attention, there would probably have been casualties. If we conduct an investigation rashly on our own, we might not be able to stop them from breaking through."

Lina quickly stepped in to offer support: "At least for now, we partners should be able to protect ourselves when facing those cultists. And Wayne's extraordinary abilities can neutralize the pollution they cause, so I think the danger is manageable. I can conduct the initial investigation, and if we do encounter them, everyone can provide support from nearby areas, while also calling for Brother Merlin and the others. At least we won't cause a large number of casualties at once, and we can also save manpower."

To be fair, the difference in combat strength is indeed a problem. Lina herself is a good example. Even when she was focused on escaping, she was able to escape capture and flee from the Old World to the New World.

Although those followers of the evil god didn't seem as powerful as her, her feathered serpent god was clearly no pushover either. With a slight explosion of its magic array, it almost wiped out the entire group.

Wayne was so full that he had reduced his food intake by 70% in the past two days, and he was indeed hesitant to act rashly.

But there's always a way to overcome difficulties. Even a hunter as skilled as Inessa couldn't avoid getting injured occasionally in the conflict, making her look pitiful, weak, and helpless. It was even less likely that those cultists would be completely immune to injury.

Otherwise, how could the Tranquil Order be being chased and attacked by the Hunter Association? And the guy who hid in the rubber warehouse last night didn't choose to run away because he was kind.

Even nuclear weapons have a limited range; that messy "Koyatar" can't possibly be more powerful than the "Wise Sage"... right?

According to the Hunter Association's theory, battles between Extraordinary Individuals are highly dependent on "ability counters" and "first-strike advantage."

The famous proverb, "A hunter never hunts without preparation," expresses this idea.

The "Rabbit Gang's" territory was relatively lively in the dock area at night, but this liveliness was ultimately limited. In reality, the only place that could truly be described as a "bar street" was a place of dazzling lights and revelry.
The project seems quite diverse, with relatively respectable bars, as well as strip clubs that only put up their signs on the roadside at night. Even in the dark alleys nearby, women dressed more generously than Western girls appear, occasionally puffing out their fingers at passersby, and sometimes even receiving a free flying kiss.

Furthermore, since the area is unsupervised at night, many unmarked horse-drawn carriages are simply parked on the road outside bars or clubs.

Horse-drawn carriages, drunkards, tourists, young women, touts who seem enthusiastic but have wary eyes, silent men squatting or sitting in corners, even the tobacco glowing in people's mouths or hands looks like fireflies drifting around on a summer night.

But after turning a street or two more, people will realize that this place is still within the dock area.

The lights quickly became sparse, and the area appeared even darker than the warehouse area, with even the streetlights being relatively sparse.

Wayne, holding the results and checking the answers, hid in the darkness, searching for his target from a great distance with binoculars.
Although Lina had secretly inquired about the address of the house that the two monks were investigating, it was not so easy to pinpoint the location as "a house next door." At this time, there were very few houses with lights on nearby, and those that were usually had their curtains drawn to prevent light from leaking out, which really added a lot of trouble to the investigation.

By process of elimination, it's unlikely that the monks would have used the back door when they came to investigate during the day, and the locations where they could directly sit by the window and monitor the house are also limited.
Although Lina said that some of the cultists seemed to be able to sense Peter the Spider's approach, considering that they were unlikely to have taken over the neighboring houses through "friendly communication" and would not have chosen to "share a room with" strangers for a short period of time, and combined with Inessa's sense of the smell of blood in the surrounding area, the target was finally basically identified.

There's no need to talk about chivalry or honor with such treacherous villains.
Wayne also opted for a bold move, "Let's start our investigation from the street. Lina, you go first. If we hear any noise, I'll take Sanders and Connor and storm in through the front door. Inessa will provide support from the open. The rest of you, keep your distance and block their path, try to wound them with your guns, and don't approach rashly."

“With all the firepower concentrated on the front, what if the enemy escapes through the alleys behind?” Inessa asked.

Wayne had actually considered this issue, so he secretly asked Lina beforehand to determine whether the cost of repairing the house or the potential gains were more valuable.

Lina felt that extraordinary materials of a certain rank could not be easily priced. The main reason was that even if you wanted to buy them, there might not be anyone willing to sell them. And things that truly carried the aura of evil gods like "Koyatl" were even more rare and hard to come by. Not just any follower of an evil god could obtain their "attention" and "blessing".

There's nothing more to say then, let's gamble.

Wayne's solution was simple: "Before the operation, everyone should try to clear the area they are responsible for, while Doug will coordinate with Owl. If those cultists are indeed inside the house and they are trying to escape, then we'll just airdrop high explosives to bomb them. We'll avoid casualties, but we don't need to consider economic losses."

For the detective agency, the worst-case scenario isn't that the cultists escape.
Instead, they did all the work but couldn't get a single bite of meat.

(End of this chapter)