New Gods of North America.

Chapter 643 Price and Bargaining Chips

If the cathedral doesn't issue an order to halt the plague screening, then the "red armband" volunteers can remain active in the dock area for about another week.
It should be barely enough to deal with the people behind those gangsters who attacked him before.

However, dealing with ordinary people doesn't require the same urgency as finding the ritual nodes. The detective agency can take half a day off today.

After all, the "big shots" standing in the shadows need some time to react. If they do nothing, it will be difficult for Wayne to confirm who the other party is.

It was Lina's suggestion that made Wayne more conflicted.

She was like one of those enigmatic witches from mythology, suddenly appearing out of nowhere and placing a box in front of someone, saying, "While opening it might bring good luck, it's more likely to bring disaster, so please don't open it."

After everyone finished lunch, Lina took the "pebble" she had chosen, "Slingshot," who was the most seriously injured and worked the hardest during the sales process, received a piece of "baked meat," and Inessa took the remaining "soft tube" to brew the injection.

Wayne returned to his cabin, his stomach bloated, and hesitated before the lump of "asphalt".

Last time, when he absorbed too much extraordinary power, he didn't receive a warning from his spiritual intuition before he exploded. It seems that spiritual intuition doesn't concern itself with such intentional acts of self-destruction.
Wayne's hesitation wasn't actually about being afraid of dying. After all, his mana bar was already full, and even if it exploded again, he should... probably still be able to be saved.

The main concern is about waste.

Advancing to the intermediate level is not without its risks; Wayne himself has failed several times already. Currently, he still has a lot of contaminated spiritual energy left to digest, so his condition isn't very good.

If something goes wrong, not only will a high-grade extraordinary material be destroyed, but the extraordinary power that I had originally stockpiled will also be lost, which would be a loss that does not outweigh the gains.

Theoretically, even if it's not used for promotion, this thing can at least be used as a "big blue bottle" in emergencies, which is more reliable than "exploding it for fun".

Just like Lina said, it doesn't feel necessary right now.

Extraordinary materials have an "expiration date." If you don't make a choice in time, you'll only find yourself in a situation where "you want to take care of your parents, but they are no longer there."

Fortunately, Inessa seems to have been thinking about this issue as well.
Just as Wayne hesitated, preparing to begin absorbing the cull, the occasional cawing of crows outside the window suddenly fell silent, and then she appeared hurriedly at the window:
"I suddenly thought of a compromise. In the 'Preparation of the Magic Circle' section of that ritual manual, there was a method to preserve extraordinary materials indirectly. Although I couldn't achieve the same effect through sacrifice as they did, it seemed possible to modify the key steps using an alternative approach."

"In this way, you won't have to rush into trying it out of concern that the spiritual power within the extraordinary material will dissipate. Since it hasn't actually been made into a potion, its properties won't undergo drastic changes, allowing you to be more relaxed about the timing."

Is there such a good thing?
Wayne is a very simple and honest person who believes that everything has a price. "Will there be any side effects?"

"It requires a lot of medicinal herbs and other raw materials, which may slightly reduce its quality. Assuming you have the qualifications to purchase it, the cost is about $200. It should still be possible to purchase it from the Exorcist Association now."

Inesa thought for a moment, "And the preservation period isn't particularly long, probably no more than a year. It also needs to be preserved in the form of an injection, so it will probably only be able to be absorbed through 'injection' by then."

$200, that's not a cheap cost... And the quality drop is an even bigger problem. Wayne has been stuck trying to upgrade to the next tier for a long time.

But Wayne agreed without any hesitation.

joke,

Just imagining yourself getting a shot and then "breaking through on the spot" – just thinking about it from Inessa's perspective sounds incredibly cool, right?

I invested in this project.

More importantly, in the long run, the methods to preserve extraordinary materials are far more valuable than one or two instances of loss.

If the "shelf life" can be extended, then all the extraordinary materials collected by the detective agency's various offices can be brought into the hands of the partners for unified management and allocation.

From an organizational perspective, this will also give agents who are out on missions a greater sense of "belonging" and "cohesion".

……

"Mr. Secretary of State, I apologize for taking up your work time. However, I believe there are some matters that require my immediate and in-person reporting."

Richmond Police Chief William entered the office, guided by the Secretary of State's private secretary. He appeared quite reserved. Andrew Pryor, sitting behind the desk, wasn't much older than Chief William, but that's how the difference between people is. Family background, education, connections, reputation—these things combined can make two people face to face feel like they're worlds apart.

A good politician can always present himself as approachable in any situation.

Andrew Pryor looked up from the report briefing awaiting review, a smile on his face. "Please have a seat, Sheriff William. I'm sorry, I have a scheduled meeting later, so this conversation will probably only take you five minutes."

This guy doesn't actually have the right to be received by him at the state government level. Even if there are formal official matters to handle, the people who should be there are at least ministerial-level officials from various departments of Richmond City Hall.
But as a native of Virginia who knew the country well, he was very clear about which officers might bring him important news worth paying attention to, so he was willing to give these people some opportunities to demonstrate their stance and capabilities.

—So-called governance is never something that can be accomplished by respectable gentlemen alone; even the smallest decree needs to be carried out by "people".

Only rookie politicians who think they can make everything go their way just by holding "public opinion" would underestimate the seemingly ubiquitous, fragmented power held by civil servants.

Upon hearing that he only had five minutes, Sheriff William, who had already rehearsed his response several times, quickly sifted through the information he knew in his mind.
He skipped the pleasantries and cut to the chase, aiming to make a good impression on the other person within the limited time available.
"We received a report of an attack that occurred in the dock area the night before last. The victims were Wayne Constantine and two monks from the cathedral. One of the monks was reportedly seriously injured and unconscious on the spot, and is still in critical condition."

"Based on the clues I have gathered from my investigations, there were more than 100 people involved in the attack at the scene, but only six bodies were left behind. According to the identification of informants, those bodies should all belong to illegal immigrants who have crossed the border illegally. They are currently living in the Erlan neighborhood of the dock area and are all gang members or peripheral members who are under the command of Erlan violent groups."

Upon hearing this, Andrew Pryor's gaze sharpened subtly, before quickly returning to its gentle expression.

The Secretary of State is not responsible for the city's security issues. He had heard about what had happened in the dock area these past few days, but he hadn't paid too much attention to the specific details.

Knowing that the cathedral had traced the matter back to those eccentric Windsor people, his focus these past two days has been on whether his subordinates have managed to distance themselves in time to avoid the Bishop of Tyrell blaming him.

As for the cultivator who was seriously injured and unconscious... when he received this news, he just felt that the gangsters in the dock area were indeed a bunch of idiots.

The church members are not incapable of action, but having chosen to attack, they should never have left any survivors or eyewitnesses.
What's even more ironic is that among the survivors of the attack was a rather famous private detective—a guy who could even develop a method of identifying killers in cold cases through "fingerprints," so he should have been the primary target for elimination.

The fact that such a fatal blunder could be made means that even if the gang that planned the attack were completely wiped out by the cathedral, it wouldn't be surprising or regrettable.

However, after hearing Sheriff William's story, all the mockery he had felt earlier seemed to fall back on him.
Why were the bodies left at the scene by the attackers from the Erlan riot gang?!

Some things aren't secrets to Richmond's high society. The fact that Sheriff William was so eager to tell him this in person shows that he also knows who the Elland gang is working for.

I had finally managed to clean up the mess with those Windsor people, but a clumsy attack had unexpectedly dragged things back into the mix.

What on earth is that idiot O'Sullivan doing?!

Andrew Pryor remained calm, as if the matter had nothing to do with him. "Sheriff William, do you have any professional advice regarding this attack?"

Sheriff William quickly explained the countermeasures he had considered beforehand:

"According to the autopsy report, two of the attackers were clearly executed some time after they were wounded. The bullets that wounded them were not the same as the bullets that actually killed them, and the shooting positions and angles were also completely different."

"Based on the situation at the scene, it is speculated that the attackers may have come from other gangs in the dock area. Perhaps they originally intended to attack members of the Ellan Gang, but accidentally injured the monks in the cathedral."

"Or there's another possibility—someone attempted to attack the monks at the cathedral, and the members of the Elran Gang tried to stop them but were all killed on the spot. But this explanation needs to be confirmed by the person involved. I've sent people to visit Mr. Wayne's meat processing workshop these past two days, but unfortunately, we haven't been able to find him."

This answer did broaden Andrew Pryor's thinking. He thought for a moment and his expression became more relaxed. "Both of these speculations are indeed reasonable, and I believe we will soon find a way to confirm one of them."

At this point, a smile returned to the Secretary of State's face:

“Richmond will soon be holding another mayoral election, and there should be corresponding personnel changes in the police department afterward. I believe that with your abilities and qualifications, Chief William, you may soon receive a promotion commensurate with it.”

Sheriff William immediately stood up straight. "Yes, sir! I will complete the investigation as soon as possible."

Andrew Pryor also rang the bell on the table, preparing to call in his personal secretary. "My secretary will be responsible for communicating with you about the follow-up situation. I hope you two will have a pleasant working relationship."

(End of this chapter)