Another small group of Sun Heretics who infiltrated from Cold Harbor on a smuggling ship were caught and imprisoned in a church near the port area.

Vanna returned from the prison area in the basement of the church and came to the lounge in the upper sanctuary. The regional bishop in charge of the church was already waiting in the room.

"Inquisitor Vanna," the thin regional bishop saluted the young inquisitor, "May the waves protect your soul."

"May the waves protect your soul," Vanna returned the greeting to the bishop, and then walked to a seat nearby with a tired step. "In the port area alone, this is already the second batch of solar heretics thrown into prison, right?"

"Yes, we caught more than a dozen people three days ago. They were discovered and stopped in time when they were trying to kill a citizen. Now this is the second batch. They aroused the vigilance of a meter reader when they were performing a dark ritual in the apartment building." The regional bishop nodded, with a little worry in his eyes. "So many cultists have infiltrated here without us noticing... Fortunately, we discovered it early, otherwise their dark rituals would have killed countless people."

"Prande is a transportation hub on the Infinite Ocean, and everything has been calm for the past four years, which has paralyzed many people's nerves," Vanna nodded, "But... it's still hard to say whether we discovered it early or late. Those heretics who arrived early are very likely to have been active in the dark for some time and were only exposed recently."

The regional bishop glanced at the judge's expression, hesitated for a moment and asked, "I heard that many people were arrested in other regions as well?"

"Yes, there are in almost every city district," Vanna did not hide it. "Now almost every church's underground prison holds captured heretics, ranging from a few to dozens...but most of them are minions at the lowest level, operating in the city-state to gather intelligence. They have not received much training, so they are easily exposed...The real upper-level priests have not been discovered yet."

Vanna's tone unconsciously became serious when she spoke to the end, with a hint of worry on her face.

Since the heretics' search for the "sun fragments" was exposed, the Plande authorities and the church responded quickly and launched a large-scale search through secret channels throughout the city. They also actively mobilized citizens to report and investigate. The results of this series of actions can be said to be fruitful.

In a very short period of time, a large number of cultists who had no time to react were exposed and arrested. These dirty and bloody cultists now almost fill the underground prisons of various churches, and their number almost reaches the total number of cultists found in the city-state in the past four years.

However, so far, those who have been caught are just minions who were acting recklessly. At most, there are some low-level priests who are holding "mass-produced holy objects" and have just received blessings. The real high-level forces are still hidden behind the scenes.

This made Vanna feel a little irritated and uneasy.

"We have achieved some results every day, but we still can't find their 'main trunk'. This gives me the feeling that the situation is still deteriorating out of sight," she said to the regional bishop in front of her. "With so many cultists active in the city-state, it is impossible that there is no high-level commander behind them to coordinate and arrange everything. However, this 'commander' has not appeared yet."

The regional bishop pondered for a moment, then spoke slowly: "According to the results of the interrogation so far, these minions only obey the orders of the 'envoys', and the so-called 'envoys' are a group of grassroots priests who listen directly to the voices of the descendants through the imitation sun masks... Do you think there is a descendant of the sun lurking in the city-state?"

"The descendants of the sun are hiding in the human city-state? To be honest... it's not logically possible," Vanna frowned. "Although they are powerful, they also have obvious 'traces of existence'. The foul and foul smell can't be hidden at all... There are churches and patrolling guards everywhere in the city-state. In theory, there shouldn't be 'blind spots'."

"So it's just speculation," the regional bishop shook his head. "I also know that it's difficult for the descendants of the sun to hide in civilized society, but those low-level 'envoys' do carry the sun mask with them. Even if they are not directly controlled by the descendants, they must have maintained contact with the descendants of the sun to a certain extent... After all, mass-produced holy relics are still holy relics, and those cultists also have to consider the cost of their actions. They will not make meaningless arrangements."

Vanna put her fingers on her chin and suddenly spoke while thinking, "I read the interrogation records yesterday. Those heretics were mainly asking about the extraordinary events that happened in the city-state eleven years ago... Do they think it is related to the fragments of the sun?"

"It seems so now," the regional bishop nodded. "Although I don't know where their information came from, they seem to firmly believe that it was the solar fragments that triggered the 'chemical plant riot' in Plande eleven years ago... I remember that you were also..."

The regional bishop suddenly stopped talking. He looked at the striking scar on Vanna's left eye and lowered his head slightly. "Sorry, I said something wrong."

Vanna subconsciously raised her hand and brushed the scar on her face, but soon smiled calmly and shook her head: "It doesn't matter, it's just a scar. You are right, I was also an eyewitness of the riot, there is nothing to hide."

"That group of cultists was also present in the riot. Among the saboteurs arrested afterwards, as many as a hundred were Sun Heretics," the regional bishop said in a deep voice. "But now the Sun Heretics who have infiltrated the city-state are asking about the truth of the incident eleven years ago... It's as if they really don't know what happened here eleven years ago. Don't you think this is strange?"

"...Either, it was the Sun heretics of Plande who acted on their own eleven years ago, so the cultists of other city-states don't know the truth here, or...the appearance of the Sun fragment in Plande eleven years ago was just an accident, or the work of a third party, and the heretics who participated in the riots were just used as pawns," Vanna said calmly. "According to the interrogation records of that year, the 'saboteurs' who were captured at that time were indeed in a state of confusion. Their madness and loss of control did not seem to be intentional, but more like they were influenced by a powerful force."

"... Chasing twisted and strange things, being driven mad by strange forces, becoming fuel for the fire of chaos in a daze, and finally being abandoned in the ashes..." The regional bishop sighed, "What a miserable life."

Fanna didn't say anything for a while. She just stood up silently and walked to the window of the lounge.

Through the window here, she can see the situation in the port area from afar - the complete blockade of the entire port has ended, and many docks and piers have been put back into use, but Pier No. 1 still maintains the highest level of blockade. The beautiful and brand new steamship "White Oak" is still quietly moored at the end of the pier, undergoing uninterrupted monitoring and daily purification rituals as planned.

The crew of the White Oak has been transferred to the Central Cathedral - as the people who had close contact with the Lost Hometown, they are now under the highest level of surveillance.

Heretics who follow the Black Sun are imprisoned in the basement of the church, a "Lost Ship" that has come into contact with the Lost Homeland is anchored in the port, and a group of sailors who have come face to face with Captain Duncan are living in the Central Cathedral... It's a headache just thinking about it.

The sun was setting, but it was not yet time for the day to turn into night. The regional bishop lit several oil lamps in the room in advance, and the swaying flames were reflected on the glass windows.

Fanna withdrew her gaze from the port area and said, "I heard that the out-of-control notification document regarding anomaly 099 has been sent to the port area?"

"Yes, it was just delivered this afternoon. Would you like to take a look?" The regional bishop said as he took out the folded documents from his pocket. "For some reason, it was a little later than expected."

"Let me see it," Vanna took the document and looked at it in the afterglow of the setting sun by the window. She explained casually, "It's normal to be late. After all, the loss of control of Anomaly 099 is very special. It broke free from the seal during a direct contact with the ghost ship. The bishops of each city-state must carefully weigh the wording and information in the notice to prevent this document, which will be distributed to all routes, from generating too many 'directional connections'... Otherwise, this thing that should have helped the captains avoid risks may instead link them to the Lost Homeland."

In the dim light of the approaching sunset, the oil lamp closest to Vanna in the lounge suddenly flickered, and as she unconsciously uttered the word "Lost Homeland", the flame in the oil lamp made a slight crackling sound.