Chapter 39 Hesitation
Angel felt dizzy when he walked out of Dunn Smith's office.
Although she had stayed up late the night before to finish "Gathering Storms" and exhausted her spiritual energy, she felt that this was not the main reason.
Captain Dunn's probing made her feel a little doubtful.
If you put yourself in the Nighthawk's shoes, it would be a fantasy for a mysterious wild Extraordinary like yourself to gain trust in less than two weeks.
Of course, an "assassin" who obtained a potion from Madam Sharon of the "Witch Cult" but betrayed Madam Sharon and reported her to the official Beyonders can be said to have completely offended the "Witch Cult" and had nowhere to go. It is reasonable for him to join the Night Watchers in order to protect himself.
But on the other hand, could this be a plot by the "Witch Cult"? A plot to drive a wedge into the Church of the Evernight Goddess?
That being said, sacrificing a Sequence 6 warrior is a bit too much of a sacrifice...
But the key point is the Nighthawks and how the Church of the Goddess of Night views this matter.
With thoughts running through his mind, Angel came to the reception room in a daze. It was Roxanne's day off today, so Brett took her place on duty in the reception room. Unlike Miss Roxanne who liked to make a pot of coffee and read the newspaper, Brett was a man who could not sit still. When on duty, he would diligently clean the reception room spotlessly, and his tone was more formal when dealing with other night watchmen. Compared with the clerical staff of the night watchmen, he was more like a butler.
"Good morning, Miss Granger. It's a beautiful day today."
Seeing Angel walk out from the partition, he put down the broom in his hand and greeted him with a smile.
"Today's newspaper is on the coffee table. The coffee will take a while."
"Good morning, Mr. Bright."
Angel greeted the middle-aged man with a thick beard, glanced around the reception room, and found that no one else was there.
"Mr. Klein Moretti is off today." Brett thought he had guessed who Angel was looking for and spoke first.
“No… I’m not…”
Angel shook his head and then laughed at himself. He had been behaving pretty consistently these past few days, going to the shooting club with Klein to practice every morning. Had others misunderstood him?
"The captain is in the office. I'm sure you already know that Mrs. Orianna went to the bank and won't be back until noon." Seeing Angel's denial, Brett reported the whereabouts of the others one by one. "Kornley and Frye are patrolling the West District. Ms. Luo Yao is on duty at Chanis Gate today. Mr. Neil is still at his usual place."
"Thank you. I understand."
Angel herself didn't understand what she "knew". She was preoccupied and just answered subconsciously.
When she came to her senses, she had returned to the partition and walked along the corridor to the room at the end. There was only a staircase leading to the basement. The sun rose outside the window, and the sunlight shone in, dyeing the room golden.
Since she was already there, she simply walked down the stairs to the basement and prepared to go to Old Neil to get the bullets for training. This had almost become a daily routine.
The gas lamps in the underground passage burned day and night, casting their light everywhere. The flickering flames made the Holy Emblem of the Night Goddess on the wall sway as if alive. Angel walked slowly forward, his own footsteps the only echo in the quiet passage.
How many times have you been to the basement?
She recalled the first time Roshan took her to the basement. That time they also went to the armory to find Old Neil. In just one week, she had become so familiar with the Blackthorn Security Company?
Dunn Smith's deep voice still echoed in his ears: "Are you willing to officially join the Tingen Market Night Squad?"
Yes, are you willing?
She had thought about this question when Dunn invited her on the night he killed Mrs. Sharon, but her experience as an informal member during this period gave her some new ideas.
When he arrived at the intersection of the underground passage, Angel did not turn right and go directly to the armory, but stopped at the intersection.
Using the dimly lit corridor leading to Chanis Gate as a backdrop, she sketched out a simple table in her mind. On the left were the disadvantages of officially joining the Nighthawks, and on the right were the advantages, separated by a dotted line. This was her usual method of thinking when faced with a difficult problem. Writing it down on paper would have been even better, but without pen and paper, Angel simply worked it out in her mind.
First came the loss of freedom, and she filled in the first word in the table on the left.
According to Dunn Smith, official members of the Nighthawks are not allowed to leave Tingen City without permission, which means they can only operate within their own jurisdiction. It must be difficult to obtain approval, and most of their time will be spent in this fixed area.
It wasn't just spatial freedom, it also encompassed time and psychological freedom. Unless one, like Old Neil, reached old age, lost most of their combat abilities, and became a civilian member, official Nighthawks were practically lifelong members. Unlike civilian members like Roshan, once they joined, there was no turning back.
Otherwise it is "defection".
Then there was “regulation,” she filled in the second word.
Although she could sense Dunn Smith's wariness towards her right now, this might be a habitual behavior. At least apart from a few glances and tentative statements, Dunn acted like a captain who was looking forward to new members joining.
But after becoming a formal member, he may face the scrutiny and supervision of the entire Church of the Evernight Goddess, including the mysterious "Holy Temple". Can his shoddy identity really withstand the church's in-depth investigation?
She didn't think that the church's Beyonder armed forces, the Night Watchmen, were an organization with strict entry and lenient exit. Whether it was to prevent Beyonders from getting out of control or to prevent members from defecting, the internal review and supervision would only be stricter than when they joined.
Once you are found to be abnormal after becoming a formal member, the consequences that await you will not be as simple as dismissal.
Angel recalled the internal wanted poster of the church he had seen a few days ago. It was about an archbishop who had defected three years ago and had taken away an important seal of the church. His name seemed to be Zanger or something.
However, this person is a high-ranking archbishop, and a small fry like me would probably be dealt with easily and would not even be qualified to be on the church's wanted list.
Stopping his divergent thinking, Angel filled in the third word in the table in his mind: dangerous.
This was also something Dunn Smith had clearly mentioned. As a full member of the Nighthawks and an expert in close combat like an "assassin," he would inevitably be involved in the fight against Beyonder criminals and various occult events, and would most likely be fighting on the front lines.
The risks were obvious. Ordinary criminal cases would be handled by the Tingen City police, while only serious cases or those involving Beyonders would be handed over to the Nighthawks and other Church forces. This meant that the lower-difficulty missions had already been pre-screened, and the ones he would face were the more difficult and dangerous ones. And any case involving Beyonders would require a minimum of Sequence 9, his own level.
Thinking about the Sequence 9 assassin I encountered in the "ordinary commission" I received last week, if I officially joined the Nighthawks, I would probably often encounter such opponents, or even Sequence 6 powerhouses like Madam Sharon. It would take several Nighthawks working together to have a chance of victory.
If you fail, you are no more unlucky than an ordinary person. A bullet or a dagger can end your life in an instant.
Although Dunn, Leonard, and the others went to get off work like civil servants every day, Angel learned from Roshan that almost every year, some of the official Beyonders from the three major churches in Tingen City died or went out of control. Roshan's father, an official Night Watchman, died on the job five years ago.
Considering that the Nighthawks only have 6 official members in Tingen City, and the number of members of the Mandated Punishers and the Mechanical Heart is about the same, this death rate is already very shocking.
Oh, yes, and loss of control...
Angel added another entry to the table on the left.
This risk is not unique to those who join the Nighthawks. Any Extraordinary Person, whether taking potions to advance, in normal combat, or even accidentally coming into contact with mysterious objects or receiving certain stimuli, may lose control at any time and become a monster with mental death and physical collapse.
According to Dunn Smith, of the extraordinary incidents Tingen City handles each year, a quarter are Extraordinary People out of control.
After thinking about it, Angel crossed this item out. Even if she didn't formally join the Night Watchers, the possibility of losing control would always accompany her as a Extraordinary. It was not fair to classify it as a risk of joining the Night Watchers.
Cole Granger, Angel's "predecessor," lost control and died while taking a Sequence 7 "Witch" potion. Unlike the horrific loss of control described within the Nighthawks' internal records, she only lost some of her traits, returning to a Sequence 9 "Assassin" rather than becoming a corpse. This was already a miracle.
Thinking about his own potion sequence, Angel filled in the last item in the form, "Limitation on increasing strength."
The Church of the Evernight Goddess possessed a complete potion path from Sequence 9 to Sequence 1, starting with the "Sleepless One," the potion path that Dunn Smith, Leonard Mitchell, and others occupied. The reason most Nighthawks chose this sequence was simple: as long as they completed their tasks step by step and contributed to the church, they wouldn't have to worry about subsequent potions.
The Church still possessed some incomplete sequences, such as Frye's "Corpse Collector" and Klein's "Fortune Teller," but it didn't include the subsequent potion formulas for the "Assassin" path. As a Beyonder, taking potions of other sequences, regardless of the sequence, would inevitably lead to loss of control, a dead end.
Of course, having inherited Cole Granger's memories, she already knew the formulas for the Sequence 8 "Instigator" and Sequence 7 "Witch" potions. As long as the timing was right and she had fully mastered and digested the power of the assassin potions, she could consider promotion.
But the premise of all this is how to explain where he got the subsequent potion formula.
If you were a wild Beyonder, alone, you could patiently collect potion ingredients and advance at your own pace. However, once you joined the Nighthawks, it would be impossible to hide the changes in your strength from your teammates. You would either have to stay at Sequence 9 or continue advancing and risk being exposed. Both options were quite risky.
Looking at the row of disadvantages of joining the Nighthawks on the left side of the "table", Angel almost wanted to go back to Dunn Smith's office and reject him.
Let’s continue to look at the “benefits”…
Angel suppressed his impulse and looked to the right.
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