Chapter 119 The course of events
"Well..."
Dengzhan hesitated for a moment when he heard this, then laughed awkwardly: "It's actually a bit embarrassing to say this, can you please stop laughing?"
"What's wrong?"
"That is to say, I actually found the person, but I didn't win the fight."
Pointing at his forehead, Dengzhan laughed and said, "Originally, I followed the enemy to this lair, thinking that I would have a chance to challenge the pupa-level remnant beast, but the result was..."
"What's the result?" Delphinium raised an eyebrow.
"In the end, I was almost caught, and I almost used up all my magic power before I managed to escape."
Speaking of this topic, Dengzhan scratched the back of his head subconsciously: "I didn't expect that man to be so strong."
"That man? Are you saying that the culprit has been found?"
Delphinium pressed, "Can you explain it more clearly? What's going on?"
"It's a long story. Actually, it all started a week ago when the team from the Investigation Institute disappeared."
Dengzhan moved back to make himself more comfortable, and said after thinking: "But where should I start? Sir Inspector, have you heard about what happened before from Bai Ji and the others?"
"If you're talking about the process after the investigation team arrived in Bai'an City, then I have a general understanding of it."
Delphinium nodded: "According to White Thistle's description, you seem to have provided the investigation team with a lot of information."
"Yes, but it's more than that."
Dengzhan added: "In fact, Senior Maowei from the investigation team warned me not to take it lightly when we first met. The matter they are investigating now is actually more involved than I imagined. It seems that Black Cinder Dawn is preparing something very dangerous."
"Dawn of Darkness?"
Delphinium couldn't help but feel puzzled: "The records in the investigation institute show that they are investigating the movement trajectory of Claw Mark."
"According to Senior Maowei, that was their goal when they first came to Donghua Province."
Dengzhan corrected him, "But the priority of this goal has changed after a large-scale investigation of the Donghua Province. Because they found quite a lot of clues, all pointing to the same thing - Black Cinder Dawn is planning something in the southern part of Donghua Province."
"So, what they were investigating later was actually something related to Black Dawn?"
Delphinium frowned, "What are those guys planning?"
Whether it was Claw Scar or Black Ember Dawn, Jade Bird actually knew very little about these organizations, because the emergence and rise of these people was entirely after she retired.
If it weren't for the previous attack on Fangting City, she probably wouldn't have figured out the differences between these organizations.
"We don't know."
In response to Delphinium's question, Dengzhan just shook his head: "But, Maowei Senior once told me one thing before he disappeared."
"What?"
"Regarding the disappearance of magical girls in the past two years."
Dengzhan folded his hands on his knees and stared into Cuique's eyes: "My Lord Inspector, do you know that the Black Cinder Dawn has actually done a lot of bad things in Donghua Province? They even have people who are responsible for attacking those new magical girls who have just taken office."
"No need to address me so formally, just call me Delphinium." Delphinium nodded gently, "As for what you said, I have heard about it."
She had already learned from Lin Xiaolu that some members of Black Dawn could master the power of residual beasts and would even hunt down magical girls.
Rather, the fact that I am standing here as a magical girl now is actually closely related to Black Cinder Dawn.
If it wasn't for that day, that night in Fangting City Wetland Park, when someone among them wanted to attack Lin Xiaolu, she wouldn't have been so determined to transform into a magical girl again.
In a way, Delphinium herself is deeply affected by this incident.
"Delphinium? Is this your code name, Inspector?" Dengzhan asked subconsciously.
"That's right." Delphinium continued to nod.
Seeing that Kuizi was sure, Dengzhan continued, "So, Xun... Senior Kuizi, do you know how many magical girls have disappeared in Donghua Province in the past two years?"
"...How many people?" Hearing her ask this, Cuiqiao had a bad feeling in her heart.
"There are 11 magical girls who have certification cards and are on record."
Dengzhan looked at Kuznetsuo seriously and said word by word, "This number does not include those magical girls who disappeared silently. In fact, quite a few children are in the novice stage and have not yet obtained the certification card. Some of them even disappeared without contacting the Strategy Bureau. Although it is not recorded in the archives, according to the feedback from the sowers in various places, if these children are included, the number may be doubled. The final result is that more than 20 magical girls have disappeared in the past two years."
"Two years? 22 people?" Delphinium was a little surprised. "So many? There are only a few magical girls in the entire southern part of Donghua Province. 22 people disappeared in two years, and they were not discovered until recently?"
"This is also a considerable suspicious point in the incident, but unfortunately we have no clues."
Hugging his knees, Dengzhan lowered his eyes: "I heard that in some cities even the sowers disappeared. I don't know where they are so unlucky."
Upon hearing this, Delphinium also looked away and did not express any opinion on this topic.
"In short, we have a lot of doubts about this. Black Dawn seems to be very enthusiastic and persistent in killing magical girls, and has repeatedly emphasized words like 'ritual'. It seems that they are carrying out some strange activities."
Seeing that Cuiqiao was silent, Dengzhan spoke up, "When Senior Maowei came here, he asked me if I had encountered any unusual things in Baian City. Those things could very well be signs of Black Cinder Dawn's activities in secret."
"In fact, I did feel something strange during my daily actions..."
Dengzhan began to describe and listed several places that he found strange and the reasons why.
Why is it strange? Because Dengzhan herself couldn't explain what she felt. The places she listed were all places where she had patrolled or fought before, but after that, she always felt that there was something hidden.
The list she gave was finally handed over to Maowei, and the next day, the investigation team began to investigate the places listed on Dengzhan's list.
In the first few days, Maowei occasionally contacted Dengzhan to discuss the progress of the investigation. But then, one day, Maowei suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Dengzhan contacted the Strange Strategies Bureau and deployed a large number of manpower to search the city of Bai'an, but ultimately failed to find any trace of Maowei and the others. In desperation, he chose to report the matter to the Investigation Institute.
While waiting for the investigation to come, Dengzhan, who was restless, felt that this matter had a lot to do with him and wanted to search for more clues. So he joined forces with the Yi Ce Bureau to conduct a detailed investigation around the locations that Dengzhan had provided, trying to find all kinds of clues.
No matter whether it was suspicious things or suspicious people, they were all summarized one by one and finally placed on the desk of the Strategy Bureau.
After studying the information, Dengzhan identified several particularly suspicious people, and after a day of follow-up investigation, he narrowed his target to a certain man.
According to the information, this man was once a magician who was arrested and sentenced by the Bureau of Strategy for engaging in shady business. After being released from prison and deprived of the ability to use magic, he became a vagrant.
During the period before and after the incident with the Cattail Squad, this person appeared several times around the locations that Dengzhan had designated, and his behavior was very suspicious.
After locking onto this person, Dengzhan took decisive action and tried to track his whereabouts. However, what she didn't expect was that she got lost inexplicably during the tracking process.
After following the man into an underground passage, she got lost in it. After several twists and turns, she found herself in a space that looked like a nest.
At first she also thought she had come to the Bureau of Strategy, but soon she met several employees who were also trapped in the Bureau of Strategy. From those employees, she learned that this was not the real Bureau of Strategy at all.
After knowing that this was the nest of the pupa-level remnant beasts, she redefined her goal and began to search for the center of the nest with the purpose of defeating the remnant beasts.
Dengzhan's magic suit has the ability to track and investigate, so in fact, she did it very quickly. She found the center of the nest, and more importantly, she also found the man she had been following all the way.
——The man was feeding the remaining animals.
(End of this chapter)
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