Chapter 251

Seeing Benoit Goodwill's reaction, Angouleme felt a bit more confident.

He took out paper and pen and scribbled a notarized document, the gist of which was that Benoit Goodwill swore to the deity that he would not tell any lies during the subsequent questioning.

As Angouleme signed his name in the notary's position, the paper glowed with a golden light.

Benoit Goodwill swallowed his saliva as he watched, feeling increasingly nervous.

Over the past few years, as a somewhat well-known factory owner in Trier, he had come into contact with some occult knowledge and had encountered extraordinary powers beyond the imagination of normal people several times, so he was no stranger to such things—just like the three kidnappers earlier, one of whom used a flame crow to blow up his mouth, one who could create black flames, and one who jumped directly from the third floor.

"Sign your name." Angouleme handed the notarized document, which had already retracted its golden light, to Benoit Goodwill.

"Okay." Benoit Goodwill's right hand trembled as he wrote his name in the space for the promisor.

Every time he finished a letter, a flash of golden light passed over the handwriting.

After he finished writing, Angouleme asked in a deep voice:

"Which deity do you worship?"

"'God of Steam and Machinery'." For Benoit Goodwill, this question had no difficulty at all.

Angouleme moved on to the next question:

"Why did you visit the congressman's office on the morning of the chemical plant explosion?"

Benoit Goodwill hesitated for two seconds, and with the fear of supernatural powers and divine witness, under the influence of the residual "truth serum," he repeated the words he had previously told Lu Mian and the others word for word.

Angouleme, Valentine, and Imre took turns asking questions, letting Benoit Goodwill restore his conversation with the congressman's secretary, Ronet, and assistant secretary, Tibert, as much as possible.

At the end of the questioning, Angouleme said to Benoit Goodwill:

"From now on, you will be arrested for arson, intentional creation of an explosion, and murder. Your assets will also be temporarily frozen, pending compensation for those who died and were injured."

Benoit Goodwill's face turned ashen, and he slumped into the armchair as if he had lost all his strength.

Valentine walked two steps toward the door, looked at the corridor outside, and said in a hushed voice:

"Deacon, after we take this bastard who blasphemed his faith and betrayed his conscience to the police headquarters, shall we formally arrest Yu Ge Artois's secretary, Ronet?"

Angouleme sighed slowly and shook his head:

"Not yet.

"Haven't you noticed? Ronet and the now-deceased Tibert are very cautious. They never explicitly told Benoit Goodwill to blow up his chemical plant; they were always just hinting, promoting the congressman's policies, and talking about the philosophy of decay. They can completely use the excuse that Benoit Goodwill was blinded by greed and misunderstood their words to defend themselves.

"And nearly two days have passed, so it's hard to find traces of Benoit Goodwill being influenced by supernatural powers anymore.

"Simply put, we still don't have strong enough evidence to arrest that secretary, Ronet. If we interrogate him with extraordinary abilities, we can still only summon and question him normally."

Valentine felt a surge of anger, but there was nowhere to exert his strength.

He was one hundred percent certain that the congressman's secretary was problematic, but due to the rules, he could not use occult means to deal with him.

After a few seconds, he looked at Benoit Goodwill, who was lying in the armchair like a pile of rotten meat, and said in a deep voice:

"I will suggest sending him to the stake!"

Angouleme nodded and said to Valentine and the half-breed Imre:

"Let's go, take this guy who deserves to be killed in ten different ways back to the Market District."

Valentine was stunned for a moment and said:

"Deacon, aren't we going to track the three extraordinarys who invaded here earlier?"

Angouleme laughed:

"Why track them?"

Valentine expressed his confusion with a puzzled look.

Imre, who was long accustomed to his deacon's style of doing things, whispered:

"Those three extraordinarys snuck in here, but they didn't rob any property or hurt anyone; they only asked about the chemical plant explosion and the visit to the congressman's office. Clearly, what they are truly interested in is that secretary, Ronet, and Congressman Yu Ge Artois.

"I even suspect they might be people from the 'Aurora Order', and one of them is the person who killed the assistant secretary, Tibert."

Angouleme chuckled and added:

"Since we are hindered by contracts and rules and cannot conduct an in-depth investigation into the congressman's office, why not let wild extraordinarys who have the same interest probe it, use violence to squeeze the pus out of the wound, and expose it to the sunlight?"

"Is there no problem with this?" Valentine blurted out.

Angouleme responded amusingly:

"Of course there's no problem. To deal with those cunning people who are good at using the rules, you have to be more cunning than them and better at exploiting the loopholes in the rules. When necessary, we can even cooperate with certain hidden organizations and join forces with wild extraordinarys.

"The kind of contracts signed with congressmen and high-ranking government officials only forbid us from doing certain things; they don't say we can't harbor malice toward them, or that we can't develop informants among wild extraordinarys. And wild extraordinarys are not restricted by those kinds of contracts.

"Similarly, those contracts are mainly restrictive and don't force us to do certain things. Sometimes, we can avoid triggering the contract and, at the cost of ordinary disciplinary action, sit by and watch some things happen.

"Valentine, even under the sunlight, there are still many shadows—for example, everyone's shadow. You must learn to coexist with them, sometimes clearing them away, sometimes utilizing them. Praise the Sun!"

Valentine recalled his cooperation with Lu Mian in Cordu Village, reluctantly accepted the deacon's explanation, spread his arms, and responded:

"Praise the Sun!"

Angouleme added another sentence:

"These words aren't something I invented. From the fall of Emperor Roselle to the present, the two major churches and the parliament, government, military, and the MI9 have been playing a game of chess. Everyone has accumulated quite a bit of unsavory struggle experience.

"Otherwise, why do you think I would tacitly allow the existence of wild extraordinarys within the gangs in the Market District? Just based on the guarantees and rhetoric of the police commissioners? No, I feel that sometimes they might come in handy.

"Of course, everyone is responsible for letting believers in evil gods form a large gang; I am no exception. Everything has its pros and cons."

Valentine pondered silently for a while and did not raise any more questions.

Similar contradictions and conflicts were also reflected to a certain extent in Intis, but they were far from as obvious and intense as in Trier. After all, this was the center of the country.

…………

On the way back from Underground Trier to the Market District.

Lu Mian, who had already removed his bandages, tilted his head to look at the silent Jenna and said casually:

"I thought you would kill Benoit Goodwill on the spot, or even give him a bit of torture that he wouldn't be able to forget even after becoming a ghost. Who knew you'd only give him a stab in the shoulder."

Jenna pursed her lips, walked several steps forward, and then answered in a low voice:

"If he died now, I don't know how many years the accident compensation would be dragged out, and it might even be just a symbolic amount..."

She didn't care anymore, but there were still many people waiting.

Franca nodded imperceptibly and helped add:

"Don't worry, Benoit Goodwill will definitely be sentenced to death; the only difference is which kind. Besides, we also have to leave clues for the official extraordinarys, otherwise, it would be like us protecting Yu Ge Artois, always helping him eliminate hidden dangers."

Jenna gave a miserable smile:

"That's the congressman we elected, yet his secretary and assistant secretary deliberately used a big explosion to greet us."

"Are you afraid?" Lu Mian asked with a mocking tone.

Jenna was silent, not knowing how to answer for a moment.

Lu Mian said to himself:

"I have never enjoyed the benefits of Intis, nor have I cast a vote. If I encountered something similar, let alone the congressman's secretary, even the congressman himself, or even the president who rules this country, I wouldn't let them off!

"My sister once said that only blood can repay blood. I don't care what status the person who shed blood has."

Jenna's expression twisted once more, and she said with extreme pain:

"My mother always taught me to be kind, to know how to forgive, and not to let suffering and hatred control my life, because that way, you can't see the light..."

Without waiting for Lu Mian and Franca to say anything more, she lowered her head and said through gritted teeth:

"But I really hate them so much!"

"If you kill all your enemies, you won't be controlled by hatred anymore." Lu Mian curled his lips.

Jenna was silent for a few seconds, then said "Mm":

"At least, at least I won't let that secretary, Ronet, off!"

Franca immediately praised her:

"Very good, keep that spirit."

She then emphasized:

"Of course, revenge cannot be blind or impulsive. You must wait until you have enough strength and wait for the opportunity to appear before taking action. Otherwise, you will only cause more harm to your relatives and friends, and watch helplessly as your enemies remain alive and living very well."

"Mm." Jenna nodded gently.

…………

Late at night, Jenna, who had changed into her usual clothes, returned home to 17 Pasteur Street in the Botanical Garden District with complex emotions.

This place was very close to Saint-Gilles Street in the Market District and the large number of factories south of the Botanical Garden District. Previously, for the convenience of Elodie and Julian's work, Jenna's family chose to rent here.

As soon as Jenna opened the door, she saw her brother, Julian, squatting by the window, clutching his head.

Her heart sank, and she asked with a slightly trembling voice:

"Julian, what's wrong with you?"

Julian, who was bathed in the crimson moonlight and huddled against the old wooden table, looked terrified:

"Don't fire me, don't fire me!

"My mother passed away, she really passed away, that's why I didn't come to the factory this afternoon...

"Don't fire me! Don't fire me!

"Mother, Mother, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have left you alone in the ward!

"It's all me, it's all me!

"Wuwuwu!"

Julian burst into tears, like a child terrified to the extreme.

He seemed to have gone insane.

Jenna stood in the darkness at the doorway, blankly watching her brother like this, feeling that she herself was uncontrollably and slowly falling into that bottomless abyss.

(End of chapter)