Chapter 1243 New Progress
“New clue? What is it?” I wasn’t very confident about Sebastian’s so-called new clue. For several months, they hadn’t made any substantial progress in the murderer case.
“This is truly significant progress. I’ve narrowed down the target to a very small range, and the murderer is likely within this area.” Sebastian tapped on a map of Cando City, highlighting one spot with a red circle.
“Isn’t this the Factory district!?” I exclaimed in surprise. The factory where we were currently staying was also within this area. “How did you confirm this?”
“The reason we couldn’t catch the murderer before was because we knew nothing about her. Even if we occasionally got fragmented information, we didn’t know if it was true.” Sebastian lit a pipe and spoke slowly.
“But now that you’ve provided concrete leads, it’s different. We know the murderer is a tall woman wearing a black veil and skilled in Shadow-based Spells. If we can pinpoint her location, we can find her.”
“She must be quite arrogant, thinking no living person would see her. That’s why she used the same attire to move around outside before, leaving behind quite a few witnesses.”
As Sebastian spoke, he handed me a thick stack of papers. At the top was a portrait, a full-body depiction of the murderer drawn based on my description: a tall woman in a black veil, form-fitting dress. The portrait looked about seventy to eighty percent similar.
Below it was a large collection of detective records and numerous testimonies gathered from various locations. The handwriting indicated it wasn’t just one person’s work. It not only recorded the woman’s sighting locations but also what she was doing at the time.
Based on these records, countless small dots were marked on the map, representing sighting locations. The Factory district had the most, with a very high density.
Furthermore, Sebastian had categorized these clues into several levels based on their credibility and usefulness. Looking at the lower-level ones, although they mentioned a tall woman, there were no reports of her wearing a black veil.
The most valuable report at the top came from a clerk at a material store. He said he had encountered a tall woman who came to buy materials. Although she wasn’t wearing a black veil, the purchased materials listed on the invoice were precisely for Shadow-based Spells, along with some knives.
I was astonished by Sebastian’s efficiency and thoroughness and couldn’t help but ask, “With so many clues, you couldn’t have gathered them all alone. How did you do it?”
“Every man a king, every crow a king. There’s always a group of people in this city who are everywhere, well-informed, and especially easy to bribe. A few copper coins and they’re willing to help me find people,” Sebastian said proudly.
“Beggars.” I guessed instantly. The clues had many sentences that didn’t make sense grammatically and contained spelling errors, which Sebastian had corrected. Their tone was also relatively rough, and they often viewed things from a lower-level perspective.
“Miss Parul is indeed very accurate. That’s correct. I’ve always had several street children working as informants,” Sebastian sighed.
“I used to be a beggar too, how would I not know? But what puzzles me is that to gather information from such a wide area, a few children definitely wouldn’t be enough,” I asked.
Sebastian looked at me with a somewhat complex expression. It was true that when we first met, I was just a child from the Slums. At that time, Sebastian had approached me with the idea of recruiting me as a new informant.
Unexpectedly, in such a short time, she had undergone such a tremendous transformation. Not only had she become a Witch, but she was also becoming more and more formidable, with her status soaring directly.
“Well, they just act as intermediaries. To truly gather information in this city, one must rely on another person: the leader of the beggars, the uncrowned king beneath Cando City, the King of Beggars,” Sebastian replied.
I chuckled. So that’s how it was. The so-called King of Beggars, the Emperor of Beggars, was essentially a character like the leader of the Beggar Gang. Safah also claimed to be the King of the Underworld. How dare a mere beggar call himself an Emperor? I wondered if Safah had agreed to this.
Of course, I also knew that both sides would have their strengths. If they were to clash, this so-called King of Beggars would certainly not be able to defeat Safah’s Faction. However, in terms of information gathering, these beggars were stronger than the mafia.
After all, Safah’s manpower had to be concentrated on protecting his dozen or so businesses. But the beggars were everywhere. They couldn’t entirely be considered the King of Beggars’ Subordinates, yet they needed to show him respect. Offending him would likely mean they wouldn’t have a place even in the beggar industry.
“I’ve gathered a lot of intelligence through him. Now I have informants keeping a close watch on that material store. As soon as she comes to collect materials again, I’ll definitely catch her,” Sebastian said confidently.
“Don’t, you can’t beat her. If you find her, don’t go alone. Remember to find me. Also, I guess you might not be waiting for her anytime soon because the material store is currently out of stock,” I said.
“You even know that,” Sebastian looked at me in surprise, then suddenly realized, “Oh, right. You are a Witch. Of course, you know about this matter.”
“If she is indeed in this area, I can try to find her residence, but Shadow-based Spells are inherently very good at concealment, so the hope is slim,” I said.
“Having this lead is already very good. As long as this continues, she will eventually be brought to justice,” Sebastian said confidently.
“Very well. But I sought you out for another matter. Regarding the oil refinery, I’ve obtained a formal position in a factory there, and the High-levels are now listening to me.” I added.
“That’s my plan. We’ll organize an official procurement team to purchase a large amount of crude oil from that oil refinery. Using this as a reason, we’ll request to visit the oil production process, and you can legitimately mix in with the team to enter.”
“Good idea! Coincidentally, I also have some progress here. While observing earlier, I discovered that the Lord of the City’s purchased a large quantity of fuel from the Cuifou Company for the Army’s heating and city defense. The reason they won the bid was that they didn’t charge money, only requesting recently killed low-level Monster corpses in exchange for market price equivalents,” Sebastian said excitedly.
“What does an energy company need Monster corpses for? Do they intend to extract Magic Power from Monster corpses to sell? We’ll find out once we get in,” I said.
“Okay, let’s set a time. We’ll make preparations and can head over directly.” Sebastian was eager to go. The lack of progress had made him restless for a long time.
“Uh, lastly, I have one more thing I’d like to ask you. Do you know about Arianism?” I asked again.
