Chapter 588 – The End of the Incident
I don’t think the Custodians truly know the truth of this matter, as I’ve already dealt with all the Blood Oil. Plus, they were in too much of a hurry to check the logs, so they might not have known the root cause of this anomaly.
Sebastian didn’t say anything because it was difficult to explain how I managed to eliminate all the Blood Oil. He witnessed me using a sacrifice to the Evil God to completely cleanse it. If the Custodian Association were to find out about this, they would interrogate us.
Those higher up were even more ignorant. In short, the Director from the Royal Capital, the Lord of Santander, the Captain of the Custodians, and the Police Chief Director, along with representatives from various parties, shared intelligence and analyses. Their conclusions were then directly finalized.
The conclusion was that this was an isolated incident with no further entanglements. The Sturgeon No. 3 fishing boat had encountered some unknown entity overseas, leading to collective mutation and infighting among its crew. The Mutants have now all been eliminated, and the case is closed.
Honestly, I really wanted to comment on this outcome. They clearly didn’t understand the source of the mutation, nor did they pursue further investigation, yet they closed the case so abruptly. However, considering my deep involvement and my inability to withstand police interrogation, I was actually relieved that the case was hastily concluded.
Afterward, Sebastian returned and told me that similar incidents in the past were handled this way. Generally, killing the Mutants and resolving the mutation itself was considered a closed case. Even if the source of the mutation was found, at most, it would be destroyed or Sealed, with very little effort put into tracing its origin.
The reason for this is the sheer abundance of mutation sources. Even Commoners could go mad and turn into monsters by dreaming of something bad, making it difficult to trace their origins. This incident with Sturgeon No. 3 was not exceptional; the Mutants were just particularly strong.
Then, there are the traceable mutation sources, which are usually extremely dangerous. They are often related to some Evil God or ancient relic, making investigation incredibly perilous. There was an instance where an entire army camp’s soldiers mutated into monsters while investigating the source of an event in one country.
Luckily, that investigation camp only had a little over two thousand soldiers. However, eliminating those over two thousand mutated soldiers gravely weakened that country, and it took considerable effort to clean up. If there had been more soldiers in the camp at the time, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
From then on, the industry’s convention for handling such incidents has been to prioritize stability, eliminate the apparent threat as much as possible, and then stop. This is not a tacit understanding, but a clear rule explicitly written in the investigation regulations of most police forces: never delve too deeply into the unknown mysteries.
This is also why organizations like the Custodian Association have existed for so long. They are experts in containing anomalies and are civilian organizations. Countries do not have to bear the risks directly, only providing a sponsorship fund periodically.
It is said that their containment research facilities are located in alternate dimensions. If containment fails or a severe anomaly occurs, they evacuate key personnel if possible. If not, the entire alternate dimension is sealed off and abandoned, minimizing the event’s impact.
Although various countries have also imitated them by spontaneously collecting and researching various mysterious artifacts, most adhere to this principle, choosing research locations that pose no threat to human society and accepting full responsibility for the consequences.
Sebastian also told me about their plunder… ah, I mean, the prize money division for solving the case. Besides the Director and the national police, who did nothing and took their usual cut, the funds allocated for operational expenses were distributed among the participants.
Originally, Cando City wouldn’t have received much. After all, their local security force was inferior to the Santander Navy, the Custodian Association, and the national police. Their involvement was only because Sturgeon No. 3 belonged to a Cando City fishing company.
However, due to the evidence provided by Sebastian, and the subsequent detailed investigation by the police and detectives after they boarded the ship to retake it, coupled with a thick report of crime analysis compiled overnight, it saved the portly Director the trouble of writing his own report.
Therefore, the Cando City police received the same credit as the Custodians who resolved the incident. Because the Custodian Association proposed to contain Sturgeon No. 3, they received a smaller portion of the money, leaving the Cando City police with the largest share.
The remaining Santander troops, having no merit but having contributed effort, received a small portion of the remaining money. It wasn’t enough to compensate for the losses of the Navy soldiers. However, for the Lord, this amount was trivial; protecting his warship, the Count Dido, was more important.
It is worth mentioning Captain Delana. He was rather fortunate; in a stroke of luck amidst misfortune. Firstly, he was not present when the Count Dido was seized; he was not the officer in charge, and the primary responsible officer, the captain, had already been killed by the Mutants.
Then, during the resolution of the incident, he bravely charged to the front lines and was honorably wounded. Of course, the Police Chief Director appropriately embellished the description of the night’s events. Delana did not act out of poor command or recklessness; he personally entered the dangerous scene to rescue people.
Finally, as Delana was returning to the city, he encountered the Lord of Santander City and reported the position of the Count Dido. His command was then taken away and handed over to his superior, a Santander Navy Lieutenant Commander, to retake the Count Dido.
However, that Lieutenant Commander made almost the exact same mistake as Delana. He underestimated the Mutants, got into a conflict with the Black-Robed Person, and rashly boarded the ship. As a result, they were ambushed by the Mutants in various ways, suffering heavy casualties – something I witnessed firsthand.
Fortunately, due to his dismissal, Delana did not have to bear responsibility for these blunders. Coupled with his injury during the mission and providing the location of the Count Dido, the warship was eventually recovered. The Lord did not blame him and likely will promote him after he recovers from his injuries.
The distributed operational funds were then divided among everyone. Sebastian received the most, several hundred Silver coins. This was just for operational expenses, not including the reward for cracking the case. Of course, the Director and the Chief Director would likely take a portion of this as well, but it was still a substantial amount of money.
Everyone was happy, except for the Lord of Santander, who inexplicably lost a group of Navy soldiers. It was a happy occasion for all.
After all these matters were concluded, dawn had broken. I saw the Custodians arriving to carry out the final clean-up work. They brought out a transparent glass bottle and aimed it at Sturgeon No. 3.
The cursed fishing boat instantly shrunk and was absorbed into the bottle, like a miniature model. There was a shallow layer of water inside the bottle, allowing the shrunken fishing boat to float on the water, as if still sailing.
The Custodian Captain sealed the bottle with a wooden stopper, signifying the success of the Seal. The “boat in a bottle” was the containment plan for Sturgeon No. 3. They would take it back for research, though I doubt they would discover much from it now.
Since the source, the Blood Oil, had already been drained by me, the ship was merely an empty shell.
Although this incident has concluded, my and Sebastian’s investigation will not end. The next step is to trace the origin of the Blood Oil.
