Xu En led the rest of the team in a deeper investigation.
The results, unsurprisingly, differed little from the earlier conclusions.
All the traces left behind confirmed one thing: last night, at least three different power lineages had clashed here.
Aside from the Glorious Light and Deep Darkness, there was a third—completely unknown, entirely absent from any records, and utterly unidentifiable.
Astrological divination revealed that the Deep Darkness and the unknown force seemed to belong to the same person.
As for the Glorious Light, it likely came from the priest—every priest of the Sunlit Candle Church ranked at or above the Ritual level was an extraordinary of the Glorious Light lineage.
The sequence of events appeared straightforward: a Deep Darkness extraordinary attacked the priest, then fled the scene, leaving behind neither a drop of blood nor a single hair.
And yet, Xu En couldn’t shake a faint sense that something was off.
But what exactly was wrong, he couldn’t quite tell.
“Captain, even if you don’t believe me, at least believe in my astrology,” said a female teammate holding a crystal ball.
One glance at Xu En’s expression told her exactly what he was thinking, and she wasted no time in calling him out.
Her astrology was the most accurate in the team—rarely wrong.
Xu En shook his head.
“Wasn’t there a surviving nun? Did she say anything?”
“Oh, that young Sister Luna…”
The old priest, Ed, seemed to remember suddenly.
“She hasn’t slept all night. I’ve already told her to rest, but if Captain Xu En needs, I can call her over for questioning.”
“If she’s resting, then—”
The crystal-ball wielder didn’t get to finish her sentence before Xu En cut in.
“Then call her here immediately.”
His pupils were deep and cold, betraying no hint of what he was thinking.
Xu En soon met the survivor.
As the old priest had said, the young nun clearly hadn’t rested—her face was pale and weary, her gaze unfocused.
The redness in her eyes and the faint tracks at the corners showed she had been crying for a long time.
Warm light bloomed in Xu En’s palm, falling upon Sister Luna.
In an instant, all traces of exhaustion and fatigue were swept away.
“Thank you, my lord,” Luna murmured, feeling her body grow light.
“I’m the leader of the 15th Sub-Squad of the 7th Unit, Kingdom Inspection Bureau. You may call me Xu En, or Captain Xu En.”
He paused before continuing.
“We are investigating the fire at the Sunlit Candle Church branch in Ark Town and the death of the stationed priest. I will need your cooperation.”
“No matter what you know—whether much or little, important or trivial—tell me everything you remember about last night.”
Luna nodded obediently, her eyes clouding with thought as she recalled.
“Yesterday was Sunday. For a long time, Pastor Mog and I were busy with the service…”
“After the service ended and all the congregation had left, Pastor Mog began preparing a ritual alone…”
“You know about the ritual?”
The young nun nodded vaguely.
“Yes… Pastor Mog told me about it.”
Xu En fell silent.
It wasn’t unusual for clergy to perform rituals after a service, and indeed, remnants of a ritual array had been found at the scene.
But due to the fire, all details of the formation had been destroyed.
Clearly, the blaze had been meant to interrupt the ceremony.
They could only surmise that the ritual had at least reached completion.
What kind of ritual it was, or what purpose it served—none of them knew.
“You’re certain the priest was alone when he prepared the ritual?”
The nun nodded firmly.
Alone… Then it likely wasn’t an overly complex ritual.
But if that mysterious figure suspected of belonging to Dark Dawn had gone to such lengths to interrupt it, what was their real motive?
Xu En sank into thought, while Luna went on.
“After that, I went to rest…”
“I woke up to strange noises coming from the church.”
“When I got there, it was already engulfed in flames.”
“I couldn’t put it out, so I ran outside to call for help…”
“The mayor and many townsfolk came, and we managed to put the fire out, but Pastor Mog was already…”
She choked up, tears welling again.
“He was such a good man…”
It seemed she knew little else.
Xu En didn’t press her further and signaled his female teammate to comfort the grieving nun.
At that moment, the mayor of Ark Town—Old Morgan—who had been listening silently all along, finally spoke.
“Actually… last night, there wasn’t just one fire.”
Xu En’s eyes snapped to him, his voice laced with anger.
“What do you mean?”
Startled, Old Morgan stammered, “It’s just… last night, the town’s almshouse also caught fire…”
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?!”
Xu En’s voice rose with genuine fury.
He could already guess why the man had kept silent.
For a mayor, two major fires in a single day could mean immediate dismissal if handled poorly.
He had probably only spoken now because he realized further concealment would be disastrous.
“That’s… the poor district. Accidents happen there often, so I…”
Xu En gestured for him to continue.
A remote little town suffering two fires in one night—it was impossible for them to be unrelated.
“That almshouse was also church property, usually run by Pastor Mog…”
Xu En’s eyes narrowed.
“Were there casualties? How many?”
In the slums, a fire at an almshouse meant casualties were all but certain.
“We haven’t counted yet… but most likely, no one survived…”
Morgan wiped at the sweat on his forehead.
It was precisely because of the high death toll that he hadn’t dared to bring it up.
Still, he saw no connection between the two incidents.
Attacking a church could be religious conflict—but what was the point of burning down a slum’s almshouse?
Petty vengeance?
Xu En, however, was convinced they needed to visit the site.
There would be clues there—or perhaps the destruction of the almshouse itself was the clue.
Meanwhile, Li Wen was deep in the forest.
She had been walking since last night, through the morning.
To evade the Kingdom Inspection Bureau, she had avoided all settlements, not even taking the main roads.
She didn’t know when the Bureau would notice Ark Town.
Based on her knowledge, they usually sent someone within three to five days for a preliminary investigation—only because the Sunlit Candle Church’s chapel had been burned.
Otherwise, it would take at least ten days before specialized agents came to search for and apprehend suspects.
That was more than enough time for her to leave Black Dragon Territory.
The Kingdom Inspection Bureau would never tolerate any extraordinary who were not of the Glorious Light, Source, or Aether lineages entering the kingdom.
No matter the reason, if discovered, they would be subject to questioning and investigation—followed by either deportation or imprisonment.
There were no other outcomes.