Unable to repay my student loans, I had no choice but to work part-time as a demon hunter.

Martin then placed another sealed box on the table to show Gordon the anomaly.

Inside was a large skin sample; the pores had disappeared, the texture was gone, and only a beautiful, nauseating iridescent color remained on the surface.

[Human tissue. Once firmly convinced it wouldn't be boiled into soup.]

"There were no complete remains of the deceased; all we can confirm is that he was once a human being," Martin continued.

"It means that if this stuff gets into the city's water supply, people will end up with a huge pot of soup when they wash their faces," Gordon said skeptically.

"It hasn't reached the main water supply system yet, but some residents are still drawing water from the Blackwater River. Fortunately, the 'Blackwater Syndrome' you mentioned earlier is widely known, which has raised awareness among many families. Therefore, we can still sit here and discuss this instead of mourning the deaths of thousands of households... You have actually saved many lives."

Gordon breathed a sigh of relief.

It turns out that those reports and speeches, those things that he himself thought were not very serious, actually saved many people's lives.

"These words are worthy of a merit and a bonus."

"It would be even better if the source of the colored sewage could be addressed."

Gordon turned his attention back to the colored water sample.

He couldn't help but think that when he used his string-reading ability to examine the belongings of missing persons, some of the loose threads had turned "colored".

At the time, he only felt that it was unusual and strange, but now it seems that those people have probably been implicated by this thing.

"How do you plan to handle this?"

"We'll send the samples to the university for testing first. I've invited everyone from the Winslow school of thought. Then we'll examine the distribution patterns to see who released it. It's a recent phenomenon, isn't it?"

"Yes, be careful when handling it. The initial inspectors reported an abnormal proximity effect when they saw it; they would want to reach out and touch it, lower their heads to smell it, and even put their faces close to it or drink it."

The proximity effect.

Gordon immediately thought of the perverse attraction of amniotic fluid in the warm bed to the fish-men.

It now seems that the fish-men have also invented something to lure people into the water.

Then, Martin led Gordon and Vera to the map on the wall.

"In short, these are the places where the 'colored water samples' appear in large numbers," Martin pointed out several key locations on the Blackwater River.

"The cold water warehouse." Vera's gaze fell on the marker. "The missing person's clues are also there."

"Really?" Martin turned his head.

"Most of the missing persons disappeared within a one-kilometer radius of it. We only thought it was suspicious before, but now we know it's also related to this," Vera confirmed.

"At the very least, it is indeed an important stronghold of the Blackwater Hermitage," Gordon judged. "We need to deal with it as soon as possible, whether it's to find the missing persons or to solve this overly colorful river fish soup."

Martin returned to his desk and took out several reports.

"In the Golden Oak Manor attack, those captured wet-footed men gradually gave their accounts. Thanks to the emotionally manipulative interrogation aids used by the Lundnium Police Department, their confessions were relatively complete." Martin turned the page.

"It sounds like the thing I had Sinclair build."

"Perhaps that thing reminded the wet-footed men of their time before joining the Blackwater Hermitage. Some of them repented because of it and even became informants to join us and help the Bureau of Investigation and the police. Now they've returned to work for the Blackwater Hermitage. One of them is a boatman named Erling who works in this cold water warehouse and continues to provide us with intelligence." Martin handed several documents to Gordon.

Gordon glanced at it.

Erin was a boatman for the Blackwater Hermitage and had worked at Land's Wharf.

Due to water pollution, his wife and daughter both had abnormal deformities. The Blackwater Hermitage arranged jobs for them, which is why he always thought Tobias was a better person than the dock owner.

That day, Tobias sent him to attack Golden Oak Estate, only to find the sky filled with white crows... He fled in the chaos, only to be captured by the mounted police.

He spent a long time in the police station, and Xilin and others kept trying to persuade him.

He learned from the police station that the university was conducting research on Blackwater Syndrome, a disease that could potentially be cured.

Ultimately, Erin saw a glimmer of hope, chose to join the comrades of justice, and was placed back in the Blackwater Order, where he lied that he had never been captured or had contact with the police, which is why he has been lying low until now.

According to his report, the cold water warehouse was within Tobias's sphere of influence and was a special tidal dock used to transport fish and smuggled goods.

The warehouse is directly connected to the Blackwater River at its bottom, allowing boats to enter and exit only when the river is at low tide; the warehouse is completely sealed off when the tide is high.

"He is not entirely trustworthy, but his intelligence has been verified multiple times and has not been wrong," Martin commented.

"There's a low tide window between 8 and 10 p.m., allowing boats to enter and exit..." Gordon read the key information. "If we attack the cold water storage, we'll have two hours to leave by water. The rest of the time we'll have to crawl into the sewers and fight the fishmen in the dark."

"If you're certain the missing persons are among them, it's best to rescue them with this informant's help, since Erling is in charge of steering the boat." Martin produced an authorization document, looked up at Gordon, and asked, "Are you planning to proceed?"

"We only act when we have money and achievements. Let's talk about the spoils."

"Victims' belongings will be returned to their rightful owners, and evidence and hazardous contaminants will be sealed by the agency. Other unclaimed items, illegal goods, and seizures... you can take 10% of the total value as a reward, and you can also choose one item to take home. If Miss Carterett participated in the operation, the obtained Source Material will belong to the Source Material Hunter."

"You know, I've always loved my job... but there are people watching the perimeter, and people backing me up, but don't alert the target. I'll fire a signal flare before I make my move." Gordon took the authorization document.

"Okay, I'll have Shirin and the officers stand by nearby, and I'll have the river patrol team ready myself."

"I also need Erin's belongings to help me locate him," Gordon thought. Once he got there, it would be too much trouble to pick out one of the more approachable merfolk from the group.

"Okay, I'll give you his prison uniform." Martin glanced at the clock on the wall.

"You even agreed on a code word. How did you communicate with your informants?"

"We'll exchange notes with him at a certain place, 'the death box.' If you want to confess something now, he should receive the message tonight."

"Alright, then tell him the code for tonight is... 'A master has arrived.' He'll see these words appear in the air. Don't be afraid, because a master is here."

Martin remained silent for a moment.

"This is a highly recognizable code."

"Thank you, brand building is my specialty."

"...If we act tonight, you have six hours to prepare." Martin agreed. "I'll let him know that a master is coming tonight."

"Yes, the families of the missing have waited long enough." Gordon recalled the day he returned to No. 9 Knight Road, where the house was packed with anxious families.

Martin wrote down a few lines, then looked at Gordon.

"Gordon".

"Um?"

"You're very famous now."

"Yeah yeah."

Please bookmark the only official website for this novel: ".". This is the only website the site owner uses; other websites may stop updating at any time.

"I thought you would be very different, but in terms of willpower and drive, you are still the same person I know, which is worth helping." Martin closed his notebook.

"Thank you in advance." Gordon stood up.

"Goodbye," Martin said goodbye to them.

"Let's go. Vera, go see if any civilians are being held there, and see if anyone is illegally dumping pollutants into the river. Those fish-men, they always like to come up with new tricks." Gordon pushed open the door and went out.