"What does Desmond have? One, a ritual or his demon tamer lineage and, two, the mutated virus. What can those two things be used for then?" Syalari gave her own thoughts.
"Demon tamers use methods similar to the way the suspect controlled the mosquito. Even though it's rare for someone to be of demon tamer lineage, Desmond's destitute background obviously means that his lineage isn't a big deal. The one that rescued him obviously has greater powers, so there's no reason they would be after him for his lineage.
"As for the mutated virus, either it could be used to create mass panic—the kind of situation that you feared, boss—or it could be extracted for research purposes. Desmond would've ended up with them even if they hadn't taken him.
"From the looks of things at the moment, there are three possibilities, and the question is, Which is the most likely?"
All seven of them unanimously thought that the likeliest possibility was that some organization out there was after Desmond's ample virus specimen for research purposes.
Rovni and Syalari looked at each other and said simultaneously, "The Order of Holy Spirit."
"That bunch of lunatics might actually act against the SPB to acquire a research specimen like that. Besides, isn't the body of a transformed werewolf the kind of 'sacred' body they're after? If they manage to unlock the secrets to retaining one's mind after transformation, the virus would enable them to obtain such sacred bodies en masse."
Syalari wrote "werewolf" and "sacred body" on the whiteboard and connected the terms with a horizontal line.
"Sh**, it had to be that bunch of lunatics of all people!" Rovni cradled her face, looking very troubled and frustrated.
Zheng Yang was completely puzzled, wondering what the "Order of Holy Spirit" was.
Rovni saw Zheng Yang's puzzled look and recalled that Emily had said that he didn't know about the Arcane Coven before she told him about it, which naturally meant that he wouldn't know about the Order of Holy Spirit either. So she explained the group to him.
"The Order of Holy Spirit consists of a bunch of lunatics through and through. Their goal is to achieve the ultimate form of life, and they're indiscriminate in their means of achieving that goal. Some use rituals to transform themselves into weird, indescribable things, while others fuse their bodies with parts of other creatures through alchemy, making themselves look like some ragdoll monster. Some even manically extract other creatures' genes and fuse said genes with their own, which would enable them to transform into all sorts of monsters. There are also those that transfer their souls into new bodies through rituals to prolong their lives—a process that they call "spirit replacement." One way or another, their methods are weird and off-putting. They conduct all means of evil, live experiments and are even willing to go about performing mass slaughter to achieve their goals."
"Well, they really are lunatics, all right," Zheng Yang thought to himself. He was done evaluating them.
While his mutated bloodline had resulted from fusing foreign genes, it was actually an accident and not something that he'd actively sought after.
But then again, if the Order of Holy Spirit was a bunch of lunatics who willingly did stuff like that, would they have some information about the spirit vessel then?
…
Despite coming to the conclusion that the Order of Holy Spirit was the likeliest suspect, the members of SPB were still in a bind, nonetheless.
The Order of Holy Spirit was an extremist organization that was extremely secretive. If they were the ones who had taken Desmond away from the SPB, there was no way they would let the SPB detect them.
Eventually, Rovni decided to stay put and see how things went.
If it were truly the Order of Holy Spirit that had taken Desmond away for research purposes, Rovni's greatest worry—someone extracting the mutated virus and spreading it all over the jurisdiction she was in charge of, triggering a massive occult incident—could be ruled out.
Rovni had the secretary draft a report of the analysis and send it to their branch office in London. She was considerably relieved to find that the incident she had worried would take place was something she no longer had to agonize over anymore.
"There's still the case with Anthony's Farm. Zheng Yang, go and take a look with Ricky and learn something." Rovni waved her hand, dismissing the meeting, and headed off to lunch in a relaxed mood.
Zheng Yang blinked, wondering why they weren't getting lunch together instead and counting it as a business expense.
Ricky drove Zheng Yang back to the harbor to get changed. Both of them hastily finished their street food before heading to Anthony's Farm, which was over 20 kilometers away.
The grass on the farm was still lush and vibrant since it was still early autumn. The massive farm was very scenic, with meadows spreading out as far as the eye could see.
They drove into the farm and parked right in front of several buildings. As soon as they got out of the car, both Zheng Yang and Ricky heard roars coming from inside the buildings.
A fat fellow dressed like a cowboy came rushing out of one of the buildings with an angry look on his face, shouting at them as soon as he was out the door.
"Another four dead! Are you people really out to solve the problem? If you can't get it done, then send someone else who can! We paid our taxes, so why isn't our property being protected?"
Ricky glanced at Zheng Yang with an exasperated look on his face and shrugged. He had been there twice and had had to face the farm owner's wrath each time.
"Where're the dead goats? We'll go and take a look."
Zheng Yang took the initiative to talk to the old cowboy, who glowered at him in return and asked rudely, "Who are you, boy? What are you doing here?"
Zheng Yang shook his head and answered, "I'm one of those people who take money from you taxpayers and don't do any work for it. Hurry up and let us take a look at the bodies."
"Oh my god." The old cowboy shook his head, thinking that he still had yet to wake from his sleep.
"This way."
When the old cowboy saw the large-caliber Desert Eagle in the holster at Zheng Yang's hip and how Ricky was seemingly indifferent to the kid's antics, he realized that the two weren't there to mess around, so he took both of them to the back of the building without question.
There was a huge pen at the back of the building, but it was empty at the moment, as the living goats were out grazing in the fields. Four shriveled dead goats lay outside the other side of the pen. Their skeletons were visible beneath their skin as if they had been starved to death. They were truly just skin and bones.
Zheng Yang took out his phone and read the details of the case on the mission module again.
In the previous investigation, Venar had speculated that Desmond's escape had been the work of some giant mosquito. However, he and Ricky had been lurking around with some others for two consecutive nights and had failed to catch the one responsible.
"Does this mosquito have anything to do with the one that took Desmond away?"
Zheng Yang took note of the time of the first incident, which had taken place five days before the mosquito had secured Desmond's release.
No wonder the SPB hadn't drawn a connection between the two events, then.
Zheng Yang shot a doubtful look at Ricky. "What happened when you guys were on watch those two nights? Someone attacked the goats even though people were around?"
Ricky answered in an exasperated tone, "The pen was just too big, and the goats too many. There was no way we could look after so many of them."
"Did the surveillance catch anything?" Zheng Yang then asked, looking at the cameras surrounding the pen, unable to fathom how they hadn't managed to pick up anything.
"There were people on watch," Zheng Yang thought to himself. "And there were cameras, yet the goats were still killed, and no one was able to catch a glimpse of the culprit?"
Ricky shrugged and answered, "That was what made the whole thing look so creepy."
Zheng Yang scratched his head and cursed. "I hate investigations! No matter. We'll just keep watch for another night and see what happens."
The old cowboy's expression softened somewhat when he saw that both Ricky and Zheng Yang were willing to keep watch that night. He thought that the two seemed to at least be earnest and proactive, regardless if they were able to solve his problem.
The three of them left the pen and headed back to the front of the building. Zheng Yang turned to the cowboy and said, "Dude, kill one of them tonight and roast it whole. I'll pay for it."
…