By the shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
George hung up the phone and walked back to Cop, who was standing by the lake, gazing at the endless expanse of skeletal remains below.
Cop looked at George as he returned.
"How did it go? Did you guys agree on things?"
"Heh." George shook his head. "That daughter of mine has practically become that wild boar's property now."
Well.
George lied. The reason he called Gwen was because he wanted them to each do their own thing. For instance, he wanted to go to a famous New Orleans nightclub with his old friend Cop.
He had originally felt a bit guilty and worried, thinking, what if Gwen called Helen to complain?
As it turned out...
Gwen did not even ask. While George felt a bit lucky, he understood perfectly well why this was the case.
That damned wild boar!
Back when I first saw him and my daughter walking out of the restaurant together, I should have just arrested him without a word, brought him to the precinct, and escorted him back to Texas.
Sensing George's resentment, Cop thought about his interactions with Locke over the past few days and spoke up to help.
"Locke is quite decent, very polite. Besides, we owe it all to Locke that we could crack the case this time."
George glanced at Cop. "Do you think I don't know that?"
Cop shrugged. "I'm just saying, he's a good son-in-law."
George laughed. "If you knew that he used to be in the CIA, would you still say that?"
Cop looked at George. "The CIA? And he used to be? Isn't he seventeen?"
George shook his head.
He briefly related the story of how Locke had joined the CIA and subsequently had a falling out with them.
Cop nodded thoughtfully. "No wonder."
No wonder he always felt that Locke was very confident.
So that was where it came from.
The CIA actively recruited him, and then they completely fell out over a disagreement. This was probably the first time in history. After all, back then, George had merely declined the CIA's invitation.
Furthermore...
Cop believed that if George had dared to play with the CIA like that back then, the grass on his grave would probably be very tall by now.
Looking at his old friend's expression, George did not feel like wasting words and changed the subject directly. Looking at the busy scene, he said in a deep voice.
"Did that Dark Sovereign really say that the day the bones are cleared is the time Lake Pontchartrain returns?"
Cop nodded. "Yes."
George's eyes flickered. "That's great, we still have a chance."
"Huh?"
"The Dark Sovereign must still be in New Orleans."
"..."
This was the accumulated experience of an old detective who had investigated cases for many years.
The suspect must still be in this city.
He still had a chance. By capturing this Dark Sovereign, he could follow the clues to find that damned Peerless Assassin, who was his lifelong nemesis just like Locke.
Locke stole his daughter, and the Peerless Assassin stole his perfect career record.
This time...
"I will definitely catch you."
George vowed for the Nth time, clenching his fists as his eyes flickered with a determined look for the Nth time. "Peerless Assassin!"
Cop opened his mouth.
Did he not know that the Dark Sovereign was still in this city?
But.
Knowing was one thing. How to catch him, or rather, let alone catching him, how to even find him was a very difficult problem.
However, looking at his old friend who had come from afar and was bursting with fighting spirit, Cop really could not bear to tell him the truth, lest it dampen the spirit of his friend who had traveled so far.
Thinking this in his heart, Cop returned to his senses and looked at the busy people below. Then, his gaze fell around Lake Pontchartrain, on the camera flashes that kept blinking from the high points.
If he had not just driven them away once, the media who came sniffing around would have shoved dense crowds of drones right into Lake Pontchartrain to photograph those bones.
By tomorrow, probably the whole New Orleans, no, the whole state, no, it was feared that the entire United States would be completely in an uproar.
Cop withdrew his gaze from the journalists whose camera flashes were blinking all over the hills and sighed internally.
Actually...
Among the onlookers surrounding Lake Pontchartrain, there were not only countless journalists, but also other Dolan followers who had come from all over the country, traveling far to this place to join the local Dolan Church in celebrating the grand event.
As a result, they came full of excitement, and upon arriving here, they received news that left them dumbfounded.
The local Dolan Church had already been completely wiped out.
Moreover, it happened in broad daylight, where they were hanged at the entrance of the New Orleans Police Department and burned to ashes by the furious witch's fire.
"Gulp!"
"Everyone, sorry, I suddenly remembered there's something at home, I'll leave first."
"Me too."
"I promised my wife and daughter to go to Hawaii this holiday, I just suddenly remembered, sorry."
"Ah, I just got news that my wife is giving birth."
"Didn't your wife just die last year?"
"I remarried, is that not allowed?"
"..."
The Dolan followers, who were staying with the journalists to conceal themselves, looked at Lake Pontchartrain not far away, which had dried up completely to expose the riverbed. Thinking about how the Dark Sovereign was still here at this very moment, they all scattered like birds and beasts in an instant.
Some drove away.
Some rushed to catch flights.
After all, for the majority of the Dolan followers, just like those so-called high-level public intellectuals, opposing witches and even burning witches was merely a job.
It was just that other jobs required physical labor or even academic degrees, but opposing witches did not require that; you only needed to offer your loyalty.
Therefore...
While listening to these journalists vividly describing how the people from the local Dolan Church were burned to ashes by the witch's fire back then, these people were terrified.
Opposing witches was a job, but life still belonged to themselves.
If you do not cherish your own life, who will cherish it for you?
Within half an hour.
Of the United States Dolan followers who arrived one after another prepared to join the grand event, almost as many as had come had already left.
The twelve descendants of the Crusaders from the New York Dolan headquarters watched expressionlessly with cold gazes. They did not say anything as the Dolan followers, who had come full of excitement, turned around and left in silence while trembling.
Do not look at how the Dolan Church had branches all over the United States.
In reality, the nature of the Dolan Churches across the country was more like a franchise rather than a direct-operated store.
To put it simply, when the New York Dolan Church offered benefits, these franchisees flattered them more enthusiastically than anyone else. However, if they wanted them to step forward and court death, this group of people would run faster than anyone else.
After all, people who truly hated witches were still in the minority. Eccentrics like Jim Rhodes and the Fox family were even fewer.
"Let's go."
The leading descendant of the Crusaders withdrew his gaze from the group of traitors who were turning to leave, speaking with a calm expression. "The Dolan Church here is already ruined."
A descendant of the Crusaders heard this. "Are we going back?"
The leading descendant of the Crusaders turned around.
"Going back?"
"That damned witch is right here."
The leading descendant of the Crusaders said in a deep voice, "Do not forget the glory of our ancestors. Only when we slaughter these damned witches completely will the Lord's glory return to protect us once again. Then, we can enter the Silver City, go before our ancestors, and tell them that we did not fail our mission!"
The words of this descendant of the Crusaders carried powerful inspiration.
Except for the descendant of the Crusaders who wanted to back out, all the other descendants of the Crusaders clenched their fists under the inspiration of these words, their fighting spirit restored once again.
"Let's go!"
Seeing this, the leading descendant of the Crusaders took a deep breath. "To the agency that invited us here."
Everyone nodded.
Yes.
Actually...
They did not come here because they were warmly invited by the local Dolan Church. To be precise, they had received an invitation from another organization, which was why they took the opportunity to accept the invitation letter from the local Dolan Church and come over here.
Right now, the local Dolan Church had completely blown up, and they, the descendants of the Crusaders, had always regarded money as dirt. Therefore, they needed to stay at the place of the organization that had truly invited them here for a period of time.
As for who invited them over.
Without a doubt!
In the Hilton Hotel.
Gwen, who felt full of energy after exercising twice a day, had pressed Locke for his shallow witch stories. Remembering the dozen or so bad guys she saw on the plane and after landing when she came over today, she finally found the time to tell Locke about this matter as a topic of conversation.
Locke raised an eyebrow. "They came from New York?"
Gwen gave a humph, placing her finger on her chin. "Speaking of which, the feeling they gave me was similar to the feeling I got when Zoe and the others came in back then."
As she spoke.
Gwen looked over at Carrie, who was sitting on the nearby sofa, looking down at a fashion magazine in her hands.
"By the way, Carrie, did you also know they were witches?"
Carrie looked up at Gwen, her face calm. "Witches are pretty much the same as us, I didn't feel anything special."
Gwen blinked.
Did that count as...
An answer?
Locke, on the other hand, smiled.
He no longer cared much about why Gwen developed a spider-sense without mutating. This was actually a good thing.
At the very least, from a certain perspective, Gwen could also foresee danger.
As for why Gwen became like this, Locke felt that once they returned to New York and examined that mutated big spider in person, all the riddles would be solved.
On the other hand, the group of strange people Gwen just mentioned seeing on the plane and after getting off the plane?
Were they from the New York Dolan?
Locke narrowed his eyes.
Not bad.
Just then.
Ring ring ring!
Gwen looked at the ringing phone. "It's Madison!"
As she spoke.
Gwen got up and answered the call.
After a while.
Gwen said okay into the phone, then looked at Locke. "Locke, Madison plans to invite us to their academy for a dinner gathering."
Locke raised an eyebrow.