In the brightly lit grand hall, the Apostles from different batches and a few Expert Demon Hunters were standing in groups according to their loyalty, listening to the report Alice was giving to Jacob.
Among them, the relationship between the new batch of Apostles and Expert Demon Hunters could be considered to be at least friendly, something that couldn't be said between the new and old batches of Apostles—the incident with Glados still left a sour taste in both parties' mouths! Furthermore, in the past six months, Ye Qi and his group of Apostle friends had kept getting in small arguments with the senior Apostles. After all, the headquarters only had one Tower of Arena, so they had to run into each other somehow.
The result of their confrontation needn't be said, with Ye Qi joining, the senior Apostles suffered a series of humiliating losses…
"Tonight, we received an assault alarm from eight different Cavalry camps at the same time! Seven of them turn out to be duds…" Tatum commented in way of explanation for Ye Qi, then he lowered his voice to a whisper and asked, "Ye, do you think the Dirk family is behind this?"
"It's too early to tell!" Ye Qi knew this friend of his that came from a business background had a good head on his shoulders, but he didn't expect him to catch up to the situation so soon. However, it was indeed too early to conclude that the Dirk family was the perpetrator—after all, Ye Qi might not really have been the target. There were many forces in the world hoping to bring the Demon Hunter headquarters down to usurp its seat of power, and the assault that night might have been one such attempt. Ye Qi was targeted perhaps simply because he was one of the most recent rising stars, and attacking him might distract the headquarters from the actual intention of that assault. Therefore, Ye Qi pointed at Jacob who called the meeting and said, "For now, we shall wait and see! After all, the responsibility will fall on someone else's shoulders before it even reaches us!"
"You're right!"
The lanky fellow narrowed his eyes while Darien next to him laughed as if he had no worry in the world. A Wa, on the other hand, leaned against the chair and wiped down his crossbow silently…
"The headquarters has assigned the task of resolving this issue to me!" Jacob stood up after Alice finished her report, then he turned to the gathered people in the hall and announced, "First, we need more information. Thankfully, we have some sketches of our enemies, while we are still unable to recognize the forces that they came from, this is something we can work on. From now on, the train station and airport in Summer Crinkle are on a complete lock-down. Each and every person entering and leaving Summer Crinkle has to be inspected carefully…"
After the official statement, most left except Ye Qi and his friends who had been specifically asked by Jacob to stay behind. Jacob then walked to them.
"You might have some beef with the Dirk family, but I don't think they would do something so huge just to take revenge against you! Of course, this doesn't mean that they are completely in the clear, after all, the only thing we're not lacking in this world are crazies!" Jacob's voice was naturally lower than most, that combined with his injured vocal cords, meant that he had a gravelly voice. "Therefore, before we have any concrete evidence, you are not to act out on your own! If you agree to this condition, I will allow you to join this investigation!"
Ye Qi was right; the questions at the camp were to feel him out!
Ye Qi very cleverly didn't bring up the possible consequence of saying no, and nodded immediately—there were plenty of empty rooms in the Tower of Thorns; he was not looking forward to being Evan's mate in there…
"Very good!" Jacob nodded satisfactorily. "Then I officially announce Apostle Ye Qi will form a special investigative task force, and I will give you leeway in selecting your own members but you answer to me…"
"B- Quest: The Perpetrator. Investigate the assault on Cavalry camps and eliminate the threat."
B-!
When the young Demon Hunter heard the quest difficulty, his heart trembled. He thought about the whole incident from beginning to the ending, hopefully to spot something he had missed, but he came up with nothing.
"Ye, what should we do now?" After leaving the grand hall, the big bloke looked at the young Demon Hunter who was in deep contemplation and asked, "Go to the airport and train station? Or go check out the hotels?"
Since Jacob had given him the freedom to choose his own task force members, naturally his close group of friends was his first consideration.
"The headquarters will send people to stake out those important locations! We will only get in their way if we also go there, furthermore, this group is too small for an assignment like that." The lanky fella patted his friend on the back before suggesting his own idea. "Therefore, our investigation has to take another direction!"
Ye Qi nodded in agreement and shared his analysis with his friends. "Among the people who assaulted the camp I was in, other than the assassins, there were five ogres! Yes, assassins can slip easily into Summer Crinkle, but five ogres? It would be hard to sneak five of those in, much less one! Especially considering their stink…"
"Understood!"
After his three friends left, Ye Qi rode on Gelding to the camp—even though he wanted to retreat to his room at the headquarters to check on his character screen after the latest level up, most of his stuff, including Gorgon's Eye, was still at the camp. Even though the young Demon Hunter believed the knights wouldn't snoop, they would have to move the tents after the attack, and his stuff might fall out by accident!
The melancholy and sadness weighed down on Ye Qi the moment he stepped into the camp. He sighed under his breath, noticing the sadness that the people around the camp wore like a badge on their shoulder. However, Ye Qi knew this was not his loss to share in. At the end of the day, he was an outsider despite the fact he really wanted to give Alice, who was in the middle of giving a eulogy to the fallen soldiers, a hug or something. The knights formed a wall of grief that pushed the young Demon Hunter out, so he dragged Gelding quietly towards his tent. He had been with the Cavalry for less than a day; it was not his place to intrude upon such an intimate ceremony.
Half of the stable had been destroyed by the ogres. Therefore, Ye Qi didn't lead Gelding, who had survived the attack, to the stable but to his own tent. When they arrived, he swapped out the heavy saddle on Gelding's back for a light blanket.
Ye Qi climbed into his own tent. After he made sure nothing had been touched, he sat on his sleeping bag and flipped his character screen open.