Chapter 124

Chapter 124

As Evan followed Tom up the stone steps of the Port Watch, a briny sea wind carrying the blare of foghorns swept past the rusted iron railings. The building's exterior was covered in dark brown ivy, and where the peeling plaster had fallen away, bullet holes from fierce gunfights of years past were faintly visible, like countless silent eyes. The shell badge on Tom's chest gleamed with a mother-of-pearl luster in the sunlight. He reached out and pushed open the heavy oak door; the hinges groaned with a creak, as if telling the building's century of stories.

"Watch your step." Tom sidestepped to let a few officers carrying case files hurry past, their boot heels striking the granite floor with crisp echoes.

Evan looked around with great curiosity. After all, children who grew up in the port were all very curious about this place—it was the boogeyman parents used to scare unruly kids when they were young. If not for Tom leading the way, he wouldn't have been able to visit here.

"To think you've become the leader of a five-man squad in just half a year, that's really impressive." Evan glanced at Tom's noticeably broader chest and couldn't help but praise him.

"You're not bad either. Have you become a knight already?" Tom clearly sensed that Evan had grown much stronger, and Evan had definitely killed someone before. He had felt this same aura from the crew of smuggling ships he had encountered over the past six months.

Although the Watch wasn't on holiday, anyone with a brain wouldn't cause trouble during these three days, as doing so would offend the three major orthodox churches. Thus, not many officers remained on duty. After greeting the skeleton crew, Tom began giving Evan a tour.

The walls on both sides of the corridor were hung with portraits of past constables. In the most prominent position was displayed a sculpture of the Sea God's trident, its base inlaid with sapphires that glimmered faintly under the light. After all, port cities survived by the sea, so it was only natural for the Watch to display a statue of the Sea God.

Evan noticed that the plaques beneath the portraits were all engraved in Latin, the characters ancient and vigorous, as if recounting thrilling stories one after another.

After turning two corners, Tom suddenly stopped before a faded wanted poster. On the yellowed paper, the portrait of the outlaw was heavily circled in red ink, his mouth twisted into a strange, eerie smile. Evan instinctively took half a step back, only to feel as if the eyes in the portrait were following his movement.

"Don't be scared, this is the infamous 'Sea Fog Jack' from thirty years ago." Tom chuckled as he tore off a corner of the poster, revealing a hidden mechanism for a secret door. "The real secrets are all hidden where you can't see."

He was quite proud, as the Watch's interrogation room had been the demon's lair for all the port city's children in their youth.

With a series of clicking sounds from turning gears, the wall slowly slid open, revealing a spiral staircase leading downward. In the dim, yellowish glow of kerosene lamps, Evan counted thirty-seven steps, each worn exceptionally smooth, clearly trodden by countless feet over time. The air in the basement carried a damp, musty smell mixed with the scent of rust. When Tom pulled out a copper key soaked in a deep-sea octopus ink sac, Evan noticed the key's surface emitted a strange, eerie glow, as if shrouded by some mysterious power.

So, the Watch also handled supernatural incidents?

But considering that wanted poster and the many hidden Supernaturals exposed by last night's event, Evan found it perfectly reasonable.

The moment the iron door opened, Evan held his breath. The iron chair in the center of the interrogation room had a bizarre design, its armrests carved with mysterious runes that emitted a faint blue light under the kerosene lamps. In a glass container in the corner, several silver-scaled fish swam aimlessly, yet their cloudy eyes held a human-like shrewdness.

"This is an interrogation chair specifically designed for Supernaturals. By the way, since you're studying at the Imperial Knight Academy now, you must have already encountered Supernaturals, right? Actually, there are many Supernaturals in our Sheffield. Some indigenous Supernaturals from the colonies also sneak into the Empire's mainland through Sheffield." Tom's voice was hushed. As his fingers brushed over the runes on the chair's back, the symbols suddenly emitted a piercing light. "If you lie, seawater will seep into your skin along these patterns."

Before Evan could inquire further, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the corridor. Tom's expression changed drastically, and he yanked Evan into a hidden compartment beside the interrogation room. Peering through the crack, Evan saw several men in black trench coats escorting a blood-soaked man past. The manacles on the man's wrists were engraved with maxims of the God of Light, yet upon contact with his skin, they emitted wisps of green smoke, filling the air with the smell of burning.

"Smugglers?" Evan whispered.

Tom shook his head, his Adam's apple bobbing uneasily. "No, heretics. They were selling powders in the black market that can corrode faith. Last month, three priests from the Temple of Light already..."

Before he could finish, the glass container suddenly emitted a sharp shattering sound. The silver-scaled fish frantically slammed against the container's inner walls, their cloudy eyes instantly turning blood-red. The escorted man threw his head back and laughed, the sound like nails scraping metal, chilling to the bone. The manacles on his wrists shattered inch by inch, and countless pitch-black tentacles sprouted from his back, coiling around the nearest man in black. The runes in the interrogation room erupted with intense light; where they made contact with the tentacles, a sickening sizzling sound filled the air, accompanied by the foul stench of scorched flesh.

"Let's go!" Tom dragged Evan toward the emergency exit as alarms reverberated through the basement. Evan glanced back one last time and saw the silver-scaled fish dissolving into bloody water, flowing along the grooves on the floor toward the interrogation chair. The runes on the chair were devouring the dark tentacles, bursting forth with dazzling brilliance.

The piercing alarm shrieked like a siren, echoing madly through the confined basement. Evan stumbled backward, pulled along by Tom, yet he couldn't help but look back. At that moment, he saw an officer in a deep blue uniform rush out from the shadows. The shell badge at his waist flashed with an eerie purple light, and in his hand, he held a cube as black as ink—each face carved with spiral patterns, like solidified deep-sea whirlpools.

The cube struck the interrogation chair with precision. In an instant, the runes blazed with intense light. The previously unrestrained pitch-black tentacles seemed bound by an invisible force, visibly withering at a rapid pace. A grating, tearing sound filled the air as the tentacles twisted and struggled in the brilliant light, ultimately dissolving into wisps of black smoke, completely absorbed by the runes on the interrogation chair. The escorted man let out a shrill, agonized scream, filled with resentment and terror. His body began to convulse violently, as if something beneath his skin was writhing frantically.

However, before Evan could see what happened next, Tom yanked him out of the interrogation room. The heavy iron door slammed shut behind them, cutting off all sounds from within. Evan leaned against the cold wall, breathing heavily, his heart pounding wildly in his chest as if trying to break free.

When the two stumbled back into the Watch's main hall, the scene before them was a world apart from the chaos in the basement. In the hall, officers continued their work methodically—some handling case files, others answering phones, and some even chatting leisurely over coffee, as if the harrowing events that had just transpired downstairs were nothing but a fleeting dream.

Evan stared at Tom in disbelief, his eyes filled with shock and confusion. Tom merely smiled and patted his shoulder, a confident gleam in his blue eyes. "Don't worry. No matter what abilities that guy had, he couldn't have left the interrogation room." He paused, gently tapping the wall. "In fact, our interrogation room here is itself a supernatural artifact. It was forged from deep-sea black iron by Sea God worshippers, every brick and stone soaked in holy water, and the runes were jointly inscribed by three high priests. Any supernatural power inside is suppressed and purified."

It clicked for Evan, and he felt a surge of admiration. He gave Tom a thumbs-up and praised sincerely, "Impressive! No wonder your Watch can maintain order in this chaotic port. With methods like these, no monsters or demons could hope to make waves!"

Tom raised an eyebrow proudly, a smug smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "That's just the tip of the iceberg. To survive in the port, you've got to have some tricks up your sleeve."

The two shared a knowing smile.