Chapter 1636 - 104: Fox and Mouse Game (14)_2

Chapter 1636: Chapter 104: Fox and Mouse Game (14)_2

And Moritz didn’t give the junior officers any time to digest the information.

"From last night until now," Moritz lightly tapped on the city gate on the map, "all entrances and exits of Maplestone City are in a lockdown state."

Upon hearing these words, some quick-thinking junior officers immediately understood the "Major’s" implication, and some even started studying the numbers and plots on the map.

Moritz noted the changes in the junior officers’ expressions, specifically marking a few faces, and then continued:

"In other words, the arsonist is still in the city."

With that, everyone understood.

"Dig three feet deep," Moritz commanded word by word, "find them!"

Not a sound was heard from the audience.

"Repeat my command."

There was still silence below.

"Don’t understand words? Paratu People? Repeat my command!"

A sparse response arose from the audience, "Dig three feet deep, find them."

Moritz nodded slightly and briskly ended the speech, "Major Roson will assign specific tasks to you, dismissed."

No sooner had he finished speaking than he stepped off the altar, retreated into the inner sanctum, and disappeared from the others’ view, leaving behind hundreds of confused junior officers and Roson Jura.

After a brief silence, the nave of the Maplestone City Cathedral erupted with noise.

Roson was surrounded by junior officers, and questions came at him from all directions, almost turning him into a sieve:

"Who was that person? Senior."

"Who is the arsonist?"

"Is all your clothing really gone? What about the re-equipment plan?"

"Was it the United States jerks who did it?"

"I heard the Pretender Emperor’s daughter is in..."

Roson’s head was about to explode from the noise; everyone had a myriad of questions needing answers, and everyone was eager for his response. Though surrounded by the crowd, he felt like he was being pressed below the water’s surface.

Empty sockets flowed with liquid again, and Roson couldn’t even bother to wipe it away as he repeatedly screamed hoarsely, "Quiet! Listen to me! Quiet!" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

But the crowd paid him no heed and just continued hurling questions at him.

Finally, Roson snapped.

The pressure that had built up in his heart over a long time finally reached a breaking point, and Roson drew his revolver, cocked the flint, and fired a shot into the air.

With the sound of the gun, the nave immediately fell silent.

The side window was shattered by a lead bullet, and shards of stained glass clattered to the ground.

The stench of sulfur permeated the dome, overshadowing the incense; it was the first time anyone had fired a gun in front of the effigy since this Sanctuary was erected.

"Fuck your mother! Everyone shut up and stand properly! Shut up! In one... no, four horizontal lines! Stand! Quick! Run! Dare to leave! I’ll fucking kick you to death! Run! Quick, run!"

No one spoke anymore, and the junior officers were driven by the Major, who was waving the pistol, to the altar, and after a bit of fuss, stood obediently in four rows.

Roson jumped onto the altar and slammed the still smoking revolver hard onto the pulpit, "Anyone with questions, raise your hand!"

The junior officers looked at each other; after a brief hesitation, almost everyone raised their hand.

Roson randomly pointed to one.

"Report!" The called-out junior officer loudly asked, "Who set the fire? What was the purpose?"

Roson already had an answer in his heart, but Major Moritz had issued a gag order in advance, so he could only put on a stern face and answer bluntly, "What the hell are you asking? So many questions? Who set the fire? You’ll know when you catch them! Any other questions?"

Some put their hands down, but soon raised them again.

Roson randomly pointed to another.

This time it was a captain, "If we don’t even know who the enemy is, senior, how are we supposed to find them?"

The junior’s question hit the nail on the head, but Roson still couldn’t answer truthfully.

He rudely said, "Overpower two tent guards without a scratch, set such a big fire without a sound, and then retreat unscathed — could it be an ordinary person? Search house by house, and if you see someone with calluses on their hands or shifty eyes, arrest them!"

After listening to the senior’s words, the captain still frowned deeply. Clearly, the Major’s answer didn’t satisfy him but barely provided a viable solution.

So the captain nodded and didn’t raise his hand again.

"Who else has questions?" Roson asked.

A whole forest of arms went up again, like a wall of spears.

"Where do so many questions come from?" Roson shouted angrily, "Ask later; task allocation comes first now!"

"City gate guard units, do not move;

"Units outside the city, also do not move;

"Guard units at key points within the city — the City Hall, the Grand Assembly Hall, the Army Headquarters, the officers’ barracks become reserve units, remaining on standby;

"This search is to be executed by the Military Police Team; you will each receive a half-tent of military police shortly, and specific task areas will be assigned by lot."

Roson asked, "Do you understand?"

"Understood..." the junior officers below whispered.

"Do you understand?" Roson asked harshly.

"Understood!" This time the response was loud and uniform.

Roson looked at the faces of the junior officers, some of which he recognized, some of which he didn’t.

He wanted very much to tell them about the danger of this mission, but the gag order sealed his mouth.

"Listen carefully," Roson was sad in his heart, but could only pretend to be impatient, "there’s definitely more than one dog bastard who set the warehouse on fire, and they’re surely tricky. If you really run into them, don’t stupidly try to fight head-on."

Speaking so, he took out a peculiarly styled paper-wrapped round from his satchel.

It was peculiar in two ways: Ordinary paper-wrapped rounds were already long, and this round was even longer; at the same time, the paper wrapping the gunpowder and lead was green.

"This is the latest signal flare," Roson displayed the green paper-wrapped round to the junior officers, "it can be used in a handgun. Load it in the gun, shoot it at the sky, and when it goes off on the ground, there will be another bang in the sky, audible throughout the city."