Chapter 240: Seventy-three: Either burn everything to ashes.

“Captain!”

“Make way, the captain is here!”

Seeing that Yuri had arrived, the Devil Knights who had reached the spot earlier immediately cleared the way, allowing Yuri to observe the scene inside.

It was two headless bodies, wearing the attire of Hogney’s subordinates.

“What happened?” Yuri asked.

“They were killed,” a Devil Knight replied curtly, “and when we arrived, we found their bodies… had changed.”

As he spoke, the Devil Knight brought over the two heads and placed them in front of Yuri.

This was Yuri’s first time seeing the faces of these men without their masks, and though he was somewhat prepared, the sight of their pitted, pothole-like faces, with tiny worms incessantly squirming, still made his eyelids twitch uncontrollably.

“Captain…” the Devil Knight softly said, “Have we really been traveling with these guys all this time?”

Yuri looked around and saw both cohesion and fear in everyone’s faces.

After all, these individuals had been accompanying them since the Pollution Zone, and although they could not say they were comrades fighting side by side, as they all wore masks and could not see each other’s faces, it wasn’t too different.

Thus, the Devil Knights had never imagined that the faces under the masks would look like this.

Did this mean they had been traveling with monsters all these days?

Even for the Devil Knights, who dealt with pollutants year-round, this realization was frightening.

“What exactly is happening?” a Devil Knight couldn’t help but ask, “Have they always been like this, or were they infected afterward?”

“What do you mean ‘after?’ Are you suggesting we have a source of infection here?”

“…Don’t forget what we brought back from the Abyss.”

That statement heightened the tension even further.

Ideally, their primary concern should have been who killed these two men, for daring to commit murder in the Fifth Zone was indeed audacious.

But the bizarre state of the two bodies made it difficult for them to prioritize finding the murderer, as it wasn’t clear whether the victims were humans or monsters.

Yuri turned to look at a Devil Knight, his current deputy.

The deputy approached and whispered a few words in his ear.

But Yuri’s expression hardly changed, as all attention was focused on him.

So, he simply nodded calmly and said to the other knights, “Let’s leave it here for tonight. I’ll handle the rest, you all go back and rest.”

“Go back and rest? But, Captain…”

“Did you hear my order?” Yuri repeated emotionlessly, “Go back and rest… Of course, do conduct a pollution self-check before bed. We won’t organize a formal check.”

The Devil Knights exchanged looks and eventually followed Yuri’s orders, leaving only two to deal with the bodies.

At that moment, Yuri’s expression finally grew solemn.

His deputy had just informed him of two things.

First, the Devil Knights he had previously sent to guard Hogney’s subordinates had been infected, and the pollutant remains they brought back had almost completely disappeared.

Second, according to reports from the bridge guard unit, they saw numerous dark figures jumping into the river, crossing the bridge and entering directly into the Fourth District.

This meant that the heavy pollutants had already entered Lyra.

His mind involuntarily recalled the words Ina had told him earlier: “You have brought back something from the Polluted Land that you shouldn’t have.”

Now, her words had come true.

“Captain, what should we do now?” the deputy whispered, “We’ve never experienced something like this. What exactly are these guys trying to do?”

Yuri glanced at his deputy, pondered for a moment, and then said, “Follow the standard procedure, report to the Sky Tower.”

“…Just report?”

“Until we understand the truth, there’s not much else we can do,” Yuri said, glancing at the departing backs of the Devil Knights, and added softly, “Whatever happens, our people need to rest, even if only for a few hours.”

The deputy knew Yuri was right.

After a series of events, and having just returned from the Abyss, most of them were on the brink mentally. Pushing further could indeed lead to irreversible destruction.

But the deputy also noticed the emphasis in Yuri’s statement — “even if only for a few hours.”

“Do you think something big is going to happen?” the deputy asked quietly, “In the next few days?”

“It might already be happening,” Yuri patted his deputy’s shoulder and said softly, “Regardless, be prepared. We can’t afford more chaos tonight.”

The deputy nodded solemnly and then quickly left.

Following that, Yuri swiftly returned to his own home.

As expected, Ina was still waiting for him there.

“Earlier you said you didn’t have the time,” Yuri stated directly, without beating around the bush, “Now, I need to know everything.”

Ina remained silent, another deep voice then emerged beside Yuri.

“Of course, we also need your help.”

Yuri’s body stiffened briefly; he slowly turned his head to see a middle-aged man stepping out from the shadows.

It was Gerard.