Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 215 Residents of the Lake
The Severn Valley is a vibrant place.

At least it used to be.

Located in the lower-central part of the country, its mountains are much higher than those of Nanwei City, and it boasts abundant jungle resources and a wide variety of wild flora and fauna, making it a hunter's paradise.

The melting glaciers in the northwest formed rivers that meander for thousands of kilometers, becoming the famous Severn River once they entered the country.

Due to the gradient effect of the Northwest Plateau, this river has a very fierce and rapid current.

In the past, it often caused flooding in the lower plains during the rainy season.

But at some point, a huge lake appeared in the Seven River Valley.

A few documents record that the Severn Valley was once a valley surrounded by mountains, but long ago, a meteorite fell from the sky and pierced the earth's crust, causing the mountain ridges to break and the ground to collapse. Then the water of the Severn River poured in, forming the huge inland lake we see today.

Of course, these are documents without authoritative historical verification, and are more like rumors or collections of stories.

But the lakes are real, and it is precisely because of the lakes and valleys that the Severn River meanders to the middle and lower reaches and becomes so "gentle" when it reaches the territory of Nanwei, which is the canal that runs through Nanwei City today.

If the canal were as turbulent as the Severn River on the Northwest Plateau, it would have no chance of becoming the main waterway for Nanwei City.

There are many legends about the Severn Valley, with lakes and meteorites being just one of the most widely circulated.

In this densely forested valley, there are actually many complex and obscure folk tales. These stories and legends involve the folk culture of the Severn Valley and, in some ways, are similar to the bond between the Nanvi people and the Day of the Dead, passed down from generation to generation.

Some say that the Severn Valley used to be isolated, with its inhabitants having very little contact with the outside world.

Before the age of civilization, this place had independent ethnic groups, independent social structures, and independent belief systems.

Unlike the Nanwei people who live by the water, the valley receives the surging waters washed down from the northwest plateau, and on the other side it borders the relatively mild southern plain. The culture formed here is very complex and contradictory.

Historically, the Severn Valley existed as independent city-states several times, and its people did not participate in wars or conflicts. Remarkably, historical rulers seem never to have invaded this place, or rather, never successfully conquered it.

There are rumors that the people here possess an immortal army that no one can defeat.

Of course, this is just a rumor...

……

The people of the Seven Valleys would not choose to trade with outsiders unless absolutely necessary.

In this day and age, although the country has been unified, the belief systems hidden among the people have not been abandoned.

In fact, a more mystical explanation is that the meteorite that shattered this valley and created the inland lake brought some strange things from beyond the heavens.

These things, which do not belong to this world, have settled in the lakes of the Severn Valley. They are living beings and possess magical powers that are unimaginable to humans.

Gradually, they began to have followers among human groups.

The believers identified the inhabitants hidden beneath the lake as saints and messengers sent by heaven. They fervently begged the lake dwellers for guidance and offered them what they considered precious—food, gold, or even living people.

Rumor has it that there is more than one inhabitant of the lake.

Anglers have said that at sunrise, three huge shadows can be seen beneath the water in the center of the lake.

This means that three extraterrestrial visitors live in the lakes of the Seven Valleys. They were brought to this land by a meteorite and have settled here.

It is worth mentioning that the traditional folk belief system of the Seven Valleys also happens to have three factions.

These three religious belief systems existed long before the slave era, and have been passed down through generations of the people of the Severn Valley to this day.

The smallest of these tribes was located in a settlement on the lower reaches of the Severn River. This tribe relied primarily on hunting and farming for their livelihood.

They occupy this land where the lower reaches of the Severn Valley meet the southern plains. The mountains in the northwest are their hunting grounds, while the fertile southern lands, nourished by glacial rivers, are their farmland.

Until the dawn of human civilization, this group remained self-sufficient through hunting and farming.

……

The people of this tribe worship an immortal creature in the river, or at least they believe it to be immortal.

Because this creature has the ability to bring the dead back to life, it can bring villagers who have died from illness back to life and make them speak again.

If a member of the tribe dies unexpectedly, his family will transport the body to the riverbank, pray to the lake god, offer him their most precious offerings, and beg the god to bring the soul of the deceased member back from the underworld.

The most precious thing that hunting and farming groups can offer is nothing more than the prey they have recently hunted from the mountains, such as wolves and reindeer.

Over time, this unique belief system was formed.

Over the long course of history, people have figured out the corresponding procedures for sacrifice and summoning, as well as totems. They have established rules to bind the members of their tribe and swore to serve the underwater god for generations to come.

……

It wasn't until ten years ago that the law enforcement system discovered those so-called "recalled" deceased individuals.

Their attempt to investigate was met with fierce resistance from the village, thus beginning a hunt.

In this particular belief system, the deceased who return are called servants.

These servants possessed extremely powerful strength, far exceeding that of ordinary people.

Not all the dead in a community are entitled to this treatment; only the most respected members of the village are qualified to receive the blessings of the gods, gain the power of resurrection, and become servants.

It often takes ten or even several decades for such a servant to be formed.

The servants who had accumulated over the years hid in the mountains surrounding the village, guarding this land.

……

Scholars attempted to contact the villagers, but this provoked strong resistance, and many scholars and officials who tried to study the belief system as saints died tragically.

When potential hazards are discovered, eradication becomes inevitable.

After a long period of exploration and analysis, a meticulously planned operation was launched by law enforcement teams from the Seven Valleys and surrounding cities.

This battle was approved by the Supreme Court, with technical support provided by Miskatonic University.

This refers to the "massacre" that Charles Winton could never forget.

……

The massacre was not as thorough as Charles described.

When the villagers realized that everything was beyond repair, they put the youngest child in their tribe on a small boat and sent him to escape to the lower reaches of the Severn River, where he hid in the southern plains.

And it was from that moment that the seeds of revenge took root in Nanwei City.

The child remembered the rituals of the tribe's religion, the cries of the tribespeople before their deaths, and naturally, the figures in black trench coats who had harmed his own blood relatives.

(End of this chapter)