New Gods of North America.

Chapter 353 The Monastery

Throughout the ages,

“Chasing fugitives” is actually not an easy job.

But if he escaped from the church, then it would be interesting.
At least the other party will definitely be an "Extraordinary Person" who can drop extraordinary materials.

Wayne didn't have any bad intentions, mainly because he had never seen what the extraordinary materials in the sacred realm looked like.

curious.

Taking a handwritten note from David Mills to a monastery outside Georgeburg, Wayne finally had the opportunity to see the "extraordinary asylum" of this era.
But how should I put it? Maybe because Wayne is not a prisoner, this place does not feel like a so-called "prison", but more like a "closed manor" with slightly higher walls and slightly more monks.

At first glance, it seems that the main theme is "beware of gentlemen but not villains".

For secular believers - in fact, Wayne himself - the monastery should be a place where monks concentrate on asceticism or study.

Apart from that, some of the specialties are probably quite good.

Many monasteries have their own businesses.
Some were more like landlords, mainly "lending resources", such as leasing land to surrounding free farmers to operate grain or tobacco, wool trade, etc.
Some are more like light industrial workshops, mainly engaged in "labor-intensive production". For example, many monasteries brew their own beer, cheese, wine, etc.

Some of these monasteries' specialties are quite famous, and are the type that ordinary people have "heard of" but "can't buy".

The plantations around Georgeburg mainly produced tobacco and grain, but the monastery Wayne visited was good at brewing beer.
There are people everywhere in the high walls and deep courtyards.

In theory, of course, it was the ascetic monks who did the work.
But in fact, the fugitive Roy Stampler was just a screw in the ancient winemaking production line when he was imprisoned here.

A middle-aged monk took Wayne and Inessa to a place that looked like a "fermentation workshop".

This should be considered a "semi-underground" building. There are ventilation windows with bars just below the ceiling. One of the windows has been damaged.

The metal fence with mysterious patterns seemed to have been broken by someone with a small saw or file. Wayne touched it and felt cold but "hot".

"Roy Stampler must have escaped from here. Workers didn't need to wear shackles inside the 'workshop', so he took advantage of this loophole."

He told Wayne and the others about the situation at the scene. "The monk who was originally in charge of supervision had already fallen into a coma when he was found. However, it is still unclear where the tools used by Roy Stampler came from."

There should be some special magic circle or something like that in this "fermentation workshop". Wayne doesn't feel very comfortable inside.
Inissa observed the area for a while, comparing it with several special oil lamps installed under the ventilation windows but still "high up", and checked the cross-section of the metal fence.
The time range and circumstances of the other party's escape are roughly given:
"Someone tampered with the wicks. The set of lights closest to the ventilation window should have gone out early last night. The metal fence was not broken all at once. One end should have been worn down to a small part before it was broken by pushing and pulling."

Walk out of the "fermentation workshop" and find the damaged ventilation window outside.
"If you try to reach the ventilation window from the inside, it's too high off the ground. It doesn't look like you'd have a chance to slowly grind it under normal circumstances. If you try to grind it from the outside, it's low, but it doesn't seem like this is an area where prisoners normally go, right?"

Wayne looked at the middle-aged monk and asked,

The middle-aged monk found it difficult to refute the evidence that had been found, but he also knew that he could not make random acknowledgments of such things, so he hesitated.

Continue along the route and you will reach the outermost high stone wall of the monastery.
There are gaps on the stone wall, so theoretically it is possible to climb up. However, looking at the height, those who can climb up are probably not "ordinary people". They must at least be "amateur rock climbers" or something like that.

Two possibilities,

One is that there are loopholes in the monastery's management, which allows prisoners to break the metal grilles of the ventilation windows and the special oil lamps inside in advance.

The other possibility is that there is a "traitor" who is helping the criminals escape.

It is not the turn of "outsiders" like the detective agency to intervene in the "house cleaning" of the church.

Wayne and his companions did not waste much time on this. After recording the situation in a small notebook, they said goodbye to the middle-aged monk, drove the carriage to the outside of the monastery's high wall, and continued to chase along the road.

At present, only Wayne and Inessa have come to the detective agency, so we don't need any other light bulbs for the time being.

However, along with Wayne and his team, there was actually a group of exorcists sent by David Mills.
Interestingly, ever since the local exorcism department and the detective agency had a "socializing" in the arena, the partners of the detective agency have been a little more "one level up" when facing them.

So everyone does not interfere with each other, and can even exchange information with each other politely.

It's strange that no footprints were found outside the high wall.

Generally speaking, when a normal person climbs over a wall, they will choose to "jump down" directly for the last short distance, which usually leaves relatively obvious traces.

However, a little further away from the high wall, Inissa still found suspicious footprints.

Everyone started to chase in the direction of the footprints.

The terrain around Georgeburg is generally of the "low and gentle" type of coastal plain, but it is still inevitably undulating, with hills, valleys, and woods.

After finding a distance, the distance between the two groups of people became farther and farther.

Then Inesa suddenly turned a corner in a small forest and ran straight in one direction.

Roy Stampler was soon found next.

Well……

Roy Stampler's extraordinary material looked a bit like slightly fluorescent plasticine, which was leached out from the hole in the center of his forehead.

He was slumped under the shade of a large tree, leaning against the trunk, his head tilted to one side in mid-air, a pistol still in his right hand.

A piece of extraordinary material that he had analyzed was still hanging on his head, looking a bit like stalactites in a cave.

The completely dried blood did not stick to the extraordinary material.
It flowed into a puddle on the ground.

Inissa found a wooden stick and "picked up" the extraordinary materials, and put them into a small bottle as if she was playing with maltose.
Wayne squatted in front of the body and observed that it did not look like suicide.

Because of the belief in the Holy Spirit, America does not actually advocate suicide, believing that it is a "serious crime" that will prevent believers from ever returning to the Holy Spirit. In modern society, the police in a certain country will shoot to "save" a suicide victim, which is actually logical in terms of doctrine.
But if someone insists on doing so, due to the high rate of gun ownership, "suicide by shooting" in the United States is actually very unique.

Most people who know guns will choose to "swallow the muzzle", pointing from the mouth to the top of the head, directly hitting the key point, simple and painless.

The more respectable ones would hit the temple, which is convenient, but it is possible to die slowly and painfully, and there is also a small chance of being rescued. It is a relatively amateurish way of playing.

Occasionally there are "suicides" involving gunshot wounds in the back, but it's hard to go into detail about that.

But no matter what, "hitting the center of the forehead" is not very scientific.

Friends who have tried it know that pulling the trigger in that way is actually a bit awkward, and there is no need to be hard on yourself at this time.

There were no signs of burns on his forehead, his fingers didn't look like he had climbed, and the bullet tracks on the tree trunk should have been left when he was standing.

Wayne thought about it for a moment and decided to use professional terms to describe it.

This should be called... "silencing"?
(End of this chapter)