Chapter 1127: A Pleasant Surprise
Li Zhuyu was not disappointed. The Black Robes and the Spirit Guards uncovered several interesting findings from the wreckage of the Western ship.
First on Li Zhuyu’s list was live captives.
There could never be an actual roster of operatives. Such a list could have existed deep within the Holy Court’s upper echelons, but it would never be at the front lines because once it was leaked, the entire network would be uprooted. Li Zhuyu had no delusions of obtaining this list. She merely needed some captives so that she could pry open their mouths, extract a few names, and follow the trail from there.
This time, there were three survivors who were not on the crew roster. Rather, they were listed as passengers. On a ship this suspicious, the meaning of such an identity needed no explanation.
Li Zhuyu ordered the Spirit Guards to escort the captives to the Nanting Protectorate’s military camp for strict confinement. This was to prevent them from escaping and conveniently dying.
One of them immediately declared his willingness to cooperate with the Daoist Order as long as his life was spared.
At this stage, Li Zhuyu was in no rush. Such cooperation was welcome, but negotiations could proceed at her leisure.
In truth, Li Zhuyu did not care how many Holy Court operatives were killed. The Holy Court was vast, comparable in scale to the Daoist Order. Thus, killing a few changed nothing. True killing mattered only in open warfare. On their covert front, killing was the least important function. The true mission was tracing clues, identifying internal traitors, and purging infiltration.
The Black Robes also hauled up a chest from the sea.
This chest was what the Central Plains called a magical receptacle and what Westerners called a Space Bag.
The chest was not locked. Inside was a full set of Arcane Alchemy prosthetics, likely the spare replacement parts for the captain. However, he died at Qin Hengjun’s hands before ever using them.
Although this was not the Daoist Order’s first encounter with Westerners, Arcane Alchemy creations almost always carried self-destruction mechanisms. Even when seized, they were usually damaged. It was rare to obtain such an intact piece.