CHAPTER 553: CHAPTER 518: SEARCHING THE EVIL GOD SECT

Inside a shop on the streets of Beloburg, the store owner was stacking the shelves.

Although the supply of goods was tight now, he had managed to secure some channels to get hold of some quality items not available on the market.

Of course, these good items would not be openly displayed on the shelves. Only those who were familiar with the store knew there was another shelf underneath, where the real treasures were kept.

Such shops were not uncommon in the Northern Territory. Although the Northern Territory authorities had once conducted a large-scale sweep to crack down on major smuggling activities, these small underground black markets had never been entirely eradicated.

Rumor even had it that the Shelby family, whom the store owner was connected with, was a puppet of the Northern Territory authorities.

The store owner remained noncommittal about this. While it was true that the Shelby family did have some connections with the Beloburg Police Station, and often the police turned a blind eye, could the Shelby family really be a puppet supported by the Northern authorities?

The store owner didn’t really believe so because the Shelby family’s influence was too small, hardly relevant to the topic of Northern authorities’ backing.

He admitted that the Shelby family did indeed run a large business, with their members across several major cities in the Northern Territory, and their network and channels covered these cities, but that’s about it.

The core members of the Shelby family numbered only about twenty or thirty, with perhaps three to five hundred formal members in total.

In the Northern Territory, they had some presence, but in a place like Langton, a gang of this size could only be called a small faction.

So the store owner thought it impossible for the Shelby family to receive Northern authorities’ backing. If they were truly supported, the Shelby family would have expanded long ago, not remaining at this size.

If he had the backing of the Northern authorities, he believed he could expand his store across the entire Northern Territory and spread faith in the Divine to every corner of the Northern Territory.

With this thought, the store owner, having finished organizing the shelves, remembered that he had yet to pray to the Divine today, so he put down the cloth in his hand and turned to the back of the store.

The back of the store was a somewhat cramped space, which the owner had converted into a kind of temporary small warehouse. After all, their store didn’t stock much, so a large warehouse wasn’t needed.

In a corner of this cramped space, the store owner had made a secret compartment, usually hidden by crates. Whenever he needed to pray to the Divine he believed in, he would, as he was doing now, move the crates aside and then pray.

But today seemed to have some surprises. Before he could open the secret compartment, he heard someone shouting from outside, "Is the owner in?"

Upon hearing the shout, the owner hurriedly moved the crates back to their original place to cover the secret compartment and randomly picked up a piece of merchandise before walking out.

"Coming, coming! Sorry, I was moving goods, didn’t know what you needed?" The store owner came to the front of the store, and his eyes immediately tightened.

He saw a Judge from the church, along with a chief from the police station, and a Knight draped in a White Wolf fur cloak all standing in his store.

Behind them, a whole team of Knights equipped with Steam Knight armor stood outside the store, seemingly blocking the store in a surrounding formation.

This made the store owner’s scalp tingle; this was obviously not a stance for checking smuggling.

Could it be that his worship of the Divine and the spreading of the sect’s faith had been exposed? As soon as this thought popped into his mind, the store owner’s flesh tightened.

But he still maintained a facade of calm, asking in a half-real, half-feigned panic, "My lords, has my small store committed a crime? Why need such a grand array?"

Looking at the store owner, the Judge gazed at him with an amused expression, a mocking smile on his lips, and said, "Don’t you know what crime you’ve committed?"

Hearing this, the store owner felt a pang in his heart but still held his ground, saying, "The Judge must be joking, at most, my store has brought in some things it shouldn’t have, but it doesn’t warrant such esteemed presence!"

Upon hearing this, the chief at the side couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat, snorting coldly, "So you have smuggling activities as well? It seems my work is inadequate! That such a thing could happen right under my nose. If it weren’t for a tip-off, I’d have been put in trouble by you!"

Thinking of this, the chief felt even more crushed inside.

He was merely a small chief at the police station, responsible for patrolling the security of a street, with nothing much otherwise.

If it were just someone in his managed area smuggling without him noticing, it wasn’t a big issue, at most considered lax supervision, and he’d get scolded a few times, and it would be over.

But today was different, as the Judge and the White Wolf Knight had come together, demanding a joint operation, claiming that there were signs of Evil God Sect activities in his managed area, making the chief’s back wet with sweat.

Who didn’t know what kind of monstrosity the Evil God Sect was? Its appearance in his district was a matter of life and death!

If something really went wrong, even his position as a chief would be inconsequential! In the chaos, a stray bullet could end his life easily.

Let alone after-the-fact accountability, as a key frontline figure, he’d likely be the first scapegoat.

So, at this moment, the chief was both fearful and filled with hatred toward the store owner.

It made him so agitated; he wished he could draw his gun and shoot this bastard.

Yet the store owner still wanted to argue, opening his mouth to say, "Wronged! My store really has just brought in some improper goods, nothing else! Really nothing else! Please trust me, my lord..."

"Enough! Whether you’re wronged or not, a search will tell!" The chief shouted decisively, cutting off the other’s explanation, and took out a search warrant from his body, slapping it onto the store owner’s face, "Search warrant, don’t say I unlawfully entered! You there, search the place for me!"

Outside the store, the police, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed in, followed by a scene of rifling through boxes and cabinets.

The shelves the store owner had just organized were turned chaotic, with some things even thrown to the ground, making the store owner heart-achingly shout.

But he quickly fell silent, for the chief had indeed drawn a pistol, pressing it against his head.

Then, amidst his tense and aggrieved expression, along with hidden guilt, he watched as the police rushed into the back of the store.

This made his heart leap to his throat; if the compartment and the statue of the Divine were discovered, he would have no way to explain! His own death was minor, but compromising the sect’s significant matter was a major sin.

Yet before he could think of a solution, he heard a policeman who’d rushed in shout, "Found something!"