Greycastle, Neverwinter City.
Everyone in the Police Department was bustling about, delivering orders and reporting on cases in a constant stream. The appearance of the Red Moon had become the hottest topic in the past few days, turning the entire organization into a beehive of activity.
As the new royal capital of Greycastle and the residence of His Majesty Roland, the police department had to investigate and record even the slightest disturbance in the city, let alone major incidents involving simultaneous fires and explosions.
Carter Lannis had been awake for almost two days and nights. After comforting his frightened wife that day, he threw himself wholeheartedly into his work—protecting His Majesty's safety was always the Chief Knight's top priority, and he would not tolerate anyone causing trouble here. Based on past experience, simultaneous incidents in multiple locations were invariably the work of a gang, so he immediately invited the Neverwinter Detective Team to assist the police department in the investigation. Carter believed that as long as they meticulously investigated, they would soon bring the conspirators to justice.
However, after submitting a pile of reports, the higher-ups formed a joint investigation team composed of the Witch Union, the Kingdom Security Bureau, and the Administrative Hall Police Department, focusing not on the accidents or crimes in the city, but on the new magic shadow as the primary subject of investigation.
"Sir, the witnesses have been brought in," a knight whispered in his ear. "Do you want to begin the questioning?"
Carter put aside his distracting thoughts, drained his cup of strong tea in one gulp, and nodded. "Begin, and please invite the others in as well."
"Yes."
Since it was not an interrogation of criminals, the questioning was conducted in a temporarily cleared-out office to consider the other party's feelings. In addition to him, the main members of the joint investigation team included Ms. Agatha and the Deputy Director of the Security Bureau, Wade.
The first witness brought into the room was a waitress from a hotel, twenty-one years old, a non-formal resident, with no criminal record.
She looked somewhat nervous, fidgeting in her seat, wringing her hands.
Carter glanced at the information in his hand and asked in a deep voice, "Linglong xiaojie, correct? I understand that tickets for the premiere of 'Dust of Annihilation' cost as much as fifty gold dragons. Where did you get such a large sum of money?"
"Sir, I certainly didn't steal or rob it!" the woman quickly defended herself. "Mr. Victor, the guest I was taking care of, is quite wealthy. He paid for me. Many people in the Administrative Hall noticed it on the day I bought the ticket. I swear I'm not lying!"
He had already sent people to investigate these preliminary details, but asking once again was just to increase the invisible pressure, making it difficult for the other party to lie easily, especially since Nightingale xiaojie was not present. "Victor, is it? We'll verify that with him later. Now let's talk about what you saw at the end of the magic shadow."
"Yes..." The waitress's voice trembled slightly. "At the time, I didn't quite understand what was happening. It was as if those illusions had become real..."
She didn't stop narrating until fifteen minutes later. "Fortunately, the pursuers were repelled by the police, or I can't imagine what would have happened to those two people."
Carter frowned. He had also seen the magic shadow, "The Bond of the Wolf Heart", and while it was thrilling, it wasn't exaggerated to this extent.
"Are you sure the pursuers' weapons injured the audience?"
"I... I'm not sure, but Mr. Victor's face was definitely bleeding, and the screams of the other injured people didn't sound like they were faking..."
"Do you remember when this change occurred?"
"About ten minutes before the end? Or longer... I'm sorry, I was too scared at the time and was almost always hiding in Mr. Victor's arms."
"Do any of you have any questions to ask?" Carter looked at the other two.
Agatha pondered for a moment. "If I understand correctly, the characters in the magic shadow spoke to you?" She picked up a photo. "Is this the person?"
The photo was of the male actor from the Star Flower Troupe, who played the witch guardian in the play.
"That's right, it's him. I remember it very clearly. He even thanked us!"
Carter couldn't help but get goosebumps. He naturally knew that once a magic shadow was filmed, it was impossible to change its content, let alone have it converse on its own.
Seeing that the two of them didn't speak again, he waved his hand to his subordinates. "Bring in the next one."
The testimonies of the subsequent witnesses were much the same. In short, everything in the magic shadow seemed to come to life. Although it was later confirmed to be a false alarm, it had actually happened at the time. The mutual corroboration of the testimonies meant that it was not caused by individual illusions.
Because Carter had focused on the fires and explosions in the past few days, he hadn't paid much attention to the reports of the chaos at the theater. Now he vaguely understood why the higher-ups were more concerned about this matter.
"The next witness is the police officer who was responsible for maintaining order in the courtyard at the time, the squad leader of the Second Team."
"Let him in."
This captain was obviously much calmer and quickly recounted the course of events. "I first heard cries and shouts for help coming from outside. When I planned to go out to investigate, I noticed that a red moon had appeared in the sky at some point. To be honest, I hesitated at the time, unsure whether I should stay at my post or help those who were calling for help. At this time, a witch ran out of the back door of the screening room. She demanded that I immediately take my men inside to protect all the viewers."
"And then you shot and repelled the pursuers from the magic shadow?"
"Although it sounds a bit strange, that's exactly what happened—they may have just been actors, but at the time they had posed a real threat to the audience. Plus, I always thought these were just illusions, so I didn't hesitate."
The second-to-last person to be questioned was Dusk, the witch who played the magic shadow at the time.
"What could I do? I was desperate too. Originally, activating the Time Seal was a job for whoever had excess magic power. Who knew this kind of problem would occur?" She grumbled incessantly as soon as she entered the door. "It was playing fine, and suddenly the seal squeezed me out of the vision. According to the emergency situation, I should have immediately stopped the magic power input, but it didn't stop at all. I wanted to wake up the audience, but pushing them didn't get any reaction, as if they had taken a seed of peaceful sleep. In short, I did my best, and after thinking about it, I could only ask the guards for help."
Agatha twitched her lips. "The seal... squeezed you out?"
"Probably. At the time, I did feel a repulsive force coming from it, as if enough magic power had been poured in, and it was starting to overflow, and then the vision returned to normal."
"Okay, next."
When the last person walked into the office, Carter couldn't help but be slightly stunned. It was actually Kakin Fees, the writer of this drama himself.
As soon as he sat down, he clenched his fists excitedly.
"Gods, this is definitely the most wonderful drama I have ever seen in my personal career!"
"You were also at the theater at the time?" Carter frowned. Because the other party had had a dispute with his wife, he had always been quite resistant to this drama master. "I checked the list of the first batch of viewers, and your name wasn't on it."
"He was backstage at the time. It was a special arrangement—in fact, members of the Star Flower Troupe don't need to buy tickets when they want to watch their own magic shadow performances. Didn't your wife mention that to you?" The Ice Witch replied for Kakin. "In fact, it was his report that made His Majesty pay attention to this matter and send the Witch Union to intervene in the investigation."
"I apologize. It's just a personal habit of mine," Kakin said apologetically, clutching his chest. "Whenever I write a script, I always like to watch it with everyone without revealing my identity in order to feel the most direct reaction from each viewer. Ms. Mei probably knew this, so she didn't tell you in advance." He became excited again as he said this. "I have to say that this magic shadow is definitely a miracle in the history of drama—because the audience rewrote its ending!"
"What did you say?" Carter asked in surprise.
"You heard right, Knight, my script wasn't written like this!" Kakin Fees gesticulated wildly. "In the original story, it was a sad ending. In order to protect the person he loved, the guardian attracted the attention of all the pursuers and eventually fell off a cliff, leaving the witch alone. But I didn't expect the two of them to be saved by the audience, allowing them to survive together. Is there anything better than this?"
The Chief Knight was dumbfounded.
"Those lines weren't written by me either. They completed this memorable passage themselves. As the actor said, the audience not only saved them, but also changed their fate!" Kakin couldn't help but exclaim loudly, "This is the ultimate drama I've been pursuing all along. If you can find the reason, please be sure to tell me! I beg you!"