In just half a year's time, the atmosphere in Rino City gradually began to grow tense.
According to information provided by Carl, it seemed like Holy Lord City—located thousands of miles away from Rino City—was experiencing some major problems.
It was normal for Holy Lord City to have major problems. Given its management environment and the scale of werewolves when Norton left, it would be abnormal if problems didn't occur.
However, what Norton didn't expect was that Holy Lord City's Church would be so incompetent that they could actually let all problems escalate completely.
The atmosphere in Rino City seemed to be growing increasingly tense day by day.
While Holy Lord City's major problems seemed unrelated to Rino City, according to observations by Rino City's Church, they discovered that recently there seemed to be more and more werewolves outside Rino City. There had even been numerous incidents of werewolf attacks on villages outside Rino City.
This put Rino City's Church on high alert. Squads of Church Knights patrolled back and forth outside Rino City several times daily, working around the clock without stopping.
The most immediate manifestation within the city was the skyrocketing price of food. Shipping rates within the city also increased significantly, and there were certain restrictions on civilians going outside the city gates. Teams of missionaries in white robes rushed about the city daily, appearing exceptionally busy.
"Mr. Norton, you should hide in my house! My father says the werewolves might possibly launch an attack on Rino City. They'll probably implement a full city lockdown when that happens."
Norton crouched at the still-familiar intersection, but the familiar scene of crowds gathering by the roadside hadn't appeared for some time.No one knew when news of the werewolves had spread throughout Rino City, making all the citizens extremely fearful for their safety.
Even Carl hadn't appeared for two or three weeks.
But today he finally showed up.
Carl was already ten years old, almost eleven soon. Compared to three years ago, he had grown considerably taller and his thinking had matured significantly.
However, Norton's influence on his mindset had been profound. To this day, he already had five girlfriends, and he intended to keep every single one of them!
Norton originally thought that under his influence, this kid would definitely grow into a complete scoundrel.
Unexpectedly, aside from being a bit promiscuous, his personality and thinking were surprisingly quite good, very much in Norton's own style.
"Mr. Norton, you should hide in my house! My father says the werewolves might possibly launch an attack on Rino City. They'll probably implement a full city lockdown when that happens."
Norton didn't expect him to still find time to come looking for himself during such circumstances, but he couldn't deny that Carl genuinely warmed his heart a little at this moment.
Allowing a beggar wrapped entirely in rags—someone whose eyes had never even been seen from beginning to end—to enter his home for protection from danger was enough to show that Carl truly had some feelings for him.
It made Norton's effort of building a microbial wall for Carl's kindness feel worthwhile.
"No, Carl. Trusting someone so easily isn't the way to survive. That applies to you, and to me as well." Norton unusually spoke a long sentence today.
"But the werewolves might get in! Mr. Norton."
"No, I believe the great Church will become our strongest barrier!"
Norton's voice was filled with pious conviction.
He planned to pack his things and set sail again tonight.
Of course, this wasn't to escape the so-called werewolves, but because as an immortal being, a natural wanderer, he Norton was meant to roam the world.
Carl returned somewhat sadly.
And Norton also jogged back to the top floor of his clock tower.
"These damn werewolves are insane! Why do they keep relentlessly pursuing me?" Norton felt his head was about to explode.
He knew he had some inexplicable attraction to werewolves, but he never expected it to be this powerful.
Not only did they follow him from Holy Lord City to Rino City, but now they actually wanted to gather forces again and launch an attack on Rino City, fearless of death, just to get to him.
What exactly did he have on him?
Norton felt there was a huge mystery about himself!
Or rather, there was a huge mystery about the vampire species itself.
So should he leave or not?
Norton stood on the towering clock tower looking out at the distant city walls. With his vision, he could clearly see the lit torches on the walls and the constantly patrolling Church Knights.
Though he hated to admit it, Norton genuinely felt the Church provided him with a certain sense of security at this moment.
If he left now, he would definitely attract all the werewolves away, plunging himself into dangerous escape.
So why should he leave?
The Church hadn't even deployed those Golden Saints yet. He could completely rely on the Church's power to continue lying low in this city.
If these werewolves were actually powerful enough to defeat the Church, even better—Norton could take the opportunity to sneak into the church and search for books about his vampire kind.
As for the many innocent poor people being hunted by the werewolves he attracted...
"Whew! If I don't look, it won't bother me." Norton was almost moved by his own kindness.
"But the werewolves might get in! Mr. Norton."
"Ah, with long sighs I conceal my tears, grieving for the people's many hardships..."
His continuous sighs caused the five bats in the room to make some noises.
"Chirp chirp chirp..." The five bats hung upside down from the clock tower's ceiling, looking confusedly at Norton who stood below sighing deeply, feeling that this fellow vampire who never went out hunting was somewhat unreasonable.
Norton had a little conscience, but not much.
Although he said that not looking at Rino City's suffering would not violate his conscience, he still stood daily at the clock tower's edge observing, or went out at night trying to hunt werewolves.
Staying in Rino City was for himself; hunting werewolves was to alleviate the guilt in his heart.
Perhaps given more time, Norton's mindset would gradually become hard as iron. But at least for now, he didn't want to lose his soul. (The basis for this thinking was Norton's belief that these werewolves were lured here by himself.)
To this day, Norton had roughly guessed the reason why the Church, or those Golden Saints, could locate him. It was likely because he had been exposed to God's holiness (the portrait's illumination), which allowed the Golden Saints—who were clearly connected to God—to track his location through God's aura.
This world clearly had a so-called God, because the Church's books perfectly corresponded with reality. Therefore, the creation of those biological weapons was likely also related to the so-called God.
From this perspective, the Church's research on God had clearly progressed quite deeply, even forming their own complete theoretical system. This was also why they could systematically cultivate those Golden Saints.
This also explained why during this period living in Rino City and his recent outings, these Church Knights had shown no reaction at all.
Based on the scents he detected in the air, the number of werewolves had indeed increased. However, these scent traces were extremely scattered.
These werewolves didn't seem to be watching Rino City, but rather just passing through. Moreover, the scent concentration was extremely high—even though much had been dispersed by the wind, the dog-like foul odor of the werewolves still lingered persistently, even to the point of being choking.
Furthermore, these werewolves didn't come from the direction of Holy Lord City, but from other directions, heading toward Holy Lord City, merely passing through Rino City!
This discovery immediately eliminated Norton's sense of guilt.
He no longer went up to the clock tower every night to watch.
Damn it, if it's not caused by me, then of course I won't care!