The attack in the banquet hall came swiftly, unexpectedly, and ended just as abruptly.
The Plague Demons, along with the rotting dragons above, turned ethereal and weak within a short period of time, ultimately either annihilated or banished back to the abyssal hell.
However, the survivors were still shaken to the core.
With eyes closed, people could still recall the revolting sight of the Plague Demons and the fear they brought.
Undoubtedly, the ordeal would leave an indelible psychological scar in the minds of many of the elite.
Yet aside from that, an actual tally of the day's specifics would reveal that the casualties from this brief and unexpected demon attack were quite limited.
Firstly, the duration was too short, and secondly, the most threatening rotting dragon, at the outset of the ambush, had its corrupt breath blocked by Gu Hang, "Savior of Tianma," with his powerful Spiritual Energy.
This so-called "Savior of Tianma" is a title that came about who knows how after the incident and rapidly became popular.
Beyond leaving a deep psychological shadow on the attendees, that banquet also left the memory of Gu Hang's heroic figure.
Who would have thought that there could be such a heroic figure in the Tianma Star Sector?
After the incident, the stream of visitors wanting to thank Gu Hang was endless, but they were all refused entry.
The official explanation was that Gu Hang had suffered severe mental trauma while combating the rotting dragon and needed time to rest, making it inconvenient to receive visitors.
Of course, Gu Hang did meet with some people, such as head figures like Pei Desi, sparing some time to see them with his mother.
Their arrival, however, was not just for the simple purpose of expressing thanks.
The main concern was about Galaraldo.
The loss of life in the banquet hall was minimal, but the most exalted War Apostle had gone missing!
Right before everyone's eyes, he was completely engulfed by the Plague Demons. Even though the hero Gu Hang immediately reached out to help, eliminating the demons surrounding the War Apostle, there was no sign of the Apostle there anymore.
This was a grave matter!
As soon as the attack was over and the abyssal demons had been exterminated or banished, related personnel immediately launched an all-out search.
Mortal soldiers mobilized everywhere under the direction of various officials. By now, the search had extended even to the middle and lower districts of Mingyan City.
Many knew that such actions were futile. Galaraldo had vanished in full view, what could they find by running to the lower districts? Not to mention, Mingyan City is a vast Nest Capital of three billion people. The upper and middle districts still maintain some order, but in the lower districts, the government's control is so weak it's practically impossible to search.
However, this isn't a question of ability or fact, but rather a matter of attitude.
If you lose someone and then don't search for them, isn't that unacceptable?
That's definitely unthinkable.
Even knowing it's unlikely to find anything, you still have to invest a lot of manpower and resources in the search, praying for a miracle, and more importantly, hoping to bear less of the blame when it's time for accountability.
The real work was being carried out by the Church forces, especially the Battle Nuns of Saint Lily.
They didn't waste time on fruitless efforts, but instead conducted their investigation right at the epicenter where the incident had erupted and where the Plague Demons had appeared in the greatest numbers.
The investigation concerned supernatural forces.
The Priests of the Church, the Nuns of Saint Lily, now had several theories but had hit a bottleneck in their investigation. They urgently needed the help of a powerful Spiritual Energy user to confirm which of their theories, if any, were correct.
And while there were Spiritual Energy users on Korolya III, the local Psychic Cultivator's Association...
was simply too subpar. The strongest among them were a few C-level Spiritual Energy users, who bragged around normally, even being called grand wizards. In fact, the construction of the Psychic Cultivator's Association throughout the entire Dragonhawk Star Domain was deficient; the Tianma Star Sector was still among the better ones.
These fellows were also called out to join the investigation, but clearly, they were not much help. The C-level Spiritual Energy users were, at best, around the initial level 4 of Spiritual Energy that Gu Hang once had.
There was no choice but to turn to Gu Hang.
Upon consideration, Gu Hang agreed.
To go and see what they had uncovered.
Although Gu Hang didn't believe they would discover anything significant.
After inviting Gu Hang, Pei Desi and Akuna did not leave but started making small talk with Miss Wang Qi in front of Gu Hang, seemingly in no hurry to press Gu Hang into work.
Gu Hang, pale and appearing gravely injured, overheard and understood perfectly what these two significant figures of the Tianma Star Sector were thinking.
Beyond any potential instigators or perpetrators, the two of them were ultimately responsible for this incident.
As for the "perpetrator," well, that goes without saying.
For Pei Desi and Akuna, the disappearance of a person within their jurisdiction was the gravest of offenses.
It was obviously unrealistic to expect the person in charge of security at the banquet hall to take the fall. That was just some small fry who couldn't withstand the empire's fury.
In fact, neither could they.
They would certainly be held accountable, and the charges could be extremely severe.
They were both aware of this, yet they could not just sit back and await their doom.