Herag first resolved the defense structure of the Witch Array, severing its connection with other parts to prevent accidental triggers of the defensive function.

Afterward, the connection between the Magic Lock and the Witch Array was also cut, so even smashing the Magic Lock wouldn't activate the Witch Array.

However, Herag didn't rush to open the Magic Lock. To be cautious, he continued to decipher the Witch Array.

Finally, there was the core of the Witch Array, mainly comprising defense, monitoring, detection, and self-destruction functions.

Handling it was the most troublesome. Herag patiently deciphered structure by structure, disabling every sub-function of the Witch Array until they became ineffective.

In Herag's perception, the entire process seemed somewhat long.

He spent about half an hour to fully decipher the Witch Array.

With a click, the Magic Lock automatically opened.

Herag gently pushed the door, and it opened without any anomalies.

The process of deciphering the Witch Array required extreme patience and precision; there could be no mistakes at all.

Herag had a wealth of experience in Magic Potion Refining, having been thoroughly trained, and his mindset was very stable.

"Well done!" Pries patted Herag's shoulder, expressing his appreciation.

Pries went into the house first, followed closely by Herag.

The interior of the house was simple and unadorned, without much clutter.

A table and a wooden sculpture — that was all.

On the table was only a relatively large wooden sculpture; the small carved wooden sculptures had been given to Luqi.

This remaining one was used by Max for worshipping Gods, and judging by the carving marks, it was not recent — it had been some time.

Pries picked up the large wooden sculpture from the table, flipped it over to inspect it, then put it away, planning to study it slowly.

The two searched and checked the house several times carefully but found nothing else of value.

Herag even used Shenlan's environmental detection to check again but found no clues.

It seemed Max was very cautious, placing nothing here besides this large wooden sculpture.

More detailed information would only be known after interrogating Max's soul.

After confirming there were no issues with the attic, Pries instructed his subordinates outside to conduct a thorough search of the entire three-story building.

Every place here, every item would be controlled and examined with various methods.

The Wizard Organization of the Land of Dawn was extremely cautious when dealing with Abyssal Cultists, leaving nothing to chance.

After instructing a few matters here, Pries hurried back to City Hall to prepare to interrogate Max.

Herag continued to stay at Max's residence, assisting in the search and inventory of all items in the house.

...

Three days later.

In his office at City Hall, Pries spoke to Herag while holding a document: "Herag, you've made quite an achievement this time. Based on the final evaluation, you can earn two hundred sixty Contribution Points."

"That much? Looks like I've struck it lucky, going out for a drink on the street and encountering such good fortune," Herag said with a smile.

Over these three days, Pries and his team conducted rigorous interrogations of Max's soul and Luqi, uncovering a lot of information.

It's surprising what they found after digging.

Besides the wooden sculptures scattered by Luqi through beggars, many of the wooden sculptures sold in Max's sculpture shop contained hidden small demons from the Abyss Plane.

Like insects and beetles.

Though these small demons from the Abyss Plane couldn't directly turn ordinary people into Abyssal Cultists, they subtly magnified people's inner desires.

Desires such as greed, lust, or a craving for power — most people have various kinds of desires.

Max's wooden sculptures amplified these inner desires.

Once someone's inner desire reached a certain level, the Evil God from the Abyss Plane would attempt to contact them, beginning to tempt and allure.

Under normal circumstances, ordinary people couldn't resist such allure, thus becoming Abyssal Cultists.

They would start serving the Evil God from the Abyss Plane, just like Luqi, sinking deeper and deeper.

The process of capturing Max and Luqi went smoothly, with Pries and his team apprehending them with little effort.

Those things were simple because both Max and Luqi were relatively weak.

The troublesome part was the subsequent handling.

According to the intelligence gathered through interrogation, Max started making wooden sculptures containing Abyssal Demons about two years ago.

It's unknown how many pieces were sold over these two years; many have even spread beyond Serlandir to various places in the Land of Dawn.

Pries discovered during the interrogation that Max himself was quite complex.

He seemed to have anticipated being captured one day, so he had already cut out many crucial memories long ago.

Max's memory consisted mainly of routine daily life.

Once it involved crucial information, it was blank, completely untraceable.

Pries sensed that something was off — Max was very likely just a small figure.

Behind him, there must be bigger fish hidden.

Otherwise, Max wouldn't use such means to erase his own memories.

Being able to go to such lengths only indicated that the person behind Max was very unusual.

Pries felt a headache coming on just thinking about recovering those wooden sculptures — it was a troublesome task.

No shipping records were found in Max's shop; he never recorded such information.

Now, they can only issue an announcement, telling everyone that Max's wooden sculptures have issues, and asking them to immediately hand over any in their possession to the City Halls in various cities of Serlandir.

The announcement's effectiveness wasn't very good; only a few people submitted their wooden sculptures.

Those submitted were mostly recently acquired through various means, not yet heavily influenced, and hadn't turned into Abyssal Cultists.

However, compared to the number of wooden sculptures Max sold over two years, the submitted quantity was pitifully small.

In the seemingly calm city, it's unknown how many people have been influenced by the wooden sculptures sold by Max, hence becoming members of the Abyssal Cultists.

Pries has been extremely busy lately, instructing subordinates to use various means to determine who had bought Max's wooden sculptures.

If anyone was found to have bought them without submitting, they would be thoroughly investigated.

It's an extraordinarily large workload; even Wizards are finding their energy somewhat lacking.

Due to the large number of individuals involved, and because many buyers used the sculptures as gifts or for trades, tracing them is very troublesome, consuming a huge amount of manpower, resources, and time.

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