Steel steam and flame

These words did not make Croni feel much at ease. The only thing that he felt he could not worry about was probably Patrick's strength. He is much better than himself, and no one who can take part in the assessment will be inferior. Before the knight squire assessment started, their group had gone through a selection in advance, and the last group of people were qualified to participate.

Croney was not included in this list and was rejected during the final screening. He heard all the information about the knight squire assessment from people who had participated in the assessment. He knew the strength of those ferocious creatures, so he had a rough idea of ​​Patrick's strength.

During the nearly two-hour journey, Croni continued to explain the situation of the mercenaries and bounty hunters. Several of them made key introductions, and it was explained that the king's forces would send reinforcements.

"Mechanized transformation? It is indeed a rare method of improving strength. It is probably only the countries in this area that use this method." After listening, Patrick said. The person next to him interjected, "In this case, you should be careful not to have too much physical contact with them in close combat. Compared with the alloy, the strength of the body is much weaker. In terms of coping methods, it depends on your captain. mean."

"We need to leave someone behind for interrogation. Our separate mission is related to the king's power."

"Okay, after we pass, I will immediately prepare the corresponding biological agents. Croni just said that the surgeons here have almost never carried out surgical development projects, so I think there are probably some basic surgical capabilities. The flaw is. I have an idea of ​​what kind of medicine needs to be used, and it may have a good effect."

The limousine arrived at Ockham's temporary base soon after.

The temporary base is just opposite the stronghold of Finia and others. It is also a residential building with the same number of floors, which is very convenient for observation. Patrick said a few words politely to Occam and Janet, then went to the window, opened the curtain a little, and took a look on the other side. In his perception, a dozen basic human-shaped heat sources, either moving or still, all appeared in Patrick's head at this moment.

"You said that starting tonight, reinforcements from the other side may come at any time?" Patrick returned to the table in the living room, where there was a map. The positions of Finia and others were surrounded by more than thirty red dots in the center. , "These red dots are the people hiding, right? If so, let them evacuate back immediately."

Seeing the confused looks on several people's faces, Patrick explained: "Since you want to catch bigger prey, you have to be willing to put out a longer line and put out more attractive bait. Don't worry about the bait escaping. Ronnie has already told me the general strength of the mercenaries on the other side, and I can guarantee that none of them can escape. This kind of measure is just to deal with possible imperial surgeons on the enemy side."

Occam and Janet looked at each other before nodding to each other. The order to retreat was quickly transmitted via radio signal, and within a few minutes, all personnel were evacuated.

"It's a bit difficult to find a way to intercept the other party's radio signal, but if the other party is not fortified, it will be much easier. Besides, they don't know that we are nearby, so they won't be so vigilant." Patrick said to the four people he brought , "We need to expedite the preparation of the potion. Som, you and I will wait and walk around the building opposite to feel the environment. Cloney, Mr. Ockham, and Miss Janet, I still leave the observation to you. .”

When several people gathered in the living room again, it was already eleven o'clock in the evening. Patrick said he went out to check out the situation in the building opposite, but in fact he walked around the entire gathering place before coming back. So far, there are no signs of reinforcements. The potion was debugged in a few hours. The radio signal cannot be said to be completely intercepted, but some words can also be heard in the other party's communication.

From evening to now, the other party has only communicated with other people twice. No valid information was obtained, just useless information asking for help to bring something specific. Doing his own thing calmly, Patrick asked Som and Croni to take turns monitoring the opposite side with temperature sensing, and then began to wait.

During this period, he was also checking the information provided to him by Occam. The above description of the opponent's imperial surgeon was much more detailed. At about three o'clock in the morning, a communication came from the main army.

"Sir MacDonald." Patrick greeted politely, "We have only been here for a few hours. It takes time to investigate who is the subordinate of the other party."

"Okay, remember to be careful. You know, this is no longer inside the empire, and the support will not be convenient. In addition, according to the clues disclosed by the unknown person, I already have the doctor who helped Charlotte perform plastic surgery. General information, I think you can start work there soon. Before that, you'd better do your best to solve the problems in Croni's hands. I don't want you to be held back by other things by then. If possible, wait until Now that the clues are clear, I will take someone to your side."

After the communication was disconnected, Patrick routinely asked about the situation in the opposite room. Nothing out of the ordinary, was the answer from Som and Crony.

This state lasted until the afternoon of the next day. At that time, Som was continuously observing. On the temperature display, a person whose temperature was slightly different from that of ordinary people walked into the opposite floor. The observer nearby said it was an ordinary male, probably a permanent resident here.

First, he went straight to the tenth floor and stayed there for half an hour. Temperature sensing showed that he was just standing in the corridor and did not do anything else. When the man came down, he walked out of the elevator on the third floor and passed by the door of the group of mercenaries. Then he left directly.

This situation was informed to Patrick and Occam midway through. When the man left here, one of the four people brought by Occam and Patrick had already followed the man.

,,,,,,

"They say they want us to continue to confirm the information on the map." Harrington said, holding the information that was left at the door just now. "The support has arrived, but we can't gather immediately yet. We want the two of us to meet with us first to help with the investigation. It's about something. If you need weapon support, you can go here and have a look." After saying that, Harrington unfolded the two maps in the information. One was the mine terrain map with updated information, with many red circles drawn on it. And with detailed notes. The other map is a map of concentrated towns. A repair shop is circled, and all the equipment and resources that come over are there.

"The two people we met are in the repair shop. They said there is still some information that we need to meet before they can tell us." Harrington continued his words, "Then it's decided tonight. Half of the people will go there and half will people stay here.”

Fenia sat in the living room, not knowing what to do. Harrington and others left in the afternoon. At this moment, it was a gray night outside, and bright or dim lights were lit everywhere. She wanted to organize the investigation information to be sent to the client, but suddenly she was not in the mood. What Harrington said during the day, "Continue to determine the information on the map," was always in my mind.

This means that in the next few days, they will go to the old mining area again. There was resistance in Fenit's heart, and the situation that night had a great impact on her. It might as well be said that it was a psychological shadow that could not be eliminated for the time being.

Already a little scared. Finia has already approached her brother Gers in the past few days and asked tactfully whether to give up the commission. Everyone has personally experienced the dangers encountered during the first exploration, and subsequent actions will only become more difficult. The 50 million bounty is indeed difficult to match.

Finia didn't know if Gers heard her intention, but after all, she still didn't respond in the past few days. At this time, Finia sighed and stood up to pour a glass of water. At the same time, there was a clear knock on the door of the room. The knocking on the door with no fixed frequency made those who stayed in the house instantly alert. After picking up the weapon in a short time and finding cover, a man spoke: "Who is it?"

"Miss Finia should be inside, right? It's me, Soriato." Cassia said standing at the door.

,,,,,,

"I couldn't see the face clearly, and the light affected my vision. But judging from the temperature perception, it should be one of the few people who went out." Som finished handing over to the observer on the side and told Patrick the situation.

When there was no immediate reply, Patrick immediately asked Croney to contact the person tracking him. The next moment there was a response from the other side. Several people who went out tonight were all together. They were sorting out the equipment shipped by the king's forces in a repair shop. Occam was still following up, but Patrick still sent a message to his people, and the answer he got was that the people were not missing, but it seemed that he knew someone would be following him, but he didn't know where the person was. He could only try to get rid of the two of them by walking aimlessly in circles.

"I understand." Patrick hung up the communication and activated the temperature sensor. The temperature was pretty much the same as a few others, nothing special about it.

"Captain, how about..." Som suggested from the side at this time, "There are only seven people from the other party including this man. I promise to bring them to see you within two minutes."

"There will be a chance for you to perform soon, but not at this moment. The other party's support has already arrived, but they adopted this converging method, which shows that they are very vigilant and probably know something. They did not know the positions of all the support personnel beforehand. Don’t attack them. This man may be an empire surgeon. He will come here, which is very consistent with the time of support. Just like we came to help Croni."

"Cronny, you choose someone to go..." Patrick stopped mid-sentence, "Forget it, I think it's better for you to follow him yourself. If this man leaves, you just follow him and see if you can Get what you get.”

Croni nodded in response.

At the same time, Cassia sat in the living room under the unwelcome gazes, ignoring these gazes. He glanced at the opposite side through the thick curtain in front of him and smiled. "The other side is probably looking at him in some way." He thought. Seeing Finia looking at her, Cassia nodded slightly and asked Harrington how soon they would be back.

"Not sure." Finia thought for a while and said, "Mr. Soriato, how did you find us?" This was also a question raised by several other people in the living room. Cassia shrugged her shoulders, "I said, I am also a member of the king's force. Just ask your client for this kind of information. It's just that you don't want to believe it."

Knowing this could not dispel the doubts in these people's minds, and Cassia did not want to say more. He came tonight just to see the reinforcements sent by the king's forces and to talk to their captain. Just looking at the situation in the living room, it seems that the idea is not easy to realize. But a good thing is that at least it shows that the information released by Waters was indeed accepted by the officials of the king's power and aroused their vigilance.

But the king's forces are moving very slowly, and when it comes to internal war, there is indeed nothing they can do about it. The map has been greatly improved by Cassia, but he knew that it would be difficult to determine this information one by one by relying on the people in front of him. So after discussing with Hessler, Cassia wanted to find their captain directly with the arrival of reinforcements, as if revisiting the places he had been to before. Cassia took the captain of the reinforcement team to confirm these one by one.

There are still mercenaries in the reinforcements, but most of them are the king's own people. Seeing it with your own eyes is faster than investigating it bit by bit now.

But the main reason for choosing this approach was that Cassia was worried about the imperial surgeons in the rebel forces. After the reinforcements from the king's forces arrive, the situation in the mining area will become increasingly intense. Cassia was afraid that the imperial surgeons among them would call for support behind them. Until now, he didn't know who the other party was or what the purpose of coming here was. I really want to catch one and inquire carefully. Although the cause can be thrown to the king's force after taking action, the impact of death will definitely not be good. Unless the king's force is sure that there will be a big move, Cassia is almost all at this moment. Sort out the relationship network between the two parties from the perspective of a bystander. If you don't interfere, just let them develop freely.

Some enemies are not necessarily worth less if they are alive than if they are dead. Moreover, Cassia can also get useful information from watching the exchanges between the two parties. Always remembering Charlotte, this is something Cassia tried her best to avoid contact with. Before completely clarifying the relationship between the two, Cassia thought that she could just be an information provider.

When Harrington and the others came back to see Cassia, they were also wary. It wasn't until Harrington contacted the reinforcements and Cassia took over the microphone and simply said "The location of the steam furnace" that Harrington was informed that Cassia's identity was not unusual. In the communication, Cassia and the captain of the reinforcement team also agreed on the time and place to meet.

After leaving Fenia and the others at one o'clock in the morning, Cassia shook off the people following her and found a nearby hotel to stay.

On the other side, Weimer, the captain of the reinforcement team, fell into deep thought after communicating. The call not long ago led him to believe that the other party was the person who had been providing them with information, including the armor, the map of the mine, and the location of the air defense base that had been passed to him through the headquarters not long ago.

But the problem remains unsolved. Why do you need to provide this information, and why do you want to help the king's forces. After thinking too much, some people regard it as a trap plan by the rebel forces. Rely on some unimportant or relatively unimportant information to cause confusion, and finally let yourself step into the trap voluntarily.

But as the map and news updated in real time, not only others, but also Wimmer began to doubt himself. Targets such as air defense bases will be used as bait. Are the rebel forces a little overconfident in their trap plans?

Maybe meeting each other tomorrow will solve the problem, Weimer thought.