The sun is high

For the residents of Salem City, the boundaries of the concept of life have been completely blurred.

Be patient, persevere, and live with difficulty in the midst of fear.

That's their goal now.

In the past, they would take to the streets every morning, rush to their workplace amidst the crisp voices of the newsboys, and start a new round of work. But now, they often only dare to leave after the sun comes up. Go out and do some activities in your own hiding place.

In order to avoid the weird, sludge-like monsters that attack through sewer pipes, many people try their best to block the pipes in their homes. They would rather dump their filth out like the city residents did long ago. Go to places like bathrooms.

No one wants to die in the most hopeless and humiliating way while resolving physical problems.

After all, this has happened many, many times.

See with your own eyes your friends, relatives, or neighbors being wrapped, melted, and devoured by that terrifying monster, and completely integrated into the dark pus and colloid. In less than two days, these people who had been devoured , and even "revisit the old place".

People will see these inhuman dark shadows following the past habits of the dead, walking onto the streets and even into buildings. They are like balls rolling on the slope, following the irresistible inertia, constantly moving forward. Scroll toward the bottom.

This scene constantly shocked all the survivors in Salem City.

If people can overcome the scarcity of living resources through taking risks, then this tragic ending has seriously damaged ordinary people's understanding of the world and their simple belief in gods.

There is no force to help them.

The Legal Committee is not good, neither is Walter and Delan, and the gods they believe in have not made any sound either.

In an old apartment, a young man with brown curly hair was sitting by the window, quietly peeping at the streets outside and the sky that had some light.

There were wounds on his face, which were left from the conflict with the Three Color Brotherhood before the revolution in Salem City.

As the leader of the Salem Mutual Assistance Group in the past, he is extremely confused now - there is no Mutual Assistance Group, and there is no Tricolor Brotherhood anymore. In the intensifying war atmosphere, this once peaceful city has been completely reduced to For the sake of his insignificant background, sometimes he would even extravagantly hope that someone could shoot two more crystal cannonballs at the city.

In his opinion, even an explosion with strong malicious intent is stronger than the dead silence that fills the city.

Even if the artillery fire itself carries the intention of destruction, it at least shows that there are still people who remember this place.

"Newspaper! Newspaper!"

On the streets, the shadows of those children are still lingering.

They have all received assistance from the Mutual Aid Group in the past, but when disaster strikes, these children who have no ability to protect themselves naturally become the first victims. The vague voices coming from those black figures are heart-wrenching. Broken, but helpless.

The light became brighter little by little, and as a result, the dark shadows walking on the streets began to change as usual. They gathered at the cracks in the ground connected to the underground waterways. The original humanoid bodies began to quickly "melt" and merge with each other. Their own kind gathered together, and after a while, these puddles of black "silt" flowed underground along the gaps. In the process, the kind that made the entire city of Salem extremely frightened. The harsh buzzing sounded again.

This is the current habit of the monster.

Hearing this sound, everyone in the city will breathe a sigh of relief, which means that they have successfully spent another day. In the next day, this monster will most likely remain silent underground. , and this will be an opportunity for everyone to obtain daily necessities and find a new way out for themselves and their families.

The young man also clenched his fists, and he could feel the coldness in his palms.

Every time they travel, they have to take huge risks, but he has no room for retreat.

He stood up, put on his old heavy windbreaker, took his empty luggage and the dagger and crystal gun he had found from an alchemy shop before, counted the remaining ammunition, and then headed towards the door. Go.

In the room, several children who had lost their parents were huddled together and fast asleep. The older girl was sitting there blankly. She did not speak, but quietly watched the young man open the door. , and eventually disappeared from his sight.

On this silent winter morning, all the survivors who were still living in Salem City instinctively began to look towards the sky.

Perhaps because of the season and weather, the sun has been rising later and later recently.

However, with the faint light of the sky, people in Salem City could already see the artillery observation balloons flying again after the big earthquake in the distant sky.

These balloons are suspended in the sky on the east and west sides respectively. Their styles are different, with graphics of the giant plateau eagle and the Iris of Teresa painted on them respectively.

"Where is our hope?"

They asked silently into the cold air.

However, no one could answer them. Those observation balloons flying in the sky were just silent eyes.

…

As the day progressed in Bolden, there was much talk of the new shelling that had occurred in the early morning hours.

Only this time, the bombardment was no longer unilateral, but was carried out by both camps at the same time.

The target of the bombardment is not the poor city of Salem, because it has no meaning at all. Through the forced mediation of Merlinle and the Legal Committee as well as multiple neutral deep sea mage towers, the Kingdom of Votel and the Kingdom of Delan have a very tacit understanding. He left the city and the assassinations that took place in it behind.

Now, except for the Bolden Daily News and some supporters of Prince Harvey who still occasionally mention the assassination incident, people have gradually begun to no longer pay attention to this matter.

While flipping through the latest newspaper, Shuge stuffed the last half piece of bread into his mouth.

He pointed to the explosions that occurred on the plain east of the rugged hills in the magic photo on the front page, and asked the guard Duden standing aside: "What is this? A courtesy bombardment?"

"Yes, even though it is like this now, everyone will still follow some traditions."

Duden nodded in response, but there was pride on his face: "Oh, the crystal cannons used by the plain guys are probably still old-fashioned, and their range is incomparable to ours... I guess those artillerymen must really want to shoot them directly The artillery shells hit their positions instead of cooperating with them to play this formal trick."

Shuge nodded in approval.

The so-called courtesy bombardment is a customary "ceremony of war" formed by the two countries after the emergence of the crystal cannon. The crystal cannon is fired and the shells are fired to the designated location. First, it is used to inform the other party. He already has the determination to fight. The second is to give the opponent threats and warnings. The third is to show his upright battlefield attitude based on aristocratic etiquette and will not launch sneak attacks or carry out large-scale artillery bombardments against the enemy's camps.

Xiuge had a hunch that this would probably be the last time "courtesy bombardment" would appear on a frontal battlefield.

When he was still in the Ernst Manor Hotel, he heard some young aristocratic officers talking about related matters in the hotel restaurant. They were very confident in the new weapons that had begun mass production. Terr's artillerymen can also see directly from the incident of shelling Salem City on the rugged frontier. These new weapons may indeed be inferior to pure magic crystal cannons in terms of bombardment power, but their range and accuracy are extremely exaggerated. Coupled with the relatively low cost, new ammunition can be directly mass-produced...

"If the Mage Council on the plateau can provide some supporting battlefield magic or secret rituals in time, then this advantage will definitely be further expanded. By that time, I am afraid that no one will really cooperate with the enemy to play such a trick."

Xiuge silently made a conclusion in his heart.

Just when he was about to ask Duden about the current situation of the Fifth Chasseur Regiment and Major Alfred, a figure appeared in the restaurant led by a servant.

This is none other than Wei Lin, who is pale and haggard.

Her very typical look of staying up late and working overtime reminded Xiuge of his past, so he hurriedly asked Weilin to sit down, picked up the teapot, and found that it contained a rich refreshing drink, so he hurriedly asked the servant to Bring me a cup of calming herbal tea.

"Miss Wei Lin, what's going on with you? Didn't the manor housekeeper arrange a place for you?"

Out of concern for his friends, Shuge asked: "And I remember, didn't your meeting end at midnight last night?"

"The big meeting is over."

Weilin's vision was a little wandering and her voice was a little hoarse. She took the herbal tea from the servant's hand, took a slow sip, and then said: "But after the big meeting, there are often many smaller meetings... …The senior council members are completely unable to unify their opinions on the association, and the attitudes of both parties are too fierce, so the debate has continued until just now...It’s just that they set the meeting location at my residence.”

"oh."

Shuge glanced at the other party sympathetically.

Although he has long been numb to overtime work in the past, he has never experienced a situation where all his "colleagues" are meeting in his own residence, not to mention that there are probably some senior "leaders" here. This must be a physical and psychological issue. double torture.

The herbal tea in the Ernst Manor is of very high quality. Probably to maximize its effectiveness, a little magic potion is added to it. Therefore, after just two sips, Weilin's look and condition have been slightly improved. .

"So, Miss Wei Lin gave her residence to them?"

"What are you thinking about?"

Wei Lin raised her eyebrows, and a strange look flashed in her eyes behind her glasses: "I came here to find you for two things... I heard from the manor's butler that Mr. Sugar, you have already obtained "Poetry of the Night" ?”

"Yes, I looked through it a little bit after I got it last night."

"how do you feel?"

As soon as she mentioned "Poetry of the Night", energy came out of Wei Lin's body out of thin air. Her face was still a little pale, but the moment she asked the question, her whole temperament had changed, which made Jing Jing Duden, the guard standing next to Xiuge, couldn't help but shudder.

He had heard before that the female mages in the Legal Committee were not normal people. No matter what they looked like, they should not be messed with.

He is convinced of this now and sympathizes with Shuge from the bottom of his heart.

"Read it, but it's better not to read it."

Shuge was already accustomed to Weilin's excitement when facing academic problems. He shrugged calmly: "I really have no way to judge whether it really hides any magical secrets, but I can be sure. , that mad poet Azifu’s literary attainments must be very average.”

A trace of disdain flashed across Wei Lin's face: "Mr. Sugar, you won't compare it with the things you wrote, right?"

Shuge shrugged. After all, his loyal readers were standing beside him. Their existence proved the specialness of his written works, and there was no need for too much debate.

"Miss Weilin, just have some breakfast here. I will give you the manuscript of "Poetry of the Night" in a moment... Also, what is the second thing you said?"

"Conscription has been expanded and a nationwide mobilization is likely to follow."

Weilin nodded slightly to the servant who brought her the meal, and then summoned her mage hand. While controlling it to spread jam on her bread, she said: "It's just this round. The mobilization mainly targets two groups of people...one is adult members of the nobility who meet the requirements."

"Member of the nobility? Are you planning to replenish junior officers?"

"Probably... the promotion of new ordnance and new equipment has brought about many vacant positions that did not exist in the past, and these positions cannot be filled by ordinary soldiers. Young nobles who have received the education of family elites are currently the best candidates. "

Wei Lin took the bread from the mage's hand and continued: "Second, it is mainly aimed at spellcasters, doctors and alchemists."

"Hasn't this been done before?"

"That only shows that the previous efforts were not enough."

Wei Lin slowly swallowed a mouthful of bread, stared at Shuge and said: "Judging from the reactions of the council mages, this order may have come a bit suddenly. Maybe the kingdom has some other plans for the spellcasters who enlisted in the army. And arrangements... Mr. Shuge, the reason why I tell you this is because our identities meet these two requirements at the same time."

She picked up the teacup: "I'm afraid there won't be much time to settle down. Just be prepared to be transferred to the front line at any time."

…

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