The sun is high

Xiuge took a simple shower, and then returned to the work of the Yanhu Mine as a baron. He behaved extremely naturally, and seemed not to be nervous at all because of the "confrontation" that might come at any time. .

Of course, he couldn't be nervous.

In fact, when Tatiana landed in the mine, the mage from the Black Sun Society was already dead.

Not only him, but also his deputies and all the accompanying guards and soldiers have been completely cleaned up. The person responsible for this matter is Shuge's "number one thug" palace hound.

Since being severely reprimanded and warned by Theseus, its enthusiasm has increased at a speed visible to the naked eye. Now it is not only willing to deal with those dangerous creations that have a common origin with itself for Shuge, but also Very willing to include some cumbersome and weak targets in his hunting scope.

Unfortunately, when the palace hound saw the arrogant Black Sun Society mage, he directly put him on his hunting list. Therefore, when Shuge gave it the order to kill it, the hound did not hesitate at all. , and started taking action directly.

The hunt was short and smooth.

In less than five minutes, the team that was originally stationed in a stronghold outside Watch City was slaughtered, along with the members of the Black Sun Society who were also in the stronghold. As for the team erected in the center of the stronghold, , the Black Sun Mystery used to monitor the surrounding area was also mercilessly gnawed by the palace hounds.

The power of the hound alone was not enough to completely destroy the mystery, but through its abnormal attack method, it still succeeded in causing huge damage to the mystery sculpture, which caused it to directly stop functioning. , and attracted great attention from members of the nearby Black Sun Society.

More than an hour after leaving the Rock Lake Mine, Tatiana and three other senior members of the association who were responsible for monitoring the surrounding situation hurried to the killing scene, and the scene before them made them fall into silence at the same time.

As members of the association, they have seen many strange ways of death, but this time, their eyes were opened.

No corpse is complete - most of these dead people have been ruthlessly cut up, and most of them have lost part of their bodies. Some have lost the left or right half of their bodies, some have directly lost their heads, and some have lost their heads. It is divided into two halves from the waist or chest.

At first glance, these dead people seemed to have been attacked by some wild beasts, because only wild beasts would take away part of the dead body. However, when Tatiana and others looked carefully, they discovered that the fractures of these mutilated corpses They were all extremely flat and smooth, and they couldn't even find any scratches or teeth marks left by beasts on them, let alone other bite marks.

At the scene, they didn't even find any extra footprints. Except for some magic residue in some rooms, they couldn't even find any traces of fighting. Everything in the stronghold seemed in order. Two people had already joined the association. The officers were busy playing the Dragon Teeth card even before they died, and they continued to play the cards until death came.

After completing the inventory of all the bodies of the deceased, Tatiana and others discovered that among the deceased, the only ones missing were the previous manager of the Rock Lake Mine and his two deputies, along with all their luggage and personal belongings. They all disappeared completely.

On the Mystery of the Black Sun in the center of the stronghold, they discovered several extremely fatal gaps. It was these weird and flat scars that damaged the magic circuit in this Mystery sculpture, making it impossible to maintain operation. .

Tatiana, who has inspected the Rock Lake Mine, has confirmed that this method of damaging the secret sculptures is highly similar to the damage that occurred in the Rock Lake Mine. Many discoveries have shown that people in the mine Among them, Baron Ferlando not only did not betray the association, he even successfully dealt with the conspiracy designed by the betrayers by relying on his personal ability-not only did he not deserve to be blamed, he also deserved to be rewarded.

The only stain on Ferlando's name now was that he failed to get his battalion of shooters to the mine as scheduled.

But this kind of thing is not uncommon in the Kingdom of St. Steele today. The previous war and the coup initiated by the Black Sun Society have plunged the military system of Saint Steele into a relatively chaotic state, especially in terms of military supplies. The flight of personnel and the absence of some officials left supply warehouses in various places unattended for a period of time.

This gave those residents and refugees who were living in poverty a precious opportunity. Under the operation of a small number of "careful people" and the carving up of the people, a considerable part of important military supplies went to the civilian population and was difficult to recover.

In this case, even if St. Steele's royal guards come, they may not be able to get the corresponding supplies immediately, let alone those private soldiers and mercenaries. In order to relieve the pressure in this regard, The St. Steele royal family has even issued an order to allow these troops stationed in the border areas to obtain the supplies they deserve through some "other means".

From this point of view, Fei Orlando's last shortcoming in this incident seems to have completely disappeared.

For those magic agents and spies other than Shuge, the more important significance of this incident is that they can obtain an extremely reasonable new identity.

"During the horrific uprising by traitors and miners, the brave Baron Ferlando fought valiantly for his beliefs and his loyalty to the Black Sun."

"During the battle, almost all of Baron Ferlando's guards and entourage were killed, and his servants were also affected. Except for the head maid who survived, the rest were killed by the red-eyed miners. The poor head maid was almost frightened out of her mind. She could hardly speak and was unwilling to communicate with anyone except the baron... The baron took pity on the head maid who followed him, so he continued to serve her by his side."

In the afternoon, when the "Sharp-billed Owl" shooter battalion hurried to the Rock Lake Mine, the officers got such news from the mouths of the surviving soldiers.

They saw the baron with a wound on his face, and also saw the head maid who was cowering beside him, with a gloomy face and did not dare to say a word. She was probably frightened out of her mind. There was someone familiar with her. She tried to come forward to say hello, but she got no response at all. She kept staring at the ground blankly, ignoring the words of anyone except the Baron.

In the evening, an officer who originally belonged to the mine but now serves the baron brought back a new group of guards and servants.

Most of these people were not from the North. After explanation, everyone realized that they were originally immigrants from other kingdoms such as Votel and Delan. After the coup of the Black Sun Society, they were arrested as potential spies. After many tortures and examinations, and after confirming that there were no problems, they were sold or distributed as captives or slaves.

An officer of the Shooting Battalion expressed his opinion: "In my opinion, these people are okay as servants, but they are a bit reluctant as personal guards... Baron, I am very worried about their loyalty."

Baron Ferlando agreed with this, and he responded: "Don't worry, the only ones that can really protect my safety are the power I control, the gods I believe in, and you... As for them, they are just ordinary consumables. 'That's all."

The private soldiers who had been approved by the baron naturally moved into their new barracks with a smile, while the purchased guards and servants were sent to the baron's residence.

In this way, "Sharp-billed Owl" became the new owner of the mine.

Except for the Baron, they were very displeased with everyone here, including the soldiers who seemed to have little fighting ability - these guys basically had no military temperament. Although they were all wearing military uniforms and weapons, they looked like In their eyes, these people were temporarily recruited to fill up their ranks. In their eyes, these people could only serve as cannon fodder when a battle broke out.

…

"It's so comfortable. I finally no longer have to cover my face with that sticky layer of magic...and the damn secret ritual has disappeared. I finally don't have to suppress my magic anymore."

"It's those private soldiers that make me a little sick, tsk, I really want to find a chance to get rid of them."

Under the cover of the ceremony venue, the "servants" who entered Xiuge's residence returned to their original states one after another. Among them, several spies with backgrounds of Iris guards and sword-wielding hermits couldn't help but gear up. They were using their new identities. After entering the mine, they were all beaten, scolded and ridiculed by the "sharp-mouthed owls", which made them somewhat angry.

"Don't worry, just bear with it for a few more days... We are just taking a new step now, and there are still many things to do next."

Xiuge comforted everyone, and then asked: "It is impossible for the Black Sun Society to stop the operation of the Yanhu Mine. The output indicators of the magic crystal mine are still valid. The maximum they can give to the Yanhu Mine is how much grace. It’s just a day… just in time for us to recruit on the grounds that there is a massive shortage of miners.”

As he spoke, he looked at the "Maid" beside him: "Where are the miners? What's their situation now?"

Wei Lin, who still maintained her magic disguise, said: "The Black Sun Society is searching and patrolling the vicinity of Watch City. They have no place to go and can only hide in the abandoned tunnel... We have made some reinforcements to the tunnel. The ceremonial grounds were enough to keep them safe, and the food and water could sustain them for a few days, but they were divided internally on whether to return to the mines."

Wei Lin's words paused for a moment, and then she explained slowly: "Some of them don't want to continue taking risks. They think that the purpose of escaping from the mine is to reunite with their families and take them to escape, not for other reasons. The target takes greater risks... However, there are still many people who are willing to believe us and agree to return to the mine. The leaders of this operation, including the Hadera supervisor, all agree with such a plan."

"What did they say?"

"They believe that Watch City is more dangerous than anywhere else right now. Instead of being fatally wanted and arrested by the Black Sun Society, they might as well choose to believe in us."

After hearing this, Xiuge nodded. He came to the window and glanced in the direction of the open space of the mine from a distance.

Only he himself knows that there are still many roots of destiny active in the Yanhu Mine.

Under his instructions, these roots of destiny are continuously monitoring the soldiers who were "selected" the night before. At the same time, the roots are still exerting hints and influences on these soldiers to ensure that They will not escape from the Yanhu Mine or inform others. In this case, even if someone wants to inform others, Shuge will be able to learn about the situation and respond immediately.

Xiuge was actually very unwilling to do this kind of thing.

But he had no choice.

The plan they are implementing now is bold and fragile, and no mistakes can be made in any link. If the participants are just these people in the room, Xiuge will certainly be confident, because everyone here has enough strength and will. They are all very determined, but if the group of plan participants continues to expand, the uncontrollable factors will increase significantly.

Therefore, he must prepare sufficient insurance measures before achieving his next goal.

He sighed and said: "Those miners need to be monitored. Whether they agree to help us or not, we need to make some preparations... The ritual site or magic summons can be used, and I will also provide you with some support. In short, At the moment, we cannot let them leave at will. If they make up their minds, let me know and I will have a good chat with them."

"I see."

Wei Lin nodded calmly.

In fact, she had already prepared relevant psychological preparations and countermeasures without Xiuge's instructions at all. Even if Xiuge didn't say so, she would definitely arrange for someone to do it.

"Okay, let's talk about something lighter... Everyone, in a few days at most, the Black Sun Society will re-erect their secret ceremony here. This time, we have no way to directly destroy it, so after it is successfully Before we can erect it, we must complete the transformation of the mine and make it truly our own stronghold."

A scholar with rich experience in this field stood up and said: "Burying magic circuits requires a lot of high-quality crystallized minerals. This is simple. We are a mine here, but in addition, we also need a large amount of crystallized minerals." manpower..."

"It's easier."

Shuge smiled and clapped his hands: "Have you seen those 'sharp-billed owls'? These are our free coolies, so use them well!"