The demon race had already set their sights on humanity's Hero, though whether they had confirmed his identity or were still conducting deeper investigations remained unclear. Yet the Hero was only Level 18, and it seemed there wasn't much protection around him either.
Thinking from the enemy's perspective, if Lin Jun were the Emperor of the Shadow Empire, he would dispatch capable subordinates to eliminate the Hero and prevent future troubles. Lin Jun himself was a Hero, so he naturally understood that the so-called Heroes didn't possess that kind of crisis-triggered sudden power surge and level advancement. If such a thing existed, he wouldn't have suffered so miserably in the beginning.
So... what exactly were the humans trying to accomplish? Could they be using the Hero as bait for fishing?
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. However, for a Hero to be used as bait with his life and death controlled by others—that was truly pitiful.
Following this line of reasoning, Silver Sand Bay would likely become a battlefield where both sides clashed, making it unsuitable for prolonged stay. Lin Jun had absolutely no interest in getting involved in the human-demon conflict, especially since he still hadn't figured out his own faction allegiance.
Really... despite the skill panels and such being so game-like, couldn't the faction system also be like a game—teammates marked in blue, enemies in red, simple and clear?
As for Dilan, the leads regarding his daughter had now been completely severed. There was no choice but to temporarily abandon the search and board a ship bound for home. Of course, he also brought along that batch of red reef fruits.
For Dilan, this outcome was mixed—at least it wasn't news of his daughter's death. For Lin Jun... it was utterly indifferent to him.
From beginning to end, Lin Jun had merely consumed one slot of [Retainer Control] capacity, accompanying Dilan on what amounted to aimless wandering. Lin Jun's goal was to see the world.
Demon spies, Sword Saints, abyssal magic, mists, Heroes... So far, the harvest had been quite abundant, at least giving him a general understanding of many matters. It would be perfect if he could successfully bring back those [Delicious] red reef fruits as well.
Heaven preserve them from encountering mists and pirates again. Last time, losing Dilan's gold coins and +4 pendant was acceptable, but this time he was carrying Lin Jun's fruits...
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Just as Dilan embarked on his return journey, two horse-drawn carriages also entered the vicinity of Mute Wind Town.
Inside the comfortable carriage, the white-haired young man's eyes were gloomy with shadows. Even though this month-long trek was about to end, not a trace of joy could be found on his face.
The villages they had encountered along the way—nearly half of their farmlands had been viciously destroyed, deliberately poisoned and ruined. Their luck hadn't continued as it had initially; they failed to capture a second spy.
Though they hadn't caught any, outside the towns they passed through, there was no shortage of demon spy corpses after capture—executed and left exposed as a warning.
This was undoubtedly the Empire's scheme. Those grand dukes of the Empire, while bloodthirsty, evil, twisted, and perverted, were by no means dull-witted. They couldn't possibly waste their own spies so meaninglessly without reason.
Surely they weren't trying to reduce expenses by thinking their spy network had grown too large and needed pruning?
They definitely had other contingency plans. Were they on the elven side?
Though he knew these were matters his father's top-tier circle should be considering, the sights and sounds along the journey still caused Faer to think involuntarily, pointlessly consuming considerable mental energy.
A peeled fruit was brought to Faer's lips. He parted his lips to take it, swallowing it down with complete naturalness. The taste was utterly unremarkable—after all, this was merely provisions purchased locally during the latter half of their journey. The delicacies they had brought from Oath City had been consumed completely halfway through.
However, Faer didn't particularly mind this. Though his usual food, clothing, and necessities were all of the finest quality, he considered himself unconcerned with such appetites and desires.
Seeing that the carriage had already entered the town, with continuous wooden buildings lining both sides of the main road, Faer decided to disembark and take a look. What he witnessed firsthand should yield intelligence that wouldn't appear in reports.
The first thing he saw upon stepping down was a cluster of mushrooms...
After walking merely a few dozen meters, Faer's brow furrowed deeply.
Mushroom clusters could be seen everywhere—growing under wooden house eaves and in corners. The people dining by the roadside had glowing substances around their bowls and mouths. As he walked, the words he heard most frequently were "puffshroom" and "mushroom," with these terms mentioned regardless of what was being discussed.
This small town... was very wrong!
Especially when those diners with glowing substances still on their mouths turned their gazes in unison toward Faer, this expensively dressed outsider, it gave him the illusion of entering hostile territory and being marked as a target.
This feeling persisted until he reached the guild exterior, where it improved slightly—the guild was built of stone and didn't grow mushrooms.
The branch manager, or rather the former branch manager Oberon, was unusually sober today. Despite his sunken eye sockets and the obvious signs of excessive drinking that any observant person could see, Oberon still managed to gather his spirits and complete the handover work with Faer in the main hall before everyone present.
Calling it a handover was actually just transferring the branch seal, introducing the staff members, and finally exchanging meaningless official pleasantries. It was purely going through the motions.
"He really hates you," Lillian whispered to Faer as they watched Oberon depart.
Faer nodded. He had naturally noticed this as well, especially since there had originally been a dinner together scheduled, which the other party had apparently omitted. As for the reasons behind Oberon's disgust toward him, he could guess one or two, though he didn't particularly care.
After getting reacquainted with the employees still remaining in the branch—Mirabelle and others—Faer finally settled into the branch manager's office and issued his first command after taking office: gather and organize all intelligence regarding the underground city after the Demon Tide and deliver it to him.
The command was naturally given to Mirabelle. Though Faer had brought clerical staff with him, they hadn't yet formally taken over their corresponding positions, and he wasn't prepared to waste so much time waiting.
Faer had no particular desire to replace the important positions in the original branch with his own people. If the original branch members could also be used smoothly, keeping them in their original positions wasn't impossible.
Mirabelle naturally understood this was an opportunity to demonstrate her capabilities, so before sunset, two thick stacks of documents were placed before Faer's desk.
The more he read, the gloomier his expression became, until finally—
"That bastard Oberon!"
Slamming his palm on the desk, Faer now wanted nothing more than to drag Oberon back and have Lillian give him a thorough beating.
Negligence should have limits!
What did it mean that "each floor of the Amethyst Underground City doesn't necessarily have amethyst, but definitely has puffshrooms"? Though the ninth and tenth floors didn't have them yet, judging by this pattern, it was only a matter of time.
Such an obvious change, and Oberon acted as if he hadn't seen it, not even mentioning it in the reports submitted to headquarters?
And what was this about "puffshrooms beginning to rent out illumination puffshrooms"? Didn't this mean these magical creatures were displaying commercial thinking?
Such abnormal circumstances, and that Oberon fellow took no action whatsoever!
That bastard Oberon!
Faer decided in his heart that once the mushroom matter was dealt with, the report he submitted would definitely include a thorough denunciation of that parasite Oberon!
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