Chapter 16 Slightly Watery

After all, there had been such a commotion tonight, and many people would want to figure out what was going on.

Pestoya's night visit was a small interlude, and things didn't quiet down afterward. Several waves of uninvited guests came to the Unicorn Inn one after another.

There were Tier 2 and Tier 3 assassins, all proficient in stealth.

Presumably, they were from the Umbrella Organization or spies from those forces that wanted to harm Reina.

To avoid revealing any flaws and to avoid the trouble of wave after wave of harassment, Suren simply spent the night in the same bed with Mr. Mirror.

There was nothing presumptuous about it; both sides were very calm.

With such a great expert by his side, Suren didn't have to worry about his safety and actually had a rare good night's sleep.

......

The next morning, very early, old butler Anthony's stern whispers echoed in the hotel.

"Everyone, prepare your equipment and depart at seven o'clock sharp!"

Suren got out of bed and also prepared an adventurer's outfit with a trench coat and cowboy hat.

"Qiantiao" was still washing up, so he went downstairs and found the latest briefing and letters from a pile of mail at the hotel front desk.

This was a simple newspaper produced by intelligence merchants, printed overnight, all about the latest information about the camp.

The price was very expensive, but sales were good.

Suren glanced at the contents of the newspaper, which mentioned the attack last night in great detail.

However, it was very rough, with no information about the assassin's identity other than "mysterious person."

He also saw the hidden message Sabina left for him and had a general idea of the Umbrella Organization's subsequent actions.

The people from the Umbrella Organization really hadn't given up monitoring.

However, the file level had been lowered, and the threat was much smaller.

Just as Suren was reading the newspaper at the front desk,

Several people came down the stairs. He turned his head and saw Reina leading her personal maid downstairs.

After a night, the young lady's face was no longer sad, and her eyes were full of seriousness. She was wearing a liquid leather jacket, but it was no longer the standard model from Black Tower Academy. Instead, it was a more advanced alchemical product with special modifications. She had a pistol, dagger, mechanical vest, and tactical belt around her waist, and a gas mask...

Even more rare, she had a mechanical box painted with a red cross on her back. This was military-grade individual medical equipment.

It looked like the young lady was ready to fight in person.

Suren glanced at her, raised his eyebrows slightly, and naturally saw some changes in her.

As if overnight, her immaturity had faded, and she had gained a bit of composure.

Reina saw Suren, nodded, and greeted him.

.......

Unlike the other families' exploration teams, which numbered in the thousands, the Reis family only had four or five hundred people.

In addition to the family guards that Reina brought, which numbered more than a hundred, there were only a few medium-sized exploration teams from the Cross Society.

The group gathered in the tent area outside the camp, immediately attracting pointing fingers from all directions.

"Hiss~ I remember that's Anthony, the Reis family's butler. I didn't expect that old guy to have advanced to Tier 3."

"I saw the battle last night, and his strength is indeed very strong. It's a pity, with so few people, I'm afraid they won't reach the center of the city before they're wiped out..."

"Did you hear that the Unicorn Inn was also attacked by assassins last night?"

"Assassins? Those aren't ordinary assassins. I heard that..."

"So Black Tower is tacitly approving it. No wonder the other branches of the Reis family are so active. Things are going to change..."

"..."

The news that Reina's best friend, Julia, had been killed last night had also spread throughout the camp, and no one dared to contact the Reis family's main team anymore.

Reina remained expressionless throughout the whole ordeal, ignoring the whispered comments.

The team didn't stay long and set off directly along Route Sixteen, heading northeast towards the Dawn Ruins.

.......

Because there was a Tier 3 professional leading the team, Suren and the others moved very quickly.

The monsters in the outer ring of the ruins couldn't stop the team's progress at all. Moreover, since most of the outer ring area had already been explored, there was nothing to stop for.

After encountering a few small-scale battles, they arrived at a broken section of the city wall at noon.

This was the landmark for entering the middle ring of the ruins.

The team crossed the city wall and continued to move deeper.

As the team gradually went deeper, the frequency of monster attacks became higher and higher.

Before long, they came to a large area of ​​abandoned buildings with no traces of exploration, and the team stopped.

Although the middle ring and the outer ring of the ruins were only separated by a low, dilapidated wall, the difference in the strength of the monsters was very large.

The outer ring was generally full of mutated monsters and abyssal monsters of Tier 1 and below, while the middle ring had Tier 2, Tier 3, and even super-tier special monsters.

After the middle ring, it was the "forbidden zone" for small and medium-sized exploration teams.

Almost any group of gregarious monsters could wipe out a medium-sized exploration team led by a Tier 2 professional.

The fog in the air became thicker and thicker, and the atmosphere became more and more tense.

This was a real "high casualty area," and no one dared to be careless.

The orders from the team commander in the communicator were issued one after another.

"Everyone, perk up! Pay attention to any changes. After entering the middle ring, don't speak loudly, and don't shoot casually..."

"Team Three, at nine o'clock. Team Two, at three o'clock... Assassins, spread out a little, pay attention to reconnaissance, and watch out for monsters and suspicious followers."

"Everyone, start searching this area according to the plan!"

"..."

With Miss Reina as the center, the team spread out in a lotus shape.

The Cross Society's exploration teams were originally funded by the Reis family, and the team members were roughly equivalent to "long-term workers" who had signed contracts. They were responsible for the most dangerous task of paving the way in front.

Suren and "Qiantiao" didn't do anything special and followed the vanguard team to start exploring.

Moreover, here, there was almost no difference between the front and the end of the team. Monsters might attack anyone at any time.

The abandoned buildings in the middle ring area were denser, and there were already small buildings of more than ten stories around.

In addition to residential buildings, there were also large buildings such as opera houses, city halls, and bathhouses.

Like a lush primeval forest, these large buildings were also the monsters' favorite places to live.

Moreover, it wasn't just on the ground.

Such a huge city also had a very complex sewer system, which wasn't simpler than Old Lingdun.

Suren's current auditory perception could clearly feel the rustling crawling sounds coming from those sewer openings because of their arrival. In those dark caves, it was as if pairs of eyes were peeking at them, these uninvited guests.

This was the territory of mutated monsters.

.......

The ruins were filled with fog, and visibility was low without lights.

Large-scale flares couldn't be used casually, so the team members could only grope carefully with the limited vision provided by the alchemical night vision goggles.

Princess Theresa's mission required the various families to carefully explore their respective routes and find some "things" that they still didn't know what they were.

Therefore, the team needed to carefully explore every building, check for suspicious targets, and break every cursed space.

The progress of the exploration was very slow.

After the task was assigned,

Suren followed "Qiantiao" and led a team of Cross Society exploration team members to explore a residential building.

The team members were all unfamiliar, and it seemed that they were mostly "newcomers" recruited by the gang later.

After leaving the main team, the team members were less restrained in their speech.

"Leader Qiantiao, why does our team have so few people this time? I see that the other families' exploration teams all have at least several thousand people... I heard that our backer is in trouble?"

"Sister Qiantiao, the commotion in the city was so big last night... what happened? I heard that the princess's residence was attacked?"

"Legend has it that the princess of the duke's mansion is Old Lingdun's 'number one beauty'. Is it really true..."

"Hehe, aren't those nobles in the inner city going to explore with us this time? Our lives aren't worth much if we die, but they'll lose a lot..."

"..."

The lower-level exploration team members regarded their lives as very cheap. When they took this job, they had long been prepared to face death.

Their mentality was quite optimistic.

Especially when they saw the people from the inner city exploring with them, each of them had a kind of carefree schadenfreude.

They didn't know the relationship between Qiantiao and Reina, so they didn't have any scruples when they spoke.

The group chatted and joked all the way.

The atmosphere was much happier than the frowning elite guards of the inner city not far away.

Still alive,

Talking about women,

Earning money,

Having gossip...

Was good enough.

The happiness of the lower-level exploration team members was that simple.

The monsters in the ruins were very dense. The dilapidated building they were exploring was inhabited by a group of monsters identified as [Abyssal Bloodthirsty Sentinels].

The "squeak squeak" sound was endless. Suren had long discovered this crawling monster that looked like a white-skinned monkey, but had no hair and a creepy large-mouthed human face.

They could throw stones as sub-weapons, and their power was comparable to bullets.

Fortunately, their defense wasn't strong, and ordinary bullets could kill them.

With Suren and "Qiantiao" in the team, they didn't encounter any risks.

They cleared the area all the way, and the harvest was good.

"Haha... this monkey actually dropped cursed materials. The probability of monsters on the middle ring city wall dropping materials is so high. The backer said that the materials belong to us, so we're going to make a fortune this time."

"Let's talk about taking it out alive..."

"But speaking of which, these standardized firearms from the inner city are very stable and don't jam. Speaking of which, our backer is still very good. The set of equipment issued to each person is probably worth hundreds of thousands..."

"Yeah, I heard that the Steam Party and Crow Gang's exploration teams have much worse treatment than us. Not to mention issuing equipment, we have to buy our own bullets..."

"With this equipment, even if Tier 2 monsters come, I dare to fight them!"

"..."

Not feeling any tricky monsters in the building, the team dispersed in order to speed up the exploration progress.

The captains each led a team of ten people to the various floors.

Suren and "Qiantiao" found a corner to sit leisurely, waiting to provide support in case of unexpected accidents.

Reports came from the communicator from time to time.

"Report to the commander, a small-scale monster attack was discovered at the opera house, and it has been cleared."

"A high-level mutated monster group has been discovered in the red brick building. Request high-level combat support!"

"Commander, a 'cursed space' has been discovered in the broken building at ten o'clock. Preliminary judgment is 'C-level space'. Please advise."

"..."

Gunshots exploded densely in this ruin, and the exploration was proceeding in an orderly manner.

........

In terms of individual strength, Reina's team was actually not inferior to any exploration team.

Even one of the best.

There were Tier 3 professionals and more than a dozen Tier 2s.

Most of the more than one hundred direct line guards Reina brought from the family were also well-trained formal professionals. They had the best firearms and equipment, mechanical armor... their combat power was very strong.

But this team also had a fatal shortcoming.

That was that there were few people and the error tolerance rate was low.

When encountering wild monsters, the number of people was a guarantee for survival.

When encountering high-risk cursed spaces, it was fatal.

Because Princess Theresa had issued a death order.

No matter what, if a cursed space was discovered, it must be explored and broken.

Which also meant that if they encountered a cursed space of an unknown level, and a small team led by a Tier 1 professional didn't come out, then they would have to send in a Tier 2;

If they were wiped out again, they would send a Tier 3...

Until they kept sending people in to explore.

But in fact, most cursed spaces could be tried multiple times, and then a solution could be obtained.

If there were enough people, they could use slave groups to pile up and test out a lot of information.

Just like the [1911 Hotel] that Suren encountered last time, in theory, it was "t-level," but if a few hundred people died, they could always judge some solutions.

Therefore, the number of people was crucial.

But Reina's team didn't have this kind of trial and error opportunity.

There were only a few hundred people in total.

Every time a team was lost, it meant that their overall chance of survival was reduced.

In the end, high-level professionals had to personally explore the space with their faces.

The density of cursed spaces in the middle ring area was much higher than in the outer ring. In this ruin alone, they had discovered several cursed spaces.

The most deadly thing was...

Even if they knew it was dangerous, they didn't have a chance to slack off!

Because there were also three "supervisory teams" wearing white helmets following the team. These were people from the inner city military. Their task was to supervise the exploration team and report the battle situation and progress to the outside world at any time.

Once they died, or if the exploration team refused to execute orders, experts from Black Tower would come over.

.......

It seemed that going from the middle ring to the core of the inner city was only a dozen kilometers, but the progress of the exploration was very slow.

For a whole day, Suren and his team only cleaned up a few blocks nearby.

The first day of the battle was very tragic, with more than thirty people dead and many injured.

The team didn't continue to advance and chose to light a fire and camp in a sturdy building.

It's worth mentioning that Miss Reina hadn't been idle since the start of the war, and had been active on the battlefield.

She shed the delicate arrogance of a young lady and personally joined the other members of the medical team, appearing in various places on the battlefield that needed medical support, personally treating the wounded.

Reina's medical skills were very good, more professional than most exploration team's professional doctors.

Even now that they had set up camp and were resting, she was still busy in the wounded's tents.

Because she, a dignified young lady, was doing everything herself and working on the front line, the wounded were not only not complaining, but were excited as if they had been injected with stimulants.

"Oh, Miss Reina, my... my life isn't worth such a precious potion..."

"Oh my god, Miss Reina actually personally stitched up the wound..."

"It's an honor to serve Miss Reina..."

"..."

The ordinary exploration team members had a very simple view of gratitude and grudges.

If you treat him well, he will be willing to sell his life for you.

Originally, after a fierce battle, the wounded would greatly affect the morale of their team.

But because Miss Reina wholeheartedly treated them, it not only didn't make people lose heart, but instead made them more united.

In the current situation, only if the team was united would they be more likely to survive.

In the tent area not far away, everyone saw everything.

.......

In the individual tent, Suren and Mr. Mirror were eating a simple meal.

Mr. Mirror looked at the busy Reina and said with emotion, "That little girl has finally figured it out..."

"She has indeed changed a lot."

Suren also nodded and took a bite of the bread in his hand.

Then, he asked, "Mr. Mirror, are you planning to leave?"

He remembered that this person had said before that he would leave after entering the ruins.

"Yes. It's these two days. I will find a chance to leave. There are still very important things to deal with."

Mr. Mirror thought of something and said, "At that time, be careful yourself. Those supervisory teams have been watching you. And there are still a few people around Reina with ulterior motives, who seem to have been bought off."

Suren wasn't surprised and said, "Yes, I also discovered it. I got the news before that the Umbrella Organization still hasn't given up their suspicions."

How could he not have noticed that during today's battle, there were always a few gazes on him.

It seemed that they wanted to detect clues from his fighting style and determine whether he was "Suren" or had other connections.

Mr. Mirror asked, "Can you handle it?"

Suren said lightly, "No problem."

"That's good."

Mr. Mirror didn't say much. She was still very optimistic about Suren's abilities.

Thinking of something, she added, "Oh, there's one more thing. The deeper you go into the ruins, the more powerful the monsters will be. At that time, be careful to avoid these areas..."

Suren listened carefully and silently wrote it down in his heart.

After Mr. Mirror finished speaking, he asked the question that he had been curious about for a long time, "Mr. Mirror, where do all these monsters in the ruins come from?"

So many monsters have been killed in the Dawn Ruins, but they are still endless, which is a bit against common sense.

Logically speaking, the monsters in an area should satisfy an ecological chain.

After killing some, the number will become scarce for a long time.

But in the ruins, some new, unseen monsters always pop up, and there is never a shortage of them.

Mr. Mirror thought for a while and said in a slightly solemn tone, "They came out of plane rifts."

Suren heard a new term and said with some surprise, "Plane rifts?"

"Yes."

When Mr. Mirror said this, she didn't know what she was thinking of, and a dignified look appeared in her eyes.

She glanced at Suren and said, "There is actually a space channel connecting to another plane under the Dawn City. In ancient books, that plane is called [Abyss]. This is something that existed in the last era. It is said that the alchemists of the Akavir civilization used this channel to go to war with other planes. Unfortunately, such a powerful civilization has also disappeared, and no one knows what happened back then... Sir Isaac established Dawn City here, on the one hand, to explore the truth of that civilization's interruption and pursue the ultimate of true alchemy; on the other hand, to guard this plane rift and kill those alien creatures that strayed into our plane from the abyssal rift..."

After a long time,

Suren also understood.

During the "Dawn Era," the Akavir civilization, which was once so powerful that it could conquer various planes, suddenly disappeared from history.

And the people of that civilization left a sealed space channel underground.

But because of the long years, cracks appeared in the seal.

Which then released some abyssal monsters.

And "dark spiritual power" actually overflowed from another plane.

Suren was also a little curious, those powerful alchemists who could hunt down gods, did they perish, or did they migrate to other planes...

.......

In the ruins, especially in the middle ring area, don't think about getting a peaceful sleep.

The previous battle attracted monsters from very far away, and the gunshots continued intermittently all night.

Not only was it like this for their group, but it was almost the same for the entire Dawn Ruins.

Suren and Mr. Mirror talked for most of the night.

This mysterious boss didn't seem to avoid talking about some ancient secrets with Suren.

She was like a witness to that period of history, knowing a lot of information that others could not possibly know from historical materials or other channels.

.......

The next morning, the team pulled up camp and continued to head towards the core urban area of the ruins.

It was another day of fierce fighting. The ancient relics harvested were not few, but the casualties were also getting more and more serious.

Even, because of exploring an A-level cursed space, a Tier 2 professional died.

The middle ring area of ​​Dawn City was a dangerous place that even Mr. Mirror frowned upon when talking about it.

Not to mention this kind of carpet-like exploration operation.

It was almost no different from sending them to their deaths.

But the good news was that there were dozens of such teams in the city "sending themselves to their deaths" at the same time.

It was like a large net shrinking, which also made the monsters in the ruins scatter their attack targets. The pressure on a single team was much less, and some large monsters were also driven to the center of the ruins by the movement in all directions.

Mr. Mirror originally planned to find a reasonable reason to disappear from the team, but it was not easy for a Tier 2 professional combat force like "Qiantiao" to have an accident.

And coincidentally, unexpectedly, when camping on the second night, the team encountered a group of "Nightmare Ghost Mist."

This floating black mist was very evil. People would disappear once they entered, like a monster that ate people.

In fact, its essence was a kind of "mobile cursed space."

After people went in, whether they could come out alive was one thing; even if they could really come out, they would appear in another place because the space would move.

When the ghost mist approached, Mr. Mirror discovered the anomaly in advance, and Suren also felt the abnormal spatial energy fluctuations in the mist.

It was just a reasonable reason.

Then, "Qiantiao" led the duty team, and coincidentally, entered the ghost mist that didn't look much different from ordinary fog, and the entire team disappeared.

As soon as that patrol team disappeared, the entire camp was in chaos again.

In order to avoid the mist, the entire exploration team moved overnight and retreated to the camping site of the previous night in a hurry.

.......

"Qiantiao" disappeared, her fate unknown. Miss Reina was heartbroken, but she was also more firm.

The exploration had to continue.

This exploration was destined to end in tragedy from the beginning.

Reina was also mentally prepared.

After entering the middle ring of the ruins, the dark spiritual power in the air was already extremely strong, and almost everyone never took off their filter-equipped gas masks.

Mr. "Zorro" completely became a loner.

He only had "Qiantiao," an acquaintance, in the team, and now that she was gone, he seemed very lonely all day long.

However, this was just as well.

Suren knew that in addition to the three supervisory teams, there were other experts in the team paying attention to him.

Therefore, he needed to completely separate the two identities of Zorro and Suren.

In order to avoid implicating the Reis family.

And two days later, a special report was sent to the Umbrella Organization's senior management: "Zorro·Serna, confirmed as a Tier 2 professional specializing in close combat, proficient in fighting skills, weak mental power fluctuations, fighting style biased towards the ranger profession... highly likely to rule out the ss wanted criminal Suren, it is recommended to lower the file level to C level!"

And almost at the same time that this "Zorro" was still active in the Reis family's exploration team, the Oliver family's exploration team was attacked.

A Crow Gang cadre was killed, and three Tier 2s.

The assassin who took action was a Crow Mask confidential personnel, he was skilled at manipulating invisible living corpses and black scythes.

It was none other than the ss wanted criminal Suren!

.......

Finally, ten days later, the team arrived at Suren's destination, the super-large cursed space—[Dawn City Central Prison].

ps. Still having writer's block, only one chapter. It's very watery, sorry.