Chapter 182 Information Gathering

Hao Ren and the others didn't waste much time in the outer city, because the daylight of Cardhues would end in eight hours. After inquiring about some news from the north and south, the group quickened their pace and arrived at the inner city of Cardsa.

Compared to the bustling but slightly chaotic outer city, the inner city of Cardsa appeared orderly. The buildings here were more beautiful and high-end. Most of the houses were multi-story buildings constructed from white stone blocks. Among the neat streets, magical spires emitting faint light could be seen scattered about, jointly supporting the giant shield that enveloped the entire city. This area had a variety of functional facilities, not only municipal facilities for maintaining the city's operation, but also various departments unique to the "Throat of the World"—the largest mercenary registration and management office, the largest diplomatic deliberation building, and the largest library, known as the "Scholars' Palace," which was said to contain all the knowledge of the world.

The inner city was where the local residents of Cardsa lived. Although it was open to the outer city, it would close its gates after nightfall.

"The old man had a wish before he died, hoping that his research manuscripts could be included in the library of Cardsa," Izhaks said with emotion, looking at the golden roof of the "Scholars' Palace" in the distance. "Unfortunately, until his death, the theory of spatial bubble zones was still listed as heresy. Even the Cardhues plane, which claims to be open to knowledge, only recently began to study spatial vesicle models based on mathematics—before that, their descriptions of spatial vesicles were based on fantasy and philosophy."

"By the way, how did the world accept the theory of spatial bubble zones and the greater universe?" Hao Ren was a little curious.

Izhaks revealed a somewhat ironic smile: "Because I beat them miserably—they didn't believe that what they had always known as the 'world' was only a small part of the universe, so they had to deny the old man's theory, which was to deny that the transmission law between spatial vesicles could be calculated by mathematical formulas—because this formula is the key element to calculating the boundary of the bubble zone. This ignorant adherence to tradition led to their progress in exploring new planes being far behind my legion. The exploration efficiency of all the countries in the human world combined was not as good as my empire. This is the secret of the Demon King's army's strength, and it is a public secret."

Hao Ren was stunned: "A public secret?"

"The manuscripts left by the great scholar are scattered in the human world. He had many students, and those students had already passed on the formula for calculating spatial vesicles to various countries," Lanina explained from the side. "But for hundreds of years, no one believed those manuscripts. Even if an occasional clever person guessed that the secret of the Demon King's army's strength was mastering the method of calculating spatial vesicles, they would immediately be denounced as heretics, or even as dangerous elements studying demonic knowledge. The various races of the human world thus blinded themselves, tied their hands and feet, and were beaten by us for hundreds of years, until recently they finally woke up."

"And it's not a complete awakening," Izhaks laughed. "Aren't there still people who believe that the Demon King's power comes from artifacts—how can they not understand such a simple truth that knowledge is power."

Hao Ren was speechless, thinking that Izhaks' statement made sense, but how could any normal person believe that the Demon King's power really came from exercising, eating more, reading books and newspapers, and doing more exercises…

The group arrived at their destination, a large square building with clean white walls and neat stained-glass windows. On the three-story walls, there were various signs written in various languages, mostly the names of office agencies, occasionally interspersed with small signs such as "XX Mercenary Agency," "XX Real Estate Agency," and "XX Marriage Counseling Center." Hao Ren was amazed: "You guys also have old office buildings in this world..."

"This is the gathering hall," Lanina laughed. "At first, it was just a place for mercenaries to exchange information and for information peddlers to gather and do business, but in this special place of Cardsa, it has developed greatly and become such a chaotic gathering place for information, personnel, and commissions. When the Allied Forces were established, they also focused on supporting this facility. It was an important platform for the Seven Heroes to recruit heroes from all over the place in the early days of their uprising. Several of the most famous folk heroes in the Ten-Year War, such as the Saintess of Light and the Dragon Slayer Gordon, came from here. The information we are looking for can also be easily obtained here: news from the demon plane is freely circulated here. The information peddlers of the various races of the human world are very righteous only in this regard."

"You are very clear about the human world." Hao Ren looked at Lanina in surprise.

"Don't forget what I used to do," Lanina proudly flicked her tail, a movement that made Lily next to her stare. "I heard that there is a clever person on your Earth who knows all about mahjong games without leaving home. It's a pity that I can't compete with him..."

Hao Ren's forehead dripped with sweat. This saying of "knowing all about mahjong games without leaving home" seemed to have been spread by him too...

"After entering, Lanina, don't talk too much. Just stay behind Hao Ren and pretend to be a low-level succubus. There are all kinds of people inside. As long as a warlock with a succubus is not deliberately high-profile, he won't attract attention, but we must also be careful of being targeted by the Church's secret agents." Izhaks instructed and took the lead to step towards the gate of the gathering hall.

As soon as Hao Ren walked into the building, he felt a wave of air rushing towards him—not any other air wave, but a "sound wave" as substantial as reality!

The entire first floor of this three-story building had been opened up. It was a super hall supported by several rows of square pillars. The hall was scattered with small cubicles like counters or reception points, but more places were tables, chairs, and open spaces for people to communicate freely. Countless adventurers from the north and south and merchants who came here to speculate made the place noisy. Besides these people from all walks of life, military personnel and uniformed staff could also be seen.

The scene in front of him really made Hao Ren feel like a job market on Earth. Of course, based on the added noise and chaos, this place was a bit like the Tongxian Dog Market—anyway, it was a place where people came and went noisily, and you could easily get lost if you came to stroll around by yourself.

Although Lanina knew the human world very well, this was also the first time she had actually inspected this place. In addition, she needed to pay attention to her identity, so as soon as she entered the door, she honestly hid behind Hao Ren and tried to disguise herself as a docile domestic succubus, just gently poking Hao Ren's back with the tip of her tail: "We should first find those who are wearing uniforms..."

At this time, Lily had already started to act on her own. She was so lively and excited when she arrived at a lively place. She immediately ran to grab a little brother who looked like a staff member: "Hello, hello! We are mercenaries! Mercenaries who are going to work in the demon plane! Where can we find out about the news of the demon world?"

Hao Ren quickly ran to Lily's side to prevent this idiot from blurting out the name "Good Names Are All Taken By Dogs"... This unlucky name could still be used in the Dream Plane, but it was useless here.

The uniformed little brother was startled by Lily and pointed a place casually. Lily immediately dragged Hao Ren over. Hao Ren's body was horizontal in the air and he was still thinking: Walking a husky is really a technical job. Not only must you have the mentality of walking a dog, but you must also have the awareness of being walked by a dog. When this girl drags people to run, she is really used to starting at seventy miles per hour...

Information about the demon plane was publicly posted on a wall, arranged in chronological order. Hao Ren and the others went over to take a look for a while and found that the human world was indeed paying extraordinary attention to the demon plane. Perhaps there was also the added bonus of the Ten-Year War having just ended. The information about the demon plane here was not only detailed, but also unusually timely.

Where a new demon lord had appeared, which demon lord had been beheaded, which demon plane had experienced abnormal proliferation, which demon plane's portal had suddenly opened... These messages were posted all over the wall!

"Holy crap... How did they investigate these?" Hao Ren looked at these messages in shock, suddenly feeling as if the entire demon plane was exposed under the eyes of humans.

"Most of them are from warlocks, and a small part are from scouts," Lanina was not surprised by this. She explained in a low voice, "Warlocks can summon demons, and they can also forcibly connect their consciousness to a certain demon in the demon plane. Through this channel, the human world can grasp the movements of the demon world. But the reverse is also true: high-level demons often seduce warlocks, and even directly insert their clones into the high levels of human kingdoms. And how to interfere with this kind of mental mutual exploration is a problem that both the various races of the human world and the demons will study."

Hao Ren nodded and browsed through the information that covered the wall with Izhaks. This information might not explain too much to the various races of the human world, but for Izhaks, it was very easy to see some deep-seated important news.

"It seems that Serradon is about to take the Second Plane..." Izhaks stroked his chin, not knowing which message he saw this from. "The old guy in the Second Plane should have secretly reached a surrender agreement with Serradon, but I estimate that there will still be a big war soon. That's how demons are. The final form of all diplomatic mediation is to knock the other party down and be done with it."

"But there is no news related to your 'will'," Vivian looked at Izhaks. "It seems that the Church Allied Forces have blocked this information."

"Of course they will block it. No one wants this kind of world-shattering rumor to fly all over the sky," Izhaks grinned. "The Seven Heroes were as close as brothers back then, but now I don't know if they feel awkward when they meet each other... Heh, things are unpredictable."

Lily pouted with a little regret: "What a wasted trip."

Hao Ren and the others were also very disappointed, but at this moment, a soldier wearing light armor from the Allied Forces walked over from the side and posted a new piece of information with a church seal on the wall.

Hao Ren knew at a glance that something was about to happen.

Lily read the words on it: "... A phantom suspected to be the Demon King's City once appeared in the sky above the Shattered Plains of the Second Demon Plane. Remnants suspected to be the Demon King's army were found around the Shattered Plains..."