Chapter 1乌云翻滚，雷声隆隆

Dark clouds churned, thunder rumbled, and raindrops the size of beans poured down from the sky as if the Milky Way had been turned upside down. A torrential rain, brewing overnight, descended upon the area around Beinz.

Perhaps due to its proximity to the Dragonspine Mountains, one of the "Ancient Legacy Sites," or perhaps due to the mysterious influence of the Beinz Blood Lake, this area frequently experienced similar extreme weather. Sometimes it was torrential rain, sometimes heavy snow in the middle of summer, and sometimes even spontaneous thunderstorms – quite similar to the bizarre weather phenomena on the Great Plains. Therefore, the people of the town were not surprised. The town's residents closed their doors to protect themselves from the wind and rain, while the magic towers around the town activated magic arrays to reduce the impact of thunderstorms, preventing lightning from striking the town's buildings. Amidst this downpour, Marshal Aufra, leader of the Kingdom Knights, paid a visit.

"I hope this sudden visit hasn't caused any trouble," Aufra said, still in her military uniform, as if she would never take off that armor no matter where she went. "There are some things I'd like to confirm with you regarding tomorrow's itinerary."

Gusts of cold wind blew into the living room from the open gate of the villa, yet not a single raindrop drifted in. Aufra simply stood at the entrance, and the rain seemed to avoid her, creating a vacuum zone within a two-meter radius around her. Behind Aufra was an unremarkable old man, albeit with a sturdy physique that seemed out of place for his age, apparently the female marshal's attendant.

"Oh, no trouble at all. Please, come in," Hao Ren said, hurriedly welcoming Aufra into the living room, thinking to himself, 'I was just about to go look for her, and she shows up on her own. Is this a coincidence or what?'

Lili was dozing on the chaise lounge next to the door, but the cold wind had already woken her up. Seeing the guest enter, she hurriedly jumped up and slammed the door shut with a flick of her tail. "Brr—it's freezing!"

Vivian was knitting a scarf, glancing sideways at the husky. "Are you worthy of your bloodline? What about the glorious achievements of our ancestors dominating the Arctic Circle?"

The sturdy old man beside Aufra couldn't help but glance at Lili's ears and tail a few times, but said nothing.

Hao Ren ushered Aufra to sit on the sofa, and the old man who looked like an attendant unexpectedly sat down next to her as well, which surprised Hao Ren a bit. It seemed he had misjudged the old man's identity earlier. He was probably an important figure in the Kingdom Knights who had come out in disguise today. However, the other party's identity didn't mean much to him. He simply poured hot tea for the two guests. "What brings you here?"

Aufra couldn't help but twitch. She had been the Kingdom Marshal for hundreds of years, and this was the first time someone had greeted her like that. She couldn't help but recall the last young man who had spoken to her in a similar tone. Back then, there was also such a vigorous human lad, dressed in proper aristocratic attire, yet squatting on a bar stool like a hooligan, hitting on her: "Got something to talk to you about..."

Aufra shook her head, throwing those inexplicable memories aside. "Regarding tomorrow's itinerary, we're escorting four ascetics to the royal capital. Considering the special nature of this trip, we need your cooperation to prevent sabotage by heretics..."

Hao Ren waved his hand. "Hold on. We happen to have some information we want to tell you as well. I reckon you'll have to change your plans after hearing it – about the heretics."

Aufra's expression immediately turned subtle. The light armor she wore close to her body made a metallic friction sound, and her entire upper body leaned forward slightly. "Heretics?"

"Heretics, and they've infiltrated quite deeply. They're holding evil cult rituals in the mountains, summoning monsters from other worlds, sacrificing living people, and even have members from the Kingdom Knights and the Church among them," Hao Ren said, dumping out all the information without any psychological pressure, since he wasn't worried about any consequences. "Also, around the Blood Lake..."

Hao Ren spent more than ten minutes recounting everything that had happened last night, without concealing anything, as if it was only natural to reveal such terrifying information. The more Aufra listened, the more surprised she became. Even an epic-level hero couldn't maintain composure in the face of such a flood of information. Finally, after Hao Ren finished speaking, she couldn't help but press her hand on the low table, her expression unusually solemn. "Are you saying all of that is true? Do you have any evidence?"

Hao Ren casually picked up a cloth bag from the side and opened it in front of Aufra. "This bottle contains the strange remains of those heretics after they died. This is the badge of the Kingdom Knights. This is the clothing of a Church cleric, a ritual dagger, their corporate culture brochure, a blood sample from the altar, and this is a specimen collected from the underground tendrils. It's already been proven to be the same biological tissue as the bark from the Twisted Forest. And this is Vivian's recipe – why is this in here?"

Vivian hopped over in a few steps and took the recipe. "I must have put it in the wrong place when I was organizing things last night. No wonder I couldn't find it."

Aufra stared dumbfounded at the items. "This really is..." Then she looked at Hao Ren with a strange expression. "So you were investigating this information everywhere last night? That doesn't seem like something an ordinary mercenary团 (tuan - group/company) would actively do. Even the kingdom's secret agents might not go to this extent."

Hao Ren spread his hands in a straightforward manner. "Yeah, we were investigating last night, and we've been very interested in the things around Beinz Blood Lake from the start. As for the reason... would you believe me if I said it was the enthusiasm of scholars?"

"What if I don't believe you?"

"Then I'll make up another one."

Aufra: "..."

"No joke," Hao Ren said, his expression serious. "I can tell you with certainty that we have no ill intentions towards the Holletta Kingdom. We sincerely want to solve the problems in this place, and this information is one hundred percent true. It's hard to explain our motives clearly to you. You can only say it's out of goodwill. Of course, it's normal if you have doubts about this, after all, you're the Kingdom Marshal – therefore, we welcome you to investigate this mercenary group."

This was the statement Hao Ren had decided on after thinking for a long time last night, which was to say, no statement at all. As the saying goes, a bare-footed person isn't afraid of wearing shoes, and a rascal isn't afraid of his wife. He had figured it out. He was like an invincible loach in this world. As an imperial envoy who came and went without a trace, what mud pit in the world was he afraid of?

Anyway, even his residence permit here was fake...

It was just that he was a bit implicating Becky. Thinking of this, Hao Ren looked at the mercenary girl, who was dozing by the window with Lili. This girl was a legal citizen with a foundation in the Dream Plane. But considering that this girl would most likely have to run around with him in the future, and Becky herself was very open to the issue, so be it.

Aufra, on the other hand, felt that she could no longer see through these mercenaries who had suddenly appeared. One of the reasons she had come here today to discuss tomorrow's itinerary was that someone had reported that this group of mercenaries had suddenly disappeared from the town last night, so she had come to check on the situation. She firmly believed that her special skills could see through the true movements of these people last night. But she didn't expect that before she could say anything, the person in front of her would blurt everything out like a simpleton.

No... not a simpleton, but that the person in front of her simply didn't care about this trouble.

"If this is true, then the Orb must be sent to the royal capital as soon as possible," Aufra mused. "If the heretical cult has infiltrated to this extent, it's not safe to leave the Orb here. But I must confirm that your information is indeed true."

Hao Ren took out a piece of paper. "Of course, no problem. The cave where the heretics held their rituals is still there. I drew a route map. You can send people to investigate. Of course, you have to do it as soon as possible. There should be other heretics there, and they might destroy the scene."

Aufra solemnly took the route map, and after looking at it carefully, looked at Hao Ren even more solemnly. "Who went to investigate that cave last night? I hope someone can lead the way."

Hao Ren raised an eyebrow. "Don't you trust me? Do you suspect it's a trap?"

"No," Aufra raised the map, "your drawing is too ugly."

Hao Ren: "..."

"Alright, I'll take you there." Nangong Wuyue stood up at this time. "I still know the way."

Aufra nodded, and was about to say something when a clap of thunder interrupted her.

Immediately afterward, she seemed to sense something and looked up in a certain direction. Hao Ren waited for a while, not knowing what was going on, when he heard a series of low rumbling sounds coming from the distant direction.

It sounded a bit like thunder, but the sound was deeper and continuous, and the duration was obviously longer than thunder.

The fur on Lili's tail stood on end, and she suddenly leaned forward to the window, looking outside vigilantly. She saw a white pillar of light suddenly rising from the direction of Beinz Blood Lake, and then a series of urgent chimes rang out from the clock tower of Leyton Town!