Chapter 356

Hei kept her head down, avoiding eye contact with him. She just wanted to escape as quickly as possible, to get away from this terrifying man.

Shi Lei landed and gestured for him to proceed.

"Alright, let's go then."

The bodyguard captain immediately nodded repeatedly, like a chicken pecking at rice, afraid of angering the other party.

Black used to be Ceylon's bodyguard, and the two were like sisters. This was the first time she had seen Black so afraid of a stranger, and she felt very conflicted.

Provence and Skyfire want to obtain firsthand data on the Sistag volcano, so they will definitely have to go along.

Ceylon, as the mayor's daughter, possessed a heart full of love for the people. For the safety of the many people of Sistag, she had no reason to refuse to witness the truth about the volcano.

And so, the group headed out onto the street.

Shi Lei trailed at the end of the line, pulled his phone out of his beach shorts, and called Texas:

"I have to take care of something, it shouldn't take long, please take care of Lisa."

"Okay, come back soon, I'll be waiting for you."

July 31, 3:20 pm

Xi found the volcano that was not open to the public, using tourist maps and directions from passersby.

As soon as you reach the foot of the mountain, you can clearly feel that the temperature here is slightly higher than on the beach.

There was a faint smell of sulfur in the air, which was quite pungent. But Xi didn't care whether it would harm her health and continued walking towards the top of the mountain.

The tangled vines and branches blocked her path. After surveying the terrain, she immediately unleashed the power of the Sui Beast.

Xi drew a square with her left hand and a circle with her right. After a brief delay, a piece of paper that could fly into the air was formed.

She stepped on the drawing paper, leaping over vines and branches, heading towards the mountainside of the volcano.

The higher you fly up the volcano, the more Originium Crawler you see in your field of vision. A dense, overwhelming swarm—it's incredibly creepy to look at.

Fortunately, Xi wasn't human and wouldn't be frightened by the swarm of Originium Crawler. When she flew to the mountainside, she unexpectedly discovered a naturally formed cave.

It contains a large number of red Acid Originium Slug, as well as red high- Originium Crawler that can trigger explosions.

Upon discovering an invasive alien species, the Acid Originium Slug continuously sprays acid into the air.

Xi's Qipao was only scratched by the acid, and it immediately tore open. Even if she wasn't injured, the drawing paper beneath her feet couldn't escape being corroded.

"Stars Hidden in Snow..."

"The moon is dim and obscure..."

"Traveling on the Great River Amidst Dry Mountains and Drought-Stricken Waters!"

Xi landed on her own initiative, muttering incantations.

As the last syllable escaped her lips, a series of paintings unfolded before her. Countless Ink Specter burst forth from them, engaging in a fierce battle with the Originium Crawler swarm.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

These Originium Crawler charged forward relentlessly, as if they were courting death.

They were willing to self-destruct in order to severely damage the Ink Specter and delay the invaders' advance.

Whenever a high- Originium Crawler self-destructs, another high- Originium Crawler will appear to fill the position.

The battle was extremely intense, with both sides stuck near the cave entrance and unable to advance their lines.

This reckless fighting style reminded Xi of ants that look very similar to Originium Crawler.

Are they risking their lives to block this place? What are they protecting?

425 Sophistry 4K

The bodyguard captain cautiously glanced at the man sitting in the back of the van through the rearview mirror. Noticing the man looking at him, he quickly looked away.

Earlier on the beach, the bodyguard captain had witnessed this man's Originium Arts. He had thought that with a powerful figure like Black present, they might have a fighting chance. Unexpectedly, Black completely yielded and showed no intention of resisting.

He is currently feeling extremely uneasy, as if he has a fishbone stuck in his throat or a thorn in his back, with his heart in his throat.

The back of the van can carry four people. Except for Skyfire, who sits in the front passenger seat, the other four people sit here.

Ceylon is no longer in mortal danger, and reflecting on her past experiences, she has finally noticed some strange things:

"To be honest, I think Croning's reaction today is strange. He may be bad, but he's not stupid."

As an experienced Catastrophe Messenger, he couldn't possibly have missed the problem with the volcano's data. The test reports were already available, but he simply refused to look at them.

He may have his own plans in secret, but we don't know why he's covering up the truth.

Hei Xu squinted, somewhat puzzled:

"Miss, I want to know why you did this? As long as you have a reasonable answer, I will explain it to you when the master returns."

Ceylon chuckled softly, feeling that she shouldn't have asked such a question at this time:

"What do you mean 'why do this'? Black, I have to do this! If I just let it go, do you know how many Sistag citizens will lose their lives because of this?"

Hei looked astonished, appearing incredulous.

"Wait, dead? Croning told me you were taken away by two con artists who lied about a volcanic eruption. They were going to expose all of the Master's past secrets so he could step down and face trial."

"Ah?"

The two exchanged information and immediately realized that it was Croning who was behind it all.

This act of deceiving his superiors and subordinates further confirms Ceylon's inference that he was hiding something.

"In that case, I will gather evidence of Croning's crimes and bring him to justice!"

A little over ten minutes later, the van arrived at the city hall.

Ceylon went straight to the mayor's office without being announced at the reception desk. The two bodyguards at the door, seeing her sudden appearance, crossed their arms to block her view.

"I'm sorry, Eldest Daughter. Mr. Croning is busy with very important matters and is not available to receive guests at the moment."

Ceylon didn't reply, but instead turned her head to look at Hei.

The latter instantly understood, raised his Mechanical Crossbow, and fired it right in front of the two men. Through this simple and forceful method, he made the two bodyguards voluntarily step aside.

Ceylon pushed open the office door and went inside, but didn't see Croning. She looked around the room, then returned to the doorway and asked:

"Where are the Croning?"

"Eldest Daughter, we can't tell..."

"If you can't say, then you know. Before I lose my temper, tell me where he went."

The two bodyguards exchanged hesitant glances, clearly embarrassed. Finally, seeing the black Mechanical Crossbow materialize, they spoke from the bottom of their hearts:

"Lord Croning didn't report his whereabouts to us, but I heard that he took some men to the broadcast tower."

"The broadcasting tower, so that's what it is!"

Ceylon's eyes lit up, and he immediately understood:

"I had hoped that Croning was an innocent man, but I was wrong. The only place capable of broadcasting citywide is the broadcast tower. He anticipated that I would announce the volcanic eruption, so he went there in advance to set up defenses. All he had to do was heavily guard it and wait for the enemy to strike. What a clever plan!"

Black's loyalty was to the Ceylon Dorkos family, not to Croning himself.

"Miss, what are your plans? If it requires us to break in, I will do everything in my power."

"No, that's too dangerous. Black, call Croning. Tell them you took me back to City Hall but couldn't find me, so you brought me to the broadcast tower. Once we're up there, we can coordinate an attack from the inside and catch them off guard."

Upon hearing this proposal, Shi Lei raised objections:

"Miss Ceylon, if Croning really did predict that you would go to the broadcast tower, he wouldn't have overlooked a method like feigning surrender to climb the tower. In my opinion, climbing the broadcast tower isn't actually that complicated."

July 31, 3:30 pm

Sistag City, Broadcast Tower.

"Tsk, you're already this tired from moving just this little bit of stuff? Hurry up, or I'll dock your pay if you delay the progress."

Croning, like a shrewd businessman, directed his men and workers to build a defensive line at the broadcast tower.

A volcanic eruption is no small matter.

To evacuate all the people of Sistag, two conditions must be met simultaneously.

The first purpose was to use this broadcast tower to issue evacuation notices to the entire city.

Second, the person sending the notification must have an official government identity.

If Ceylon issues the notice in her capacity as the mayor's daughter, it will only affect a portion of the citizens. Many people have invested so much time and effort in the Obsidian Music Festival that it will be extremely difficult to get them to give it up and move out of Sistag.

With these two prerequisites clarified, Croning can develop a targeted plan.

The person we need to be most concerned about right now is Black, the bodyguard of the Herman Dorkos family. She has been a mercenary for many years and is no ordinary woman.

Croning knew he couldn't win her over, so he simply let her return to Ceylon.

No matter how skilled Ren Hei was, he couldn't break through the broadcast tower's solid defenses on his own.

"My lord, the defensive fortifications are complete."

Upon hearing his subordinate's report, Croning personally went down to investigate to ensure no mistakes were made.

His subordinate, trailing behind him, asked in confusion:

"Sir, why did you build the broadcasting tower like this? Are you trying to keep someone away from it?"

Croning glanced at the other person, not really wanting to explain. But with so many subordinates present, refusing to answer would easily arouse suspicion, so he simply brushed it off:

"The Obsidian Music Festival is about to start, it's starting tomorrow. If some criminals try to spread panic through this place, wouldn't that harm Sistag's interests? By guarding this place, we can provide reinforcements to the surrounding areas at any time and deal with any emergencies."

The subordinate, seemingly understanding but not quite, gave a thumbs-up and praised:

"As expected of Lord Croning, you've thought of everything so thoroughly. You can rest assured, with us here, not even a fly can get up here, let alone a person."

Croning didn't want to waste time chatting with them, so after finishing his inspection, he returned to the top of the broadcast tower. He ordered his men to guard all the key passages below and prohibit anyone from entering.

Once everything was ready, Croning relaxed and stretched on the leather chair.

The broadcast tower is the tallest building in the vicinity, so even paragliders can't fly over from the surrounding area. No matter how powerful Black's crossbow is, attacking from a low position to a high one will inevitably put him at a natural disadvantage.

Moreover, the volcano is already highly active and should erupt completely within a few days.

She hasn't done anything wrong on the surface, so it's unlikely that she would directly start a war with the city government officials.

In addition to preparing for battle, Croning also planned his escape route.

They secretly devised several escape routes and would immediately evacuate Sistag if anything seemed amiss.

Uncontrollable Catastrophe like volcanic eruptions can sometimes strike very suddenly. Even if the mayor rushed back after hearing the bad news, he couldn't punish him.

Once the volcanic ash cools, developers can be brought in to mine the obsidian. Without the obstruction of the Sistag citizens, the mining process will proceed exceptionally smoothly.

They'll be counting money until their hands are sore, and whoever wants this crappy mayor's assistant position can have it!

Croning is Catastrophe Messenger, personally trained by Mayor Herman Dorkos of Sistag, and has been working for him for fifteen years.

Fifteen years.

Only Croning himself knows best how he survived those fifteen years.

In the end, it's nothing more than a watchdog.

Croning was tired of being subservient all the time; this plan had to succeed or fail.

Just as he was contemplating how to spend his future money, a muffled thud from the top of the tower interrupted his thoughts.

"Thump!"

What was that sound?!

He pushed open the door and stepped out of the broadcasting room. To his surprise, he saw Ceylon and Black and their group in the corridor.

This first shot made Croning's hair stand on end instantly; she was extremely surprised at how they had managed to get up there.