20. Compromise / 21. Tara's Spy

"I don't think you'll just obediently listen and let yourself and those Deepsea soldiers be exposed to the Sarkaz's crossbow bolts and become cannon fodder for them to use. You must have other purposes."

After a pause, Bai Ye continued:

"Moreover, it's your own purpose, and it has nothing to do with what Eblana told you to do. You're doing this behind her back. After all, if you were just a messenger, you could have left after conveying the leader's intentions."

As allies, they are on equal footing, and there's no reason for Mandela to be subservient and manipulated. Even if given a task, he could easily find other reasons to shirk it; clearly, Mandragora's behavior is abnormal.

"..." Mandragora remained silent.

Clearly, Bai Ye's words struck a nerve. This guy definitely had ulterior motives.

"I never thought that someone as loyal as you would have selfish motives hidden from your leader," Bai Ye said sarcastically from the side.

He does have a rather wicked sense of humor. Even though others don't want to talk about it, he deliberately keeps an eye on them, as if he wants to stir up trouble on purpose.

As expected, Mandragora was stunned again after hearing Bai Ye's words. Clearly, Bai Ye's words had touched a nerve.

"If you want to fight, just say so!" Mandragora was so angry that her teeth itched, and the spot where she had bitten him was starting to ache again.

However, she didn't have any reason to refute it, since it was indeed her private matter.

"..." Mandragora fell silent.

Bai Ye knew he couldn't push this guy too far, so after satisfying his own wicked sense of humor, he asked seriously:

"Can you tell me what it is? Maybe I can help you."

"?" Mandragora looked up, staring at Bai Ye with suspicion.

"What mischief are you up to now?" Mandragora clearly didn't trust Bai Ye.

"Because I also need your help in some way. Although you don't have much trust in the Sarkaz, this identity is still somewhat useful," Bai Ye said with a smile, appearing quite sincere.

Even Mandragora was starting to believe it. There was no way around it; Bai Ye's charm was just too high. It wasn't that being handsome was useful; his charm was more of a quality that could inexplicably generate initial trust and goodwill, and even dissolve hostility.

It's basically about looking good and making people feel trustworthy.

This ability rarely comes into play, since Bai Ye often prefers action to words, being straightforward and simple. Moreover, his enemies are usually inhuman, and high charisma is completely ineffective against them.

Fortunately, Mandragora had a strong will and quickly realized that Bai Ye was no good person.

She took a deep breath:

"I would never do anything to betray my leader."

"Why is this your first reaction?" Bai Ye was somewhat speechless.

Is he some kind of major villain? I never expected that Mandragora's first thought would be something like this.

Mandragora rolled his eyes.

"Simply put, I liberated this concentration camp," Bai Ye then said.

"Concentration camps?" Mandragora frowned.

"Oh, those are the factories that hold Londinium civilians," Bai Ye explained.

"Are you with those self-help groups?" Mandragora asked.

"Not really, I just wanted to distract the Sarkaz," Bai Ye explained, half-jokingly.

That's not entirely a lie. Originally, Bai Ye only planned to rescue Kal'tsit's secret messenger, but after seeing the plight of the civilians here, Bai Ye suddenly felt that if he could pull off something bigger, it might have a greater impact on the Sarkaz.

Yes, that's just the kind of contradictory guy he is; he would never admit that he suddenly had a sudden burst of kindness.

Mandragora quickly came to believe this reasoning.

How can I help you?

"I need their password; I don't want to be exposed before I infiltrate."

Bai Ye had inspected the area and found the defenses to be very tight. If he chose not to make a move and expose himself, it would be difficult to infiltrate these factories. Moreover, Bai Ye could vaguely sense that some hidden force was shrouding the entire Londinium, and this feeling became more pronounced the closer he got.

If he acts rashly, he will have to appear before the Sarkaz Royal Court ahead of time.

Other methods weren't entirely out of the question, but they would be a huge waste of time. Bai Ye didn't want to delay any longer; he wanted to resolve the trouble here as soon as possible and complete his plan.

"What do you think? If we can help each other, maybe we can solve each other's problems," Bai Ye suggested.

"..." Mandragora hesitated.

Bai Ye's proposal was indeed quite tempting.

The author says

It's been a busy year-end, I've been working overtime, so updates haven't been very consistent. I've only updated once today.

Looking back on this year, it seems to have been quite unstable, with updates not as frequent as before due to various reasons. I apologize to everyone for that.

We will make improvements in this area next year, at least to earn more full attendance bonuses.

This book is slowly coming to an end, and I can start a new book after it's finished next year.

Finally, I wish everyone a Happy New Year in advance.

Chapter Twenty: Compromise

(I was planning to spend the New Year's holiday writing a lot, but that damn H1N1 flu ruined my plans, and I ended up in bed for four days. Anyway, I hope my brain hasn't been fried. And, comrades, Happy New Year!)

"Damn it, although I don't really want to admit it... but right now, I really can't refuse." Mandragora gritted her teeth and looked at Bai Ye.

Just as Bai Ye had predicted, no matter how temperamental Mandragora was, he didn't have much of a choice at this moment.

Because Bai Ye was certain that this guy wouldn't give in easily, and she must have had a reason for willingly becoming the Sarkaz's watchdog.

"Received. The contract is now established." Bai Ye snapped his fingers.

"Don't get too cocky..." Mandragora muttered to herself. Then, she took a photograph out of her pocket and handed it to Bai Ye.

"What's this?" Bai Ye took it and saw that it was a picture of a young man he didn't recognize.

"His name is Kilian, my friend, and also our spy planted in Londinium. But he was captured by the Sarkaz and is now being held in prison."

Mandragora wondered if he had gone mad by telling such a thing to a guy he had just met, someone who could have been an enemy before today.

However, in reality, all she can rely on now is this seemingly omnipotent guy in front of her.

"I understand, you want to rescue him." Bai Ye nodded and then returned the photo to Mandragora.

He had memorized the appearance of the guy named "Kilian".

Although his name sounds somewhat like Guilliman, he has no connection to the Smurfs or the Second Empire. Judging from the photos, he is just an ordinary young Tara.

"And what brings you here?" Mandragora asked, putting away the photograph.

Bai Ye stretched:

"Looking for someone. I have a friend here, but unfortunately she was captured by the Sarkaz a few days ago."

Mandragora nodded:

"Is your friend a citizen of Londinium?"

"That's right."

"Then you have to go to this factory." Mandragora frowned, then pointed to the location of a factory on the map.

"You've come to the wrong place. If you think they just built some prisons and locked up these Londinium, you're sorely mistaken. They have far more efficient ways of using these slaves."

"And the most recent batch was almost entirely sent there."

Mandragora's tone was light and cheerful; clearly, she had no liking for the Londinium either, and was even somewhat gloating.

"They need workers, so these people keep arresting citizens of Londinium to fill the missing labor force?" Bai Ye nodded.

"Those tyrants who used to bully others never imagined they'd end up in this situation," Mandragora sneered.

"The gentlemen won't get caught on this kind of land." Bai Ye shook his head. "They're just some unfortunate commoners."

"However, any one of them, even the lowest-ranking one, is in a much better situation than the Tara people," Mandragora countered. "In the past, they were the ones sucking the blood of the Tara people, and now, the Sarkaz are simply doing the same thing to them, nothing more."

"Don't let hatred blind you, my dear friend," Bai Ye reminded him with a smile.

"I don't need you to remind me, and besides, I've never admitted we're friends!" Mandragora said angrily, frowning. Bai Ye's tone made her quite unhappy.

However, she still gave Bai Ye the Sarkaz password:

"Different factories, different traffic intersections, they all have different passwords, and they change every day. Fortunately, I have the password for the area where I work. As for other places, those with higher security levels, even I have no way to get the password."

After all, no one would trust these Deepsea soldiers, especially since their leader currently had a rather unusual relationship with Grand Duke Wellington.

Although it's called a password, it's not just a simple code word exchange; that would be too simplistic.

The so-called password is actually a kind of key; only when it matches the one held by the guard can entry be granted.

Bai Ye accepted the pass to the factory, nodded in satisfaction, and then said:

"Then, let me take care of your matter first."

"I hope you've prepared a way out after you've met up with that friend."

Bai Ye didn't finish his sentence. Having a way out wasn't enough; he hoped these Deepsea soldiers wouldn't be so unlucky as to directly alert the Royal Court Army here. Ordinary Sarkaz mercenaries were indeed no match for Mandragora.

However, the general of the Royal Court Army was more than capable of dealing with this arrogant Tara man.

"That's none of your business," Mandragora retorted stubbornly.

However, the look in her eyes when she looked at Bai Ye was full of expectation.

Bai Ye ignored the awkward guy, pushed open the door, and walked out under the surprised gazes of the guards outside.

"He..."

"He's my guest, ignore him," Mandragora told her men.

However, she soon noticed something amiss in the eyes of her soldiers.

Under the strange gazes of the crowd, she took a mirror out of her pocket.

She then understood why everyone had looked that way earlier—in the mirror, her neck was bright red, and there were even obvious scratches.

Having one's neck held in a vulnerable position—if they're not enemies, then their relationship must be exceptionally close. No wonder people are speculating wildly.

"Damn it!" Mandragora cursed, but didn't know how to explain.

It seems there are even more reasons to want to kill Bai Ye now...

Bai Ye was unaware that someone wanted to kill him, nor did he know that his casual attack had gotten Mandragora into trouble.

Compared to the factory, the temporary prison here was not given much importance. Why? Because the factory could continuously supply the Shard with repair materials and provide the Sarkaz army with various standard weapons.

The prisoners in the prisons were merely bargaining chips or people they wanted to pry open; their priority was clearly not high, so they weren't as heavily guarded as the factories. Even Mandragora was allowed to help guard these prisons.

This shows that the so-called prison was of no importance to the Sarkaz. At least, compared to the factory, it was insignificant.

Chapter Twenty-One: Tara's Secret Agent

Bai Ye walked down the prison corridor, surrounded by inmates. The Sarkaz were a race that had endured immense suffering, which meant they understood better than anyone how to inflict pain on others.

The prisoners were tortured terribly.

Bai Ye had no time to pay attention to these pitiful people. He ignored the prisoners screaming in agony, walked past the bloodied and mangled bodies, and arrived at the place where Mandragora's friends were being held.

"Heh, what new way have you come up with to torture me?"

Seemingly sensing someone approaching, the guy closed his eyes and asked with a cold smile.

Bai Ye did not answer him, but instead reached out and touched the door lock. Tiny wind blades danced at his fingertips, severing the lock pin with unimaginable efficiency. The cell door slowly opened at that moment.

Sensing something was wrong, the Tara spy slowly opened his eyes. He had assumed the Sarkaz were about to use some new methods to torture and interrogate him. However, when he opened his eyes, he found an unexpected person standing before him.

"You... who are you?" Tara the spy frowned as he watched Bai Ye easily destroy the lock, enter his cell, and then use the same method to remove the shackles from his hands and feet.

He is free, for now.