Surveillance, Anomaly

Bede City, Lord's Mansion.

Ka Rong stood in front of the French windows, sunlight streaming down his body, and he was happy about what he had just heard.

"Si Tan, the adventurers found the demons' location ahead of schedule, that's quite unexpected." He didn't turn around, because he didn't want the Bull Horn Helmet mercenary to see his expression.

"Much earlier than expected."

The mercenary named Si Tan stared at Ka Rong's retreating figure, his tone sounding somewhat subdued.

"Yes, it's too early. Those of your own kind that you want to get rid of haven't had a chance to do anything big yet."

Ka Rong said, "Just like we agreed at the beginning, you go and help. After all, I can't let my soldiers set foot on another nobleman's territory without permission. Negotiations would be a waste of time."

Si Tan stared at him for a while, then said in a deep voice, "If you're not happy with my plan, just say so. Don't try these tests next time."

"Hmm." Ka Rong's reaction seemed to indicate that he understood.

After Si Tan's heavy footsteps faded away, his tense shoulders finally relaxed, and he muttered to himself:

"It seems he can accept a little bit of pushing his luck."

From the beginning, the remnant of the demon race he told Da Er was referring to Frog Head; he knew where those guys were hiding.

He was also the one who deliberately revealed the situation of the Verdant Dungeon Lu Lu Wo, inducing them to do the strategy.

What is the purpose? Naturally, it is to guide adventurers to discover the traces of the demons on their own.

Ka Rong's difficulty stemmed from some disagreements with Si Tan.

Si Tan is a strange demon who claims to be different from ordinary demons. He calls those demons who can't move when they see blood "defective products," and for unknown reasons, he is keen on hunting them.

What he wants is to hunt down defective products, and if possible, it would be good to cultivate a human organization to help him hunt down defective products.

The two agreed on developing the Farron Guard, but disagreed on other matters, such as when to harvest the Frog Head.

Si Tan has a savage, warlike spirit at his core, supposedly because his parents ate many barbarian warriors before he was born.

Therefore, he wanted to wait until the Frog Head had drunk its fill of Spring Sun City's blood and become powerful before engaging him in a great battle.

"How could I possibly let you do that?"

Ka Rong looked in the direction of Spring Sun City and muttered to himself, "Before my identity as your collaborator, I am first and foremost a human being."

"Humans cannot stand by and watch their fellow human beings become nourishment for the demons."

His expression was righteous and awe-inspiring. If the people of the Astar Alliance were here, they would all forgive his sin of cooperating with the demons and give him a thumbs up.

However, Ka Rong's clothes on his back were completely soaked.

His little trick was naturally seen through, but luckily the other party didn't hold it against him. Perhaps he can change his strategy in future negotiations.

In this collaboration, he was actually at a disadvantage. He needed Si Tan's help, but Stan didn't necessarily have to cooperate with him.

Therefore, guiding Lu Lu Wo to discover the Frog Head was a decision he made after a long period of ideological work.

He had planned it all out: if Si Tan got angry, he would immediately back down. But...

"I didn't expect that guy to be so easy to talk to."

Ka Rong breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Lu Wo took a deep breath.

"Aisi, can you track it down?"

Beside her, Aisi, who had temporarily transformed herself into a canine Orcs using magic, was diligently inhaling the scent of the demon's remains. Hearing Lu Lu Wo's question, she nodded.

"Very good."

Lu Lu Wo patted her head, and she showed a rather enjoyable expression.

Three hours had passed since their conversation with Da Er. During those three hours, they had rested well after coming out and were now in the best possible condition to search for traces of the demons.

Aisi and Aimu can only use tracking magic through items lost by the tracked. Clearly, the remains of a demon are not considered lost items.

Therefore, the only option was a simpler and more direct one: to turn Aisi into a canine Orcs with a keen sense of smell.

The other party didn't want to do this at first because she had transformed once in the Zane Dungeon, and that transformation left her with considerable psychological trauma.

As everyone knows, a leopard can't change its spots, and there are monsters in Farron Keep and the Forest Area that throw similar things.

Orcs created through magic have flaws; for example, they sometimes cannot control their impulses.

Aisi will never forget the way she chased after the Peach Hair Beast, the Lion Ape, and a bunch of smelly monsters— Lu Lu Wo recorded it for her with Image Stone.

She transformed again today because her hatred for the demon race helped her overcome her psychological trauma.

Aisi walked ahead, while the rest of the New Strategy Team dispersed and followed her at a distance, trying not to appear as a large group.

Lu Lu Wo's face practically screamed "preoccupied." How did a seemingly boring strategy trip suddenly turn into an unexpected event like searching for traces of the demons?

By the way, could the demons who appeared in Spring Sun City be the same ones who escaped from the Battle of Val City? If so, it's too much of a coincidence.

Lu Lu Wo watched the sun gradually set in the west. Night would be a good time to act, but what if the demons also chose the night to do something unspeakable?

This time, she only intended to find traces of the demons, and preferably determine their numbers and strength, without wanting to engage in a direct confrontation.

The main character in this story is the Farron Guard.

Although not explicitly stated, Lu Lu Wo, as a Furious Rajang theater enthusiast, has shifted her pursuit of "destiny" from theater to reality.

When she learned that the survivors of Val City had formed the Farron Guard and swore revenge against the demons, the overwhelming sense of destiny almost made her faint.

"My job is to build a grand stage for them."

As Lu Lu Wo was lost in thought, the scenery around them gradually became desolate.

They had just passed through the main city of Spring Sun City and then through ordinary residential areas, and now they had finally arrived at the place where darkness most easily breeds— the Lower City.

Such places seem to exist everywhere. Most of the novels she's read and the plays she's seen feature demons born from Lower City, and it seems that people's perception of these places is that they are dark, cold, and violent.

In fact, due to the new policies promulgated by the previous King, various cities have begun to manage the Lower City. Although they are powerless to change the lives of the people inside, they can still do most things such as forcing them to clean up and sending guards to patrol and maintain order.

The Spring Sun City is well-governed; there are no unpleasant smells in the Lower City. Although it looks desolate at first glance, sanitation and order are still maintained.

Lu Lu Wo saw children playing in the street. In cities with poor security, you would never see children on the streets of Lower City.

Is it hidden in here?

Lu Lu Wo frowned, sensing something amiss.

"Due to the unique nature of Spring Sun City, most residents are engaged in agriculture-related work. These poor people are basically farmers, leading very regular lives, and many even know each other," Bei Er Tuo suddenly said.

"In addition, the number of outsiders in this city has decreased recently, and even fewer people are entering the Lower City. Once an outsider comes in, it will definitely attract attention. You can see that the people around us are looking at us curiously. If there were more outsiders, the locals wouldn't look at us like this."

Lu Lu Wo nodded. "You mean, the demons either hide to the point where they don't need to show themselves, or they disguise themselves as locals?"

"As expected of the captain."

The demons did indeed demonstrate the ability to transform into humans in the Bede City. No, even now, people are still unsure whether it was a human transforming into a demon or a demon transforming into a human.

Moreover, if one transforms into a demon and then back into a human, wouldn't they become mentally challenged? How could they possibly hide it?

"Woof, Captain, found it! It tastes exactly the same."

Aisi suddenly stopped, and following the direction she pointed, everyone saw...

A middle-aged man playing hopscotch with his child?

The child kept calling out "Dad," and their behavior was quite intimate, indicating that the two must have a very good relationship.

An ordinary person would hesitate upon seeing this scene, but Lu Lu Wo did not. The moment Aisi pointed at the middle-aged man, she added him to her enemy list.

The New Strategy Team unconditionally trusts their teammates.

"Monitor him and find the other demons."

Although they didn't know how the middle-aged man had disguised himself so perfectly, they only needed to keep an eye on him and follow the clues to find his accomplices.

All of this work had to be completed within three days, a fleeting period of time.

Because the Farron Guard will arrive here in three days at most!

When Lu Lu Wo received this promise from Da Er, she was so surprised that she was speechless.

You rode a wolf all the way from Bede City to get here in three days. Is there a griffin mixed in with your wolf blood?

Da Er spoke with such conviction that Lu Lu Wo believed him. Since the other party was so proactive, he also had to do his job well.

That night, the New Strategy Team dispersed throughout the Lower City, with some members monitoring the middle-aged man and others searching for other suspicious individuals.

Earl Ka Rong said that there wouldn't be too many of these demons, so they might all be hiding in the Lower City.

That night, everything was normal. Lu Lu Wo noticed that the middle-aged man got up in the middle of the night and thought he was about to give himself away, but he turned out to be looking for something to eat for his suddenly hungry child.

Watching the father and son chuckle as they gnawed on the barely edible bread slices by the faint starlight, Lu Lu Wo's furrowed brows never relaxed.

The next day, the man's routine was normal: he went to work, worked on a farm outside the city, and returned home in the evening, bringing back a few ears of corn that were not of good quality and had been thrown away by the farmer—even Spring Sun City grows ordinary vegetables.

Lu Lu Wo recorded everyone the man had met that day, even those he only exchanged glances with. There were many people, and she had her own ways of monitoring her.

The middle-aged man and his child went to bed after happily finishing their boiled corn. This time, they didn't get up in the middle of the night, so it seems they had a good meal.

The next day, the man acted no differently than the day before, just like an ordinary person.

Bei Er Tuo and his group also sent word that they had found several people who had been exposed to the demonic scent, but they all behaved normally, just like the middle-aged man.

Things are getting increasingly bizarre.

Lu Lu Wo stared at the middle-aged men until they fell asleep, without showing any unusual behavior.

Over the past few days, she even considered leaving them a few silver coins while they slept, if the man was alright.

She saw a reflection of herself and her grandmother in the father and son, and her feelings were complicated.

"Squeak"

The door suddenly opened.

What's wrong? Is the child hungry again? Lu Lu Wo casually turned her head to look, but her expression suddenly became serious.

The middle-aged man walked forward with a blank expression and stiff demeanor, as if he had been subjected to a soul-stealing spell.

Something is really wrong!

Lu Lu Wo glanced at the sleeping child in the house, a hint of pity flashing in her eyes, but she quickly regained her composure and followed lightly afterward.

Her figure blended perfectly into the night, making it possible for her to compete for a role with Gotham City's biggest capitalist.

It wasn't just the men acting strangely; doors in the Lower City were opening one after another, and each time one opened, a dazed person would walk out.

The New Strategy Team quickly assembled, and all the targets they were monitoring showed abnormalities.

The people sleeping in the Lower City were completely unaware of these sleepwalking guys who got up in the middle of the night.

If you count carefully, there are at least twenty people sleepwalking on the street.

Are they heading to the underground city? We're on the right track!

They crawled through the hidden sewers, bypassed the city guards, and headed towards the underground city, soaking wet.

The Verdant Dungeon hadn't closed yet, but there was no one around, only a few torches burning forlornly.

Lu Lu Wo suddenly stopped, because in front of the sleepwalkers, several people dressed in black robes, whose faces could not be seen, had suddenly appeared.

They couldn't be called human; the stench of demons emanating from them was almost overwhelming.

There is no doubt that these are the demons they have been searching for these past few days, but why are they gathering near the dungeon?

Do demons also explore and conquer dungeons?

"Is this all that was summoned?" asked the leader, a man in black robes, his voice punctuated by the croaking of frogs.

"We can only gather these people in a short period of time."

"The rest remained in the city."

There are more inside Spring Sun City!?

"Ah, staying in the city isn't a bad idea. Their lives are in my hands," the man in black said. "With just one order, they will become the best bombs. Even if I am defeated, I will still have enough means to threaten humanity."

The members of the New Strategy Team exchanged glances, and at Lu Lu Wo's signal, Bei Er Tuo and Aisi immediately ran towards the city.

"Those bombs are well hidden; I don't believe anyone can find them. But if they do, I'll blow them up in the air and let those rats hiding in the dark taste the effects of an explosion!"

The man in black robes suddenly raised his head, revealing a deformed Frog Head, and glared fiercely at Lu Lu Wo.

"Do you want it to explode, Miss Mouse?"

Ha, he did find us after all. I guessed it from the beginning, but how did he find out?

Lu Lu Wo leaped up and stood on the treetop, looking down at the demons.

Before she could say anything, the Frog Head skipped the cutscene and roared, "Kill them!"

He held up a strange, round, bright red ball. If Gong Qiying were there, he would definitely recognize it as the Fallen Devil Egg.

The next second, all the sleepwalkers present mutated into twisted monsters, their roars echoing incessantly.

Lu Lu Wo stared coldly at the Meat Mountain that had mutated from a middle-aged man.