Spy

Although Li Lin asked Angela go easy on him, he was ultimately annoyed by the old warrior's stubbornness, as he didn't have the time or energy to waste on it. Therefore, when the old warrior declared he would "rather die than comply," Li Lin readily made him keep his promise and then obtained the information through soul interrogation. Faced with the powerful magic, the old warrior's soul offered no resistance whatsoever, completely confessing before being sent to the world of death by Li Lin.

That's why I hate prisoners of war.

After obtaining the information he wanted, Li Lin stood up and stared with displeasure at the lifeless corpse of the soldier before him.

"Interrogating them is a waste of time and energy; on the contrary, the dead are much more likely to talk—at least they won't lie."

"So, Master, what have you discovered?"

Angela sat down curiously beside her and asked.

"This information is quite interesting. If these circumstances are true, my ideas might actually be useful..."

With that, Li Lin clapped his hands, seemingly not intending to discuss the matter any further.

"Forget it, let's talk about these things later. Let's solve the current problem first."

Dealing with the ambush was a piece of cake for Li Lin and Angela. Not to mention that these people had stationed most of their forces at the entrance to the Black Road and the passages on both sides to prevent anyone from entering or escaping. Judging from this arrangement, they were obviously unaware of the presence of mages among them; otherwise, they would have known that such a small-scale ambush would be completely ineffective against mages capable of teleportation.

Therefore, when Li Lin and Angela reappeared before the group of merchants, Old Pikachu even wondered if he was hallucinating from thinking about them day and night. Only after confirming that Li Lin and Angela were real people and not hallucinations did he happily run up and hurriedly bow to the two of them.

"Oh, my lords, you're finally back... You have no idea what happened to us while you were gone..."

Then, the fat merchant quickly recounted what had happened. While his caravan was waiting there, these damned soldiers appeared out of nowhere and tried to attack them. At first, the mercenaries managed to hold them off, but as more and more soldiers appeared, the situation became dire. After losing several men, they had to use the caravan's wagons to create a barrier, keeping the soldiers out. Once they surrounded the area, the soldiers made no further moves. Although the fat merchant and his mercenaries tried to break out several times, they all failed. Moreover, the area was sparsely populated, and even if they sent out signals, they wouldn't find any reinforcements. The Black Road was inherently hidden, not easily found in crowded areas. Therefore, after several failed attempts to break out, they had no choice but to give up and become easy prey. Fortunately, the caravan had brought plenty of rations, which allowed the mercenaries to survive.

As for the villagers, the fat merchant suspected they were in cahoots with the soldiers. After all, they were ambushed at night, and before that, the village hadn't reacted at all; it seemed they were definitely accomplices of those soldiers. He had initially thought it was just an ordinary mountain village, but now it looked completely different. At this point, the fat merchant beat his chest in regret. It seemed his misjudgment had hit him hard. However, on the other hand, since everyone had chosen this path, these dangers were something that should naturally be taken into account.

What do you think of those guys?

Li Lin had no interest in the fat merchant's Zhuge Liang, so he directly interrupted the merchant's self-reflection and asked him a question. This finally brought the fat merchant back to his senses from his complaints and regrets, and he regained his true businessman nature.

These guys are definitely not ordinary robbers.

He began to speak.

"Even the most cunning bandits couldn't be so well-organized. Those mercenaries aren't novices either; they deliberately created openings, hoping to take down these damned guys. Ordinary bandits would probably have charged in like idiots, but not a single one of them fell for it. Even if there are clever people among the bandits, not all of them are this smart. Besides, the Northlands Mercenary Corps has a formidable reputation; ordinary thieves wouldn't dare mess with them. Yet this time they were beaten so badly... I suspect they must be the regular army of some country."

"Correct answer."

Li Lin nodded slightly in agreement with the fat merchant's guess. Then, he said something that left the fat merchant and the mercenary captain speechless.

"These guys are Kudel's soldiers."

"..."

"Kudel's soldiers?"

The fat businessman screamed in disbelief, took a step back, and was completely at a loss for words.

"What are Kudel's soldiers doing here? And how did they get here?!"

The answer is obvious, isn't it?

Li Lin looked down at the ground.

"It seems there are others who, like us, are interested in this underground passage."

"But, but..."

This gave the fat merchant a general idea of the reason. Clearly, Kudel's relationship with Lalia seemed to be deteriorating, so they somehow found this legendary Black Road and transported soldiers there. This was a classic case of malicious intent, and the village was likely built by Kudel's army for disguise and reconnaissance. Even worse, they might have killed the original inhabitants and replaced them. After all, this place was sparsely populated; if they wanted to do something, it would be extremely difficult to be discovered. However...

"But this passage is occupied by the Dark Elf. Even Kudel's army shouldn't be able to get through so easily."

The fat merchant was a hundred percent skeptical. He considered himself to know a thing or two about the Dark Elf. Would they back down because of a nation's military might? That was not something those dangerous Dark Elf would do. But if, as Li Lin said, these warriors were indeed Kudel's soldiers, then things could become very troublesome. Judging from their well-trained appearance, they didn't seem like fugitives.

"However, they did come here. Considering their current location, it's more likely they arrived via the Black Road."

Li Lin appeared quite calm, although he was actually quite surprised when he received this information from the veteran.

"Therefore, it's highly likely they've reached some kind of agreement with the Dark Elf, or at least previously reached one."

After explaining to the fat merchant and the mercenary captain, Li Lin didn't say anything more. He walked to the side and contacted Nia through magic, telling her what had happened. Like Li Lin, Nia was also very puzzled.

"Kudel's army wants to pass through the Black Road. The Dark Elf couldn't possibly be completely unaware of this. Go ask Maya. If she doesn't know either, then go ask the other powerful city matriarchs and find out the truth from them. See what's really going on."

Nia responded quickly to Li Lin's order, knowing that this was no small matter.

From Li Lin's perspective, he absolutely did not believe that these Dark Elf would allow humans to pass so easily; he could sense that some conspiracy was lurking behind it. Although he could now deduce a general outline, it was still difficult to say exactly what it was. Just as he gave Nia his orders, Angela also used telepathy to call the two sisters and the remaining mercenaries back to the caravan. They were originally responsible for patrolling the outer perimeter, but according to Mina and Fina, there seemed to be quite a few soldiers on the outer perimeter as well, but their attention was mostly focused on the cave entrance, so they did not notice these few "escaped fish." In her report, Mina mentioned that there were at least a hundred people guarding the cave entrance, which was no small number.

After assessing the situation, Li Lin gathered everyone and ordered them to rest as soon as possible before setting off. The mercenary captain was the first to express his confusion about his order.

"My lord, the situation is critical, and we should indeed get out of here as soon as possible. But where should we go...?"

"Don't forget why we're here."

Li Lin waved his hand.

"Our destination is naturally the Black Road. Let's head for the Black Road. Any further questions?"

"But... sir... there are many Kudel soldiers there..."

This time, it was the portly businessman who spoke up. He simply couldn't understand why Li Lin would choose to walk right into their trap.

"What if they come again, we..."

"Is that even a question? Fat pig?"

Angela, sitting on the roof of the carriage next to him, snapped her fan shut, rudely interrupting the fat merchant's question. She revealed a cold, wicked smile, so dazzling it was almost blinding.

"Naturally, kill them all, leave no one alive."