Three or four months is enough for Gavin to do a lot of things.
Four months ago, even Gavin himself could not have imagined that he could bring back a group of as many as 40,000 immigrants from Tessel.
When he left Tessel ten months ago, he would never have imagined that he would have completed the journey of more than twenty years in his previous life in just one year, crushing many things.
Even Gavin himself has no way of predicting what brilliant achievements he will achieve in the next three or four months, because some things are not decided by him, but by his enemies. After all, many of his things are decided by him. It was plundered from the enemy's hands.
"Sir, Sir..." Patriarch Janilla called several times before pulling Gavin back from his divergent thoughts.
Gavin responded calmly: "Patriarch, it's still too early for us to talk about this now. We have not yet determined whether the food in the other two granaries is safe or not, nor have we determined the cause of the fire in the central granary. It is better to wait. How about we get to the bottom of everything and discuss the matter?”
Although he had paid for the grain, it was still in the granary of the Golden Sheaf Monastery and he had not yet transported it away. If it caught fire, they would have unshirkable responsibility.
Of course, I also had a responsibility. I just sent people to keep an eye on the Golden Wheatsheaf Monastery on the periphery to prevent them from selling their goods to two families. When I came to transport food, I found that there was no food.
But I never thought that the problem might lie with the granary.
This is a confusing matter that cannot be explained clearly. He will not let the Golden Wheatsheaf Monastery or even the Misty Valley escape easily. No matter what, he has to use this matter to tie them into his chariot.
When Janella heard the same truth, she couldn't help but nodded and said: "I'm too impatient, so let's find out the reason first, and we'll talk about the rest later."
Everyone waited in silence for a while. In this case, it was meaningless to make some unreasonable remarks.
Fortunately, the human-faced python acted very efficiently and did not let them wait long before returning the same way. "Lord, nothing unusual was found in this granary. The mist barrier is intact."
"It's really great. This is a blessing among misfortunes."
"In this way, we thought too much. The fire in the Zhongliang warehouse was not planned by someone, but an isolated accident."
"Before the investigation results come out, don't jump to conclusions. Just in case, the West Granary must also be inspected."
"This is necessary. Be careful in this matter."
After hearing the report from the spirit naga, everyone present couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. At least the situation did not develop in the worst direction.
If all the food in the Golden Sheaf Monastery is burned down, even if Gavin is not crazy, they will go crazy first.
Then they went straight to the west warehouse without stopping and checked the place as usual, but also found no problems.
After eliminating other hidden dangers, everyone's eyes were once again fixed on the fire-infused COFCO warehouse.
More than two hours had passed since they had been struggling. The entire mountain and valley had been drenched by the continuous moderate rain, and the fire in Zhonggangcang showed no signs of stopping.
"become!"
Accompanied by a mysterious and clear drink, the huge magic power shook out from Catherine's body. Her figure faded little by little until she became as ethereal as a ghost. This power began to spread through her body, It was passed to Gavin and Janella who were holding hands with her.
The one who casts the nine-ring spell to travel in the spirit world is naturally Ms. Strategy’s first choice, Catherine.
There are already a lot of extraordinary spellcasters under Gavin, but among the quasi-legends and legends who can cast nine-level spells, there is currently only one spirit naga. Due to physical reasons, he is still semi-disabled, and the spells he can cast are very fixed.
There are a few quasi-legendary and legendary casters he is familiar with, but they all have their own problems. The one he can easily mobilize is the one in front of him.
The frequency with which she has been asked to take action recently makes Gavin himself feel a little embarrassed. She has now left the conqueror's army and is taking the road construction team seconded from Gavin back to the green field. According to her original plan, The roads around the strategic battle fortress were opened.
But she didn't seem to leave, and Gavin invited her back at every turn.
Most of the time, we respond to requests and there are no additional charges.
In Gavin's view, this is the most expensive thing. The debt of gratitude is the hardest to repay. When the other party wants something from him, it is difficult for him to refuse. And something that can make a legendary god choose to ask for help, It's certainly not a small incident.
Soon, all five members of Gavin's group entered the spirit state. To be more precise, three of them, one snake and one wolf.
The snake is naturally the spirit naga Alhassan, and the wolf is the dog demon Andrew.
The former is transferred here to use his reincarnation ability to perform some difficult and dangerous tasks.
The latter was brought in to make use of its tracking ability. Brother Kragg, the manager of the Central Granary Warehouse, had to be picked out even if he turned into ashes, because this direct party was often the key to the whole matter.
The disappearance of the other party has a strong feeling of concealment.
Traveling together in different worlds is also known as group etherification.
It is to transform the caster and the people connected to her into a spiritual state.
The unique relationship between the etheric plane and the material plane is also called the spirit body. It is a place where spirit creatures such as ghosts and ghosts often appear.
Gavin is very adaptable to the new state, because it is exactly the same as the real dream of the Dragon Oak Dream, but compared to the colorful and almost distorted Dragon Oak Dream.
In the state of the spirit body traveling with him in the spirit world, his vision tends to be black and white, especially when looking at the material plane, it is hazy and distorted, as if he and the weeping witch Filancini are separated by countless layers. The first meeting was very similar.
The terrifying tongues of flames also became dim, unable to harm Gavin and the others at all.
Spiritual bodies are not immune to fire, but as long as they are in the etheric plane and do not enter the material plane, these material fires will not be able to enter the spiritual world and harm them at all.
"We have twenty-three minutes. Follow me closely. Don't turn directly 180 degrees. Doing so will easily lead to deep ether. When adjusting the direction, you can only turn 90 degrees at most." Catherine reminded.
After saying that, he took the lead and walked towards the burning Zhonggang Granary. The feeling was very strange. Even in the world of raging flames, Gavin and the others' perspective was severely restricted. They could only see seventeen or eighteen at the farthest. meters away, there was a hazy fog. As they moved forward, the fog was broken, and it was like exploring with a torch in the dark.
This is determined by the characteristics of the spiritual world. It is in a state of constant change, especially the shallow ether. It can be regarded as the gap between the material plane and the etheric plane. It changes with the changes of the material plane and those spiritual bodies. And changing.
If there are spiritual beings around and enter the shallow ether, this world will spread out.
If there are no spiritual bodies around, then the shallow ether is regarded as non-existent, and there are only the material plane and the etheric plane that are separated from each other.
In other words, as Gavin and the others move forward, the shallow ether keeps appearing and disappearing. Behind them is a strange world, following them like a shadow. That is the deep ether, and those colorful pools are like a A portal to a different world.
The fiery red one leads to the fire elemental plane.
The blue one leads to the water elemental plane.
The earthy one leads to the earth elemental plane.
The colorless ones pass through the elemental plane of air.
The colorful ones have passed through other material planes, and may also be from other places in this material plane.
The location of the deep ether portal is random. It is either a portal that has already been set up, or a location with highly condensed elements and extreme plane characteristics. For example, the fire elemental plane is usually the center of a fire storm or a pool of surging magma. The water elemental plane is in the whirlpool, the air elemental plane is in the eye of the storm, and so on.
All in all, if you don’t have enough strength, don’t use the teleportation pool in the etheric plane easily, because no one knows where you will appear next second, what you need to face, and the possibility of receiving a warm welcome. Far lower than the sword plus body or extreme environment.
Ether teleportation is not within the scope of Gavin's research today. Their attention is mainly focused on the central grain warehouse shrouded in blazing flames.
"The fog barrier here has been completely destroyed." Catherine said with an extremely sure tone.
"Was it destroyed by magic before the fire broke out? Or was it burned by the fire?" Gavin asked.
The result is the same, but the nature is different.
There is more than one way to break the fog barrier, and the Nine Rings Wish Technique is just the simplest and crudest one.
Magic or natural disasters that can devastate the entire area, especially the enveloping area, can also destroy it, such as earthquakes or legendary magic.
The entire city no longer exists. How did the fog barrier that shrouded it survive?
The high-concentration fire element environment created by the fire in Zhonggangcang completely changed the elemental balance and was enough to destroy many things.
"There is no way to tell, but in an environment with a fire barrier, if it burns to this extent, it is very likely to be suppressed and destroyed in advance." Catherine replied conservatively.
"Are the vents here magical? Or physical?" Gavin turned to ask Patriarch Janella.
There is naturally a reason for asking this question.
The fire here has penetrated deep into the interior of the Zhongliang warehouse. The fire is not only no smaller than the well-ventilated hole, but is even more intense, indicating that there is still a lot of fresh air entering here.
If it is a physical property, the vent can still be explained, but if it is a magical property integrated with the mist barrier, then a new question will arise. Where does the combustion-supporting air come from?
"They are of magical nature. They should collapse together with the collapse of the mist barrier. This is the second fire prevention system here to deal with the fire after the mist barrier collapses. When the air here is burned clean, the flames will It will gradually extinguish and be able to save most of the food.”
Janella said solemnly, "There is a second air inlet here, or a second entrance."
"There's something wrong with the cave here. It seems to have just been excavated." The dog demon warned loudly from the side.
"This passage does not belong to the granary. No, the mist barrier has the ability to prevent burrowing. Why is there a tunnel that does not belong to the granary?" Janela suddenly changed her face.
The development of things was completely beyond her expectation.
The fire in the Zhongliang warehouse was bizarre enough, but now there was a tunnel that didn't belong here.
A fire occurs in an instant. A tunnel that leads to nowhere can't be dug in a day or two.
A series of new derivative questions will appear inside. Who dug this tunnel? Where does it lead? When was it dug?
As for what they were dug out for, there is no need to ask. It must be for the food here.
"The Mist Barrier is not omnipotent." Catherine replied as she moved towards the tunnel. "A carefully worded seven-ring limited prayer spell can temporarily suppress the ability to dig holes. However, if you want to do it without destroying the Mist Barrier, If the boundary is intact, they must fully understand the layout of this fog barrier, and it is best to proceed from the inside."
The implication of this strategist lady's words is obvious, this matter must be coordinated both internally and externally.
"There is a charred corpse here, a male. He died before being charred. There is no soul breath left. His soul has been harvested in advance using soul spells." The dog demon is professional in this aspect. Even in the spirit state, he could easily find out the condition of the corpse.
Janela pointed to the Saint Emblem of Chantia on the chest of the charred corpse that had fused with his sternum and was still shining in the high temperature and said: "This Holy Emblem belongs to Brother Kragg, the manager of this warehouse. .”
This basically proves the identity of this charred corpse. The monk's holy symbol is an extremely personal thing, which is more important than his own life and will not leave easily.
The only remaining possibility is that someone else uses Brother Kragg's holy symbol to create the illusion of his death and mislead him.
"Enter this tunnel and see where it leads." Gavin said crisply.
Regardless of whether this body belongs to Brother Kragg or not, since the soul is gone, the useful information that can be collected is extremely limited, so it is better to follow this tunnel.
Perhaps from this, clues can be found and the culprit can be found.
The evidence is clear enough. The fire in the granary in the Golden Sheaf Monastery was not an accident, but man-made sabotage. Now they need to find out who the enemy is.
Being in the spirit world gave Gavin enough confidence. Even if these unknown enemies deployed back-ups in this tunnel, the possibility of harming them was very slim.
"Food, there is food scattered in this tunnel. This is not just a fire, it is also covering up evidence of food theft." Soon they found a large amount of scattered food in the tunnel.
"This tunnel was not dug manually or by magic. It is very much like the traces excavated by ground-digging purple insects." Everyone quickly added a new piece of the puzzle to this matter.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the tunnel is different. Many places are very smooth, as if they have been plastered with gray mud, but there are some different shades on the ground, as if a huge creature is crawling here. .
The tunnel was about one kilometer long, digging straight through the mountain on the back of the Golden Wheatsheaf Monastery, and appeared halfway up the mountain on the other side.
"How is this possible? How long have they been opening the tunnel? How much grain have they stolen from our warehouses? I will visit the three granaries every ten days!"
Seeing the scene outside the tunnel clearly, Patriarch Janella of the Golden Wheatsheaf Monastery went a little crazy, her face full of disbelief.
Because there is a recently abandoned small camp here, with grain packages belonging to the Golden Wheat Sheaf Monastery scattered everywhere, as well as a large number of delivery vehicles, all indicating that this was once a transit station where a large amount of grain was transported.
"I'm afraid your inspection was superficial, and you didn't check one by one at all." Gavin kicked a grain bag filled with soil in front of Patriarch Janella, "They don't even use magic, they just use the simplest They steal the beams and change the pillars, and use the soil here to exchange for your food.
Regardless of whether the scorched corpse belonged to Brother Kragg or not, he was the biggest suspect, because this kind of long-term theft could not be carried out without coordinating the inside and outside. "
In the second half of this artificial tunnel, where the granary fire could not reach them, they all lifted the effect of the "Traveling to Another World" spell.
Although this spell allows them to avoid most traps, it also prevents them from interacting with the material world and unable to better collect evidence.
For the sake of evidence, some risks must be taken.
These food thieves obviously left in a hurry and did not leave much behind in the tunnel, including this transit camp.
From beginning to end, they had no intention of concealing their identity, or in other words, there was no way to conceal it.
After all, arson is one thing, stealing food is another. The noise they made was so big that it was impossible to cover it up.
"Why did he do this? He is a devout believer of the Mother Earth." Janella was unable to defend herself, nor could she defend Brother Krag.
Because what Gavin said was true, although she would conduct routine inspections of the granary every ten days, she mainly inspected the operation of the granary and randomly checked the general accounts and quantities. She did not pay attention to whether there was any grain in the granary. Being transferred.
The reason is that this kind of thing has never happened before, and she trusts these granary managers too much.
"There are too many possibilities. It may be out of your own selfish greed, or it may be due to our temptation." The dog demon grinned and showed a scary smile, "But how can you be sure that it is us? To induce you to fall? Or is it because of your own corruption that we came to the door?"
"Who told you to talk too much? Hurry up and collect clues for me." Gavin kicked the dog demon aside unceremoniously. This guy gave him a little face, but he didn't know his last name.
"He is right. We do impose a lot of our sins on the devil." Janella said with a gloomy expression.
(End of chapter)
