The afterglow of the setting sun once again shone on the hills of Fenghua Town. The afterglow of the setting sun seemed to flow with the flying leaves, and then passed by everyone. Running on the street leading to the top of the mountain, Duan Qingwei never thought that things would develop to this point in the end.
If you give him enough time to think, maybe he won't let the current tragic situation happen in front of him. He may make different choices, find ways to avoid some possible consequences, or simply find a place to hide - even if it's another time. Even in the worst case, it is better than pushing yourself to the forefront and then throwing yourself away while carrying the blame.
But now think about it, how did things develop to this point... Oh, by the way, everything started from Fengwu Square.
The current mayor of Fenghua Town, who seemed to have been captured by a dream, seemed not to have expected such a strange thing to happen - his subordinates ran back at such a critical moment and shouted out orders. It's hard not to be suspicious of a word, but by the time a concerned person ran to the alley to check the situation, nothing could be found.
They didn't even find a body or a trace of blood.
However, in a hurry, no one present would notice these small details, especially the aboriginals, who had begun to look at the mayor with inexplicable eyes, who was previously out of their reach. Feeling the distrustful eyes of the people, the usually aloof old man seemed to have no choice but to do anything. He just lowered his head and remained silent. He did not stop the panic reactions of his subordinates on both sides. He seemed to be in some strange state. among. It wasn't until the black-clothed scholar opposite couldn't bear the pain and coughed twice that a few onlookers who looked like members of the public came over with some ill intentions. One of them was wearing luxurious clothes. The man took the lead and walked out. He seemed to have some status. He looked around, then clenched his fists, and asked the still silent old man as if he mustered up the courage: "Rama... .Mayor.”
"Have you not......"
"I didn't expect you to be here, Chris." The old man seemed to wake up from his dream, but judging from his expression, it seemed that he was not surprised at all: "And I didn't expect..."
"You will doubt me too."
"But just now..."
"I can guarantee that." The old man's voice suddenly rose a little, interrupting everyone's judgment of his malice in this way: "I have fulfilled my responsibilities to every citizen of Fenghua Town."
As if delivering a speech on a grand occasion, the wrinkled old man raised his hands high and expressed his emotions to everyone present in a righteous tone: "I... Like you, I deeply love this land and this town. Whenever those beautiful petals float in front of me, I feel extremely happy because those represent the beauty of Fenghua Town. They appeared peacefully and completely before my eyes once again."
"And the kind and honest citizens of Fenghua Town give me the same feeling...the same!"
"What reason do I have for not protecting you, and why don't I work hard for you?"
"Chris, Wendy, oh, and Kampla, please believe me, I have been here for more than ten years, and my feelings for this place are no less than any of you..."
"These beautiful words will not help you get rid of suspicion, Mr. Mayor." Fusheng Lumeng on the opposite side once again interrupted the other party's passionate speech: "Instead of using these gorgeous words to express your loyalty, it is better to Please explain carefully...what exactly happened in the alley just now?"
Everyone's eyes once again turned to the old man because of the words of the scholar in black. This old man, who was not wearing a formal suit as usual, seemed to have lost his usual composure. He quietly lowered his arm. , looked at everyone present with indifferent eyes. After a while, he excitedly grabbed the top hat in his hand and threw it to the ground as if waking up from a big dream.
"You want me to explain! How can I explain! How do I know what happened in that alley! I...I...I don't know that person at all!"
There was silence.
"I know you don't believe it, but this is the fact! Today I was invited to watch this..." He pointed at the scholar in black opposite him: "The duel between the two adventurers ended up with a big incident. There are so many things that I don’t even know about, and none of my subordinates has told me the reason for the explosion! But then a ‘subordinate’ suddenly appeared and told me that the thing failed? Hahahaha!”
The old man waved his hands: "Failed? What failed? What failed? God knows!"
No one spoke.
"You want to explain, this is my explanation, it's very simple - I came here, and I didn't know anything like you! The result is because of a guy who came out of nowhere and now I can't even find anyone. A word from the person who arrived——"
The old man stopped waving his arms. In the strangely quiet atmosphere of the whole place, he put away his somewhat hysterical state and picked up the top hat on the ground again.
"I know..." The old man took a deep breath and seemed to calm down his mood: "A lot of things have happened in Fenghua Town recently, which makes you..."
He pointed at the townspeople of Fenghua Town, and then pointed at Fusheng Limeng: "And you all are a little... anxious, which is good. It shows that you are all concerned about the safety of Fenghua Town. You are a good citizen, but you cannot arbitrarily use some strange and inexplicable doubts to relieve your uneasiness. This method is wrong."
"For the sake of our friendship over the past ten years, I will not pursue...your unreasonable accusations against a nobleman."
"But we have some other evidence..."
"Stop mentioning any of your strange evidence!"
Before Fu Sheng Lu Meng could finish speaking, Mayor Rama, who had tidied up his clothes, waved his hand and roughly interrupted the other party's continuous disruption.
"You outsiders from far away are always full of distrust towards us Fenghua Town residents, right?" The old mayor turned around, took two steps back and forth, then waved his hands angrily and faced the others again. Person: "Well, in that case..."
"Then let me talk about the investigation of those previous things!"
Everyone's breathing involuntarily became lighter. Only those players who have not left yet can observe the sudden changes with a slightly more relaxed attitude. Many thoughtful people have already sensed the possibility that Fenghua Town is about to be shaken, so they no longer look down upon the loser as they did when the duel just ended.
Because he seems to be the leader of this change.
As Duan Qing and others know more things than others, their thoughts are naturally different from others. However, within the team, Duan Qing, Mengzhu and others also have some differences in their feelings - the little girl is about to be unlucky. The mayor has always been gloating about others' misfortunes, but Duan Qing, who has met him twice, will not believe that the old mayor who has always shown an aristocratic temperament, is calm and cunning, will do this because of this little bit. Waterloo by accident.
What happened next confirmed his suspicions, and was even more...unacceptable than he had imagined.
"The bandits near Fenghua Town have been around for a long time, and they are getting more and more rampant. Recently they have committed major crimes. How can we, the parents of Fenghua Town, not pay attention to such things!" The old man patted his hands. He put on his top hat and put on a state of recall: "So after the Kalon Pass incident happened, I immediately sent people from the city guard to investigate. Not long ago, they just handed me the investigation report... in front of me.”
"With a fair attitude, I should conduct some more detailed investigations behind this matter to determine the authenticity of the conclusions, but now...I have to make the results of the investigation public first. .”
"Patch's people didn't find many valuable clues at the scene of Kalon Pass, but they still found some... decisive things." The old man looked around, especially those with status. Townspeople: "They found some strange black powdery substance on the ground nearby..."
"After their analysis, these black powders should be some components of the original blue iron ore."
The ominous premonition from before arose in Duan Qing's heart again.
"From this, we concluded that the identities of these bandits who once lurked nearby may be related to blue iron ore. As we all know, the only blue iron ore near Fenghua Town is the Ankaras mine near Lanshan Village. The hole will produce the fruit.”
The people around me looked at me and I looked at you, and they all began to think deeply.
"The miners in Lanshan Village have been missing one after another recently. At first we thought they were unfortunately killed. Later, after some people... secretly reported, we found that they were not missing, but Escaped." The mayor still calmly shared his investigation results with others: "Many people think that they escaped because they were dissatisfied with the treatment of the miners and uneasy about the working environment of the miners, but... ...According to information within the Council of Mages, as well as my subsequent investigation..."
"Their escape is related to some kind of organization. Or... they are joining or forming some kind of organization!"
Looking at the astonished expressions on the faces of some townspeople, Rama nodded with some satisfaction: "It seems that some people should have noticed... the connection between these two things."
"What the mayor means..." Fusheng Limeng said at the right time: "The real identity behind the bandits is not you, but... those miners? Ha... ."
"Would anyone believe it?"
"At first, I didn't believe it." The mayor suddenly restrained his excitement and put on a leisurely expression: "But it's a pity that because of the previous intelligence, we had to deal with some suspicious targets early. So they sent people to secretly monitor them. These people are..."
"Flar Kent, old Parry, Dickon Latelius, and..." Lamar paused deliberately, glanced at the people around him, and then said the last part. name.
"Aski Albert."
"Impossible...impossible!"
Just as the little girl Mengzhu was about to refute his words, Duan Qing from behind covered her mouth. But that brief sound still made many people notice her.
"You mean...the theft that happened before..."
The scholar in black put away his relaxed smile and asked in a serious voice.
"It seems that you adventurers know a lot." The old mayor patted his hat again, and then... put it on his head.
"You... forget it, I don't care about you for now." He straightened his collar, and then continued: "Because we were suspicious of them before, we rushed to the scene as soon as possible, and then we In that long-unoccupied room were found traces of many... magical creations."
When he said these words, the old mayor had already begun to turn his attention to the people on Duan Qing's side. When he realized the meaning of the other party's words, the hairs on Duan Qing's body stood up.
"We didn't know what these traces meant at the time, but now..." He looked at the fireworks still rising in the distance, and then withdrew his gaze: "We know."
"You're lying! That house is obviously occupied by someone, you know it!" Ignoring the looks of the people around her, the little girl shouted again, looking at her little face that was red with anger, trying to get her to pay attention to the situation around her. It's impossible. Duan Qing wanted to stop Mengzhu again, but it was too late.
"Oh, please forgive my mistake, there are indeed people there, but..."
Duan Qing let out a long breath, and the smiling butcher next to him also noticed the abnormality of the matter and began to retreat quietly.
"They were picked up by a group of people, by a group of...adventurers."
"That's you, everyone from the Fool's Adventure Group."
"You went to the Ankaras Mine a few days ago. Did you...bring back any news?"
"Do you know something inside?"
"Did you have some collusion with Yasiqi's people, so you... took away his descendants?"
The pressure that Mayor Rama felt before, Shang Qing also felt deeply at this time - except for a few people, all the eyes of the people present turned to him. Xiao Hongchen, who used to be hip to Wuji, has also stopped moving. If you can observe carefully, the spear behind the shirtless man is trembling slightly with his body.
"Yes, I have heard before that Yasiqi is away from home all year round..."
"And I heard that he hasn't been seen for several years."
"Someone once suspected that he... was not a good person."
"There are also these outsiders, they seem to be very active recently..."
"Hey, you guys!"
When the townspeople were whispering, the representative Chris once again stood in front of everyone, but facing people like Duan Qing, it was obvious that he did not need to be trembling: "You... the descendants of Yaski , where were you taken?"
Amidst the sound of the little girl gritting her teeth, no one answered.
"This matter is very important. As long as you explain it honestly, I will represent..."
"No."
The person who answered him was not Duan Qing, but the mayor on the side. He walked up slowly and stared at Duan Qing and the others with some inexplicable eyes: "That...descendant of the criminal is also there We have it under control.”
Duan Qing was shocked.
"According to our secret investigation, Richard from the Adventurers Association will send the child to the Axel Tavern today, and then look for an opportunity...to send her out of the city." The old man stroked his hand beard, and then showed a meaningful smile.
"You adventurers don't trust us... so we don't trust you, it's that simple."
The townspeople looked at each other for a few times, and then walked in a certain direction in unison. Duan Qing knew without looking that that was the direction of Hualan Street, so he gritted his teeth and suddenly pulled Mengzhu, who was still very angry, towards the crowd. Running from the rear. Behind them, a voice belonging to the old man began to shout: "Patch! City Guard!"
"Catch them!"
