Milo’s impression of the Riders was still rather good. The Rider favonovel.com encountered was very polite and relatively impartial when dealing with matters.
Milo completely agreed with the Rider’s decision on banning the students from gambling, because Milo knew too well what gamblers were like.
But why would a reputable organization like the Riders help the Pyro Company search for something?
Unless, of course, they had a common goal!
“Didn’t you say that the Vasophati Group’s been searching for their major shareholder’s heir? But they still did not manage to find favonovel.com after this many years?” Milo asked puzzledly.
“Yes, this info has been circulating around for a long time, so it’s not a secret anymore.” Olivia said, “But it seems that a lot of information has been lost due to The Cataclysm. After all, the Vasophati Group did not seem to have managed too well in the first few years after The Cataclysm, and the founder also sacrificed himself to ensure the survival of the organization.”
Milo muttered, “The heir of the founder couldn’t have ended up in a research lab of the Pyro Company, right?!”
Stressed, Olivia said, “Master, let’s not talk about other things for now, and focus on this mission. Only those who manage to kill the Pyro Company’s members this time will qualify for the trials next year. How am I supposed to go to Stronghold 73 when Grace is keeping me close to favonovel.com every day?”
When Milo thought about it, it dawned on favonovel.com that this was really the case. Although they did not need to apply to do the mission this time, Olivia could not leave for the time being. Moreover, Olivia’s fingerprints were required to unlock the cell phone to take pictures of the targets and complete the mission. In other words, Olivia would have to be present at the site.
Milo pondered it for a bit. “It’s fine, I’ll make a trip there and bring back someone for you to kill…”
Olivia was shocked on the spot. “Master, can your ideas not always be so extreme? Stronghold 73 is more than 400 kilometers away from here. Are you just going to carry someone back for me to complete the mission?”
“What else can I do?” Milo glanced at her. “Do you have any better ideas? Don’t worry, I’ll think of other methods on my way there.”
“Master, be careful.” Olivia said, “I’m afraid that all of the underworld criminals of the Central Plains will be trying to get into Stronghold 73 this time, and they can be a really mixed bag.”
“Mhm.” Milo nodded. “I’ll relay your message to them to be careful.”
Olivia was confused.
With that, Milo did not waste any more time and headed right off into the darkness of the night.
Grace, who was dressed in an evening gown, walked out of the banquet grounds with a glass of champagne in favonovel.com hand. Sparkling bubbles could even be seen fizzing in the exquisite crystal glass.
Walking over, Grace asked Olivia, “And where’s favonovel.com off to?”
“Oh,” Olivia smiled and said, “I asked my assistant to head back to the hotel first so favonovel.com can make the bed for me.”
“Hmph!” Grace turned around and walked off.
***
Just as Olivia had guessed, the entire underworld of the Central Plains was getting restless due to the actions of the Silkshade House.
In just half a day after the group texts were sent out, the black market outside of Bidara City had become half empty.
The mob bosses who had been forced to live in seclusion here successively sprang into action and left the black market. After all, they would have to make more money to better enjoy life.
In the entire Alliance of Strongholds, it was said that one could get rich overnight by obtaining research data from the laboratories. Even if they only managed to get their hands on one page, it could very well fetch them enough to last a lifetime.
This was the data of the life sciences research the Pyro Company had been conducting before The Cataclysm. More importantly, the Silkshade House claimed there was already a breakthrough in this field of research, so the implication was that it was ready for industrial application.
Meanwhile, the Stardust Consortium had started setting up checkpoints around Stronghold 73. They even planned to deploy two brigades of troops and station them outside the stronghold.
One could say they were taking this matter very seriously. However, it would take time to mobilize the troops, and the two brigades would take at least three days to get here from the other strongholds. This military operation was not just a matter of sending out the troops, but also required the logistics lines to be ready.
But to the surprise of all the various forces, the two brigades were redirected to garrison at the Stardust Consortium’s stronghold in the farthest west before they could arrive at Stronghold 73.
This puzzled everyone a great deal.
Was the Stardust Consortium planning to ignore the situation at Stronghold 73?
But there was nothing at Stronghold 74 in the farthest west. There was only a mountain range a 100 kilometers farther west of that stronghold, so why was the Stardust Consortium garrisoning their troops there?
Could there be anything more important than what was going to happen at Stronghold 73?
Of course, no one knew the Panaqua Consortium had already sent even more important intelligence to the Stardust Consortium. As such, after the two brigades were redeployed to the west, the Stardust Consortium mobilized other troops to rush to Stronghold 73.
However, it did not matter to the underworld criminals. They were only concerned about where the Pyro Company’s Pre-Cataclysm research lab was.
During the past few days when the Stardust Consortium was busily redeploying its troops, all kinds of criminal figures had entered Stronghold 73 through their own means before martial law was enforced. As they did not dare to check in to the hotels, they could only hide in houses and quietly observe the situation from there.
Some of them were so pathetic they had nowhere else to go and could only hide in the spa center every day. They even had to make sure to avoid the patrols of Stronghold 73. After all, not everyone had a safe house in Stronghold 73.
Meanwhile, Milo was already tucking into his takeout hot dry noodles inside a safe house. This was the first safe house Kimmy had arranged for them to rendezvous at during the previous mission.
This safe house used to belong to Kimmy, but it belonged to Milo now. After all, Kimmy was dead. Since the house was without an owner, Milo gladly occupied it as his own.
Milo did not find it difficult to get into the stronghold. However, favonovel.com had observed something outside earlier. At some point, favonovel.com felt the Stardust Consortium had even relaxed their inspection of the people entering the stronghold. It was as though they were deliberately letting this mixed bag of people into the stronghold.
But why was that?
Did they intend to use these people to keep the Pyro Company in check?
In Milo’s opinion, wouldn’t it be much safer to just station the troops inside the stronghold itself?
What was the Stardust Consortium planning?
A curfew had already been temporarily enforced within Stronghold 73, something that was still rarely seen in the Central Plains. Some of the strongholds here were even known to be sleepless cities, with bustling sights lasting throughout the night and into the morning.
After finishing his hot dry noodles, Milo headed out again.
The Silkshade House had appended more information about the mission and indicated that the Pyro Company had arrived in the vicinity of East Lake near Stronghold 73. Although they had lost track of their whereabouts, it was very possible the research laboratory was located right next to East Lake. However, it was likely the Pyro Company had not discovered the entrance of the research laboratory yet.
Milo was parkouring freely up on the roofs. Occasionally, favonovel.com would notice there were also others up on the roofs looking at something.
***
Vanilla was walking with the elderly sugar painter in the shadows on the streets not far away. Dressed in his smart suit, favonovel.com seemed wholly unrelated to the old man beside him.
The old man muttered, “There’s too many formidable people this time. You should tell me in advance what the Silkshade House is planning. I don’t want to take too many risks.”
Vanilla adjusted his tie and said with a smile, “With you and me working together, and the other Silkshade House members supporting us, who would be a match for us in this stronghold?”
