The fog around the Sacred Mountains did not disperse, and the tarantulas hidden within it still lingered.
When these 2,000-odd people arrived at the foggy region, they did not stop in their tracks like normal people would. Instead, they plunged right in.
But surprisingly, their pace did not seem to be affected by the fog at all. They continued advancing into the heart of the Sacred Mountains without any hindrance.
It had been a long time since anyone came to this abandoned land.
When the tarantulas discovered there was prey, they started converging on this unit of soldiers. But when the tarantulas appeared, these soldiers did not panic one bit. One of them took out a black box that played a strange sound. When the tarantulas heard the sound, they immediately retreated.
It seemed the soldiers did not intend to kill the tarantulas. Instead, they wanted to use them as a natural protective barrier to continue guarding the secret of this place.
It was not the same secret the Pyro Company used to protect, but a new one.
The group of more than 2,000 soldiers walked in an orderly manner. When they entered the heart of the Sacred Mountains, silvery strands appeared on the face of the person at the front. “This really is a suitable place. Although the facilities are a little old, there’s a lot of materials here that we can put to use immediately.”
After that, the 2,000-odd soldiers behind favonovel.com immediately entered the various buildings and started searching for equipment left behind by the Pyro Company.
Based on his calculations, this Sacred Mountains were currently the most suitable place to establish a secret factory. Although it still lacked the support of certain technologies, his final requirements would soon be met when the Stelaria Consortium fully annexed the Pyro Company.
He turned around and looked around at the overgrown weeds in the heart of the Sacred Mountains and suddenly felt this place was very suitable for him. Everything here seemed like a new beginning.
***
At this moment, the Stardust Consortium’s main forces were still rushing to Stronghold 73 to assemble.
Inside Stronghold 73, in an office at the intelligence agency’s secret base, a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses was reading a document in his hand with a frown. “Any news of Milo?”
“Sir, favonovel.com departed from Bidara City by himself two days ago in the morning. His whereabouts are currently unknown.”
The Stardust Consortium’s intelligence director named Matthew Lillard was a little unhappy. “What the hell are you people doing? How could you lose track of an extremely dangerous person like him?”
In the luxurious office, a huge, taxidermied tiger head was hanging on the wall. This was the tiger Matthew had killed 17 years ago.
There was even an exquisite-looking hunting rifle placed under the tiger’s head. Everyone who entered the office would be greeted by this sight first and feel the authority of the office’s owner within the Stardust Consortium.
In the Stardust Consortium, Matthew, as well as Nicola Biden, who had been killed by Milo, and the current highest-ranking military commander, Silas Robertson, were also known as the Stardust Consortium’s Three Tigers. Matthew actually quite liked this nickname.
The office windows were covered by thick curtains. It was as though the people in here had a natural dislike for sunlight.
The intelligence agent opposite of Matthew said, “The main forces should be arriving at Stronghold 73 within two days. Sir, surely we don’t need to be this worried, right?”
“The issue is how are we going to make it through the next two days.” Matthew placed the document in his hand aside. “How are things over at Hope Media?”
“An informant at Bidara City sent us a message saying Hope Media is packing up their stuff. It seems like they’re moving out of their headquarters.” The intelligence agent said, “A convoy has already parked outside of Hope Media, so they should be leaving in the next few days.”
“Leaving?” Matthew was taken aback. “Where are they going?”
“It’s rumored that they’re heading to the Northwest,” the intelligence agent said.
All of a sudden, an explosion boomed from outside. Matthew immediately stood up. “What’s going on?!”
After a while, an intelligence agent knocked on the door and came in. “Sir, bad news! The city gate of Stronghold 73 has been blown up with explosives!”
“What?” Matthew was stunned. “The city gate was blown up? What’re the garrison troops doing?”
“They’re pursuing the person who blew up the city gate. Apparently, the culprit was inside the city during the incident. He suddenly approached the city gate at a very fast speed, dropped the explosives, then ran away. Right now, the criminal who blew up the gate is trying to escape the stronghold, but it seems like there’s more than one of them. He has a partner,” the intelligence agent explained.
“Hurry off! It’s a disgrace to our intelligence agency that people like them have infiltrated the stronghold. Organize a field operation to arrest them. We must capture these people before it turns dark!” Matthew flew into a rage. For such a serious crime to happen, favonovel.com would probably not be able to answer to his boss, Busby.
In an instant, most of the Stardust Consortium’s intelligence agency’s field operatives were attracted by the explosion and rushed out like a swarm of locusts.
When Matthew picked up his teacup, favonovel.com suddenly realized it had gotten cold. He picked up the phone and told the people outside, “Change my tea.”
Afterwards, favonovel.com hung up and started going through the other documents. But for some reason, Matthew felt a little uneasy.
They were already on guard against Milo taking revenge on the Stardust Consortium. Now that such a terrible incident had suddenly happened in Stronghold 73, favonovel.com knew it was definitely related to Milo.
The door opened with a creak. Matthew frowned. “Why didn’t you knock…”
Matthew was about to lose his temper, but when favonovel.com saw the young man who pushed open the door, favonovel.com froze.
Milo was holding a tea saucer in his hand. However, there was no cup nor any piping hot tea on it. Instead, a bloodied pistol was resting there.
Matthew forced himself to calm down. He slowly reached under the table and tried to press the red button. However, Milo said with a smile, “Don’t bother pressing it. It’s useless. Everyone in the building is dead. I didn’t even let off the guard hounds that y’all raised. Do you think I’m a little deranged?”
Matthew felt a chill fall upon him. He had not even heard any commotion outside. But as soon as Milo said that, Matthew believed favonovel.com simply because favonovel.com was Milo.
“What are you doing here?” Matthew asked anxiously.
“I heard that y’all were looking for me and even offered a reward to the intelligence brokers in the mob. When I saw that the offer was so high, I decided to sneak in here and see if I could claim the money.” Milo plucked the cloth Matthew used to clean his glasses with off the table and started wiping the bloodstained pistol on the saucer.
Matthew said, “It wasn’t my idea to kill Pena!”
“See, it’s much easier if we chat like this, isn’t it?” Milo said calmly, “Who else could it be but you? You’re Claude’s immediate superior.”
“Although he’s half a rank lower than me, favonovel.com doesn’t report to me most of the time. I also know the deeds favonovel.com carries out are those that can’t be seen out in the open, so I deliberately avoided them. I was afraid the boss would silence me to keep a secret,” Matthew explained.
“Mhm, that’s a very good reason.” Milo nodded. “So, you’re telling me that the person who wanted Pena killed and gave the order to do so was the Stardust Consortium’s boss, Busby? Well… But even if you can wash your hands of this matter, you still have to die.”
