Love and passion, cutting up the wasteland.

Chapter 711 Officer
The bellows in the corner were rusted, the leather cracked, and the wooden handle rotted. The blacksmiths' tools were scattered all over the floor, hammers, pliers, shovels, all covered with thick rust. The furnace had collapsed for the most part, revealing sintered iron blocks between the bricks, but no one picked them up.

In the corner, the tin shed sat askew, rainwater forming brown puddles on the rusted roof.

The warriors sat under the eaves.

He was wearing a full set of heavy samurai armor. The breastplate was brighter and smoother than the ones worn by the soldiers that Izumi had spied on from a distance that day. From another angle, it was like a mirror. A white eagle with a grass in its mouth, flapping its wings and ready to fly, revealed his identity and origin.

The United City's deer-staff helmet was now placed aside along with the sword, not worn, revealing his white hair and face.

As an officer, he was too young.

"You..." The young man had a smile on his face, but when he saw the man carrying Izumi out and the injuries on her body, his expression changed instantly: "What's going on?"

Izumi also felt a chill in his heart.

Previously, due to night blindness, she could not see the other person's appearance clearly in the dark. Now that she heard the other person's voice, she was completely sure - this was the person who stopped her that day.

He actually chased here.

It also means complete exposure.

Although the Mining Town is not under the jurisdiction of the United City at present, the latter is undoubtedly one of the most powerful forces in the city. Almost no one dares to offend it, let alone a small blood hunter like my dad.

"Commander Lu, I've felt something was wrong for a long time... She did it all by herself!" Seeing the officer's unfriendly face, the man quickly excused himself, "This girl has a lot of little tricks and is evil. You know that I can't control her with my job..."

Listening to the man's words, Izumi's heart calmed down.

"I..." She opened her mouth slowly, ready to take responsibility for everything. It didn't matter whether she would be punished by military law as a warning to others or sold to the Hunter Gang as their slave.

Anyway, the worst that could happen would be just like not being able to escape that night.

Even, Izumi thought vaguely.

Maybe that would be a better ending.

"Miss Izumi, right? We had a hard time looking for you." Unexpectedly, the young man's gloomy face only flashed for a moment, and then became warm again, which was beyond the two people's expectations: "Our grain transport team was robbed. Although there was not much loss, the bandits still escaped..."

"It was thanks to Izumi's clues that I was able to bring him to justice."

As he spoke, the officer walked towards the father and daughter. The man was so frightened that he subconsciously let go of Izumi and took a few steps back, but the officer did not chase him. He just stood in front of Izumi.

Then he extended a hand.

Like a handshake.

Izumi: “…”

What is this person talking about?
She was full of question marks.

But the officer's tone was sincere, as if he was really just stating the facts.

"By the way, you are..." Seeing the two of them were silent for a moment, the young man turned to the man again.

"I am Izumi's father!" The Blood Hunter reacted. He didn't want to reveal his father-daughter relationship with the girl just now because he was worried about being implicated. He just walked in and pushed Izumi out without even having time to tell his name because he was afraid that someone would remember him. Now that the situation had reversed, he hurriedly said, "My name is..."

"Got it, Izumi father." The officer interrupted him without hesitation, "Do you know how great Izumi's contribution is this time?"

"How much?"

The man was neither angry nor did he dare to be angry after being forcibly interrupted. His eyes lit up again when he heard the officer's words.

"For you, it's at least this number." The officer raised three fingers, "Three heads."

"Really?" The man was overjoyed. He understood what the officer meant: as Blood Hunters, the only criterion for merit was the number of heads they could bring back from the depths of the Sorrowful Mine.

Whether one can become a Blood Hunter also depends on this standard - just like the reason why a man can become a Blood Hunter is that he picked up another old Blood Hunter by chance, and he has been working for so long, but he has only managed to save up the second one.

Even Izumi was shocked to hear the young man say this - among the three ways out for ordinary savages in Ai Mine Town, the best way is to become a Tech Hunter. Once you join the Depression Lagoon or the local relay station, you will be able to escape from the sea of ​​suffering, but the requirements are also the highest.

Izumi was yearning for it, but gave up the idea early on.

The next option is to join the high wall shield guards, but firstly, their numbers are limited, and secondly, all the shield guards must turn their guns against the wild people, so if the news leaks out and people know who is going to join the shield guards, someone will deal with this trouble in advance, and no one will survive before running to the city wall, which is extremely dangerous.

This suspicion is also part of the design.

The last ones left are the Wild Blood Hunters. They are the only organization rooted in the wild people and coexist with others, but they get the least welfare and preferential treatment. If you want to say it, being able to become a Blood Hunter and still survive means that you are labeled as a "ruthless person".

Over time, you will naturally be able to gather prestige among the surrounding areas.

It is not impossible to lead a party.

As Izumi knew, there was a Five-Skulled Blood Hunter nearby, and he was already a local bully.

Now, just based on this officer's words, can my father be compared with him?
Izumi was much calmer than her father. She understood that the officer was only using the Blood Hunt standard as a unit of measurement to make it easier for men to understand - but more importantly, she knew clearly that the young officer was telling lies.

These things simply do not exist.

Why did he do this?
"Good girl, why didn't you say it earlier--" Besides being happy, the man suddenly felt angry when looking at Izumi's appearance. This time he blamed her for not confessing earlier, as she almost missed out on such benefits. He subconsciously wanted to pull his daughter who was lowering her head, but the next moment a pair of arm armor with sharp edges and spikes blocked his way.

"Hey, your daughter should have brought back a few loaves of bread last time. At that time, the matter was not fully investigated, so we could only give her some gifts first." Officer Lu pressed his armored arm on Izumi's head, but his palm was very light, blocking the other's father's hand. "The camp will continue to come over to confirm, and there will be corresponding rewards... Maybe we will need her help."

The officer half-knelt down, still half a head taller than Izumi. He gently touched the girl's head, ruffling her hair, which was not so smooth to begin with. "Do you mind if I talk to her alone about what's going to happen next?"

As a savage, Izumi had never been in such close contact with others. This meant that it was an absolutely dangerous restricted area that he had to stay away from - perhaps with the exception of his father, but that would often result in pain all over his body.

This time, she trembled all over as if in response to stress, but did not receive any hostility.

Instead, I panicked for a moment.

He stood there in a daze, holding his injured arm.

"Of course! You guys chat among yourselves, I won't ask--" The man understood what they meant and knew that if it involved the secrets of the United City, he could not eavesdrop, so he quickly walked away.

He was very happy in his heart.

Originally I thought this little thing was just a burden and treated it as a useful slave, but I didn't expect my luck to be so surprisingly good.

It's a great bargain.

He made up his mind: It seems that at least he should be nicer to Izumi these few days, otherwise when the other person he mentioned comes, it will be a bad ending. Looking at the man's back without any reluctance, a trace of hostility flashed in the eyes of the young officer. The old family heirloom sword was behind him, just on the antlers of the helmet. He calculated the distance - with his current level and operation, it was not difficult to turn around and draw the sword and stab the enemy's back.

But he stopped.

Izumi took a step back and looked directly into the young man's eyes. His sky-blue eyes were half grateful and half wary.

What a smart girl.

he thought.

——Just like in the walkthrough.

The two people, one big and one small, just stared at each other, neither giving in.

Finally, it was Izumi who spoke.

"who are you?"

she says.

……

……

The oil lamp flickered at the corner of the table, illuminating the rusty iron hook on the wall with a half-broken iron chain hanging from it.

Cobwebs hung from the beams, and the accumulated dust looked brown in the lamplight.

Tech hunters obviously have no habit of cleaning.

Lu Meng held the envelope between his fingers and looked at the wax seal on it again and again to confirm that it was indeed the emblem of the Tianxin family.

Moreover, unlike others, he also saw some clues from it - the seal with sealing wax was not the one in Kaiton City, but it was in the hands of the great lord Tenshin Shiro from the beginning to the end.

This is newly engraved.

There are some slight burrs on the mark.

This does not mean that it is fake - the great lord is named Tenshin Shiro, but the important military and political affairs are in the hands of his elder brother Tenshin Toshimasa. In order to avoid suspicion, Tenshin Toshimasa resolutely refuses to take over the seal of the head of the family, and usually sends out military orders in his own hand.

Only on extremely important and formal occasions, when the two were separated and there was no time to issue orders, would Tian Xin Li Zheng temporarily carve a seal himself, stamp it, and then throw it into the furnace to burn it in front of his confidants as a temporary measure - this can be said to be pedantic, or it can be said to be rigid.

Only a few people know such details, which increases the weight and authority of the family head's seal to the outside world.

But for Lu Meng, it proved that the letter was written by Tian Xin Li Zheng.

The other party already knew their origins.

"Was it the tech hunter who leaked the information?" Bo leaned against the wall and said. Now Lu Meng was the only one with the anti-slavery activist.

They had just arrived at Ai Mine Town and had just settled down. Except for Shi Cha's caravan, the others had no contact with the outside world, and Lu Meng had never shown up.

Bo secretly stared at the little noble. Given the special status of the other party, he was afraid that if he showed the slightest move that was not beneficial to them, this anti-slavery activist would have taken his head - the surveillance was even more stringent than for other people.

Even so, Shi Cha was still "safe and sound", which is actually enough to explain the problem.

The only ones left were the local hunters in the Mine Town.

"It's not them." Lu Meng shook his head firmly, "Besides, it's pointless to dwell on this issue now."

At first, he asked Chad to pretend to be a spy sent by Tian Xinli to Shandi, and Deng Li was able to believe it easily. On the one hand, it was naturally because the other party had completely fallen into the trap set by Lu Meng, and on the other hand, the person he "slandered" was not necessarily that clean.

The two have to hit it off to be a good match.

Using spies is an essential means of commanding troops and deploying soldiers. Tian Xinli Zheng himself may be upright, but he is by no means a pedantic person as he has risen to this position.

Tian Xinli has been in charge of the South United City for more than ten or twenty years. In addition, the death of the watcher in the depression lagoon and the change of power have happened. If the general cannot figure out that Lu Meng is the mastermind behind the scenes, his management will be in vain.

Having said that, the speed and accuracy of Tian Xin Li Zheng's actions are still beyond imagination.

"Come to think of it, you did trick him back then." Bo nodded, agreeing with Lu Meng's opinion, "Why didn't he just come and kill me?"

"A small trap is not a trap." Lu Meng exerted force with his fingers, and the solidified wax broke into wax powder and fell down. He unfolded the letter paper, "Besides, I only trap two kinds of people: those who either don't get angry, or those who get angry to death."

The paper was of the finest quality, and the ink was obviously a treasure purchased from an oriental merchant. Just unfolding it could smell a faint woody fragrance.

The writing is powerfully engraved.

Bo watched him read the letter in silence: "What does it say?"

"...the diplomatic rhetoric is a bit corny. It's not a good feeling to be watched by others." Lu Meng read ten lines at a glance. Surprisingly, Tian Xin Lizheng's writing was full of praise for this "arch enemy". In order to make it more persuasive, he even added his deeds along the way. It felt like he was speed-reading a long novel.

In response, he did not read it to Bo.

Lu Meng suspected that this part was forcibly added by the other party's secretary. Tian Xinli did not have the energy and leisure to do so - but the fact that the other party allowed his subordinates to do so also explained part of the problem.

Judging from the wording, one might have thought the recipient was some United Cities hero.

This brought back a memory for Lu Meng.

In fact, if Emperor Tengu saw this letter, he would definitely be charged with treason - of course, it is still a question whether the South United City will still follow the central government's orders and who can judge Tian Xinlizheng and convict him.

His eyes swept directly to the last line.

"Sure enough..." The Red King said slowly, "He is here to seek cooperation."

The situation is changing...

[I have been stationed in Kaiton for decades. This fortress has withstood countless tests, and the Empire's army has become stronger in these battles. However, the border situation is becoming increasingly tense, the number of wanderers is increasing, and the Empire's termites and tentacles are ready to move... I understand that your territory is also facing similar troubles. They covet our weapons and armor, just as they covet your life. ]

[Aikuang Town, a city-state that has witnessed too much conflict and blood, may be an opportunity. 】

【This is not a request for peace.】

【It is a promise between the strong. 】

(End of this chapter)