The copy has 0 error tolerance, and the last words on the ground are all wrong for me.

Chapter 365 Steam Council
Brian, who transformed into a secret policeman, died in an unnoticed alley. This was not the climax of the foggy night, but just a trivial prelude.

Today marks the end of the second day for players entering the Steam Phantom plane.

There is a common sense in the Abyss game that the first day of entering the dungeon is usually the most dangerous time.

Nearly half of the players who died in the dungeon died on the first day.

In order to avoid being killed on the first sight, most players will be very restrained on the first day of the dungeon and try not to do anything that may cause danger.

For example, players who are fighting for the invitation letters will immediately choose to give up the fight even if they see secret police approaching who are far fewer in number than them.

At the end of the second day of the dungeon, after a day and a half, the players had basically understood the situation of the plane they were in and their own situation.

Players who progressed faster even tested the tolerance of the Grimland officials.

This means that everyone can stop pretending and let go to a certain extent.

The competition for the invitation letters was fairly minor on the first day, but today the situation has become very intense.

The Grimland Bridge consists of two stone spires and a hydraulically driven opening and closing bridge deck in the middle.

The bridge spans the entire Hills River and is a landmark building in Grimland and even Styland.

At this moment, a melee is taking place on the bridge, with more than fifteen players participating in it, at least six of whom are ranked in the top fifty on the combat power list.

One of the parties in the battle was the five people who had successfully snatched the invitation letter last night.

They do not belong to the four major organizations, but are an alliance of two first-rate forces. They relied on gathering quickly and having no suspicion of each other to succeed frequently yesterday.

Last night and today, they managed to grab at least three invitations.

But there are still two days until the extraordinary gathering begins.

Just like sitting at the gambling table, the first thing you win is the paper. It doesn’t matter how much you win at the beginning of the game. The real skill is how much money you can take away at the end of the game.

Among the bystanders who watched the five-man gang fight last night, some of them have joined the fight on the bridge today.

The battle has been going on for fifteen minutes. During the battle, at least three players were seriously injured and had to use props to leave the dungeon early.

The players' battles attracted countless pairs of eyes behind the fog.

Some of these eyes belong to other players, and some belong to the native residents of the dungeon.

On the north side of the Grimland Bridge, Jianxing and Lengshan stood on the top of the tower, overlooking the battle below.

They did not come here to compete for the invitation. Not only that, in order to attract enough heavyweight players, Leng Shan even took out an invitation given to him by Wu Chang as bait and led the battle venue to the Grimland Bridge.

The venue here is wide open and the secret police have difficulty interfering, allowing players to play freely.

As long as you play enough, the more information you reveal, the more intelligence you can collect.

In the Abyss game, not only the information related to the main storyline of the dungeon is intelligence. Who are the players participating in the dungeon, their strengths, and abilities are all valuable information.

The strategy copy is only part of it. If you only focus on the copy and fail to see the other players who are eyeing you from behind, you won’t go far in the abyss.

Leng Shan looked at the mist in the sky and sighed:
"This S-level dungeon that is on the verge of getting out of control is indeed different from the S-level dungeons I have entered before. Under the influence of the erosion of the abyss, huge changes are happening here all the time."

"Two or three hours ago, the plane was still very stable, but in the blink of an eye, the root power began to erode the plane."

"Under the influence of the root power, all abilities that are not from this plane will be suppressed."

Jian Xing asked in confusion: "My abilities are very different from the system here, why don't I feel suppressed?"

Leng Shan exhaled, freezing the mist near him into ice crystals, and then said:
"Because the influence of the root power on the plane rules is not big enough, your sword cultivator job change is a job change at the level of the rational world, which directly passes through the rules. It is a manifestation of the root power."

"This level of influence is very limited to you and me now."

"When the root power of the Son of the Plane grows further and can completely overshadow you and me, even we will be affected."

Jian Xing was about to respond when he suddenly realized something and his eyes narrowed.

Someone came up on the other side of the bridge tower where they were.

The other person's figure was covered in a loose black robe, and it was impossible to tell whether he was a man or a woman, or whether he was fat or thin. He just stood there, exuding a dangerous and gloomy atmosphere.

Judging from the other person's temperament and dress, he is not a player, but a native of the dungeon.

When Jianxing discovered the newcomer, Lengshan also noticed the appearance of a new audience.

The forces that convened the extraordinary gathering were all the forces that Grimland displayed in the open, and they were not the entire copy of the forces.

Some forces hiding in the shadows and not seeing the light also want to take advantage of this opportunity to recruit talents.

They cannot be as calm as the organizers of the party and can only be present in person to confirm the targets they want to recruit.

Most of the new audience members not far from them are guys who don't like to be seen in public.

Jian Xing asked quietly: "Should we make contact with him?"

Leng Shan thought for a moment and said, "It's better to be cautious. Let's try to find out the other party's information."

After a brief discussion, everyone who entered the management bureau of Steam Phantom has decided to join the Arcane Knights where Heping is.

Although they have not yet found out the details of the Arcane Knights, they believe in Heping's judgment.

Even if this organization is not top-notch, it will become top-notch with the joining of Heping.

If you want to achieve results in multiplayer team competition games, learning to work together is the simplest and most effective way.

According to what Peace said before, the duty of the Mystic Knights is to protect the order of the supernatural world of Grimland. Those guys who are not in the light are obviously their enemies.

If they could get some information out, wouldn't that be a proof of their joining?

Jian Xing first emitted energy to attract the black-robed man's attention, then he spread out his hands to show that he had no ill intentions, and slowly approached the other party.

It can be seen that the man in black robe is very optimistic about Jian Xing and Leng Shan. He took the initiative to show up and also intended to get closer to the two of them.

He did not stop Jian Xing from approaching. Instead, he had a brief exchange with him after Jian Xing approached.

After talking to Jian Xing, the man in black robe left the top of the bridge tower without stopping.

"What did you say just now?" Leng Shan asked.

Jian Xing said: "He said he knew we were not from Stylan, but outsiders who came here with a special purpose."

"He gave me a mission and said that as long as we can complete it, we can join his organization and face the future together."

"He also said that their organization is called the Steam Parliament."

While the battle was raging on Grimland Bridge, the fire burning in Philip's villa was initially extinguished thanks to the efforts of firefighters.

Wu Chang and Raventon ignored the dissuasion that the fire might rekindle, pushed aside the firefighters and went straight into Philip's villa.

As soon as the fire was extinguished, the temperature in the room was like an oven. Wu Chang and Raventon needed to use their extraordinary strength to wrap their bodies to avoid being burned by the remaining heat waves.

They walked in through the villa's main door and headed towards the hall.

The fire was so intense that everything in the room that could be burned clean was reduced to charcoal.

Wu Chang found Baron Philip and his family in the restaurant. Judging from the situation on the scene, they should be holding a birthday party.

Baron Philip, the Baroness, and their four children were present, the youngest of whom was presumably making a wish.

The servants and butler in the Baron's house were serving food and looked very busy.

Why can he see so much?

Because Philip's whole family was frozen in the moment when their child made a wish. If their bodies were not too burnt, they would have commented that it was "lifelike."

The servants hired by Baron Philip, regardless of whether they should be present at this occasion or not, were standing in the restaurant at this moment, maintaining a celebratory state.

They did not struggle or escape, and remained in the same state as being engulfed by the flames.

This strange carbonized family portrait frightened the firefighter who rushed into the house with the two men. He sat down on the ground and said in a trembling voice:

"Devil, this must be done by the devil!"

"There is no demon." Wu Chang interrupted the firefighter's shout and said:
"This is a carefully planned murder. Go out immediately, seal off the scene, and call the secret police."

The firefighter didn't know how to call the secret police, but he didn't want to stay here for a moment, so he got up from the ground and rushed out of the house. After driving the firefighter away, Wu Chang and Ravington searched the villa.

The bad news was that the house was completely burned, and even Baron Philip's safe was deformed by the flames.

When the safe was pried open, all the documents inside, including banknotes, were carbonized by the high temperature, leaving no clues.

The good news is that the arsonist was so ruthless that Baron Philip felt a little resentful.

Amid the resentment burning like flames, Wu Chang's eyes flashed and he returned to the time before the fire.

His consciousness was attached to Baron Philip, and he looked at his little son with doting eyes.

Today is his youngest son's fifth birthday. To celebrate this day, he customized today's birthday cake at the most high-end cake shop in Grimland a month in advance.

As the cake was pushed up by the servants, the whole family was immersed in the atmosphere of celebration.

He stood up and gave his blessing to his youngest son, who then clenched his fists and began to make a wish.

At this moment, he found that his body could not move, and he had to use all his strength to barely raise his head.

He saw a man in black robe walking into the restaurant from outside. The other servants in his house not only did not try to stop him, but instead followed the man in black robe in as if they had lost their souls.

The black-robed man was dressed similarly to the one Wu Chang had seen in the mine thieves' resentment before. The only difference was that the black-robed man in front of him was holding a cane in his hand.

There is a special mark on the handle of the cane. The mark looks like five steam pipes extending from a continent. The outline of the continent is the same as the shape of Stian on the map.

The moment Baron Philip saw the man in black robe, his heart skipped a beat and a strong ominous premonition emerged in his mind.

He said with a stiff upper lip: "Xavier, today is my son's birthday, we can talk about it tomorrow if there is anything."

The black-robed man called Xavier sat at the far side of the long dining table, facing Baron Philip, and said slowly:
"I'm sorry, you and your family, there's no tomorrow."

Baron Philip was flustered. He said, "What do you mean?"

Xavier said: "You should have guessed it. The matter of Pine Tree Coal Mine has been exposed. We can't keep you here."

Baron Philip was silent for a moment, he let out a long sigh and said, "I can die, but don't forget that you promised me when I joined that you would take good care of my family."

Xavier said with some distress:

"In normal procedures, this should be the case, but the other party acted too quickly and did not give us time to react. In addition, as soon as they discovered us, they released the communication magic."

"I had no time to prepare, so I had to come straight to your door. Your family had already seen me, and in order to avoid being targeted by a certain hound, they had no choice but to die."

Baron Philip's eyes widened and he shouted, "Xavier, you..."

Before Baron Philip could finish his words, Xavier tapped his cane, depriving Baron Philip of the ability to speak.

He stood up, walked behind Philip's youngest son, and said:
"What a lovely child! You've just turned five and you already have an amazing talent for mathematics. If it weren't for what happened today, you would definitely become one of us in the future."

"It's a pity that uncle didn't bring any birthday presents. I can only give you a birthday candle."

Xavier raised his cane and used it to write mystical runes in the air. The runes fell on the cake and instantly turned into brilliant candle flames.

However, the candle flame was too strong, reaching straight to the ceiling and lighting up the entire restaurant in an instant.

Xavier returned to Baron Philip, took off his hat and said:
"Sir Philip, the Steam Parliament thanks you for your service."

The mystical flames engulfed the restaurant, and Wu Chang's consciousness was freed from the resentment.

His eyes moved away from Baron Philip's body and met the eyes of Reventon who was observing him.

Raventon asked curiously:

"So, did the Inspiration Detective find anything?"

Wu Chang glanced at Ravington and said, "I saw a mark on Baron Philip's body."

Raventon was stunned after hearing this. He didn't expect Wu Chang to be able to see anything. He took out a magnifying glass and looked around Baron Philip. After confirming that he couldn't see anything, he returned to Wu Chang and asked;

"What do you see?"

Wu Chang briefly drew the mark on Xavier's cane and asked, "Do you know what this is?"

"Steam Parliament, damn it, I should have thought that this group of lunatics would not be so easy to kill off." Ravington exclaimed subconsciously.

Wu Chang asked: "What is the Steam Parliament?"

Raventon said hastily, "This is not the place to talk. Let's go back to my place and talk."

There was no evidence left at the scene, and Wu Chang had seen the resentment, so there was no point in staying any longer.

Ravington pulled Wu Chang away from Philip's villa and drove him and Irene all the way back to No. 41, Saar Street.

After returning to the detective agency and initiating a protective occult ritual, Raventon relaxed a little and took Wu Chang to the third floor of the detective agency.

After a complex decryption, he opens a storage room and moves the disguised items out, revealing a web of evidence that is even more complex than the second-floor investigation into the Prime Minister’s assassination.

The pattern located in the center of the evidence network was exactly the mark that Wu Chang saw on Xavier's cane.

Wu Chang looked at the densely packed cases on the wall and asked, "Have you investigated them before?"

Raventon picked up a bottle of wine, poured himself a glass, took a sip and smiled bitterly:
"More than just investigating, I have personally sent them to hell."

"The Steam Council is a group of complete lunatics. They are obviously a group of ordinary people, but they are not satisfied with the status quo and want to forcibly master extraordinary powers."

Ravington looked at the old investigation records on the wall, recalling the information about the Steam Parliament.

The Steam Parliament was originally a fraternity of mathematicians, physicists and new aristocrats.

At that time, supernatural powers were still a secret, and neither the Alchemy Association nor the Clock Tower Magic Association had been established. They found the description of supernatural powers in some book and began to frantically pursue this power.

The guys in the club are knowledgeable, financially capable, and highly motivated. In order to gain extraordinary powers, they join various organizations, including the Church of Tranquility, to learn extraordinary knowledge.

Through their efforts, they actually found books on mysticism and alchemy.

A group of people continued to study and finally learned the occult rituals, which enabled them to stimulate the extraordinary power of occult items through the occult rituals and use them for their own benefit.

From then on, they were out of control. They delved further into the occult and transformed themselves with alchemy, trying to become true transcendents through external energy sources.

It's just that at the time they only attacked themselves, and since occult items were relatively rare, they didn't cause much of a stir.

Until five years ago, Her Majesty Olivia found the former library of the Mystic Knights, which contained a large number of records of supernatural powers. She summoned the top scholars in all of Stellan to study how to integrate the supernatural with machinery.

It was thanks to this move that Stellan's industry made rapid progress in a short period of time, and Her Majesty Olivia also regained some power.

But among the scholars participating in the research at that time, in addition to ordinary scholars, there were also members of the Extraordinary Enthusiasts Club.

They saw the future prospects from the plans of Extraordinary Industries and formally established the Steam Parliament.

Here, Raverton points to a newspaper clipping of a major fire at the Grimmland University Library.

"They planned a fire and stole all the books that recorded supernatural powers."

He then pointed to several reports of workers dying from poisoning due to poor working conditions in factories.

"One of the benefits of extraordinary industrialization is that they no longer rely on rare extraordinary items. This allows them to begin using human bodies as experiments, trying to treat humans as machines and also carry out extraordinary industrial transformation."

"They did it very covertly, but I smelled something unusual. About three and a half years ago, I solved a big case and had some free time, so I investigated these industrial poisoning cases."

"After my investigation, I found that the cause of death of those workers was unusual and not simply poisoning."

"Who knew that we would find these crazy people after investigating all the way."

Raventon pointed to a few photos, showing that some of the people in them had parts of their bodies replaced with strange steel prosthetic limbs.

"Some of them have already started to transform their bodies, but the transformation is very crude and far inferior to that of true extraordinary people."

"So I used Julie's power to catch them all at their regular gathering."

"I personally took action on every one of them. I made sure that they were all sent to hell."

"Over the years, I have been investigating them to make sure that no remnants of them survived. During this period, they indeed disappeared without a trace and never appeared again. I thought they had disappeared completely."

"I didn't expect that this group of lunatics not only still exists, but what they did is even more outrageous than before."

(End of this chapter)