Who designed this underworld dungeon?.

Chapter 680 A traitor has emerged among the city lords!
"In short, the dungeon lord has a demonic soul mixed in with him."

The Lord's Room in the City of Sein.

Chi Ya spoke to Gong Qiying with a serious expression, his tone reminding one of their first meeting.

Back then, his public persona was that of a steady and reliable senior, unlike now when he's labeled as a lecherous old man.

No, just thinking about how Akagami would react when he saw the beautiful dragon made Miyagi Ying unable to be serious.

"Ahem," he coughed to compose himself, then asked with a normal expression, "Isn't there already a dungeon lord from the demon race?"

“Those demon city lords are all holed up in the west, but this time it’s different.”

Red Fang said, "Unidentified demons have infiltrated our human stronghold."

"!"

An exclamation mark appeared above Gong Qiying's head. The reason he was so surprised was—

He almost forgot that Red Fang was also human!
No matter how you look at it, you can't tell that it used to be human. Its behavior, habits, and hobbies are completely the same as those of a dragon.

"How did you determine that?" he then asked.

"Demons have appeared in Yloresa's dungeon."

Demons are everywhere; they can pop out from any nook or cranny. This cannot be used as evidence to prove anything.

Red Fang also realized this.

“The mere appearance of the demons is not enough to prove anything, but,” he suddenly placed a small bottle in front of Gong Qiying, the bottle containing drifting black mist, “this is miasma from the Western Continent, collected from those demons.”

Miasma, a unique product of the Western Continent, has long hindered people from venturing deep into the Western Continent to completely eradicate the demons. It serves as a natural protective shield for the demons, and its toxicity has also made it a favorite material for some ruthless alchemists.

Gong Qiying had spent some time cramming for knowledge in libraries across the country, so he was familiar with the characteristics of this miasma and said:
"I remember that if this thing is not stored in a sealed container after leaving the Western Continent, it should completely dissipate within a few days."

"That's true, but this miasma was collected from the demons."

Now Gong Qiying understood what Chiya meant.

Demons are enveloped in thick miasma, which they take with them when they leave the Western Continent. However, the miasma on demons completely dissipates within a few days, and there is no way to preserve it except by sealing it.

In other words, the demons who entered Yrelsa's Bond Dungeon had only been away from the Western Continent for a few short days, less than the time it took for the miasma to dissipate.

Gong Qiying unfolded a world-colored map in the air and located the Bond Dungeon.

It was on the border of the Warrior Kingdom, already within the territory of another country, the name of which was...
"The Nation of Ten Thousand Religions" Scameron.

"This place is very far from the west."

To be able to rush from the Western Continent to Scammeron in just a few days, this demon must either be a locomotive or rely on a magical power: teleportation.

“It takes a long time and effort to build a teleportation array, and the magical fluctuations of a teleportation array are enough to be detected even in the deepest mountains and forests. If a demon can really build a teleportation array here, then these humans are hopelessly slow to react.”

Chiya offered his sharp commentary.

The answer is obvious. If we exclude the slight possibility that the demons have set up a teleportation array, the only way for them to quickly reach Scammeron is through the dungeons.

“Dungeons like yours, which have the authority to teleport between the main city and branch cities, are not common, but the demon race may have them too. Therefore, we currently consider the possibility of a demon being among the dungeon lords as the highest priority,” he said.

Actually, my teleportation ability isn't a permission; it's something that comes with the resource library, Gong Qiying thought to himself.

"You mean, the dungeon lord might be a demon at heart, and is currently helping some demons teleport here, right?"

"That's right, and I've roughly drawn up a range where the city lords are all somewhat suspicious."

Chiya drew a circle on the map.

There are more than a dozen dungeons inside the circle, concentrated on the border of the Warrior Kingdom and inside Scammeron. Chi Ya even managed to get himself into the circle and see it. Gong Qiying even saw dungeons with familiar names inside.

"There are several senior city lords here, and everyone knows them well, so there's no need for a major investigation. The ones we need to pay the most attention to are the new generation of city lords. Many of them have only recently risen to power and unlocked the permission for city lords to communicate with each other. Everyone is still unfamiliar with them, and there might even be demons among them. We need to investigate them carefully."

At this point, Gong Qiying roughly understood why Chi Ya had come looking for him.

"Interested in taking a trip? I'll give you a branch city for free."

Chiya smiled for the first time that day.

Gong Qiying also smiled, but his smile was forced, and said, "You want me to investigate more than a dozen underground cities?"

Are they trying to use him as a college student for summer jobs? Even black slaves weren't treated this badly!
"Of course not. There are a few other trustworthy old buddies who will also be involved. You only need to check three dungeons. Coincidentally, there is an unused dungeon among the three that you can use. The only problem is that the seal on that city is a bit loose. We need to go and beat up the sealed object first."

"Can't I just beat up all those dungeons?"

"That's a very distinctive statement of yours, but unfortunately, doing it might have a negative impact. Even if it's explained that it's for checking the demons, those innocent dungeons that are affected will probably still feel resentful."

The dragon shook its head, a hint of emotion in its eyes, and said:
"It took a long time to ease the tension between the city lords, and I don't want to ruin the current situation."

Gong Qiying nodded in agreement with this.

When he first saw the notes left by the previous Godwin, he thought that the relationships between the city lords were like a dark forest, where they would fight to the death whenever they met.

Back when Chi Ya first became the city lord, it seems that the relationships between city lords were indeed that cruel. I don't know what efforts he made to create the peaceful situation we have now.

To be fair, Gong Qiying is quite satisfied with the current situation. After all, it would be too unbearable to live if he had to be on high alert when communicating with every city lord.

Even so, he still had to complain:
"...Isn't there any good news?"

"Of course! There's a war going on in Scammeron, and the demand for dungeon resources is skyrocketing. If you go there now and open a branch city, you'll make a fortune."

Chiya smiled again and said, "And to be honest, the branch city you're going to is in a very good location. It's right in the middle of the fiercest fighting. Among the newcomers we can trust, you're the only one who can keep things under control there. No one else can do it."

Gong Qiying felt as if Chi Ya was an NPC in a game giving him a quest.

However, unlike NPCs, if he refuses, Chi Ya will not ask again. If he agrees, the other party will definitely give him a lot of benefits and help out of their own pocket.

Furthermore, if a demon really did become a city lord and managed to hold out until now, such a powerful person definitely needs special attention, no, it needs to be dealt with.

“Scammeron, huh? I haven’t really been involved there yet,” he muttered to himself.

The implication was quite clear. Upon hearing this, Chiya immediately understood Gong Qiying's meaning, patted him on the back with his paw with satisfaction, and said a lot about the help he could provide.

The dozen or so underground cities that were listed for inspection were assigned to several trusted veteran city lords, with Gong Qiying being the only newcomer among them.

"The place you need to go is here."

On the map, an underground city located in the central part of Scameloon was highlighted.

Surrounding the unopened underground city are three rich colors: gray-white, fiery red, and warm yellow.

The three dungeons were roughly the same size and color, and were evenly matched. The dungeon that had not yet been opened was completely covered up.

"The gray-white color represents the White Blood Dungeon, which is famous for its vampires. Its lord has an eccentric temper but is still kind. He once helped with the parasite incident on Reid's side. To be honest, I feel reluctant to list her as a suspect, but it is a necessary move in order to thoroughly investigate."

"The warm yellow color represents the Holy Light Dungeon. As you can tell from the name, it is a dungeon full of traces of the Holy Light Church. It contains things related to the God of Holy Light, and its lord is a follower of the God of Holy Light. If you know about the church, you should be able to have a conversation with him."

"The fiery red color represents the Blazing Dungeon, which is filled with fire elemental creatures and contains remnants of the information of the Fire God. The city lord's personality is as violent as the flames."

At this point, Chi Ya exhaled and asked:
Do you know why we asked you to investigate those three?

Gong Qiying looked at him with a "You're asking me?" look in his eyes.

"You haven't heard?"

Now it was Chi Ya's turn to be a little surprised. He was already surprised when he saw that Gong Qiying's expression did not change at all when he introduced the three underground cities.

Gong Qiying stated that he had never heard of these three underground cities, and questioned why he needed to react to them.

"Because of these three underground cities."

Chiya paused for a moment, then said:

"All three of them openly dislike you, they really dislike you."

The reason for disliking Sion seems somewhat predictable?

"Oh? You really understand me, Grandpa Red Fang."

Gong Qiying's expression finally changed, and he even laughed out loud.

"I love going up to people who hate me."

(End of this chapter)