The defeated saint is also on the way to tame the evil god today

"Besides, if that jerk Derek Larson is in cahoots with Prince Austin, then he must be involved in Miriam's affairs as well."

"I will personally question him until he tells the whole truth."

......

On Friday morning, when Xingmo woke up from her dream of golden light, the first thing she heard was the sound of heavy rain hitting the window.

She got up from the bed in a daze and looked out the window. She saw dark clouds in the sky, and fine rain accompanied by strong winds was blowing towards the academy.

Heavy rains have been becoming more frequent recently... Is another narwhal approaching the shore?

Xing Mo yawned, skillfully took Aurora, who was sleeping on him, off his body, covered her with a blanket, then put on his clothes and went out.

She had breakfast in the auditorium and then went to the school gate to meet up with Teacher Lucius.

From a distance, she saw her mentor, Lucius, standing next to the carriage. He was wearing a black windbreaker, holding a black umbrella, a black hat on his head, and silver-framed glasses on his high nose bridge, which made the bookish air on his face fade a lot.

"This is the first time I've taken students to skip class," Lucius smiled as he saw Xingmo approaching with an umbrella. "So, shall we go?"

"Let's go." Xing Mo nodded.

Then, the two of them boarded the sky carriage together, whizzing through the rain and flying towards the North City Port Area.

......

6) Steam, Whale Song (Part 13)

After the carriage landed, Xingmo pushed the door open, opened the umbrella, and stepped onto the wet cobblestone road.

The port area was like a steamer in the heavy rain. The rain hit the streets, stirring up mist that mixed with the steam from the factories, and the smell was somewhere between water vapor and coke.

Xingmo subconsciously covered her nose, while Lucius stood on the street with an umbrella open, looking calm.

Amidst the heavy rain, Lucius shouted half-jokingly:

"Sir Derek Larsen won't turn us away in this heavy rain, will he?"

Xingmo raised her head and looked at the factory in front of her: the gray bricks and slightly rusty pipes were intertwined together, like a diseased lung.

From time to time, the sounds of animals could be heard from the factory, and each cry was accompanied by a flash of lightning in the sky.

"Is that the sound of a narwhal?" Xingmo frowned.

"It looks like our animal friend isn't feeling well," Lucius said, straightening his hat with one hand. "Let's go."

The two walked to the iron gate of the factory. Lucius approached the guard booth and tapped the glass.

"Sir, we are friends of Sir Derek Larsen and are here to visit. Could you please let him know?"

The old man in the guard booth glanced at Lucius and waved his hand, signaling him to get out.

Seeing this, Lucius smiled helplessly at Xingmo:

"It seems the lord doesn't want to see anyone."

Then, he stepped back, drew his wand, and lashed it at the door—

"boom--"

Golden starlight burst out, instantly blowing the iron gate into pieces, and the black iron railings flew everywhere.

The old man in the guard booth was frightened. He grabbed the hunting rifle in the guard booth and walked out, cursing at Lucius:

"This is Sir Derek Larson's private property! You are trespassing!"

"Hahaha, sorry, every real gentleman needs morning exercise, it's just that my way is a little rough." Lucius raised his hands with a flattering smile on his face.

More than a dozen guards ran out of the factory gate. They passed through the broken iron gate, some holding hunting rifles, and some leading vicious dogs, and surrounded Lucius.

At this time, Xingmo had already stepped on the eaves of the factory roof.

The moment Lucius blew the door open, Xingmo passed through the iron gate with the help of the dazzling golden light, and stepped onto the roof with the help of a gust of hot wind.

This is tacit understanding!

"..."

After taking a look at his mentor and confirming that he was okay, Xingmo tightened his hood and started running on the roof.

Soon, Xingmo found a window. She stuck her head out and looked inside. The furnishings inside looked like a boiler room, which was empty at the moment.

After confirming that there was no one there, Xingmo opened the window, climbed in lightly, and closed the window.

The boiler room was very stuffy on a rainy day. Bronze machines were spread all over the room, and a stream of white and blue gas would occasionally spurt out of the pipes.

After confirming again that no one noticed her, Xingmo found a seat in the corner of the boiler room and sat down.

She pressed the "Tree of Life" mark on the back of her hand, then closed her eyes and waited quietly.

A few minutes later, the shadow under her feet suddenly darkened, and a black light tore through the shadow, revealing a petite figure in a dark green robe.

It's Alia.

"Lady Saint, do you have any instructions?" Alia said in a low voice.

"Where is Sir Derek Larson's office?" Xingmo whispered.

"It'll take ten minutes. I'll have the birds help me scout," Alia said softly. "I'll come find you then."

"Okay." Xing Mo nodded.

Alia did not disappear. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, then continued:

"Lady Saint, I have another request. I would like you to help me save my companions in this factory."

Save? That word sounds quite heavy... Xing Mo thought so and asked:

"What do you mean by rescue? Are they imprisoned?"

"Controlled, to be exact," Arya's voice suddenly tinged with resentment. "Ser Derek Larsen controlled them and made them slaves."

Hearing this, Xing Mo's pupils shrank slightly:

"Keep talking."

"It's hard for me to describe it to you. If you see it yourself, you'll quickly understand." Alia whispered.

It seems there's no way to wait here anymore... Xing Mo thought so, stood up, and patted his robe:

"Okay, I'll go check it out, you go scout."

"I obey your will," Alia bowed to Xingmo, "May the goddess of the Tree of Life protect me."

After saying that, she cut through the shadows with the dagger in her hand and sank into them.

Looking at the place where Alia disappeared, Xingmo pondered for a while, then took a step forward and pushed open the door of the boiler room.

Steam mixed with the smell of rotten eggs blew in his face. Xingmo waved his hands and held his breath.

When the steam in front of her eyes dissipated, she found herself standing in an aisle high up in the factory, separated from the huge factory space by only an iron railing.

And in the thick steam at the center of the factory, Xing Mo saw a huge eye——

——The eyes of a narwhal.

It was a giant creature with a body length of more than 30 meters. It looked like an ordinary whale, but its body was covered with pale scales, like the armor of an ancient knight.

But the armor was now covered with iron rings, and copper nails dozens of meters long pierced through the scales and into the flesh, leaving the exposed parts covered in blood.

On the forehead of the giant whale, the pale horn was entangled by pipes and machines, and blue arcs of electricity constantly burst out from it, spreading in the air like branches.

The "Storm Narwhal", a mythical creature, is the master of storms and the source of "String Affinity Whale Oil".

In ancient times, they were the lords of the sea and were even worshipped by many small settlements as gods in charge of storms.

But since the "Steam Revolution", they have been captured on a large scale, imprisoned in factories, and turned into machines for extracting whale oil.

As one of the main raw materials of the "Steam Alchemy Machine", mastering whale oil is equivalent to mastering the blood of the "Steam Revolution", which is equivalent to mastering gold.

"..."

Xing Mo stared blankly at the transparent tubes that were inserted into the narwhal's body, and watched the blue whale oil flow through the tubes and be stored in the copper pipes more than ten meters high on the side.

Looking down, under the huge shadow of the narwhal, countless densely packed small dots are moving around it, either carrying whale oil tanks or processing them on the assembly line.

This scene inexplicably resembles a mural in an ancient cave: humans surround the god on the altar, separating its flesh and blood and absorbing its remaining breath.

"Woo~~~~~"

Along with the narwhal's long roar, Xing Mo felt the strings in the air being triggered. Suddenly, thunder struck the sky and white light flashed.

She took a deep breath, then opened her clairvoyance and observed the workers working around the narwhal.

Soon, she discovered something strange—

——Those workers all have a black "curse" on them!

But the curses did not surround them, but gathered at the back of their necks covered by their clothes.

Xingmo focused her senses and scanned the crowd.

Finally, when a worker fell down due to exhaustion, Xingmo briefly saw the device on the back of her neck——

——It was a bronze bell-shaped device with glass on the surface and gears rolling underneath.

When the worker fell, the hour hand on the clock began to count down.

......

6) Steam, Whale Song (Part 14)

In the dim little room, Lucius crossed his legs, his blue eyes smiling.

Around him, the guards held hunting rifles and had serious expressions.

"Clang."

The door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man in a white top, black vest, and dress pants walked in, staring at Lucius with sharp eyes.

"Lucius Phillips," growled Sir Derek Larsen.

"Long time no see, old friend," Lucius said with a polite smile, "Are you still torturing our narwhal friend?"

"You blew up my door, and this is how you treat an old friend?" Derek whispered.

"You know, when people get older, they tend to become more out of line." Lucius said with a slightly shy smile on his face.

Sir Derek Larsen stared at Lucius like a stone statue. He seemed to think for a moment before speaking:

"You need to accompany me to repair the damage to the iron gate and pay for lost work. Unlike you, every minute of my time is valuable."

"I refuse compensation," Lucius said happily.

"Reject?" Derek's eyes were filled with a hint of unspeakable meaning, "Do you want to..."

"Call the police to investigate and determine the responsibility? I have no objection, let them come." Lucius spread his hands happily.

He was very pleased to see Sir Derek Larsen's face suddenly turn sour, and he said to himself:

"Let me guess. If the police come and find out about all those illegal things going on in your factory, it's going to be hard to stop you, right?"

"You underestimate my power..." Derek Larson's tone was sharp.

"Believe me, I'm not underestimating you," Lucius shook his head regretfully. "If the North City Police Department truly enforced the law impartially, you would have been thrown into the dungeon long ago. I understand, man, money can buy everything."

"You're afraid of the Bell Keeper, especially since your master, Prince Austin, is being pursued. You've probably received a warning from him, so you dare not reveal a single word."

Lucius' words made Sir Derek Larsen's face look increasingly ugly. He stared at Lucius and said in a hoarse voice:

"You have no evidence, this is all slander."

"Oh, old man," Lucius leaned back in his chair, "we'll have it soon."

......

"Get up! Get up! Are you going to be thrown into the sea like them?"

The supervisor's roar rang out, and Bianca struggled to get up, but she had no strength left.

The moment she stopped working, the device at the back of her neck felt like it was on fire, sending a tingling sensation down her spine.

The girl struggled hard, but she really had no strength left, so she just twitched slightly a few times and then lay motionless on the ground.

"Another one is disabled." The supervisor's voice seemed to come from far away.