Three corpses lay side by side on the ground. Fang Hong first looked at the first one: a gloomy man, now with a pale face, slightly open eyelids showing a hint of reddish-white beneath, hair disheveled, skin appearing as if coated with a layer of gel.
Fang Hong's gaze lingered on his face for a moment, confirming he had not seen this person before, then bent down to lift the woolen cloak off him. Underneath the cloak with purple and yellow interwoven, the man wore gray trousers and a long-sleeved shirt, with two sheathed swords at his waist, one long and one short. There were also two empty leather holsters, one on each side, originally meant for inserting handguns, which had been removed.
On either side of the holsters were some bottles, with some containing cloudy liquids. Fang Hong was unsure of their purpose, as his knowledge of toxicology was limited; considering the man's line of work, he did not touch them. His gaze moved past the potion bottles, settled on the shorter sword, feeling this sword was distinct, so he reached out to take it down.
The sword in its sheath was not longer than his elbow, with a butterfly-shaped silver decoration on the dark sheath leather. Fang Hong couldn't recall any organization utilizing this emblem, so he pressed the buckle with his thumb and drew the sword quickly. The dazzling light of the blade fell on his face; the blade was quite sharp, a magic guided conductor, but otherwise had nothing unique.
Fang Hong looked at the alchemy array etched on the spine of the blade, which had affixes to enhance nimbleness and agility, then returned the sword to its sheath and looked back at the corpse—on the diagonally positioned leather shoulder strap hung some bullet pouches, further up was where the man was shot, in his left chest, the bullet burned through the wool woven material, leaving a patch of dark red on the shirt.
A little further up, a pin clipped a shield emblem. The shield emblem, about the size of a coin, had a baked blue background, with unicorns and lion-tiger beasts flanking a crown in the center, with two longswords crossed above, resembling the emblem of Colin Ishurian. Seeing this, Fang Hong understood without doubt that the man was a secret spy of the royal household.
He laid the cloak back down. The face of the corpse was now glowing faintly, a white light cluster was emerging from the fluorescence, in the position the light penetrated, the corpse was gradually becoming transparent.
He then examined the remaining two corpses one by one; each person had similar equipment, but only two individuals had identical short swords.
Fang Hong took the two short swords down and placed them together. Soon, one of the short swords also emitted the same fluorescence, and in the flickering interwoven white light, it vanished without a trace, leaving behind a scattering of dust. All three corpses were completely resurrected, the hall of the 'Sand Lodge' quieting again, as if nothing had ever happened except for the bullet marks left on the ground.
Fang Hong rose to his feet, pondering for a moment.
He roughly understood what trouble he had encountered.
The matter of Hilveld beside him was, in fact, not a secret, it has been exposed once in Fanric. To expect the Elfendo Council to keep a secret was unrealistic; Teacher Ande and Old Copper Nose might be trusted, but not others.
Ever since the incident with Count Westwood Sibika, he realized clearly, it was nothing but a sieve leaking from all sides.
Currently, the only ones aware of his exact location are the military, the Descendants of Flor, and the Super Competitive League. The military would not sell him to the Prime Minister's side; it's safe to assume that the Descendants of Flor and the Super Competitive League both have certain suspicions.
Last time he offended both factions, he didn't expect the retaliation to arrive so swiftly, and in such a despicable manner, making him somewhat disdainful.
The Descendants of Flor, maybe; the Super Competitive League could not possibly be unaware of this matter—and they even targeted Hilveld, they should have known this was related to Colin Ishurian's internal affairs.
Moreover, it concerns the safety of a noble lady, such disregard for human life—is this in line with the guidelines a Stargate Organization should adhere to? Alas, temporarily unable to catch them red-handed, it only leaves him intolerant.
"Brother Ade, are they really royal spies?" Tianlan asked.
Gita clutched her scholar's robe tightly, as if trying to wring water from it, worryingly said, "Yet that brooch is indeed Colin Ishurian's emblem, unless it's forged..."
Fang Hong turned around and gave a subtle smile to everyone: "Perhaps, but there's no need to make a big deal out of it."
Hilveld opened her mouth as if to speak, but Atira, behind her, took her hand. She turned back, and the elf miss's emerald eyes were like deep lakes, immersed in ancient calmness, saying to her: "This is Ade's business."
Hilveld thought for a moment and nodded.
Everyone fell silent for a while.
Fang Hong glanced at them, then said: "Everyone... starting from today, perhaps the road ahead will be fraught with crises and difficulties; but this is something we have anticipated for some time. Yet, the promises we have made, I hope we can stay together, accompany each other as we proceed.
No matter if in the end, it's filled with thorns or adorned with flowers."
Luo Yu, Gita, and Luo Hao listened, they each nodded lightly. Ai Xiaoxiao, though not quite understanding, nodded along, Tang Xin glanced at her friend, sighed, and thought that sometimes naivety can be a kind of pure happiness.
While Xiangzi was bowing his head, carefully checking how much mana his magic guided wand had consumed.
"And Miss Hilveld is still our investor." Tianlan said.