172: Town at the foot of the snow-capped mountains

When Lin Feng presented that eyepiece and the content he had deciphered from the letter in their original form to Lady Elizabeth, this elder, who had weathered nearly a century of storms, showed a truly shocked and horrified expression for the first time.

In her deep blue eyes, her noble elegance was replaced by fear.

"eye of odin... a man-made god..." she murmured to herself, her fingers gripping the armrests of her wheelchair until they turned white from the force. "I always thought my father was just a simple scholar, a craftsman obsessed with Eastern culture..."

"It seems now that your father had his own pursuits," Lin Feng summarized succinctly.

Lady Elizabeth fell silent for a long time before slowly raising her head to look deeply at Lin Feng. "Mr. Lin, you have completed the first half of the commission. You may choose to stop here, and the reward promised by the Cavendish Family will be paid in full. As for that place... I will use the family's influence to request military intervention."

Lin Feng shook his head.

"Madam, you know very well that once the authorities intervene in a secret of that level, it will disappear into the abyss forever." He looked calmly into her eyes. "You will never know your father's whereabouts, and I will never know the secret of the nine tripods."

Lady Elizabeth read the determination in his eyes.

She closed her eyes as if making an extremely difficult decision. When she opened them again, her gaze had regained its clarity and authority.

"Butler."

The old butler, who had been standing quietly aside, bowed slightly. "I am here, Madam."

"Select ten of the most reliable men. From now on, they will only follow Mr. Lin's orders," Lady Elizabeth said firmly. "Also, prepare a private jet. The route... Munich, Germany."

"As you command, Madam."

...Four hours later.

Munich International Airport, private tarmac.

Wang Dalong hunched his shoulders as he walked down the airstair of the Gulfstream G700 business jet. Looking at the ten burly men in black waiting in formation on the tarmac and the three black Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUVs with diplomatic plates, he felt his legs go weak.

"My god... Brother Feng..." he leaned into Lin Feng's ear, his voice trembling. "These... these are Mercenaries, right? Like the ones in 'The Expendables'? Are we going hunting for treasure or going to war?"

Those ten men were all tall and sturdy with cold, stern faces and steady, sharp gazes. Just by standing there quietly, they exuded a suffocating aura of blood and iron.

A white man at the head of the group, with a buzz cut and a faint scar on his chin, walked up to Lin Feng and gave a standard military salute.

"Mr. Lin, I am the captain for this operation, code name 'Stone'. All of us have served in the SAS (Special Air Service) and are proficient in mountain warfare, demolition, and infiltration. From now on, we are your shadows, your weapons."

His German was as standard as his English, devoid of any emotion.

Lin Feng nodded, still maintaining his expressionless face. "Get in the cars. We're going to Bavaria."

"Yes, Sir."

The convoy started, smoothly leaving the airport and speeding toward the distant, snow-capped Alps.

Wang Dalong sat in the back row, sandwiched between two burly men who looked like iron towers, not even daring to breathe loudly. He stole a glance at Lin Feng and found his Brother Feng calmly looking at maps and data on a tablet. That composure made it seem as if he weren't about to break into a Nazi base, but rather attend an academic seminar.

Wang Dalong grumbled inwardly: A lunatic, a total lunatic! With this kind of mental fortitude, it's a waste of talent not to be in a pyramid scheme!

After several hours of driving, the convoy finally stopped in a picturesque German border town.

The town was named "St. Wolfgang," a typical Bavarian-style place with timber-framed houses, balconies adorned with flowers, and the distant spire of a church against the backdrop of continuous snowy mountains. It was as peaceful as an oil painting.

"Stone, find a place to stay. Have the men take turns resting and keep a lookout. Don't disturb the locals," Lin Feng gave his first order.

"Understood." Stone executed it efficiently.

They soon checked into a family-run inn in the town center. The landlady, a warm middle-aged woman, saw the group and thought they were a film crew.

At nightfall, Lin Feng gathered everyone in the room and spread out a large military map.

"The coordinates are here," he pointed to a peak on the map. "Altitude 2300 meters, complex terrain. Howard's diary didn't mention the specific entrance to the base; we know nothing about the interior."

He looked at Stone: "Any suggestions?"

Stone pondered for a moment. "Sir, forcing our way into the mountains without specific intelligence is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I suggest we start with this town. A secret base of that scale couldn't have been built seventy years ago without leaving any traces."

"I was thinking the same thing," Lin Feng nodded approvingly.

Wang Dalong chimed in from the side, "I'll go! I'll go ask around! I'm the best at chatting people up!"

He volunteered and ran down to the inn's bar to strike up a conversation with a talkative young bartender. Half an hour later, he returned dejectedly.

"It's no use, Brother Feng. These young people don't know anything; they knew nothing at all. They said most of the houses in town were rebuilt after the war, and no one remembers the old days."

Changing his tune, he said excitedly, "But! The bartender said there's an Old Monster living in the nursing home at the east end of town! Named Hans, nearly a hundred years old, a veteran of World War II! He said if anyone in this town still knows the secrets of those years, it's him!"

Lin Feng's eyes lit up instantly.