151: Chapter 152 is absolutely amazing!

The people in the hall became quieter and quieter as they listened.

At first, they were listening intently, then they were shocked, and later, it was an indescribable feeling—not fear, but conviction.

"This is just too amazing!"

It would be one thing to just name the locations so specifically—but the height of the Ore mines, the number of Demonic Beasts, the number of Spirit Medicine plants—everything was precise, spoken as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

Lei Lie clearly said yesterday that they hadn't scouted beyond ten miles, yet this morning he could report intelligence for dozens of miles around in such detail?

Overnight?

Someone secretly glanced at the dense markings on the map, then looked at Lei Lie's face, which was as steady as a mountain, and swallowed hard in their heart.

When exactly did Minister Lei go to scout it?

...

The eighty-two missions were all assigned.

The Mercenaries spontaneously formed teams according to the missions they received, filed out of the Mercenary Guild, and surged toward the East City Gate.

It was different from yesterday.

Yesterday, it was a swarm.

Everyone surged out in the same direction, like a flood released from a dam; it was lively, but chaotic.

Today, there were eighty-two lines.

Each team had its own direction, its own goal, and its own number of people.

After exiting the East City Gate, the teams spread out like a fan, each advancing in a different direction.

Some went northeast, some went due east, and some went southeast.

Looking from afar, it was as if Flower City had stretched out eighty-two fingers, simultaneously reaching toward various locations outside the city.

The atmosphere within the teams was also different from yesterday.

Yesterday, it was pure excitement and impulse; they didn't know what was ahead, but who cared? Just charge.

Today, there was one more thing—a sense of direction.

Everyone knew where they were going, what they had to do, how big the target was, and roughly how long it would take.

Compared to yesterday's swarm, this feeling was much more grounded.

"Minister Lei said if we follow the river valley for thirty miles, we'll see the Ore mine. Do you believe it?"

"Let's just walk and see."

"I find it hard to believe. Thirty miles? How did he know?"

"Who cares how he knew? Let's just keep going and see!"

"That's true."

After walking for about two hours, someone in the team suddenly stopped.

"Hmm??"

The people in front also stopped.

At the end of the river valley, a gray-white stone mountain stood there.

It wasn't too high or too low, its edges and corners were distinct, and the surface of the mountain faintly had a dark silver luster—that was the characteristic reflection of iron Ore.

Someone stared blankly for a moment, then subconsciously looked up to estimate the height of the mountain.

Over four hundred meters... it was indeed about right.

"Has he really been here?"

...

In a mountain hollow forty-five miles to the due east.

When the thousand-person team arrived, they could smell a strong, fishy stench from afar.

The leader raised a hand to signal the team to stop and took two assassins to scout ahead.

Returning a quarter of an hour later, their expression was a bit strange.

"Found them."

"Demonic Bear?"

"Yeah." The leader swallowed hard, "The big ones are like calves, and the whole den is in the hollow. I counted—"

He paused.

"One hundred and four. Not one more, not one less."

The team went quiet.

Then someone sighed softly: "Minister Lei... what long-reaching eyes he has!"

...

The gathering team in the southeast direction also encountered the same situation after arriving at the valley.

Bisi Grass grew on both banks of the stream at the bottom of the valley, in clusters, with translucent emerald-green leaves that shimmered with a faint spiritual light in the sunlight.

The leader had someone count them.

Four thousand one hundred and fifty-one plants.

"..."

The person who finished counting was silent for a good while, then silently reported the number to the leader.

The leader was also silent.

Then he turned around and said one sentence to the team.

"Don't ask. Complete the mission and go back to report."

...

Evening.

The eighty-two teams returned to Flower City one after another.

The mining team brought back several large carts full of black iron Ore.

The hunting team brought back the corpses of one hundred and four Demonic Bears—their bones were three times thicker than those of Demonic Wolves, and their fur was as thick as iron armor, but not one could withstand the concentrated fire of a thousand-person Bronze Rank team.

The gathering team brought back four thousand one hundred and fifty-one Bisi Grass plants; not one was missing, not one was damaged.

The remaining teams also completed their respective missions.

The quantity of Ore, the quantity of Demonic Beasts, the quantity of Spirit Medicine—everything matched up.

Not one more, not one less.

In the Mercenary Guild hall, the teams reporting back formed a long line.

After each team finished reporting, there would be a brief silence—not because they were dissatisfied, but on the contrary, because they were too satisfied, so satisfied that they didn't know what to say.

Lei Lie sat there, his expression steady, listening to each team's report one by one, and making marks on the map one by one.

No one asked him how he knew anymore.

Whether to ask or not was no longer important.

What was important was—if Minister Lei said it was there, it was definitely there.

If Minister Lei said how much, it was definitely that much.

This kind of trust wasn't shouted out with empty words; it was hammered out within a single day through eighty-two missions.

...

In the northwest direction, seventy miles away.

The hundred-person team completed their exploration mission, and the leader was counting the heads, preparing to return the way they came.

"Everyone is here, retreat—"

Before he finished speaking, a hand reached out from the side and pressed down on his shoulder.

It was the assassin in the team.

The assassin didn't speak, just raised the other hand and pointed in a direction.

The leader looked in the direction of his finger.

On the horizon to the northwest, there was a line moving.

It was very far, but very long.

That was not a Demonic Beast.

Demonic Beasts wouldn't form a line.

The leader narrowed his eyes, channeled his spiritual power into his eyes, and extended his vision a bit.

Armor.

Banners.

Uniform marching rhythm, uniform queue spacing.

The black-bottomed, red-patterned banners unfurled in the wind, one after another, extending from the head of the column to a point where the end couldn't be seen.

Regular army.

At least one thousand people.

The leader's breathing skipped a beat.

Within seventy miles of Flower City, there shouldn't be any city's regular army.

His first reaction wasn't fear, but to lower his body, while simultaneously waving his right hand downward—this was their team's secret signal, meaning "Everyone crouch, silence."

The hundred-person team reacted quickly.

Almost at the same time his gesture fell, everyone lowered their bodies and moved toward the nearest cover.

Some pressed against the rock wall, some crouched into the bushes, and some lay directly in a shallow ditch.

The assassins were the fastest, having already dispersed to the perimeter, watching the direction of that army's movement from the shadows.

No one spoke.

The wind blew across the wasteland, carrying the faint sound of metal clashing from afar—that was the sound of armor and weapons during the march.

The leader lay behind a rock, his forehead pressed against the cold stone surface, his heartbeat pounding in his chest, one beat after another.

The marching direction of that army...

He wasn't sure.

But he didn't dare to gamble.

The leader turned his head, looked at the assassin beside him, and silently mouthed two words.

"Don't move."

The assassin nodded.

The hundred-person team lay in the folds of the wasteland, like a group of dormant beasts holding their breath, motionless.

In the distance, the black-bottomed, red-patterned banners moved slowly in the twilight, like a silent snake.