Astral Apostle

   Chapter 57 Depression

  The two ran all night, and the night gradually faded away.

   When the outline of Baiyuan City appeared at the end of the line of sight, it was already the eve of dawn, the sky was a dull dark blue, and dawn was brewing.

   Zhou Jing watched with full eyesight on the field. The comprehensively strengthened physical fitness also improved his eyesight to a certain extent. Suddenly, like zooming, the scene of Baiyuan City was quickly enlarged and clear in his line of sight.

   Before the door was opened, the gates at the city gate were still closed, and the braziers on both sides had been burned overnight, and they were all exhausted, leaving only traces of smoke.

   There were no villagers or caravans waiting to enter at the door. Several guards were next to the wall, their heads bit by bit, probably taking a nap.

  Zhou Jing raised his eyes and looked at the crenels on the city wall. The torches were still burning, but there were no guards patrolling. And in the lookout port of the city wall tower, there are no guards standing guard at all times.

   "The defense is so sparse. It's been more than half a year since I opened the city gate last time, and the defense of the town doesn't seem to have improved much."

   Zhou Jing muttered to himself.

  Although he and Ross are currently dressed in coarse clothes and can pretend to be farmers, he doesn't want to go into the city in an open and honest way.

   After more than half a year, maybe there are still people in the town who recognize his face, after all, the towns in this world are so big.

   Now that he is in the dark, he does not want to easily reveal his whereabouts, and he cannot directly earn the gate of the city with his identity as a hunter of alien beasts like last time.

   Zhou Jing tore off the corners of his clothes and covered his face, and asked Ross to do the same. Then the two deviated from the road of the city gate and quickly touched the city wall from other directions. On the way, they always paid attention to whether there were patrolling guards and towers looking out on the city wall.

   Fortunately, this time is the most suitable time to sneak into the town. It is the dark time before dawn, and there is night cover, and the two people's fast-moving figures are like ghosts, which are difficult to detect.

   And Zhou Jing had chatted with the town guards before, don't expect this group of people to have a very high professionalism at all times. After standing guard all night, some people have long been lazy, and it is impossible to keep their nerves tense.

The two successfully touched the base of the wall, Zhou Jing grabbed the gap in the city wall, and with a slight force on his knuckles, inserted the hard brick into the wall. Before the 40-point physical fitness, the rough stone bricks and plastics in this world are no different. How many.

With his knuckles inserted into the cracks of the wall, with a slight rattling sound, he easily swims up the wall like a gecko, and quickly turns over the crenel into the city wall aisle, then immediately crouches down to stick to the wall, his eyes quickly turn left and right, confirming this. The aisle is temporarily unattended.

   Zhou Jing then beckoned Ross to climb up too. After the two met, without delay, they immediately climbed over the wall and entered Baiyuan City.

   It was still curfew, the streets were almost empty, only guards patrolled, the two walked along the edge of the town for a while, hiding in the shadows of the houses, patiently waiting for the morning to come.

  It is not difficult to sneak into the town. Ordinary guards will inevitably make mistakes when facing the alien warriors. After all, the extraordinary physical fitness is here. As long as the guards are negligent and relaxed, they can sneak past with fast movements.

   Taking advantage of the waiting time, Zhou Jing sat cross-legged behind the house, thinking about a plan of action.

   Infiltrating the town this time, the main goal is to kidnap Root and pry information out of his mouth. Before that, it is necessary to find out how long it has been since the last shuttle, how far the impact of the last time has fermented, and what has changed in Baiyuan City now.

   Secondly, we need to find out Root's current defense strength, whether there will be another mysterious person like the one-inch man blocking the road last time, and estimate the difficulty.

   Now that his body is intact, he doesn't need to fight for his life. Zhou Jing doesn't want to be surrounded, and prefers to sneak. It's better to kidnap Root quietly to ensure that he has the reaction time to retreat.

   "So think about the way out after you get it first, and prepare some things... I have to buy some equipment. Money is not a problem. Although shopping while covering my face will attract people's attention, just be careful..."

   Zhou Jing calculated in his heart, time continued to pass, and finally the bell rang in the town, and the curfew ended.

   After waiting for a while, the number of people on the street gradually increased, and the residents of the town started their day.

   Zhou Jing took Ross to mix with pedestrians this time. Except for covering his nose and mouth to occasionally attract the attention of passersby, he looked just like an ordinary farmer, very normal.

   He was familiar with Baiyuan City, far away from the patrolling direction of the guards, went shopping in the clothing store, dressed up as a town resident, and was more inconspicuous than a farmer.

By the way, I also bought two felt hats, and even covered their ears, which made the two people's clothes covering their noses and mouths look like cold protection, not so noticeable... After all, this is the Northland, the weather is cold, It's normal to wear thicker ones.

After    finished shopping, Zhou Jing didn't leave immediately. Instead, he approached the owner of the clothing store and found out the date—it was confirmed that more than half a year had passed since his last death.

  The current city lord is still Root. He has not been dismissed by the empire, but he has rarely appeared.

   Chatting and chatting, the shop owner suddenly felt a little emotional:

   "Since Jason attacked the lord half a year ago, Baiyuan City has become more and more depressed."

   Zhou Jing came to be interested: "I came from another place, what happened later?"

  The clothing store does not have a chat service, but Zhou Jing gives money easily, and there are no customers in the morning, and the owner does not mind chatting with Zhou Jing for a few dollars.

"Well, after that, the hunters said that the lord had some secrets behind his back and wanted to silence Jason, but he was almost killed by Jason in the end. These rumors spread to the whole city. And the lord has been sick in bed, almost Faceless.

After about a month or two, it seems that some imperial messenger came to investigate this matter, and finally announced to the whole city, saying that this incident was a private revenge by the lord’s guards, the lord himself did not know it, it was a misunderstanding, and then turned to appease The hunters of Baiyuan City…”

   Hearing this, Zhou Jing sneered in his heart, but his face was calm.

"Then what?"

"The hunters seem to be very angry and refuse to accept this explanation. Many hunters left directly. As a result, there are not enough hunters in Baiyuan City to deal with the threat of alien beasts. No, businessmen don’t take this route anymore… On the contrary, there are more and more surrounding villagers fleeing into the city.”

   "So after the hunter left, were there any strange beasts in many nearby villages?" Zhou Jing raised his eyebrows.

   "There are two villages. Originally, if there were enough hunters, these beasts could be repelled in time. However, most of the hunters in the city now guard Baiyuan City and seldom go to support the village." The owner sighed.

   "Which two villages are suffering?"

"Xueshi Village and Languo Village were bitten to death by alien beasts, and the survivors fled to the city... Because of what happened to them, and today's hunters almost only guard the city and don't go out, other villages also feel that they live in the wild. It’s not safe, and many people have moved into towns voluntarily.”

   Zhou Jing nodded.

   "This situation has continued until now? Is there any improvement?"

The owner shook his head and said helplessly: "How can there be any improvement? Although it has attracted a lot of wandering mercenaries, the new hunters have not come for a long time. I heard others say that Jason's attack on the lord has spread to many towns, Root's The reputation has been ruined, many people are unwilling to serve under a lord who kills the hunters, as long as he is here, the hunters will not come... If things go on like this, the city of Baiyuan will probably end."

   Zhou Jing clicked his tongue: "It's all like this, why don't you change a lord?"

The shop owner couldn't help being a little angry and complained: "Who knows what the empire thinks, it doesn't matter at all! Root continues to be the lord, but as the threats of alien beasts become more and more frequent, in the end it is the people in the whole city who are unlucky! No matter how safe it is, people are panicking now, and I heard that many residents of Baiyuan City are planning to move to nearby towns."

"I see…"

   Zhou Jing has a general understanding of the current situation.

   He killed the lord by attacking himself at the beginning, and the hunters hurt him and fought for him, so they expanded the situation and wanted a result.

  In the end, because of the death of Paulette, most of the hunters in Baiyuan City were angry and dissatisfied, and chose to leave. At the same time, this incident was spread to more towns, so the entire Baiyuan City area appeared a huge security risk, and it became precarious and dire...

   can be said to be the far-reaching influence of his own source.

   However, in this case, Root still clings to the lord's position regardless of the negative effects he has brought to Baiyuan City.

Although   's reputation has been discredited, and Baiyuan City has been depressed, but for Root, the hunter is gone, and he is safe... Maybe in his opinion, he has already suffered a huge loss, and this matter is over.

   In the future, I will be a low-key lord, and I can continue to live... My own interests are guaranteed, and the loss of the town and the safety of the villagers can only be left to fate and let them go.

   As long as Root reigns for one day, the White Plains City will go from bad to worse.

   'Isn't this just occupying the ditch and not shitting...'

   Zhou Jing pouted under the mask.

   The Terra Empire is indeed Terra, and even this does not remove the lord of Lut.

   It seems that the bell has to be tied to the bell, or you have to go out on your own.

  Since the problem is caused by people, the person who solves the problem should not have it.

   Root holds on to the lord, and if he kills him directly, if someone else comes up, his reputation will never be worse than him. In this way, the decline of Baiyuan City can be slowly stopped, some hunters in the past may return, and new hunters will gradually appear...

   Zhou Jing estimated that among other hunters, there might be some people who wanted to assassinate Root, but they were persuaded... After all, not everyone does not have to worry too much like himself.

   It just so happened that he had a plan to kidnap Root, and then he would just tear up the ticket... This is saving Baiyuan City!

   After hearing the information he wanted, Zhou Jing said goodbye to the shop owner, left the clothing store, and looked in the direction of the lord's longhouse, his eyes flashing.

   "The next step is to step on it."

  …

  Lord's longhouse, reception room.

   The two were sitting opposite each other, chatting in a low voice.

   One of them is Root. Compared with half a year ago, he is much more haggard, with dark circles under his eyes and a bone-like shape.

   Opposite him is a man in leather armor with a dagger at his waist, like a mercenary... It is actually a trusted messenger sent by the backer behind Root.

   At this moment, the messenger frowned and looked at Root and said solemnly:

"The impact of your affairs is too bad. The court has a lot of opinions on you, thinking that you caused the first alien hunter to attack the lord, which caused great damage to the relationship between the hunter and the lord! Last time, the imperial messenger served you for you. Endorsement, the investigation said this was a misunderstanding, to keep your position, the adults are under a lot of pressure..."

"I know."

  Root's voice was weak and he coughed twice.

   If something like this happened in Baiyuan City, the Empire will definitely send someone to investigate the cause. Fortunately, he has cleared the clues, and with the support of his backers, he finally covered up the truth.

  Although this result led to the loss of hunters in Baiyuan City, the position of the lord was retained.

"My lord means that you can consider replacing your lord position with a blood relative of your tribe. Even if you are still a lord now, the pressure in the court will not disappear, and your lord may not be able to withstand it all the time. And if you don't change the lord, Baiyuan City will only have a vicious circle..."

   "I still have to think about it."

  Root is perfunctory.

  The situation of Baiyuan City, he also sees it, if he wants to revive this "business", he also knows that replacing himself is the best choice.

   But he still couldn't let go of the lord's position in the end, and planned to hold on like this... If he was not a lord, his status in the tribe would not be what it is now, and he was reluctant.

   Besides, as time goes by, the impact of this matter will gradually fade away. Root feels that as long as he survives the most stormy stage and becomes a low-key lord in the future, he will always have a chance to recover.

  As long as the location is still there, then you have time!

   At this time, Root remembered something and asked:

   "By the way, I wonder when the lord will arrange a new secret guard for me?"

   In the past six months, he has recruited some foreign-blooded guards, some of whom were transferred from the tribe.

   But Root is still insecure, and only looks forward to having a secret guard who looks like a man with an inch head again.

   He thought that after the death of the short-headed man, the forces behind this man would send a new person to take charge of him, but more than half a year has passed, and no one has contacted him at all.

   Hearing the words, the messenger said helplessly:

   "There's nothing you can do, my lord. The mysterious cooperative forces have all disappeared, and even the secret guards around my lord have left. Now I can't contact those people at all. I don't know what's going on."

   "That's… okay."

  Root looked disappointed.

   In the past six months, he often had nightmares. He dreamed that Jason, who had no chin, was approaching him with a **** knife. Every time he woke up, he was in a cold sweat, so he was so haggard now.

   But Jason is dead, the matter has passed, no other hunters will attack him, he should be safe, so many guards are just asking for psychological comfort...

   Even if there is no secret guard, it should be fine, right?

  Root comforted himself in his heart.

   (end of this chapter)