Chapter 472: Chapter 169: City of Thieves – White Family
Part 2
The risks of pioneering returned rewards instantly.
Catherine Carter stared at the gleaming scissors, a flash of surprise fading from her eyes.
Although the quality of this item wasn’t particularly high, its brilliant gold nature was destined to be extraordinary.
Even the treasury of her Lionheart Family didn’t have many such items.
Seeing this, she finally confirmed that the Catastrophe was indeed dead.
But Catherine Carter wasn’t interested in these spoils of war. Instead, she asked curiously, “How did you do it?”
Leonard Churchill glanced at her and casually responded with a smile, “I complimented it on its beauty.”
Catherine Carter seemed slightly speechless.
If it were that simple, so many people wouldn’t have died.
But after thinking carefully, it seemed she began to understand something.
Now that the Catastrophe was dead, the two of them headed back in the direction of Elder Clinton and his men.
On the other hand, Elder Clinton and his crew were still on high alert, unwilling to let their guard down.
When Leonard and Catherine had deserted them earlier, they guessed that the two were probably trying to figure out how to break through the Catastrophe
Domain.
But aside from Elder Clinton and Colin, the others did not hold much hope.
After all, so many people had already died and they hadn’t even seen what the Catastrophe was.
No one expected that temporary team members recruited from a wild team could perform miracles.
But at that moment, faint footsteps strangely emerged from the foggy streets.
Everyone shuddered.
They instinctively thought it was the Catastrophe.
However, considering that there had never been any footsteps when the monster appeared previously, they plucked up the courage to take a quick glance and saw two figures walking through the fog.
When they identified Leonard and Catherine as the two who had left earlier, Colin’s face immediately lit up with joy.
Elder Clinton’s wrinkled old face loosened up as well.
The faces of Captain Christ and the others became stiff, and they put down the
Spirit cards in their hands, surprised, ”You…you didn’t die?”
Leonard Churchill put on a relieved expression and said, “We were just lucky that I was able to answer the Catastrophe’s question correctly, and then, inexplicably, the monster disappeared…
On hearing his words, a strange look appeared on Catherine Carter’s face. She thought to herself: This guy is quite the actor.
Although it was true, the actual process was much more terrifying than his casual retelling.
The terrifyingly thrilling parts were only known to Leonard himself.
Upon hearing this, everyone else was on the fence. They wondered, “Is the monster truly gone?”
They didn’t care how it was resolved.
The only thing that mattered was whether they could truly survive.
“Oh, hurry up! Let’s leave this damn place…” Elder Clinton cried out, and everyone nervously continued along the street.
After they carefully walked along the street and found that the previous space loop had truly broken open, they dared to believe they were really still alive. Moreover, that “Split-Mouth Woman” was an A-rank Catastrophe. Its territory extended over several blocks.
With its presence, there were no other monsters in the vicinity.
The eight of them walked several kilometers smoothly without encountering any danger.
After being terrified for half the day, those who had survived were exhausted.
Seeing that it was getting late, they picked a dilapidated, easy-to-defend building and started to rest.
“This is really bad luck. We encountered such a terrifying Catastrophe during pioneering…”
“Captain Christ, should we continue?”
“Sure, we’re almost at the pit. We’re going to get those hundreds of thousands. Besides, we’ve made an exploration contract.”
Only eight of the twenty-man team were left alive.
They had collected their teammates’ belongings, and each person had been given materials and equipment worth millions.
To ordinary hunters, this would be more than enough to live in debauchery for the rest of their lives.
Around the campfire, they ate their dry rations and chatted idly, every now and then.
Having experienced their encounter with the “Split-Mouth Woman”, the few surviving members began to harbor thoughts of backing off.
After a brief few exchanges, Leonard Churchill absentmindedly contributed to their discourse, causing everyone to feel more uncertain.
Despite the unease, Captain Christ stubbornly insisted that they continue forward after resting.
Leonard’s group of four were initially headed to the ancient pit, so even though they saw through Captain Christ’s scheme, they did not disclose it.
After asking Catherine Carter about it, she revealed that the Lionheart Family was determined to obtain what was sealed inside, and that they were using these pioneering teams as cannon fodder.
Because Captain Christ was under a contract, he had no choice but to go.
Many people had died, and a cloud of death hung over this pioneering team. After a short chat, everyone went to sleep.
Leonard, as usual, found a corner and closed his eyes in contemplation.
Time passed unnoticed.
However, at midnight, he suddenly opened his eyes and saw that one mercenary, sleeping among them, had a pale face and was breaking out in a cold sweat.
Obviously, this guy was having another nightmare.
“Fear… pollution, is it?” Leonard Churchill wondered.
Out of the four remaining members, each one showed indications of having nightmares.
The more he observed, the more he found that their unveiling states were almost identical to the symptoms of the “unknown plague” in Orlan royal court that Tracy Garcia previously mentioned.
“Could it be that the new King of Orlan is up to something?”
Being an agent of the Silver Moon Sect, Leonard was familiar with the numerous methods of sacrificing humans mentioned in the Silver Moon Secret Book.
No matter how he looked at it, this collective nightmare didn’t seem natural, but man-made instead.
After pondering on it for a while with no ideas, Leonard closed his eyes again.
Time swiftly passed until it was almost dawn.
Just then, the roaring of steam boilers suddenly rang in his ears..