Chapter 88: Admonishment and Infiltration
Athena said angrily, “Fuck! Gade, we must find a way to eliminate those bandits!”
“Miss, please don’t be impulsive!” Gade shook his head. “There are more than 200 bandits in Mountain Xilang, leading by a Great Demon called Barnacle. He is one of the two deputies of the Red Devil, and he’s at the peak of Higher Demon. He still has three strong Higher Demons under him too. We can’t fight them. Besides, that’s just a small part of the Red Devil! Rumors say that the strength of the leader is unfathomable, and he is likely to surpass Higher Demon level. Miss, listen to me, hurry back to the Dark Moon City. Mountain Xilang is too dangerous.”
“No, I have to complete the task given by the Princess Royal, otherwise, I’ll never go back!” Athena’s attitude was very determined. In fact, she requested to be on this trip from Shea.
After listening to the strength of the Red Devil bandits, Chen Rui was immersed in his thoughts: The strength of this bandit group is quite horrifying. Now, there are 4 Higher Demons occupying Mountain Xilang. Even if Alan’s two previous elimination attempts weren’t “fake”, he couldn’t win against that.
Athena was currently middle-stage Higher Demon; Chen Rui was probably equivalent to early High Demon; Dodo’s strength was D-level, a Higher Demon, but his specific level was unknown. Besides, he had no attacking means. He could only tank with its immortality.
3 Higher Demons versus 4 Higher Demons might look like a slight disadvantage, but it couldn’t be calculated in such a way. Barnacle was already at the peak of High Demon. Thus, him alone could defeat all of Chen Rui’s party, so Chen Rui’s party really could fight blindly.
However, the main purpose of this trip for Chen Rui wasn’t to deal with the bandits, but the waste ores that had accumulated for hundreds of years, which was massive aura. In any case, he should explore the situation first.
At that time, a dark elf came in. It was the vice captain, Conner who went to get food. He brought two bowls of Lala Potato-like food, a big dry pancake and a few fruits.
Athena frowned, “Do you usually eat this?”
“Sorry, Ms. Athena.” said Gade embarrassedly “The conditions are getting harder and harder now. This is already the best food here. Many miners only eat one meal a day.”
Connor added, “Those bandits control the nearby water sources and prey. If it weren’t captain’s arrangement and leadership, we would have starved to death if not killed.”
Athena and Chen Rui finally understood why everyone looked weak. It was because they couldn’t even secure a filled tummy.
“You misunderstood, Gade.” Athena stood up and bowed at Gade, “I can’t believe you’ve been guarding this place for 4 years. I should pay my respect to you.”
Gade hurriedly got up and bowed back at Athena. Chen Rui withdrew all the remaining prey from the space bracelet and said, “Gade, ask someone to clean these preys then bring a few of your biggest pot. Later, gather everyone and we’ll drink some soup.”
Gade looked surprised. He quickly asked Connor to work with the preys. His impression of Chen Rui in his eyes was slightly better.
Soon, the fire was started and a few huge iron pots were set up. Chen Rui began to stew on his own hand with some additional condiments. The climate of Mountain Xilang was very cold, so the steaming pot and the long-lost meat fragrance made all the nearby demons drooled. If it weren’t for Gade’s prestige, they would’ve snatched it. Connor gathered almost every miner. There were about four to five hundred people, mostly imps, dwarves, and a few dark elves and centaurs. Almost everyone looked at the few pots beside the… new mining officer with hope.
Before the distribution of meat soup, Chen Rui began the first admonishment as the mining officer.
“First, let me introduce myself, my name is Chen Rui. I was previously the secretary of Princess Royal. Lately, I was recommended by the financial officer, Joseph to become the mining officer.” Chen Rui told his prepared draft, “You may have heard that I have another identity, which is the only apprentice of Master Aldas. That’s right. I’m a weak human being, but I’ve received master’s genuine teaching of poison, for example…”
“Can you give me your crossbow?” Chen Rui came to the nearest dark dwarf. The dwarf didn’t expect the human would look for him, so he was holding the crossbow tight subconsciously and didn’t dare to let go.
Chen Rui was too impatient to be nice. He snatched it directly. He raised it high and waved it, then the sturdy crossbow began to decay quickly ; it scattered like a rotten wood.
“This is one of the dozens poison skills taught by master.” Chen Rui intimidated while looking wicked, “If there are any enemies that fall in my hands, I’m more than happy to have another experiment subject for my poison.”
That move obviously scared many demons who were there, and the noisy scene suddenly calmed down.
Althought talents such as potioneer and mechanic were not very strong in combat, they were equally revered, especially potioneers. The stroy about Aldas poisoning the potioneer genius, Sandro from the capital city with his fart not only spread throughout Dark Moon and the Fallen Angel Empire, but it had even spread to the remaining two empires. Although this human was just an apprentice, he was also the only apprentice of that master. From that move just now, the phrase “received master’s genuine teachings of poison” didn’t seem like bragging. He might even learned a certain level of master’s ultimate move.
Thinking of that, many of the demons that were in front retreated backward at the same time, especially the dwarf who was used for demonstration was shivering in fear. That was the effect Chen Rui wanted. After being in the Demon Realm for so long, he already knew the knack of it. This world advocated the strongest. If one was soft and gentle, it’d only make these people harder to control. He should first use a big stick to intimate them, then he gave them a carrot. That was the most effective way.
“Rest assured everyone. My poison will only be used against the enemies; it won’t cause any harm to my people.” After Chen Rui showed his strength, he immediately threw out the “carrot”, “I know that the mine’s situation is bad, so I don’t have much demand in regards to mining. I have only one request. Which is during my tenure as a mining officer, you have to obey my orders. As for the food, I brought two powerful wyverns. Ms. Athena here is the best swordswoman in the Dark Moon, and she is also the best beast tamer. We will use the wyverns to hunt prey and strive to let everyone drink a hot meat soup every two days. Do you like that?”
Everyone shouted, “Yes!”
Chen Rui had a clear mind that the answer was 100% for the meat soup. Although the meat soup was still not enough, it was already a luxury even just for a bit for those miners who hadn’t tasted meat for a long time. Everyone had a primary impression in their minds: Although the new supervisor is a human, he possess horrible poison. If we were disobedient, we’ll be very miserable; on the contrary, we’ll have meat soup to enjoy if we obey him.
Subsequently, it was the most popular dining time. Gade was indeed from the military as under his command, the distribution of meat soup proceeded in an orderly manner.
After the dinner, Chen Rui made the dwarf stayed there alone. When the dwarf thought of his hesitation when he offered the crossbow and the scary poison, he almost paralyzed on the ground in fear. Chen Rui didn’t say anything, but he commanded the dwarf to go to the opposite summit to help him set up the tent. Athena didn’t want to live in the stone house that Gade offered and refused to use the tent that Chen Rui offered. So, she built a simple tent on the mountainside with some existing materials. Now, the two wyverns were at the summit and behind the summit was a cliff, so Athena chose that position that could better protect Chen Rui.
Although Athena staying at the mountainside made Chen Rui’s movement inconvenient, in a certain sense, it could act as a cover because the people at the foot couldn’t come up.
Seeing that the mining officer easily pulled the two fierce wyverns to the side and tied them, the dwarf revered him more. Fortunately, the mining officer didn’t use him as an experiment subject for the poison, but he merely asked him about the mine’s situation.
According to the dwarf, the main pit was divided into upper and lower layers. After thousands of years of renovation and expansion, it was equivalent to an underground passage accessible to all sides. When the minerals at the upper layer almost finished, a deeper and lower layer pit was opened up. During the previous usual period, it was very convenient to transport minerals through cable cars and lifts.
However, one day, when the miners were conducting deep excavation and survey, they accidentally found an underground world with various powerful creatures below. At that time, the Dark Moon’s lord was a strong Demon Emperor. He immediately rushed here when he heard the news and killed a bunch of underground creatures that came out. He also cast a seal with several powerhouses to prohibit the entry and exit of those creatures.
For thousands of years, it had been safe and sound. 400 years ago, unsure if it was because the seal had lost its power, the underground creatures broke through the seal and occupied the the main pit at the lower mine.
In desperation, the mining officer back then had to destroy the large lifts and sent people to guard the entrance. However, in such a way, the production of minerals was greatly reduced. Many people sneaked down with simple personal rope ladder and risked their lives to mine at lower layer which resulted in the loss of many lives. However, this year, the bandits were rampant. They even controlled some small mining sources that were discovered with great effort, and they were harming the miners. Some of the miners escaped and some of them died, the original thousands of miners had only a few hundred left.
Chen Rui asked the dwarf to draw a map and rewarded him with a big pancake. Dwarf didn’t expect such a good thing to happen, and he left happily. Dwarf was a race with deft hand. Although the map was simple, it was accurate and easy to understand. The main pit was located at the back hill of Mountain Xilang and the waste ores room was located somewhere in the upper level of the main pit.
The sky was getting darker, and Chen Rui began his action. His cover was Dragon Inscription. He only knew some basic inscriptions now. Inscriptions like <Reflect> that Paglio used at the blue lake the other day belonged to the top inscription, which wasn’t only difficult, but it also had various restrictions. One of them was it needed the user’s blood as support and it could only last a certain time. Chen Rui’s current strength was too low. He had troubles even with the basic inscriptions. Besides, he took a long time even to write the inscriptions. However, those who saw him at the foot of the mountain only thought he was doing something to the tent.
He used three inscriptions, namely <Hidden>, <Mute> and <Mirror>. The inscriptions were the great effort of the strength of Higher Demon with the understanding using <Deep Analysis>. After activating, it could only last for a few hours. He didn’t have any other choice anyway. Demon Realm was also a world that depended on who you were born as, for example, the dragons were born with the Demon King’s strength.
However, Chen Rui didn’t need the power to damage enemies. He only needed to create a certain illusion. From the outside, the summit still had a tent and two wyverns. In reality, one of the wyverns was already in the sky flying toward Mountain Xilang. His servent, Dodo who had been hiding in a baggage on the wyvern also accompanied him.
With the help of map and magic compass, Chen Rui quickly found the location of Mountain Xilang. Mountain Xilang was indeed the largest mountain within the Xilang mountain range. He was really surprised by the huge size of the mountain.
After the wyvern flew for a while, they finally found a faint light below, which should be the camp of the Red Devils.