Chapter 36: The Visitor
In the underground warehouse, Vivian brought Bai Li to open the dusty iron door.
“Cough cough, doesn’t anyone manage this place?” Bai Li covered his mouth, trying hard to avoid inhaling the dust everywhere. “You might as well turn this into a garbage dump.”
Vivian ignored his complaints and lifted the large black cloth in front. Underneath was the siege cannon, intact as new.
She used facts to tell him whether she had managed it or not – the thing didn’t even have a chip in its paint.
Bai Li had nothing to say now. He silently went up to check the core inscribed inside the device. This kind of complex mechanical device needed magical power for transmission.
It looked fine. He slowly injected magical power, and the cannon immediately emanated ice-blue light. The core inside rotated, and the device was ready to operate at any time.
“Hey hey hey, stop! Are you trying to blow up the entire warehouse?”
Ignoring Vivian’s urgent pleas, she was really quite foolish – how could it be used without cannonballs? Bai Li laughed helplessly but still let go.
Once this siege cannon was set up, combined with Rose Valley’s terrain, it would be a dimensional reduction strike. He took out the cannonball blueprints he had designed before.
“Give this to those craftsmen. Making some of these low-tech crafts should be no problem. The material ratios absolutely cannot be wrong, otherwise it’s easy to have barrel explosions…”
Vivian listened in a daze – she only knew to follow the blueprints.
“Um, what’s a barrel explosion?”
It seemed the technological shortcomings here couldn’t be made up in a day or two. Bai Li was too lazy to explain so much to her.
Returning to the dome, Bai Li vaguely saw a tuft of white hair swaying at the edge.
From somewhere, she had dug out Bai Li’s toolbox. Something inside seemed to attract her.
She looked at the white moon carved on the box, and her expression immediately froze. Memory fragments flashed like slides – this pattern had brought her harm twice…
Vivian quickly stepped forward to snatch the box away, leaving Teresa in a daze.
“It’s okay, Teresa. That person is already dead – no need to dwell on the past.” Vivian comforted her while frantically signaling Bai Li to come up and show some concern.
Teresa hugged Vivian, sobbing quietly.
“Really, really? That’s really…”
“That’s right, Teresa. Though I don’t know what you experienced before, you can consider your great revenge accomplished. Look at this.”
Bai Li took out a pinwheel from his storage ring. Teresa stood on tiptoe, her small hands receiving the pinwheel.
Facing the breeze, the pinwheel slowly rotated. She silently inserted it into a crack in the bricks nearby.
“I don’t know why, but I’m afraid of this white moon.”
Bai Li didn’t speak. Honestly, he didn’t know how to face this child he had harmed twice.
“Play here for a while first. Vivian and I need to discuss some serious matters. With us here, no one will hurt you.”
Teresa listened to Bai Li’s serious promise and silently extended her hand. One large and one small finger hooked together.
“Big Brother Bai, pinky promise – no changing for a hundred years.”
…
He had already chosen the position for placing the siege cannon, just waiting to begin construction. But he had to be careful not to let word leak out, which gave him quite a headache.
“If only Soren were still here – he was an expert in engineering.”
Thinking of this usually silent middle-aged man, he wondered how he was doing now.
In the Empire, anyone with even the slightest connection to him had to be purged and investigated, let alone Soren, who was his old subordinate.
Vivian wore a hood with a rose pinned to it that swayed in the wind. The sky quickly darkened, and she could feel distant rain clouds slowly advancing.
“What bad weather.”
She took out Bai Li’s former holy emblem with disgust. Unexpectedly, this thing actually glowed faintly – though the light was very weak and barely noticeable if you didn’t look carefully.
“What’s going on? I don’t have Templar Knight power.” Bai Li was puzzled. “Could it be…”
The army sent by the Empire actually had Templar Knight-level experts leading it. Such beings in the Empire numbered only four.
Excluding the previously mentioned Cook and Troy, the last one was Youlin, who guarded the southern coastline.
Troy had switched defenses with Cook, so this signal definitely pointed to Cook.
Bai Li still respected this senior. If he was leading troops here, how should they respond?
“…It’s him. A rare human who can be reasoned with.” Vivian lay on the table listlessly. “An old-generation Templar Knight – he even fought the previous Hall Master.”
At the bottom of the valley, Wensa had already sealed the entire entrance. The Rose Sanctuary began martial law, ready to face battle at any time.
“Why the sudden martial law?”
“I don’t know, but Her Majesty the Queen must have her reasons. I heard the recent invader was actually an imperial prince?”
“No wonder…”
Just as the dependents were whispering, uniformed, fully armed Blood Clan soldiers appeared on the street, dispersing the confused crowd.
Duke Wensa played with the rose in his hand. His figure seemed slightly thin in the rain, Griffin held horizontally, the gleaming blade pointing straight ahead.
“Step aside, Wensa Siham. You’re no match for me. I’m looking for Vivian about something.”
The armored figure in front was surrounded by Blood Clan soldiers but showed no fear. The heavy greatsword in his hands was like a toy, casually striking to split open the helmet of a Blood Clan soldier in front – just enough not to hurt his head.
This greatsword weighed at least sixty-some pounds. For him to control such a massive weapon so skillfully, accompanied by the “clang” of the helmet hitting the ground, the Blood Clan soldier’s pale face directly confronted Cook’s unfathomable strength.
“I don’t want to fight. I just want to ask Vivian about something.”
Feeling the sudden appearance of cold killing intent, Cook raised his greatsword. A golden magic circle rose beneath his feet as he blocked Griffin’s thrust. Vivian’s magic scythe striking his body only produced a dull sound.
“You’ve come?”
Rose petals scattered as Vivian’s figure appeared in the rain.
“Looking for me about what? I killed Bai Li – he’s already dead. Take this back to Claude.”
Cook caught the box Vivian threw over. This toolbox carved with a white moon was exactly the one Bai Li usually kept in good condition.
Normally he wouldn’t let anyone see it, wouldn’t even let them touch it. He examined it – the possibility of Vivian faking this was almost zero. It seemed Bai Li’s matter was settled.
“As you suspected, his matter wasn’t my idea. Naturally, someone in your Empire sold me information, but who that is – no comment.”
Cook knew all this, but hearing Vivian personally confirm it still crushed his last shred of hope.
“What about this quasi-Prince who recently appeared among you? Might I meet him?”
Vivian smiled with pursed lips. “Does Senior Cook intend to interfere in our private affairs?”
With her saying this, Cook couldn’t pursue the matter further. The Rose Sanctuary and Cook also had some private friendship – at least during peaceful times, they could still be friends.
But Crown Prince Herta was preparing to tear away this pretense, using it as his pledge of allegiance.