The Lord Of Blood Hill

Hearing Henwell’s words, Dart sighs. “As expected, the lord of Blood Hill is truly formidable!”

Henwell replies, “No need to flatter me. To me, the enemy’s vicious curses are the highest form of praise. Now, tell me, where do you come from? I’m curious who’s clever enough to plant a spy here.”

Dart responds calmly, “Henwell, since you know I’m an undercover agent, you should understand that once we’re exposed, death is certain. But I cannot betray any secrets. Otherwise, death is the simplest punishment for me.”

“Henwell, you’re a noble, and so am I. Nobles have their own honor. Don’t think all nobles are bought by your interests. Every nation has loyal warriors willing to die for their cause.”

Henwell shrugs. “Of course! I respect loyalty, everyone does. But you’re not just about loyalty and honor. You’re trying to confuse the issue. Let me guess, you’re planted by Veil, aren’t you?”

Dart sneers, “Does it even matter whether I am or not?”

Henwell turns to Jax. “Looks like our junior has some skills. I wonder which batch he’s from. Maybe he came from Forge Furnace. Who knows, maybe we even share the same instructor!”

Jax rolls his eyes. “Hard to say! He’s older than us, maybe he’s our senior! When we graduated, Scarface Archie never gave us certificates. We don’t even know which batch we’re from.”

Henwell laughs. “True! Last time I saw Scarface Archie, I was too busy hitting him to ask. Next time I meet him, I’ll ask first, then hit him!”

Jax grins. “Let’s tell the brothers then. We want the instructor to know his students have become excellent. He should be proud, singing even in death!”

Henwell turns back to Dart. “I’m not lying. You’ve been locked up for over a year. There are things you don’t know. I’m now a Paladin of the Holy Spirit Church. Soon, I’ll lead my Penitence Squad to root out Veil. And you are quite cunning. You think we, Veil’s top graduates, are easy to fool?”

“I’m sure you’ve passed along intelligence. You know escaping here is impossible. You just want to send valuable information out, hoping Veil will take notice and send help. But you probably don’t realize Veil dares not launch a large-scale attack here. They’re strong, yes, but this place is their forbidden zone.”

Jax adds, “Veil must have long-term missions to scout or infiltrate Peace Haven, passing intelligence outside. You probably stumbled upon the Technical Research Institute’s location and snuck in by any means.”

“There really is important intelligence here, but you can’t get out. So you try to send messages, hoping Veil will send experts to rescue you.”

Henwell offers a different perspective. “Jax, you’ve got this part wrong.”

He hands Dart’s case files to Jax.

“He didn’t sneak in on purpose. If it were that easy, this place would have been infiltrated like a sieve long ago. He was trying to kidnap our people to steal our cement formula but got blocked by the Constabulary.”

“Seeing no way out, he decided to lay low and look for a chance to escape. Before he could even try, they sent him here as a test subject. So, he’s not as formidable as you think, just really unlucky.”

Henwell turns to Dart, who clearly shows some emotion.

“One last question, where did you hide the intelligence? Do you have a contact?”

Dart sneers, “You think I’ll live if I tell you?”

Henwell shakes his head. “Of course not. You killed my people, that’s a capital offense. Besides, I’m analyzing extraordinary drugs here, and have made significant progress. This place is crucial to me. For a long time, nothing here can be known outside.”

Dart snorts. “What’s the point of telling you then? Either way, I’m dead.”

Henwell waves a finger. “It matters. At least it might ease your suffering.”

Dart laughs bitterly. “Heh… You’ve all been trained by Veil, so why do you think I can’t endure torture?”

Henwell ignores him and turns to the others. “Who can guess where he hid the intelligence? If you get it right, there’s a reward!”

Phoebe Crow asks curiously, “You know?”

Henwell shrugs. “Of course I do!”

Phoebe Crow looks at Jax. “Can you guess?”

Jax sighs. “Henwell and I trained together in Veil. I’m not as good as him in combat, but I’ve won awards in intelligence classes!”

At that moment, Cumberland steps forward, about to speak, but Henwell cuts him off. “No counting you! If you can’t guess, then I’ll start doubting if Chick was bragging. His best student’s skills are really that poor?”

Cumberland, appointed by Chick as his successor after Chick moved to the Western Federation, naturally has some serious skills.

Among the many Lord Iron Guards who came with Henwell, three of the four squad leaders are present; the last one is still at the Iron Guard training camp.

Squad Leader One, DeWitt; Squad Leader Two, Samul; and Squad Leader Four, Wizet are all here.

Faced with Henwell’s challenge, the squad leaders quickly confer with their subordinates.

Lord Iron Guards’ commander Dalton thinks deeply for a moment, then shows a look of realization.

But he keeps quiet, leaving the opportunity to his subordinates.

In the end, it’s Wizet who guesses correctly. This young man from the Phoenix family is quick-witted.

“My lord, since this man wasn’t trying to escape during the riot but wanted to use the chaos to send out intelligence, and he knows the rioters can’t get out alive, yet he still planned to stir up the riot, then the intelligence must be with those rioters. They can’t leave alive, but if they die, maybe the intel can be retrieved. I think if we check the bodies of the dead rioters, we’ll find the intelligence hidden among them.”

Henwell claps softly. “Smart thinking! Alright, tell me what you want.”

“My lord, since you’re leading the Paladin squad on this mission, I want to come along too!”

Henwell nods. “Alright! You’re in. Get ready when you return, we’ll be out for several months.”