Of course, it is not ruled out that this is just his plan A. Plan B is to dig out the secret of dragon transformation buried deep in the tomb, just like the Necromancers.
These people all have their reasons for going after the Dragon God's treasure, but what about the Mimic?
Mimic... From Sixus's memory, it was a special kind of monster.
They eat people and can pretend to be the people they eat, making sure that there are no flaws in their appearance.
But that's about it.
They only eat humans... They can gain simple wisdom and language skills by simulating the brains of their prey, but they are not particularly advanced creatures after all. The mimics in Sixus's memory always look a little dull.
The Mimics she had seen in reality not long ago were even more bizarre. They seemed to have become a simple parasitic creature. They no longer transformed into a human body, but parasitized on corpses, using only their own flesh to replace part of the tissues to carry out activities.
No matter how you look at it, they shouldn't be interested in the Dragon God's treasure.
Eugenie still said nothing.
From his expression, Hitzfeld judged that he really didn't know the relevant information.
She couldn't help but think of the page she saw in Senling City.
Use Dragon Fire to heal broken roots.
Broken roots...
She began to suspect that the mimics had indeed lost their ability to reproduce.
--------
Kawenka is a bit powerful. It took a lot of time to sort out some details...
Without further ado, I’ll continue writing. There are still three chapters to go, which can be regarded as making up for what I missed yesterday.
Chapter 82: Two-in-one Conditions
Until the so-called messenger from the Grape Moon Palace came to knock on the door again instead of the conductor, the group of people in the carriage could not think of any way to escape.
The platform is now blocked in three circles inside and outside, making it impossible to escape.
Just when Hitzfeld was considering whether to simply acknowledge the princess's identity and lead everyone out of danger first, she heard footsteps outside the door and someone whispering outside the door.
Then she was surprised to find that those who were supposed to be the messengers from the Pu Yue Palace actually retreated.
This was odd, because there should have been more of them, but she did hear more footsteps leaving…and they didn't insist on welcoming her?
Xia Yibing was slightly moved. She had already thought that according to Eugenie's description, there were only a few people in Kerge who could do such a thing.
"Click" the door opened.
A man with slicked-back hair, a sturdy build, wearing a dark brown suit, leaning on a cane, wearing a monocle, and looking to be about 45 years old walked in and glanced at everyone's faces.
He had an aura that was hard to describe, like the domineering manner of a lion patrolling its territory, coupled with the determination of an antelope leaping over a ravine... All of this made him overwhelm the three or four people in the room with his aura, even though he was short, only 170 cm at most.
Hmm... probably Mackay, Moore and the Copperfields.
No one else is afraid of him. Hitzfeld himself has been observing all the details of him, and Xia Yibing and Sixus are similar. Russell has always lacked emotional changes, and Wright is simply a scoundrel.
"I found that some people dared to look me in the eye," the man said. "That's good, it means these people already know who I am."
"Sir!" Eugenie exclaimed, "I didn't expect you to come here in person..."
Yes... the man with the fierce eyes is his master, the Count of Hot Springs of Talignant, the Lord of Hot Springs, the head of the Hot Springs Dragon Family, and the creator of the plan to "abduct" Hitzfeld - Carloni Deka.
"We'll talk about the details later." Kaloni kept his eyes on Hitzfeld as he spoke. "Get rid of these fools first."
Hitzfeld's brows twitched, and soon, the shaking of the carriage forced her to raise her hands to hold onto the upper bed frame.
Is the car moving?
She looked out the window in surprise... Indeed, the scenery was sliding backwards.
The "Firebird" actually started moving again, and it continued to move forward... and soon carried them away from the platform.
This behavior was obviously just to get rid of the crowd. Not long after, the carriage stopped at another empty platform.
Another ten minutes later, everyone was sitting in a spacious car, looking at each other, and then their eyes were fixed on Carloni, who was sitting alone opposite them, and they saw him take out a bottle of wine from the car's wine cabinet and fill several glasses one by one.
It is worth mentioning that neither MacKay nor the Kopperfields were in the car.
They got on another car with the Sally brothers, so there were only four people sitting opposite Carloni. Including himself, he only had five cups on the table.
"Try it?" After pouring almost half the bottle, seeing that the people opposite him had no intention of speaking, Carloni shook the bottle and raised his eyebrows.
"I know you're from Sara, where the conditions are better than here, with all kinds of fine wine and delicious food. But you certainly don't often enjoy the extreme climate of Talignan... and this kind of grape needs enough heat to taste good."
"By the way, you can just call me by my name, or you can follow the others and call me Earl."
"I don't have the habit of drinking toasts from strangers." Xia Yibing said bluntly.
The others remained silent, apparently agreeing with her attitude.
At present, their understanding of Carloni is limited to listening to Eugenie's simple description. They are far from being familiar with him, so they are naturally wary of everything he does.
"It's good to be cautious." The count raised his eyebrows, "But if you keep doing this, you'll be going to my house next... Are you planning to starve yourself to death?"
"We don't have to go." Xia Yibing's tone was still indifferent. "If we follow your original plan, we really have no choice, but Mr. Deka, the reality is as you can see, there are some variables."
"You mean you can use her princess status to put pressure on me? Swing between the Three Dragon Guards and the royal family to gain benefits?"
The man's sharp eyes swept over immediately.
"Excuse me, but I'm afraid that's impossible." He smiled. "I'm also curious about who did all this, but no matter who it is, he obviously has bad intentions... They want to use you and use her (pointing at Hitzfeld) to raise a banner, on the one hand to attract other people's attention, and on the other hand to muddy the waters to the greatest extent... In this process, you can certainly take advantage of the situation to protect yourselves, but you will also be subject to many restrictions."
"For example, the duties of a princess." He stared at the girl, "Do you know why those people are crazy about you?"
"I really don't know." Hitzfeld admitted bluntly.
"Everyone in Kerge knows that the current queen is not actually the legitimate heir of the country." Kaloni laughed, "Tarignan is indeed fragmented. There are more than 200 families here who have legitimate succession rights. For many years, there have been civil strife and internal strife surrounding the royal power... consumption... But at the very least, the family that wins after each turmoil must be the strongest at the time, and it needs to be collectively recognized by our Three Dragon Guards."
"They know... they all understand, but they can only accept an unapproved woman sitting on the throne, because they really don't have the objective conditions to drive her away."
"You mean Queen Milanka has no children?" Hitzfeld frowned. "She doesn't even have a daughter?"
"It was still there a week ago."
His frown deepened.
What does it mean... someone is trying to assassinate me?
"That girl was courting death by running out in the middle of the night to meet her lover." Kaloni shook his head. "The two of them couldn't help themselves in the shadow of the house, but by chance, a hungry nightmare creature passed by there..."
"I am sure this matter has nothing to do with assassination. Don't forget what I said before - admit it. This is the key. It is obvious that your Majesty's daughters do not have the ability, and the people will not have any expectations of them."
“Then why would they recognize me?”
"Because you really did something great."
He put the bottle back and drank from a glass.
"The Revealer of the Crystal Sea."
"The savior of Nanxinze."
"They also attributed some honors to you that do not necessarily belong to you."
"In short, you first became famous as a detective, and then you planted the lie that 'you are actually the lost bloodline of the Tarignan royal family' on this basis... They immediately had the objective conditions."
"I don't think anything could be more ridiculous." Hitzfeld still thought it was too absurd.
No matter how great she is, she is just a detective at best. How disappointed are these people with the current regime of the country that they would be happy to see her come back as the new heir?
"You don't understand the customs here, so of course you think it's nonsense." The man shook his head, "But the fact is... Do you think what you saw in Berwyn County is the norm in this country? No... It should be like Mace or Senling that is the norm."
"Including the final destruction of Senling?" Xia Yibing argued.
She felt Kaloni was exaggerating.
She believed that most of Talignan was like Metz, but to say that they would face the same disaster as the Forest Ridge... that was too much of an exaggeration.
"That's right!"
But I didn’t expect him to admit it: “Including that devastating ending!”
He quickly took off the glasses on his left eye and showed them the white, nearly necrotic eyeball: "Why do you think I have to wear these glasses since I was 7 years old?"
The process was short. He quickly put the lenses back on and whispered, "It's an infectious disease."
"Hemorrhagic fever... You may not have heard of it. It's a terrible disease, even more terrible than nightmares. It only takes three days to turn most organs in the human body into pus and blood. I'm really lucky to be alive."
"But besides hemorrhagic fever, there are also diseases such as leprosy, plague, and fever... Every time a large-scale disease spreads, people die in one village after another. This efficiency is much higher than that of the nightmare evil species."
He smiled and shook his head slowly.
"If it was more than a hundred years ago, we might not have woken up. But now with a ready-made example like Sarah, we all know that if we want to eliminate the disease, we must first improve the urban structure, build canals and sewage pipes... Try to drink boiled water and eat well-cooked meat."
"But can this eliminate all problems? No."
"Our energy is drawn to internal struggles. The powerful and their families are colluding with each other, forming cliques and factions... fighting for power... It took 36 years to build the sewers in Kerge alone. Don't even think about what will happen in other places."
Hitzfeld was silent.
Indeed, she had lived in Sara for most of her second life. Even Sara, a smaller city, had a complete sewage system, and its medical and health care was at least acceptable, if not advanced. There hadn't been a major outbreak of infectious diseases for a long time.
But it's different in other places. For areas outside Sara, the threat of various horrible infectious diseases is even greater than that of gray fog and nightmares.
Senling City is full of feces and urine. If plague or diseases like smallpox and cholera break out in such a place, the effects will be absolutely devastating.
"So..." The Count picked up the second cup and gently swirled the liquid inside.
"If you weren't forced into a desperate situation, who would have expectations for an outsider... a young girl detective?"
"But Wenquan Leader did a good job." Xia Yibing said suddenly.
"Berwen County is the pearl of the Hot Spring Territory... the people there live and work in peace and contentment."
"Yes." Kaloni nodded, "I want to spread the situation in Hot Spring Territory to the whole country."
He made no secret of his ambition.
And it seems that it really can't be called pure ambition. From what he said and the examples he gave, we can see that he really has an extraordinary awareness of this matter. His starting point is not "power" but "people's livelihood", which is much better than the average ambitious people.
None of them suspected that he was lying or putting on a show, because words could be lies, but the peace of Berwyn County could not be faked.
No wonder Eugenie followed him wholeheartedly, he does have a unique charm.
But this was still not enough for them to completely trust him, so Hitzfeld asked again: "So the princess's obligation is...?"
"You should be able to guess it." The Earl tilted his head, "Think about what the various forces in Kerge want most now."
The Secret of the Dragon's Tomb.
There is no doubt about that.
"If you admit that you are the lost bloodline, then you are in luck..." The man opposite kept gesturing with his wine glass, "First, the Undead will come to you for blood... If they find out that your blood can be synthesized into the blood of the Dragon God to open the Dragon Tomb, then you will be useless... They will most likely kill you to prevent you from being used by others."
"Or maybe you're lucky and they can't figure it out, then you'll still be valuable... They'll use the queen's name to force you down into the grave, and you'll become a pure tool, with no way of staying out of the case to investigate."
This guy was really cunning. He clearly wanted to win them over to cooperate with him, but he didn't say it directly. He just analyzed the pros and cons for them, making it seem as if this was the only right way.
Hitzfeld exchanged glances with his companions and asked the Count: "If we agree to cooperate with you, will you guarantee our safety in the future?"
"I can't guarantee it, but I'll try my best."
"What if I need to go down to the grave?"
"I'll send someone to follow, and I'm also going to make some big noise on the ground."
"Please answer this question truthfully... What is the content of your deal with the Mimic?"
"Those monsters probably lost their ability to reproduce after the gray fog descended. They heard that the Dragon God Fire has the power to repair and heal, so they tried to obtain it to restore their bloodline."
"You agree to cooperate with them?"
"It's just a superficial agreement. No one would take a group of parasites seriously, not to mention that I know how to distinguish them."
"Is that history professor from Hot Spring University your man?"
"No, I know what you want to ask. I didn't know about Wright-Sally's incident. The person who did it was not one of mine. I didn't want to kill him."
This conversation continued until the car stopped, and Carloni rolled down the window to show them the view outside, which was an extremely luxurious, magnificent building of about six or seven stories high.
"The Baohuang Hotel." He knocked on the window sill.
"I know you haven't made up your mind yet, and I don't think you'd be happy if I took you to my house... so I'll just find you a place to stay first."
"This is the best hotel in Kerger." He looked at Russell. "He should know that it is only one street away from the Lunar Palace."
