In the morning in Dunwall, the foggy weather makes the city seem to have no early morning energy.

Lao Wang walked down the street with Takenaka and the little girl Lilith, continuing to shout for the sewer dredging service, and moving towards today's mission area.

Yesterday they had successfully advanced the progress of the mission to 14, and after reaching the curfew time of six o'clock, the three of them chose to go back to the secret passage to rest, and then continue to advance the next day, after all, although Lilith was clever, she was just an ordinary child, and out of prudence, they gave up the night operation.

Task C is only now in the really difficult part, there are still 14 political oilers left of the wall-riding faction, whether it is the number 14 or the term political oil, which is a big head, let alone a combination of them.

The three of them stopped in front of a magnificent mansion, according to intelligence, the owner of this mansion is named Marcus, the Earl of the Empire, 44 years old, has been in the position of the royal minister for 15 years, is famous for falling with the wind, known as the wall grass in the wall-riding faction, and has an extremely sensitive political sense, no matter who is in power, his benefits are indispensable.

Lao Wang and Zhuzhong chose him as the first target, which also has a deep meaning, this guy is very popular in the government and the opposition, although his character is despised, but openly and secretly, he has helped many people, although it is difficult to get it, but once he is convinced, he may be able to get his help when he convinces other wall-riding factions, then, the task will be much simpler after that.

The three of them hadn't been standing here for long before they started shouting and scolding.

"Go away, dung balls, early in the morning, I don't want to vomit because of the smell of you!" It was the janitor of Marcus's Mansion, who found the three of them at the door, and immediately pinched his nose and waved his hand, trying to drive these filthy workers away.

There are many such dogs in the real world and random space, but for the sake of the task, Lao Wang still naturally coped with it: "Master housekeeper, we haven't done any work today, and our bodies are clean, just to work in a big mansion like yours." ”

The dogleg butler let go of his nose and sniffed, then pinched it in disgust: "Don't say it, dirty dung balls, the filthy things I saw have already soaked you like cured meat!"

Seeing that it was useless to continue to fake politeness, Lao Wang changed his strategy, took out a 5 pound gold coin from his arms and said, "Master housekeeper, take a look, is this what you just dropped." ”

The dog's ears twitched, and then he glanced back at the old Wang who nodded behind him, his eyes lit up slightly, and then he walked over with a disgusted face and said, "Well, it's mine, you dung ball, you're quite clever." ”

He stretched out his hand and grabbed the gold coin that Lao Wang spread out in the palm of his hand, ready to take the benefits first, and then perfunctory these untouchables, greed and the sleepiness of getting up early made him lose his usual sanity, the sewer cleaner charges no more than half a pound for a job, where is the 5 pounds gold coin to bribe him?

The moment the butler's hand just pinched the gold coin in the palm of Lao Wang's hand, the spread palm suddenly tightened, and Wang Mancang's iron tong-like hand suddenly exerted force, holding the butler's two fingers firmly, and the smile on his face remained unchanged, but in the housekeeper's view, this smile was a little weird and terrifying.

Doglegs are just ordinary people in the world of trials, how can they stand being pinched under this kind of force, in pain and shock, just about to scold, but before he could shout, Lao Wang quickly took out something from his pocket, and in front of his eyes, the housekeeper was about to scold, but he was blocked in his throat by this thing.

"See, you annoying dog!" Lao Wang smiled and nodded, the words in his mouth and the appearance on his face were not in the same series at all, he whispered, and then quickly let go of the butler's fingers, and continued to nod at him at the distance just now, the pedestrians on the street and the housekeepers in the mansion next door seemed to be a sewer cleaner who was constantly flattering, trying to earn his own food money.

The butler was also a clever man, who could be a janitor for an earl in the Imperial Capital of Dunwall, not to mention his character, and he was smart and discerning, these were the basic qualities.

He had already seen clearly, the man who looked like a dung ball showed him the token of the Iron Mask Overseer, and it was the kind of Iron Mask Overseer with a higher level, this kind of thing was finely made, and it couldn't be faked at all, and his other skill as the gatekeeper of the Earl's Court was to quickly and accurately identify all the tokens, name tags or tokens of various aristocratic families, major institutions and the military.

Recently, the city has not been peaceful, and the Iron Mask Overseer has often entered and searched the nobles' mansions, and this Iron Mask Overseer came in civilian clothes, perhaps to hide people's eyes and ears, and convey some orders or information to the earl.

Thinking of this, the housekeeper held back the pain in his hands, picked up the shelf again, cleared his throat and said: "Cough, damn dung balls, you look pretty clean, okay, I remember that the earl said a few days ago, let me clean the house before the Goddess Day, you are lucky, now follow me in, remember to do your work honestly, if you do a good job, there will be a reward!" He said these words in a very loud voice, as if he was a little afraid that others would not know.

Lao Wang said with a thousand thanks: "Thank you, thank you, master, the light of the goddess will always shine on you." ”

"Alright, alright, come on. The butler waved his hand, turned and led the three into Count Marcus's mansion.

After the four of them had completely entered the courtyard of the Earl's Mansion and completely disappeared from public view, the figures of the butler and the cleaner immediately reversed.

"Lord Overseer, please forgive me, I don't know if I understand what you mean?" The butler bent lower than the old king just now, and held the gold coin in both hands, and said in a respectful tone.

"Don't say more, take the gold as a reward for you, and now, take me to the Count at once, I have important news to interview with him here. Lao Wang waved his hand, as if he was beating a stick and giving a sweet date, so that this dog-legged man could be more serious when doing things for himself.

The dogleg left the old king and the three of them to wait, and trotted to inform Count Marcus, and in a short time he returned to the old king again and informed him that Count Marcus would meet with the Iron Overseer in the study.

Lao Wang and Takenaka left Lilith here, and only the two of them went to the study, and under the recommendation of the butler, they met Count Marcus smoothly.

"Your Excellency, the light of the Goddess shines on you. "Dealing with the earl can't be like the routine for the butler, the old king saluted the earl, polite.

"You're gracious, honorable Lord of the Iron Mask, and I beg your pardon, your actions are so confidential that my butler failed to give me your name. Count Marcus replied with a smile, but the meaning of his words was dissatisfaction with the old king's domineering behavior.

"I'm sorry to you, but this is my recklessness, you can call me Mark Mason. Lao Wang apologized.

"So, may I ask if I can help you, Mr. Mark Mason, and besides, I need to take another look at your Iron Overseer token. Marcus was still unhurried, his gaze flickered on Takenaka's body, and he continued, "Before I saw you again, I didn't know that the Iron Overseer had entered the industry so early, do you also have reserves?"

"Lord Earl. Lao Wang said with a smile, and at the same time approached the earl, made a look of wanting to whisper, poked his head out, and took out his right hand in his arms, as if he was about to hand out the token.

Marcus did not doubt him, and leaned his head close to the old king's mouth, and then he heard a low voice: "Dear Earl, I have wronged you. ”

What the!

Before he could react, Marcus felt a hard, cold object against his lower back, and then, the guy who claimed to be the Iron Overseer seemed to be trying to prevent himself from shouting, and vigorously covered his mouth with his hand, showing his crazy white teeth and laughing: "Lord Earl, please believe us, it is indeed because we have something important to talk to you about this decision, please promise us not to make a noise to try to attract attention, otherwise the gun in the hand of my little brother will go off at any time." ”

Marcus saw the wind and waves, and quickly calmed down, he looked at Lao Wang, and felt the coldness of his lower back, nodded obediently, Lao Wang let go, waited for a while, and saw that Marcus did not speak, he said: "I believe you have also guessed, we are not the Iron Overseer at all, as for our identity, it is not convenient to reveal it to you for the time being." ”

Takenaka took two steps back and removed the pistol from Marcus's waist, but still pointed at him from a distance, and if there was any movement, it would immediately shatter the head of the Count.

Marcus knew that now was not the time to be tough with the other party, so he took two steps back and slowly sat down on the sofa, raised his hand to signal that he would not resist, and said, "I guess, you are the assassin gentlemen who killed His Excellency Gambol a few days ago, right?"

"As you may suppose, we have no intention of arguing, and the point of this conversation is not Gambor's death, but what he said while he was alive, Lord Earl, please see. Wang replied casually, and then, he took out the crystal ball, played the video of Corvo interrogating Gambol, and stopped talking, quietly watching the expression on Marcus's face.

The Earl really deserves the title of political old oilman, after watching the video, he was unwavering, his face was expressionless, and he asked lightly: "How is Your Excellency the former protector now?"

"All well, now we want to ask, what you think after watching this video, or would you like to be on the side of Lord Corvo?" replied, and then threw out another question.

"Mr. Mark Mason, you are a skilled agent, or a fierce warrior, but I think that Lord Corvo should know the basics of politics in addition to his beautiful bayonet skills. Marcus looked at Lao Wang, his eyes were full of superiority, and said: "The truth of the assassination is not very important, do you understand? Let me make it clear, the current royal family is gone, how can you let me continue to stand on the side of the royal family? To put it nicely, how can you make me continue to believe that the protector can finally help the royal family regain power? A little girl who doesn't know life and death?"

When the old king heard this, he said in his heart, "That's it, compared to Corvo, this is a serious old politician, this cheek, this heart, thick black!"

He nodded in agreement with Marcus' statement and continued: "That's right, so we think it's most effective to convince you with concrete 'sincerity,' so pay attention to what I'm going to say next." ”

Lao Wang stood a little straighter and said: "Lord Earl, we don't require you to directly confront the regent at this stage, you only need to provide some information about the court when you meet with our people, we promise not to let you participate in any actual actions, but in the future, when Her Royal Highness Princess Emily ascends the throne, I believe there will be a fierce court debate, at that time, we need you to stand firmly on the princess's side."

In addition, we will provide you with ample political contributions, and we will satisfy your appreciation for 'beautiful things', and please let us know in advance how interested you are in the position of Imperial Chancellor of the Exchequer, so that we can arrange a position after Her Royal Highness Princess Emily ascends the throne, and finally, the former Protector has entrusted me with wishing your family good health. ”

This passage was concocted by Takenaka himself, and the whole language is peaceful, but money, beauty, high-ranking officials, and personal threats are all used, and I believe that a politician of Marcus's rank can make a reasonable judgment.

After hearing this, Lord Earl did not rush to express his position, as a creature more refined than the plague rat, he would not give a clear answer so easily, he frowned and asked, "Is there really nothing you want me to do?"

"No," replied, "but if you would help persuade more royal ministers of the same prestige as you to rekindle their hopes for Emily's public accession to the throne, that would be something we could not wait to do." "According to their lobbying goals, Marcus should take a little of that responsibility if he succeeds in being convinced.

The old statesman pondered for a while, and finally, as if having made up his mind, said, "Long live Empress Emily!"

This is a taboo sentence, even the regent himself expressed his desire to find the princess as soon as possible in his fake speech, and he also used the title of Empress Emily in advance, and Marcus said this now, barely showing his support for the royal family.

"So—" The old king paused as soon as he said two words, and he stared at Marcus, the Earl who was looking directly at him was a little heartfelt.

However, Lao Wang immediately returned to normal and said: "We sincerely thank you, Lord Earl, the situation is urgent, I have other things to do, let me retire first." ”

"Please wait a minute, Mr. Mark Mason. Count Marcus stopped the old king and Takenaka who were about to leave, and said, "I just said that I need to help His Excellency Corvo persuade more royal ministers to support Princess Emily's accession to the throne, right?"

"Do you have a way?" said Lao Wang with a little surprise and joy.

"Yes. "We have a small group of about 40 people, similar to a club of people with the same political views, and we have a salon every three weeks, and the next salon is the day after tomorrow, and I am the one who runs this salon. ”

"Do you want to take this opportunity to let us announce the truth about the Empress's assassination to all of you in exchange for your support?" asked Lao Wang a little excitedly.

"Yes. Marcus first agreed with Wang's statement, and then said with a grim face: "I don't mean to offend you, but if I want to convince them all, I'm afraid I'll have to ask Lord Corvo to come in person." ”

"That's fine, I'll report back to Mistress Corvo right away. Lao Wang bowed deeply to Marcus and said, "Thank you!"

"Now that I've promised to help you, there's no need to say anything about it, and besides, don't I have some good of it?" quipped Marcus, a little joke that is especially good at bringing people closer together, and is often used by political veterans like him.

"Then we take our leave, Lord Count. The old king smiled, saluted again, took Takenaka, and took Lilith at the door, and left Marcus's mansion.

Not long after they left, Marcus called the dog-legged butler just now, first scolded him, accused him of almost putting the old man in danger, and then ordered him to take his business card and a letter and hurry to the regent's mansion.

The butler left in a hurry, and Marcus poured himself a glass of wine, stretched out completely into the soft sofa, and said with a sinister smile: "Idiot!"

At the same time, about two blocks away from the Marcus Mansion, Lao Wang and Takenaka looked at each other, looked at the "mission progress 14/28 (137*20%)" in the spatial information, and laughed together in Chinese: "Silly X." ”

Little Lilith next to her was confused.