"Your Majesty, there's an urgent message from Dawn!" the guard walked into the office and placed a thick sheepskin bag beside Roland's mahogany table, "I heard from the messenger that Sean commissioned them to send it. ”

"Oh?" Roland couldn't help but feel energetic, he put down the biplane blueprint in his hand, stood up and said, "Take it apart and take a look." ”

It's been almost two months since the exploration team left Neverwinter, and the last time they heard from them was when they crossed the border with Greykeep. The moment he learned that the source was not in the territory, Roland was still a little worried, after all, mining and transporting ore is a long-term process, and the First Army has limited mobility, and the farther away from its own sphere of influence, the more difficult it is to control the plan.

Now that he finally has a reply, he is naturally very concerned.

However, to his secret surprise, this package was inevitably too big, almost reminding him of the express mail of later generations. Whether it is found or not, a piece of stationery can clarify the situation, what kind of situation did the exploration team encounter to make Sean send such a large bag of things back?

"It's full of paper," the nightingale said, probably seeing his confusion, and leaned into his ear.

"Paper?" Roland asked, tilting his head and lowering his voice, "Have you evolved to see through objects?"

"I would have liked that, but unfortunately I didn't. Nightingale said lazily, "I just reached into the bag and touched it when the other party entered the door." ”

It turns out that this is the case, and her alertness is really ...... Wait, Roland suddenly felt a little wrong, when Evelyn came in with a new Chaos drink, or when the chef came in with a snack cart, would she also "touch" it?

Having said that, it seems that the amount of afternoon tea has been a little less recently?

"Your Majesty, it's full of paper," the guard's words interrupted his thoughts, "and most of it was covered in ink. ”

What kind of new way of reporting is this? Roland looked inside, "Isn't there a letter to read?"

"Please wait...... "The guard finally made a new discovery after pouring out all the contents of the sheepskin bag, "and at the bottom is a letter with a wax seal. ”

"Take it. ”

"And the blacked-out paper—"

"Spread it all out on the floor," he commanded, "and Sean can't go out of his way of sending a bunch of useless things back." ”

"Yes!"

Roland sat back in his chair and unwrapped the envelope.

Judging by the date, it should have been sent a week and a half ago. Like the bag, the letter was surprisingly long, a dozen pages long – it's hard to imagine an exploration result requiring such a lengthy presentation. This may also be the reason why the other party used the emergency reporting method, but did not transfer it to the animal messenger after entering the northern border of the Grey Keep.

"Your Majesty, Miss Azima has found the source you want—right on the northeastern border of Dawn and Wolfheart, where the locals call it Cage Mountain. 」

Sean's first words put Roland at ease.

Fortunately, the trip was not fruitless, and the fact that the mining area was still in the territory of the Dawn Kingdom meant that he could control the entire mining process through the Quinn family, although it cost a lot more, but it was better than being limited by the wolf's heart and eternal winter.

And the other party's wording did not seem cumbersome, which also made him more and more curious about the content that followed.

"It's just that the source is not in the mine, but in a very ancient ruin, and what is even more incredible is that it is neither an underground civilization nor a Tachira fugitive. We had suspected that it might have been the work of an underwater devil, but Miss Witch's discovery disproved this hypothesis. 」

"Your Majesty, this is definitely the relic of a race that we never knew about. 」

Roland's brow furrowed suddenly.

An unknown new alien race that has also haunted the territory of the Four Kingdoms?

This is information that even the Witch Federation has not mentioned.

Although this territory was barren and backward in the past, it did not mean that they would ignore their large rear, and if there was alien activity, it was unlikely that they would escape the detection of witches.

That is, if Sean's conclusion is correct, then it is likely that they existed even earlier than the underground civilization.

The key question is, why is this group interested in uranium ore?

He then looked down.

"The masonry left a large number of murals on the stone walls at the bottom of the ruins, and the various monsters depicted in the paintings did not match the images of the aliens we knew. Through speculation about its contents, Ms. Rosser and I agree that the building was most likely a place of execution. 」

"Not only does it sit on top of the source vein, but the masonry also fired the ore into bricks to lay the walls and floors – the same element was observed in every corner of the ruins, and even the murals used a lot of minerals. Around the ground floor, we find a large number of cages and bones, which are also reflected in the murals. 」

"They seem to have imprisoned a large number of enemies here—not only aliens, but also their own kind in the same image as their executioners, and then used the power of the source to torture them as if in doing so they were gods who could please them. 」

"I've rubbed down as many frescoes as I can, and sent them to Neverwinter with the messengers of the Tokat family. However, due to the limited number of protective clothing and the huge size of the painting, progress is relatively slow. The murals you see are just a few of them, and it will take another one to two months to complete them. 」

"I'm also worried about Lady Rosser, who went underground without protective suits, and I wonder if she will encounter the danger you mentioned. The locals discovered the ruins earlier, but as a result, they contracted a strange plague during the raiding process, and many people died, so it is also known as the Temple of the Damned. In addition, judging by the purpose of the execution of the ruins, this danger should exist. 」

"Oops. Reading this, Roland couldn't help but whisper.

"What's the matter," asked Nightingale in the mist, "even if the witches are cursed, a change of body can solve all problems, don't worry about them?"

"I'm not worried about the witches, it's Sean and Aqima. He shook his head solemnly, "According to the plan, they shouldn't stay in the mine for that long. ”

Whether it is uranium ore or highly enriched uranium, its decay radiation is dominated by α particles, which is difficult to penetrate the skin and cause harm to the human body, but this does not mean that the same is true in mining areas. This is not the case when you consider that these radioactive elements have been around for hundreds of millions of years, and that some of them have decayed into more dangerous elements, such as radon.

Radon has a half-life of only 3.8 days, and it is a gas itself, so it is very easy to be inhaled into the body to form internal irradiation, so it must be shielded. The protective clothing he prepared for the exploration team was designed for going deep into the mining area - the fully wrapped jacket can effectively isolate a variety of highly toxic elements decayed from the uranium ore, and the activated carbon mask can adsorb radon and other toxic gases, as long as it does not stay in the mining area for a long time, it can basically ensure safety.

But over time, the adsorption of carbon particles is limited, which means that those involved in rubbing the mural may inhale radon gas that exceeds the safety standard and thus be exposed to excessive ionizing radiation.

"They must evacuate the ruins at once," Roland said, picking up pen and paper from the table, "call Honey, this reply must be delivered to them as soon as possible." ”