The monster's trail was cut off near the grove, and the massive body disappeared as abruptly as if it had melted into the air. The vast field in the vicinity stretched the search area too widely, and the contradictions between the various units invisibly increased the difficulty of the work.

After a long period of bickering between the agency and the gunners, Grostide had a good idea to get the search going.

"If you're not willing to cooperate, it's okay to organize your own squads and choose your own search area. He stood between the two groups and interrupted their sarcasm in a loud voice, "This target is dangerous, please notify our liaison officer if there is any suspicion." ”

As the second officer of the garrison, Grostide had a certain influence in all aspects, and as the person in charge of the scene, he gave the order to silence the groups on both sides that did not like each other. These people came prepared, and after preparing for a while, they chose the area they were responsible for.

Asquith, the sorcerers of the staffing agency, remained near the command headquarters with a few of his men under the banner of "assisting in the analysis of residues". On the other hand, Arthur Dowyn of the Spearmen divided his men into several squads and began an organized dragnet search.

The "assistance" of both sides has its own characteristics, and the mercenaries sent by the mercenary management office fully embody the characteristics of these "stragglers" - after saying hello to Curt, they organized a team of three or five and walked to the area of their choice.

Curt had worked in the Authority for a while, and knew that the discipline of these mercenaries was quite low. Mercenaries each have their own specialty, but it is quite difficult to get them to form a fully disciplined group, so that they can form a team freely to better use everyone's abilities.

As an independent mercenary, Curt is similar, he has some friendship with all parties, and often works together, but when it comes to such a team operation, he is often the one who is left behind. He is not averse to this, because he prefers to be independent rather than part of a team.

It's just that when he wanted to act independently again today, Beate, who had changed into a red and black protective suit used by the security officer, approached him with three security officers in the same attire: "Mr. Leinster, Second Officer Grostide let us act with you next." He wants you to investigate the ruins of a nearby village. ”

Curt hesitated a little, and couldn't help but ask, "Ruins...... Is there a need to investigate there?"

There are vast hills in the vicinity of Catrice College, most of which have been privately owned by the college. As a result, there are no residential areas on the vast hills, except for the dense complex of buildings that resemble a small town on display in the area centered on the college.

Many of the people who used to live on these hills moved to the vicinity of the college at the request of the college, and most of the rest went to the city of Catrice. For some reason, the academy did not deal with the houses left behind by the residents, and there were many ruins left in the hills.

The ruins are in disrepair and have long since been left in ruins, and these areas are theoretically off-limits without the consent of the garrison. At the same time, in order to prevent the homeless from using these ruins as their home, the garrison will send people to organize patrols to search them regularly, so these places are the most unlikely.

"I think so, too, but Second Officer Grostide told us to go over and take a look. Beate took out a map from his pocket and showed it to Curt, "There are several ruins in his vicinity that have not been regularly inspected for almost half a month, and our destination is there." ”

"I see, let's go there and have a look. ”

Since it was Grostide's opinion, Curt would not refuse. He knew that the guard would not give pointless instructions, and that he would have Beate come in full armor, which at least showed that he had a plan. So he motioned for Beate to lead the way to the nearby ruins.

Curt had never visited the ruins before, and only got a first impression of them after a field patrol today. The ruins were built in different eras and became older the closer they were to the college, which was undoubtedly a territory that was increasingly annexed as the college expanded.

Along the way, the few people did not see the slightest trace of suspicion, but watched a documentary about the architectural style of the Dominion in flashbacks. The ruins are the oldest buildings in the vicinity of the Catrices, and they still bear the remnants of the past, but most of them are no longer functional.

As the investigation progressed, Curt felt that Grostide was probably overwhelmed, and that the ruins scattered on the hills were crumbling day by day, without any trace of human life. Wild beasts nest in the ruins, and birds make their homes on rooftops, and they don't look like dangerous monsters.

The movement in the hills was not difficult, it was just that the distribution of settlements was too haphazard. The squad, which had no means of transportation, had to walk through Guò, and the trails opened by the patrolling guards passed through the rubble, and the time spent on getting between the roads was more than the survey.

Before you know it, the sun has turned west. This dirt slope is the commanding height of the neighborhood, and as far as the eye can see, the fields illuminated by the dusk sunset and the ruins of wild grass gradually spread.

"Beat, how many more ruins do we need to inspect?"

Standing on top of a small dirt slope looking down on a field of sunset, he lazily asked Beate who was holding a map. It was already very close to the academy, and you could see the silver tower gilded with a golden glow by the setting sun, and the small village surveyed before was quite old, and it was almost impossible to see the original appearance.

"There's one last one left. Beate unfolded the map, pointed to a small dot not far from here and said, "Look, there it is." ”

The destination was indeed very close, but it would take less than three quarters of a walk to the place where the dirt slope was closer to the academy. It is a small village built between several hillsides, and the architectural style is much more complete than the almost rotten ruins of the vicinity.

"That's weird...... These buildings are only a few decades old. Curt looked at the deserted village, "It stands to reason that this land should have belonged to the academy a long time ago, why are the other gathering places all that virtuous, only here seems to have been closed for a long time?"

The village must have been prosperous in the past, and it was relatively recent. The frame of the houses in the village has remained, but most of them are crumbling. The houses are covered with uninvited vines and weeds, and judging by the scale and meticulous workmanship of the remnants, it is not difficult to imagine the scenery of this place in the first place.

In the center of the hamlet is a square, the small square with rammed earth foundations has been eroded by desolation. It may have been used as a place for the inhabitants of the village to live and rest, but now it is no longer in its former glory, and all that remains is the natural landscape that is on display.

In the center of the square is a large tree that has been dead for a long time, and its trunk has become a breeding ground for unwanted guests, and it is overgrown with all kinds of unknown mushrooms. Under the trees, weeds are overgrown, and the frantically growing weeds have flooded the once well-groomed lawn, many of which have gradually made their way to the road.

"You're right, this village was abandoned some time before the Great War. Beate nodded, then pointed to a burned ruin not far away and said, "It used to be a research facility that belonged to the Academy, but then it seems that the misoperation caused the spell to get out of control and burned down that small building. ”

Then he flipped through the record book attached to the map, looked at it, and continued, "The official record says that the college took the initiative to abandon this place on the grounds that it was abandoned on the grounds that it had burned down. At the same time, all relevant personnel are required to be evacuated compulsorily and are prohibited from entering without permission. ”

This is probably the most suspicious place, Curt looked at the small building full of charred marks, almost all the buildings around it were climbed with climbing plants, but there was no grass around it. It suddenly occurred to him that the main purpose of the investigation was the remains of a former research facility.

Looking at Curt with a puzzled look on his face, Beate suddenly said to him, "I know what you think, I was suspicious of this place when I joined the patrol before. ”

"It's nominally a ruin that hasn't been entered for years, but it was a research facility in the past. Isolating such a thing is really suspicious of trying to cover it up. However, after my investigation, all the buildings had already been thoroughly surveyed by the time of the lockdown. ”

And it's the focus of patrols, and it's the least suspicious of any of those places, says Beate.

Curt couldn't help but imagine the glory of the place when it was not abandoned, with researchers dressed in uniform coming and going between the lab and the residence every day, and the presence of one person could cause an uproar in a small research institute every day......

At that time, a large group of mages gathered in this research facility in the wilderness, working together for a common purpose. Until one day, due to a researcher's operational error, the spell in the study went out of control, causing massive damage to the facility.

As a result, the place was abandoned, and no plans were even made to restart it. Some of the people who own this research facility have abandoned this research facility, which has invested a lot of human and material resources, for each purpose. The complex gradually fell into ruins, and was completely forgotten.

Curt couldn't take his doubts out of his head.

He glanced at the buildings that were gradually dyed with night, and suddenly Liqi's voice sounded in his head: "Curt, I have something interesting, would you like to hear it?"

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