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The feeling of hostility did not disappear until the black owl led them into a hotel, which made Alice and the others breathe a sigh of relief. After all, you're in a place with a population of nearly 10,000 and almost all of them are hostile to you. This kind of mental pressure is not pleasant, and the inn that the Black Owl has brought them into is called "Dark Night", which is one of the "inheritances" of the Shadow Clan in Hakhara.

The inn was mainly used to entertain members of the Shadow Clan and several vassal clans. Like several other powerful clans, similar inns and bars have been opened in Hakara. These places are not only the foothold of the members of the clan to which they belong to Hakhara, but also the pattern of the division of the power of the leather. Like this inn "Dark Night", almost the entire neighborhood centered on it is the power of the Shadow Clan.

The people who live in this neighborhood are all vassal members of the Shadow Clan, and it is much safer for them to live here.

"Today we will live here, and tomorrow I will take you up to the Holy Mountain. The black owl said to Zero, and then looked at the others, "As for you, stay here for the time being while Zero is away." Rest assured, it's safe here, if you don't walk around. ”

The Black Owl called a Sander, and the people of the Sander clan were all short, like the dwarves in the Magical World. But they're smart, they're good at business, and they've got a talent for making tools. Most of the craftsmen in Hakhara are Sanders. The Sander clan is attached to the Shadow Clan, and pays a certain amount of materials to the Shadow Clan every year to seek protection, which is also the survival method adopted by many small and medium-sized clans in the Black Land.

The Sander in front of him was called Hagen, and at first glance he thought he was a teenage human child, but his face was already wrinkled like the bark of an ancient tree in the Twilight Forest. He rubbed his hands together and chattered, "It's really an honor for you to be here, Lord Blacklord, but I'm afraid these human guests are not very popular with us. Hagen can only give them a few rooms in the hidden spot, but you have to tell them not to walk around. Lately, the greedy Kodians have been wandering around, and the lazy wanderers who take many people are also a headache. Hagen wanted to send a few more guards, but ......"

"Alright, alright. "With the depth of the black owl, it seems that he can't stand the verbosity of this Sander. He interrupted Hagen, "I'll arrange a room for my friends first, and I'll have Jace come to you for the rest." Talk to him. ”

"Thanksgiving. Hagen's old face showed a big smile, and then he yelled into the depths of the hotel: "Damn Pound, where is your fat pig, come out and help greet the guests." With so many guests, do you want old Hagen to be exhausted? My legs are so short, and the stairs are so high. The next time I redecorate, I'm going to make them all lower!"

Zero looked at the black owl, who spread his hands and made a helpless expression.

Next, Zero and they were each assigned a room. The layout of the Dark Night Hotel is like a horseshoe, with a lobby in the middle and high walls and guards on both sides. Of course, the gates are open during the day, in case of an attack. Once the gate is closed, coupled with the five-meter-high outer wall, it is enough to withstand the attack. In fact, most of the buildings in Hakara have a similar function, making it possible to turn a building like the Night Hotel into a small fortress during the war.

For the sake of seclusion, their rooms are arranged to face the inside of the hotel, so that it is difficult for people from outside the block to find them. On the other hand, the environment of the rooms is naturally not as good as those facing the block. At least in terms of visibility, the latter is much better than these rooms with zero them.

The room is the best, with a living room and a separate bedroom, and a small balcony in the bedroom. There is a chair and low table on the balcony, and it is a pleasure to sit on the balcony and drink in the evening.

In the evening, everyone came to the restaurant to eat, and as for those blade hunters, they naturally did not follow the city. Instead, Zero was left outside the city, and they could hunt some mutant beasts on their own to satisfy their hunger, but they were not afraid of starving them.

Dinner was very rich, just a table of dishes, mostly a variety of fruits and vegetables. There are only a few plates of barbecue, and the appearance is not very good, so it can be seen that the chef of the hotel is not so good at cooking meat food. "The Sander's recipe is mainly wild vegetables and fruits, so there isn't a lot of meat in the hotel, and the chef isn't good at it, so you can eat it," the black owl explained. ”

Zero tasted it, and those purple-green vegetables were added with salad dressing-like condiments, and they tasted sweet and sour. Moreover, these vegetables contain a lot of water, and the juice in them has a honey-like taste, which is rich in fiber and various nutrients needed by the human body. The taste is not so bad, and everyone has eaten a lot of barbecue on the journey, and now it tastes good to change to lighter.

The black owl eats very little, and basically only takes a few bites of food to indicate that he has eaten well. He said to Zero, "Rest early, and we'll leave early tomorrow morning." Your injuries?"

Zero moved his arm that had been cut by Albert and smiled, "It's out of the way." ”

"That's good. The black owl stood up, said "whatever it is" to the others, and went back to his room first.

The meal lasted nearly an hour, and the kitchen of the hotel had to be served constantly, which made Old Hagen complain that humans were too good to eat. The sad look made people laugh, and after dinner, Leah said that she wanted to stay with Mony. Zero has no opinion, Moni's injuries have recovered, and if anything happens, she can also protect Leah, and she can't worry about herself.

When I returned to my room, I saw two bottles of Sander's own wine on the entrance table. There is a note underneath that reads the word "giveaway" in distorted human language. Zero smiled slightly, took a shower first, and then took two bottles of wine to the small balcony. When you unscrew the cap, you will be greeted with a faint aroma of wine. After a sip, the wine was sweet in the mouth, but the wine was violent, which surprised him.

He could roughly taste that it was made with some kind of fruit, but he didn't know what other recipes were added to this fruit wine. The momentum was so fierce that ordinary people would have to lie down if they were afraid to take a few sips. Zero thought it was very novel, you must know that when it came to a strong person of his level, alcohol had almost the same effect on them as boiled water. As far as Zero knows, Asgard Tri has some high-end special drinks, and even psychotropic drugs are added to them, so that high-level people can also experience the feeling of being drunk.

And those special drinks are enough for an ordinary family to live a full year of subsistence in Asgardary.

Zero rarely drinks, and even less so he can feel drunk. Hengzhu didn't leave until tomorrow, and he didn't mind getting drunk alone tonight. After a few more sips, I felt slightly drunk. It's a strange feeling, and it's amazing. Wine, like music, seems to be able to circulate between different races. Drunkenness, on the other hand, reminds people of things that they don't usually think of, or dare not think about.

Just like Zero Now, this slightly drunk feeling made him open the valve of memory, thinking of what happened on the Western Continent, and even more so of Cinderella. Before he knew it, he had been away from the continent for a few months, and he didn't know where Sinderella was now. Judging from the reproductive cycle of humans in the new era, if Cinderella wanted to, she could even give birth to a new life now.

I don't know if the crystallization between herself and her is a clever boy or a cute girl? Thinking about it, Zero even sketched the image of the child in his mind. It was based on the combination of his and Cinderella's appearances. And with zero current brain computing power, such a picture is almost the same as the real thing.

When imagining his child, the corners of Zero's mouth couldn't help but escape a smile.

He picked up the bottle and was about to take another sip when an alarm struck him. He lunged forward, and the wooden chair he was sitting on was shattered by a sudden arrow! The arrow was still stuck in the wall, and the tail of the arrow swayed. Zero didn't stay, and a tumbling was already in the bedroom. When he looked out of the balcony again, his eyes were awe-inspiring, and he looked drunk.

There was a sudden burst of power behind him, and then there was a continuous popping sound from the ceiling. A tall figure followed the spilled marl sawdust onto Zero's bed, pressing it across his bed. Then he roared forward, the killer slashing at Zero's head with axes in both hands.

Zero snorted, thin golden flames erupted from his eyes. He didn't change his position, he slid back quickly, and crashed directly into the man's arms. Then the shadows of the fists flew, and the dull whistling characteristic of the heavy warhead resounded in the small bedroom. Like a stormy wave, Zero killed the person who attacked him without the power to backhand.

A heavy punch was thrown into the opponent's abdomen, and the reloaded warhead had a random secondary implosion effect. With the sound of a muffled thunderstorm, a stream of blood rushed out from behind the man, splashing the entire wall with fragments of bones and certain internal organs. The other party was hit hard by this, and finally fell, but he died. Only then did Zero realize that the alien who attacked him was covered in gray hair, but there was black hair on his chest, which naturally formed an "X" pattern.

It was almost like an ape-man, and when he heard the movement here, the black owl was the first to break into the house. When he saw the killer who had been killed by Zero, the Shadow Clan Elder asked, "What's going on?"

At the end of the sentence, Zero suddenly shifted, causing a powerful arrow from the window to nail straight to the wall. Then several more arrows chased Zero, and Zero and the Black Owl retreated to the living room in unison, looking at the rows of arrows nailed to the floor of the bedroom.

Alice and the others also arrived, and Jin lined up the crowd and said to Zero, "Yeliu has gone to greet that archer." ”

Zero nodded, he was relieved to Yeliu. Sure enough, ten minutes later. Yeliu came back and captured a person. It was also of an alien race, tall and thin, with a pale face. Apparently knocked unconscious by Yeliu, the girl threw him to the ground, and Jin quickly found a chair and tied him tightly. The black owl flicked his hands and released a jet of pitch-black energy from his fingertips.

He slammed a jet of energy into the man's chest, and the man shook like an electric shock, and when he opened his eyes, he was awakened.

The black lord said, "Who are you? Why do you want to do this?"

The archer spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm at the black owl and sneered, "Don't you want to know anything from me, noble Shadow Clan Elder!"

"Really? Looks like I'm going to have to do something. The black owl smiled faintly.

The archer looked at him with disdain, and he was silent, and suddenly his whole body trembled. The black owl's face changed, and he just pried his mouth open. The archer had a mouthful of dirty blood flowing out of his mouth, the pupils of his eyes were dilated, and he had committed suicide by poisoning.

Hagen called some people to carry the bodies of the two killers out of the room, and the room would not be able to be sorted out for a while, so he simply changed the room for Zero. In the new room, the black owl stayed, and the others went back to their rooms to rest. The black owl said in a deep voice: "These two people, one is the archer of the Storm Clan, and the other is the warrior of the Black Hammer. It's just that these two people are both criminals, and they have been removed from these two clans, so I didn't expect to appear here and attack you. ”

"It shouldn't be that simple. I just asked Hagen that the two bottles were not sent by him, but stolen. In addition, there are some things added to it that can dull people's reaction nerves. Zero said: "So, this is a bureau." A kill against me. ”

"Herein lies the problem. This is our Shadow Clan's zone of control, and that man was able to send these two people here, and let the Black Hammer warrior ambush you one floor above you in advance. It is not easy to do this, and even the upper echelons of the temple can do it. The black owl said indifferently.

"It seems that one of the elders of your temple doesn't want me here. ”

The black owl snorted: "The lion is sick, and some coyotes and wild dogs come out, vainly trying to take advantage of the opportunity to seek some benefits." What a joke!"

Zero was thoughtful, and the black owl's expression seemed to have some clue about who planned this attack. But he didn't plan to say it, it seemed that the situation in the temple was more complicated than he had imagined. Then the door opened, and Hagen walked in, uncharacteristically succinctly, "Pound committed suicide." ”

"Whose man is he?"

"Of the Black Hammer Clan. ”

The black owl groaned, "How long has Pound been with you?"

"It's been almost five years. Hagen replied.

"Have you recruited any new people lately?" asked the black owl, shaking his head.

"A few days ago, there were not enough people, so I recruited three guys to give Pound a hand......"

"Go and call these men. ”

Hagen went down at once, and it wasn't long before he returned. The old Sander said with a calm face, "One is missing, and his name is Hess." ”

The black owl nodded: "It should be that he killed Pound and wanted to blame him." You go and find out where this Hess comes from. Including his clan, who he had contact with, etc. ”

"Understood, sir. ”

The black owl looked at Zero again and said, "Rest, we still have to go to the temple tomorrow." But the time to track down Hess is estimated to be three or two days, which is enough time for the other party to erase a lot of evidence. So in the end, it's the strength that is the most important. ”

Zero nodded, and after the black owl left, he also went to bed. There was no word all night, and in the early morning, the black owl came to knock on the door. After the two of them had breakfast, Hagen brought Zero a cloak and asked him to put it on, and Black Owl and Zero left the hotel. Because it was morning, there were not many passers-by in the city. Coupled with the cloak that Zero draped, no one will look at Zero Glance unless they have a heart.

The black owl took Zero around the city before exiting the city gate to the west. Leaving Hakhara, Zero asked, "Did you find out something?"

The black owl was a little surprised, nodded and said, "You are careful." ”

Zero lifted his hat and smiled, "If you just go out of the city, there is no need to go around the city so much." So I think you're deliberately taking me into certain clans' areas of control. Besides, in two or three places, I felt that someone seemed to recognize me at a glance. ”

"Those clans are Yasuo, Luan, and Kaz. Among them, the Luans were the most hostile, followed by Kaz and Yasuo. The black owl glanced in the direction of the holy mountain: "Since they can recognize you at a glance, it must be that their superiors have given some kind of order. And showing hostility, it seems that the patriarchs of these clans do not like you that much. ”

"I'm not here to please them. "Zero stalls.

The black owl smiled and said nothing. After leaving the city of Hakara with Zero, he walked to a stream that diverted from the holy lake. Old Hagen was already here early, and was letting a few people put a moon boat into the river. The moon boat is a tool for traveling to the sacred mountain through a stream and river, and it is made of logs from ancient trees. The Sander's craftsmen hollowed out the heart of the tree and shaped the sides of the hull into a crescent-like shape.

The two ends of the crescent moon are painted with black paint with a feather pattern, which is the symbol of ShadowClan.

There are already two oars on board, and a moon boat can carry four people. In addition to deducting the two Zero and Black Owl, the remaining two places will be filled by two boatmen. They were responsible for paddling and driving the boat to the foot of the holy mountain.

The streams that diverge from the sacred lake fall on the land in a zigzag way. Zero sat in the middle of the boat, watching the banks on both sides of the river go high and low, and occasionally some strange beasts unique to the black earth passed by the bank, and would cast curious glances at the boat.

Going from the river to the Holy Mountain will save half a day compared to walking. So by noon, Zero could already see the black holy mountain. From a closer look, you can see how majestic this mountain is. It rises almost from the ground, and there is a lack of corresponding excesses at the foot of the mountain and even between the flat land. The steep slope makes the mountain look extremely steep. There are no plants growing on the mountain, but the black mountain, those natural fissures, reveal red rock formations. Most of these crevasses are built with stone steps. However, the cracks were not connected, so the blood-colored staircase was naturally intermittent.

Between the intermittent stairs, there are cables held in place by steel rings nailed into the cracks in the stones, which climbers can use to travel between the steps. However, when you borrow a cable, your feet are dangling in the air, and if you don't do it well, you will fall off the mountain. That's no joke, according to the black owls, hundreds of people fall to their deaths every year in the valley at the foot of the mountain in order to climb the sacred mountain, which also becomes a natural burial valley for pilgrims.

Therefore, if you want to go to the Holy Mountain, you can't do it without a certain amount of strength.