This assassin is upright

Chapter 465 Undercurrent
"To...the ruins of the Roland mining area?"

Mori paused for a moment, his expression showing a hint of confusion.

Since the previous accident, that place has become an open ruin, open to any excavation team. It has been excavated countless times over the years and is almost completely hollowed out.

What can the other side find if they go there now?
Judging from Mori's bewildered look, the man couldn't help but shake his head. "You're usually quite clever, why are you acting so stupid right now?"

“Others can’t find anything of value in the Roland mining ruins, but Higgins’ team is different!” The man’s expression turned serious as he said this. “They were the first excavation team to come into contact with the Roland mining ruins.”

"The entire Rebella squad that subsequently made contact with the ruins was wiped out!"

"Do you think Higgins' team left some backup plans in these ruins? Just because we can't find anything doesn't mean there isn't something inside."

"Perhaps... the truly valuable thing in those ruins has long been hidden by them in a place known only to themselves, and now, this big guy from Higgins' team has returned to take that thing!"

Upon hearing this, Morrie suddenly looked enlightened.

"Captain, I understand."

"No wonder you said the other party would definitely go to that ruin."

"If that's the case, we just need to keep an eye on them, and then seize what's valuable once they find it..."

At this point, a hint of greed crept into Morrie's eyes.

If even the seven major excavation teams value it, it must be something truly valuable!

“Not entirely stupid.” The man nodded slightly, then changed the subject, “However, what Higgins’ team is hiding isn’t so easy to take.”

"There were quite a few teams eyeing this ruin back then, including one of the Seven Greats. Right now, we need to keep the news under wraps and proceed with caution."

“But Captain,” Mori couldn’t help but say, “of course, by the time the other side arrived, the information wasn’t just available to our excavation team.”

"Don't worry." The man patted Mori on the shoulder and chuckled. "I know those guys' personalities very well."

"They will keep their mouths shut, just like we do."
-
The next morning, the five members of the Black Hawk team, having rested soundly and undisturbed all night, emerged from their tents feeling refreshed.

"Are we going to the ruins soon?" the rat asked excitedly, patting the chest area of ​​the exoskeleton he was wearing. "I made some optimizations to the exoskeleton last night to make it fit me better."

"I can't wait any longer."

"Don't rush, you'll have plenty of time to shine once we're in the ruins." Black Hawk chuckled and waved his hand. "Iron Tower, you lead the way."

"it is good."

Iron Tower nodded, looked around to determine the direction, and, relying on his past familiarity with District 37, quickly found the road leading to the ruins of the Roland Mine.

However, before they had gone very far, the eyes of several people in the group changed subtly.

Black Hawk's expression quickly returned to normal, as if nothing had happened, but his lips parted slightly as he spoke in a low voice that only the five members of his squad could hear.

“Someone is following us.”

"My detection radar has also detected the target." The rat spoke in the same deep voice, the rich and powerful functions of the exoskeleton making up for his lack of physical abilities as a cybernetic modifier.

“I smell a familiar scent.” Yu Zhun sniffed the air with an unchanged expression. “Two of them appeared yesterday when we entered District 37.”

It's the same group of people we met yesterday!
Upon hearing Yu Zhun's words, the others were slightly startled.

They asked themselves why the other party was targeting them when their performance yesterday hadn't shown anything unusual.

“Strange…” Iron Tower was the most puzzled among them. “Those people yesterday belonged to five different excavation teams.”

"The excavation team I was with before only had dealings with the one Mori was in, and there was absolutely no enmity between us."

"And I have already identified myself as a trader."

Why would they target us?

"This is completely against the rules."

"Perhaps it's for some other reason." Yu Zhun's expression shifted slightly, as if he had thought of something, and he spoke softly.

"We may have overlooked one thing."

"That is the importance of the Roland mining ruins."

Hearing this, everyone was startled.

"What do you mean?" Black Hawk asked calmly.

"We were so focused on whether there were any grudges between the team that Iron Tower was in and other teams that we thought we could be completely safe if there were no grudges."

"But we overlooked one thing, which is that 'a common man is innocent, but he is guilty of possessing a treasure.' If we have a lot of wealth, then even people who have never offended us may harbor ill intentions towards us and want to take our wealth for themselves."

"You mean we brought money here to trade?" Iron Tower scratched his head. "But I didn't reveal our true wealth, and there are quite a few excavation teams coming to District 37 to trade, so it shouldn't be because of this..."

“No.” Yu Zhun shook his head. “Iron Tower, you misunderstood me.”

"The wealth I'm talking about isn't what we have on us."

"It was the ruins of the Roland mining area."

"What?" The tower's expression faltered slightly. "What kind of wealth is that?"

"Back then, Higgins' team failed to secure the excavation rights for that ruin. Now, that ruin has been ransacked by countless teams, and there's probably nothing left."

"Even if there's still wealth left inside, it's not ours, is it?"

The others also looked puzzled.

Even Black Hawk couldn't understand Yu Zhun's meaning this time.

Yu Zhun didn't continue explaining, but looked at the Iron Tower seriously, "Iron Tower, are you sure that the accident that happened to the Rebella team in the ruins had nothing to do with you?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Iron Tower nodded without hesitation, then paused slightly, "Yu Zhun, why do you ask that?"

“We’re a team, if I believe you.” Yu Zhun nodded slightly, then changed the subject, “But others might not believe me.”

There is a kind of wealth called the perception that we are wealthy.

"If the accident involving Rebella's team is believed by others to be the result of Higgins' team's sabotage, and if the things hidden in the ruins of the Roland mine are more valuable than we expected, what do you think others will think?"

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the others changed slightly.

"Others will most likely assume that Higgins' team has already sneaked into the ruins. So here's the question," Yu Zhun paused, "if they have, besides tampering with them, what else might they have done?"

"For example... hiding the most valuable things inside."

“No, we didn’t do that!” Eiffel Tower couldn’t help but say.

“I know,” Yu Zhun sighed, “but others won’t believe it.”

“More importantly, you, as a former member of Higgins’ squad, have now returned to District 37, and…” A hint of helplessness flashed in Yu Zhun’s eyes.

"The first thing we did when we arrived in District 37 was to go to the ruins of the Roland mine."

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent. It seemed they had indeed acted somewhat rashly.

But if they hadn't discovered they were being followed today, no one would have made such a connection, especially since even Yu Zhun had misjudged the situation.

"So what do we do next?" Wolf Fang asked impatiently. "Are we just going to go back the way we came?"

“Going back the way we came is definitely not an option,” Black Hawk said in a deep voice. “Such an approach will not only fail to clear our name, but will also make us look even more suspicious.”

At this point, Black Hawk turned his gaze to Yu Zhun.

"Let's just go with the flow." Yu Zhun pondered for a moment, sensing the powerful figures secretly following us around him, and after roughly analyzing their strength, he slowly spoke, "These teams won't dare to make any rash moves for the time being, and they will probably just follow us into the ruins."

"We should be able to handle their strength."

"Moreover, their certainty that something is hidden in the ruins of the Roland mine must be for some reason that we do not yet understand."

"At this time, our best course of action is to remain unchanged in the face of all changes." Yu Zhun paused slightly at this point.

"When others suspect you have a weapon, you'd better actually have one."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the others shifted slightly.

In the end, instead of backing down, they quietly quickened their pace toward the ruins of the Roland mining area.

Seeing this, the other excavation teams hidden in the shadows also quickened their pace.

Soon, a ruin appeared before everyone's eyes, with most of the area buried underground and only a huge hole with a twisted and deformed steel frame exposed on the surface.

"Is this the ruins of the Roland mining area?" Black Hawk looked around and spoke slowly. "It seems even more desolate than I expected."

Along their way, they also passed by several other ruins.

There were many diggers coming and going from those ruins, digging enthusiastically.

However, only a handful of people passed by in this area.

“All the ruins that are in the open are like this,” the Iron Tower said slowly. “After all, many people have already come here, and there won’t be much to gain from coming again.”

He slowly stepped forward and touched the exposed steel frame. "When I first saw this ruin, it wasn't as dilapidated as it is now."

"After so long, the inside has probably been hollowed out long ago."

At this point, Eiffel Tower turned to look at Yu Zhun, "Should we go in?"

"Of course." Yu Zhun grinned. "Since we're already here..."

Hearing these persuasive words, the team members said no more and entered the underground ruins from the mine entrance without hesitation.

Once all five people were inside, voices emerged from their hiding places.

Those were five distinct excavation teams.

"Hmph!" one of the excavation team leaders sneered. "I knew there was something fishy about what happened back then."

"These guys are rushing here so much, they might be trying to retrieve something they hid here."

At this point, he glanced coldly at the other four excavation teams present, "You guys have a keen sense of smell, you all came."

"Hehe, everyone naturally wants a piece of the pie," another excavation team leader chuckled. "We can't let you all get all the good stuff, can we?"

“When they come out, we’ll each rely on our own abilities,” the captain of the third excavation team said coldly.

"Aren't any of you going in?" the captain of the fourth excavation team asked quietly.

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

Go in?

Higgins' team once wiped out the entire Rebella team.

Although the ruins have been excavated countless times, who can say that Higgins' team doesn't have any backup plans when they go in?
Therefore, it's impossible for me to go in.

Wouldn't it be better to just wait outside the ruins for the rabbit to run into the tree stump?

The excavation teams fell silent and disappeared.

Unbeknownst to them, a seemingly ordinary passerby was watching their every move closely before quietly disappearing into a corner.
-
A moment later, in the very center of the vast District 37, atop a ruined tower made of countless steel frame structures, a burly figure looked at an ordinary-looking fellow standing before him, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

"You mean, are there any members of Higgins' squad still alive?"

“Yes, sir,” the messenger hurriedly replied. “I saw it with my own eyes; the person leading the excavation team was definitely one of Higgins’s squad members from back then!”

"Not only that, they seem to have been targeted by other excavation teams. Five excavation teams are guarding outside the ruins, waiting for them to come out."

“Interesting.” Upon hearing this, the burly figure paced back and forth in the tower, a thoughtful look appearing in his eyes. “The corpses of the annihilated squad that was brought out of the ruins back then have all undergone varying degrees of mutation.”

"There is a high probability that there is something in that ruin that can allow evolved beings to undergo further mutations, but I searched for so long and still couldn't find it."

At this point, the burly man chuckled, "I've also wondered if Higgins' team took the most important thing away."

"But then again, I feel they don't have that ability."

"Now it seems that perhaps I was wrong."

"They can't take it away, but they can hide it."

"Hidden in the ruins, in a place that no one can find."

At this point, the burly man stopped in his tracks. "Gather your men."

"Clear the area first, then enter."

"Sir, shouldn't we wait until they come out?" the messenger couldn't help but ask.

"Hmph~" the burly man sneered. "Do you need it?"

"Only the weak fear traps."

"In the face of an absolute disparity in strength, all conspiracies and tricks will be exposed."

At this point, the man leaped from the top of the tower, his massive body plummeting vertically from hundreds of meters in the air like a cannonball, crashing to the ground and creating a spiderweb-like crack. Amidst the flying debris, figures appeared behind him.

The astonishing commotion immediately drew the attention of many people around.

But once they saw the group clearly, especially the leader, their probing gazes quickly returned.

The team before them was none other than the Ghost Dragon Team, one of the seven most powerful excavation teams in District 37. Their captain, Fred, had already been a fourth-tier evolver more than a decade ago, and no one knew what level of strength he had reached.

With such a team, they are unstoppable in the entire 37th district.

With a low shout from Fred, the group charged off like swords in different directions. Only after they had gone did the observers look at the dust that had not yet settled in their wake, secretly wondering where their destination was.

(End of this chapter)