Ark, after I died, the operators started to love me.

However, with the occurrence of the deserted village incident, Mike changed his mind. As an ordinary person, Destle still had some value; she was able to sense external interference earlier than the others in the team.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not staying at headquarters to wait for you to come back."

Since learning Mike's true identity, the top lawyer's tone has softened considerably.

After all, very few operators would dare to reprimand the Doctor for doing something wrong in front of him.

Oh, actually there are some.

For example, there's Aya, who always has a stern face, and Rindou, a high school student from Ursus who is ignorant of his own limitations.

“I don’t plan to let you stay at base camp, but you need to protect yourself. Although we have a lot of people here, we can’t guarantee the safety of those twisted monsters.”

"Okay, I know. You're so long-winded."

……

From Kazimierz to Ursus, and from Ursus to the base camp of the Sami Icefield, lies a vast, unexplored primeval forest, no less impressive than the Sargon rainforest in the south.

The Colombians, who were expanding in all directions, reached into the rainforest, only to be beaten up and slink back home.

If the south doesn't work, what about the north?

These guys, who were handing out money everywhere, turned their attention to the north.

The Sami Icefield is cold and lacks resources. Compared to the self-sufficient Sargon rainforest, the Shelag, surrounded by mountains and inaccessible without the main railway, desperately needs help from the outside world.

No reason.

They had a very difficult time.

The arrival of the Colombians improved the precarious situation to some extent, but also brought even greater trouble.

Joint Investigation Association.

As the reasons why these foreigners came to Sami were revealed one by one, it became clear that they were not after the hard-to-mine open-pit mines, but rather had their eyes on the far north, a place that many tribes on the Sami ice plains could not face or confront.

In name, they are doing it for science and for development.

In fact, the Explorers' Association also recorded the local environment, geology, and population distribution in Sami. In the end, the document containing most of the information would definitely be placed on the President's desk.

Of course, these are things to follow.

At this point, Mike and his crew were only two days' drive from the base camp. They stopped at a transit station to rest, one of the few places along the way where they could stop, rest, and replenish supplies.

Normally, the transit station would be packed with people, but the blizzard a few days ago completely submerged the area, making even road signs difficult to read, leaving the convoys and other travelers still stuck in the transit station with nowhere to go.

Upon entering the transit station, Mike arranged for Phantom to go in and investigate, and they quickly reached a conclusion.

Even the headquarters of the United Exploration Association on the Sami Icefield is not peaceful.

The vast majority of people left several days ago. Shortly after they left, a second blizzard struck, covering their footprints. It is now impossible to find them again.

Mike pondered for a moment, recalling the massive blizzard two days prior…

How could such harsh weather possibly occur in Sami during this season?

"Actually, we also experienced that blizzard."

Starry Sky's words reminded Mike of an idea that popped into his mind.

The information Phantom had gathered was correct; they had indeed passed through a terrible blizzard, but it had been more than ten days prior.

"Come on, come with me and have a look."

With Chongyue maintaining order, and being a top expert himself, he is extremely sensitive to the corrosive effects of pollution and will notify Mike if anything happens.

The other members of the team are also quite capable and can be trusted.

If such a combination still causes problems, Mike's trip to the North might as well end sooner rather than later, and everyone should go home.

The people standing next to Mike now are Andorn and Destreet.

Is the situation serious?

"No, it's nothing. I've been on the road for so long, I just want to wander around now. I haven't been to Sami in a long time."

Mike gave Destle a relaxed smile, who looked worried.

36. How many eyes do you have?

Descartes was speechless: "You're not lying to me?"

"No."

Mike temporarily ignored the trust crisis between the two men.

He turned to Andorn and asked, "Has Director Andorn ever been to Sami before?"

Along the way, although Andorn was very unhappy with how Mike addressed him, he gradually got used to the guy's rudeness.

“The Sami have never shone the glory of the law.”

See, cultured people speak differently.

This means that he had never been there, and other Sarkaz had also generally never been to the far north.

Mike looked at Destreet again, but she shook her head and remained silent.

Top lawyers excel at tackling complex and difficult problems, but in this situation, she was at a loss for what to do.

Due to the incredible snowfall earlier, they were among the first outsiders to arrive at the transit station. Apart from them, there was only one other caravan that had not yet left, and their target was the Joint Investigation Association.

Mike had only one goal: to make friends.

The transit station was deserted; most shops were closed, and there were hardly any people walking on the roadside. It was as if the place had become a ghost town.

“I don’t like this place,” Descartes said.

Mike nodded in agreement: "Actually, I don't like it either."

Where would a group of caravan members, unable to leave due to the weather, stay?

Mike chose the small bar inside the transit station without hesitation.

In these places, small bars not only offer drinks, but also provide entertainment such as haircuts, accommodation, drinking and chatting, and card games.

In the current environment, there's no point in expecting any special services.

Mike hadn't forgotten that there were two people following him, and if he showed any interest in them, he would be utterly disgraced.

Despite having died once, Mike still cherishes his reputation.

Pushing open the door of the small bar, a wave of warmth hit you, and the noise inside subsided considerably; almost everyone turned their heads to look at the doorway.

The person standing at the door was, unsurprisingly, Mike.

He noticed that everyone was looking at him, but without much hesitation, he pretended not to see them and walked straight to the bar.

As if time had resumed its flow, the dozen or so guests continued with everything they had been doing.

The old wooden bar table was engraved with some incomprehensible words. The bartender, who was wiping the glasses with a towel, looked up and his dim yellow eyes fell on Mike and Destreet.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"I have no need."

Destle felt a sense of suffocation. Everything here was different from Casimir. The people sitting around the long table cast strange glances at her from time to time, as if trying to find something in her.

Her stomach was churning, and if Mike hadn't grabbed her arm, the top lawyer would have run away by now.

"This lady isn't feeling well; she needs a hot drink, and I need an iced one."

Mike's brief description spurred the bartender into action.

Destreet slowly shook her head and pleaded, "No, I don't need anything."

"Don't worry, everything is under control."

Before long, the bartender brought over two wooden cups, one containing a local specialty liquor and the other containing steaming hot water.

Mike picked up his glass and led Destle to an inconspicuous corner of the small bar, but Destle's feeling of being watched did not lessen in the slightest.

"Don't you want to try?"

Destreet shook her head.

She gazed at the unidentified scum swirling in the clear water, thinking that this man was all she could rely on now.

Mike took a big gulp and let out a long breath: "Beer, a bit bitter, with a herbal taste, just like before. You really should try it, it's just as good as Casimir."

boom!

A gunshot seemed to come from outside the small bar.

Destreet looked around nervously: "What happened?"

"Don't worry, nothing happened."

Everyone in the small bar stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the door, where Andorn, exuding a terrifying aura, stood with a revolver in his hand.

He walked straight to the bar, snatched the bottle from the bartender's hand, examined it carefully, and sighed, "I am bound by the Lateran precepts and do not drink alcohol."

The bartender seemed to freeze, mechanically repeating the same actions, but his hands were empty.

What is he doing?

What is this Sakota here for?

The bartender's sluggish senses finally began to return to normal. He blinked one eye, then a third, and then a fourth, and saw the gray-haired Sarkaz revolver magnified before his eyes.

boom!

Another shot.

Gunshots rang out in the small bar. The bartender, shot in the forehead, fell backward, his four eyes revealing different expressions.

Confusion, bewilderment, relief, and regret.

Destle trembled as the top lawyer finally realized a problem.

Everything in the bar was abnormal, and the veil of ignorance that had been cast over it was finally lifted.

Mike was just holding the cup; she wasn't drinking. Everything she had just seen was an illusion.

The guests were mostly missing limbs, or had strangely shaped hands and feet. The vast majority of them had no face or had bizarre organs.