My health recovery is incredibly fast.

"Tell me, how much do all these things weigh together?"

"About twenty kilograms?" Ross said uncertainly.

“22.5 kilograms.” Andrew, hands in his trench coat pockets, gestured with his chin toward “Sid” in the distance. “Look at the tire tracks on this guy’s motorcycle. Does it look like he’s carrying more than 20 kilograms?”

Ross's gaze moved from the motorcycle's rear wheel, sweeping along the tracks in the mud. "It definitely wasn't that heavy... I even suspect it was an empty box."

Andrew nodded. “That’s right. An empty box means there’s nothing inside; it’s just for show. The Beast Arena used coupling to install an alchemical implant on this guy. Do you think he’ll be ‘Sid’? Obviously not; only Scarface deserves that honor.”

Ross clapped his hands, his mind suddenly clearing, "These guys want to keep that bone sac for themselves."

"So what do we do now?" Ross glanced at Scarface, who was leading the group deeper into the lumberyard.

Andrew opened his mouth, paused, and then changed his question to, "Let me test you. What do you think we should do?"

Ross frowned and began to think:

"The Beast Arena must have devised a plan to avoid being exposed in order to embezzle the bone sac, otherwise it would attract the recovery forces of the Alien Group. In extreme cases, they might even attack us... So we must not go into the woods with them."

Ross emphasized, "We should get back to town immediately and use the communicator in the city hall to contact the nearest outpost and have them send a recovery team over."

Andrew shook his head. "I bet you, after dealing with the Acorn Beetle Nest, Scarface won't step out of the lumberyard. He'll just circle back to Stillwater through the Mogus Mountains and hide. Anyway, it's Sid who escaped, not Scarface. He can find an excuse and get back into the spotlight. Plus, he can permanently distance himself from the Bone Sac."

"Then... what should we do?" Ross scratched his head, looking somewhat dejected, realizing that the two of them seemed to be caught in some kind of intractable predicament.

"There's always a way... Put yourself in Scarface's shoes, what would you do? To be precise, what instructions would you receive from Doom?"

Andrew pondered for a few seconds, then his eyes lit up. He picked up the reins and sat down in a chair. "All done, Ross. I have a plan. Let's find a place to study the map of Stillwater properly."

The two returned by carriage along the original route, then left the main road and came to a lake.

Andrew drew several circles on the paper map. "Reservoir, fishing village, port... If you want to sneak back to Stillwater... there's only one way!"

Andrew pointed to the upper right corner of the map, “Drainage Lake Reservoir.”

"Clap clap clap." Xia Zuo clapped his hands while sitting at his desk.

That's brilliant reasoning.

They actually deduced the complete story of what Doom said to Scarface.

There wasn't a single mistake.

Impressive, impressive.

From the perspective of Servant #4.

Andrew crossed his arms and stared intently at the topographical map of the reservoir. "We have to get to the reservoir before Scarface and ambush him there."

"Just the two of us? We don't even have prosthetic limbs, we only brought two sets of weapons... We probably can't beat the Rampage V-Type..." Ross said.

“I’m planning to give him a hard time.” Andrew patted his trench coat pocket. “To deal with illegal V-shaped suits, we can definitely use an arc gun. I’ll distract Scarface while you take care of him from the shadows.”

Ross's eyes lit up when the other party mentioned the arc gun, and when he heard Andrew ask him to operate the arc gun, he clenched his fists. "Okay! Just you wait and see. I got a perfect score in the shooting test."

The two detectives fed the packhorses and, after the gunmen's convoy passed, drove the carriage toward the reservoir.

From the perspective of Servant No. 6.

The gunmen's convoy drove into the lumberyard gate.

The gunmen got out of the car as instructed by the security personnel and followed Scarface, who was disguised as Sid, into the depths of the lumberyard.

The fifth carriage team picked up the wounded from the lumber mill and several corpses, and set off back to Jing Shui Town.

Servant number 6 caught up with Scarface and attached himself to the collar of his weapon.

"Where are the two detectives? Have they come in?" Scarface asked as he walked—his voice was very muffled, probably because his face was covered by two layers of face protection, and the security personnel next to him didn't notice anything amiss.

“Mr. Sid, I chased those two detectives away. They couldn’t get into the lumberyard.”

"Oh...what a pity..." Scarface licked his lips, his tongue sticking out, seemingly regretful.

He looked at the security guard who had spoken earlier, "You stay here. When the second group of gunmen arrives, bring them over."

"Yes, Mr. Sid."

Scarface led the team through the warehouse and factory area, where a path leading into the depths of the woods came into view.

Several horse-drawn wagons used for transporting timber were parked to the side, now serving as vehicles for the gunmen.

Scarface stopped beside the carriage, turned to face the hired gunman, and said:

"Guys! This time, we've gathered 22 gunmen from Stillwater to wipe out the acorn beetle nests. The lumber mill has set up a makeshift camp ahead, with plenty of fruit, cheese, water, and dried meat. You can rest there until evening, and then we'll set off once everyone has arrived."

Scarface waved his hand, "Now, get in the car!"

Chapter 9 Acorn Beetle

At home in the St. York community.

11:20 PM.

Xia Zuo sat at his desk, arms crossed, staring at the pocket watch and clock on the table.

The pocket watch displays the local time of the Silver Moon Federation.

The clock corresponds to the time in Stillwater Town.

According to Scarface, they were to go and clear out the acorn beetle nests around dusk.

Doesn't that correspond to around 2 AM the following day in the Silvermoon Federation...?

At that time, Xia Zuo should have been in deep meditation in bed.

Clearing out a monster's lair will take at least 3 hours, and it won't be over until 5 or 6 in the morning.

So, I need to ask the bald guy for leave?

You need to take at least half a day; you can only go after lunch.

Xia Zuo pondered for a few seconds, feeling that witnessing the large-scale destruction of the lair was a rare opportunity, and a crucial part of exploring the depths of the interior.

He picked up the bald man's secret message ring and sent a secret message.

From the perspective of Servant No. 4, the two detectives have arrived at the reservoir.

The gate to the spillway reservoir was closed, and a metal notice board behind the gate read:

Every year from July to August, the sluice gates are closed to store water and floodwater.

From December to February each year, the sluice gates are opened to supply water to downstream farmland.

It's June now.

The reservoir gates were slightly opened, and the stored water flowed out at a gentle speed, merging into the nearby river.

There are no permanent security personnel stationed here; only a patrol motorcycle team comes to check on things every morning.

Andrew led Ross over the wall and circled the entire reservoir, finding a relatively hidden route from Scarface's perspective.

The two were using the items in their alchemy bag to create a trap.

From the perspective of Servant No. 5.

Doom learned from his returning subordinates that the detectives from the Alien Corporation lingered at the entrance of the lumber mill for a while but did not force "Sid" into the mill, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Doom had his henchmen stand guard at the four gates of Stillwater, keeping an eye on the detectives whenever they saw them, but they didn't see any sign of them until almost evening.

"Could it be that they fled Jing Shui Town overnight... to gather manpower on the other side of the mountains? To seek help from the recovery team? And then come back to negotiate with us?"

Dim paced back and forth in his office, muttering to himself:

"That should be right... They're both smart enough not to choose to confront us head-on."

Doom believed he had found the correct answer, but in fact the error was significant.

You can't blame him for that.

Andrew was too good at disguising himself in town, always acting cowardly. Even after discovering the bone sac was on Fabien, he didn't take advantage of Fabien's hunting of the Black Iron Serpent in the Mogus Mountains...

In Doom's view, this was a sign of fear of the Beast Arena and the Mishima Group... after all, this was Stillwater Town, Mishima's territory.

From the perspective of Servant No. 6.

Scarface led the first group of gunmen to the front camp, where the acorn beetle's nest was about 1 kilometer ahead in the forest.

From the conversation between Scarface and his men, Xia Zuo learned why the acorn worms had appeared there.

This is a monster with pre-event characteristics.

Every winter, they migrate from the north side of the Mogus Mountains to the relatively warmer south side of the mountains, which is north of Stillwater.

Dicos Timber Mill has a comprehensive plan for logging: felling some trees, maintaining others, and closing off others.

When maintaining forests, highly nutritious fertilizers are applied to help trees grow, which also becomes the best food for acorn worms.

When Dicos lumber mill was maintaining the nearby forest, it applied extra fertilizer to increase next year's yield, which attracted a swarm of acorn beetles that had just migrated to the south side of the Mogus Mountains.

This has happened before, but the number of acorn worms has never been this many.

Judging by sight alone, there are more than 200 acorn beetles invading the nearby forest. More than half of them have been eliminated in the past few days, but more than 150 are still occupying the forest that is under maintenance.

Xia Zuo recorded the information he had gathered about the acorn worms, then estimated the departure time of the gunmen's team. He got up and left the study to meditate in his bedroom for a while.

...

The next day, at 2 a.m.

Xia Zuo returned to the study with a cup of hot tea and sat down.

Today is December 26th, and half of the Winter Veil holiday has already passed.

This holiday was truly fulfilling.

They received training from the bald man and also experienced the local customs and culture deep inland.

It's more cost-effective than vacationing on the sunny beaches of the southern part of the Federation.

Because of Janice's situation, my vacation plans have been put on hold this year. I'll try to go next year.

Xia Zuo leaned back in his chair, temporarily setting aside his turbulent thoughts, stroking the warm teacup, and focusing his attention on the perspective of Servant No. 6.

The man leading the gunmen was the lumber mill manager.