Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 493… “Metal Gear”

The sounds of hawking and noise filled my ears, and the air was filled with the pungent yet inexplicably pleasant smell of motor oil.

When Xiahou Yan first entered the middle city area from the upper city area of ​​Thorn City, he felt as if he had stepped into another world.

If the Upper Town of Thorn City, which seemed as white as the Moonstone Wall under the skylight, was decorated with many fortresses, churches and manors, it seemed like the most traditional and strict human city.

——Then, the Midtown area, sandwiched between the Upper and Lower Towns like hamburger meat, undoubtedly has a steampunk flavor that is incompatible with Haven’s atmosphere.

The three-dimensional structure, built entirely of iron pillars and steel beams, divides the entire central city into blocks of varying sizes like a spider web. Countless markets, workshops, exchanges and taverns are scattered among these steel structures, while steel elevated bridges connect these important locations.

Since the central city area is entirely built on steel materials and is built in mid-air with the land of the lower city area as its foundation, one only needs to lean on the railings on both sides of the road and look down to observe the lower city area from afar: the old houses lined up side by side, and the residents and carriages traveling on the small roads in the lower city area.

Even from time to time, smoke from cooking by residents in the lower city would drift up from the gaps in the steel structure, and then stagger passers-by in the central city.

Xiahou Yan descended from the upper city to the central city via a remote stone staircase, which did not take much time.

So, when he arrived at the central city, the whole city had already awakened with the light of dawn - although because there was an upper city overhead, the residents here could not see the morning sun even if they looked up.

Xiahou Yan found a brief map of the central city on an iron plate next to the stone stairs.

The map of the central city area was so complicated and intricate, with even height differences between the streets, that Xiahou Yan almost vomited because of nausea.

Due to his occupational hazard as a military commander, he immediately judged that fighting in this broken place would be a nightmare-like experience, comparable to the Alliance's attack on Undercity in World of Warcraft.

Xiahou Yan pulled out a small Nikon Magic Format camera from his bag, took a picture of the map, and after figuring out the direction, he started heading towards his destination.

Along the way, he saw orc vendors pushing carts and selling breakfast, fully armed human freemen mercenaries, scantily clad elves from Blood Shadow City, goblin craftsmen pulling strange machines in a hurry, and groups of sub-orcs:

Most of the tiger and lion people were carrying heavy objects and doing physical work. There were also several fox girls and cat girls standing at the door of the brothel, waving frantically at Mr. Xiahou.

——It is obvious that Leo’s face is also very popular in the other world.

Of course, the most eye-catching thing along the way was undoubtedly the federal soldiers who were marching in neat rows and majestically through the streets.

With just a quick glance, Xiahou Yan discovered that these soldiers' uniforms not only had the totem emblem of the "Desolate Watch" division, but also the symbols of several other famous federal divisions such as the "Roaring Sun".

While the Empire was busy pacifying the surrounding areas, the Glorious Federation was obviously not idle either. The Federal Blood Parliament must have taken advantage of the window period when the Imperial Army had not yet formed a siege and transferred a large number of troops from the interior to Thorn City to assist the "Desolate Watch" Division in strengthening the city's defenses.

Both humans and orcs regarded the City of Thorns as the balance of victory that would determine the final outcome of the war.

Regardless of who wins or loses, one thing is certain: the "Battle of Thorn City" will go down in history because of its scale, importance and brutality.

What made Xiahou Yan very fortunate was that, along the way, except for those young girls in love, the residents of Thorn City who passed by him didn't pay any attention to him at all: the large number of human residents active in the city were the best camouflage and protection color for him as an outsider.

No one would have thought that the handsome man in the black cloak on the road in Central City was the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge who was feared by the continent.

  Xiahou Yan followed the narrow, dirty, oil-smelling elevated road in the central part of Thorn City and soon arrived at his destination:

It was a dingy little tavern.

The exterior of the pub was made of iron sheets, like most buildings here, but this pub looked old, and the iron sheets had become uneven due to being involved in various fights, and there were many dark brown sticky stains on them.

Xiahou Yan even saw with his own eyes a pool of yellow unknown liquid left in the corner of the tavern's outer wall, and he didn't even want to guess what it was.

The door of the pub was made of wood, but it had already decayed badly, and the gaps between the wood grain were covered with gray mold.

  Above the door hung a crooked sign with the name of the tavern written in Orcish and Common:

"Resting Harbor".

In his life, Xiahou Yan had never seen a place that looked less like a "harbor" than this shabby place.

Right next to the door of the "Harbor of Rest" tavern, there was a tattered bronze plaque with a distorted human figure engraved on it.

Although Thorn City is a diverse metropolis with many races, each race in the city often has its own consumption habits and scope of activities. The human figure on the bronze plaque indicates that the "Harbor of Rest" tavern is owned and operated by humans, and only welcomes human customers to consume in the store. Residents of other races will be turned away.

On the way here, Xiahou Yan even saw a brothel that only accepted orcs: the orc aunties wearing bikinis standing at the door soliciting customers made him want to stay away from them.

Xiahou Yan tidied up his appearance and then kicked open the door of the "Rest Harbor" tavern.

The wooden door hit the iron wall with a deafening noise, but the human patrons who were drinking silently in the tavern didn't even raise their heads: Mr. Xiahou was obviously not the first customer who didn't want to open the door with his hands because the door was too dirty.

  An old bald bartender with a gray beard was standing behind the bar, wiping the cups. When he saw Xiahou Yan coming in, he just glanced up and focused on the cup in his hand again. It was not until Xiahou Yan walked to the bar that he reluctantly put down the cup and linen cloth, raised his head and said in a rough voice:

"any drinks?"

  "A glass of tung tree tea with malt liquor, only two ice cubes, no lemon." Xiahou Yan said casually. The bald bartender's expression changed slightly. He lowered his voice a little and asked:

"No lemons? We have a new batch of lemons today, they are quite sour."

"No. Change it to tomato slices." Xiahou Yan picked up a triangular cup from the bar and checked it under the kerosene light in the store.

The old bartender finally looked serious. After carefully confirming that no one was watching, he lowered his voice and said:

"A hymn of loyalty."

"A hymn of loyalty." Xiahou Yan responded, "Do you have a place where we can discuss this?"

"Yes." The old bartender first said quietly, then deliberately raised his voice, "No problem, we have a private room upstairs! Come with me..."

The old bartender took Xiahou Yan and the two of them walked past tables of drunken patrons, climbed the stairs, and entered a crooked tavern box on the second floor.

As soon as he entered the door, the old bartender quickly took out a golden soundproof chain from his arms, which was very similar to the one William Hyde had used.

The old bartender hung the chain on the door handle, and a light blue sound-proof magic rune suddenly appeared on the door, and all the noise coming from outside the room disappeared.

  Then, the old bartender turned around quickly, stood at attention, and saluted solemnly:

"Rose City Whitehall Fourth Operations Group No. 3, codenamed 'Tuna', reports to you!"

Xiahou Yan had met enough people in his past life, so his attitude was very relaxed. He took out a badge from the Grand Duke of Rosario and waved it in front of the Whitehall spy "Tuna" lurking in Thorn City:

"According to the orders of Pure White and Tiger Shark, I will stay in Thorn City for a few days. I hope to get your assistance. You can call me by my code name - Dragon Bone Peak."

"Yes! Commander Dragonbone Peak!" Tuna saluted again. "A few days ago, I received a secret letter from my superior about your coming Winter Embrace!"

Tuna has been lurking in Thorn City for seven or eight years, and has worked as a bartender for seven or eight years as a cover. He has definitely met many different types of people.

In his opinion, although the mysterious man "Longgufeng" in front of him looked ordinary, there was an indescribable sense of majesty in his every move. He must be some big shot in Whitehall or the Eastern Army, so he did not dare to neglect him at all.

"Please sit down." Xiahou Yan leaned on the sofa, pointed at the wooden chair next to him, and pinched his brows, "I just arrived in Thorn City. Let me tell you about the situation here."

"You just arrived? The blockade outside is so severe now, I didn't expect you to find a way to get into the city!" Tuna said with some admiration, "I don't know how you--"

"Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask." Xiahou Yan glared at Tuna.

"Yes! Yes!" Tuna's heart trembled, and he regretted his unprofessional performance. "I'm sorry, it's just that I suddenly saw someone contacting me, and I was a little too excited. These days, the situation is very tense, and the communication between the various contact points in Thorn City has also decreased."

"The situation is very tense? What does that mean?" Xiahou Yan looked at the tuna steadily.

"Back then, ever since the establishment of Whitehall in Rose City, 'Pure White' and 'Tiger Shark' have been planning to send spies to the federal territory to lurk, and this multi-ethnic and high-ranking Thorn City must be one of the key targets." Tuna sat on the chair carefully and introduced, "By the middle of the Sixth War, before the 'Blood Front Defeated' in 994, we in Whitehall had established seven underground contact points in Thorn City, with more than 50 spies lurking. As you can see, the 'Harbor of Rest' tavern I opened is one of them. As for the other contact points, for security reasons, I only know that they exist, but I don't know the address. I just rely on magic props and liaisons to keep in touch with them regularly."

  Limiting the mutual understanding between the various contact points is also a classic security measure in spy lurking activities, so as to prevent the entire intelligence network from being implicated after a contact point is destroyed. Xiahou Yan nodded and said:

"Pure White told me about these contact points, but told me it would be best to come to you first. He said, 'Of all the agents in Thorn City, Tuna is the most trustworthy.'"

  Hearing the approval of Grand Duke Rosario, the bald bartender showed joy on his face, but then said with some fear:

"…Luckily you came to me first…"

"Why do you say that?" Xiahou Yan narrowed his eyes.

"…Because most of the other contact points no longer exist." Tuna smiled bitterly, "After the Blood Front Defeation, the Federation front pushed westward, and our Thorn City was no longer on the front line. The counterintelligence pressure in the city was actually much less, and the intelligence network operated quite smoothly. But you also know that most of the spies lurking here are humans, and if they are not orcs, they cannot enter the important institutions of the Federation, so the intelligence we can obtain is very limited."

"That's true." Xia Houyan nodded: Sometimes, racism and elitism are the best counter-espionage measures.

"However, with the arrival of Lord Duke Elliot Igor and the victory at Tumubao, the Imperial Army was able to advance back to the Blood Front, which suddenly became the front line of the war. At the same time, the city of Thorn, which had to deal with the siege, was immediately regarded as the focus of counterintelligence work by the orcs..." Tuna shook his head. "In the past two weeks, the orcs have been searching for various suspicious persons in the city, and humans and human gathering places have received particular attention. Of the seven Whitehall contact points in Thorn City, five have been destroyed by the orcs. Only this 'Resting Harbor' and another one are still barely operating, and countless Whitehall agents have been arrested... Fortunately, William Hyde is dead, otherwise I suspect that even this place and myself would be picked out and wiped out by the orc soldiers."

Xiahou Yan hummed.

"For security reasons, I have recently stopped all active contact with the outside world, so Whitehall may not know that Thorn City's intelligence network has been so severely damaged..." Tuna said bitterly, "Fortunately you are here, I finally have a way to pass on the intelligence I have collected these days."

After Tuna finished speaking, he stood up from the chair, then bent down, lifted up a wooden floor, took out a dirty oil paper bag from the gap in the floor, and handed it to Xia Houyan.

"What is this?" Xiahou Yan took the oil paper bag, opened a corner, and saw a stack of paper documents inside.

"These are all the intelligence I have collected, including some military information. Please pass them on to Whitehall on my behalf, sir. After you leave Thorn City and the siege begins, it will be difficult to collect similar intelligence." Tuna saluted, "In addition, I have another piece of intelligence I just found out this morning to tell you."

"What information?" Xiahou Yan asked as he stuffed the oil paper bag into his backpack.

"Tonight, there will be a public exhibition of military equipment in the Central City. It is said that the merchants from the Demon Tribe have brought a lot of the latest equipment, which will be exhibited to the public at the exhibition." Tuna walked to a cabinet, opened the drawer, pulled out a poster and handed it to Xia Houyan, "If you have time, you can stop by and take a look. Maybe you can find out some information about the Federation's armaments."

Xiahou Yan looked at the large slogan on the poster: "Weapons are the primary productive force. The second Thorn City 'God-given Blade' Equipment Fair is waiting for you," and began to ponder.