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Wang: "Okay, let's leave it at that. We still need to continue the interrogation. Was it the cult that attacked the lizardman village this morning?"
The surrendered wanderer remained stubbornly silent.
Marika: "We drow are extremely bloodthirsty and evil. When we torture our captives, we will cut off their skin bit by bit. During the process, we will keep you stimulated to ensure that you are awake."
The prisoner gave up. "It was us. The main attackers were the branch's security forces."
Wang: “Branch?”
The prisoner nodded: "That ruin is a branch. Its main responsibility is to guard the river, detect suitable seedbeds on passing ships, and capture him."
Wang: "Capture? Seedbed? Aren't you still experimenting with cats and dogs?"
The captive laughed. "That may be the case in Landon Territory, but in the River Kingdoms, we experiment with intelligent life. You have seen the results."
The members of the rescue team looked at the bodies of the two monsters on the ground together.
Wang: "Whether this is the headquarters of the cult or not, we must destroy it."
The others nodded in unison.
The captive continued to laugh, "The headquarters of the Order is in the River Kingdoms? How is that possible! I am only a peripheral member and don't know much, but there are rumors that this is just a training department for core members. The seedbeds we capture are not even processed here, but sent to Catalai downstream."
Wang was shocked: "Well, it seems that Yisongzuo is not the end of our journey."
At this time, Li Guang could no longer hold back and asked loudly: "Why did you attack our village?"
The captive asked back: "You are going to gather your army to attack us, right? We don't want to fight 300 lizardmen warriors head-on. That's too dangerous, so we will kill as many of you as possible while you are asleep."
"You!" Li Guang roared.
Prisoner: "The core members of the branch said that the lizards are less active in the morning when it's cold, and now it seems to be true."
Wang: "There are still core members in the branch? This person is not the only one who died?"
Prisoner: "There are two more."
Wang: "Are they all seven-ring mages?"
Prisoner: "That's right. But since you can kill one, killing two shouldn't be a problem, right? Oh, you may not have any magic today."
Wang: "What about the rest of the troops? How many did you use to attack the Lizardman village?"
Prisoner: "Not many, about fifty. Our main task is to capture seedbeds. There are not many warriors, most of them are rangers and wanderers.
"Our entire branch has ten teams. In addition to our pure rogue ambush team, there is also a pure ranger reconnaissance team and a defense team responsible for protecting the ruins. That team has warriors and spellcasters."
Flint: "How many priests are there? Priests of the evil god!"
Prisoner: "This is the strangest thing since I joined. We are clearly a religious group, but there are no priests among the core members. They are all mages."
Wang: "Your sect is more like some kind of research organization. Maybe your leader is actually a powerful wizard. He was just bewitched by this thing called Ragnora when he was studying it."
Xiao Bai looked at Wang and suddenly said, "Are you curious about this Ragnora? After all, it can make a wizard obsessed with studying it."
Wang: "I don't deny it. You see, my teacher is so familiar with this thing. Maybe he has studied it before and even seen this Ragnora directly and taken samples from it."
The rescue team all looked at Wang with frowns on their faces.
The captive laughed: "You are not heroes who can save the world!"
Wang: "Yes, I am just here to do the test questions given by the teacher. Let's not talk about this anymore. Think about what else you want to ask."
Marika immediately put the knife to the captive's neck: "How should we enter the ruins? How many traps are there? Is there a secret door without traps?"
The prisoner was also forthright and told everything he knew.
Wang: "Very good, very good. If you lie to us, your life will be in danger!"
Marika: "Don't worry, I won't fall into the trap. It doesn't matter even if they trick us."
Marika said as she quietly slashed the prisoner's throat.
"Dead prisoners won't reveal our position."
When the other captives saw this, they immediately tried to fight back with knives, but Marika, Nini and Gotrick were faster and the fight was over in a blink of an eye.
No, this probably couldn't be called a battle.
Chapter 163 Li Guang is upset
After dealing with these wanderers, the team gathered together again.
"So what do we do now?" Flint asked, and the others looked at Wang. The team was already very used to letting Wang make the decisions.
Wang asked Li Guang, "I was interrupted just now. Please continue to talk about the attack on the village. Besides you, did anyone else escape?"
Li Guang was silent for a few seconds. Although Wang could not read the lizard man's expression or his heart, he still felt the sad atmosphere from him.
Li Guang: "I don't know. The enemy used a yellow-green poisonous smoke with a pungent smell. Once inhaled, it will cause tears, coughing, and difficulty breathing. In severe cases, people will fall to the ground and convulse.
"The enemy used a mask that was completely unaffected by the poisonous smoke. I snatched a mask and escaped."
As he spoke, the lizardman took out the mask and handed it to the king.
Wang carefully examined the mask and said, "The tiny holes on this mask are a kind of adsorption device that can absorb the poisonous smoke particles that are inhaled. When we do those magic experiments that produce foul odors in the Mage Tower, we also use something similar to cover our mouths and noses."
He raised his head and looked at Li Guang: "What you just said means that no one escaped?"
At this time, Marika said: "I didn't visit the Lizardman village yesterday, so I don't know the population of their village, but I counted the unburied bodies in the village, and there were 440."
Li Guang: “Two-thirds of the population.”
As he spoke, he could no longer support the weight of his body and knelt on the beach with his left knee: "Damn it, although the monastic rules require us to seek peace of mind, but..."
Elizabeth handed over the handkerchief silently: "My condolences."
Wang asked Marika: "Since you have time to count the bodies, you should also have time to look at the footprints around the village? Where did the people who escaped go?"
Marika: "That's the problem. When I arrived, the rainforest had covered some of the traces, but I was still sure that no lizardmen escaped. All the lizardmen's footprints were surrounded by human footprints. I think the survivors were taken away."
Li Guang suddenly stood up, turned around and started walking away with a determined attitude.
Wang: "Wait a minute! Where are you going?"
"Any more questions?" The lizard man stopped and turned back slightly, "Save my people."
Wang: "Have you forgotten that we also need to go to that ruin? You lead the way, and we will save your people together."
Li Guang turned around and said, "Then what are we waiting for?"
"Don't be impulsive," Wang waved his hand, "We need to have a plan. First of all, although the surrendered wanderers provided a lot of intelligence, this intelligence is too crude. We need to conduct further investigation on the enemy's headquarters."
He turned his head and looked at Marika: "Please, I need you to track the traces left by the enemy, find the remains where they are entrenched, and find out the situation carefully."
Marika countered: "What if you get attacked when I'm not here?"
King: "We will go to the burned-down Lizardman village. My pet can still see smoke coming out of the village. We just need to pretend that the village is still burning. The enemy will never think that we will stay there overnight.
“We can also light bonfires around the village and even light trees to keep wild animals away.
"During this time, we can try to bury Li Guang's people."
Li Guang's fingers were shaking as he kept saying, "Thank you, thank you so much."
Wang: "You don't have to worry about the safety of the tribesmen. The enemy captured them to conduct their evil experiments. They will not massacre them all at once."
Li Guang just nodded.
Wang: "Tomorrow we will wait until our investigation is complete and our spells are restored. Most importantly, our magic items are fully charged. Then we will head towards the enemy's lair."
Li Guang stared at Wang and blinked several times: "Now I understand why you are the leader of the team."
Elizabeth said with some pride: "You see, when he said 'I have a plan', the enemy's death knell began to ring. We encountered danger several times in a row, and it was like this every time."
Flint: "Great adventurers all have nicknames. How about your nickname be 'Bell Ringer'?"
Wang: "Sounds like someone who works in a church."
Elizabeth: "Why not call the planner."
"No, no, that's too ugly." The dwarf retorted, "The bell ringer is more handsome."
Wang: "Okay! Nicknames don't matter at all. Get ready and settle accounts with them tomorrow."
**
An hour later, the team stood in the center of the ruined Lizardman village.
Originally, there were no open flames in the remaining houses, but they were constantly emitting smoke. However, in order to deceive the enemy, the rescue team lit the open fire again.
Of course, the fire was lit very skillfully and was carefully arranged by the king, so the rescue team did not cough or feel the heat wave when they stood in the middle of the village.
Elizabeth looked around and said, "This is the village you came to yesterday. Strange, weren't there many abnormalities among the lizardmen?"
Wang: "That was the enemy's masterpiece of poisoning. They put a special mold in the medicine that the witch doctor applied to the wounded. As a result, when a lizard man was injured and the witch doctor applied medicine to him, the mold would proliferate in large quantities in the wound, forming long hairs that resemble bird feathers."
Elizabeth: "So the cult was behind everything from the beginning?"
"Yes, we are really facing off against the cult this time."
As he said that, he took out the dimensional bag, took out the body of the seven-ring mage he killed first from the dimensional bag, and began to loot it.
Elizabeth: "You'll never forget this, will you?"
"I just want to bury my opponent. We should show due respect to our enemies." Wang said shamelessly while raising the dead man's hand.
"Oh, there is a ring." He said, and immediately took it off. "Strange, this ring has no magical aura. I can tell at a glance that it is not a magical item."
Elizabeth took a closer look and said, "There are words on the inside of the ring. It says 'Wahid and Lily' in the common language. Combined with the finger it's on, it should be an engagement ring."
Wang: "So this is a wedding ring? Why would two wizards get engaged with a ring that has no magical power?"
Elizabeth: "How do you know for sure that they are two wizards?"
"That's what the prisoner said."
After saying this, the king threw the ring to Elizabeth: "Keep it as a souvenir."
Elizabeth: "Why should I keep this as a souvenir? Forget it, I'll take it. If I meet this Lily in the future, maybe I can return the ring to her."
Xiaobai: "Then kill her and let them reunite in hell! There is nothing better than this!"
Elizabeth: "Xiaobai! Don't do this!"
"She is right," Wang said as he examined the dead wizard. "This Lily might also be a core cadre of the cult. In that case, either we die at her hands, or she dies at our hands."