The two of them ran all night, and the night gradually faded.

When the outline of Baiyuan City appeared at the end of the line of sight, it was already the eve of dawn, and the sky was a dull dark blue, brewing the dawn.

Zhou Jing concentrated his eyes on the wilderness and looked out. His comprehensively strengthened physical fitness also improved his eyesight. Suddenly, it was like zooming in. The scene of Baiyuan City quickly enlarged and became clear in his sight.

Before it was time to open the door, the gate at the city gate was still closed, and the braziers on both sides had burned out all night, leaving only traces of smoke.

There were no villagers or caravans waiting to enter at the door. A few guards were leaning against the wall, nodding their heads, probably taking a nap.

Zhou Jing raised his gaze and looked at the crenellations on the city wall. The lighting torches were still burning, but there were no guards patrolling. And there were no guards standing guard at the lookout openings of the city wall towers.

"The defense is so sparse. More than half a year has passed since the last time I managed to open the city gate, and the town's defense doesn't seem to have improved much."

Zhou Jing muttered to himself.

Although he and Ross were currently dressed in coarse cloth and could pretend to be farmers, he did not want to go into the city openly.

After more than half a year, maybe someone in the town still recognizes his face. After all, the towns in this world are so big.

Now that he is in the dark, he doesn't want to expose his whereabouts easily and cannot directly open the city gate by relying on his identity as a hunter of exotic beasts like last time.

Zhou Jing tore off the corners of his clothes, covered his face, and asked Ross to do the same. Then the two of them deviated from the road to the city gate and quickly walked towards the city wall from other directions. On the way, they always paid attention to whether there were patrolling guards or lookout points in the towers on the wall.

Fortunately, this time is the best time to sneak into the town. It is the dim moment before dawn. Covered by night, the two people's fast-moving figures are like ghosts and difficult to detect.

Moreover, Zhou Jing had chatted with the town guards before. Don't expect this group of people to have a high professionalism at all times. After a night of standing guard, some people have already been slacking off, so it is impossible to tense up at all times.

The two of them successfully reached under the wall. Zhou Jing picked at the gap in the city wall and inserted the hard bricks with his knuckles. Before 40 points of physical fitness, the rough stone bricks and plastics in this world were no different.

How many.

His knuckles inserted into the cracks in the wall. With a slight clicking sound, he swam up the wall as easily as a gecko. He quickly climbed along the crenellations into the city wall walkway, and then immediately squatted against the wall. His eyes quickly turned left and right to confirm this.

The aisles are temporarily unmanned.

Zhou Jing then waved for Ross to climb up too. After the two met, they immediately climbed over the wall and entered Baiyuan City without any delay.

It was still curfew time, and the streets were almost empty, with only guards patrolling. The two of them walked close to the edge of the town for a while, hiding in the shadows of the houses, waiting patiently for morning.

Sneaking into the town is not difficult. Ordinary guards will inevitably make mistakes when facing alien warriors. After all, their extraordinary physical fitness is here. As long as the guards neglect to relax, they can sneak past with fast movements.

Taking advantage of the waiting time, Zhou Jing sat cross-legged behind the house, thinking about a plan of action.

The main goal of sneaking into the town this time is to kidnap Root and pry information out of his mouth. Before that, we need to find out how long it has been since the last time we traveled and how far the influence of the last time has fermented. Now White Plains City has

What changes and so on.

Secondly, we need to find out Root's current defense strength, and whether there will be a mysterious person like the short-haired man blocking the road again, and estimate the difficulty.

Now that his body is intact and there is no need to risk his life, Zhou Jing does not want to be surrounded and prefers to sneak. It is best to kidnap Root quietly to ensure that he has the reaction time to escape unscathed.

"So first think about your escape route after you get it and prepare some things... I have to buy some equipment. Money is not an issue. Although covering your face when shopping will attract attention, just be careful..."

Zhou Jing was calculating in his mind, and time continued to pass. Finally, the bell rang in the town, and the curfew ended.

After waiting for a while, there were gradually more pedestrians on the street, and the urban residents began their daily life.

This time, Zhou Jing took Ross and blended in with the pedestrians. Apart from covering his mouth and nose and occasionally attracting the attention of passers-by, he looked like an ordinary farmer and was very normal.

He was familiar with White Plains City. He avoided the patrol direction of the guards and went shopping in clothing stores. He dressed up as a town resident and was more inconspicuous than a farmer.

By the way, I also bought two felt hats, which even covered their ears. This made the two people's outfits covering their mouths and noses look like protection from the cold, making them less eye-catching... After all, this is the Northland, and the weather is cold.

, it’s normal to wear something thicker.

After buying the things, Zhou Jing did not leave immediately. Instead, he went to the clothing store owner to find out the date and confirmed that more than half a year had passed since his last death.

The current city lord is still Lute. He has not been dismissed by the empire, but he rarely shows up anymore.

While chatting, the shop owner suddenly felt a little emotional:

"Ever since Jason attacked the lord half a year ago, White Plains City has become increasingly depressed."

Zhou Jing became interested: "I came from out of town, what happened next?"

The clothing store didn't have a chat service, but Zhou Jing paid easily and there were no customers in the morning, so the shop owner didn't mind chatting with Zhou Jing for a few dollars.

"Well, after that, the hunters said that the lord had some secret secrets and wanted to silence Jason. In the end, he was almost killed by Jason. These rumors became known throughout the city. And the lord has been sick in bed, almost

Not showing up.

About a month or two later, some imperial envoys seemed to have come to investigate the matter, and finally announced it to the whole city, saying that the matter was a private revenge attempt by the lord's guards, and that the lord himself did not know about it. It was a misunderstanding, and then turned around to appease him.

The hunters of White Plains City..."

Hearing this, Zhou Jing sneered in his heart, but his face remained calm.

"Then what?"

"The hunters seemed very angry and did not accept this explanation. Many hunters left directly. As a result, White Plains City did not have enough hunters to deal with the threat of alien animals, and the area became increasingly unsafe. In recent months, more and more outsiders have visited.

There are so many merchants no longer taking this route...On the contrary, more and more surrounding villagers are fleeing into the city."

"So after the hunters left, many nearby villages were attacked by strange beasts?" Zhou Jing raised his eyebrows.

"There are two villages. Originally, if there were enough hunters, we could repel these strange beasts in time. However, most of the hunters in the city now guard Baiyuan City and rarely go to support the villages." The shopkeeper sighed.

"Which two villages were affected?"

"Many people in Snow Stone Village and Languo Village were bitten to death by strange beasts, and the survivors fled to the city... Because of their experiences, and because today's hunters almost only guard the city and don't go out, other villages also feel that they are in the wild.

It’s not safe to live here, so many people have taken the initiative to move into towns.”

Zhou Jing nodded.

"This situation has continued until now? Has there been any improvement?"

The shopkeeper shook his head and said helplessly: "There is no improvement. Although it has attracted many wandering mercenaries, new hunters have not come for a long time. I heard from others that Jason's attack on the lord spread to many towns, and Root's

The reputation has been ruined, and many people are unwilling to serve under a lord who kills hunters. As long as he is here, hunters will not come... If this continues, White Plains City may be doomed."

Zhou Jing clicked his tongue: "This is the case, why not change the lord?"

The shop owner couldn't help but feel a little angry and complained: "Who knows what the empire thinks, it doesn't care at all! Lute continues to be the lord, but as the threats of alien beasts become more and more frequent, the people in the city will be unlucky in the end! This is not the place!

No matter how safe it is, people are now panicked, and I heard that many residents of White Plains City are planning to move to nearby towns."

"I see……"

Zhou Jing had a general understanding of the current situation.

He originally attacked and killed the lord and died. The hunters hurt others and wanted to fight for his injustice, so they escalated the situation and wanted a result.

In the end, most of the hunters in White Plains City were angry and dissatisfied because of the death of Paulut from the Empire, and chose to leave. At the same time, the incident spread to more towns, and as a result, the entire White Plains City area became a huge safety hazard, becoming precarious and in dire straits...

It can be said that it is the source of my own profound influence.

However, in this case, Root still clung to the position of lord regardless of the negative effects he had brought to White Plains City.

Although the reputation of White Plains City has been ruined, as far as Root is concerned, the hunter is gone and he is safe...perhaps in his opinion, he has suffered a huge loss and this incident is over.

From now on, if you keep a low profile and become a lord, you can continue to live your life... Your own interests are protected, but for the loss of the town and the safety of the villagers, you can only leave it to fate and let them go.

As long as Root is in power for one day, White Plains City will deteriorate from bad to worse.

'Isn't this just occupying the latrine and not taking a shit...'

Zhou Jing curled his lips under the mask.

The Terra Empire is indeed Terra, and this does not remove the lord of Lute.

It seems that the person who ties the bell needs to untie the bell, or he has to do it himself.

Since problems are caused by people, then it’s not up to the people who created them to solve them.

If Lute won't let go of the lord, then kill him directly and replace him. No matter how bad his reputation is, his reputation will not be worse. In this way, the decline of White Plains City can be slowly stopped. Some of the hunters from the past may come back, and the new ones will come back.

Hunters will gradually appear...

Zhou Jing estimated that among the other hunters, there might be some who wanted to assassinate Lute, but were dissuaded... After all, not everyone is as careless as he is.

It just so happened that he had a plan to kidnap Lute, and he would immediately break up the fight when the time came... He was saving White Plains City!

After getting the information he wanted, Zhou Jing said goodbye to the shop owner, left the clothing store, and looked in the direction of the lord's longhouse, his eyes flashing.

"The next step is to step on the spot."

…

Lord's longhouse, reception room.

The two of them were sitting opposite each other, chatting quietly.

One of them is Root. Compared with half a year ago, he looks much more haggard, has deep dark circles under his eyes, and has a skeletal figure.

Opposite him was a man wearing leather armor with a dagger stuck in his waist. He looked like a mercenary... In fact, he was a trusted messenger sent by the backer behind Root.

At this time, the messenger frowned at Root and said in a deep voice:

"The impact of your incident is too bad. The court has a lot of opinions about you. It is believed that you are responsible for the first incident of an alien hunter attacking the lord, which has caused great damage to the relationship between the hunter and the lord! Last time, the imperial envoy served you

Endorsement, the investigation said it was a misunderstanding, you are under a lot of pressure to keep your position..."

"I know."
To be continued...