Chapter 1014 Appearance

The cold winter is halfway through, and life is getting tougher for those living on the border.

Gesong was a wealthy and prosperous place, at least until this winter - it sits near Winterhold, one of several transport hubs from Typhon territory to the border's trade fairs, even in the so-called Before the rise of "cross-border trade" in China, this place was also an important foothold for merchants to come and go.

The merchants who traveled from south to north brought considerable income here, and the merchants made the town prosper, and after the opening of trade, those smart people with a keen sense of smell turned this place into a place within a year or two. The land of gold has even made it a faint momentum of becoming a big city, but...the good days did not last long.

War broke out.

Although it has not been here for a while, but the scene of prosperity is gone forever, cross-border trade has stopped, businessmen have avoided this place of right and wrong, and important transportation hubs have been replaced by the empire. Requisitioning, now the chariots and horses full of money and goods have been replaced by chariots and troops that work around the clock, and the locals who originally relied on business travel from south to north to eat, now have to "relax".

Simpson, who runs the hotel, was sitting beside the window, wiping a brass pipe in his hand sadly. A layer of water vapor condensed on the crystal glass window, making the scene on the street hazy. The middle-aged man who had already started to lose his hair could not help but shrink his neck again.

He raised his head and saw that there were only a few people sitting idle in the lobby of the hotel - the layout of the hotels in the town is similar, the lobby on the first floor also has some drinks and snacks in addition to receiving guests, but since this event After the damn war broke out, all he could sell here was mostly watered spirits and rough pastries.

A middle-aged man with a shaggy beard was sitting on the table closest to him. He looked like he was just one step away from being intoxicated. There were several empty wine bottles in front of him. There were many other suspicious smells oozing from his dirty coat.

Simpson frowned and yelled at the other side, "Saville! You've had enough to drink today!"

The unshaven middle-aged man was almost lying on the table, and after hearing the shout, he just waved his hands indiscriminately, without even raising his head.

Simpson shook his head, feeling that he had done his duty as a "good citizen", and continued to lower his head to wipe his brass pipe, but a rhythmic footstep sounded suddenly from the side, making the innkeeper once again raised his head.

His sleepy and impatient expression quickly faded,

Instead, he showed a smile, and he saw a beautiful lady in a dark cloak and a winter hunting suit walking down the aisle. The bright blonde hair of the other party seemed to warm up this bad winter a little. A pair of pointed ears protruding from her blond hair reminded others of her origin.

"Ms. Soldrin, are you going out?" Simpson asked with a smile. "It's not a good weather outside now..."

"I'm leaving this afternoon," said the elf huntress known as Madam Soldrin, her voice with a hint of neutral magnetism, "I want to go see if I can hire one while the weather isn't too bad. A carriage to the mountain pass..."

"You're leaving?" Simpson couldn't hide his loss, but his loss was more due to economic losses. Since the outbreak of this damn war, very few travelers have settled here, and a huntress who does not participate in this war is an extremely valuable "quality guest" in this period - living in a better room, Demanding fine dining, not being as rude as those passing soldiers, and most importantly never defaulting on the rent... In monetary terms, this elf hunter lives here better than a dozen drunks of Savile.

"I'm just passing by after all, my clan is still waiting for me." Thorder "Lin" said casually with a smile, and glanced in the direction of the door-the identity of the elf is a good cover here, because he is responsible for maintaining The elf stronghold of the magnificent wall is located near the northwest border of Typhon. It is natural for a traveling elf to appear in this area. As long as you are careful not to provoke the mage sentinels and management personnel of the big city, "she" It's easy to infiltrate looser frontier settlements like Gesong Township.

However, we cannot let our guard down because of this. As the battlefield is getting closer and closer to the headquarters of Winterhold, the tension in this area is escalating. The big air battle three days ago had a profound impact on the entire battle. The Winterfort area is turning into a front line. The agents under the Typhon Intelligence Department and the security forces under the name of the Earl of Winterfort seem to have sensed something and are frequently checking the people who come and go, and they...have been in this place for a long time.

The necessary information has been sent away, and the rangers who were operating inside and outside the city and the MI agents who needed to be covered have all been evacuated in batches, and this place cannot continue to stay.

"Well, yes," Simpson shrugged helplessly, "you should go back to your people, this brutish and bloody war is not for an elegant elf lady like you..."

Thorder "Lin" just smiled after hearing the innkeeper's words, and did not correct the mistake in the other party's cognition-many humans seem to have this misunderstanding, thinking that elves are an elegant and war-weary race, when humans When all kinds of "ugly" wars break out in the world, the beautiful elves will hide in the paradise-like jungle and sing about peace and nature... This misunderstanding is especially serious in the northern region.

However, in fact, the ranger troops of the elves are one of the most powerful arms in the world. The Silver Empire also relied on war to lay down a vast territory. There were countless brutal and bloody tribes in the ancestral jungle. The silver elves are not Relying on art and music to make those voodoo tribes able to sing and dance... But there is no need to explain too much to a human who runs a hotel near the border.

"She" just nodded to Simpson, and was about to leave here, but before she took a step, a sour smell floated from the side, which made "she" couldn't help but stop and glance at the smell coming from DIRECTIONS - Savile, drunkenly, has fallen asleep on the table, muttering indistinct curses in his sleep.

"He seems to have been here these days," Solder "Lin" asked casually, "seems to be an acquaintance of yours?"

"Sigh...Unfortunate Savile, I have some friendship with him," Simpson glanced at the opposite table, sighed and shook his head, "He used to run a hotel, on the other side of town, but unfortunately he was caught by those The wealthy businessman who travels from south to north is dizzy and unrealistic fantasies are harmed. He borrowed a lot of money and even mortgaged his hotel to exchange the right to use three cars and a franchise The license... just for this winter."

Thorder "Lin" listened to Simpson's sympathetic remarks, and couldn't help but glance at the drunk man again.

The destructive power of this war outside the battlefield is becoming more and more obvious day by day, and Savile lying between the bottles is just a small microcosm.

"She" shook her head and said casually as if talking to herself, "I hope this war ends soon."

"If that's the case, then I have to thank the gods," Simpson couldn't help saying, pointing a few times on his chest with the fingers he had just wiped on the brass pipe, making a gesture of prayer, "It's a bad day. Do you know when it will end..."

Solder "Lin" did not respond to the innkeeper's words again. "She" pulled the hood of her cloak, tightened the ties, and turned towards the exit of the lobby.

The door of the tavern opened and closed, and a cold wind from outside swept through the interior space. Simpson felt the cold wind blowing in his neck, and couldn't help shrinking his neck again. At the same time, he glanced out the window subconsciously - he wiped it. The window glass, trying to find the figure of the elf huntress from the street, but only saw the empty street, the foggy sky and the distant mountains outside the town, and between the light and the shadows of the mountains, an iron-gray, as if all A giant clad in armor is wandering in the void.

Simpson felt as if his heart had been hit hard by something. The hazy shadow made the blood in his whole body stagnate for a moment. After a few seconds, he took a deep breath. , resurrected the ability to think. While panicking, he hurriedly looked out the window again, trying to find the figure of the giant, but in the background of the mountains, there was no iron-grey armored giant wandering around...

It seemed like an illusion just now.

"Saville, Saville!" Simpson tapped the brass pipe on the table, trying to greet the person closest to him, "You just saw... Forget it, I asked you what to do."

...

Soldering bypassed several streets and got into the alley. His breath completely subsided, and even the patrolling mage passing by never noticed that a "hunterress" had appeared in his line of sight.

After confirming that the surroundings were completely safe, he stopped and glanced thoughtfully in the direction of the mountains outside the town.

He thought of the "illusion" that was occasionally mentioned in the town recently, and his face became slightly serious, but he quickly restrained the change in his expression and returned to a state of indifference.

After observing the surrounding environment again, he quickly found a hidden place and began to change his clothes. The clothes of the elf tribe are complicated and difficult to distinguish in the eyes of human beings. He came over, turned the gray side out, completely changed his slightly neutral dress, and finally he stretched his hand to the top of his head - at this step, the high-level ranger finally couldn't help but hesitate. In an instant, but a word from a friend many years ago came to mind, a real strong man will face the bleak life...

He tore off the wig and quickly put it away—the winter wind is so cool.

At the small intersection on the other side of the street, a carriage was already waiting here. Solderling walked out of the alley and confirmed the situation around the carriage in less than a second, with a look on his face. Furui Wubo came to the driver with an expressionless expression.

"Master Delin," the coachman jumped out of the car when he saw his employer, with a respectful and ingratiating smile on his face at the same time. Elf monk is a profession full of mystery. There were no more than a thousand people on board, not to mention that the other party paid twice as much for the car. It was worth taking out all the etiquette gestures he had accumulated since his mother's womb, "Let's go now?"

"It's been a long wait," Solderin nodded slightly and said in a deep voice, "Let's go, and leave the city directly from the west."

...

An order from Cecil City made Solimburg's technicians and Bertiera himself completely busy. Along with them, there were also those who came from Cecil City by aircraft and were in charge of psionic songs. technical staff of the author project.

In the central area of ​​the Thorin Giant Tree, in a square on the west side of the tree trunk, Wendy, who hurried from Cecil City, and several other technical experts were standing with the technical staff of Solimburg. The lantern-carrying Selena Gerfen gradually appeared like a spirit body entering reality from a dream world.

The "Lantern Saint" raised her head and looked at the strange thing floating in the center of the open space in front of her. She finally couldn't help but look sideways at Wendy, "You think this thing is put on the battlefield... it really won't be the first. A huge psychological impact on our own soldiers?"

Wendy opened her mouth just as she was about to speak, when a hoarse voice came out from the bushes next to her, "This sentence came from the mouth of an eternal sleeper priest who is good at mental attack and specializes in creating nightmares. Weird."

Selena looked in the direction of the voice, and saw Bertila's figure rising from the bushes, the twisted and wriggling flower vines condensed into an "avatar" that was almost no different from a real person in an incredible way. Relying on the constantly moving roots and vines of the lower body, he came to this side.

"We just create some illusions from the spiritual level - you are something that can be scary in the real world," Selena shook her head helplessly, pointing to the things floating in the square - it was a huge The artificial brain has a diameter of more than two meters. The gray-white and pinkish flesh and blood tissue floats several meters high in the way of anti-gravity. There are a large number of tentacle-like nerve cords extending from the bottom, which are wriggling and curling unconsciously as the body floats. "As for the ability of disgusting people, you are more powerful in biochemistry."

"...Is it really that serious?" Bertila thought for a while and said helplessly, "But I think it's still a little cute..."

The technicians behind Selena suddenly looked almost horrified, and Wendy couldn't help but press her forehead——

This vegetative aesthetic... seems to have completely rotted away.