Chapter 385 The Hidden Basement 2

After he finished speaking, the short, chubby merchant swallowed subconsciously and continued, "So, what exactly does the other party want to do?

You must know that as far as I know, compared to the powerful Coldflame Kingdom and Saint Night Kingdom.

This Crystal Kingdom, although its strength can be considered negligible, still has 5,000 soldiers in its defense army.

It's not as if someone would attempt to confront such a force, let alone prepare to attack and seize this city, right?!"

"At this stage, the specifics are still uncertain." Leo Ray shook his head slightly and responded.

As he spoke, his gaze moved again and landed on the street below the open-air balcony.

At this moment, the once bustling street was now quiet and empty.

Only a few teams of fully armed, solemn-faced young soldiers in light armor hurriedly ran past.

It seemed that the entire city had entered a state of emergency and full martial law.

Noticing this, Leo Ray stepped forward and headed towards the room, saying to the short, chubby merchant, "Alright, let's go back first."

With that, they returned to the room they had previously occupied. Leo Ray pondered for a moment and said to the still panic-stricken short, chubby merchant, "For now, the situation remains unclear.

Instruct everyone in the trade convoy not to take even a single step out of the room. Leave everything else to me."

"Understood, please be very careful, Your Excellency!" The short, chubby merchant nodded immediately and hurried back to his own room.

Once the short, chubby merchant had completely disappeared from sight,

Leo Ray and Linda again put on their Invisibility Cloaks and activated their concealment rings to hide their auras.

As a result, the eight currently present were all in a state of invisibility.

"My Lord, the situation here seems to be getting more complex."

Taylor bent over slightly and said, "When I was on the open-air balcony just now, I carefully investigated the surroundings.

I didn't find any new, powerful auras nearby. It seems our unknown opponent has used some means to conceal their aura."

At this point, a solemn expression appeared on Taylor's face as he bowed and said, "However, please rest assured, my Lord.

No matter what kind of enemies we face, I will utterly crush them."

On the other side, Gideon Black, Scarlett, and the others nodded in agreement, determination on their faces.

"Very well," Leo Ray said with a slight nod, as he closed the door from the outside

He spoke to his subordinates, "Alright, according to our original plan, let's go see what Merchant Ayla Howard is doing."

After leaving the inn, Leo Ray immediately used Mind Talk to ask Sean and the other Pterosaur Knight Squad members for their position.

Learning that they had followed the trail left by the Azure Pterosaur deep into the mountains, traveling almost ten kilometers and already out of the city's vicinity,

They had not noticed the tremors and noises caused by the collapsing mountain.

"Understood, continue focusing on subduing the mounts. If there are any other arrangements, I will notify you as soon as possible."

Just as Leo Ray finished using Mind Talk,

Scarlett's puzzled voice came, "My Lord, it's normal for Sean and the others to be too far from the pass to hear the sound of the collapsing mountain.

But despite being so close to the scene earlier, we didn't hear any noise either.

Isn't the soundproofing of these buildings a bit too good?"

"That's right, my Lord, I also discovered this." Linda chimed in on the other side.

"It seems that the construction here not only conceals auras but also isolates sound."

Nodding slightly, Leo Ray couldn't help but reveal a thoughtful expression.

He murmured, "What is this remote land in the mountains hiding?"

Thinking this, the invisibility-cloaked Leo Ray focused his gaze once more on the surrounding streets.

At this moment, under the shining sun, the spacious streets above were empty.

Only some abandoned stalls and garbage left on the ground were still there, making the area quite chaotic.

Right as Leo Ray was observing this situation, their group of eight had already arrived at the faded signboard of the Dawn Delicate Trading Conference at the street corner.The door here was still wide open, which was quite different from the many other stores with their doors tightly closed.

"Lord, there are no signs of life in this store." Taylor's voice soon reached Leo Ray's ears.

"Let's go in and take a look." Slightly nodding his head, Leo Ray stepped into the store entrance with his subordinates surrounding him.

After entering, Leo Ray noticed.

There was no difference in the somewhat dimly lit store, no signs of life at all.

Although it seemed to be full of clutter, it was quite clean.

It was just the broken wooden table where they had been sitting earlier, at Ayla's place, where a wooden chair had fallen over onto the floor.

"My Lord, from the looks of the scene,

It seems that the local young female merchant left in a hurry, not even noticing the chair falling and not closing the store door."

Immediately, Gideon Black adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and thoughtfully said.

"Indeed." Picking up the wooden chair, Leo Ray said in contemplation, "Other stores have their doors tightly closed, not stepping out.

But Ayla chose a completely different approach. It seems that our speculation about her having another special identity has found another basis."

"Lord, come over and take a look!"

Soon after, Bianca White's surprised and crisp voice came from not far away.

When he approached, Leo Ray saw.

At the end of the store, a large wooden cabinet had been moved aside.

Where the cabinet had been, there was a subtle difference in the gap between the floor tiles and the adjacent ones, clearly concealing a secret door.

"My Lord, there seems to be a peculiar smell below."

At this time, Bianca White was lying on the floor, her fluffy tail held high as she sniffed carefully.

"I didn't expect there to be another mystery here."

After expressing his amazement, Leo Ray first signaled Bianca White to stand up, then nodded to the burly man beside him: "Taylor, open it."

"Yes, My Lord."

On the other side, Taylor strode forward and, after feeling around on the ground,

He pulled out a metal ring, and effortlessly lifted the ingeniously hidden basement door.

Looking closely, Leo Ray noticed.

That this nearly one square meter underground door was very thick, almost 20 centimeters in thickness, similar to a safe door.

After Taylor and Gideon Black checked inside and found no abnormalities,

Leo Ray, accompanied by Scarlett and Bianca White, descended the steep stone staircase and directly entered the hidden basement.

Arriving back on the flat ground, Leo Ray's black eyes moved under the illumination of the Light Crystal Stone, shifting his gaze left and right.

He found that the basement was not very large, probably only about 20 square meters, square-shaped.

Empty and eerily quiet, resembling a windowless unfinished room.

Even more attention-grabbing,

On the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling.

There were traces of varying depths. In some places, fist-sized holes had been gouged out.

Moreover, the local impressions of these deep ravines were very regular.

They looked as if they had been slashed by the sharp claws of some beast.

"My Lord, I think I know the secret that Crystal Kingdom is hiding."

At this moment, Bianca White first picked a pinch of black fur from a crack in one of the floor's crevices then, sniffed it carefully for a moment,

An enlightened expression appeared on her fair, delicate face.