"You, come with me." The young man with jet-black hair pointed at Mia among the group and said.
Mia seemed to know where she was going and nodded respectfully.
After Mia followed this Light Knight and left, Mekin, whose curiosity was piqued, immediately asked, "Where is she going? Why isn't she staying with us?"
Scott smiled and said, "How could she stay with us? She's a woman. Of course, she has to go to the ladies' rooms on the other side. There's no shelter here."
Upon hearing this, Mekin's face immediately turned red, and he felt a bit embarrassed.
"Alright, everyone take a bath and change your clothes. Someone will come over later to examine our bodies." Scott said. He took off the black soft armor that was already stained with a lot of blood on his body, casually threw it aside, and walked to the water basin beside the chamber pot naked, scooping up the clear water to wash his body.
This was a full-body wash.
People in this world were very particular about this, but when they returned from outside the Wall, they had to have a full-body wash.
Mekin and the other two followed suit, also taking off their black soft armor and starting to clean their bodies.
After ten days of activities outside the Wall, their bodies were extremely uncomfortable due to the stickiness of sweat, and they gave off an unpleasant odor. They had long wanted to take a bath.
Dudian was still rather introverted. This could be seen from his usually few words. He rolled up the bed sheet into a curtain and hung it up to block the view. Only then did he take off the soft armor with countless scratches and start taking a bath.
Every time he took a bath, Dudian couldn't help but sigh secretly. It was really uncomfortable to rub his body without body wash.
"Look, that guy Dean is at it again."
"He's even using a curtain to block himself. We're all men here. What's there to block?"
"He was like this during the special training. Sometimes I even wonder if Dean is a girl."
Mekin and the other two laughed and teased when they saw this.
Dudian stuck his head out from behind the curtain and said fiercely, "Mekin, if you keep talking nonsense, I'll go and tell Bei Weiwei that you secretly drew her portrait! Zach, don't laugh. You secretly took someone's money last time. Do you want me to tell it out? Sharm, if you keep joining in the teasing, I'll go and tear down your family's tavern!"
When the three of them heard this, they immediately covered their mouths.
Scott laughed heartily beside them.
...
...
At the same time, in a certain hidden ancient castle in the commercial area.
A letter was delivered through the window of the ancient castle by the sharp claws of a black crow and landed in a room on the second floor.
This was an extremely luxurious and spacious room. A long dark red velvet carpet covered more than half of the floor. The large office desk made of red catalpa wood was older than the master sitting on it. This was a middle-aged man with a plump figure. Leaning back on the creaking chair that could barely bear his weight and swaying, he casually played with two pure-colored agates in his hand. He caught a glimpse of the letter that had landed on the desk.
"What news is this? It was actually delivered directly without going through the proper procedures." He frowned slightly but still sat up straight, opened the letter, and saw that the snow-white letter paper with a faint fragrance was densely covered with writing. After reading for a while, his face suddenly changed. "Byrne didn't come back? How is that possible? Wasn't his mission this time to do the finishing work? How could he not have returned on time?"
He stared at the letter paper, his expression alternating between anger and uncertainty.
The consortium had set specific time limits for hunters and scavengers going out. The consequences of violating these time limits were extremely severe. If someone didn't return on time, there was a more than 70% chance that they were dead. The remaining 30% chance was that they were on the verge of death, trapped, or had encountered a sudden crisis and couldn't make it back in time.
However, Byrne's situation was different.
He was only responsible for the finishing work, not for hunting in the gray area. The risk factor was extremely low. If he didn't return on time, the possibility of his death was very high!
He clenched the letter paper in his hand, feeling angry in his heart. Byrne was a hunter under his charge. Once there was a loss, his position in the consortium would also be affected to some extent, and the money he earned would also decrease significantly.
"I must investigate this clearly!" He immediately made a decision, his eyes cold. "If he didn't listen and went to the gray area on his own, he can't blame others. Even if that 'madman' comes looking for trouble, I won't be held responsible! However, if he was killed by hunters from other consortia who infiltrated the Eighth District, then it's a problem with our consortium's intelligence!"
He immediately picked up a quill pen and wrote rapidly, sending out the order to thoroughly investigate this matter!
After all, although the Mellon Consortium was large and powerful, the loss of a hunter was no small matter. Moreover, such a strange loss was likely to expose loopholes in intelligence or even spies within the consortium!
...
In the headquarters of the Mellon Consortium's scavengers in the commercial area.
Two pieces of information were quickly delivered here.
The first floor of this headquarters building was responsible for reception and handling basic information, and the second floor was the administrative floor, dealing with important matters related to scavengers. At this moment, these two pieces of information were both sent to a spacious office on the second floor.
"Information from the Hunter Headquarters?" At the desk was a middle-aged man in his forties with two mustaches. He was wearing a neat suit and sitting upright and respectfully. He had once been a butler of the Mell family and was deeply favored by his master. Now he had been transferred here to manage the affairs of scavengers, and his power and status were much greater than those of an ordinary butler. "A hunter didn't return from the Eighth District? Strange. Isn't the Eighth District already cleared? There are only some minor matters left. How could a hunter not have come back from there?"
The middle-aged man stared at the letter paper and furrowed his brows. "It says above that they suspect something happened to the hunter. They sent this letter. Could it be that they suspect there's a problem among our scavengers?"
After all, he had been in this line of work for more than ten years, and he immediately guessed the meaning behind it. His face turned a bit gloomy. If it was thoroughly investigated and a spy was found among the scavengers, the staff of their scavenger headquarters would inevitably be criticized and might even be punished!
However, he also felt helpless. After all, the loss of a hunter couldn't be compensated for by any number of scavengers.
"Let them investigate then. If they really find a spy, we'll just have to accept it." The middle-aged man sighed, put the letter aside, and opened the second letter. There wasn't much writing on it, and the content was extremely brief. He was taken aback for a moment. "Someone handed in the 'Frost Crystal'? Hmm, this name Dudian... Isn't he the seed candidate among this batch of scavengers?"
He was stunned for a moment and then laughed, saying, "This little guy is quite clever. He actually managed to get something that the hunters missed. No wonder he's the seed candidate who ranked first in three subjects during the special training. He's really worth the consortium's large investment in cultivation."
His previously gloomy mood immediately improved. Originally, recruiting Dudian was a happy event for their scavenger headquarters. Because they had looked at Dudian's resume and knew that his internal radiation value was extremely low. Although he didn't have the 'Light Constitution', there was still a glimmer of hope for him to become a hunter, depending on whether they were willing to invest the funds for cultivation. Now it seemed that it was worth a try!
If Dudian really became a hunter, it would also be a great achievement for him!
He casually placed the letter on top of the previous one. If it had been other scavengers of the consortium who had picked up the Frost Crystal and it happened to be the same time as the letter from the Hunter Headquarters, he would most likely have connected the two and had some speculations. But now that the person involved was Dudian, he wouldn't make such an association.
Because Dudian had graduated from the scavenger special training through the regular channels and was a seed candidate. No consortium would be stupid enough to send such a person as a spy! Secondly, during the scavenger special training, all consortia, including the military department, were prohibited from having contact with the scavengers!
Therefore, when they graduated, each consortium could only try their best to offer benefits to attract them, but they couldn't have private contact, which would break the rules!
So, the only group that was likely to be spies could only be the scavengers cultivated by their own consortium. In comparison, the possibility of those people having problems was much higher than that of these newly graduated scavengers.