Chapter 273: Performance

After having a guess, Lu Mian's gaze swept across "Mouse" Cristoff and "Giant" Simon subconsciously.

He felt that the possibility of the "cannon fodder" option was not too high, because Beyonders who grew up by consuming potions were different from evil god believers who relied on gifts. They were not Chinese cabbage in the field, wanting as many as there were. One had to have corresponding materials, two had to have enough time, and when they reached the middle sequence, they had to see if their luck was good enough, or if they had mastered the "acting method."

If this task really took the three of them as cannon fodder, it was likely that the Beyonder characteristics couldn't be recovered, and this occupied half of Gardner Martin's power to control the underground world of the Market District.

As a member of the secret organization "Iron and Blood Cross Order," Gardner Martin could certainly afford such a loss, but he wouldn't make such a big sacrifice for unimportant things.

And if the task was important enough, only sending one Sequence 7 plus two Sequence 8s was obviously not enough. Didn't Gardner Martin worry about failure?

With this cognition, Lu Mian quickly revised his guess:

This was either a preliminary test for him using a task with low risk, whether "Mouse" Cristoff and "Giant" Simon knew it or not was irrelevant, or it was indeed an important and dangerous action. Taking the three of them as cannon fodder while also having strong people provide the final guarantee was also a test.

Thinking of this, Lu Mian's first reaction was to look at Gardner Martin, expressing his attitude with a full of enthusiasm and confident voice, shaping the image of a young man striving for opportunities for advancement.

If it was the first possibility, this was the best opportunity for him to show himself. And if it was the second possibility, there was still a finger of Mr. K quietly lying in Lu Mian's pocket as a trump card. At that time, if he really had to expose the secret of being a member of the "Aurora Order" to survive, he would just give up the "Iron and Blood Cross Order" task.

As long as he didn't die, he could still wait for other opportunities!

—After that disaster brought by the "Shadow Tree," Lu Mian rushed to the "Psychic" magazine headquarters before Gardner Martin launched an investigation and met Mr. K.

He omitted his experience inside the "Shadow Tree," just saying that an anomaly suddenly occurred in the Market District, and they were trapped in a strange wilderness. Later, the brown-green giant tree there sank, Susanna Mattise appeared, and began to extract everyone's energy. In order to resist this "Fallen Tree Spirit," he used that finger, creating a "Flesh Robe" with strong defensive capabilities, but didn't wait for extra help.

Later, relying on the further sinking of the brown-green giant tree, relying on Susanna Mattise being extremely weak, relying on the entanglement of the other two Beyonders at the scene, and relying on his own "Pyromaniac" ability that he had just obtained not long ago and the "Fallen Mercury" brought from Cordu Village, he barely defeated the enemy and cleared her.

These were all true words, just blurring the sequence, time, place, and a small amount of details, and there was no problem in logic. After listening to Mr. K, not only did he not doubt it, but he sighed and reminded Lu Mian not to rely too much on his finger, because there were many ways to isolate the arcane connection between him and his finger.

After confirming that Lu Mian's promotion to "Pyromaniac" was helped by Gardner Martin, Mr. K was very satisfied and pulled out another finger for him.

This made Lu Mian feel that as long as he didn't encounter special environments like the "Other Shore World" or the interior of the "Shadow Tree," and didn't get involved in terrifying events that needed to face divine creatures, relying on Mr. K's finger, even if he couldn't turn defeat into victory, he still had a good chance of escaping.

Just then, Lu Mian, who was about to express his attitude to the boss, suddenly felt that the performance couldn't be too excessive.

This was a sentence Jenna would hang on her lips from time to time.

"According to Franca's statement, the boss is at least a Sequence 6 'Conspirator.' One must never underestimate his IQ and vision...

"My background is indeed very clear, young, from the countryside, once involved in a supernatural disaster, having no knowledge, wanting to change fate. But I have been in the Market District for a while and have done quite a few things in the dark. Even if it's just those that the boss knows, it's enough for him to see that I am not a country bumpkin who has no brains and acts by recklessness and ruthlessness.

"If it's this matter today, the me in the boss's mind should be able to perceive the unusualness of the task and the danger it might contain. Agreeing without asking the reason or observing would instead make him suspect that I have other purposes or other support.

"That would be troublesome..."

A series of thoughts flashed through Lu Mian's mind. He instantly changed the destination of his gaze and cast his gaze on "Giant" Simon and "Mouse" Cristoff, seemingly wanting to see what reaction and attitude they would have toward this task.

"Mouse" Cristoff didn't know if he remembered the "Mirror Person" matter and the brother who died because of it, his expression was a bit ugly, both fearful and uneasy.

"Giant" Simon's face flashed with confusion and vigilance, but he didn't raise any objection.

After a few seconds, the two opened their mouths almost at the same time:

"Yes, Boss!"

Seeing this, Lu Mian deliberately hesitated before following:

"Okay, Boss!"

Gardner Martin's gaze kept moving between Lu Mian, Cristoff, and Simon, observing their expressions and states.

After they all agreed, this Savoy Party boss laughed with satisfaction:

"I will tell you the details of the task specifically."

He opened the drawer, took out a roll of imitation parchment, and spread it on the desk.

Lu Mian and the others leaned over and saw that it was a map, a map depicting part of underground Trier!

It was one meter long and fifty centimeters wide. The top layer was the underground Trier formed after the municipal department opened up various tunnels and reinforced the quarry cavities, corresponding one-to-one with the streets and squares on the ground.

This map only contained the underground of the Market District, Memorial District, Botanical Garden District, and Observatory District, but it was drawn very detailed, as if it had been copied from the original data after sneaking into the municipal department.

Lu Mian could clearly see that there were extensions on both sides, but they were not drawn anymore.

The middle layer was one quarry cavity after another, one ancient tomb after another marked, and one underground river tributary after another. They were scattered messily and connected to the layer above through tunnels that were either conspicuous or hidden.

This part had many blanks and missing parts, with words like "to be surveyed," "to be explored," and "to be found" written next to them.

The bottom layer of the map had some long-collapsed mine tunnels and more missing parts, as if shrouded in fog. Even for a secret organization like the "Iron and Blood Cross Order," they didn't understand it in enough detail.

This layer extended downward with multiple channels, but the map didn't present which areas they connected to.

"That Trier in the Fourth Epoch? The place officially named 'Ancient Ruins Protection Area'?

"It can be seen that this map is copied from a more complete map...

"The more complete part presents that Trier in the Fourth Epoch?

"'Iron and Blood Cross Order' really knows a lot about the underground situation..." Lu Mian pondered while memorizing this incomplete map and making corresponding guesses.

After the three subordinates had roughly finished reading the map, Gardner Martin pointed to a place and said:

"Your destination is here."

It was a collapsed mine tunnel, but some space remained.

It was located at the bottom layer of the map, close to that Trier in the Fourth Epoch.

Its top corresponded to Serbu Avenue, Bad Boy Street, and Forest Square at the intersection of the Observatory District and the Botanical Garden District.

"It's called the Albert Mine Tunnel." Gardner Martin introduced, "You need to pass through two private hidden tunnels to arrive. It is not mastered by the official, nor is it known to the vast majority of people coming and going underground."

Gardner Martin said while tracing the two tunnels drawn with dotted lines with his fingers and told Lu Mian, Cristoff, and Simon the correct way to enter.

Finally, he sighed quite emotionally:

"Six years ago, the leader of the rebels, the planner of the Great Riot, Albert Gonguer, relied on this mine tunnel he discovered and named to escape the search of the army, police, and official Beyonders underground and survived."

Six years ago... rebels... Great Riot... Hearing these words, Lu Mian instantly remembered the situations he had seen and heard:

During that war with the Loen Kingdom, prices in Trier soared, and food was so expensive that people were desperate, triggering a city-wide parade, and various conflicts occurred one after another.

Listening to Gardner Martin's meaning, it wasn't purely a spontaneous protest. Someone planned and guided it? The "Iron and Blood Cross Order" also participated? Lu Mian kept his gaze on that map thoughtfully.

Gardner Martin made a summary:

"What you need to do is arrive at

"You don't need to give him anything, and don't have any verbal communication with him.

"You must absolutely not open that box on the return journey, otherwise it will bring you immeasurable danger.

"As long as you strictly follow my words, the risk of this mission is not high. Although you might encounter some abnormal phenomena lurking underground or monsters originating from the supernatural, those are all things your good cooperation can resolve."

After giving these instructions for a while, Lu Mian, Cristos, and Simon each took a carbide lamp, left 11 Spring Street, and walked toward the nearest entrance to Underground Trier.

Looking back at the gray-white villa that had disappeared from sight, Lu Mian began to act as the version of himself in Gardner Martin's perception.

With a smile on his face, he asked "Rat" Cristos and "Giant" Simon seemingly casually:

"Have you done similar missions before?"

"Rat" Cristos was silent for a few seconds and said:

"Three times."

"Once." "Giant" Simon followed up with a slightly buzzing voice.

Lu Mian laughed:

"You're all still alive, which shows that similar missions really don't have too high a risk."

"Rat" Cristos did not respond, seemingly falling into bad memories, while "Giant" Simon echoed Lu Mian's words as if to comfort himself:

"Yeah, this might be a test from the boss for us. Those who can pass will get the opportunity for further promotion."

Lu Mian laughed:

"And those who can't? Die on the spot?"

(End of chapter)