The disappearance of a group of thieves did not cause any waves in the stronghold, Kastel's actions were quite secretive, evading many people's eyes, they didn't even know that the leader of the thief guild had already led his men to launch a surprise attack on Zhanen, everything disappeared silently, just like it started silently. Whether it was the beginning or the end, no one noticed.

  But it's not just Kastner who has this idea.

  It's unclear when it started, but mercenaries in the stronghold began to sneak away from the camp in twos and threes, making their way to Jian's cave. However, they all met the same end - once inside, there was no sign of them again, neither alive nor dead. At first, since the matter was still relatively secret, only a few people with keen senses noticed anything. But as time passed, more and more mercenaries "disappeared", until it became apparent to anyone who wasn't blind that something was amiss.

  Mercenaries aren't idiots, even if they didn't react at first. Seeing the people around them suddenly disappear, they probably guessed that they had gone to attack Zhan and his group. However, not a single person has returned alive until now, and this in itself is already very obvious.

  As the number of missing mercenaries increased, the base became quieter. So many people had gone, and not a single one returned, which was enough to instill fear in the hearts of other mercenaries. Moreover, not every mercenary wanted to take this money, so after some time, the commotion caused by the bounty in the base subsided once again without a sound.

  It's no wonder these mercenaries are timid, mainly because the disappearance of those people is too strange, with no bodies or corpses to be seen. According to reason, even if Zhan En killed someone, there should be a body. However, these mercenaries have searched around and haven't found any bodies, not even bloodstains.

  As the matter grew bigger and bigger, finally, someone couldn't bear it anymore and went to find Liam the Holy Knight, urging him to go take a look at what was really going on inside. Had that Zane killed someone and hidden the body in the room? Or was he using it for some sort of evil ritual?

  It was a matter of great importance, and this time Liam couldn't pretend he didn't see it. Under duress, he brought several mercenary leaders with him and reluctantly came to Zane's residence again.

  "Sir Liam, the Holy Knight? What a rare guest! What brings you here? Has Lord Roxas returned?"

  Sitting in the chair, Zhan En was still tasting the red tea with his usual leisurely manner, while holding a book and flipping through it casually. Beside him, Elise was also sitting there as usual, intently reading her own book. Becks was busily running back and forth, preparing desserts and red tea for Zhan En and Elise. Everything seemed so normal, without any strange places.

  "Lord Roxas hasn't returned yet."

  When Liam heard Jen's inquiry, he revealed a wry smile as he glanced around. This was originally just an ordinary cave, and at first glance, everything was in sight. There didn't seem to be anything special anywhere, and the group's luggage wasn't much either, except for a bonfire in the center of the cave used for warmth, and Elyse's eternal flame that illuminated the area. Then there were several rolled-up blankets, as well as books neatly stacked on stone slabs. The rest was just silver tea sets and tableware, which didn't seem unusual at all.

  No bloodstains, no corpses, and yet such a large place, it's not easy to hide something. And it's still so many people?

  Liam didn't have many thoughts by this point. Although he had a "gulp" in his heart when he heard about the large number of mercenaries, suspecting that it was Jan's doing. But now it seemed that wasn't the case. In any case, since he had come, he might as well ask.

  "I just have some questions I'd like to ask Mr. Zhan, recently there have been quite a few mercenaries who have gone missing, do you have any leads on this?"

  "Missing?"

  It wasn't until then that Zhan En raised his head and glanced at Liam.

  "I'm not quite sure about this, who knows? Maybe these guys have gone to the dark realm again to get themselves killed?"

  "But didn't you guys already wipe out all the monsters in this place?"

  Facing Zhan En's response, the mercenary who followed Liam was obviously not very satisfied. He was originally a hot-tempered person, and at this moment, after hearing Zhan En's response, he glared with his eyes wide open and shouted. When he heard the mercenary speak, Zhan En lazily swept him with a glance, as if looking at a pile of trash scattered on the side of the street.

  "So, low IQ means communication difficulties. We just cleared the surrounding area earlier, not the entire dark region. This is not like the surface, I can only guarantee the safety of the nearby patrol team. As for deeper places, who cares? If someone wants to go in and die, then so be it."

  "You...!!!!!!"

  When he heard this, the hot mercenary pointed at Zhan Yan, but couldn't say anything. What Zhan Yan said wasn't wrong either, the mercenaries came here for benefits, and after Zhan Yan cleaned up the surrounding monsters, many of them had thoughts of continuing to adventure deeper into the dark region. Of course, there were also some idiots who got "lost" forever.

  In the end, Liam didn't get any useful information out of it either. As for those missing mercenaries, Zane just claimed he knew nothing about them. The three couldn't find anything suspicious and could only reluctantly bid farewell and leave.

  "Hmph, a bunch of idiots. I didn't think they'd react so quickly. I thought these fools would take some more time to discover the problem."

  After the three men left, Zhan En let out a cold hum, then he put down the book in his hand and stood up to walk to the wall at the back of the cave. He stretched out his hand to gently tap on the wall. Soon, with Zhan En's movement, the originally tightly closed stone wall suddenly slid open silently, revealing a clean and tidy passageway before him.

  With Zan's personality of enjoying comfort, he would not want to live in such a dilapidated cave. In fact, after Zan obtained this cave, he had Beixi lead the earth spirits to dig a tunnel from the underground city to connect with this cave. Then, a secret door was placed at the entrance and exit. Usually, when no one was around, Zan would take Eri and Beixi back to the underground city. If someone came looking for them, they would let those monsters handle it. The territory nearby had long been quietly taken over by Zan into the range of the underground city, so no matter how many people came, as long as they stepped onto the land of the underground city, they could not escape the system's detection.

  As for those guys who came to bother Jian in the past, they had all been killed by the aliens that were ambushing here and dragged into the underground city to be cleaned up. Jian naturally welcomed this, he didn't kill people because no matter how many people he killed, the experience points wouldn't count towards himself. But these guys voluntarily ran to the underground city domain to send warmth, that was a different story, looking at the experience points rising every day, Jian was also delighted. Unfortunately, these guys weren't stupid either, they realized something was wrong and stopped, otherwise, there would be free experience coming every day on this side, how great would that be?

  I hope that Viscount Barf can be more promising, find a few higher-level roaming experiences, and the alien on this side is about to evolve.

  Thinking of this, Zhan En shook his head and continued walking into the passage.

  "Bang!!"

  Exquisite, luxurious teacups fell to the ground and were smashed into powder. Outside, they were worth a lot of money, but now these beautifully crafted tea sets have become a pile of trash.

  Unfortunately, their sacrifices did not show any signs of improving their master's mood.

  "Trash, all of them are trash!!"

  Viscount Balfour clenched his fists, pacing around the room like a wild beast trapped in a cage, his eyes blazing red. Beside him, Cotten was pale-faced, standing in the corner and barely daring to breathe. He was now beginning to regret his choice, having initially sought out Viscount Balfour for two reasons: one, to deal with Jenn, and two, to find an escape route for himself. In Cotten's eyes, Viscount Balfour was young and powerful, from a noble family with vast influence. Dealing with a small, fallen aristocrat like Jenn would be easier than crushing an ant.

  But unexpectedly, Zhan En turned out to be so difficult to deal with, not only did he defeat many of Lord Baruf's men, but even now those mercenaries didn't dare to find trouble with him. Moreover, among the nobles, Lord Baruf's reputation had also plummeted. The noble heirs who came to the stronghold this time were not just Lord Baruf alone. However, the relationship between others and Lord Baruf was not good; Lord Baruf was powerful and arrogant. Although other noble heirs were not as fierce as him, in the circle of nobles, what's most important is status. So they didn't think much of Lord Baruf's attitude either. At this moment, seeing Lord Baruf being defeated by a fallen noble, they naturally found it laughable.

  "Sir... Please calm down, this must be what that guy did, we just need to investigate properly..."

  "Shut up!"

  Upon hearing Kordon's words, Baruf's face turned cold and he suddenly swung his hand down.

  "Didn't that holy knight go to investigate? And yet he still didn't find anything! Damn it, I've had enough! Someone come!!"

  Upon hearing Barulf's words, a middle-aged man who looked like a butler quickly ran in and bowed respectfully to him.

  "What instructions do you have for me, sir?"

  "Pass down the order, the Imperial Guard assemble in full! I will lead the team myself and take down that villain! If he can withstand ten men, fifty men, I don't believe he can withstand a hundred men, five hundred men!!!"

  At this point, Viscount Barfleur's eyes were also red, and a flame of anger was burning deep in his heart.

  "I'd like to see what he's really capable of!!"