Chapter 697: Pre-war Preparation (I)
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem
Closely after Leeb's order, all the refugee camps in Upton City had started to erect big pots and provide free cooked porridge to the refugees. There were over 600 big pots across the city, in front of each of them were long lines of refugees who were queuing up for free food.
Zhang Tie's order didn't arouse any people's doubt about his motive. Celebrities like Leeb would always look very brilliant even though they were extremely bad. Leeb would attend philanthropic activities such as charity auctions and funding orphanages several times a year. This was the game rule in their circle.
This philanthropic activity was also regarded as Leeb's intention to offset the negative influence and gossips about him caused by that murderer "Peter" who killed people outside the Gold Coin Pub two days ago.
The corpses of Rein and his mistress were found by Rein's subordinate. Of course, this was owed to "Peter".
"Peter" seemed to have escaped out of Upton City last night. Leeb dispatched a powerhouse to chase after him, but there was still no message until now.
All the people who cared about this event were waiting for that powerhouse dispatched by Leeb to bring back Peter's head. However, nobody knew that Peter had already become Leeb.
Right in the same morning, Zhang Tie had his steward silently send away all the women that Leeb arranged in Upton City.
Leeb wouldn't explain what he did to others. Being afraid of his changing characters and grim means, his subordinates dared never ask why. Those women who met Zhang Tie last night also became one of the luckiest batches among all women of Leeb's. Zhang Tie had the steward give 1,000 gold coins to each of those women before burning all of their contracts in front of those women. After that, he had the steward arrange that day's airship to dispatch all the women to the south and set them free.
Although it was pretty difficult for others to get even one seat in the airship, it was just as easy as moving his lips for Leeb.
Because of the event that happened in the villa last night, the steward dared not ask about it too much. He just felt that there ought to be some unknown reason between the two events.
...
"Young master, I've sent those women away!" The steward came to Zhang Tie's room to notice Zhang Tie after finishing his job.
In front of Leeb, the steward even dared not raise his head and look straight at Leeb's eyes.
"Very good!" Zhang Tie nodded with a smile. At the same time, his eyes became as deep as black holes. Even his voice sounded irresistible, "Raise your head and look at my eyes!"
After receiving the order, the steward raised his head and watched Zhang Tie's eyes. Closely after that, he was mired in Zhang Tie's deep eyes. After over 10 seconds, Zhang Tie moved his eyes away from that steward. However, the steward found that he was still gazing at the young master. He then became so scared that he hurriedly lowered his head while oozing cold sweat over his forehead. At the same time, he was curious inside, 'How could I become so audacious? How dared I gaze at young master? If I stirred up him, my life would be in danger...'
The steward quivered all over. Even the steward himself had not realized that he became instantly more scared about "Leeb" after only 10 more seconds.
"I want to go back to Hunting Castle. Arrange it!"
"Yes, sir!"
...
Seeing the steward off, Zhang Tie revealed a sneer. Just now, he was using a secret method of bloody soul temple to clean the steward's memory on what he saw last night in the study room. Besides, he planted a soul seed in the steward's consciousness, which had already sprouted in his consciousness silently.
'After 2 days, the steward will disband all the servants and guards in this villa in the name of Leeb. After that, he will silently escape to the south to be a recluse. Of course, all this is not out of one's order for that steward; instead, it's because that the steward awakens his awareness. After 2 days, this steward will realize that he will not be under the control of Leeb any longer, he will feel being very dangerous on Leeb's side; he will feel that he will not accomplish the orders of Leeb. In order to protect himself, he will pluck up his "courage" to escape away from this evil king and the Free Commercial Federation and find a new place where the memory on Leeb's side will be regarded as a nightmare in his life. He will never remind it to others any longer; after that, he will start a new life.'
This indicated the terror of the "soul capture skill", which could unconsciously change one's awareness and behaviors.
As a steward of Leeb, Zhang Tie could almost confirm it that if Upton City was collapsed by that super demon corps 3 days later, the status of Angus Clan as a member of Three-eye Association would be exposed. As a result, the steward would definitely be caught by others and be asked about everything he knew about Leeb. 'However, the memory on how he contacted me last night would be the only possible loophole which might expose my real status. As long as the steward could describe the looks of the two members of Arthur Clan and exposed that "Leeb" killed the two people, it would definitely arouse others' doubt.'
Commoners might not be able to find any loophole through the steward's descriptions; however, many professional ones could recover the original looks of the two members of Arthur Clan based on the steward's description. After that, they could easily confirm the two people's status based on their looks. As long as they confirm that the two members of Arthur Clan belonged to Three-eye Association, the biggest problem would come——why would Leeb of Angus Clan, a member of Three-eye Association kill the two liaisons of Arthur Clan, another member of Three-eye Association? Such a conflict was forbidden in Three-eye Association. Almost nobody dared disobey it. What was the reason behind it?
'It's already very weird for me to obtain the intelligence that the demons would raid Upton City 3 days later. How could I obtain such a bizarre intelligence?' Zhang Tie was afraid that the elders of Huaiyuan Palace would link this event to him.
'Even though elders of Huaiyuan Palace don't think so, as long as this intelligence is known by the moles of Three-eye Association, it would be more boring——after the liaisons of Arthur Clan were killed, how did I know the information mastered by the liaisons of Arthur Clan? How did I know the ID code of their remote-sensing crystal and send back the false intelligence?'
'After combining the two questions, my status and many secrets would be exposed.'
This was the only loophole that Zhang Tie left in Upton City.
The simplest way to fix this loophole was to kill that steward.
However, Zhang Tie didn't want to do that. Because he knew that the steward was just an innocent commoner who worked for Leeb. He felt pitiful about that person.
Under the request of Leeb, the most "excessive" thing that this steward had done for Leeb was to deal with corpses using a corrosive liquid. Perhaps, it was not morally accepted; however, very few commoners dared say no in front of such a terrifying coercion.
'If I was still that common teenager in Blackhot City, if I had not joined the holy war, if the new head dispatched to Blackhot City from Norman Empire was like Leeb, would I dare to oppose him?'
Zhang Tie's answer was negative.
'If I couldn't do it, I should not ask others to do it.' Therefore, Zhang Tie didn't fix this loophole in the simplest method; instead, he kept the steward alive with another method.
Many people in this villa didn't know that their fates had changed greatly only after a whim occurred to Zhang Tie.
After cleaning the only possible trace in Upton City, Zhang Tie left the No. 16 manor in Wealth Avenue by a car for the Hunting Castle in the south of Upton City.
...
The Hunting Castle that Angus Clan built near the Kalay Mountain Range in the south of Upton City symbolized the wealth and social status of the clan. As there were a lot of wild and magical beasts in Kalay Mountain range, the peripheral of the mountain, where low-level magical beasts would always appear, became the sacred hunting region. The Hunting Castle of Angus Clan was rightly for the purpose of hunting. Besides, Angus Clan even trained a great batch of wild hunters so as to accompany Young Master Leeb to hunt in the mountain.
Of course, this was just the impression of Hunting Castle in the eyes of outsiders. In Zhang Tie's eyes, the Hunting Castle was actually a secret base of Three-eye Association in Upton City. Those wild hunters that Angus Clan trained in Hunting Castle could actually form a powerful maneuver force of Three-eye Association in the Free Commercial Federation. Being different from those servants and guards of Leeb in the No. 16 manor in Wealth Avenue, each person in this Hunting Castle clearly knew about their status and the status of Angus Clan. These people were unswerving allegiance to Three-eye Association.
Hunting Castle was where Leeb hunted for low-level wild and magical beasts and where he cultivated.
The Hunting Castle was more than 50 miles away from Upton City, which was right at the foot of a mountain. There was only one rough road from Upton City to the Hunting Castle. Only one part of the rough road was accessible. The road came to an end when there was still over 10 miles left for the Hunting Castle. There was already a team of cavalries on magical horses waiting there for him at the foot of the mountain slope near the end of the road.
Only Angus Clan's cars came here all the way along the rough road across Upton City. With a telescope in the Hunting Castle, people would easily observe the trace of the cars. Therefore, each time Leeb came here, those wild hunters in the Hunting Castle would come here to welcome him.
Watching so many b*stards of Three-eye Association, Zhang Tie felt like seeing fruits of brilliance hanging on the small tree...