Exploring Technology in a Wizard World-Chapter 1289 - 1287: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six
Richard controlled his consciousness, drifting out of the house.
Seeing the short, chubby man turn into a distant alley, he pondered: According to what the old man inside the house said, the tunnels dug by the Sika Kingdom are not limited to just one, which obviously means there is a second one. He should also find this second passage; otherwise, only informing Soron of the first tunnel would make the Alliance think there’s no more threat, focusing solely on the frontal enemy. At the most critical moment, the Sika Army could use the second secret passage to launch an attack from the rear, causing greater losses.
So, where is the second tunnel?
Since the entire village is infiltrated and established by the Sika Kingdom, the village chief, who is the old man in the house and also some lurking baron, the second passage should reasonably be near the village. This would facilitate monitoring by the old man and aid the villagers in concealing and responding to traces.
Thinking this, Richard glanced at the ground beneath his consciousness without hesitation and plunged headfirst downwards.
He was like an extraordinarily skilled diving athlete, easily breaking into the soil without a splash of dirt, delving into the earth and starting to search around.
East, south, west, north...
Front, back, left, right...
He searched continuously, and thanks to the relatively small area, he discovered something after a dozen minutes. He found the hidden second passage.
This passage was obviously much narrower than the first one, only about three meters wide, with a height of less than one and a half meters, requiring a person to stoop to get through. The floor of the passage was covered in dust, with slight collapses in some parts, severely hindering passage, suggesting it was quite old. However, it was still a passage that could quickly transport the Sika Kingdom soldiers.
Following the passage, Richard moved to the exit and found it in a half-collapsed granary in the spy village, confirming that his guess was indeed correct.
It seems that this out-of-body experience was relatively successful, not only confirming his identity as a command consultant, proving he wasn’t a puppet, but also helping to locate two passages... After going back, he needs to find a way to inform Soron about the passage’s location, proving that he, as a command consultant, is not entirely useless; that would be perfect.
Thinking about this, Richard prepared to return his consciousness to his body, but just before returning, he suddenly conceived an inexplicable notion. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
Well, since there are two passages, could there be a third? After all, the spy village chief did not specify the number of passages, only that there was more than one.
After thinking for a moment, Richard scanned the surroundings once more and dived underground again, intent on seeing the task through to the end as he began searching anew.
About twenty minutes later, he appeared in a dried-up, abandoned well in the village, looking at the thin layer of soil covering the ground, his inner voice couldn’t help but burst out: There really is a third one?!
And since there’s a third, a fourth one isn’t impossible, right?
He dived underground once again.
Ten minutes later, he appeared in a small forest outside the village.
There really is a fourth one; then a fifth one might...
He re-entered the ground, and half an hour later, he appeared atop a stone pressed into the ground.
Sixth one...
Over an hour later...
By the time dawn was breaking, Richard had searched the entire spy village, inside and outside, discovering in awe that the Sika Kingdom had dug a total of six tunnels.
Yes, six!
The ages of these six tunnels varied, with the oldest one nearly half collapsed inside, completely unusable, while the rest also suffered varying degrees of collapse. Altogether, only half of them—three tunnels, could be used normally.
Still, this revealed the Sika Kingdom’s madness, that they could excavate six tunnels in such an area one after another, clearly preparing for a prolonged war with the Soma Alliance and continuing infiltration.
Unfortunately, this plan can no longer proceed; he discovered everything in one night.
A moment of silence...
Richard thought in his heart, looking at the faint light breaking from the eastern sky while in his consciousness state, without staying any longer. With a thought, a strong pull came from the transparent band behind his neck, and his entire view darkened. It was like entering a tunnel, rapidly retreating back, and a few seconds later restored to brightness, he had returned to his temporary residence’s bedroom in Reef Rock Castle.
"Buzz!"
His entire body shuddered, the consciousness returned to its place, and Richard opened his eyes.
Sitting up slowly, he rubbed his cheeks and heard slight movements from outside, the sounds of early-rising servants working.
Occasionally, there was the faint sound of urgent hoofbeats, quickly fading into the distance. They were cavalry reporting military information into the city or delivering orders out of the city, clearly indicating that Reef Rock Castle, as a military city’s command center and defense hub, was operating non-stop day and night.
He walked to the door, opened it, and walked out. The servant outside looked slightly surprised, somewhat taken aback that Lord Richard got up so early. He clearly couldn’t imagine that Richard had, in a sense, been up all night without sleep.
"My lord... would you like to have breakfast?" the servant cautiously asked.
Richard thought for a moment and nodded.
"Please wait, I will have the kitchen prepare it immediately."
"Alright." Richard nodded again.
...
About half an hour later, Richard took a stroll around the residence and returned to the bedroom.
Because he hadn’t rested through the night, his spirit seemed somewhat fatigued, but it didn’t matter; after all, he was used to working several days without rest before.
At this time, the servant brought the cooked food from the kitchen, setting plate by plate on a table in the bedroom, then stepped back, leaving Richard to enjoy a breakfast that could be called sumptuous by himself—although it couldn’t be said to be alone, because before Richard could start, a voice had already emanated from a wooden box on the table.
"Hey hey! Let me out quickly. I can already smell it, knowing you’re eating. Don’t think you can trick me!" Bi Bi shouted from inside the box.
Richard raised an eyebrow, reached out to open the wooden box, revealing Bi Bi’s head, meeting his eyes with Bi Bi’s big eyes looking at his small ones.
"What do you want to do?" Richard asked.
"I already said, I want to eat," Bi Bi said, "Besides, wasn’t the information I provided before already verified? According to the agreement, you should grant me freedom, allowing me to play joyfully."
"Eating is fine, but giving you freedom will have to wait," said Richard straightforwardly. "Recently, I’ve been too busy. Though you proved you weren’t lying before, I still don’t fully trust you, so we’ll wait until time is more plentiful, then grant you freedom when I can prevent you from doing anything bad."
"Hmph!" Bi Bi rolled his eyes dramatically, showing great disdain but quickly accepting, saying, "In that case... alright, if you won’t give me freedom, at least give me something to eat. I smelled fried fish and roast chicken. Give me the fish belly and chicken wings. Don’t look at me like that; my demands are so low, can’t you agree?"
