To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

Upon hearing Squad Leader mention the abnormally huge Disease Beast beyond imagination, the City Lord nodded and said, “That thing appeared out of nowhere and headed straight south after appearing. I have no idea what’s going on.”

Upon hearing the City Lord’s response, Squad Leader silently nodded in agreement.

The City Lord’s reply raised no issues, which alleviated some of his suspicions. He then continued asking, “What about my other brothers? Has anyone returned?”

“No one,” the City Lord said regretfully. “You’re the first one to return in this period.”

“I see… I understand.”

After briefly updating the City Lord about his situation, Squad Leader returned to his room and lay on the bed in contemplation.

Among the captured Personal Soldiers, his speed was not the fastest; more than half of the people were quicker on their feet, and they should’ve returned earlier by logic.

Moreover, he had spent some time observing the situation of the refugees on the road, causing further delay, so how could he possibly be the first to return?

The doubts he had suppressed earlier surged up again, giving him a strange feeling that something was amiss.

Two small figures appeared in his mind; one saying, “The City Lord was kind to us before; we mustn’t doubt him.”

The other, with a face full of sneers, retorted, “Do you believe that idiot or do you believe me?”

Just as Squad Leader was in a dilemma about what to do, there was suddenly the sound of something hitting the floor at the doorway.

Immediately rising from the bed, Squad Leader grabbed his waist knife, silently approached the door, and peering through the crack, saw no one outside, only a waist token lying on the ground.

The waist token served as the identity proof for Personal Soldiers, made from the finest black iron, not easily broken.

During battles, Personal Soldiers could vanish without a trace, but the waist tokens often remained intact, serving as confirmation of the deceased’s identity.

Without rushing out, Squad Leader listened carefully for a while, making sure there were no footsteps, before opening a slight gap in the door. He poked out his waist knife, hooking the waist token over to him, and then promptly closed the door.

This action was swift as lightning and completed in the blink of an eye.

Upon seeing the waist token, Squad Leader’s breathing became rapid.

It belonged to one of his subordinates.

This person was the fastest runner among the Personal Soldiers, responsible for all communication between the squads, and should have been the first to return.

The City Lord claimed he was the first, but the appearance of the waist token here suggested otherwise. The most likely scenario was that the City Lord had lied, and his subordinate had already returned.

So why would the City Lord lie? They were all his Personal Soldiers; did he really have to?

Although Squad Leader did not know who had stolen the waist token and who had dropped it, his suspicions grew so deep that he felt compelled to get to the bottom of it.

He didn’t go through the main door. Instead, he leaped out of the window, rolled on the grass as he landed, leaving barely any sound.

Bitting his waist knife, he cautiously made his way into a room on the first floor.

This was originally the room of the other Personal Soldiers, but now, it was empty.

The room was chaotic, with signs of struggle and bloodstains everywhere, indicating that a fierce fight had taken place here.

It seemed the City Lord was overly trusting in him, trusting to the extent that he didn’t bother to clear up the traces from before, so blatantly leaving the evidence before his eyes.

Or was it that he didn’t expect to survive the night?

Hugging the wall, Squad Leader waited for a while until he heard footsteps. Someone was ascending the stairs, walking up to the room above his and opened the door.

After discovering it was empty, the footsteps from above didn’t show any panic, just silently left the room, likely to report to the City Lord.

Concealing himself in the shadows, Squad Leader saw through the window, by the bright moonlight outside, the departing figure dressed in the robes of the Demon Lord Temple.

The City Lord usually despised the people from the Demon Lord Temple, saying they were no better than pigs and dogs, mere vampires.

If not for the necessity of their help in maintaining the vitality of Qingyu, he wouldn’t bother with them at all.

But now, it was evident that the City Lord was colluding with the scoundrels of the Demon Lord Temple, further complicating Squad Leader’s doubts.

Those figures were not headed towards the City Master Mansion but towards the pitch-black tower.

Following them, Squad Leader maintained a careful distance.

The skills of a veteran soldier in tracking should not be underestimated, and he was the best at tracking among the Personal Soldiers. Many enemy Scouts wouldn’t even realize they had someone tailing them until they unknowingly led Squad Leader inside their camp.

After becoming Squad Leader, he stopped engaging in tracking, but his capabilities hadn’t lessened, and now they had come to his aid once again.

Watching those temple keepers enter the black tower, Squad Leader knew he could wait no longer.

Although somewhat rushed, if the City Lord and those from the Demon Lord Temple knew he had become suspicious of them, any investigation or escape would become extremely difficult.

Moreover, if he wasn’t prepared, it was likely they weren’t either. Neither the City Lord nor the temple keepers would expect the most loyal Squad Leader to investigate them.

Squad Leader also considered the possibility of a misjudgment. If he truly wronged the City Lord, he would immediately apologize and voluntarily go to the northern battlefield to fight until death.

The doors to the black tower closed before him, but its twisted shape was not hard to infiltrate.

Biting the back of his waist knife, Squad Leader rubbed his hands together, then grabbed the outer wall of the black tower, and began climbing upward.

The material of the black tower was unlike any construction material, neither earth nor wood, neither gold nor stone; it felt like some kind of creature’s bones, with a faint sense of rhythm to it.