The stone steps that go underground are covered with slippery moss, and the air is filled with the smell of old mould, the sour smell of water and a kind of rusty bloody smell. This is the hub of the sewer system in the royal capital of Sylvari, and it is also the other side of the empire - the place where the sun does not shine.
Vera stopped in front of the first secret door. Instead of pushing the door directly, she pressed her left thumb on a seemingly ordinary red brick. The magic probe slightly stung the skin of her fingertips, which was the identification signal of the shadow gill (a parasite with extremely strong camouflage ability) that she had spent three whole years to develop.
The secret door made a dull sound and slid to both sides.
The heavy sound wave mixed with the smell of sweat and the sour taste of inferior wheat wine came to the face.
"Press his left shoulder! You idiot! He is bleeding!"
"Why panic when you see blood? This is worth three silver coins. Don't let him die!"
"Kill him! Kill him! I bet all my possessions on this half-orc!"
The deafening roar echoed in the huge underground dome. This is an underground fighting arena transformed from an abandoned royal underground canal. The rough granite stands are crowded with ragged poor people, greedy smugglers, and even a few dejected nobles who covered their faces with hoods.
On the sand in the centre, two gladiators of different bodies are fighting in the most primitive way. There is no gorgeous holy light magic, no complicated swordsmanship, only broken bones and crushed meat. For these marginalised people living at the bottom of the empire, the blessing of the holy light is far less than the black bread bought with three copper coins.
Vera walked through the noisy edge of the stands expressionlessly and walked to the backstage along a hidden corridor.
"Boss." Gray, the tower-like scar man, followed her half a step and lowered his voice to report, "As you expected. As soon as the chaos on the side of the palace came out, several mice on the dark line smelled the smell. Hector, the slave ship, has led people to surround the vice chairman's warehouse in the south of the city, saying that he wanted to 'take over on behalf of him'.
"Hector is a fool, but he has always been well-inquised. If someone hadn't released the wind, he wouldn't have dared to touch the queen's white gloves at this time. Vera pushed open the heavy oak door of her office and hung her cloak. "Who is behind him?"
"I haven't found a clear person. But half an hour ago, 500 shadow gold coins of unknown origin flowed into his account through the underground money house. Gray stood by the door and hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Boss, although the vice president has entered the prison led by Ren, the dark line of the Chamber of Commerce under him is still a piece of fat. If we don't do it, after tonight, that line will be labelled as the queen's camp again. After all, Commander Lane can't keep an eye on the black market every day.
After walking to the desk, Vera did not answer immediately, but took out a copper aromatherapy stove from the drawer. She took out a little powder from the three glass bottles next to her with tweezers and put it into the furnace, and lit it with flint. A wisp of lilac smoke rose up, with a strange fragrance similar to a dry rose.
"Hector dares to move, which means that the master behind him has given him confidence." Vera covered the lid of the aromatherapy stove, sat down on the chair, and glanced at a huge map of the royal capital on the wall. "Don't worry about the warehouse. Let the brothers shrink the Defence line and seal all three secret entrances in the south of the city.
"Death? Then our goods flow--"
"If the flow of goods is broken, it can be re-paved. If the fate is broken, it can't be reconnected." Vera's voice was as flat as a bowl of water, "Hector is insatiable. He thought that he could get stuck in our necks if he took over the warehouse. But he forgot that I shipped the goods in three batches. The first batch is in the warehouse, the second batch is in the underwater dark grid of the dock, and the third batch is still on the way.
She paused and looked straight into Gray's eyes: "Let the people at the dock transfer the second batch of goods overnight and tell the old foxes of the Chamber of Commerce that the mess in the warehouse in the south of the city tonight is a trap set by the queen's camp to clean up the differences. If anyone touches the goods there, Commander Lane will check the source of goods tomorrow. Stir up the water."
Gray's one-eyed lighted up: "This trick is enough. Hector can't eat meat, and he's full of fish. But boss, what if Commander Lane will follow the clues to find out?"
"Rain's attention is now all on the matter of 'who poisoned the royal engagement banquet'." Vera picked up a secret message on the table, which recorded the movements of the royal court in very fine letters. "Besides, I will send him a big gift tonight. A big gift that is enough for him to temporarily get out of control of the black market.
Gray didn't ask any more questions. As the first person to follow Vera to fight in the underground arena, he knows the boss's tricks well. She never makes aimless preparations. The game she set often has been lost several weeks ago.
"Go ahead and do it." Vera waved her hand.
Gray turned around and withdrew, and took the door by the way.
Vera is the only one left in the office. She stood up, walked to the bookshelf, and pressed a hidden switch. Accompanied by the biting sound of gears, the bookshelves slowly separated to both sides, revealing a narrow staircase down.
The temperature in the depths of the passage suddenly dropped. The walls on both sides are not inlaid with expensive holy light crystals, but fluorescent moss with a faint green light.
This is her poison warehouse.
Pushing open the door, the smell on his face was uncomfortable and had a dangerous sweetness. More than a dozen glassware of different sizes are placed on different wooden shelves. Some liquids bubble on their own when there is no wind, and some emit a silent dark red colour.
Avila stood in front of the shelf on the top floor.
This is her only "friend" for five years. During the period of escape, she had no one to rely on. She can only try one by one.
She sat down in front of a wooden table, put on a soft sheepskin glove as thin as a cicada, picked up a small silver tweezer, and picked up a withered thing like dead bark from a small pottery jar. That is the rhizome of "weeping blood vine", a highly poisonous plant that can only be found in the depths of the eastern swamp. If it has not been treated in advance, as long as it is touched a little, the human skin will fester and ulcerate in half an hour, accompanied by extreme pain.
She cut a small piece of the rhizome without changing the colour, put it into the mortar, and began to grind it slowly and evenly.
The rustling sound of grinding is particularly clear in this small space.
She thought of her sister Serafina's frightened face at the dinner, and the corners of her mouth fluttered. Today's drama is just the beginning. The kind of phantom medicine that only appears under the holy light will not cause any substantial harm to Serafina's body at all, and will only make everyone see her "depraved" illusion. But the queen is a suspicious person.
In the eyes of the suspicious queen, Serafina's stolen talent was not stable enough. As soon as today's scandal comes out, the queen will definitely doubt whether Serafina was really devoured by black magic. As long as there is suspicion between their mother and daughter, the indestructible alliance will crack.
And the key to the breakout is Lane.
Vera carefully poured the researched purple powder into a glass bottle, stuffed it with a wooden stopper, and put it into the sleeve pocket.
She went back to the office, sat down, and picked up a pen and a blank piece of paper.
She needs to write an anonymous letter to Commander Lane as a black market intelligence dealer. There should not be too many unnecessary emotions and loopholes in the letter. Word by word must point to the corrupt accounts of the vice chairman, as well as the inextreable connection between the queen's private treasury and the black market.
The tip of her pen hung on the paper and paused for a moment.
She closed her eyes and simulated Ren's reaction when he got the letter in her mind. That man is not greedy for money and power. He only authenticates. Therefore, there should be no inducing conclusions in the letter, and only objective facts and clues can be put out.
She quickly wrote lines of emotionless words.
"The commercial road in the south of the city, the dark grid wharf. The vice chairman's treasury is in..."
After finishing writing, she folded the paper and did not immediately seal it. She put the letter on the table, got up and walked to the door, and pulled the slender brass bell at the door.
Not long after, a thin teenager in black appeared at the door.
"Boss."
"Little mouse, send this letter to the desk of Ren, the commander of the Imbardss. Don't pass the post office, just put it directly into the window of his study. Vera handed the letter to him with calm and cold eyes. "If you meet a patrolman on the street, put the letter in your mouth and bite it. You know the consequences."
The teenager nodded expressionlessly, took the letter, and disappeared into the darkness of the corridor like a gust of wind.
Vera stood in the empty office, put on her mask again and put on a cloak. The royal capital outside the window is still shrouded in the night.
She sat down on a soft couch by the wall and closed her eyes. The scar on her right face occasionally felt a burst of phantom pain under the cold metal mask, reminding her that there was no possibility of turning back on the road of revenge.
She must be calmer than everyone else, more rational than everyone else, and even more cruel than the queen. Because she not only has a blood debt to collect, but also the stolen brother, Roland.
"As long as you take one more step forward, you can knock down the high platform of those people." She said to herself.
She took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes again, the bottom of her eyes had returned to the calmness of the stagnant water.
She held the poison bottle in her cuff in her hand, which was the chips she had prepared.
The night sky of the royal capital was disturbed by the panic of the dinner and the search and arrest of the guards, but for Vera, it was just an ordinary working night. Her prey has entered the ambush circle.