Chapter 173: Mountain Secrets

After half an hour and three intense battles, Silas was defeated in the third game by a narrow margin of two points. He reluctantly handed over the banknote in his hand.

Victory brings joy, but after victory, reality remains, and you still have to face it.

The young man, after receiving the banknote, was silent for a moment, then suddenly began to weep silently, not at all like a victor should.

Silas looked at him and sighed, "I heard about your situation. The problem isn't with you; you need to be strong."

The young man wiped the tears from his face and said in a low voice, "No, it's my incompetence. It's because I can't find my child that she left me."

Silas then ordered him a drink and asked casually, "Aren't there many troops here? Haven't you asked them for help?"

The young man downed the large glass of wine and said in a low voice, "Them? Since the civil war began, these guys have been circling that mountain all day long, saying they're preventing bandits from sneaking across the border through the mountains and disrupting domestic stability. How would they have time to care about the lives of us commoners?"

Silas, seeing that the young man had opened up, followed up, "My purpose this time is to find some seafood suppliers in the capital. Seeing how peaceful it is here, has the fighting in the capital ended?"

The young man, upon hearing this, had a hint of mockery on his lips. "Ended? You wish. The situation in the capital will never end. Neither side has any possibility of reconciliation now. Unless one side falls first, it won't end."

"Your country is really strange. The country is in such a state of war, yet it's so peaceful here, and even the soldiers are unhurried, having time to drink here," Silas muttered in a low voice.

Those three soldiers hadn't left yet; Silas didn't want to attract their attention.

The young man grabbed Silas's collar, his eyes hazy, and warned, "For the sake of your decent card skills, I'll give you a piece of advice: stay away from those soldiers…"

The young man seemed to have drunk too much at this point, sprawled on the table and speaking intermittently, "I feel my son's disappearance… seems to be related to them… that bunch of beasts…"

Hearing these words, Silas confirmed that there were indeed some problems with these soldiers.

"Guarding the mountain? Is the reason for the peace here even because they need to protect something in the mountain?" Silas's eyes swept over the three, then he gave up on the passed-out young man and started drinking with others.

The harsher the environment, the more optimistic people become. The customs of the Kingdom of Guinness, which was as cold as Bayne City in winter, were very enthusiastic and unrestrained.

Under the influence of alcohol, Silas easily mingled with them. However, when Silas intended to delve deeper into the situation, he was suddenly met with a cold refusal.

"Outlander, if you are a passing merchant, we welcome you. But if you are one of those with ulterior motives, we will directly expel you!" The one speaking was the sturdy, big man from before, Jem.

Silas, upon hearing this, grinned as usual. "Don't misunderstand; I'm just quite curious. Rest assured, I am a true merchant. I'll rest tomorrow, and the day after, I will leave here for the capital."

Hearing this, the crowd nodded slightly and continued the joyful atmosphere.

Two hours later, Silas was sprawled behind the tavern, vomiting violently.

Then, he gave himself a Mind Calming Hypnosis and a Mantra of Serenity, which managed to suppress the dizziness.

Wiping his mouth with a handkerchief, Silas turned to look at the continuous mountain range on the east side of the small town, a glint in his eyes. "The Kingdom of Guinness is not large. If someone is truly scheming, they can easily spread their plan throughout the entire country. The quietness here is somewhat abnormal, and the locals are tight-lipped about this matter. Only that drunken young man revealed something useful."

"Since all suspicions point there, let's go and take a look," Silas said, picked up his staff, and prepared to leave.

At this moment, a voice suddenly interjected, "You're not a merchant, are you?"

Silas, with a smile on his face and a normal expression, turned his head and happened to see the grieving young man staring at him.

"Sir, do you have any problem? If not, I need to return to the inn first."

The young man's face showed some hesitation. Then, he asked tentatively, "I know you're interested in the internal situation of this country. If you are willing to help me find my child, I am willing to share everything I know with you."

Silas's heart stirred. His gaze gradually sharpened as he sized him up and said with a smile, "I think we hit it off quite well. Interested in chatting somewhere else?"

"Alright," the young man nodded with a serious expression.

...

Silas's inn room.

After a simple arrangement of the surroundings, the two sat opposite each other.

"Your insight is quite good," Silas spoke first.

A bitter smile appeared on the young man's haggard face. "I used to be a lawyer. Oh! My name is Cody Huntington."

"You can just call me Silas," Silas said casually.

Cody asked, "Then, Mr. Silas, are you willing to help me find my son?"

Silas didn't answer hastily. He sat upright and said, "Mr. Huntington, you should understand that all transactions require equivalence. I need to know if what you know is worth me risking to find your son."

Cody wrung his hands and asked in a low voice, "I know some things about the mountains. I feel these things are related to my son's disappearance, and you will find them interesting."

"Oh!? Tell me."

Cody raised his hand and placed it on the table, a hint of reminiscence on his face. "About two weeks ago, one early morning, I took my son hunting in the mountains. While chasing a deer, I got too excited, and my son and I temporarily got separated. I hurriedly followed the path and found him seemingly frightened, trembling behind two rocks."

Pausing for a moment, Cody stared seriously at Silas. "He said he saw a group of dead people walking down the hillside, heading towards a cave on the mountainside. And on both sides were those damn soldiers."

"Dead people?" Silas was stunned.

Cody gritted his teeth. "I didn't quite believe it at the time. Under his guidance, I came to that cave. I didn't dare to get too close, but I saw several black-robed people there talking to those soldiers, and faint, horrifying screams came from the cave entrance. I was terrified at the time, hurriedly took my son back home, and then… and then…"

Cody's body trembled, his eyes filled with sorrow and fear.

"Then that night, my son said he was going out to urinate, and then he never came back! When I felt something was wrong and chased out, I only saw one of my son's shoes left behind."

Saying this, Cody couldn't help but cry again.

Silas knew what happened next without Cody having to say it. His son was lost and couldn't be found; asking the army was useless. The two argued more and more severely, and Cody, due to fear, also showed a somewhat cowardly side, making his wife extremely disappointed. She left him directly to seek help from others, hoping someone else could find her child.

"Dead people? Horrifying screams from a cave, black-robed individuals mingling with the army… It seems this peaceful border indeed has many problems. Perhaps this is an important point to unravel the current domestic situation."