Our Family Has Fallen

It's truly shocking, and few of the patients he treated could survive, but why does he still exist?

Because he has connections, and quite a significant background, being one of the founders of the Association, a lineage of the leech therapy.

Moreover, there were indeed some terminally ill patients who were saved, making him a figure of polarized opinions.

A complex surgeon whose surgical methods are a bit outrageous, even Lance couldn't help but frown upon hearing about them.

After all, the last time I heard about skull surgery was at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

"I'll keep an eye on these."

Lance wasn't scared by these tales, but rather felt a bit curious about this doctor...

Due to reduced medications, and being indoors, the gunshots were restricted to the hospital area, and because of protecting these people, messages were blocked, with random excuses used to cover inquiries.

Even if someone noticed, they wouldn't care because the road to the ruins had opened.

The road has been hyped by Lance for so long, occasionally leaking a bit of information, treating those adventurers like a donkey with a dangling carrot.

If it were anywhere else, those adventurers might have rebelled long ago, but Hamlet's iron fist is heavy and painful.

Now they've finally tasted the carrot, and they couldn't be bothered anymore.

Hamlet had prepared carriages that only required money to ride to the new town by the ruins.

In this high demand situation, the price was pushed to levels beyond the reach of average people, only a few wealthy folks could afford to ride.

Of course, they could walk there themselves, it would just take a longer time, but the cash-strapped adventurers had no other choice.

They could also retrieve the bullets deposited in Hamlet, and even resupply themselves.

Food, water, alcoholic beverages, these go without saying, maintenance tools like whetstones, sword oil, and arrows were all bestsellers.

The reason being that the Lord generously disclosed that the prices of supplies in the front town would be higher, so these adventurers naturally had to resupply here first.

This is also a marketing strategy, solving some troubles at the same time.

After so much preparation, opening the ruins was precisely to buy time for roadwork and new town construction; Lance always remembered that opening the ruins was meant for harvesting profits.

But the roadwork and construction took a big chunk of manpower and resources, so the town has supplies but not much, while the city has a lot of supplies, but transporting them requires time and manpower.

If the supplies were to be transported, it would delay the construction, plus it creates a cost issue, and having so much supply stuck in the city isn't a solution.

Therefore, this scene unfolded.

Lance didn't spend a penny, just used a sentence, causing these people to willingly carry supplies over, those who didn't buy had to deal with high prices in the town, after all, the Lord had already warned.

Just the store's torch sales today exceeded a month's business revenue, you can imagine.

Another reason was Lance chose the opening time in the afternoon, those eager to travel had to buy torches, otherwise, traveling at night, anything could happen.

Thinking that avoiding the carriage and resupplying here could dodge the Lord's scythe?

One can only say it's too naive, without demand, capitalists will create demand.

Hamlet's accumulated adventurers quickly took action, no one wanted to be a step behind.

This will greatly ease Hamlet's security pressure, but nobody knows if the new town can bear the transferred pressure.

Yet, some folks still remained indifferent in this situation.

In front of the house temporarily rented by the Scorpion Mercenary Group, sorted equipment awaits; they rented two carriages planning to move their base to the town because the rent here is quite burdensome.

Plus, the other side is closer to the ruins, making operations convenient.

They hadn't set off because they were waiting for several main members to return.

Fortunately, those who left returned soon enough.

"How did it go?"

"What else could happen, we became a laughing stock."

"Tch, those people simply look down on us."

"We've done what needed to be done, even if something goes wrong, it won't be blamed on us, that's enough." The leader was not surprised by this, still explaining, it was all about showcasing an attitude.

However, not everyone appreciated it, especially after some unruly folks arrived and mocked their mission failure, causing resentment among the group.

"Why advise those guys, it'll be funny when they get caught too."

"I reckon it won't be that simple, didn't you notice they rounded up a group of experts, seems like they're going to make a move."

"Then shouldn't we..."

"Alright, alright." Scorpion frowned and interrupted, "These matters don't concern us."

"But, Captain, this could be considered, it's just a matter of a word."

"Exactly, we show them goodwill, it might make things easier for us later."

Mercenaries are like that, swaying with the wind, they lack positions, whatever benefits them is the best choice.

The Guild looks down on them, mocks their mission failure, so they want to see those guys in bad luck too.

Not to mention, locally performing tasks and getting along with locals is a rule.

"Fools! We can't offend the Lord, so can we offend the Guild? The Lord might not care, but we are a Mercenary Corps, can you guarantee we stay here forever?

Besides, what we all know, the Lord surely knows, this information holds no value, our mission lies solely in the ruins."

Scorpion scolded his short-sighted teammates, seemingly principled, despite the mockery over mission failure, he tried his best.

But after hearing his later words, it was clear.

He didn't make that choice purely because the information held no value, the risks simply weren't worth it, moving to the ruins quickly was the most rational decision.

He wasn't an ordinary mercenary, spouting nonsense without accountability.

He is the Mercenary Corps leader, understanding how to balance mission gain and risks is crucial for running this group.

Soon, they also boarded the carriage and left, while those chaotic things secretly convened.

They dared not on Hamlet Territory, instead chose to convene on a ship at the dock.

Fewer than ten were at the table, but the forces they could mobilize were substantial, because they all had backing, representing different factions.

"I suppose everyone has attempted to contact their own people?"

One sentence silenced the crowd, everyone knew what it referred to, everyone here has suffered some loss to varying degrees.

The difference lies in Mercenary Guild, Association of Healers, such big powers, even if they fail, they can accept it, whereas more radical or greedy ones suffered larger losses.

"We didn't come here to discuss these things."

Someone tried to change the subject, revealing discontent that losses seemed large.

"Alright, so I assume you've all tried meeting with the Lord, only to be rejected just like me."

This statement rang true, they all sought to meet the Lord, hoping for a share of the upcoming cake.

Faced with interests, they didn't hesitate to set aside grievances, but as stated, the Lord showed no interest in seeing them.

"Damn it! Those bureaucrats demanded permits, stopping us from selling goods."

"That damn Dictator likewise warned us not to..."

"Does the Lord intend to swallow it all, no fear of choking?"

These people cursed the "injustice" they faced in Hamlet, quickly drawing a conclusion.

"That's why we're seated here, isn't it~"

The crowd fell into silence as the true conspiracy began...