The environment in the Artisan District is always filled with stench and dead things. It is a place where filth and evil practices are hidden, with shabby shacks scattered one after another, and countless dirty and evil things happen every day.
Powell held his nose and jumped over a sewage ditch. Sewage was always flowing in the ditch. Dead cats and dogs were common, as were human corpses. The old beggar who had been staring at him lay on the ground, his eyes were dim, and his head and face were covered with dirt.
Even maggots.
"How disgusting."
The Artisan District is so dirty and messy, it's like a garbage dump, making people want to burn it down. This place is filled with all kinds of evil spirits, ghosts and snakes, and there are so many chaotic forces.
As a secret agent, Powell's duty is to run around. He can not only contact the dignitaries of Coldwind City, but also hook up with the chief of the wizard group, and he can also make friends with low-level fanatics. He is very capable, but he is never loyal to any party.
.
For Powell, this is a world of betrayal and deceit, where everyone is always ready to betray something and has to worry about being betrayed.
The Long-Legs Family, the Wizarding Group, Fabbro, Phils, and even a secret society hidden in the Artisan District, are all Powell's clients. He used to be able to play in this world with ease, until the power of the Black Forest suddenly rose.
Victor Hugo broke into the circle of Cold Wind City without any temptation. He did not rely on any party. He just used La Fabbro as a cover and casually built a warehouse in the city.
The dignitaries in the city were like greedy vultures, hovering around Victor Hugo. They were surprised by the appearance of external forces, but they watched patiently as the other party accumulated power in the city.
Construction sites, markets, trade, population, a series of dazzling methods seemed to confuse the city's powerful people. They were troubled by the split of the Long Legs family, and they chose to wait and see for the time being, waiting for a fat sheep to grow up.
As for the group of people who just contacted Powell, they are a secret society that has been entrenched in the city for more than ten years. They do evil in the Artisan District, worship evil insects from other planes, and are known for their weird methods.
The evil gangs have developed very stably in the Artisan District, and have reached a balance of power with the thieves and villains in the city. This dirty place is like a hotbed, constantly hatching one evil organization after another.
The old man among them is the evil insect priest. Relying on various sacrifice methods, the evil disciples can quickly increase their strength in a short period of time. Powell doesn't know much about this group of weird guys. He only knows that the supporter behind them is the supervisor of Cold Wind City.
hall.
Powell wandered among various forces, selling the information he knew, betraying his friends, and gaining money and power. He could talk to almost all the big shots, with one exception.
Victor Hugo.
This mysterious young man seemed to be shrouded in a thick fog. He seemed to be showing everything openly, but Powell always felt that these were all illusions, and this man must be hiding a huge secret.
After Powell left, several heads emerged from the shack disguised by illusion, looking around and heading in different directions.
Among them, a rickety old man walked through the dirty streets and alleys with a cane and a hood covering his face, and finally stopped in front of a blacksmith shop.
There was a clanging sound in the shop, and the blacksmith saluted the rickety old man and continued working. After crossing several thresholds, the old man came to the inner room. In front of the sultry fire, a crude forging machine was roughly formed.
Next to the forging machine squatted a rough-haired blacksmith, his skin flushed red by the fire, and he was looking at dozens of three-dimensional views of the machine with a sad face.
The old man approached with a crutch and said in a deep voice: "Sir Martin, I have good news for you."
The rough blacksmith turned his head and cursed bitterly: "What good news can you villains tell me?"
The rickety old man walked around the simple forging machine and said, "Victor Hugo has arrived in Cold Wind City. He is building a warehouse in the city and selling a large amount of refined ironware to the outside world.
We have verified through various channels that the wind forging machine you mentioned is real. Everyone knows that you can make a lot of money selling iron tools, so we also hope to have a forging machine."
When he mentioned the forging machine, the rough blacksmith became furious, "That forging machine does exist, but you don't expect me to help you build it. That thing is simply a conspiracy, and the only secret hidden in it is Victor Hugo.
One person knows.”
The blacksmith also showed off the drawings in his hand, "You can't build a forging machine with all these things. We have all been fooled, we have all been fooled. There must be many technical details missing, but no one knows what is missing."
The rickety old man shook his head and tapped the crude forging machine replica with the crutch in his hand. This thing was one size smaller than the one at the Harmony Village forging yard. The parts were irregular and lacked power, so it was basically unusable.
"Mr. Martin, you really disappoint me. As the chief forger of the King of Blacksmiths, you are no match for a group of barbarians who came out of the Black Forest." The rickety old man sneered a few times, "Powell is even more useful than you.
.”
The fire shone brightly on the rough blacksmith's face, and he shouted with a straight face: "Powell? He doesn't know any more than I do."
"No, no, no..., we don't place all our hopes on you or Powell." The rickety old man shook his head and changed the subject: "Do you know a gray dwarf named Bruno?"
The rough blacksmith's face changed greatly, "I know him. He is the foreman of the forge in Harmony Village. He loves drinking and bragging."
"Bruno also came to Cold Wind City. It is said that he was ordered to build a workshop in the city specifically to build freight carriages. The day he arrived, he went to the tavern in the city and got very drunk. I think he can be a foreman.
You know how to make a forging machine?"
The rickety old man chuckled as he spoke, and the rough blacksmith didn't know how to comment. He was Martin who was partnered with Powell. His faith was shaken by repeated failures, and now he collaborated with a group of evil people.
Seeing the evil insect priest laughing, Martin inexplicably remembered the scene when he was slaughtered by the dead horse "Shiying" as a fat sheep, and was cornered in the forge dormitory by Bruno in the middle of the night, and was dragged to work the night shift.
"Bruno is a cunning gray dwarf." Martin said solemnly, "You want him to help make the forging machine? This is unlikely."
The rickety evil insect priest smiled and said: "I understand what you mean, but what Victor Hugo needs to be wary of is the powerful people in the city. We have never had contact with him, how does he know our existence? Let alone know that we are interested in him.
I am interested in the forging machine."
Martin was stunned, feeling deeply uneasy but unable to say anything - could Victor Hugo really not know about the existence of evil insect believers?