Although Jeanne had great confidence in her ability to control these little fellows and firmly believed they would not betray her, the problem was that no matter how powerful her commands were, controlling these little guys who had scurried off to who-knows-where was proving to be quite a struggle.
Jeanne had indeed made a miscalculation: she had underestimated the allure of food for these Earth Dragons. When these little things encountered food, they were like famished wolves catching sight of meat! This was a trait determined by their race. Despite carrying the bloodline of dragons, in their juvenile state, even a hawk could treat them as a meal. The most important instinct etched into their bloodline was to acquire as much food as possible to pass through their weakest period at maximum speed, allowing them to survive in the cruel wilderness.
At this moment, the team of five little Earth Dragons that had scurried through the pipes into the enemy's supply warehouse felt like starving ghosts walking into a timeless buffet. The result, naturally, was that they threw caution to the wind and began "stuffing their faces." Each of the five little fellows headed toward a mountain-high pile of grain, opening their small mouths filled with sharp teeth to begin feeding. Given enough time, no matter how much grain was stored here, it would be nothing more than a buffet for these little guys.
As they ate at lightning speed, their bodies grew at a rapid pace. This growth rate simply couldn't be described by science; they were less like biological organisms and more like inflating balloons! In just five minutes, these fellows had grown from the size of a gecko to the size of a rabbit. If there were no limit to this growth, these creatures could be called the most terrifying beings in the world.
The men gathered outside, chatting and shooting the breeze, would never have guessed that an extremely terrifying creature was right under their noses. These creatures were eating their food, drinking their water, and might eventually end up hitting them! This whole situation wasn't "Terra-like" at all!
But they had missed the opportunity to nip everything in the bud. This place was merely a reserve warehouse for staples and long-shelf-life food; normally, no one ever entered. They were only staying here for a short day! Who would continue eating those daily staples and potatoes under these circumstances? They were here as if in prison—wouldn't they be given something better?
Thus, in the kitchen, the head chef was currently searing large steaks and stewing delicious thick soup to alleviate the pressure accumulating among the men—consider it an act of kindness.
"I'm telling you all one more time! Everyone gets a share of today's beef! Don't you dare go running over like starving ghosts who've never seen meat and sneak bites! How can you even stomach it? Some of that meat is still frozen rock-hard!"
The head chef looked at the beef disappearing from the tabletops and refrigerators, indignantly scolding his worthless subordinates. Had they never seen meat before? Not even letting the raw meat slide? As for the possibility of something else sneaking in? Please, this was underground! What could dig a hole deep enough to get in here just to eat? It couldn't possibly be haunted, right?
Although the boys in front of him repeatedly denied sneaking food, as the head chef, he didn't believe a word of it. These employees were old hands in the company; the head chef knew them inside and out. Did he not know how badly they stole? It was at the level where ten pounds of beef would leave only one bowl's worth. So, no matter how aggrieved they acted, the head chef didn't believe a word. He simply adjusted his bear ears and went back to continue cooking today's meal.
In a corner they hadn't noticed, another five little Earth Dragons were lurking. Compared to their kin munching on dry grain, their meals were clearly much better.
Jeanne, who was upstairs seriously searching for clues, was entirely unaware of this. At that moment, she was observing the portraits on the wall. One portrait depicted a massive Golden Manglerbeast; beneath its feet was a fallen Hippogryph, surrounded by a Pegasus and a Lion that were unable to support themselves, while twin dragons circled in the sky. There were many other animals, but they all seemed to fear this giant Golden Manglerbeast—as if this bear were the most powerful creature in the world, and no living thing had the ability to resist it.
Jeanne naturally understood the painting. it was gloriously touting the might of Ursus, suggesting that no one in the world could stand against them. Jeanne was speechless at this brainless glorification. Perhaps in the eyes of those nobles, Ursus was exactly like this: a country so powerful that no one could resist.
Jeanne felt around the portrait. The frame was adorned with circles of Manglerbeast carvings, all surrendering to the central Golden Manglerbeast. The frame itself looked like a work of art. Her Revelation told her that this was one of the passages leading to the secret room within the company. However, even when Jeanne followed the Revelation to open the room, the door didn't show even a flicker of a reaction.
"It's not time yet... not yet! There's still one hour before the secret room opens... After an hour, the room will open naturally..."
Since her Revelation could even tell her the exact time the room would open, what was the point of wasting time here? She might as well walk around and see if there were other entrances.
As Jeanne turned to leave, a mineral water bottle thrown on the ground by some inconsiderate person in the corner caught her attention. The bottle was very strange. Anyone who had lived in Lungmen for years could tell that Lungmen simply didn't produce mineral water in a bottle of that shape! While Lungmen locals wouldn't recognize it, Jeanne knew it very well. This was a brand of mineral water produced only in cities near the tundra.
Never mind Lungmen—even in the neighboring Ursus city of Chernobog, you would only see this kind of water in the slums. It was cheap to an extreme degree. To put it bluntly, it was made by some city lord to rake in money. When he entered the mineral water business, the market for high-end products was already saturated. He chose small profits and quick turnover; the water was so cheap that truck drivers carrying light loads would buy it just to use as ballast weight. Because it was so inexpensive, most drivers would carry dozens of cases; at worst, if they wanted to take a bath one day, they could use this without feeling any sting to their wallet.
Yet, seeing this cheap product appear in such an extremely luxurious room made one feel as if the bottle had "travelled through time." When Jeanne saw the bottle, although her facial expression didn't change, a trace of fury flared in her heart.
She was certain that the water in this bottle was the "Holy Water" she had given to little Rope! She could recognize the bottle as her own because of the slightly melted seal on the cap—that was actually Talulah's masterpiece. Previously, when Talulah had been bored with nothing to do, she insisted on challenging herself to unscrew five bottles of water at once using her tail. In the end, she used too much force and suppressed the flame on her tail, which ended up melting four bottles of water; this bottle had just been singed.
The bed had suffered the most—four bottles of water had spilled all over it. This caused Jeanne to stare at her for a long time with a gaze that suggested she wanted to eat "grilled tail."
As for why Jeanne's reaction was so strong, it was all because Talulah had been playing on her bed. Talk about having too much time on your hands!
In any case, it seemed the bottle had been casually discarded by the fellow hiding inside. He had likely forgotten about such a thing. But this also proved that there was definitely a connection between this company and the area where little Rope stayed! Perhaps that strange illness was some kind of drug they had used various means to make the people ingest. Perhaps it was mixed into the hard-earned food, or perhaps the drug was mixed into the water so they would unknowingly consume it.
Even more likely, they had disguised themselves as some Infected aid organization, providing "medicine" to alleviate Oripathy, causing the people to eat life-threatening drugs with gratitude. Considering Rhine Gold was a company affiliated with Columbia, it wasn't surprising at all that they could do something so insane. Even if they did this in Columbia, or even used non-Infected people for this in Columbia, she wouldn't feel the slightest bit of surprise...
Indeed, thinking of the agonizing expressions of those Infected, Jeanne couldn't help but tighten her grip on the bottle. The ordinary plastic bottle immediately burst with a large hole.
She, Jeanne, would never let the mastermind behind this operation continue to get away with it.