It was midnight when they arrived.

The small town nestled at the foot of a large mountain. Under the blue moonlight, looking from afar, surrounded by woods, it had a sense of pallor yet exquisite beauty.

This was a circular town, surrounded by several layers of residential buildings, forming three near-circular streets. The streets were connected by alleys.

At the center, there was a square paved with bluestone slabs. At the very center of the square stood a stone platform that looked several hundred years old, seemingly used for announcements. There was also a well beside it.

The streets were cold and deserted, not a single person in sight.

Erwin and his group quietly slipped into the town under the cover of darkness, tiptoeing cautiously for fear of waking the residents and causing them inconvenience. Even the horses' hooves were wrapped in cloth.

"Let's first find a place to stay, see if there's a hotel. There should be one in this town."

"I'll take a look in the center of town."

"Then I'll check the outskirts."

...

"Found it, there's a hotel here. But the owner seems to be asleep. I'll knock on the door to wake him up."

"Okay."

The group walked quietly through the silent town.

Matthew pulled on the hotel's rusty doorbell, which let out a muffled sound.

The hotel owner rubbed his eyes and opened the door, and a throng of people crowded in.

...

By dawn, the streets of the town had finally become lively.

Vendors began to set up their stalls.

Women in their round skirts were heading to the street with baskets of vegetables.

Men heading to work in the morning also started leaving with tools on their backs, and the streets even became crowded at one point.

George, rubbing his eyes, stood on the balcony looking down with a cup of coffee in hand, and exhaled wearily, "So tired."

"Tiredness is normal, isn't it? After all, we're on a mission," came Erwin's voice from inside the room, "Aspa is Kapu's most important trade route to the outside. Every year after the heavy snow seals the mountain, it becomes Kapu's peak trade period with the outside world, and also the most bustling time in Aspa."

"Why didn't they gather such intel when I asked Ben Sen to prepare?" George pursed his lips.

"Because this isn't gathered intel, but common knowledge in the Beishier Duchy. I grew up here."

At this moment, Erwin was sitting on the sofa in George's room, with Matthew beside him.

After examining the map carefully for a while, Erwin lifted his head and said, "We need to split into three teams. One team will stay here to guard the base camp, one team will head up the mountain to check the melting snow and see if it's passable. Another team will scout around the town to see if there's any useful information."

"Why do we need three teams? I think two teams are enough," Matthew said, "One to scout, one to go up the mountain. The base camp doesn't need guarding; after all, it's not really ours."

"Then what if the two teams want to contact each other?" Erwin asked in return.

"Uh... fine, three teams," Matthew nodded reluctantly, "You're right."

On the balcony, George glanced back and locked eyes with Erwin, saying softly, "I'll go up the mountain."

"Then I'll go scout. I'm best at gathering information," Matthew said, "I don't even need a team; it's more convenient to move alone."

"You by yourself?" George was a bit surprised.

"Of course, I can pretend to be a local," said Matthew, slightly changing his accent, "Don't you think my accent sounds a bit like the hotel owner's?"

Erwin immediately gave a thumbs-up, "Alright, then I'll guard the base camp. If there are any issues or if you need backup, just let me know."

With that, Erwin quickly folded up the map.

...

At the moment, they didn't know that on a balcony across the street, a girl who looked about fourteen or fifteen was unintentionally yet deliberately watching in the direction of their room.

Brown curly hair, an orange-yellow, very ordinary-looking dress.

In fact, not just the dress, she herself looked very ordinary. She'd blend into a crowd and would be hard to find again. But those eyes... they had a peculiar brilliance.

...

Although this little team seemed somewhat unreliable, they were efficient when it came to getting things done.

Erwin spent the entire day in the hotel chatting idly with the owner, learning about local customs and practices. By night, George and Matthew brought back the results of their reconnaissance.

"The snow on the mountain has started melting. I asked a hunter on the mountain, and at most in two days we can head into the mountains. It's best not to go in before that. The mountain roads here are not easy to traverse. Other than that, there's nothing unusual. During this time, barely anyone would dare go in or out of the mountains, so it's hard to gather information," George reported back.

"I met a few local merchants, and according to them, there's nothing unusual, except for some recent communication issues," Matthew reported back.

"Isn't communication issues still considered an anomaly?" Erwin asked.

Matthew shrugged, "Their explanation was, in winter, with the heavy snow sealing the mountains, communication issues naturally occur. Sometimes, indeed, pigeon messages take a long time to get a reply. But this time, the delay was slightly longer than usual, yet it's not considered abnormal. I checked around, and it seems everyone is facing this problem. Generally, these issues are isolated, coincidental, with a small chance of happening simultaneously. But this time, it happened to everyone at once..."

"So, there definitely is an anomaly. Something has indeed happened in Kapu, and all communication has been cut off. Is that what you're saying?"

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