The commander of the Great Wall was Li Xin, and Su Lie was essentially Mulan's direct superior.
Mulan exclaimed, "How is that possible?"
The Great Wall Guard said, "Someone suddenly appeared beside General Su Lie without warning and then ambushed him. Fortunately, General Su Lie reacted quickly enough to avoid fatal wounds. However, we couldn't catch the person. The assassin vanished without a trace."
"It's him, it must be him!" Mulan gritted her teeth. "It's that phantom again! He snuck into the Great Wall like this before, obtained the defensive formation map, and even killed my superior to frame me. And now he's back!"
Mulan appeared enraged. She raised her great sword and smashed it onto the ground, shattering it.
"You all return to the camp first," Mulan said. "I'll go see General Su Lie."
Mulan hurried away, while Bai Ye suddenly understood.
Bai Ye knew why his hidden mission had changed.
The previous hidden mission stated to help Mulan investigate the phantom, which had led Bai Ye's thinking astray. Since this matter involved Mulan, it naturally meant investigating by her side.
But it seemed that wasn't the case.
If Bai Ye had stayed at the Great Wall to fight the demon race, there was a high chance he would have encountered General Su Lie's assassination. If he could have detained the perpetrator then, at least to ascertain their identity, the hidden mission would have been completed.
But Bai Ye had left the Great Wall, so this mission was naturally unrelated to Bai Ye.
However, although he had missed the opportunity, Bai Ye's mission had not failed. Instead, it had taken a different branch, which wasn't a bad outcome.
It was just that the mission content had changed; it didn't mean the mission had failed.
Meanwhile...
Mulan went to find Su Lie, while the others returned to the camp. Bai Ye went to the quartermaster to exchange merit points. The final amount of merit points he received was 1122, an absolutely terrifying number, indicating that at least five to six hundred demon creatures had died at Bai Ye's hands.
Even so, over a thousand merit points couldn't exchange for much, only some green-quality items were available for exchange, which Bai Ye truly disdained.
After exchanging his merit points, Bai Ye returned to the camp. Mulan had also returned, with Dun Shan behind her, holding a large pile of documents.
Bai Ye curiously asked, "Sister Mulan, what's wrong?"
Mulan said, "General Su Lie is injured and temporarily unable to work, so he has handed all these documents to me to handle."
Bai Ye was surprised, "So many?"
Mulan sighed, "There have been many troublesome matters outside the Great Wall these past few days, so there's more to handle."
Bai Ye's eyes darted around. Were there any clues about the automaton here?
Could these documents be related to his hidden mission?
As Bai Ye thought, he said, "Do you want me to help you?"
Mulan's eyes lit up. "Can you? Kai only knows how to fight and eat meat, and the explosive cat is unreliable and can't stay idle. Youyue could, but he has to handle the camp's miscellaneous affairs and is already very busy."
"Gugu guagua gu gu..."
Dun Shan tilted his head and made a sound.
"I know you want to help," Mulan said with a smile, looking at Dun Shan. "But this isn't something you're good at, so don't force yourself."
Bai Ye said, "I think I know a little. I can help you sort through them. I can ask you directly if there are any problems anyway."
"That's great!" Mulan said. "Come with me!"
Mulan was straightforward and acted on impulse. She directly pulled Bai Ye into the tent and threw half of the documents in front of Bai Ye. "You take half, I take half. No problem?"
Bai Ye nodded. "No problem."
Bai Ye sat at the desk and started reading the documents.
For this hidden mission, Bai Ye figured that brute force alone wouldn't be enough; he would need to use his brain.
These documents were likely the key. As long as he could find clues within the documents, he could solve the mystery of the automaton.
However, after flipping through some of the documents, Bai Ye didn't feel anything special.
The three main enemies outside the Great Wall were the demon race, bandits, and barbarians.
The content of these documents mainly focused on these three aspects. Most of them were hunting missions, simply stating that demon creatures, bandits, or barbarians had appeared in a certain area, and the Great Wall Guard had to exterminate them as much as possible.
Bandits and barbarians were elusive and difficult to catch. Low-level demon creatures were mindless and could be easily hunted.
In addition to hunting, the Great Wall, besides being a barrier against external enemies, was also an important trade route.
To reach Jade City, Golden Court City, Thousand Cave City, and the Sand Alliance in the Cloud Desert, one had to pass through the Great Wall. Therefore, ensuring the safety of passing merchant caravans was also a task of the Great Wall Guard.
At the same time, near Jade City and the Sand Alliance, the Great Wall had also established border markets.
Therefore, in addition to escorting merchant caravans, maintaining order in the border markets was also the responsibility of the Great Wall Guard. However, the Great Wall mainly provided support, as that area was a bit far and primarily under the jurisdiction of the Protectorate.
Bai Ye looked at the documents in front of him. The matters that needed to be handled were all of this nature. Although they were complex, they were all part of the daily routine of the Great Wall Guard.
If there was anything that could be considered problematic...
Bai Ye frowned. "It seems that bandits have been particularly active lately. The barbarians usually only appear after the onset of winter, relying on raids to gather food for the winter. But it's still too early for winter, yet barbarians are frequently appearing around the Great Wall. Also, the frequency of demon creature appearances has increased significantly compared to last month."
And of course, the automatons!
Bai Ye murmured. Were these matters related?
Bai Ye leaned back in his chair, contemplating. He suddenly realized it was past midnight.
"Forget it, let's rest for a bit!" Bai Ye had a sudden inspiration. "I almost forgot about the Steel Slime."
Bai Ye quickly reached out and wiped in front of him, and a light screen appeared.
The next moment, Bai Ye's face showed excitement.
The Vulcan Gatling and the Yin Yang Talisman had disappeared from the items that the Steel Slime could condense, but...
Current growth value: 581 / 1000!
The Steel Slime's growth value did not decrease because the Vulcan Gatling and the Yin Yang Talisman were repossessed by the gacha machine. It remained at 581 points, just like before.
This meant Bai Ye's conjecture was correct!
He could use items from the gacha machine to increase the Steel Slime's growth value!
Since that was the case, what was there to hesitate about?
It was past 12 o'clock anyway!
*Snap!*
Bai Ye snapped his fingers. Immediately, the air around Bai Ye began to distort, and the gacha machine soon appeared. The sound of the machine spinning followed as it began to draw a gacha.
Bai Ye said piously, "Please give me something good!"
However...