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The convoy stopped in front of a metal gate that closed the mountainside. The city of New Rome was located among the mountains, just like the city of St. Louis. But compared to St. Louis City, New Rome City pays more attention to efficiency. Taking the metal gate in front of us as an example, it can be seen that it has been around for many years. Its exterior paint has peeled off, and even the sign on the door representing the city of Rome, a pattern of the Colosseum, has long been stained with green rust by the moisture in the mountainside for many years.
But apart from these, the nearly 20-meter-high metal gate still gave people an unshakable heavy feeling. On the other hand, in the city of St. Louis, even a gate can create that kind of aristocratic low-key luxury, but in terms of defense, it is not even half as good as the gate of Rome.
There is a flat tunnel in the middle of the mountain. The tunnel is large enough to accommodate several chariots walking side by side. The space is extremely spacious. There are a row of red warning lights flashing on and off on both sides of the road. There is no other lighting in the tunnel, but red warning lights indicate where the road leads.
There is a row of cameras above the gate, and now they are all pointed in the direction of the convoy. Obviously, the soldiers guarding the city are checking the identities of the arrivals. Soon, Paul's identity should have been confirmed, and the rumble of hydraulic mechanical action sounded in the mountainside. You can feel the mountainside vibrating slightly, and then the heavy metal gate retracts and opens on both sides, but behind the gate is not the scene of Rome as Zero imagined.
Behind the door was another empty space, and one could see another same door not far away. This new city of Rome actually adopted the design of double city gates. The partition in the middle is like the function of an ancient city. When foreign enemies invade, they can be trapped and then bombarded with fire!
Sure enough, when the car drove through this not-so-long passage, Zero noticed that there were a lot of firepower points arranged between the two city gates, and some things like pipes on the top obviously had a high-energy response. It can be seen that the city's designers paid great attention to the defensive capabilities of the city of Rome. Considering the current situation when the city was established at that time, it is not surprising that there will be such a design.
It can be said that the defense capability of New Rome City is very good, even Asgard is not as good in this point. It's just that Asgard is not relying on the city and weapons to defend, and the group of capable users that is much more than New Rome City is the real strength of that city.
After passing through the first city gate, there is no need to identify the second city gate. Before the car reached the gate, the gate had been separated from both sides. Behind the door is a world of light, and the convoy drove into this light. After a short period of discomfort, his eyes adapted to the light, and he was able to see the scene in the city clearly.
Zero had envisioned a variety of scenarios, such as Paul's followers lined up to welcome him, Sauron's remnants facing each other, or even Gaia coming alone. But none of these imaginary scenes appeared, what appeared was a scene that he had never imagined.
In other words, even Paul never imagined such a scene after entering the city.
As many as hundreds of metal pillars are arranged in a column, erected neatly on the ground not far from the city gate. There is an arm-thick iron cable on each metal pillar. The upper end of the iron cable is welded to the metal pillar, and the lower end is tightly around the neck of a certain corpse. There are as many pillars as there are corpses! Just at the entrance, as many as hundreds of hanged corpses form a very impactful picture, and the expressions of unwillingness or anger of these people before death are all fixed on these faces.
Paul rushed down from the car and came to a metal pillar in the front row right in the middle of the city gate. An old man was hanging from it, and he was still wearing a decent aristocratic dress. But now, no matter how influential the old man was, he is just a corpse at the moment.
"Joseph..." I don't know if it was anger, fear, or both. Paul trembled slightly, and finally roared like a lion cub: "Who did this! Who has the guts to execute Old Joseph's family without permission!"
The soldiers on both sides of the city gate bowed their heads in silence, when someone came over. He wore a hooded cloak to hide his head and face, but Paul's familiar voice came out from the hood: "Your Highness, it's not convenient to talk here, come with me first."
"Mendrisa..." From Paul's mouth, another noble name that could make the city of Rome change color.
In the end, instead of entering Paul's Pope's palace, the convoy came to a warehouse near the city gate, and never came out again. If someone entered the warehouse now, they would find several cars still parked there, but the occupants had disappeared.
Half an hour later, Paul and Zero had arrived at Mendriza's secret stronghold in Rome. Above it is a well-known bar in Rome. The Black Blood Bar is not the largest in Rome, but it is the most unscrupulous. Because the master behind it is Sauron, here, no matter what happens, no one will be held accountable. But even Paul didn't expect that the Mendriza family actually built their stronghold under the Black Blood Bar, which made the young Pope sigh secretly. Those who can make a living in the city of Rome are as expected. Become a fine fox.
However, outside the gate of the city, a nest of foxes, old and young, big and small, had been slaughtered.
In a simple, but very clean room. Mendriza took off his hood and cloak, revealing his original appearance. The cardinal looked haggard, his eye bags were blackened, and he hadn't had a good night's sleep for an unknown number of days. Apart from him, there were only Paul and Zero in the room. An old man with white flowers and the appearance of a housekeeper personally brought three glasses of water to the people in the room, and then retreated.
Mendriza said: "The place here is relatively simple, there is nothing good to greet you two, please don't be surprised."
He looked at Zero again, stared at him seriously for a while, and then said: "I have heard about Mr. Zero's reputation since a long time ago, and this is the first time we have met. Speaking of which, in the early days, I hated you so much To the bone."
Mendriza handed a cup of water to Zero: "Did you kill Habes?"
Paul suddenly became a little nervous, Mendriza's beloved son Habes, who is also the commander of the Seventh Army. When Sauron ordered the attack on the Howling Gulf, he died in that battle. The battle at that time was the first battle between Zero and the Pope's Hall. After that, Zero's name gradually entered the field of vision of the higher-ups of the Pope's Hall.
"Here, Bishop Mendriza. At that time..."
Zero reached out and patted the back of Paul's hand, signaling him not to speak. Zero himself nodded and said, "Although I didn't kill it with my own hands, you might as well blame it on me."
Mendriza's chest rose and fell violently, and finally turned into a long sigh. He took out a delicate golden pistol from the wide bishop's sleeve robe, put it on the table and said: "Until just now, I was still undecided about whether to kill you or not. The ability and the special bullets in this pistol may not be able to kill you, but Habes is my favorite child after all. As a father, killing the son and the enemy is in sight, I really wish that I am not the patriarch of the Kalkie family, so at least I You can give it a go.”
"Then what is the bishop's choice now?" Paul asked for Zero.
"Is there any other choice." Mendrisa smiled bitterly: "After one Habes died, I still have seven sons and three daughters. Although their talents are not as good as Habes, as long as they are there, Calki The blood of the family can continue. But if I do it, I can kill him or not. But because of his displeasure, His Royal Highness Paul lost a powerful ally. Then there is no need for Mr. Zero to do it, and I will soon be here The family will end up like old Joseph and the others."
Hearing this, Paul finally let go of one of his worries, knowing that Mendriza put the overall situation first and let go of his personal grudge. But another thought came to mind: "Who really killed old Joseph?"
"Sauron!"
This time, with Ling's composure, he couldn't help showing a look of horror. He and Paul shouted almost simultaneously: "This is impossible!"
Zero personally ended Sauron's life, and Sauron's body was cremated with his own eyes. But now, another Sauron has appeared in the city of Rome. With Mendriza's identity and power, he will naturally not lie or admit mistakes. Thus, this forms an insoluble contradiction.
"It is indeed Sauron..." Someone pushed the door and entered, but it was Feng who hadn't seen him for a long time. He nodded towards Zero and said: "Not long after His Royal Highness Paul left, I saw Sauron appear in public and announced the ten crimes committed by the old Joseph family, and then dispatched the Silver Hand guards to directly arrest their family. arrested and hanged."
"But I already killed him on Victoria Island!" Ling rubbed his brows lightly with his fingers and said, "What's going on?"
"Bishop, please tell me the details." Paul said.
Mendriza said in a deep voice: "Sauron's accusation against Old Joseph's family is nothing. I and the Odson family jointly requested Sauron to take back this order. But Sauron completely ignored our objection and mobilized the Silver Hand." On the surface, we can't intervene in this matter, but we can still intervene in secret. Since Sauron's accusation this time is too absurd and will shake the foundation of the city of Rome, I reached a consensus with the Odson family to send a total of 20 capable people The attackers went to Joseph's house and joined forces with his family's masters to prevent the Silver Hand from enforcing the law."
"But the accident was far beyond our expectations. The guards of the Silver Hand are so important. His Royal Highness Paul should know about it. And there are more than 30 capable people from the three parties, including three of them. An eighth-level expert. But even so, they were all defeated by the Silver Hand. The whole process took less than half an hour, and Old Joseph's manor was almost razed by the battle..." Mendrisa let out a foul breath, and said word by word: "According to our deliberation afterwards, the level of these Silver Hand guards is at least eighth or higher, and it is more likely that they are close to or even ninth-level strength!"
"Impossible!" Paul stood up in shock: "The average strength of the guards of the Silver Hand is only around the sixth level. Even if Sauron comes back from the dead, where will he find a group of ninth-level masters?"
"No, the more bizarre thing is yet to come..." Mendriza said with a dignified expression, "We think the abilities used by these Silver Hands are very similar to Sauron, or even exactly the same..."
"How... how could such a thing happen." Paul suddenly felt bitter.
Just think about it, if a team of experts of Sauron's level suddenly appeared, wouldn't their previous efforts be in vain
Mendriza also smiled wryly and said: "This battle, I and Odson's family have been beaten badly. I originally wanted to join forces with my three families. No matter how bad it is, I can get old Joseph away. I didn't expect that I only had the old Joseph in my hand. Let Sauron eat up some capital, and now we dare not show up in public, for fear that Sauron will also charge us with a crime, and then wipe us out with a thunderbolt."
"Finally, until His Highness and Mr. Ling arrive, then this matter may not be without a turnaround."
"Speaking of the Silver Hand guards, when on Victoria Island, Sauron also brought three mysterious high-ranking..." Ling Shen said: "Their abilities are exactly the same as Sauron!"
"Then what is this called? Sauron used his own genes to create biochemical warriors?" Paul frowned.
Zero looked at Mendriza: "Is there any chance to see these Silver Hand guards?"
"Of course there is. Now the Pope's Hall has announced a new decree. Except for Sauron and the Knights, other bishops or ministers, including me, are not allowed to enter. There will always be one or two Silver Hands standing outside the Pope's Hall." Guardian, however, it may not be convenient for Mr. Zero to appear in such a grand manner.” Mendrisa thought for a while and said: “Sauron will gather in the square tomorrow, and he will always call citizens to give speeches in the past two days. At that time, there will be a team of silver If Mr. Zero wants to observe them, he can do it tomorrow."
He nodded, and said again: "I have an idea about the Sauron in the Pope's Hall. Will Sauron secretly train one or two substitutes in peacetime, because I'm sure that the current Sauron must not be real. "
"It's not impossible, but if that's the case, then this substitute is too imitated. I have worked with Sauron for so many years, and I know his words and deeds very well. If this is a substitute, then his The acting is simply superb," Mendriza said.
Paul stood up and said, "It's not impossible. Let me ask someone to get this man's hair or something. Just test his DNA and everything will be clear."
"But how do you enter the Pope's Hall?" Zero asked.
"I don't have to go in, and there may not be only Silver Hands in the Pope's Hall." Paul said confidently.
The next day, just as the clock struck seven, the radio blared throughout the city. Zero changed into a set of clothes that Mendriza had prepared for him, which was the common attire of the residents of Rome. In addition, Mendriza also prepared some special items for Zero, which included wigs and beards, as well as some silicone parts. When Ling came out of a private house near the Black Blood Bar, he had transformed into a robust middle-aged man.
The tawny wig concealed his own hair color, and the circle of paste made him a lot of vicissitudes. Mendriza also carefully thickened his eyebrows to match his current look. The most surprising thing is those silicone parts, they are tightly attached to Zero's chest and shoulders, and then put on clothes, it makes Zero look more muscular, rather than the previous uniform and slender figure.
This kind of camouflage, unless someone who is very familiar with Zero, can stand to see it through. But today, General Zero is among the citizens, and the chance of being spotted is very low. He lowered his head and followed the crowd to the square. A moment later, the sound of the guard of honor playing music sounded, and Sauron, who was wearing a military uniform and covered with badges on his chest, appeared on the square just like that.
He glanced at Sauron without a trace, and sure enough, there was almost no difference in terms of body shape, eyes, or feeling. But Zero still felt a little strange, but this feeling was very vague, and he didn't know where the problem was for the time being.
Looking at those silver hands again, with just one glance, Zero knew that he had indeed hit the mark. These people have exactly the same feeling as the three genetic warriors on Victoria Island. Their biggest special is that they give people a mechanical feeling. Even though these guards were now wearing Silver Hand tactical uniforms and tactical helmets, their precise and synchronized movements could not be concealed.
Now that he was sure, it was useless for Ling to stay in the square, so he quietly retreated. When he returned to Mendriza's stronghold, the cardinal was already waiting for him. As soon as he saw Zero coming in, he immediately asked, "How's the situation?"
Zero nodded: "Those Silver Hands should all be some kind of biochemical man made with Sauron's genes, and they all have Sauron's strength. Of course, it was Sauron before. When I fought against Victoria Island, the real Sauron has already reached the tenth level."
"Tenth level!" Mendriza suddenly smiled wryly, "So, you are at least at the tenth level?"
"That's true." Zero didn't intend to hide it from him, and said directly.
A moment later, Paul also came. He smiled and took out a small box with a few hairs in it: "This is the few hairs that fell on the pillow after our Lord Sauron woke up in the morning. If there are two missing, he won't Find out?"
Mendriza took it in one hand and said: "I'll send someone to test it right away, and the result will be available in the afternoon at the latest."
Said to go in a hurry.
In the afternoon, Mendriza brought amazing news. The results of the test have come out, and the DNA of those few hairs matches Sauron's perfectly!
Suddenly, things seemed to fall into a vicious circle.
Looking at the test report in their hands, everyone fell into silence. Zero suddenly raised his head and said, "Maybe we made a mistake from the beginning. From the essence of genes, the Sauron in front of us is indeed himself. At the same time, there are many Saurons like this. For example... those silver hands?"