444 Chapter 444: Mountain Base (1/2)
I filled Feng Hai and the others in, and the mercenary leader listened with a furrowed brow. Taking a deep breath, he glanced in the southwest direction, as if by doing so he could somehow spot the base and the personnel running it.
”Any clue as to who those people are?” he asked gruffly. I understood his mood because I also realized that anybody setting up base camp in Yao Cai Mountains couldn't possibly be some random civilians coming out for herbs gathering. Having already anticipated his question, I had one of my Corvus soar closer to the base, his keen eyes picking out the finer details.
”Damn.”
”What is it?” Redfield demanded impatiently when he heard me curse under my breath. I grimaced and opened my eyes to look at him.
”They are wearing black cloaks.”
”…huh? In the mountains? Is that some kind of new fashion style? Well, maybe they do need the cloaks to keep themselves warm, given the cool climate, but…”
”No,” Brent cut his subordinate off. ”The black cloaks most likely indicate that these are members of the Dark Church.”
Silence fell over the gathered group, and the mercenaries exchanged uneasy glances. The Dark Church again. Come to think of it, I remembered that Dad and I once ran into some secret research facility in the mountains a few months ago, when I tagged along on one of his missions overseas. They were creating biological weapons and ended up getting slaughtered by the same monsters they were breeding.
What was with the Dark Church and setting bases up in mountains? Did they like the terrain or something? Admittedly, the remote nature of mountains and their distance from civilization made them perfect as a hideout, to conceal their agenda and operations away from the public and from authority. Best, nobody would be able to disturb them or disrupt their research, and unless we were coincidentally in the mountains for some reason, nobody would even think to find them here.
Now that we had stumbled upon them, I had no idea what we were supposed to do. Attack them?
”They probably are the ones who collected the Belfrost Flowers,” Brown put in, having heard my description of them ferrying cargo. ”That's the most likely scenario – I don't think it's a coincidence that the tracks lead in the southwest direction, and the Dark Church happens to have a base southwest of here.”
”Why would they be collecting Belfrost Flowers and other medicinal herbs, though?” Glacia was confused. ”I thought their aim was to wipe out humanity and allow the monsters to reign supreme on Earth. Why would they be gathering medicinal herbs?”
”Who knows?” Redfield clenched his fists. ”But whatever their reasons, it definitely can't be good. Maybe they're stocking up on their own first aid and medicinal supplies because they can't get medicine the conventional way.”
”Perhaps,” Brent conceded. ”But it would be easier to just hire healing mages, and I know for sure that the Dark Church counts several healing mages among their number.”
”What should we do?” Glacia asked Feng Hai, who had remained silent all this while.
”I say we attack them!” Redfield exclaimed, and then he blinked. ”…um, after we confirm that this Ling Dan isn't here in the Yao Cai Mountains, I mean.”
Everyone glanced at him, but nobody objected or voiced their support. They were feeling conflicted. On one hand, our priority was indeed to search for Ling Dan, but nobody felt comfortable leaving the Dark Church be. Whatever they were scheming out here, it would most likely contribute a lot toward their goal of eradicating mankind.
”Our mission is to find Ling Dan and bring him back to help Ana,” Feng Hai declared with a nod. ”However…”
He glanced at me, and I nodded, having Corvus do another sweep. But I didn't see anything new, and told him as much. Even so, Feng Hai's expression remained unreadable and he sighed.
”…it is possible that the Dark Church might be in the Yao Cai Mountains for the same reason as we are. No, it's even possible that they might already have found and captured Ling Dan.”
”Huh? How do you know?” Brown asked, puzzled at how he made the leap in conclusion. Feng Hai shrugged.
”Just intuition.”
”Boss, that's not very persuasive,” Brent growled.
”I know, but…think about it. It's not a coincidence that they are in the Yao Cai Mountains, and then you have the rumor that Ling Dan – the legendary receptarier – is holed up somewhere in here. I'm pretty sure the Dark Church has other, easier methods of obtaining medicinal supplies than just picking flowers and herbs in such a remote region. If they went through the trouble of setting up a base in the Yao Cai Mountains, of all places, then…”
”It's a long shot, and you don't have any proof.” Brent and the others did not look convinced, but Redfield jumped at the chance.
”We should investigate the base and find that proof! If not, we can just retreat and search elsewhere!”
”It's also improbable that this Ling Dan wouldn't notice the presence of so many people in a place where he's hiding out to stay far away froom people,” Brown conceded. ”He would most likely leave for a more…secluded location.”
”…or he might have been captured by these Dark Church bastards…” Redfield clenched his fists tighter. ”In which case we have to rescue him.”