Nicolai smiled.

With a determined expression as if he was determined to catch his prey, he nodded gently: "Yes, your plan is good, little prince."

"Arrange people to attack the team and create the illusion that you were kidnapped out of thin air."

"When the situation is at its most complicated, it makes the entire Longxiao City suspicious of each other." At this point, the Meteorite's eyes turned cold: "It greatly slows down the efficiency of the search and misleads our direction."

"In fact, he escaped secretly."

"If we really fall into your trap, we won't be able to find you even if we search for more than half a year."

Thales felt sad.

He still discovered the truth.

"Then how did you find out?" Thales raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, seemingly giving up resistance:

"When did you become so smart, dead face?"

Hearing this nickname, Nicolai's smile became even colder.

"It's true that I'm not that smart," he said indifferently, "but compared to someone like you who comes up with ten weird ideas every second, my more than twenty years of career in the Guards, especially the last six years, has taught me at least one thing.

thing."

Thales frowned.

"That's it," Nicolai put his hand into his arms and said softly:

"When it comes to things you don't understand, you can never be too cautious."

The meteorite took out something from his arms.

He spread it out and gently let go.

Thales's pupils shrank!

That thing floated in the air for a few seconds.

Until it fell at his feet.

"This is……"

The young man stared blankly at what the Fallen Starman took out, almost unable to believe his eyes.

Lying at his feet was a piece of paper.

A piece of sky-blue expensive tissue paper with ugly wrinkles.

Thales looked at this thin piece of paper, feeling unspeakable in his heart.

It's that piece of paper.

The invitation written by Asheida to him.

After being intercepted by the very suspicious Nikolai in the Palace of Heroes, the Fallen Starman angrily crumpled it into a ball due to Thales' teasing and cover-up.

but……

"I thought you had thrown it away."

Thales frowned and looked at Nicolai: "Didn't you read the joke written on the paper? Do you need me to repeat it?"

Nicolai laughed coldly.

He took a step forward and stepped heavily on the sky blue tissue paper.

There was a line of large, faded characters written on the paper, which was particularly eye-catching:

【The meteorite idiot.】

"Yes, but that's just an appearance."

Nicolai shook his head slowly.

The image of Thales was reflected in his eyes. No matter how much Nicolai shook his head, he never left the center of his pupils: "You can't imagine that I spent two full months, paid a lot of money, and mobilized almost all intelligence resources. , from the raw materials to the source of the goods, I traced the details of this piece of paper wholeheartedly."

Thales was horrified.

"Leland paper," Nicolai repeated word for word, without any vitality or rhythm, as if he was reciting knowledge that he knew nothing about:

"The raw wood is produced in the Principality of Norton, and the manufacturing and dyeing techniques are from the Land of Dragon's Kiss. ​​The quality is excellent, durable, and can even be erased and written over and over again. It is a special paper for the court of the Principality of Anrenzo in the south of the Western Continent, and is specially used for writing noble invitations. "

Thales looked at him solemnly.

Nicolai smiled, with a hint of pride in catching his opponent: "In the North, the rich and powerful nobles may spend a lot of money to build a sharp sword, or raise a good horse, but no one will use this You can't buy this kind of luxury paper anywhere, and even the merchants from Camas are too lazy to transport it to the North."

"And we have also searched the missions of the stars before, including Viscount Putilai Niemann, and there is no trace of this thing."

Facing Thales' complicated look, Nicolai pointed to the crumpled cardboard on the ground: "This thing."

"It shouldn't appear in the Palace of Heroes and in your hands."

The next moment, the Meteorite's voice turned cold: "This can only be something brought in from the outside, from a channel we don't know about, and it must be deliberately hidden from the eyes and ears of the Palace of Heroes, because it must bear some secrets. A special mission.”

Hearing this, Thales closed his eyes gently.

A secret and special mission...

well.

"Little prince, it's obvious that you have been hiding something from us for a long time."

Nicolai grinned and revealed a cruel smile: "Although I don't know clearly, you are indeed secretly planning to go out of the palace to play chess every month to complete it. Obviously, there is something wrong with that chess and card room."

"So after you disappeared," Fallen Star's eyes became sharper than ever before: "When Earl Lisbane was still thinking about who abducted you, when the major forces were still testing each other in confusion."

"I know it, and I have no doubt about it: you were neither kidnapped nor kidnapped."

"But he ran away on his own!"

Nicolai closed his mouth and looked at Thales with contempt.

"At that time, I knew: all this must be a drama written and performed by you, nothing more."

At this moment, a light wind blew on the rocky ground, bringing up sand and dust, making Thales's mood become colder and heavier.

"When you think about it, it's obvious where you went after you disappeared," Nicolai's words have never seemed so powerful, almost as powerful as his blade:

"At that time, everyone was suspicious of the deeply suspicious forces, the Black Sand Territory, Qiyuan City, the Dark Room, and the forces of the vassals of Longxiao City. These have become the places you are least likely to go to."

One sentence after another, Thales even had the feeling that Nicolai's words had almost pushed him into a desperate situation.

"So, the Grand Duke's bodyguards blocked the city on the surface, pretending to be suspicious of these forces, and had no time to worry about themselves."

Nicolai's smile became more and more terrifying: "Essentially, within an hour of your disappearance, we invested all our energy and resources in the only direction."

He spoke slowly and spoke clearly:

"Star Kingdom, Secret Science."

Nicolai sneered again and again: This was an expression he had never shown before in outdoor training.

It seemed that this was the moment when he completely defeated Thales.

"Yes, Thales, we caught up with you outside the city in the bush where you stayed. We found the tracks of you and the packhorse within half an hour after you left."

Thales's heart tightened.

"If it weren't for Monty's interference, you would be in the Palace of Heroes by now."

Nicolai shook his head, as if he didn't care: "But you have to know: you can't escape."

The meteorite's sneer continued.

This made Thales feel even more depressed.

The young man silently looked at the paper that Nicolai had stepped on under his feet without saying a word.

As if it wasn't paper.

It's his pride.

After a long while, Thales said with difficulty and hoarsely: "It's actually this."

"I never would have thought that it was this piece of paper. There was something wrong with the source of this piece of paper."

He sighed dejectedly:

"damn it……"

damn it……

Thales, the puppy of Aida, added numbly in his mind.

Nicolai responded with a chuckle.

"Look, once the key is exposed," the meteorite's boots slowly turned and slowly ran over the tissue paper:

"The famous secret science of the kingdom is nothing more than that."

"Your escape plan is full of mistakes and is childish and ridiculous."

Thales took a deep breath.
To be continued...