On the way to the main mining tunnel, Lin Mo casually glanced at his status panel.

During the previous battle, the skill 【Flame Chain Star】 had just made its debut and played a tremendous role.

"Skill 【Flame Chain Star】 Lv1 (10/10) upgraded!"

......

"Skill 【Flame Chain Star】 Lv2 (20/20) upgraded!"

"Current skill 【Flame Chain Star】 Lv3 (28/40)."

Just that single remaining cast had directly raised this skill's level to 3.

Besides this, there was also the evolution path Lin Mo hadn't chosen earlier.

Please select evolution direction—

Evolution Path 1: Range 1: Flame Chain Star explosion radius increases by 30%

Evolution Path 2: Power 1: Flame Chain Star damage increases by 15%

This time's evolution paths were quite straightforward - one increased explosion range, the other increased skill power.

Lin Mo carefully considered it. The 【Flame Chain Star】 skill should primarily serve as an AOE for clearing groups of monsters. From this perspective, to further strengthen this skill's main function, he naturally should choose Evolution Path 1.

He could always pick Path 2 during the next evolution selection.

Soon they arrived at the main mining tunnel. Just as Lin Mo had predicted, numerous Bloodsea Gang members, looking very similar to those they'd seen earlier, were continuously transporting ore from the mithril mine.

Meanwhile, those guards, including the Guard Commander, were nowhere to be found.

Most importantly, there were almost no signs of battle at the scene, as if the Bloodsea Gang members had entered the mine completely unhindered.

"Just as I thought..."

Lin Mo narrowed his eyes. Ever since they first arrived here, that Guard Commander's behavior had seemed quite strange.

Although he wore an expression of righteous indignation, appearing furious about last night's ore theft incident and ready to take action and exact revenge, his actual actions were rather peculiar.

First, as night approached, he inexplicably tried to keep them at the camp for dinner, and when questioned, immediately made excuses, as if deliberately testing them.

More importantly, in the subsequent arrangements, he assigned their obviously stronger combat force to the relatively less critical flank positions.

If things had stopped there, it could still be interpreted as eagerness for merit, not wanting to share too much credit. But the subsequent appearance of those Bloodsea Gang members near the mine basically confirmed Lin Mo's suspicions.

Even for the relatively unimportant flank entrance, sending only a dozen or so people was truly laughable. Moreover, all their actions carried a performative quality, clearly coming with a "mission."

One could only say their acting wasn't refined enough, and they were seriously short on "extras," so what they presented could only be considered a "bad movie."

Coupled with the immediately following, clearly abnormal numbers of the goblin army, Lin Mo became even more suspicious of that Guard Commander.

Specifically assigning them to the flank entrance, yet having far more goblins invade that area than Bloodsea Gang members - in fact, if not for sending some actors to avoid early detection, the Bloodsea Gang probably hadn't even planned to enter the mine from that side originally.

Thus, the truth became obvious.

This Guard Commander had long colluded with the Bloodsea Gang, stealing from his own post. This ore theft might have even started much earlier. As for why the news suddenly broke yesterday and reached the main city...

One reason might be that too much ore had gone missing, making it hard to explain if it continued. Another likely reason was the goblins' involvement muddying the waters.

What he said was half-truths - the conflict with the goblins was probably real.

Considering this aspect, transferring them to the flank was actually using them as pawns to eliminate enemies.

Making them handle the troublesome goblins while he accelerated ore transport from the main mining tunnel.

To avoid exposure, he even played clever by specifically sending some actors.

Though looking at the results, it would have been better not to send any at all...

After organizing his thoughts, Lin Mo watched the busy Bloodsea Gang members before him. Judging by the current transport speed and personnel, they weren't even pretending anymore. Probably once today's theft operation ended, this Guard Commander would return to Lania City with them.

As for Landon's side, he should be almost in position too, right?

Through their earlier eye contact, Landon had clearly also noticed something wrong. Though they hadn't verbally communicated, he had likely guessed the truth by now and was on his way.

Just as Lin Mo expected, after waiting briefly, a very familiar "Wind Cyclone" suddenly appeared.

The powerful winds swept several Bloodsea Gang members who were transporting ore into its vortex, instantly tearing them to shreds.

"Damn it, we're under attack!"

The remaining people immediately panicked. They had no idea who cast this magic or where the caster was.

"Don't panic!"

A guy who looked like a leader stepped forward.

He scanned the surroundings and called out into the dark night: "I don't know who you are, sir, but have you heard of the Bloodsea Gang's reputation?"

After waiting a moment, Landon didn't follow up with another attack. Lin Mo immediately understood and casually flicked out a Wind Blade aimed directly at the man's face.

The man instantly became enraged: "How arrogant! Do you really think we're easy targets?"

Saying this, he drew the sword at his waist and swung it, releasing a Sword Energy.

Then...

Then the Sword Energy was unsurprisingly shattered by the Wind Blade. The Wind Blade continued unabated, directly cutting his body in half.

"Tsk tsk."

Lin Mo walked out while shaking his head: "No strength yet trying to show off like others - you really don't even know how you died."

Landon also emerged from the other side, exchanging a perfectly synchronized smile with Lin Mo.

Landon was also a smart person. Back when supporting Silvermoon Town, he had thought along the same lines as Lin Mo. This time was no different - what Lin Mo had figured out, he had also suspected.

Nothing more needed to be said. Lin Mo already had old grievances with the Bloodsea Gang, and now these guys dared to steal mithril ore, so he naturally wouldn't show any mercy.

So he immediately raised his hand and sent a 【Flame Chain Star】 flying into the crowd.

Deafening explosions immediately erupted, sending all those Bloodsea Gang members flying into the sky, without even time to scream.

After the explosion, Lin Mo scratched his head - it seemed he'd blown up the ore along with them.