Chapter 1716: 574. Old Flywheel and His Hunger Factory – Added Update for “Pretty Good Huo” Brothers [16/30]
The strange owner of Hunger Mountain easily called out Murphy’s name and referred to him as the “famed” lord, clearly indicating that people outside Transylvania had already taken notice of Murphy.
But the lord was not surprised.
Shani had once warned her that the Thieves Guild established by the Hobbits monitored the entire continent, being the largest intelligence organization on the continent. Sulk Flywheel was a mysterious Half-body Man who could understand the situation through the Thieves Guild’s channels, which wasn’t an outlandish thing.
From Murphy’s personal reflections, he believed that anyone who could establish themselves in a place like Hunger Mountain couldn’t be some naive sweetheart; Sulk Flywheel’s act of recruiting a bunch of Cannibal Demons as guards may seem silly, but this guy is definitely one of the most complex individuals Murphy has faced since his rebirth.
It is widely known that in most contexts, “complexity” translates to “danger”.
After getting past the four Hunger brothers, Murphy managed to walk into the hidden space within the mountain from a platform on the mountainside, and he quickly felt a wave of heat rush in.
As he passed the corridor of that natural cave, he saw several fully armed Bear Goblins patrolling ahead.
These were humanoid creatures with green skin and more than two meters tall, shorter than the Jackal Barbarians but taller and sturdier than humans.
Their most notable feature was a pair of sharp ears, very similar to elves, but their demeanor was much untidier and they smoked much more due to their tusks and fur.
Their bodies were covered with sparse fur, giving them a savage appearance.
Bear Goblins were also indigenous creatures of the Dark Mountain Range, and individuals of this race varied greatly. These Bear Goblins in front of Murphy were normal individuals, but Triss had seen giant Bear Goblins of the same size as young Cannibal Demons.
They do not have their civilization, but Bear Goblins are one of the few highly intelligent creatures in the Dark Mountain Range, hence they have their own city near the Eternal Abyss.
Their temperament is remarkably peaceful, and they also possess a certain Spiritual Energy talent, occasionally organizing their caravans to trade in various places in the Dark Mountain Range. Some Bear Goblin travelers and mercenaries also exist on the continent; these guys have smart minds and fingers as nimble as humans, allowing them to produce quite good goods.
This was Murphy’s first time seeing Bear Goblins, and also his first time seeing so many Bear Goblins gathered together.
Following the direction of those Bear Goblin guards in rough but thick steel armor, Murphy could see a “mountain factory” in operation, with tools like waterwheels rotating to lift magma below and deliver it into forging grooves, with steam rising while some Bear Goblin workers placed heavy ore on the magma.
Then, an operator from above pulled a lever causing the heavy Forging Hammer to drop, smashing into the ore with a sparking bang.
That was a rather intricate mechanism, with the forging hammer crushing the ore and melting the minerals in the magma smelting, flowing down to the next process where workers were divided into three groups: some holding Forging Hammers to forge iron blocks into weapons, others pouring molds to cast parts, and finally a group of Bear Goblins refining the ore with peculiar tools.
The factory was quite large, with plenty of Bear Goblin workers; at least two hundred people were seen working at one glance.
Truly bustling.
Murphy also saw something very similar to a minecart track, stretching directly from the center of the factory to some natural cave below, where Bear Goblins were waiting for iron ingots to be delivered for secondary processing.
This wasn’t just a simple factory; they had developed the concept of a “processing center,” with at least three workshops he could see in the area for weapons, armor, and engineering goods.
Sulk Flywheel must have spent a lot of effort and a huge amount of money to set up such a grand scene in Hunger Mountain; he’s been entrenched here for over forty years, it seems this Half-body Man warlord indeed quietly accomplished something big.
More importantly, on the way to the laboratory, Murphy saw bundles of weapons and boxes of armor being packed up as if to be transported to other places.
The style of these weapons and armor was not for humans, dwarves, or vampires.
“This bastard is doing business with Wolf People! The weapons he manufactures here are for the Wolf People to launch a war, damn, if I were a hero, I’d find a way to blow up this evil factory right now.
Unfortunately, I’m not.”
Murphy had an epiphany.
He snorted, feeling uncomfortable being in this scorching place as a vampire, quickly moving forward guided by the Core Bead toward Sulk Flywheel’s laboratory.
That place was deeper within the factory, where a hole was dug into the mountain.
Not until now did Murphy realize why Sulk Flywheel chose Hunger Mountain as his base; this was a live volcano, with enough magma and heat below to provide essential forging materials for the factory.
This guy sure is crazy.
Isn’t he afraid that one day some justice-driven Silver Dwarf Earth Priest would pass by and casually unleash a “volcano activation” and blow all his foundations along with himself to oblivion?