Chapter 633: Chapter 595 Backyard on Fire Chapter 633: Chapter 595 Backyard on Fire Rocky had already made preparations for battle and even led his fleet away from the Skyport, only to find that the war he was anticipating not only failed to ignite, but the Sky City from the Co-Governing Alliance had turned back…

Watching Sky City grow more and more distant, Rocky first froze, then immediately ordered a return to base. Upon his return to Thunderhawk City, he immediately sought out Athena!

“Athena, has there been any change in the plan?”

With furrowed brows, Rocky looked at Athena, a very ominous feeling brewing within him. It would be understandable if it were other forces that retreated after encountering City of Fury, but why would the Co-Governing Alliance do the same?

Rocky had missed the battle the day before, but he had always sent Reconnaissance Ships to monitor City of Fury’s movements, so he knew very well that during yesterday’s exchange of fire, the Co-Governing Alliance’s forces were the first to open fire. This clearly indicated that the Co-Governing Alliance was intent on clashing with City of Fury, so why did they retreat after just a small-scale conflict, not only stopping the fight but completely withdrawing?

Such behavior did not fit with the recent actions shown by the Co-Governing Alliance…

It was precisely because of the Co-Governing Alliance’s peculiar behavior that Rocky felt that something was amiss, which was why he immediately summoned Athena.

However, in the face of his question, Athena frowned for a long time before finally looking at him, “My lord, it seems… our plan needs to be moved up.”

“That’s right.”

Nodding, Athena continued, “The Co-Governing Alliance’s withdrawal is a very dangerous sign, obviously indicating they’ve received some sort of warning or even a threat, a threat so formidable that even the Co-Governing Alliance can’t resist it. Therefore, if I’m not mistaken, our situation will get even worse, so we must act, we can’t delay any longer.”

“……”

Hearing this from Athena, Rocky’s brows were tightly knitted into a knot. He and Athena indeed had plans in place beforehand, otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to react so quickly to the blockade of Backhill Village by City of Fury and come up with a solution immediately.

But judging from what Athena was saying now, their plan was clearly not keeping up with the pace of change, and the enemy’s reaction was much stronger than they had anticipated. This forced Rocky and his team to take countermeasures, or it would be too late.

In fact, it was already too late because right after Sky City from the Co-Governing Alliance withdrew, City of Fury truly began the blockade of Backhill Village. Erwin fully enacted Rick’s orders, starting to strictly prohibit all caravans from nearing Backhill Village, threatening to open fire on anyone who disobeyed!

Under these circumstances, the blockade that had just been broken was immediately reinstated even more rigorously than before. This time, City of Fury didn’t even spare the caravans of Howling Sky, though they hadn’t gone as far as to prevent their entry or exit entirely, every entrance and exit was subject to strict scrutiny to ensure the goods weren’t there to assist Rocky.

And this time, City of Fury was clearly not just posturing, because not long after, a fleet from the Apple Tree Corporation arrived, and facing the still vast, hundred-strong escort fleet, City of Fury exhibited no mercy. As soon as they met, both parties engaged in intense battle!

As a result, Rocky’s situation took a drastic downturn; the caravan traffic that had just been restored for a few days was abruptly cut off again.

And just as Rocky was frantically overwhelmed by this development, trouble flared up in his own backyard.

“What?!”

One evening, as Rocky was discussing with Amanred, the Guild President of the Ruby Chamber of Commerce, how to covertly transport goods using Sirius City’s merchant ships, he suddenly received a message from the research institute that someone was attempting to steal technology from inside the institute!

Upon hearing this news, Rocky immediately ended the communication with Amanred and then hurriedly took people to the research institute. By the time he arrived, Orton and the other three had already been waiting for him for a long time, and it was not just the four of them, there was also a middle-aged man whom Rocky did not recognize at all.

When Rocky rushed to Orton’s bedroom, he saw a middle-aged man with a simple and honest look kneeling on the ground. Although there were no ropes binding him, he had already been controlled by Orton’s magic, completely unable to move.

“Teacher, what happened?”

After glancing at the middle-aged man whom he did not recognize at all, Rocky turned to Orton.

“Tonight while I was in the laboratory researching with Hammerfire, the room’s alarm suddenly went off. When I came back, I found this guy trapped in the room.”

As he spoke, Orton looked coldly at the middle-aged man.

After hearing this, Rocky turned to look at the middle-aged man on the ground and then squatted in front of him.

“Who are you?”

“Sir, I, I am a servant here, I did not… I really didn’t steal anything…!”

Perhaps truly frightened, the middle-aged man was so scared that he started to babble incoherently when faced with Rocky’s gaze, almost bursting into tears.

“You are a servant here?”

Rocky frowned as he looked at the man, and then asked again.

“Yes, yes!”

The middle-aged man quickly nodded in response to the question.

The so-called servants were essentially janitors, especially within the research institute. Though the institute always had a policy of not allowing outsiders in, even after it expanded, some tasks still needed to be handled by servants, like cleaning and sanitation. Orton and his team were always absorbed in their research, occasionally causing small accidents in the laboratories, so whether Rocky and Orton liked it or not, servants were necessary to do the cleaning.

The man before him was a servant of the institute, no wonder Rocky did not recognize him; because these servants didn’t dare to interrupt when Orton and Rocky were conducting their research, and would only clean after they were finished.

According to this man, he was just taking the opportunity to clean Orton’s room while Orton was occupied in the laboratory and accidentally triggered a magic alarm that Orton had set up in his room.

And this explanation did indeed seem flawless, especially since that’s how servants typically operated–cleaning the labs while Orton and his team were resting, and tidying their rooms when the team was busy with experiments, that had always been the routine.

Moreover, the man seemed simple and honest, not looking like someone who was shifty or deceitful.

So after listening to the other party’s explanation, Rocky stood up and then said to Monte who was beside him, “Take him to the jail for me, use whatever means necessary, but make him speak the truth!”