Chapter 39

Claudia's POV

I smelled a cold and damp smell.

When I opened the curtains, it was indeed drizzling outside. I looked at the alarm clock at the bedside. It was already six in the morning.

Last night, I searched for information about my parents all night. One of the records caught my attention. My parents were executed not long after the Crimson Shadow pack's last Alpha died. In other words, Andre killed them as soon as he became the Alpha.

At that time, they were still in the war and my parents were guilty of colluding with the enemy. However, there was no evidence that they had contact with the enemy pack. The death of my parents was definitely related to Andre. But I didn't have time to think about this now.

Today was the second negotiation. I didn't know what was waiting for me.

Toby and I walked into the conference room. The Crimson Shadow pack's people had all arrived. Isaac sat in the corner with a cold face. When he saw me, his expression loosened a little.

Andre cleared his throat and motioned for everyone to look at him. "We all had a small misunderstanding last time during the negotiation, which made everyone unhappy. But it won't happen this time. Our pack has shown all our sincerity."

A small misunderstanding? He really dared to say that if I hadn't seen through his plot, he would have killed the White Claw pack in a sneak attack. I didn't believe that he would talk to us honestly this time.

I showed him a perfect fake smile. "This is the best." This kind of play made me sick.

Andre asked the secretary to give me the new agreement. He said, "What is the source of our pack's economy? I believe everyone has heard of it. Yes, it's mineral. There is a mineral in the south of our pack. We have never mined it before. That is the compensation I promised to the White Claw pack."

I checked the agreement in my hand. Crimson Shadow pack's minerals could often produce rare metals. This was why Andre was a useless Alpha. However, his pack had always been very powerful. The mineral resources were very precious. But I did not believe that Andre would give us his lifeline.

I looked into Andre's eyes and read his thoughts. 'Accept it and mine it. You will only send your laborers to their deaths in batches.'

What did he mean? I thought about it carefully. Andre could not keep this large mineral vein as a decoration. Although he knew that the labor worker who went to mine would die, he did not care about the lives of the servants. He would force the labor worker to dig out the gold for him in the last second before he died.

So the people who went to mine would not only die, but they would also cause greater losses. I had a great curiosity about this mine, and in order to expose Andre's true face, I accepted his conditions first.

"This is a very good condition." I tapped the paper with my fingers, "I will discuss with the White Claw pack's Alpha, and then decide whether they will sign this agreement. Please wait for a few days."

"Of course!" Andre readily agreed. 'This stupid bitch, she is as annoying as her parents.'

My eyes turned cold. When I found out the real reason for my parents' death, Andre would pay for everything he had done. I swore to Moon Goddess.

When we got home, Toby had already started to pack up his things. "Wait!" I stopped him.

"What? Aren't we going back and let my father sign the agreement?"

"It's not time yet. We have to go to the mine first."

"Mine? Is there a problem?"

"Just in case, I am afraid that Andre will play tricks."

"Yes, he is a cunning old fox." Toby was very accurate in this regard.

Before Toby and I went to the mine, I asked the family of some missing miners. They all told me that since the miners went to the southern mine, they seemed to have become a different person.

They disappeared after working in the mine for a few days. Although this kind of thing was very strange, I had seen it before. Was it because of some curse in the mine? If it was just a curse, I could try to use the ability of a witch to lift the curse.

The mine looked barely mined, and the cave was surrounded by wasteland and woods. I asked Toby to search the woods. I went into the mine to take a look and there was nothing inside in the dark.

There was no sign of people or animals. I also did not feel any signs of magic use from here. On the surface, there was nothing wrong with this mine. Where did the missing miners go?

I walked out of the mine, but I felt a little strange. Was it too quiet here?

"Hey, Claudia. I think you will want to see this." Toby panted. He had just run from the depths of the woods.

There was a big pit in the middle of the forest. There were many corpses of humans and animals. It was strange that I could not smell anything.

"This is strange." I was puzzled.

"This is disgusting! Is the first thing you thought of when you saw this scene strange?" Toby looked like he was going to vomit.

"They looked like they had died for a long time, but they did not stink." I approached the big pit. "Look at their skin, there are purple marks on them."

"Really? What's the reason?"

"I don't know. I've never seen this kind of death."

Toby wanted to see the marks clearly. He reached out his hand. "Don't touch!" I shouted at him.

He immediately retracted his hand. "You scared me to death."

"Look around, there are no creatures. The ground under their bodies is bare without any weeds, and some animals have died next to them. They must have eaten the flesh on the bodies."

"So this mark is contagious?" He tilted his head and asked me.

"Yes, we'd better be careful."

I was going to take the samples of the bodies back to study, and a corpse in the pit rose.

"He's still alive!" I remembered seeing a very similar face when I asked the missing miners. He must be one of them.

"What's your name?" I shouted at the miner.

But he had already lost his self-consciousness. His throat made a meaningless noise as he walked toward me and Toby.

"Don't get close! Or we will kill you!" The miner did not understand the warning and continued to stumble toward us.

"I will kill him. Don't let him get close to you." Toby protected me behind him.

"Do you think you won't be infected?"

"I believe you will save me." Toby turned to look at me, revealing a familiar smile.

"Don't make a joke now!" I thought of more than a dozen countermeasures, but none of them worked. "If you die, your father will kill me."

Toby stretched out his claws. He was going to shift. "Come on, you know he won't."

"Toby! Don't" I grabbed his clothes.

"I love you. Now, run!" Toby pushed me away and ran to the miner.