"Blueprints for the city's life-support systems, designs for high-pressure mining rigs, or perhaps something even more experimental. That reminds me... I found the warehouses, the residents, and the blueprints, but I haven't seen the actual mining locations yet."
He suddenly realised this simple yet glaringly important point. He had focused so intensely on the city, the interrogation of the captives, and the seizure of the stored ore that he had missed the source itself. What puzzled him was that despite sending hundreds of teams to scour the city, not a single one had reported finding an entrance to a mine.
"Time to see if someone has the answer."
He wasn't powerless in the face of this mystery. Whenever a puzzle appeared, he simply referred the question to his massive network of interrogated captives. With hundreds of thousands under his soul-contracted control, the truth couldn't stay hidden for long. Soon enough, the answer arrived in a flurry of reports.
