What attracted Shalltear's attention the most was the building at the center of the circular base. It was a towering stone spire, at least six or seven stories high, though its footprint was not very large, seemingly occupying only about a hundred square meters at the core. Shalltear could clearly sense that the surface of this spire was constantly absorbing magic, gathering it upward until a twinkling magical glow erupted from the tip, shooting straight into the air and merging into the dome of the protective shield.
"If I'm not mistaken, that spire should be the core of the protective magic. This place is even more exaggerated than Master guessed; this isn't just some breeding base, it's practically a miniature wizard village," Shalltear couldn't help but exclaim as she looked at the scene below.
She then realized a problem: with such complete facilities, did it mean there were many wizards stationed here? It was late at night, and she could see five groups of wizards on patrol, with two people in each; counting those patrolling the mountains outside, there were over a dozen wizards just on the night shift. There must be corresponding guards during the day, plus the caretakers and veterinarians responsible for the magical creatures, and those wizards managing the operations—wouldn't that add up to nearly a hundred people?
"It's a good thing Master was cautious enough to scout ahead," Shalltear thought, wiping away a bead of sweat. "The manpower in this breeding base is at least several times more than we initially estimated; if we had just gathered a few people and rushed in, let alone alerting the enemy, they might not have even been able to retreat safely."
Germany truly lived up to its reputation as the headquarters of the Silver Spears; the number of people they could gather was outrageous. If it were true, as those two wizards suggested, that people rotated every six months, Shalltear estimated there were hundreds of wizards secretly working for the club throughout Germany. Many of them might not even know they were working for the Silver Spears; they might think it was a legitimate business.
After carefully observing the layout, Shalltear began to consider how to set up the surveillance. Direct downward targeting from above would be ideal, but there was no structure at that altitude that could support the monitoring spiders. Installing them on the dome would be most convenient, but it might trigger an alarm; she didn't possess Alan's alchemy skills to link the monitors to the magical circuits of the protective array, so she had to install them on the ground.
*That spire, being much taller than the other buildings, is a suitable mounting point; I can place four monitoring spiders there as wide-angle lenses overlooking the park. And one must be set up facing the main entrance of the spire. It would be great if it could be installed on the spire, but the risk is considerable, so I'll need to find a good opportunity. Currently, the spire's main door is completely sealed.*
*Additionally, two cameras need to be placed in the high-traffic entertainment area, one of which must face the bar. The guards' living quarters also need to be equipped; to see all of them clearly, I'll need to use a diagonal road perspective, which will require at least six cameras. And cameras must be installed in the animal park; I need to observe the main loop roads to find their patrol patterns, which will consume another five cameras. This means eighteen cameras will be used up, so the last two will be kept as spares. Over the next few nights, I can also wear a camera and take some aerial shots for Master from above.*
Ever since Shalltear began following Alan, besides serving as a product designer for the trading company, she had also received extensive training in reconnaissance, counter-reconnaissance, stealth, and combat. After only a brief observation, she had a basic plan.
She swooped down, evading the sight of the patrolling personnel, and landed steadily on the central spire. "Good, no strange alarms were triggered. It seems they haven't installed any alert magic on the outside of the tower," Shalltear whispered with a lucky smile after rashly rushing onto the spire. She was not as cautious as Alan; although her actions seemed risky, successful risks often brought great rewards.
After an hour, she had set up the monitoring spiders facing the four directions, carefully avoiding the patrolling personnel and placing the remaining spiders in their predetermined positions. Returning to the Re'em enclosure where she had entered, she had to see if there was a chance to return successfully. But even after timing it with a stopwatch, she couldn't find the exit hole in the barrier. Although she knew Alan had opened the gap, on such a high wall, she couldn't accurately locate the small hole—only about twenty centimeters wide—and she couldn't just guess and crash into it. This made Shalltear frustrated, but she cheered up; there was a backup plan. Next, she had to find a safe hiding place, as staying in such an open environment was risky.
Meanwhile, outside, Alan realized that Shalltear had not returned on time. He generally understood what had happened; that fellow probably couldn't find her way back. Such a gap, unless one had extremely keen sensory abilities like his, would be invisible to the naked eye. Fortunately, they had prepared a backup plan, but now that Shalltear was stuck in the breeding base, they had to speed up their actions; if she were exposed, it would not be worth it.
"Fortunately, after I opened the gap, I finally contacted that young Thunderbird. With my instructions, it should understand that Shalltear is one of us when it sees her. I hope Shalltear realizes this, but unfortunately, the signal interference here is too strong to contact her directly."
Alan shook his head helplessly; after an hour of research, he still wasn't completely confident in breaking through the protective shield without alerting the opponent. Now, he could only hope that Shalltear could provide him with more sufficient information from within. With a plan in mind, Alan quickly withdrew from the area; he still had to scout the other two breeding bases to determine if their defensive forces were consistent.
After working all night, Alan returned to his room in the Duden Building, slightly fatigued, as dawn approached. After a night of reconnaissance, he found that these three breeding bases were basically similar; whether in their external alert methods or the large protective barriers used to conceal the bases, all had a unified specification. The only difference was that two were located in West Germany, with large, similar footprints, while one was in East Germany, where the coverage area was obviously smaller.
"It seems Golden Knight's target is indeed West Germany; he intends to carve out all of it and make it a natural protective umbrella and breeding area for the club. Presumably, after the split is complete, the base in East Germany will also be moved to West Germany."
Alan reviewed the gains from the night, calmly simulating Golden Knight's thoughts, then found Hog, who had been monitoring the surveillance. "How is it? Any discoveries?"
"The headquarters and the other Silver Spear locations showed no abnormalities, but monitoring spiders 21-38 were activated, and Shalltear appeared in the footage in her bat form. Is that place where she is the Silver Spears' breeding base? Good heavens, that place is truly terrifyingly large." Hog was sitting professionally in front of a monitoring station, with dozens of monitors displaying various scenes.
"Very good, it seems Shalltear's infiltration work went well. Did she transmit any messages?" Alan nodded with satisfaction, staring at the display of the base's interior.
"Indeed, she did, but are you really comfortable letting her hide in that base alone?" Hog had obviously learned of Alan's plan from the images Shalltear sent back and couldn't help but sigh. Hog then handed a piece of parchment to Alan. "This is Shalltear's report. It seems this breeding base is even larger than we estimated, with an unexpectedly large number of personnel."
Alan took the parchment and read it carefully, then looked at the monitor. "Milan Claremont, is it? Perhaps we can use this person as a breakthrough. The scale of the breeding base is larger than expected. It seems these Silver Spear members are preparing to build it into a permanent resource base, perhaps not only for breeding magical creatures but also for training wizards."
"Are they planning to train an army again?" Hog was startled by the news; he knew what Grindelwald had done in the past. Was the Silver Spears going to repeat history?
"That possibility cannot be ruled out. Destroying these bases now has a higher priority." Alan frowned slightly, then looked at Hog. "How is the audio reception inside? Can you hear what's going on?"
"Most of the monitors are working normally, but the ones near the central spire of the base are experiencing interference, so basically no sound is coming through. Fortunately, Shalltear is quite smart; she specifically went to the edge area when she made her report earlier. She also mentioned that she plans to look for that young Thunderbird." Hog rarely spoke well of Shalltear.