Chapter 386: River Mouth Town on a Midsummer Night—Four Horror Stories and Four Young Men

The Northern Border wolf returned along the original path, its form powerful and agile, its four wolf paws treading over flying wildflowers and lush wild grasses, heading south all the way from the border region of the northern part of the Da Sen Lin.

It soon left the dangerous, exposed area and entered the Da Sen Lin, sheltered by the boundless shade of the great trees in the forest.

It stopped to rest for a moment, taking the opportunity to spit out the Luminous Vine in its mouth to check it for a moment; after confirming it was correct, it set off again just as before.

Being clever, it remembered all the dangerous areas it had encountered on the way, so it steadily bypassed those places, never taking risks at this moment. Even though it felt full of strength and inexhaustible energy at this time.

It ran and ran, trekking a long distance through the forest; when its body felt truly too hot in the sweltering midsummer, it would look for the ponds and pools it had noted along the way. After boldly jumping in to drench itself in the cool water, it would immediately get back on the road.

It ignored the roars of other fierce animals drinking water or guarding the pools behind it.

Soon, in one-third of the time it took to go, it returned from the northern region to the cold cave where the Wolf King lived.

At this time, it was burning with heat; dizzy from the heat, it entered the exterior of the cave where the Wolf King resided without much thought. The biting cold that remained in the midsummer quickly made its head clear.

And at this moment, the Wolf King's questioning voice also came from deep within the cave.

It immediately lay down, spat out the still-fresh and glowing vine sprout from its mouth, and whined to explain its situation truthfully.

Unexpectedly, the Wolf King did not blame it too much for its intrusion, but instead praised its cleverness with a smile in its voice, and asked it to let the Wolf King see the Luminous Vine it had brought all the way.

Not daring to say no, it picked up the Luminous Vine sprout in its mouth, quickly walked through the cave path leading downward, and arrived before the Wolf King under the illumination of the ice pillars emitting a pale, ghastly fluorescent glow in the deepest part of the cave.

Unexpectedly, the Wolf King was lying on the ground at this time, its huge body reclining casually. And in the empty space in the deepest part of the cave, many huge Wolf Skins of the same color as the Wolf King were floating and drifting.

It was astonished, its gaze staring blankly at the huge, hollow white Wolf King pelts flying back and forth in the air. The Luminous Vine sprout it was holding in its mouth fell to the ground.

However, following the Wolf King's lazy reminder, it came back to its senses, picked up the item again, walked in small steps to the Wolf King, and offered the Luminous Vine sprout it had obtained.

The Wolf King did nothing, only bringing over its wolf head, which was as huge as its entire body, staring at the thing for a while, then sniffing and smelling it.

And then it was over.

Having received instructions, it held the thing in its mouth again, performed a courtesy, and backed away from the Wolf King's sight.

The Wolf King said nothing in the end, only approving of its action this time.

After exiting the cold cave again, it headed south along the familiar path; when passing its wolf den, it was in a hurry to get on its way and did not go back to see its companions and the wolf pups that were growing sturdily.

Arriving at the southern part of the Da Sen Lin, it spurred itself on, running fast along the previous route, only drinking water at some safe ponds in between to replenish moisture, and then splashing some water on its body to cool down.

Walking out of the Da Sen Lin, it arrived at the Shitou Tong Dao, ran and jumped straight through it, and came to the smaller southern forest.

This time, it followed the scent trails it had left on its previous trip, bypassed all dangerous and mysterious areas, and safely passed through the entire forest.

Arriving at the hilly terrain in the south of the forest, it once again encountered other Northern Border wolves hunting in this area; it hurriedly greeted them and ran past them.

After the terrain descended, it arrived at the open confluence of rivers; it finally slowed its pace and carefully moved forward while hiding. Because there would be some annoying Human Hunters coming and going here.

It is very dangerous for a single Northern Border wolf to meet a pair of Human Hunters, so it neither hunted for food nor walked openly in the open area, using lush shrubs and weeds to cover its tracks and form the whole way.

Carefully arriving at the outermost edge of the Human fields, it hid in the grass, observing the humans using wood and metal to till the soil and clear the miscellaneous plants growing in the fields, while waiting for the scorching sun to set and for it to be dark before taking action.

It noticed that several humans who were punished for unknown reasons were trapped on a platform outside the Wooden Wall of the human nest; these guys who were trapped and could not protect themselves were exactly what it needed.

It did not need to risk being discovered by the large group of humans working during the day and rush out to attack humans during the day. Nor did it need to find a way to swim around the tall Wooden Wall after dark at night to attack lone humans in the human nest.

Those were all too dangerous.

Once discovered, it might end up being chased and beaten by a group of humans; although the two-legged humans certainly could not catch up to the four-legged it, wouldn't that mean failing the challenge?

Considering these, it carefully crawled down in the grass, spat out the slightly wilted Luminous Vine sprout in its mouth, pressed it down with its wolf paw, and closed its eyes to rest beautifully.

On the Wooden Execution Platform outside the wall of River Mouth Town, several young men who had been sentenced to two days in the Wooden Pillory for fighting while waiting in line to fetch water were listlessly bickering with each other. The scorching sun was like the short leather whip in the hands of the Militia, high above, constantly whipping them.

The four of them no longer had the high spirits they had in the morning when they fought for cutting in line. The Militia did not directly ask these young men for security fines or reward them with a few lashes, but more insidiously gave them a lesson deep enough.

Namely, being locked up on the Wooden Execution Platform outside the north gate of the main town of River Mouth Town for two days.

This was not only shameful, as they would be mocked by every farmer and farm wife who left the town to farm and tend the fields, but they would even be surrounded and teased by those half-grown boys.

And this also meant that they could not help with the work in their family's fields for two days. Although their families were ashamed and did not mention this matter much.

The Wooden Pillory that locked the four of them was the kind that required bending down to put the head and hands through three wooden holes separated into two halves by hinges; after bending down and lying flat, the Wooden Pillory was closed from behind the neck, and then fixed by inserting a long metal nail into the fixing loop on one side.

It was certainly impossible to break free from this thing by oneself, but if there were outsiders, they could naturally release them very conveniently.

It was just that even their families did not dare to.

Of course, being trapped like this must be very uncomfortable. Actually, it was okay; with legs straightened and buttocks stuck out, the posture was ugly, but standing for a day was nothing to these young men. It was just that eating and excreting were very troublesome.

When eating, family members would come over, and the younger brothers and sisters at home would replace the parents who were too ashamed to come, carrying small baskets to feed the four of them. Although they would be teased by their families, they could just fix their younger brothers and sisters when they went back.

At this time, they would also compare the food sent by their families to see who was the one more favored at home.

Eating and drinking were easy to solve, but excretion was very troublesome.

The Wooden Execution Platform was right by the road outside the north gate of the town, and there were always people at the town gate; if the four of them wanted to excrete, they had to blush and ask for help from the Militia guards on the gate guard tower. Every time this happened, those Militia guards who were a few years older than them would mock and curse them, saying things like they still had to serve these little bastards in pooping and peeing.

These guys were not only unforgiving with their mouths, but their actions were also sluggish; they would often dawdle for a long while before leisurely coming over to open the Wooden Pillory for the young men who were in a hurry, letting the exhausted young men go to the nearby wild fields to relieve themselves quickly.

If they were slow in their movements, they would also be rewarded with a punch or a kick.

Usually, they didn't think these guys were hateful, but every time this happened, the four young men who fought because of the queue would hate these guys immensely.

However, these were all okay; when the sky darkened and the farmers who went out to work returned to River Mouth Town in scattered groups, the entrance outside the town, which was usually full of popularity, would appear particularly terrifying as the north gate closed.

They were all guys who grew up in the town since childhood, so they naturally had heard various horror stories that their family elders had told them since they were young to scare them into sleeping early or helping with chores.

It was fine at first; although it was dark, the town separated by a wall was bustling with noise, and the sounds of every household cooking, fighting, crying, and laughing made them feel relatively calm. The four of them even started chatting, exchanging horror stories they had heard.

Someone brought up the story of the underwater Monster often told by fishermen; this story was ten-tenths true, after all, they were residents living at the confluence of rivers, and everyone had more or less seen the river Monster flipping its body in the wide and deep river channel. However, that thing never attacked humans, so although the Monster looked terrifying, in the occasional advocacy of the Church Priest of the God of Rivers and Lakes, everyone thought that guy was a creation of the god that the god loved to raise to watch over human waters.

Some fishermen who believed in this deeply would even paint the image of that Monster on their own fishing boats with expensive waterproof paint to pray for protection and blessing.

Whether it was useful or not, they didn't know, but at least the Church Priest was quite satisfied with the other party's actions.

Another young man brought up the man-eating house that the generation before the last had encountered a long time ago; when talking about this, all four of them shivered. They had not seen this story, and it was hard to say whether the man-eating Monster in the story was made up by the older generation, but the story said in no uncertain terms that the graves of many people in Duokou Town, southwest of River Mouth Town, could testify to it.

After all, these were not horror stories from far away, but stories that happened right beside them; although it was hard to say if they were true, the parts of the stories that overlapped with their daily lives still made them feel a chill in their hearts on this sweltering night.

The third young man turned his neck, looked at the three moons hanging high in the sky, and brought up the horror story he had heard from Merchants.

It was not in their Kendall, but in other parts of the distant Kingdom, or even further away, there were some Monsters that were the same as normal humans. They wore the appearance of humans, but inside they hid a deep longing from their bloodline.

Whenever they saw a full moon of the other two moons besides the Silver Moon among the three moons, they would turn into Monsters. During the full Earth-Yellow Moon, they would change into huge four-legged Monsters, running like the wind, with an appetite that could never be satisfied. During the full Blood-Red Moon, they would change into Monsters with roughly human appearances, possessing immense strength, longing for slaughter, and having a desire for slaughter that could never be satisfied.

The other three young men thought it was interesting and asked directly what would happen if all three moons were full? What if the Silver Moon and the Earth-Yellow Moon were full at the same time? If the Silver Moon and the Blood-Red Moon were full, would it be different? Finally, if they encountered the Earth-Yellow Moon and the Blood-Red Moon being full together, would the Monster be particularly powerful? Could the town's Lord Knight beat it?

The third young man was stumped and stammered, unable to say much: "Anyway, the Merchant who came to my house to buy grain only said that much. As for the specific situation, I'll ask clearly next time when autumn comes, alright?"

The last young man felt it was his turn, so even though he was trapped, he still spoke quite excitedly about a different horror story he knew.

This was something he heard from his mother, and it happened just this year. In the spring, a woman who had hitched a ride alone from a southern Caravan came to seek refuge with their next-door neighbor. At first, no one thought much of it; after all, everyone was basically a migrant who had moved from other places, and upon arriving at a new place, it was natural to seek out relatives and friends. A woman on her own could basically settle down easily in an unfamiliar area; as long as she found a young man to marry, that was that, and she would soon integrate into the local production and life.

However, not long after that woman sought refuge with his neighbor, everyone discovered that she had already been pregnant for a long time. In the spring, they had thought it was just because she was wrapped in thick clothing, so they hadn't noticed.

But this was nothing; as long as the child born was healthy, River Mouth Town, which lacked population, would welcome it. The young men in town who weren't married didn't mind, as the child could just be adopted by the neighbor to be raised. Everyone was a migrant, and they could basically understand anything that might have happened to a woman alone on a long journey. For example, a husband who migrated with her might have gotten sick and died on the road, or she might have met some scumbag who took advantage of her and then abandoned her, or she might have been taken advantage of by some ill-intentioned male migrants in the group during the journey.

Everyone had actually seen plenty of such things.

However, that woman was not only gloomy but also quite desperate. Some time ago, at the turn of spring and summer, the woman gave birth to the child.

Before the Church Priest could go over to bestow a blessing upon the newborn child, something unexpected happened. After the woman took one look at her child, she immediately went mad and, ignoring the obstruction of her neighbor, strangled the newborn child to death with her own hands.

This incident led the Church Priests who arrived later to believe it was an omen of ill fortune, so they immediately cremated the dead infant. Unexpectedly, when it was burning, not only did a large amount of black smoke emerge from the infant's tiny body, but that black smoke even condensed into the shape of a terrifying Monster.

Although it sounded terrifying, the Church Priests later used methods to eliminate the black smoke along with the infant's corpse on the ground entirely.

The scene at that time could likely be seen by half the town.

Speaking of this, the other three young men all remembered that not long ago, on a certain day, while they were working in the fields, a very high and large strange light had risen from the direction of the residents' houses on one side of the town.

At the time, everyone had been ordered by the masters in town not to ask about it, and they hadn't expected the situation behind it to be like this.

One young man then asked what happened to the woman who gave birth to the child.

The fourth young man told the subsequent situation with an ugly expression.

Afterward, before the Priests could even interrogate the woman, she ran out of the house and threw herself into the water to commit suicide. She was not a local and had not been there long, and she had not yet learned how to swim, so she was quickly swept downstream by the rolling Kendall River; it was too late for anyone to sail a boat to save her.

As for what exactly happened to that woman during her journey, it became a matter they would never understand, along with her death.

After the story was finished, the young men didn't feel hot anymore; they only felt that this midsummer night was exceptionally chilly. They felt some regret that they shouldn't have done this. However, they couldn't rest while serving their punishment, and they would have to wait until tomorrow evening at the earliest for it to end; they were definitely going to suffer this night.

However, something even more terrifying to them came soon after.

Compared to ethereal horror stories or mysterious events that had nothing to do with them, for these four young men, when a rustling sound of animal footsteps came from the field road on the outskirts and approached them in a straight line, these four young men, who had just listened to a horror story and were thus full of spirit, realized that a story was just a story after all, and it could not be compared to a life-threatening situation.

There were lit Torches on the north gate of the town not far from the Wooden Execution Platform, so even though it was the middle of the night, by the light of the distant fire and the faint, gloomy light from the stars and moon in the sky, they could still see the emptiness around them.

They soon discovered two bright, shining spots hanging in the air on the dirt road they usually walked. That thing was staring straight at the four of them and was approaching them with a series of footsteps.

At first, the four young men thought that something from the horror story had appeared, so they were very afraid, muttering nonsense like "I'm sorry" or "I won't do it again." But as those two bright spots drew closer, they finally realized what it was.

It was the eyes of a wolf as big as a person.

Thus they were even more afraid; after all, compared to ghosts and monsters, this kind of thing that could truly take a life was even more terrifying, especially since they often heard news of passing Caravans being attacked by a Wolf Pack, who was killed, or who had their legs or palms bitten off by wolves.

"No!"

"Guard! Guard! There is, there is, there is a wolf!"

However, as soon as two of the young men shouted, the Northland wolf approaching from the opposite side closed in rapidly and revealed a fierce look. This made it so they couldn't shout another word; it was clear that if they screamed, this wolf as big as a person in front of them would viciously bite their heads off.

That was bad enough, but if the wolf on the opposite side circled behind them, it would be even worse.

The four young men trembled all over, struggling hard against the Wooden Pillory that trapped them, but unfortunately, this was not something they, as ordinary people, could break while trapped.

"What do we do, what do we do?" one young man asked his companions in a low voice, his teeth chattering.

Because the sound was not loud, the wolf on the opposite side did not react, but just walked step by step onto the Wooden Execution Platform, looking at the four of them curiously.

"I don't know, I don't know, who are you asking me? God of Agriculture, God of Agriculture, great one, please come and save your believer; I will never tell those stories again. I really won't ever again."

"Me too, me too, it's all my fault, why did I start telling these? Please save me, please save me. I will never cut in line when fetching water again."

The Northland wolf even sniffed behind their backs, which immediately made one of the most cowardly young men pee himself, and the Northland wolf, as big as a person, moved away from him in disgust.

Returning to the four of them, the Northland wolf brought its wolf head in front of the four young men, sniffing their faces with its black nose; the young man who had just peed was scared unconscious by the wolf head and the sharp teeth in its mouth right before him.

With a strange "woo" sound, his whole body went limp on the Wooden Pillory. As his body slumped, his neck was stretched long, and soon the unconscious man's face turned purple and black from suffocation.

Although the other three young men were terrified, they all realized that if they fainted at this time, they would instead die on the Wooden Pillory.

So they just kept their eyes tightly shut, teeth chattering, and muttered something.