Chapter 505: Barking Dogs, the Kitchen, Poisoning, and the Attack Plan

Jier moved lightly; although he had not undergone the systematic stealth training that thieves possessed, fortunately, his opponents were not particularly cautious enemies either.

On the third floor of this villager's house, several Defeated Soldiers were currently venting their inexhaustible physical strength and energy on innocent female villagers, and occasionally their loud cursing could be heard even in the courtyard outside the house.

At such times, one or two of the villagers' dogs would stand up and bark; once one started clamoring, it would lead the others to follow suit.

Unable to bear the annoyance, the Defeated Soldiers would walk out from outside the courtyard or inside the house, kicking and cursing to "pacify" these dogs kept by the villagers, which would be eaten sooner or later.

Therefore, Jier, who was lurking in the shadows outside the courtyard wall, had originally been troubled by how to sneak in without disturbing these dogs, but now that he saw this situation, he no longer needed to worry about it.

He seized the opportunity, and while loud curses from the abusing soldiers came from the third floor of the house once again, he flipped over and jumped from outside the courtyard into the courtyard.

The dogs had not yet had time to bark because of the loud cursing in the house when they caught sight of Jier, the uninvited guest. They immediately remembered their primary job and hurriedly rushed toward the direction where Jier was hiding, barking loudly. Because they had truly discovered this "intruder," they barked very hard, desperately trying to show off in front of their new masters.

But these foolish animals had mistaken the object of their fawning, because the barking was too loud this time; two Defeated Soldiers walked out from outside the courtyard and inside the house at once. The two of them walked over angrily, first greeting each other, and then picked up the leather whip hanging beside the Dog Kennel, waving it to lash these disobedient dogs fiercely.

"All you know is barking! All you know is barking! You've destroyed all of our sleep, you masters!"

"Exactly! Tomorrow we'll eat all of you! We'll peel your skin to make new boots for the brothers, and stew the meat for soup!"

With a few crackling sounds of the whip, those dogs shrank back into the Dog Kennel in fear, emitting whimpering sounds of begging for mercy. But these two soldiers were addicted to whipping, and they whipped one dog that couldn't squeeze into the Dog Kennel until its skin was torn and flesh was mangled, leaving it with only outgoing breath and no incoming breath.

"Hmph, it's fine if it's beaten to death; let's stew this one now, and it'll be just right to eat meat soup tomorrow morning!"

After speaking, the soldier who had come out of the house stepped forward, untied the Rope from the neck of the beaten dog, and dragged the dog's hind legs toward the kitchen on the side of the house. The other soldier waved the leather whip threateningly at the other dogs a few times, warning them: "All of you be honest with me; if you bark at me again, I'll slaughter and eat another one of you, understand?"

The dogs huddled in the narrow Dog Kennel, emitting fawning and surrendering whimpering sounds.

"Hmph!" After waving the leather whip a few more times, the soldier threw the whip on the ground and returned to outside the courtyard gate to stand guard.

Once he left, the dogs came out of the crowded Dog Kennel. First, they whimpered softly in the direction where their companion, who had been dragged away to be slaughtered, had left, and then they fiercely gnawed at the leather whip that had beaten and intimidated them on the ground.

These dogs, which bullied the weak and feared the strong, dared not be fierce toward the cruel Defeated Soldiers, but could only be fierce and tear at the inanimate tool that was the leather whip.

Jier, hiding in the shadows not far away, saw this scene clearly. He shook his head and found that those dogs indeed dared not bark at him in the shadows, so he carefully used the shadows of various things in the courtyard to sneak toward the kitchen on the side of the house.

As soon as he approached the kitchen, he heard the whimpering of the dog that had just been beaten, but this whimpering was of no use to the Defeated Soldiers who wanted to eat meat. The Defeated Soldier did not stand on ceremony, picked up an axe for chopping wood, and held it high.

His left foot firmly stepped on the dog's belly, and then the axe fell, Bang!

The dog's head rolled to one side.

The dog's body and four legs twitched, blood sprayed from the severed neck, and even urine and feces were expelled from under the dog.

The soldier cursed, then dragged the headless dog carcass, changed to a different spot, and the axe was lifted and fell lightly, lifted and fell, chopping off all four of the dog's paws one by one. Only then did he throw the axe aside and take out a Dagger to start skinning the dog.

Jier seized the opportunity and, while the man was focused on skinning, quietly slipped past behind him and arrived at the entrance of the kitchen.

The door of the kitchen leading to the courtyard was open, and a fire was still burning in the hearth late at night, stewing a pot of Wheat Porridge with meat and dried vegetables. In addition, a piece of poultry that had been caught earlier had also been plucked and gutted, and was placed on the wooden table in the kitchen.

Beside it was a large piece of yellowed salt, and a Small Iron Hammer for pounding the salt. There were also some chopped fruits piled to the side; it seemed the cooking soldier's level was not bad, as he actually knew to stuff the fruits into the cavity of the poultry to roast it, which would indeed make it taste better.

There was also a Bread oven in the kitchen, and this thing was radiating heat, obviously baking Bread throughout the night. And the baked Bread was stacked one by one in a basket to the side, enough for dozens of people to eat for several days at once.

In addition, sacks of grain containing wheat kernels were piled in the corner of the kitchen, and finely milled wheat flour was also carefully sealed at the mouth of the bag and placed on a separate wooden table. The mouth was sealed to prevent moisture in the air from affecting the finely milled wheat flour, affecting the taste, and avoiding insects.

Jier's stomach rumbled at this moment, and only then did he remember that he hadn't even eaten his dinner yet!

Needless to say, Jier hurriedly took a few pieces from the basket containing Bread, stuffed them into his clothes, and only then began to do what he had come to do.

Time was precious, and he didn't know how long the cooking Defeated Soldier would take to skin the dog, so Jier took out the Poison Mushroom Powder and opened the bag to pour some into the Wheat Porridge stewing on the hearth.

Afterward, he applied a layer of Poison Mushroom Powder to the cavity of the prepared poultry and used a wooden spoon to carefully and thoroughly spread it evenly to avoid being discovered.

In addition, Jier even mischievously sprinkled some Poison Mushroom Powder on every piece of Bread in the Bread basket.

"Hee hee, this is a delicious thing, all of you taste it for me!"

Jier put away the Poison Mushroom Powder bag, found the Water bottle containing water in the kitchen, unceremoniously stuck his hand in to scrub it for a while, and then sneaked out of the kitchen.

At this time, the soldier who had been skinning the dog had already finished skinning it and was currently gutting the dog with bloody hands, not noticing Jier who had slipped out of the kitchen at all.

Jier did not leave here directly, but first hid in the shadows of the courtyard wall, then bypassed the busy soldier who was a part-time cook, and secretly came to the other side of the house.

The courtyard here did not smell good, because in addition to free-range poultry, a temporary pigsty had been made here, and two fat, sturdy black-skinned Farm Pigs were lying in a mud pond of mud and feces, fast asleep.

It is said that wild boars in the wild are very alert, but these two closely related Farm Pigs were very careless, covered in mud and feces, and sleeping very soundly. Jier walked past their pigsty without them reacting at all.

The other free-range poultry had shrunk back into their respective cages, secretly observing Jier, for fear that Jier would catch one of them and stew it to eat.

Seeing that these poultry were not looking for trouble with him, Jier hurriedly came to the house, and with the help of the open wooden window on the first floor, carefully poked a quarter of his head out from the corner to carefully spy on the room inside the wooden window.

The room inside was connected to the main hall of the house, and the main hall had many Oil Lamps lit, so there was enough light shining out from the main hall, making the various rooms with open doors bright as well, and through the wooden windows of the rooms, the light was further shone outward, illuminating part of the courtyard.

This was why the previous soldier could skin the dog in the courtyard in the middle of the night, because the courtyard by the kitchen was quite bright.

Jier carefully spied on the situation in the room and found that the room's furnishings were relatively simple: just a bed, a wardrobe, a Wooden Box, and a wooden table with a chair. On the wooden table, there was also a ceramic Water bottle, with an upside-down wooden cup beside it. There had originally been a simple vase, but the flowers in the vase had long since rotted, yet no one had bothered with it.

The room's furnishings were simple, but at this moment it looked messy, because the Defeated Soldier living in the room was obviously not a person who cleaned the room diligently.

At this time, the Defeated Soldier was lying on the bed shirtless, with his mouth wide open, emitting loud snoring sounds.

One of his taken-off Boot was on the floor, and the other was cast aside on the wooden chair nearby. The soldier's set of weapons and equipment was also piled casually on the wooden table, and his Soldier Armor was draped over the half-open wardrobe door instead of being hung inside the wardrobe.

Half a moldy piece of Bread had also fallen on the floor of the room, and there were even two house mice the length of a finger, currently feasting on this moldy Bread.

The most alert things in the whole room were these two house mice; they discovered Jier who was spying, so they stopped eating and poked their heads to look at Jier, staring at each other for a while.

Jier raised his eyebrows, found that there was nothing in the room, and pulled his head back. And discovering that the person spying outside the wooden window was gone, these two bold house mice continued to eat. Not only did they start eating, they also called other house mice under the wooden bed to come out for a meal.

Jier carefully came under another wooden window nearby and found the sound of people talking inside the wooden window.

He carefully judged the direction of the sound source and found that it was roughly not in the room, but at the doorway of the room. Therefore, Jier carefully spied into the room from the corner of the window and found that the room was just as messy, but no one was living in it.

At the open doorway of the room, two Defeated Soldiers were sitting back on wooden chairs at the door talking.

He paid attention and found that they were mostly complaining about their Captain, seemingly dissatisfied with the number of female villagers the Captain had left for them, actually complaining that the number of people was too small.

Afterward, Jier came to the outside of other rooms on the first floor and carefully spied on the situation in the house.

He found that even though it was the middle of the night, many soldiers were still not resting, arm-wrestling, eating, chatting, and bragging in the main hall of the house; everything was there, it just seemed to be missing a bowl of wine.

And some of the Defeated Soldiers were sleeping in their respective rooms, exhausted, and none of them closed the doors or windows, not worried about the loss of personal items.

If one considered that they didn't have many personal items, and the personal wealth they currently possessed was mostly obtained by looting the homes of the Changmai Village villagers, then there was nothing to hide.

And the whole village was this group of people; the only outsiders before were the female villagers who were being guarded on the third floor.

With no one else, naturally there was no need for any anti-theft measures.

Furthermore, there were sentries on the perimeter and the walls of the Cunzi, so it was only natural for these Defeated Soldiers to be so careless here.

Jier then attempted to check the situation on the second floor of the house, but after trying, he found it difficult to do so.

To reach the second floor from outside the house, one had to jump up, grab the wooden window frame of a second-floor room, and then peer inside. But there was a very troublesome aspect to this: Jier made no sound when jumping up, but no matter how he did it, he would make a "thud" sound upon landing.

This was too conspicuous, so Jier had no choice but to give up on doing so.

Additionally, he could rely on the two Daggers he carried to slowly chisel out two climbing paths upward on the exterior wall of the house, similar to how he climbed the Grain Warehouse.

But his Daggers were not some divine weapons, and digging into the exterior wall of the house would inevitably make some noise. Unlike the Grain Warehouse, this house had more people and the distance was closer; he could hear the people inside the house talking and chatting, so how could the people inside not hear the sound of digging on the wall outside?

This method was also abandoned by Jier.

Subsequently, he thought of a way to reach the second floor from inside the house.

But Jier soon gave up, because the stairs leading to the second floor inside the house were located right on one side of the first-floor hall. And at this time, even though it was already the middle of the night, there were several Defeated Soldiers active in the hall of the house.

Unless he could turn invisible, it was impossible for him to reach the second floor of the house without being discovered.

Therefore, Jier gave up on the plan to continue scouting upward, snuck out of the courtyard, arrived at the street outside the courtyard, then secretly passed by the surrounding unoccupied houses to find Bata'er Jiaoshi, who had been waiting for him for a long time.

"Warrior Jier, how did it go? Did you put the Poison Mushroom Powder into their food?"

Jier chuckled and nodded: "I put it in everything. The Wheat Porridge stewing on the fire, the Bread that was already made and left to cool, and the poultry about to be roasted—I added the Poison Mushroom Powder to all of them. We can withdraw now and come back tomorrow morning. Heh heh, these people will definitely have a hell of a time by then!"

"And the situation inside the house?"

Jier shook his head: "I barely managed to look into the rooms with windows on the first floor, but there was no way for the second floor and the important third floor. There was no way for me to sneak to the second or third floor of the house without being discovered by the enemy. There are quite a few people in the house, and no matter what I do, it will make a significant sound. Reckless action will arouse the enemy's vigilance and attention. To avoid being discovered by them, I didn't risk going in."

"I see..." Bata'er Jiaoshi was somewhat disappointed, but he understood Jier. After all, the attack early tomorrow morning was the most important thing; they could not risk being discovered by the enemy and raising their vigilance just for the sake of scouting.

But Jier then proposed another method: "Don't worry, and don't be disappointed. It's not like I don't have other ways. Look, I can completely rush here the moment the attack starts tomorrow. You all find a way to eliminate the perimeter guards of the Cunzi one by one, while I raid this place, jump to the third floor of the house first, kill the enemies on the third floor, and then rescue those female Villagers."

"But what about after that? Will you, Warrior Jier, protect them the whole time? The pressure on my frontal battle will increase!" Bata'er Jiaoshi spread his hands, looking troubled.

"No, no, no. After I kill the enemies on the third floor as quickly as possible, I will find a way to destroy the stairs to the third floor of the house and find something to block the passage leading to the third floor. This way, the enemy won't be able to catch the female Villagers on the third floor in the short term. Afterward, I will leave that place, go to support you all, and kill every enemy who intends to leave Changmai Village," Jier said.

Bata'er Jiaoshi thought about it; this was already the best method. If their battle tomorrow morning went smoothly enough, they could not only annihilate the enemies in Changmai Village but also rescue the imprisoned female Villagers. Furthermore, they would not let a single enemy escape to spread the news, preventing the enemies in the mountain forest from knowing about the situation of this attack, thereby bringing them the initiative to launch further attacks.

"Very good, let's do it! Warrior Jier, after the battle starts tomorrow, I leave the matter of rescuing those poor female Villagers to you. Of course, if you fail to rescue them, it can't be helped; I will kill those Defeated Soldiers to avenge them."

"Please feel free to go all out tomorrow! As for our attack here, please don't worry," Bata'er Jiaoshi said.

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