Chapter 541: The Enemy's Grain Transport Team, An Ominous Guess

Jier carefully recorded the locations of two enemy hidden sentry posts and attempted to deduce the location of the mine in the forest based on their positions.

But it was not easy; two was still a bit too few.

Thus, Jier continued to control the Shadow Bird to follow behind the giant Spirit Dog, Upper Arm Armor, using it to find the enemy's location.

Upper Arm Armor, however, easily discovered the Shadow Bird that had been following it; even though the Shadow Bird made no sound while flying, and its dim, pitch-black form was easy to hide in the poorly lit forest, a Spirit Dog is a Spirit Dog, and it easily noticed the Shadow Bird.

But it did not attack or approach the Shadow Bird; it merely circled around it, sniffed it, then confirmed that the Shadow Bird could also see it, and thereafter ignored the Shadow Bird, which was ridiculously small compared to it.

The forest was almost entirely the same environment, with identical large trees. To confirm direction and make position markers, Jier repeatedly had the Shadow Bird use its wings, filled with shadow Divine Power, to attack the bark of the trees they passed, leaving cutting marks that he could discover.

After a good while, Upper Arm Armor and the rather exhausted Shadow Bird circled the vicinity a few times before returning to the place where Jier and Xueya Site were hiding.

"They're back."

Jier suddenly spoke up; he knew his companion could not see the Spirit Dog Upper Arm Armor, so he took the initiative to speak and remind him.

"Back? So, what did you find?" Xueya Site quietly moved his feet, causing the dead tree stump he had transformed into, which was covered in mushrooms, to move to Jier's side.

Jier signaled for Xueya Site to follow him, and the two moved before long to a place where they would absolutely not be seen by the enemy.

Here, Jier first deactivated the Plant Concealment Cloak, revealing his own form, and seeing this, Xueya Site also deactivated his cloak.

"It's safer here, not within the line of sight of any potential enemies nearby. Of course, the forest is quite quiet, so let's not speak loudly, and the enemy won't discover us."

After speaking, Jier took out paper and pen and began to mark the locations of the enemy's hidden sentry posts that Upper Arm Armor had discovered along the way and that he had marked with the Shadow Bird.

Of course, these were only the enemies in the circle around them, not all of them.

"Look, with the position we were just at as the center, heading west, you can encounter these three enemy sentry posts distributed almost side-by-side. Each of them is set up in a tree, with a wooden platform built to allow the sentry personnel to rest for long periods."

As Jier spoke, he simply drew the style of the enemy's wooden platforms.

But Xueya Site seemed distracted and was not paying attention to what Jier was saying. He kept turning his head to look left and right, as if searching for something.

Jier noticed this and immediately guessed why Xueya Site was like this, so he joked, "Stop looking, Upper Arm Armor is sitting right next to you, with its huge dog head and lolling tongue right above your head!"

Jier's words made Xueya Site look up in a panic, waving his hands back and forth above his head, as if wanting to push away the tongue he could neither see nor touch.

But in reality, the Spirit Dog Upper Arm Armor was sitting steadily beside the two of them, loyally standing guard, not at all as Jier had described.

"Alright, alright, I'm just joking with you, it's not like that. Upper Arm Armor is over there."

Jier pointed to the side, then walked over and stroked the empty air a few times.

In fact, while Jier had his back to Xueya Site, he took the opportunity to retract the Shadow Bird into his right eye, allowing the somewhat exhausted Shadow Bird to recover its strength.

"Back to the main topic, the enemies are all on these platforms, and the only way up is the rope on the platform; it won't be easy to have the Warriors take them down."

Jier shook his head.

Xueya Site asked a key question: "Then what is the average height of these platforms? Can we climb the trees to go up and attack the enemy? Or just have the Warriors use axes to chop down the trees the enemies are in, and let the enemies fall and be crushed to death?"

Jier shook his head again: "The height is about six meters; this isn't a height you can just climb up to on the spot. The enemy will discover us, will counterattack, will sound the alarm, and that way, we would only be able to launch a hard assault. Unlike Changmai Village, the enemy has a larger number this time, and they have a large number of hostages in their hands; they might rely on the hostages to negotiate with us, or even threaten and intimidate us, when they are losing."

"So in the early stages of the battle, it is best not to fight head-on if we can avoid it," Jier said.

"As for chopping down the trees where the enemy platforms are, that isn't realistic either, right? The commotion is too great, and the task of chopping down large trees during a battle is too risky."

Xueya Site stroked his beard with his hand and finally said: "Then there are only the last three methods."

Jier knew what the three were, but still let Xueya Site elaborate: "The first is for you, Jier, to be specifically responsible for dealing with these outer tree-based sentries when you launch the attack?"

Jier nodded affirmatively.

Xueya Site then said: "Or let me."

Saying this, he patted the massive Heavy Crossbow slung at his waist: "Let me use this new weapon to snipe the enemies one by one. This might take some time, but I guarantee that every Heavy Crossbow Bolt will take away an enemy. Especially with this Plant Concealment Cloak, with it, I can quietly get within close range of the enemy, ensuring the success rate of a one-bolt kill."

After finishing, he scratched his head: "But this might take quite a bit of time; every movement, aiming, attacking, and confirming the kill will take a lot of time. This time, for the battle..."

Jier waved his hand: "These are just the outer sentry posts; as long as we can eliminate them before the enemy changes shifts, the enemy won't know that someone has come to raid them. Don't worry, these enemies actually don't have high vigilance; after all, they are hiding in the mountains and forests, and this place isn't somewhere just anyone can find. If it weren't for Upper Arm Armor, we would probably have spent several more days just finding the locations of these enemies. And once we were spotted by one of the enemy's sentry posts while searching, we would have completely lost the possibility of a surprise attack."

Just at this moment, the Spirit Dog Upper Arm Armor, which had been sitting properly to the side, suddenly let out a "woof."

Its bark could only be heard by Jier himself, and he could vaguely understand the general meaning the Spirit Dog wanted to convey.

"Hmm?" Jier was startled, because the Spirit Dog Upper Arm Armor said it heard a group of people approaching nearby.

Jier immediately raised a finger, signaling for Xueya Site, who was about to speak, to shut up, then he tapped the Divine Emblem of the god of agriculture on his cloak and immediately relied on the cloak to hide.

Xueya Site's movements were not slow either; he leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree and activated the concealment effect of his cloak.

The two silently turned into two twisted vines climbing along the tree trunk from the ground. The vine image was very realistic; even if someone looked closely, many would probably be unable to distinguish them.

Jier then also heard the sound of people talking and moving through his sensitive ears.

Besides that, there was the heavy sound of several Plowing Oxen's hooves stepping on the ground.

The ground was soft, and the Plowing Oxen were heavy enough, so every step they took caused their hooves to sink into the ground before being pulled out with effort; the movement speed was not high, but the accompanying enemies did not seem to be in a hurry either.

Immediately after, Jier heard the sound of someone shouting from a tree not far away: "State the password!"

The Defeated Soldier on the ground seemed quite impatient: "Idiot, we are walking out from the Jiedian, what password do you need! Isn't the password something you only say when you come back?"

The sentry who had been snapped at seemed to curse something, and the Defeated Soldier below was not polite either, immediately retorting: "Yo, yo, yo, you just lie on the platform comfortably all day, without having to do any work, and the days just pass by comfortably like that. While we still have to work hard pushing Handcarts, driving oxen, and going to the village to transport grain. What else do you have to complain about? How about you and I switch?"

But the sentry in the tree was not polite either; after a huff, he immediately said he wanted to switch: "Fine, we'll switch when you come back. Don't you think my place here is comfortable? Then let's switch. There's not a single person here all day, and we can't even talk to each other, it's enough to bore a person to death. You guys are different; who doesn't know that after the grain is moved back, those villagers have to offer their bodies for you to sleep with if they want to get more grain? You guys have been having a blast these days, haven't you?"

The team below responsible for transporting grain to Changmai Village stopped talking; clearly, if they were really asked to switch jobs, they wouldn't want to.

So someone in the team below prevaricated: "Oh, who can do what job and who is responsible for what, that's not something we can decide ourselves; it's all arranged by the Captain. If you want to join us, go find the Captain next time you're resting; if he agrees to swap jobs, we'll swap. But if the Captain doesn't agree, then there's nothing we can do. You just sleep comfortably on your wooden platform, and we'll continue to work hard to transport grain."

The sentry in the tree huffed and stopped talking.

The grain transport team below also quickened their pace and passed through this area.

When they approached, Jier secretly sized up this grain transport team and found that the number of people was not large, about twelve, with five Plowing Oxen pulling small carts, as well as the wooden two-wheeled Handcarts that these Defeated Soldiers were pushing.

If the small carts pulled by the Plowing Oxen were fully loaded, they could probably pull six bags of grain, which was three hundred kilograms. And the small carts in the hands of the Defeated Soldiers could probably pull two bags of grain at a time, which was one hundred kilograms.

Twelve people could pull 1.2 tons of grain at a time, and five Plowing Oxen pulling carts could pull about 1.5 tons of grain at a time.

This team was not large in scale, and the amount of grain transported at one time was not much, only 2.7 tons, which was not enough for the captured villagers and these Defeated Soldiers to use for long.

This gave Jier a very bad premonition; could it be that in the mine controlled by the enemy at this time, too many captured Changmai Village villagers had already died? That was why they were only transporting this little bit of grain at a time?

This thought made Jier feel cold all over; if the villagers of Changmai Village had already died in large numbers over these days due to exhaustion, hunger, beatings, and torture, then wouldn't the most important purpose of his and Priest Bata'er's trip have failed?

Jier began to breathe rapidly and tensely, to the point that even the large cluster of climbing vines simulated by his Cloak could barely be maintained.

"Calm down, calm down!"

Jier forced himself to calm down, comforting himself: "It's fine. Even if I arrive late, the direct culprits causing the mass deaths of the villagers are not me, but those Defeated Soldiers. When the time comes, I'll just kill them all to avenge the villagers. Although it's a pity, if things really turn out that way, Priest Bata'er will likely have to accept this result, right?"

"After all, he still has New Hope Town, where the Refugee Team is located, to manage. He can save as many people as he can. Zhao Ji, don't be nervous, this has nothing to do with you. If things get messed up, it's a situation with no other choice. The situation in the entire Southern Province is bad; villages everywhere are being abandoned as people flee. It's not just you who is powerless; the Agricultural God Church in various places hasn't been seen to be of much use either. Believe that the Agricultural God can understand; He will certainly understand. The situation everywhere is deteriorating. Every day, every moment, countless farmers and believers suffer unjust treatment. Being able to save those hundreds of people in the Refugee Team on the road with Priest Bata'er has already unexpectedly fulfilled the needs of the Agricultural God."

"After all, if you think about it carefully, the Changmai Village villagers are Nongshen Believers, but aren't the young refugees in the Refugee Team also Nongshen Believers? Both palms and the backs of hands are flesh; being able to save half is already not bad."

These thoughts passed through his mind, and Jier managed to convince himself; he calmed down.

Meanwhile, Xueya Site beside him clearly hadn't thought of much more beyond the scale of the grain transport team.

At this moment, he was whispering to Jier to ask about the situation: "Jier, do you think we should..."

The meaning was self-evident: should they take care of this grain transport team halfway?

But Jier thought about it carefully and felt that it wouldn't be good for the two of them to look for an opportunity to take care of this grain transport team. Because no matter how slowly this grain transport team walked, they would always return to the enemy Jiedian in five or six days. And how large was the scale of the enemy's Jiedian? What was the situation in the Mine? How to find the key 【Messenger of Fire】 from the prophecy? How to conquer the enemy's Jiedian with the minimum cost while ensuring the survival of the most villagers—these were all very complex matters, and formulating a battle plan would require quite a bit of time.

If he and Xueya Site were delayed by this grain transport team, even if only for one day, he felt that time would be a bit tight.

Who could have imagined that just today, just a moment ago, the enemy dispatched a team to transport grain to Changmai Village? Clearly, the enemy was not yet aware of the loss of Changmai Village. But regardless, when this grain transport team returned in a few days, whether they could return safely or not, the enemy would know that the situation had changed.

If the grain transport team returned safely, the enemy would learn through them that their Jiedian at Changmai Village had been wiped out by an unknown enemy. They would certainly greatly strengthen their vigilance and might even have a bad premonition, planning in advance to execute all the Changmai Village villagers responsible for mining. Then, carrying the wealth exchanged for the Mineral Ore, they would shrink back into the depths of the Southern Mountains or wander to other places, and even Jier would have no way to deal with that.

And if the grain transport team did not return at the agreed time, the enemy would still know that something had gone wrong! The enemy might then dispatch another elite team to search for and support the grain transport team, or they might directly raise their vigilance, shrink their scale, execute the villagers, and prepare to move and hide at any time.

Therefore, Jier only had these few days left.

He must use these few days to work with Xueya Site to Scout out all the enemy's outer sentries and mark them. He also had to find the enemy's Jiedian, investigate the situation in the Mine, and confirm the current status of the captured Changmai Village villagers—their numbers, physical strength, level of hunger, injuries, and so on. Most importantly, he also had to formulate a method to defeat the enemy with low casualties.

And this had to be done while the enemy's overall scale and soldier quality were superior, formulating a plan to defeat the enemy.

Jier did not have much time left.

Therefore, he immediately made a decision: this outgoing grain transport team must die!

Because there were twelve of them, and the enemy had over seventy Defeated Soldiers in total; these twelve people already constituted a significant portion of the enemy's numbers. Being able to take care of these twelve people in the wild would be the best opportunity.

Moreover, the enemy was in the light and they were in the dark; they could completely ambush the other side.

Thinking of this, Jier kept an eye on his surroundings, confirming that he would not be seen by any hidden sentries on high ground, and that the grain transport team had walked far away. He removed his disguise, took out paper and pen, and wrote down some content on a piece of paper.

Afterwards, he said to the empty air: "Good dog, Big Nose, take this and head to the Yingdi I came from. Give it to the Agricultural God Church Priest Luosa-Bata'er; he will know what to do. Then you come back; I still need you here."

Woof, the Spirit Dog Big Nose understood the order and agreed.

In Xueya Site's eyes, Jier handed the written paper to a place where there was nothing, and as a result, the paper was suspended in mid-air, and the next moment it floated away more than a meter above the ground, floating faster and faster, and soon disappeared from sight.

"This? There really is something there!"

Even though he had experienced it more than once, Xueya Site still couldn't believe that a massive giant dog existed around him.

But he had to believe it.

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