Chapter 673: The Darkest Moonless Night (Part 10)

Their so-called "acting according to plan" meant not engaging in reckless and crude confrontations with the numerous young refugees, but rather killing two or three to create an atmosphere of terror, driving and intimidating the other young refugees who had lost the will to fight toward the pitch-black Shanglu.

Refugees who do not often eat meat have decent vision within the range illuminated by campfires, but once they are away from the light on this moonless night, they become blind, unable to see anything at all.

By then, let alone a dozen or so strong Bandits, even just a few would be enough to drive and bind a hundred refugees.

Otherwise, if they were to act like those idiots in the south and fight head-on, it is not that it wouldn't work, but firstly, there are many refugees, and if everyone fought back when in danger, how long would those Bandits have to work to suppress these hundreds of people?

Secondly, in the eyes of these Bandits who work with their brains, refugees are money; dead refugees are worthless, and only the living can finally be exchanged for bright Silver Coins at the collection point in the east.

It feels good to cut someone down now, but cutting down one person means losing one Silver Coin; thinking of this, the greedy Bandits cannot bear to use their blades. They wish these refugees would one by one obediently let themselves be tied up, obediently let themselves be escorted away, and obediently let themselves be sold for money.

As for what the fate of these people will be after being sold, these Bandits cannot care; after all, they are Bandits, heartless and rotten guys. Morality? Obeying the law? Reputation?

They have none of these. They only believe in power and in the Bandit Leader who can bring them profit and benefits.

Subsequently, the strong, middle-aged Bandit Leader waved his hand, and several of his trusted subordinates jumped out from the shadows, walking quickly and rushing toward the edge of the young refugees standing in a row.

"Ya-ah-ah-ah-oh-oh-oh!"

Making strange noises, a Bandit holding a Curved Saber and wearing simple Leather Armor jumped over the campfire, landed, and walked quickly forward, slashing at the head of a young man.

"Use Stones to smash them! Do it!"

Bataer Jiaoshi stood in the middle of the crowd; he had the best vision, and seeing someone rush out to attack, he directed the people to throw Stones.

These Stones were the best weapons his young refugees could produce at the moment; apart from that, they only had their own fists and feet to fight with.

Several young people standing at the edge heard the Priest's order, immediately pushed aside those blocking them, and threw the Stones in their hands forward.

"Tch, Stones? Taste them yourselves, you lot."

This Bandit nimbly dodged the first few Stones, then grabbed the arm of the young refugee closest to him, pulled him out of the huddled crowd amidst the other's screams, and used this young man directly as a human shield to block the subsequent few Stones.

The young refugee, who had been hit by several Stones, was bleeding from the head; not daring to curse the strong Bandit who was firmly gripping his arm, he had no choice but to turn his head and curse the few young people who had thrown the Stones at him.

"Yes, yes, yes, just like that, haha, fight with them."

This Bandit was very malicious; seeing the conflict stirred up, he released the person in his hand, then kicked him in the buttocks, kicking him toward the few young people who had dared to fight back with Stones.

The released, injured refugee was stunned and about to flee when the strong Bandit's threat came from behind: "If you don't want to taste the feeling of a sharp blade cutting your back and chest, then fight those few people, haha, I'm watching you."

Hearing this, the young refugee, still bleeding from his head, did not know where a burst of strength came from; he swung his wild punches and pounced on the few young people who were holding Stones and daring to fight.

After pouncing over, this person swung his fists directly at the young people's faces, and also grabbed the other's arms, causing the Stones they were holding to fall to the ground, shouting loudly: "So it was you few who threw Stones at me, trash, trash, trash! Look at my head, it's bleeding, you don't dare throw at the enemy, but you dare throw at my head, right? Right!"

Entangled together, several people fought into a ball.

That Bandit laughed loudly, his Curved Saber waving casually, occasionally approaching the huddled crowd, slashing the arms of one or two young refugees who looked like they might resist to create fear, and together with several other trusted subordinates who had rushed out, forced the refugee crowd into chaos and retreated in the direction they wanted.

Not retreating toward the open space, as that place was covered with rising campfires and had good lighting conditions, which was unfavorable for the subsequent plan. Therefore, these Bandits were like Shepherd Dogs driving a flock of sheep, barking wildly as they drove the refugees toward the east, near the Shanglu.

The front facing the Shanglu was occupied by the bravest young refugees; this group of Bandits was clever enough not to confront these people head-on, but started from the sides with the less brave ordinary young people, driving the larger number of them to disrupt the formation of the brave ones in front, letting those under command be drowned by the panicked crowd, ultimately turning the situation where the refugees were many and the Bandits were few into what the Bandits most wanted to see: a local situation where the Bandits were many and the refugees who dared to fight were few.

The strong, middle-aged Bandit Leader narrowed his eyes like a beast, watching with satisfaction as his trusted subordinates pushed the situation bit by bit toward where he hoped to see it go.

Just at this moment, the south side of the open space suddenly lit up for a short moment; this unusual scene attracted his attention.

At the same time, Bataer Jiaoshi in the crowd also noticed it.

The Priest, as if suddenly reminded, led people through the chaotic crowd, pushing aside the young refugees, passing through a circle of refugees holding simple Wooden Sticks beside Jier's carriage, and climbed directly onto Xueya Site's grassland horse: "I'll take the horse, Mr. Siter, Jier said you can support the fight, then show me."

Inside the carriage canopy, Xueya Site, holding a Crossbow, responded: "No problem, which direction do you want to deal with?"

After mounting the horse, Bataer Jiaoshi's line of sight was very good; having escaped the crowded situation on the ground, his face changed drastically after he finally looked around left and right.

Having received church education since childhood, he could be considered quite knowledgeable and cultured; based on his impressions of dramas about war, it was not difficult for him to see what sinister intentions the Bandits had.

This group of people wanted to drive the young refugees onto the pitch-black Shanglu, and then with a small number of people, they could capture all the refugees who had night blindness.

But the Priest did not want to see heavy casualties after confronting the Bandits head-on, so with a grim face, he pointed at the Bandits in front of the crowd: "Deal with the ones opposite, their leader seems to be in that direction, as soon as you see the shadows of the Bandits, shoot directly and drive them back."

Xueya Site had actually seen the Bandits' intentions the first moment he was in the carriage; to be honest, as a veteran Caravan guard who had worked for more than ten years, he knew something about the various methods of Bandits and had personally experienced some.

He was actually not worried about this group of Bandits, which was roughly only a dozen or so, less than twenty people; after all, even if they were eight hundred pigs, these Bandits were insufficient in number and could not control them at all.

What he was really worried about was Jier in the south; although the light and heat generated by the campfires in the open space blocked his view, he could judge how intense the battle in the south of the open space was just from the sounds of killing coming from the south.

"Okay, Priest."

But he chose to trust the Warrior Jier; after all, although he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, just hearing people talk, he understood that a young man who had participated in resisting swarms of Harpy monsters and had played a role in the battle would not be defeated by these ordinary Bandits.

The facts were also like this; if it weren't for Nobi-Feisibilu and his group, the situation Jier encountered would basically be about the same as what Xueya Site expected.

Xueya Site carefully extended the Crossbow halfway out of the carriage; with the cover of the carriage's leather curtain and the flickering firelight around, he did this without being seen by the Bandits in the shadows not far away.

Using the illumination from the scattered firewood that had been thrown over earlier, he locked onto a young Bandit.

That Bandit was bare-chested, wearing a pair of animal-hide pants on his lower body, holding a Long Sword, and was boisterously not taking the hundreds of young refugees in front of him seriously.

On the front where the Bandits and refugees were confronting each other across the Shanglu, this young Bandit was originally following the leader's instructions, occasionally seizing the opportunity to rush out, going up to fight a few times with the unarmed refugees, and retreating after casually wounding a few people.

But at this moment, this young Bandit's eyes suddenly lit up, seeing that there were actually women among the young refugees who dared to fight. Although the other party held a Short Knife, this Bandit judged at a glance that this female refugee had no skills; not only could she not hold the knife steadily, but she probably hadn't killed anyone either, and at this moment, in this chaotic occasion, she looked distracted, turning her head again and again to look at the south of the open space behind her.

"Haha, little beauty, where are you looking? Look at me, how good I am!"

This young Bandit could not hold back, rushed forward waving the sharp sword in his hand, beat back several young refugees to the left and right, and also slashed the leg of a refugee, pulling out a long wound.

Immediately, this small group of young refugees huddled back in fear, and this woman also wanted to retreat, but a sturdy palm grabbed her arm, and then with a pull, she was pulled out of the crowd.

"Haha, come with me, let's find a place to play for a while later. I guarantee you'll have a good life afterward."

The young Bandit grinned and used one arm to clamp the female refugee who wanted to escape; the other party wanted to use the Short Knife in her hand to stab him, but the young Bandit just pulled her arm hard and swung it; because of the strength, the female refugee was swung around in place, and the Short Knife in her hand was not held tightly and fell out.

"Hey, that's right, sleep with me tonight, I'll let you eat your fill!"

It was unknown what would make people eat their fill, but then the Long Sword in the young Bandit's right hand waved wildly, forcing back the attempts of several female refugee friends around to snatch the person back.

He then hoisted the person onto his left shoulder and was about to retreat in 'triumph'.

On the carriage not far away, Xueya Site had been aiming at him for some time.

This young Bandit had insufficient protection on his body, which was favorable for Crossbow arrow damage.

This young Bandit frequently launched frontal attacks to distract, which was favorable for aiming opportunities.

This young man was moved by lust and wanted to catch a female refugee to take back, which was favorable for creating the most important aiming moment.

Xueya Site needed a moment when the other party stayed in place and there were no people of his own blocking the way.

And this opportunity, the opponent provided it himself.

Just as that man hoisted the female Refugee onto his shoulder and began to retreat slowly while facing the Refugees head-on, Xueya Site steadied his nerves and aimed his Crossbow at him from afar.

A good opportunity; he crouched halfway inside the carriage canopy, leaned more than half his body out, and aimed the Crossbow in the direction he was targeting.

Then he pulled the trigger mechanism under the Crossbow, Bang!

Whoosh—

A standard Kendall-manufactured Arrow was launched by the force of the crossbow string and the bow arms, tracing a low, flat parabola, and with pinpoint accuracy, without anyone noticing, it struck the young Bandit directly in the right chest.

Pfft!

The bare upper body provided the perfect target for the Arrow; the sharp arrowhead pierced the muscles of the opponent's chest, then the ribs of the right chest, and the soft lungs inside, and then, with force undiminished, it shot through the back bones and muscles, barely exposing half of the metal arrowhead on the guy's back.

"Ugh—"

This young Bandit was stunned, his body retreating another step with the force of the Arrow, and immediately after, intense pain struck; his legs went weak, he could no longer carry the female Refugee on his left shoulder, and he knelt to the ground.

"Ah!"

Falling to the ground, the female Refugee screamed, about to scramble back into the crowd of Refugees. But she suddenly saw the pink, bubbly blood exhaled from the mouth and nose of the young Bandit who had collapsed to his knees, and seeing the miserable state of this guy who had been so arrogant just a moment ago, the female Refugee immediately opened her mouth, pounced, and viciously bit down on the opponent's thick neck.

Ever since her whole family fled with the other Villagers, the displacement along the way had made her understand early on where the most vulnerable parts of the human body were.

The Blood Vessel on the neck.

She pounced and bit down hard, and soon her mouth was full of flesh and blood; her teeth ached painfully, but she persisted in swinging her head from side to side, using the frenzied biting to retaliate for the insult the man had just inflicted upon her.

"Hiss, hhh, hhh."

The mouthful of fresh blood and skin stimulated her to nausea; after tearing off a piece of flesh, she spat it out hard, directly onto the young Bandit's face.

"Pah! Go to Hell!" (Note: In this book, Hell and Underworld Prison are the same place, just called differently by people. Ordinary people usually call it Hell, while those with a little knowledge of the afterlife call it Underworld Prison.)

The female Refugee spat a mouthful of blood and flesh onto the opponent's face, then set her sights on the Long Sword in his hand, so she lowered her head and tried hard to pry open the opponent's fingers.

The young Bandit resisted for a while, but due to excessive blood loss, he still had his Long Sword snatched away.

Carrying the Long Sword, the female Refugee stumbled back to the crowd of Refugees and was immediately welcomed and praised by everyone around: "So amazing!"

"Nier, are you hurt?"

"Pah, I bit him to death, I'm not hurt at all!"

With a mouth full of blood, the female Refugee named Nier was immediately surrounded by the crowd, and even the ordinary Long Sword she had snatched seemed like an incredible symbol, bringing the Yongqi to fight to the other Refugees around her.

Xueya Site chuckled softly, silently stringing the Crossbow and adding an Arrow.

Preparing for the Bandit retaliation that was bound to come.

"Brother!!"

"You bunch of ￥%￥, dare to fight back!"

Two equally young Bandits rushed out from the opposite side of the Shanglu, one on the left and one on the right, ignoring the Bandit Leader's calls, and charged up together to bring their friend and companion back.

But the one on the left who was rushing up to check if his brother was still alive had his chest pierced by a crossbow bolt the next moment.

"Urgh—someone is attacking from the shadows."

This person was hit by the Arrow, but still gritted his teeth and pointed out the direction from which the Arrow had been fired.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, the guy who had been wounded in the left lung also spat out pink, bubbly blood; he collapsed to the ground and then scrambled to escape toward the Bei Mian. The other Bandit was driven mad; ignoring his companion's injury, he brandished his Long Sword and charged toward the direction the companion had pointed out.

By this time, he had long since forgotten the plan the Bandit Leader had given him: not to kill too many Refugees, but to intimidate and drive them away.

This group of Bandits actually had some skills, so as soon as this guy charged up, he directly slashed the throats of several Refugees.

"Fighting back, are you? Sneak attacking, are you? Fighting back, are you? You bunch of stinking #￥#, do you really think you have some skills? Watch me cut you all down by myself!!!"

"Ahhhhh, cut you all down!"

This Bandit held his sword with both hands and charged into the crowd, slashing left and right; the originally crowded mass of Refugees was forced to open up a large gap just to avoid this person.

At this moment, Xueya Site raised his Crossbow, swaying left and right, but the Refugees and the invading Bandit were mixed together, and he simply could not shoot; after all, attacking in such a chaotic situation had at least a fifty percent chance of hitting his own people.

It wouldn't matter if the battlefield were chaotic now, but later when it was light and the bodies were checked, if it were discovered that a Refugee had been shot dead by his crossbow bolt, that would be trouble. He was not the accompanying Bata'er Jiaoshi, nor was he Jier, who wouldn't take it to heart; those two might not care and could resolve the trouble, and a single "it was an accident" could gain the understanding of the Refugees.

But he couldn't; if so many people resented him, although it wouldn't matter to him, it would affect Jier's subsequent actions.

Since that was the case, it was better not to act at all, and only act when there was a sure shot at a Bandit.

Not seeking merit, but seeking no mistakes; that was roughly the idea.

However, Bata'er Jiaoshi could not stand to see such a Bandit break into the crowd and kill indiscriminately; the crowd was so dense that if it became completely chaotic, the consequences of just pushing and trampling would be ten times more severe than the number of people killed by one Bandit.

Therefore, he acted.

Patting the horse, the Priest drove this borrowed grassland horse forward; fortunately, the Refugees would move aside when they saw the horse pushing in, so even in such a crowded state, this grassland horse could barely move through the crowd.

The Bandit who had killed until his eyes were red noticed the approaching Bata'er Jiaoshi and let out a laugh, feeling that he had good luck; the backbone of the Refugees, that Church Priest discovered during the reconnaissance, was now approaching him.

Although the Bandit was very excited at this moment, he still scanned the Priest opposite him from top to bottom.

Thin and weak, looking flustered, carrying a glowing staff, but just by looking at the way he held the staff, one could tell at a glance that the opponent had no experience in using such a weapon.

He was wearing the Robe that Church Priests often wore; it looked magnificent, but it was all made of cloth and useless. A set of leather shoulder armor hung on his shoulders, along with a joke of a Heart Protector Armor hanging on the front of his chest.

The more the Bandit looked, the more he felt he could take the opponent down. Taking the person back and handing him over to the Bandit Leader would be a great achievement; perhaps in the future, when the team expanded, he could even lead a team of his own.

Later, when bragging to others, he could also say that he had once charged into an enemy formation of hundreds by himself, captured the enemy Priest leader alive, and presented him to their Bandit Leader.

He was thinking beautifully at this moment, and his hands didn't stop; his right hand thrust out, stabbing a Refugee who was fleeing with his back to him, and then, stepping on the body of the person who hadn't fallen yet, he leaped up and swung his sword at the head of the horse the Priest was riding.

But things often do not develop as some people imagine.

On the Shanglu not far away, the sturdy middle-aged Bandit Leader stared intently at everything happening in the bright area ahead.

He did not loudly call back the young man who had recklessly charged into the crowd to kill, just wanting to see how much skill that presiding Priest actually had.

The distance was not far; the Bandit Leader saw his subordinate step on a Refugee and leap up, and just as a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, it immediately stopped.

Because that Priest took something out from his waist and reached forward to push it; his subordinate was hit as if by an invisible battering ram, flying backward more than ten meters in mid-air.

Only then did he crash to the ground.

But at this moment, the young Bandit's limbs were all broken from the collision with the ground upon landing.

He was in a strange posture, struggling on the ground to crawl up, but it was to no avail.

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