Chapter 684: The Darkest Moonless Night (20)

Jier walked to the place where he had previously cleaned his armor; the Hunting Sword was still stuck there.

He had poured some clean water over the blade, and the remaining blood had flowed off along with it. Drawing the sword and shaking off the undried water, Jier was in no rush to maintain his weapon; the night was still long, and after interrogating the captured Bandit on the road, he knew he would have to pierce through two more Bandit dens in a while.

"God of Wealth bless me, I hope to harvest a bit more tonight."

Muttering nonsense, Jier carried his Long Sword and walked toward the Shandong that looked like a crack in the mountain.

If he hoped to harvest more from the Bandits tonight, it meant that in the past, the Bandits must have harvested even more from the Merchants who were doing business. And those Merchants were the true believers and followers of the God of Wealth; it was hard to say who exactly Jier was asking the god to bless at this moment.

If the deity heard him, they would probably strike him down with a bolt of lightning.

The entrance to the Bandit Shandong was a long crack extending from the upper right along the mountain body toward the lower left.

It looked just like a wound on the body of the mountain in front of him.

Jier didn't need a Torch; he borrowed the blue light from the axe on his back and the cyan glow from the Long Sword Sheath to barely illuminate his way as he walked inside.

The bottom of the sloping crevice had been actively filled with Stone and then covered with soil, making it quite steady to walk on, though the ground underfoot was uneven, and one could easily trip and tumble down if not careful.

The interior of the Shandong was a sloping passage in the same direction as the crack, low on the left and high on the right; fortunately, this crevice passage was relatively spacious, which made walking through it less awkward.

The Bandits had also chiseled holes into the steep, smooth rock wall on the right, inserted wooden sticks, and connected them with rough, frayed hemp rope, which people could grab onto while walking back and forth.

Drip, drip.

Above his head, water droplets seeped from the mountain rock, constantly flowing down to the left along the sloping stone wall.

Supported by Life Energy, Jier keenly saw that someone had chiseled a downward groove along the low-lying rock wall on the left. After the water droplets fell, they gathered into a shallow, reflective pool of water, flowing downward bit by bit.

Jier guessed where the water in the Shandong came from immediately.

When he first entered the Shandong passage, the smell was barely tolerable, but the further down and deeper he went, the more foul the odor became.

Soon, the passage came to an end, and there was a relatively spacious area ahead, which was causing the sound of Jier's combat boots colliding with the rock floor to echo repeatedly.

Walking out of the passage, what appeared before Jier was a three-dimensional space in the shape of a tilted triangular cube. The space was relatively large, about the size of half a basketball court. Inside, firewood burning in stone basins provided heat and light, making it much brighter than the sloping passage.

The scene before him was a mess; a large number of Wooden Box stacks under the dry rock wall on the right had been ransacked and overturned by someone. Clearly, this was done by Huang She and his men after they captured this place and searched for useful things they could take away.

On the left were rows of wooden cages less than a meter high; the stench inside the Shandong came from here.

Jier understood at a glance that those hostages had been kept in such places to suffer.

These rough wooden cages, stacked two or three layers high, were less for keeping humans and more for keeping dogs; it was hard to imagine how much suffering those Humans, who needed to stand to live, had endured while being locked in low wooden cages where they could only lie or sit for long periods.

And how many had been unable to hold on and died silently.

Along the left side of the entrance passage, the water flowing down had been guided into a huge, low wooden barrel. The water in the barrel was clear and bright; if this weren't such a foul-smelling, terrible place, Jier would certainly have enjoyed a taste of the mineral-rich rock water in the barrel.

He rinsed the tip of the Long Sword he was holding in the barrel, then dipped the axe in to wash it as well, and both weapons vibrated back and forth in satisfaction.

There was nothing worth looking at in the cages that held people, so Jier glanced at them and walked toward the Wooden Box stacks at the other end.

In the middle of the Shandong, there were a few wooden tables and chairs where the guards had rested, and a metal candlestick was luxuriously placed on top, with white candles that felt very delicate still stuck in it.

He took the nice-looking candlestick and lit the candles to provide illumination.

Holding a candle lit by Flint, Jier began to carefully inspect the merchant cargo boxes overturned against the wall.

Half a box was scattered with clean, old clothes; Jier scanned them and found that although they had a musty smell, the fabric was clean, likely washed before being packed away.

Very good, they could be worn by the young Refugee group.

In a long box that had been opened but left untouched, Jier lifted the lid and found rolls of neatly stacked flags inside.

He curiously took out a roll of flags and touched it; it was quite high-end waterproof fabric, but when he unfolded it, he didn't recognize the Noble family crest on it.

It was likely a flag ordered by some Noble Lord for their territory, only for the Caravan transporting the goods to be intercepted by the Bandit Group.

He snorted and laughed, knowing the result of the Bandits being troubled by this item.

The fabric of this box of flags was valuable and should be worth a lot of money. But it was embroidered with the crest of a Noble Lord whom the Bandits could not afford to offend, so there was no possibility of selling it.

Because if this item went missing, people couldn't trace which Bandit Group had stolen it, but once it was sold, even in the Underground Black Market, the Noble could find someone to trace the flow of goods backward to Fatty and his Bandit Group. At that point, they would be in big trouble.

So these flags would likely just end up stuck in their hands.

But while the Bandits couldn't handle them, he could. Later, he could find an opportunity to hand them over to Kendall Baron and let the Baron return the items to their rightful owner. After all, these flags were "seized" by him, Jier, during his "crusade" against the Bandits.

There were several other long boxes stacked nearby; Jier opened them and found a set of disassembled carriage axles.

The axles, stacked in wood shavings, were coated in thick Grease; although the Grease had already begun to smell, Jier wiped the wood shavings against the Grease, and the metal carriage axle underneath had not rusted.

"I wonder if this thing is worth any money?"

He muttered a complaint and continued to search through other boxes.

The boxes had all been pried open and inspected, and they had been pried open recently. Clearly, this was the work of Huang She's men, but it made Jier's actions convenient at this moment.

"Iron tools? Not bad, these can be put to great use."

"What are all these bottles and jars? Hmm, I'd better not touch them."

"What the hell? Wood inside a Wooden Box? What's the meaning of this? Let me guess, this wood... hmm? So light, and it feels quite soft. So that's it, it's cork for wine bottles! Damn it, what's the use of just having bottle stoppers? This miserable, wretched place has no wine!"

"Iron Ingot, as expected; how could the Southern Province, which is rich in Mineral Ore, be short of this? It's just that the quality doesn't look very good. They must all be crude, primary products."

"Heh, Huang She's men missed this; let me see, a box of ink powder. I remember this stuff is worth quite a bit, it's just hard to sell because there are few buyers."

Jier picked and chose among the boxes of goods, commenting on them to himself.

Just then, a sound came: "Uh-uh-uh-uh-woo."

A low, hoarse roar came from behind Jier; he stopped what he was doing, raised his Long Sword, and pointed it in the direction of the low roar.

Unexpectedly, the sound was intermittent and was actually coming from behind the wooden cages where the hostages had been held.

But wasn't that direction already pressed against the rock wall?

Jier took his Shield in his left hand, extended his Long Sword with his right, and approached with small steps.

Behind the foul-smelling wooden cages, there was a low passage less than two meters wide, hidden by the stacked cages in front, making it impossible to see; one had to walk to the edge of the rock wall to see that such a place existed.

The low roar came faintly from the passage; if Jier hadn't been the only one in the Shandong and it hadn't been so quiet, it probably wouldn't have been easy to discover this place.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, remembering what others had said about the Dead Cave inside the Bandit lair.

"Is this it? The Dead Cave, the place for disposing of the corpses of dead hostages?"

Jier was somewhat hesitant, not knowing whether he should go down to take a look.

But as if it had sensed something, the Hunting Sword in his hand faintly exerted a pulling force toward the inside.

Jier raised his eyebrows, understanding something.

"Do you want revenge? Fine, then let's go."

Jier held the lit candle in his left hand with the Shield in front, using the candle in his left hand for illumination, while the Long Sword rested on his right shoulder, ready at any moment to fight the moving corpses in the depths of the darkness.

"Turn! Turn, I say!"

The middle-aged Merchant Paxi-Aidewen was being carried by a horse, galloping through the Shulin; he was currently pulling hard on the leather Jiansheng in his hands, attempting to change the horse's direction of movement.

But no matter how much strength he used, the sturdy horse still trotted along the path in the woods, jogging slowly in one direction.

There was a Chalu ahead; the horse had long since decided which direction to move, and thus its hooves changed direction with a faint clatter.

"Not that way! You stupid horse! Listen to me, go left!"

But no matter how Paxi-Aidewen pulled the Jiansheng, the horse's direction of movement did not change.

He even heard a mocking snort from the horse beneath him. It seemed as if this prairie horse, which the Knight called by the name Tianxuecao, was laughing at him.

"You damned animal!"

The middle-aged Merchant angrily stabbed the horse with the Dagger in his hand, and the next moment, he was flipped off the Muan.

What was even more unfortunate was that his right foot slipped out of the metal Stirrup, but his left foot remained hooked on it as he tumbled down.

Consequently, he wailed as he was dragged along the ground, twisting left and right in an attempt to dodge the horse's left hind hoof.

With such a sturdy and heavy horse, if he were stepped on once by a metal Horseshoe, he would likely lose his life!

"I surrender, I surrender! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stabbed you with something! Spare me!"

He wailed; this situation of a human begging a horse for mercy was clearly extremely satisfying to the proud Tianxuecao. It shook its body, shaking the person whose foot was hooked in the Stirrup completely off the ground.

Having been dragged for several dozen meters, Paxi-Aidewen began to cry softly. He lay prone on the ground, annoyed that he couldn't even handle a horse and had to beg for mercy to survive.

"Neigh—"

A sound of neighing similar to mockery came; the middle-aged Merchant looked up and discovered that the horse was actually returning the way it came, using its lips to first pick up the glowing Magic pendant that had fallen to the ground, then tossing its head to fling the Magic pendant directly onto its ears atop its head.

The long, flexible horse ears twitched, hanging the glowing pendant securely, and then it lowered its head again, picking up the red, ornate Gems Dagger that had also fallen to the ground, holding it in its white, healthy teeth.

The sharp tip of the Dagger pointed outward, directly at the middle-aged Merchant.

This scene left the middle-aged Merchant stunned, and when he finally reacted, he discovered that this Knight's horse was actually extending its head, which was holding the Dagger, toward him.

The sharp blade, like blood and fire, pointed straight at his head.

This caused Paxi-Aidewen to subconsciously raise both hands, signaling surrender.

Only after reacting did he embarrassedly lower his hands.

He wore an awkward smile on his face: "Y-you, hello, are you, returning, the item to me?"

Unexpectedly, the horse shook its head, lowered its head, and the Dagger lightly pricked his shoulder with a 'whoosh'.

"Ah!"

Paxi-Aidewen jumped up immediately, intending to turn and run, but just as he took half a step, he was nudged from behind by the horse's huge head, knocking him over.

"Ouch! I surrender! I surrender!"

He had no choice but to shout like this.

Afterward, the attack indeed did not continue.

Scrambling back up, the middle-aged Merchant finally realized what this overly clever horse wanted him to do.

This beast actually wanted to keep him under guard and move in the direction it had chosen.

The road was the same one he had traveled while riding on the horse's back, but the difference now was that the former rider was currently walking on the ground, followed by a tall prairie horse holding a Dagger, with a glowing Magic pendant still hanging from its ear.

Fortunately, no one saw this scene; otherwise, it would have been as bizarre as could be.

Having left the woods like this, the middle-aged Merchant Paxi-Aidewen wiped his face, which was soaked again with tears, with his dirty sleeve. He looked ahead and discovered that not far in front, there were faint sounds of many people talking.

But it was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything clearly.

"Is that Knight Jier?"

A young voice rang out from the darkness ahead, giving Paxi-Aidewen a start, but he quickly reacted, first waving his hand in a friendly manner, then replying: "Sorry, I am not."

Before the other party could reply out of surprise, he hurriedly continued: "But I was indeed sent by a young Knight. He asked me to ride, no, to bring his horse down to seek assistance from his subordinates."

Regarding his statement, there was low discussion in the darkness, and then another young voice asked urgently: "What happened to the Knight? And who are you? What exactly happened?"

But just as this person finished speaking, the first voice that had asked continued: "You come over first."

The experience the middle-aged Merchant had gained from traveling north and south was sounding an alarm; he had a premonition that going over might not be good.

But he was heavily nudged from behind by the horse's head again; he stumbled twice and had no choice but to walk forward.

Jier continued along the downward, gently sloping cave passage; with the candle for illumination, the narrow passage was revealed in full detail, and it was impossible for any traps or places for people to hide to be missed by him.

He had overthought it; there were no forks or places to hide in this slope, and apart from the increasingly clear roaring sounds ahead, there was nothing else here worth noting.

Soon, he stopped his footsteps.

The face beneath the Faceplate wrinkled, because the smell here was truly foul. Although there was still a slight cave breeze flowing here, the stench in the darkness ahead was thick and stagnant; inhaling it was bad for one's health, and smelling it made one unable to eat.

With the candle's light, a relatively open, deep-level cave was revealed before Jier.

Jier frowned as he surveyed the scene; he had previously considered himself well-traveled, but the scene before him still made him feel disgusted and shocked.

Seeming to sense the appearance of a living person, at the bottom of the wide cave beneath the several-meter-high fault in front of Jier, one after another, withered bones and rotting flesh were slowly climbing up.

Arms, with only a little rotting skin still hanging from the palms, slowly reached out toward Jier.

The majority of the feet, missing toe bones, left new drag marks of rotting matter on the pitch-black, foul-smelling floor, slowly swinging legs that lacked much rotting flesh.

Pelvises, emitting the sound of twisted flesh being churned, were supporting swollen, wriggling Viscera, along with black-brown dripping meat foam, rising and falling with the movement of the living corpses, churning, rubbing, and squeezing.

It was unknown what the swollen intestines were filled with; they were bulging, and when one living corpse was not careful, its mostly exposed abdominal cavity caused a section of intestine to fall out, which was then entangled by its own foot and subsequently pulled.

Splat—squelch—

Yellow-green gas sprayed from the opening of the torn intestines, making a suspicious sound.

The living corpse lowered the arm it had been reaching toward Jier, slowly grabbed its own fallen intestines, and then held them in its hand, spraying yellow-green gas and viscous mucus all the way as it walked slowly.

Such a shocking scene, even though Jier had dealt with some living corpses last winter, still made him instinctively shrink back two steps.

"Damn it, it seems that when winter freezes over is the right time to deal with these guys."

Jier looked down at the living corpses surrounding the fault cliff below, one by one reaching their hands toward him, a living person.

The Hunting Sword in his hand hummed and vibrated, constantly trying to burrow back into the Sword Sheath.

"You useless thing, you only know how to run away when you see this scene!"

Jier's temper flared up all at once; just a moment ago, Hunting Sword had wanted to come over to deal with these living corpses that were emitting wailing groans. But now that it had arrived and seen such a disgusting scene and such a large number of weapons, it wanted to shrink back again.

"I'm telling you, since we're already here! There is no such thing as backing down!"

It seemed that the sound of Jier's voice stimulated the living corpses gathering toward him below; those guys, with barely a few pieces of rotting flesh hanging on their faces, clattered their teeth—exposed due to missing lips—up and down, making click, click, click, click sounds from their hollow mouths.

It was as if they wanted to say something, or perhaps they just wanted to use their teeth, whose gums and roots were withered and shrunken, to tear at Jier, this living person.

Jier swallowed a mouthful of saliva; the clicking sounds made by the large number of living corpses were simply like scratching sounds constantly striking at his heart.

It made him feel dizzy and stifled.

What? He doesn't have a heart?

Oh, Jier realized this, and his chest suddenly didn't feel stifled anymore.

But the foul odor remained a major difficulty standing before his desire to fight.

Asking him to jump down and fight these rotting, foul-smelling living corpses was a challenge no less than asking him to swim in a cesspit.

It wasn't a question of whether he could beat these slow-moving living corpses, but whether he could avoid being disgusted to death by these guys. It seems that the previous battle in the Shikeng with the Bandit Leader of the Luodai Cave during the winter really was a good time to choose!