Chapter 688: The Endless Drizzle of the Second Half of the Night (Part 2)

Counting the one standing guard in the vine basket at the main gate, and the two who were knocked down by the gate and then killed by Jier with his bow and arrows, the young men had just swarmed up and finished off four bandits.

There were only six bandits left behind to guard the lair in total, and now they had all been wiped out.

"Very good, everyone is finished off. Don't let your guard down; this bunch of bandits is wicked and strange, they like dealing with poisonous snakes, so be careful and cautious during the search."

Jier jumped off his horse and instructed the young men around him.

Although they had just taken out four bandits in one go and everyone was very excited, they still forced themselves to calm down quickly. Afterward, they split into groups of five and scattered to search and loot the surrounding treehouses, wooden huts, and cellars.

Jier, meanwhile, looked up at some dry vine cages hanging from the trees in the camp, which contained all sorts of things, including but not limited to Humans, goblins, wild dogs, wolves, half-human-sized spiders, and big-headed fish with fins like feet.

Fortunately, however, apart from two rotting male Human corpses, most of the things in the vine cages were either already rotted down to just skeletons or appeared to have been intentionally air-dried and smoked.

The effect of intimidation was greater than the actual function of the cages for imprisonment.

"The surrendered bandits said there are several women imprisoned in the cellar. Be careful when rescuing them; don't get hurt by the traps set for the prisoners."

Jier stood with his hands on his hips, reminding the group that was about to head to the cellar next to the leader's hut.

The young men responded in a jumble, their faces full of excitement.

Jier curled his lip and casually used his feet to gather the six corpses on the ground together, then simply piled the still-usable clothing and weapons to one side.

The weapons used by these bandits were mostly not very good, and were even inferior to those of the bandits near Kendall County. Although they were wealthier because they controlled the robbery of the main Shanglu, because there were no large-scale forging workshops nearby, they could not impersonate others to enter the city to spend money on weapons.

In other words, most of the bandits' weapons were seized from the caravan guards of the small-scale caravans they plundered.

Just think about it: the caravan guards who went out to protect the caravans were of uneven quality, and very few capable people participated in such high-risk work, so the gear in their hands was not very good either.

Since they were not very good, the gear in the bandits' hands was not very good either.

Although there were some steel weapons, it was possible that because this camp was in the Shulin and had a small stream running through it, the humidity here was high. The bandits' weapons were not very smooth and always had rust spots.

The young Refugee subordinates kept going back and forth between the huts they were searching and the open space outside, excitedly dropping the various things they were holding onto the ground, then rushing back into the huts to continue searching.

At first, everyone brought out daily utensils and items: iron pots, metal bowls, half a roasted rabbit that hadn't been finished, wheat grains in pottery jars, and mice and Poisonous Snakes also kept in pottery jars.

Interestingly, the wooden lids of the jars keeping the mice had small holes opened for ventilation. Jier leaned in to observe and could still hear the terrified squeaking coming from inside the jars.

The jars keeping the Poisonous Snakes were completely sealed, and the mouths of the jars were specifically tied tight with Rope, for fear that the Poisonous Snakes inside would escape.

During the search, the young men carefully opened a small gap in the jars, first sniffing, then listening, and finally carefully peering inside by the light of the fire.

The jars containing grain smelled slightly moldy as soon as they were sniffed. Although it was a pity that they were not stored properly, the young men did not feel that this grain was inedible.

Having something to eat was good enough.

The mouse jars not only smelled bad, but the squeaking sounds were very easy to detect. As for the tightly sealed Poisonous Snake jars, the young men initially thought they were some kind of treasure. They shook them, and there was something in the jars, but not much.

They opened a small slit to sniff, and there was a smell inside, but not much; they couldn't figure out what was actually inside.

It was only after the disturbed Poisonous Snakes took the initiative to make a hissing sound that made one's hair stand on end that the young men carefully resealed the jars.

Jier had no interest in using snakes to kill people; he was only interested in the lethal venom of the Poisonous Snakes. When he captured the bandits who played with snakes, he intended to have them provide him with some snake venom to poison his weapons.

Originally, he planned to kill the snakes and then collect the venom.

But after questioning the bandits, he learned that snake venom could not be kept for long; it had to be used as soon as possible after being painstakingly extracted from the fangs of the Poisonous Snakes.

It could be kept for a few more days when the weather was cold, but it had to be used as soon as possible when it was hot, otherwise it would rot and become ineffective.

Therefore, Jier instructed his men to carefully collect these already-kept Poisonous Snakes. He planned to have the captured bandits from the Desert Snake group specifically tend to these Poisonous Snakes later.

He would not release them for a short time; at least until he dealt with the gang of evil defeated soldiers who had kidnapped the Changmai Village Villager, he still had to let them prepare snake venom for Jier.

In addition to these jars of all sizes, some of the bandits' personal items were also looted.

Bundled-up Beast Skin Clothing, exquisite Wooden boxes filled with intact snake skins, and some scattered valuable trinkets, etc.

Some young men brought over a few gold teeth, and Jier took them directly.

As mentioned before, the money they found while searching for themselves belonged to them. As for other valuable things, as long as they could carry them on their own bodies, they belonged to them.

But some particularly valuable items, such as Gold Coins or gold ornaments, Gems, etc., had to be handed over.

Jier did not send anyone to supervise or search his own people. After all, cleaning up a bandit lair was like killing a rabbit while raking grass—just a matter of convenience.

Bandits in ordinary groups really didn't have much wealth; their own lives were not guaranteed, and they belonged to the type who spent as much money as they had. Generally, the wealth they plundered was exchanged for coins at the merchants who bought stolen goods at various inns along the Shanglu, distributed to them by the leader, and then they would take the money and run to those wild inns where all kinds of people mixed to spend it all.

Most of the time, they would do one job, spend the money in less than ten days, and then return to the lair empty-handed, eating chaff and vegetables while waiting for the next job.

It was only after asking the bandits on the road that he learned that the inns they saw burned down during the day actually did everything.

Usually, they appeared normal, operating as lodging and dining for passing travelers and merchants; besides that, they either operated themselves or contacted merchants who bought stolen goods to take in the black goods plundered by the bandits; or they cooperated with gangs operating Red House in nearby towns, or found women with no way to make money to operate night businesses, using this to harvest the bandits who came to seek pleasure during the day, and harvest the travelers staying overnight at night;

Besides that, some powerful ones would also organize gambling dens, squeezing every bandit who came to "consume" dry, and even making the bandits who came with blood-stained money come happily, only to have the bandits who were penniless and owed a debt of gratitude roll away in despair.

Jier was amused to the point of blooming when he heard this, while the young Refugees listening around were blushing and dumbfounded.

He didn't understand, if the bandits had their money scraped clean like this, wouldn't they attack these inns?

But the bandit's answer made him ponder and not know what to say.

"Those inns are rumored to have cooperative relationships with our boss or the bosses of other groups. It's not like we can just go and play in inns on other Shanglu. We, the Desert Snake people, just like the previous few small groups, only go to the nearest 'Coquettish Snake' inn. The girls there are the most vigorous, as soft as the snakes I keep, sss-hah sss-hah. (Licking lips) Others, like the Fatty's people, only go to the 'Big Roast Meat' inn closest to the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka. The meat there is the cheapest, but I heard people say that the meat there is not very clean, and its origin is suspicious!"

Jier rolled his eyes; this kind of gossip was just the most basic business tactic.

But he really didn't expect that the inns on the Shanglu that originally served passing travelers in the wild no-man's-land would have such a close connection with the bandit groups that ran rampant and plundered on the Shanglu.

"There are no good people. In places that have lost security management, after a long time, there really isn't a single good person left." Jier felt that good people were either buried in the ground or were smart enough to slip away early; they were not suitable for living in such a barbaric place.

And the root of everything actually stemmed from the deliberate lack of management of this place by the Montuoka Viscount and the Southern Province Earl. Everyone wanted this place, but everyone was afraid that the other party would get it, so they compromised and muddled through in secret, turning this place that would have been exceptionally prosperous into a no-man's-land sandwiched by mountain ranges.

Noisy sounds came from the cellar next to the bandit leader's wooden hut, and soon, four girls wrapped in skimpy clothing were carried out by the young Refugee subordinates of Jier.

Only when they were close could one see that several of the girls had been tortured to the point of almost losing their human shape.

The dirt and swelling bruises all over their bodies clearly showed that they had suffered a lot of torture after being caught by the bandits.

Their voices were hoarse and they were on the verge of death, but they still braced themselves to look at the surrounding environment. Their eyeballs were like frightened rabbits, for fear of being taken from one Hell to another.

But the several bandit corpses left behind in the middle of the bandit camp, and the red-faced young Refugee who was carefully carrying someone and muttering something, made them realize that things might not be as bad as they had imagined.

Jier noticed that the limbs of the rescued girls had inflamed and festering areas due to the humidity. Therefore, he immediately spoke to let the young men who were watching curiously prepare food, clean water, and clean cloth.

"Go and prepare quickly. Their injuries must be handled by the Bata'er Jiaoshi later, but now we must first clean them up and feed them to improve their spirit and physical strength."

As soon as Jier spoke, the young men watching around busied themselves.

The wooden chairs in the bandit house were chopped up by axes to be used as firewood, and the iron pot with its matching iron stand was set over the fire; clean water was poured in, and as several fires were lit together, some were used to heat water for cleaning, while others were used to boil Wheat Porridge.

The young people from farmer families were not as reckless with their cooking as the previously rescued civilians. They simply boiled the wheat porridge, and soon after, the aroma of grain wafting from the pot diluted the smell of blood and rotting household waste that permeated the Bandit Yingdi.

"Tha, thank you."

Several girls were carefully placed on the ground, which was padded with animal skin bedding; they leaned against each other, cautiously sizing up these young men of unknown identity.

The oldest one wrapped the messy animal skins covering her body tightly, fixed her gaze on Jier, who was clearly the leader, and used all her strength to utter a hoarse and faint word of thanks.

Jier's ears had been strengthened and filled with Life Energy, so he did not miss the words of thanks that would have been inaudible had the other party not been paying attention.

He waved his hand: "It is nothing. Please rest assured, eat something in a moment to fill your stomachs, and then wash yourselves off. After all, staying like this is not a solution. Once we return, there will be our Priest of the Agriculture God to provide you with treatment."

Perhaps it was the mention of the Priest of the Agriculture God, or perhaps it was Jier's expensive equipment that made him look unlike a bandit. These girls finally let go of their worries and cowering posture, huddled together, and fell asleep leaning against one another.

Jier lifted his Faceplate and gestured with his chin: "Keep your voices down and your movements light."

The curious young people nodded and quietly continued to search the Bandit Yingdi for supplies and items.

After a while, Jier had a few people follow Tianxuecao back outside the camp, taking his axe to let the people outside come in. He had checked on the way here; although it was incredible, these bandits had indeed chosen a place where carriages could pass through to build their camp.

This camp was built in the center of the Shulin and should have been surrounded by layers of trees, but the direction the camp gate faced did indeed have a route that allowed carriages to enter and exit.

A little thought made it clear that while the defense and secrecy of a camp were important, for bandits who did not actually have many fixed assets, taking the goods stolen from murdered Caravan guards as their own was the most important thing.

Look at Fatty and his group; their lair was built on a hillside, and outside the Shandong, they had to find a way to build a dirt road that allowed carriages to wind their way up the mountain.

It was hard to say how much time and energy that group of bandits spent building such a winding, twisting mountain road.

By comparison, it was no trouble at all for the group of Wild Snakes to find a location for a camp in the woods where carriages could drive deep inside.

"Knight, these are the things we found in the wooden house where the Bandit Leader lived. Take a look."

Two young men wearing leather armor walked over, bringing people to carry several large Wooden Boxes and placing them in front of Jier.

Upon opening them, the contents were quite complex, but a general glance was enough for him to know that most of the valuable items of the Bandit Group were here.

Interestingly, one of the Wooden Boxes was actually half-filled with animal scales.

Most of the scales were three centimeters long and fan-shaped, but there were also some slightly smaller and larger ones. Clearly, these were the scales of the wild python snake that the Bandit Leader had raised himself.

It was unclear how all these scales had been collected.

Jier picked up a scale of average size, held it between the index finger and thumb of his right hand, and observed it for a moment.

He discovered that the scale was basically opaque and had some thickness. After squeezing it slightly, it showed a bit of elasticity under pressure. When he applied more force with his fingers, the scale shattered into two pieces, with no fragments flying off.

"Not bad, it is quite a good material. It is slightly inferior to iron in strength, but much lighter in weight."

Throwing the shattered scale away, Jier nodded and closed the Wooden Box with satisfaction.

He did not bother checking the valuable items, but instead asked the two subordinates in front of him: "What about the harvest in terms of weapons and equipment? That is more important to everyone. As for money, it cannot be spent in the uninhabited wilderness. In the towns of the Southern Province, I suspect it is not easy to buy supplies even with money, and even if you can, the prices are hard to say."

The two young men looked at each other and showed Jier the various weapons they were carrying on their backs.

Jier took a look and found they were all ordinary refined steel Long Swords; these were already the best gear in the hands of the bandits, which left him quite disappointed and without any desire to collect them.

"Why are you carrying all these weapons on your backs? As if you could grow a few extra arms to use them, right? Distribute them all, give the best weapons to people you consider reliable, and bolster everyone's combat effectiveness in time. The night is still long, and we will be clearing out another bandit lair later."

After a pause, Jier saw that the two of them were beginning to understand, and continued: "When we fought those bandits earlier, everyone suffered such a great loss and so many casualties. Why? Because we were outnumbered? Or because of a lack of Yongqi? Martial arts? No, the biggest problem is that the bandits had lethal weapons in their hands, while you did not. It is very difficult to take down an enemy holding a sharp blade with bare hands. After we return, not only should long weapons be distributed as widely as possible to every one of our own who can fight and dares to fight, but I also require that in a team of several hundred people, everyone must have at least one Dagger, Short Sword, or Short Knife for self-defense!"

Jier lightly tapped the chests of the two men with his fist: "The road ahead will not be peaceful; battles will come one after another. You must arm yourselves; this is my minimum requirement for all of you."

"Yes, sir!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Shh, keep it down." Jier held up a finger, making a gesture for silence.

The two men immediately closed their mouths. Jier waved his hand, letting them get back to work.

The Caravan goods that had not been processed in this Bandit Yingdi were not as numerous as those in the cave of Fatty's group; perhaps because it was not far from the trade route and access was not rugged or troublesome, the goods that were easy to handle had been cleared out early.

Therefore, in the wooden house in this Bandit Yingdi specifically used for storing looted goods, what remained were some items that were neither valuable nor easy to process and sell.

Jier went over to inspect them and found that, apart from a box of bottles and jars of unknown use, the rest were just ordinary goods that were useless to take and difficult to sell.

He carefully inspected these items of varying sizes, which had small wooden tags with writing tied to the bottles and jars with Rope. Rotten Frog Meat Paste, Bat Claw Powder, Ice Flower Honey, Strangling Vine Sap, and so on.

They were all strange names and items.

He cautiously opened a jar of Ice Flower Honey that looked harmless, and after taking a slight sniff, before he could even smell the Honey he had expected, he felt as if his nose had been punched hard; it went numb and cold, and he lost all feeling in it instantly.

He hurriedly closed the jar and carefully placed it back into the crowded Wooden Box.

As he touched his nose, he found it stiff and cold; he gathered a small amount of Life Energy there, and only then did it slowly change from numbness to pain, before quickly improving and returning to normal.

"What kind of devilish thing is this! What kind of devilish thing is this?"

He waved his hand for people to carefully carry these things away, and specifically instructed them not to let this box bump into anything.

Walking out of the wooden house, Jier saw the young subordinates who had run up to the treehouses in the Bandit Yingdi, who were currently using Rope to hoist and move useful items down from the treehouses.

From another treehouse, however, a young man ran out in a panic, waving his hands and screaming, which immediately drew everyone's attention.

"Help, help! There are bees inside the house! So many bees!"

The guy shouted loudly, and Jier immediately yelled: "Jump down along the rope quickly and run toward me!"

At the same time, he ran over quickly to provide support.

Upon hearing the order, the young man jumped directly from the connecting wooden ladder of the treehouse, grabbed a rope hanging down, and slid down with his palms burning with pain, while Jier took the Yue Shui skull from his right hand, held it horizontally for the first time, and swung it sideways.

But he did not strike at the poor young man's body; instead, he swung it at the space above his head.

Crackle, pop! A series of bursting sounds rang out, and more than a dozen disturbed bees the size of knuckles were killed.

Afterward, Jier carefully swung his weapon around the young man, ensuring he did not hit the person while still managing to strike the flying bees, swatting them down one by one.

"How are you? Are you hurt?"

Facing Jier's inquiry, the young man, whose face was already swollen, tried to answer: "I'm... I'm okay, just... ow, my head, what happened to my head?"

The young man's tongue and mouth were both swollen.

Of course, it was not just there; his entire head and face had swollen up a size larger.