Chapter 797: The Ambushed New Clear Spring Village, Ken and Death Spots

Just as the Refugee Team on Jier's side was camping for the night and eating, New Clear Spring Village stood on the mountain not far away.

The Bandit Leader's subordinate, Baldy, who was left to guard the village, was pacing back and forth in his room, feeling uneasy and restless. This room was originally the place where the Bandit Leader lived, and previously, several young and beautiful women had been locked up here; however, Bamian had taken everyone away during the day, so at this moment, only Baldy was here.

There were not many houses in the village, but there were quite a few people, so there was almost no place that was unoccupied; Baldy also did not want people to see his current restless state, so he specifically sought out an empty and deserted place to wait.

Waiting for the great change tonight.

His room was located on the second floor in the center of the village, and it had a large wooden window facing the direction of the village square where the central spring was.

At this moment, some moans from women were coming from outside, mixed with the intense panting sounds of young Bandits.

The sounds were all coming from the dark corners of the houses outside. It was fine during the day, when he would occasionally walk around the village to show his presence. As for the other remaining Bandits who were not very familiar with him, they also pretended to be on guard while peeking at the slaves and captives owned by other Bandits.

But when night fell, these people, starting from who knows whom, jumped down from their respective guard posts one after another and crept toward the houses they had been eyeing all day.

They scrambled to open the doors of the houses and, in full view of the captured villagers inside, untied the shackles of the women they had set their sights on and took them away. Some even got into fights over competing for a certain woman.

The scene outside the window at this moment finally made Baldy heave a sigh of relief. After all, if this bunch of people left behind were already this rotten, surely the Bandit Group next door couldn't fail to break in, right?

At the village gate, Baldy's confidant and another Bandit nicknamed Dogfoot were boredly leaning against a fire basin to warm themselves. The temperature in the mountains and forests was low and the humidity was high at night; if they didn't keep themselves warm all night, their legs and feet would have problems in just a few years.

"Did you hear that? Those sounds in the village."

Baldy's confidant pointed behind them with a strange laugh and turned to say to Dogfoot.

Dogfoot was not very old, but he had already joined the 'Iron Bucket' Bandit Group for several years, so although he felt some desire, overall, he was quite disdainful: "Let me tell you, don't look at how happy these people are now; unless they kill the people or bribe them after they're done, once everyone comes back from raiding, those guys with sticky fingers will have a hard time."

"Oh, I only joined our group last year. You look like you have a lot of experience, tell me about it. Anyway, we're just idling."

After Baldy's confidant finished speaking, he took out a pair of Roasted Chicken legs wrapped in cloth from his bosom, first sniffed them with intoxication, and then handed one to Dogfoot: "Don't worry, this wasn't stolen. I specifically had the guy who knows how to cook among those captured during the day make this for my boss, but he hasn't had much of an appetite these past two days, so he didn't eat it. Let's eat it, the two of us."

Once Dogfoot heard that there was nothing wrong with the Roasted Chicken leg, he feigned ease and took it into his hands, sniffing it hard first. Although he had just finished dinner, the wheat paste mixed with wild vegetables didn't fill him up at all, and this Roasted Chicken leg had come at just the right time.

"Hiss~ delicious, truly delicious. Let me tell you, I've joined our group for several years and have seen similar situations many times. Not to mention anything far away, just take last month when the leader hanged that whole bunch of 'Bandit Hands'—it all started with the leader taking people out on business, and the ones left behind stole money and valuables from several people."

"Ugh, yeah. At the time, everyone was celebrating when they returned, but someone discovered that a large sum of money was missing from the Money Box hidden under their bed. This matter didn't spread; the guys who lost money only informed their close companions. A few of them didn't celebrate, and when they went back to check carefully, they found that everyone was missing money. These guys directly called the leader out privately and told him about it. Guess how it was handled afterward?"

Baldy's confidant took a distracted bite of the Roasted Chicken leg and replied: "Didn't you just say it? You hanged all the 'Bandit Hands' who were responsible for guarding."

Dogfoot patted his companion's shoulder and said triumphantly: "That's the result, but what about the process? Our leader didn't even ask the 'Bandit Hands' what was going on; he directly led people to surround them, confiscated their weapons, and then, without even interrogating them, just hanged them and distributed their wealth to those who suffered losses."

After Dogfoot patted his companion's shoulder, he realized there were oil stains on his fingers and hurriedly licked his fingers clean, not letting a single drop of oil go to waste.

"Is that so."

Baldy's confidant was not interested in this. He pretended to stretch his limbs, stood up, walked two steps, and leaned against the railing facing outside the gate. He looked at the Roasted Chicken leg in his hand, then looked at the Bandit Dogfoot who hadn't eaten enough, called out, and then threw the Roasted Chicken leg he had taken a bite of to the other person.

"Catch, I only took one bite. I don't have much of an appetite, you take it and eat."

"Thanks! Such delicious stuff, and you can't eat it? You must have eaten something good during the day! Haha."

Baldy pretended to be blowing the cool night mountain wind and turned his whole body away: "If you say so, then so be it. That's all there is, don't eat it too fast!"

"I know!" After saying that, Dogfoot didn't mind that someone else had bitten it; he opened his mouth and first tore off the charred, fragrant chicken skin, then licked the fat under the skin with his tongue.

Baldy's confidant had his back turned to his companion, his gaze peering outside the gate, but apart from the pitch-black night and the rustling of leaves in the wind, there was nothing different.

'If that bunch of people doesn't have the guts to come tonight, then it's going to be trouble.'

Baldy's confidant thought this, and he suddenly realized something. He then listened carefully again and discovered that in the farmland outside the village and the nearby forest that wasn't adjacent, two things were indeed missing.

The chirping of insects and the calls of nocturnal birds that should have been noisy.

It was already late spring; those insects and nocturnal birds of prey should have been noisy enough to keep people from sleeping, but tonight it was too quiet.

'Are they here.'

Thinking of this, Baldy's confidant waved at the night, but there was no response.

He pondered bitterly for a while; at the village gate, there was only the sound of Dogfoot sucking on the chicken bones with a slurping noise.

Realizing what was going on, Baldy's confidant prepared to take off his upper garment, but the mountain wind was still blowing around, and it was quite cold. He thought of an excuse, then pretended to be itchy and turned around to say: "Dogfoot, why am I so itchy all over! So itchy, help me scratch!"

Dogfoot threw the chicken bone into the fire basin and lazily mocked: "It must be because you don't wash your clothes or bathe, you've got fleas! Go catch them yourself."

"Hey, hey, hey, you guy, you just ate my chicken leg and you won't even help me with a favor. It's so itchy, no, this set of clothes can't be kept; I have to find someone to soak and wash them in wood ash water."

After saying this, Baldy's confidant hurriedly took off his clothes in a few quick motions and threw them forcefully onto the ground nearby.

Then he used his hands to pat his body repeatedly, pretending to be killing fleas.

"Much better now. Seriously, we bully those people we captured, and these fleas bully us. Comfortable now."

Dogfoot glanced at Baldy's confidant and ignored him, focusing on warming himself by the fire. After eating his fill, he felt a bit sleepy and sluggish.

Baldy's confidant carefully watched his companion's line of sight, then waved at the night outside the village gate again.

This time, following a faint rustling sound not far away, a guy wearing a black bear skin crept over. Baldy's confidant widened his eyes, and only then did he manage to see the other person's figure in the faint light.

Although the figure of the person outside the gate was hard to identify because of the black bear skin clothing, the person's eyes were shining brightly in the night, greenish, just like a real beast.

That was the result of killing too many people; their 'Iron Bucket' leader's eyes were about the same.

The person outside the gate rummaged through their body to find a bundle of rope, found the end of the rope and tied a knot, then threw it casually, and it landed right in front of Baldy's confidant.

Baldy's confidant hurriedly reached out to grab it. He looked back in a panic and found that Dogfoot, who was warming himself by the fire, hadn't noticed the noise here, so he breathed a sigh of relief and carefully tied the rope in his hand to the wooden railing on top of the gate.

The person below saw him tie the rope tight, then tugged on the rope in their hand; the railing didn't even shake. If nothing else, the people of this village had put in effort when building the village's defensive facilities.

However, most of the people in the village had fled as refugees earlier, so these defensive facilities didn't serve any purpose, benefiting the Bandits for nothing, and even conversely becoming powerful facilities for the Bandits to watch over the captured villagers.

Once the gate was closed, facing the towering wall surrounding the village, the villagers who wanted to run had no chance at all.

The figure wearing black bear skin clothing climbed up with the rope with agile movements; apart from the tiny sound when exerting force to breathe, there was no extra movement.

Soon, that person had one hand on the railing on top of the gate. First, they stared at the shirtless Baldy's confidant, then pointed with a finger at the remaining Bandit warming himself by the fire nearby.

This person had their face covered with a black cloth, revealing only a pair of beast-like eyes. Facing Baldy's confidant, they silently pointed at Baldy's confidant, then pointed at the warming Dogfoot, and finally drew a finger across their throat.

The meaning was self-evident.

Baldy's confidant paused, thinking of the instructions Baldy had given him during the day, and then hardened his heart, turned around, and slowly walked toward the fire basin: "Ah, it's a bit cold; this wind is making the hair on my arms stand up."

Dogfoot nodded lazily: "Yeah, it's okay now. You don't know, when I was hiding in the mountains with our leader from the Knight Lord before, we didn't dare to light a fire to warm ourselves at night. Those damn dogs have sharp eyes; after the smoke from the fire is illuminated by the fire at night, we ordinary people don't see anything, but those dog Knights can see it from far away. Several times, that led to us being attacked by Knights who found us in the middle of the night."

Sighing, Dogfoot continued: "Later, everyone learned to be smart; either find a Shandong and then light a fire, or endure the cold, huddle together for warmth, eat some wild fruits that we didn't know were poisonous or not, and tear at raw meat with our teeth. Many companions died after eating raw meat; their bodies were full of worms, and they could crawl out of their mouths and noses when they slept. Those guys all died later; when they died, they were all skin and bones, but their bellies were swollen into a huge lump."

Seeming to recall the tragic scene at that time, Dogfoot shivered: "Later, the leader used a knife to cut open those guys who were starved to death, and their bellies were packed with parasites like earthworms. Ugh, no, it's nothing for you to listen to me, but if you saw it with your own eyes, I guarantee you'd never forget it for the rest of your life."

Exhaling, Dog Foot pointed at the chicken bones crackling in the brazier: "That's why, no matter how hungry we get later on, we never eat raw meat, only cooked food."

"Is that so? That miserable?"

The bald man's confidant said with a grin. After finishing, he looked at the stairs leading up and down the gate platform and said in surprise: "Boss, why are you here?"

Dog Foot felt it was strange and turned his head to look, but there was no one coming up within his line of sight.

The next moment, he was tackled by the bald man's confidant, a large hand tightly gripping his throat, making it impossible for him to utter a plea for mercy. At the same time, a sharp pain came from his abdomen; it was the result of the bald man's confidant pulling out his own Dagger and repeatedly stabbing it hard into the abdomen of the tackled Dog Foot.

Dog Foot struggled hard, using his fists to strike the head and face of the bald man's confidant, but he quickly ran out of strength. Seeing that he was done for, the bald man's confidant finally loosened his hand from his throat.

"No, didn't I just eat two of your chicken legs..."

After saying this, Dog Foot stopped moving.

The bald man's confidant panted heavily, turned around, and looked at the person who had silently climbed up and climbed over the railing.

The man wearing black bear Leather Clothing pointed at the seemingly dead Dog Foot, lunged forward fiercely, and pinned down the fleeing Dog Foot.

It turned out that Dog Foot hadn't died just now, but had been faking it. Although his abdomen was seriously injured, it wouldn't kill a person quickly; rather, having one's neck gripped easily caused suffocation and unconsciousness. So, before he lost consciousness, Dog Foot pretended to be dead, all to escape and sound the alarm.

But the man wearing black bear clothing saw through this trick. The moment Dog Foot made a move, he rushed up to pin him down and then twisted Dog Foot's neck.

Looking at the bald man's confidant's look of disbelief and shame, the man wearing black bear clothing spoke up.

He said slowly: "Human life is very tenacious; many times, one won't die even if stabbed many times. But twisting the neck once can always reliably kill a person."

Pausing, he added: "As long as this person isn't some Monster transformed into a human."

The bald man's confidant was too ashamed to know what to say, so he had to ask: "Th-this lord, may I ask what you are called?"

The man scrutinized the bald man's confidant and said slowly: "Your Captain, that guy nicknamed Baldy, didn't tell you?"

The bald man's confidant shook his head awkwardly: "He only told me to take off my clothes tonight, and if I wanted to earn merit, I should help you take the village gate."

The man nodded: "Then, you have earned merit. Come with me, let's open this gate together and let the brothers outside in."

The bald man's confidant looked at Dog-Foot, who was lying on the ground with an expression of horror on his face staring at him, and took the initiative to follow this man.

The two climbed down the stairs. Amidst the passionate moans of women and the wanton gasps of men coming from the Cunzi, they lifted the slanted wooden stake fixed to the inside of the gate, then grabbed the recessed handles at the gate's connection point together, pulling the heavy wooden gate inward to open it.

The bare-chested bald man's confidant stood in place, watching that man take a tightly tied bag from his waist, then untie it and release a bag full of fireflies inside.

The little bugs were somewhat listless, but as they breathed in fresh air, they flapped their wings and flew up urgently, their light-emitting glands at the end of their abdomens flashing with specks of fluorescent light.

Seeing these gathered fireflies, one figure after another stood up silently in the fields outside the Cunzi. These people rushed over quickly, unable to contain their excitement, and formed combat teams of two to rush into the gate.

Amidst the sound of urgent footsteps, that man wearing black bear Leather Clothing said to the bald man's confidant: "My name is Ken. People often call me 'Ken the Cutter'. Welcome to my Bandit Group—'Dead Spot'. You are my man now."

The bald man's confidant didn't know what to say, so after a series of stammers, he managed to say: "Yes, Leader."

"Very good, follow me. Let us go find your former Captain against the backdrop of battle. Someone else will take over the Cunzi gate."

"Yes, Leader."

Jier, who was sitting in the center of the Refugee camp, suddenly felt something. He raised his head and looked toward the mountain forest in the northeast.

He squinted his eyes and discovered that in the seemingly dark night, firelight was vaguely rising from that mountain forest. Although it wasn't obvious yet, the smoke and firelight had a tendency to grow larger.

"That direction..."

Xueya Steer, who was eating with Jier, widened his eyes and said toward the direction Jier was pointing: "Ah, that place should be New Clear Spring Village. My sense of direction is very good, no mistake, it is New Clear Spring Village. Guaranteed no mistake, this is the confidence of a Caravan guard who has worked for over ten years. You know, on the grasslands without any surface markers, even on a night covered by dark clouds, I can accurately distinguish the orientation!"

After Xueya Steer finished speaking, he was very proud, but he looked at Jier's expression and then asked: "What's wrong over there? I see you staring at it."

Jier stirred the cold minced meat and bean soup in his bowl with a wooden spoon, ignoring the congealed Grease, sent a spoonful into his mouth, chewed it, swallowed, and said: "It's on fire over there, and the fire is not small. If that is indeed New Clear Spring Village, then, tonight, something definitely happened that exceeded the expectations of some guys. Hehe, I imagine someone will have a headache."

"Does it affect us?"

Xueya Steer frowned, looking somewhat worried.

"It's fine, it's likely a good thing. Hmm, it's a good thing for us." Jier summarized.

Xueya Steer breathed a sigh of relief and then continued to eat the bean soup and Wheat Porridge.

He had tried to persuade Jier, who had no appetite, to finally eat something. Besides, when out and about, it is best not to waste food, because you cannot be sure how long it will take between this meal and the next, or how many things will happen.

Therefore, if you have the conditions, you must eat more, eat until full, and don't leave any leftovers.

The Temporary Camp of the 'Iron Bucket' Bandit Group.

The leader of the Bandit Group named 'Iron Bucket'—Iron Bucket, was currently gritting his teeth and standing at the highest point of the Temporary Camp, looking toward the direction of his lair.

Firelight was vaguely rising there.

You know, his current location was a certain distance away from New Clear Spring Village. If it weren't for the sentry Bandit seeing the clouds where the village was located being strangely illuminated by firelight, none of them would have known that something had happened to their lair.

And one look told them it was definitely a big deal.

"That bald guy who should be drowned in a cesspit! Is this how you help me guard the lair? Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

The good mood from eating the glowing grain that the Bandits thought only Nobles ate drifted away with every curse. The Bandit Leader looked at the other Bandits around him and roared loudly: "Why are you all staring at me? Pack up! Leave the looted items here for now, they won't be lost anyway, everyone else, follow me!"

A veteran Bandit confidant among his subordinates tried to dissuade him: "Boss! It's already night, if everyone moves through the Shulin now, we will get separated and something will go wrong!"

"Exactly, with our dozens of people, by the time we get back to the village, there will probably only be ten or so left, the others probably won't be able to regroup until dawn. Boss, consider it, you can't walk in the Shulin when it's dark!"

"So, you want me to wait here until dawn? Bullshit! Anyone who thinks they can walk at night, come out and follow me back to the village to teach those idiots left behind a lesson! And those damn slaves who likely rebelled, set the fire, and ran away!"

Following the Bandit Leader's call, among the dozens of Bandits, ten or so who had the experience and ability to travel through the Shulin at night stood out and followed behind the Bandit Leader, striding out of the Temporary Camp.

"Everyone else stay in the Yingdi honestly! If one person is missing when I return at dawn, everyone who is close to them will die! Understand!"

The Bandit Leader roared this threat, and the Bandits in the Temporary Camp nodded one after another, sitting honestly in place.