Chapter 808: The Quiet and Poor Blue Well Village

The sky was gradually darkening, and the sun was slowly sinking toward the mountain range lying horizontally along the horizon.

Because of the delay from that earlier matter, even though everyone in the group had put forth all their strength to travel today, at this very moment, Jier's group was still a good distance away from the town on the plain ahead.

It was clear that when they had walked out of the mountain ridge, they could see that fairly large town, but seeing it was one thing, and actually walking there on one's own two feet was quite another.

Fortunately, it did not matter if they could not reach the town to set up camp tonight; as a rare plain area in the mountainous Southern Province, there were villages visible to the naked eye distributed all around the outskirts of the town.

Especially along the main Shanglu that Jier and the others had been walking, one could see a village of a hundred or so people every little while on either side of the road.

But the problem was, these villages were empty.

There was no cooking smoke rising from the chimneys of the crude houses in the villages, nor was there the crowing of chickens or barking of dogs; it was incomparably quiet. The most obvious point was that the large tracts of farmland on both sides of this Shanglu had not been planted with crops by the diligent farmers at all during this season when farming work should have been busy.

Lush weeds had replaced the food crops that should have been growing vigorously, each one arrogantly occupying the fertile, soft soil that had been well-tilled for years.

Various annual wildflowers had also been brought here along with the birds, and they were no less competitive, vying for these good spots that would never have allowed them to grow freely in the past. Large swarms of buzzing bees were also crawling out from the various blooming wildflowers at this twilight hour, flapping their wings to return to their own nests. These bees knew that once night fell, some nocturnal animals would begin to move, and that was not a good time for them to be out gathering nectar.

"It looks like we won't make it to the town ahead today."

Jier muttered in annoyance, then waved his arm and shouted loudly: "Pay attention, everyone, pay attention. Set up camp for the night! Set up camp for the night!"

Following Jier's shouting command, the exhausted people finally breathed a sigh of relief. They had all seen the town that they might have reached in another half-day of walking, but everyone had traveled all day at a faster pace than usual, their stamina was almost completely depleted, and now that it was dark, everyone knew that it was almost impossible for such a large group to travel at night.

And the young Knight had not forced everyone to rush to the town overnight, which was truly great.

As soon as the group stopped, a person from the Armed Squad at the front of the group hurried over. This person walked quickly to Jier's warhorse in the middle of the group and reported loudly to Jier: "Sir Knight Jier, there is a small path off the Shanglu ahead that leads directly to the village nearby. My Captain asks if you would like to send someone to scout the village so the group can spend the night there?"

Jier was weighing the options after hearing this when the Merchant, Mr. Bafute, walked over quickly. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a dirty gray handkerchief and then said to Jier: "Knight Jier, the Lumberjacks say there aren't enough large trees nearby for them to get the firewood needed for the night. Most of the firewood stored on the group's wagons was used up in that incident today. What do you think?"

Jier looked left and right, and by the fading light of the sunset, he naturally saw that after entering the plain, there were no large trees on either side of the Shanglu besides the continuous farmland to provide firewood for the group to use overnight.

"I see it. What is your suggestion?"

Jier asked Mr. Bafute in return. This middle-aged fat Merchant immediately pointed to a small local village of about a hundred people, located a little over a hundred meters from the Shanglu: "Knight Jier, my meaning is the same as the Captains of the Armed Squad; we can go to the village to set up camp for the night."

"Isn't that place a bit too small? With the size of our group, that place simply won't be able to accommodate us." Jier could tell at a glance that if that place could even be called a village, it could not accommodate the whole group, and even if they squeezed in, it wouldn't even hold half the people.

Hearing Jier's words, the Armed Civilian who came to report the situation scratched his head awkwardly, but Mr. Bafute said: "Of course it can't accommodate our entire group. In fact, what I mean is that the village looks fairly intact, and the farmers in the village seem to have planted a few Fruit Trees. The building timber, the Fruit Trees, and such can all be cut down by the Lumberjacks to burn."

Jier pursed his lips: "That doesn't seem right, does it? After all, it's not the wilderness where things can be taken at will; it's all the property of the locals..."

Unexpectedly, Mr. Bafute laughed out loud: "They've all run away, sir. I reckon they're long since hiding in the town ahead, or have scattered to flee the disaster. Anyway, we're just borrowing it; no one will come to question us or charge us."

Jier chuckled after hearing this: "That's true. With no one to claim ownership of the property, it can naturally be used at will. Let's do that, then. However, this place isn't safe, as you all know. I must take some people to check the village before we spend the night."

After the discussion, Jier's voice rose again, spreading throughout the entire group: "We are camping in the small village ahead tonight. Everyone move slowly; I will take some people to check it out first. First Squad and Second Squad, assemble at the village entrance."

After shouting, Jier urged Tianxuecao to rush from the solid, flat Shanglu into the weedy farmland outside the road, galloping diagonally toward the village entrance ahead. The two Armed Squads at the very front of the group, upon hearing Jier's order, moved along the narrow dirt path leading from the Shanglu to the village toward the entrance.

The entire group began to move slowly once again. Because it was getting dark, Mr. Bafute and the Priest both called out to the people in the group carrying Torches for illumination to hurry up and light them; it seemed the group would not be able to set up camp before it was completely dark.

Jier quickly crossed the soft farmland and arrived directly at the dilapidated village entrance where the small dirt path connected to the Shanglu.

Calling it a village entrance, this place was nothing more than a few Fences separating the farmland from the farmers' houses, and a pillar made of Stone piled up. A thick wooden stick was inserted into the middle of the Stone pillar, and a hanging iron sign was tied horizontally at a height of more than three meters on the stick, with the name of the village punched into it—Blue Well Village.

Underneath the iron sign, there seemed to be a place for hanging cloth, but the fleeing Villagers might have taken it with them, so it was empty except for a few metal rings.

Jier's gaze followed the village entrance into the not-very-large village. He could easily see a water well built with blue Stone sitting right there in the center of the village, surrounded by a dozen or so farmers' houses.

Scanning back and forth, Jier did not feel that there was anything strange about this village, which had been uninhabited for several months.

But he understood that there were Flesh Demon parasites entrenched in the nearest mountain ridge, so the situation here might not be as safe as it looked at the moment.

Soon, messy footsteps came from behind Jier, and the two squads of forty Armed Civilians gathered behind him. Behind these Armed Squads were even more people.

They had been carrying the group's supplies all day, and many were exhausted. At this moment, they were all impatiently wanting to enter the village to rest. Even if they didn't stay in the houses of the fleeing farmers, it didn't matter; eating, sitting by a fire, and resting in tents were what they wanted most right now.

"Everyone is here. Take out your weapons. First Squad, form a horizontal battle formation and block the village entrance. Second Squad, form individual combat squads and follow behind me."

After speaking, Jier nudged his warhorse's belly, letting Tianxuecao walk into the village.

Jier, riding on the tall horse, even ducked his body slightly to avoid the iron sign hanging at the village entrance hitting his head. Even if it wouldn't hurt him while wearing a Helmet, there were many people watching behind him, and it wouldn't look good if he really hit it.

The people of the Armed Squad called the First Squad pulled out their weapons one after another, and then, amidst the scolding and shouting of their squad leader, they messily arranged themselves into a two-layer horizontal battle formation.

This twenty-person squad lined up in two rows, looking slightly thin, but it was barely enough.

The Second Squad divided into several small combat squads, following Jier in a swarm as they quickly walked into the quiet village.

Jier, riding on horseback, scrutinized every farmer's house he passed after entering the village. These houses were wide individually and were built with wooden pillars and Stone from the nearby mountains. Although the farmers who built these houses had put all their effort into constructing their homes, limited by materials and technology, these houses were crude and ugly. Although they met the minimum living requirements, in Jier's view, a heavy rain or a fire could destroy the entire house.

The wooden pillars used to reinforce and maintain the strength of the houses had basically not been treated sufficiently. Not only were they easy to ignite—the roof was covered with bundles of Wheat Straw—but many of the wooden pillars serving as the main beams and support pillars had been eaten by insects; there was no telling when they would collapse.

"Not a wealthy place."

Jier shook his head, no longer observing these things that were none of his business, and instead turned his attention to the tightly closed doors of the houses.

No one knew what was waiting for them in this deserted village.

It was best if there was nothing, but if there was, Jier would not be surprised at all.

Arriving at the blue water well in the center of the village, Jier took note of this blue water well that gave the village its name. He discovered that, unlike his observation from afar, a close look revealed that the material used to build this well was not some pure blue, rare, and expensive Stone.

This water well, used by the whole village, was not small in size. Besides the few water-drawing pulleys set up at the two-meter-wide well mouth, the ground around the well had also been paved with a full layer of Stone by the original Villagers.

Unlike the crude construction of their individual houses, the Stone on the ground here was not only made of sturdy and durable large materials, but the entire area had been carefully leveled, with not a single protruding or sunken spot on the ground.

This showed the importance of this water well to the Villagers.

The crisp sound of Tianxuecao's iron-shod hooves came from the Stone ground by the well. Jier turned his head once and jumped off his horse with a swish.

*Thwack*, his heavy war boots struck the Stone ground. Jier lowered his head and rubbed the ground beneath his feet, discovering that the solid rock ground had likely been used for a long time, with a smooth surface from long-term use.

But presumably because no one had used it for the last few months, a thin layer of moss had stubbornly grown on the smooth rock surface.

Where Jier's feet had stepped, the moss was flattened by the pressure, the raised parts turned a deep color, and where he had scraped across horizontally, the moss was scraped away, revealing the smooth rock surface underneath.

The Armed Civilians behind him walked over, and Jier raised his hand to block everyone approaching: "Wait a moment, everyone. Stay alert, keep your weapons facing outward, and be careful of the surrounding houses."

Hearing Jier's words, the Armed Civilians withdrew their distracted attention. One by one, they nervously raised their Shields and weapons; no one wanted to end up like the young man who had been burned to death that afternoon. That was too miserable; being parasitized by a Monster was worse than being killed by a Bandit's blade.

Jier squatted down to check the newly grown moss around the blue water well and found that a few footprints had moved near the well recently. Other than that, there were no further discoveries.

"One, or two. Parasitic Monsters and their skins need to drink water too, right?"

Jier muttered, then took a few people and walked toward the farmer's house closest to the water well.

The farmers of Blue Well Village were not wealthy.

This is a very easy thing to discover. Just by looking at the height of each Farmer's perimeter wall, one can judge the wealth of the local Farmers in a way that is hard to explain.

The wealthier the Village, the higher the Farmers within will build their perimeter walls.

This is only natural; one's own poultry, the pigs, sheep, and cattle being raised, and even the Fruit Trees planted in one's own courtyard must be watched over, and this requires a perimeter wall for protection. As for the poor Farmers who cannot afford to raise poultry or livestock, they naturally do not need a high perimeter wall to protect their meager property.

The deserted Farmer's house before Jier is exactly like this.

As a house closest to the very center of the Cunzi, the perimeter wall outside this Farmer's house could be leaped over by even a mischievous puppy; clearly, this Cunzi has reached a certain level of poverty.

Not in a hurry to take his men into the house to inspect, Jier first came to the entrance of the cellar in a corner of the courtyard, opened the wooden cellar door that had been weighed down by a Shitou, and looked inside.

Under the illumination of the Torch, the small cellar was empty, just as expected.

"Cellar is secure."

Jier shouted once, then he closed the cellar door and put the Shitou back on top, only then leading his men to the front door of this house.

The simple yet large Farmer's house had very few windows, and they were all high up on the outer walls, over three meters tall, and the window openings were also very small.

With one kick, he smashed open the tightly shut, dilapidated wooden door, and Jier walked in with long strides, his hand on his sword.

No people, no Monster.

But there was a musty smell.

He looked up and, sure enough, discovered a place on the roof where rain was leaking. Whether it was the strong wind that blew open a bundle of Wheat Straw used for rain protection, water had entered one part of the house, which caused the wooden bed frame and the wooden cabinet fixed to the wall inside the house to grow mold and sprout Mushroom.

A thick smell of rotting wood gathered in the house.

"Cough, cough, the interior is secure. Two men come here, climb up and open all the windows of this house, and don't close the door either, let it air out. Also, those rotten bed frames and cabinets, call the Lumberjack to come with axes and chop them all away in a while."

Jier walked out quickly, and he led his men toward the next house shortly after.

There was no one here either; the Villager who had taken refuge had taken everything they could carry before leaving, not only leaving behind not a single bit of grain, but also not leaving behind many pieces of furniture or daily necessities.

Or perhaps, the Farmers didn't have much of these things to begin with.

After kicking open the sixth door and inspecting the shabby furnishings inside, Jier reached a conclusion: "Although this place is close to the town and is in a plains region, it is truly poor."