Chapter 814: The Disheveled 'Merchant

Five parasitic monsters hiding their identities walked from the main road along a dirt path toward the small village of Blue Well with slightly flustered steps.

As they walked, they frequently looked back into the pitch-black night behind them. These people looked quite disheveled, covered in mud, and panting heavily, as if they had just been through a desperate flight for their lives.

"Almost there! Almost there! Everyone, push a little harder!"

The guy leading the group encouraged his companions; the words were panicked yet fluent, and the way they spoke even carried the accent of the people near Yemei Town.

A guy walking at the very back stumbled and tripped over himself. Just as he was about to fall, a companion a step ahead grabbed his arm tightly, dragging and pulling him up to keep him moving with the others.

"Keep going, those monsters won't follow us. Up ahead, there are so many people, after all."

"Hold on, don't fall behind!"

Encouraging each other, these guys finally reached a point less than a hundred meters from the village gate.

There was an Armed Squad guarding the village gate, but they couldn't see far or clearly in the night, so aside from vaguely hearing suspicious voices on the path ahead, these Armed Civilians did not realize that anyone was fleeing toward them.

But this did not mean the night surveillance capability of the refugee group was limited to just that.

Beside the path the five guys were walking on, in the waist-high, messy weed-filled farmland, suspicious rustling sounds arose, and then pairs of green light spots reflecting the village's firelight suddenly popped up in the weeds.

There was something hidden in the overgrown farmland!

The five parasitic monsters glanced at each other, and just as they were about to slow their pace, a sharp cry rang out from the grass.

"Meow-ow—!"

This sudden cry startled the five guys, and the ragged breathing they had been faking instantly smoothed out.

"Meow-ow—!"

Another sharp, alert-signaling cry, and this time, the members of the Armed Squad resting by the fire at the village gate all picked up their weapons and stood up.

"Situation! It's a warning from the alien Beast!"

The Captain of this Armed Squad reacted immediately and shouted: "Get up, everyone get up!"

Only half the people had been sitting and resting, while the other half, who were on duty keeping watch, gathered in groups of three or five, torch in one hand and sword in the other, ready for battle. The young archers, meanwhile, climbed onto a carriage parked at the village entrance, ignoring the complaints of the Yongqi Maomao inside the Wooden Box, stepped on the large Wooden Boxes where the Maomao usually rested, and from their high vantage point, nocked homemade or scavenged Arrows onto their Bowstrings.

"Five people! Empty-handed! Coming!"

Complaining aside, Yongqi Maomao jumped off the carriage, braced its tail against the ground in mid-air, and like a pole vaulter, arrived instantly before the Captain of this Armed Squad, relaying the information it had received from its companions' warnings.

Don't let the Maomao's cries in the weed-filled farmland sound the same; in reality, the meanings were vastly different. But only the Maomao themselves could distinguish them; to people of other races, it was nothing more than sharp howls.

"Who goes there! Stop! State your identity!"

The Squad Leader, holding a Long Sword in one hand and a Mudu in the other, wearing a piece of patched, clean leather armor, stood in the middle of the road at the village entrance and shouted loudly toward the pitch-black area ahead.

On the dirt road at the village entrance ahead, in the pitch-black environment, the sound of footsteps rang out once more, drawing closer, accompanied by a panicked cry: "Help! Please save us! Please save us!"

After hearing the other side, the Squad Leader rolled his eyes, struck the blade of his Long Sword heavily against the front of his Shield, and issued a warning with a 'bang': "State your identity! And, stop for me! Stop!"

"There are monsters chasing us! Save us! We are Merchants from Yemei Town! Soldiers, save us!"

"Stop your pace! Walk over slowly!"

The Squad Leader shouted this, but the panicked footsteps ahead did not stop, and as the distance closed, the Armed Civilians at the village entrance could already vaguely see, under the illumination of the Torches in their hands, several Human figures walking over while supporting each other.

"I said stop! Didn't you hear me? Archers! Nock and aim—"

Following the Squad Leader's words, the five young archers standing or half-crouching on the carriage's Wooden Box immediately nocked their Bow and Arrow onto the Bowstrings, simultaneously adjusting their stance and arm movements, ready to spread their arms and quickly draw and release at any moment.

Although they couldn't see their targets clearly at night, a volley from five people could compensate for the lack of precision.

And on the path ahead, the parasitic monsters, who still wanted to close the distance quickly, had to follow the other side's instructions and slow their pace. They were monsters, but not idiots, especially after parasitizing Humans, their intelligence had also increased somewhat.

Seeing the other side finally obey and slow their pace as they approached, the Captain of the Armed Squad continued to shout: "Monsters chasing you? Are they some damn rotten tree roots that occupied human corpses? Is it that kind of thing?"

Upon hearing this group of Humans insult them, the five parasitic monsters all twitched their mouths in dissatisfaction and muttered a curse under their breath, then the leader responded: "Uh, we were attacked just as it got dark, we didn't see clearly. But they were all very strong and rude guys; those people claimed to be a group of 'Hanging Ghost' Bandits! Please, shelter us for the night, I beg this Soldier Captain, I beg you."

As the two sides spoke, the distance continued to close; the people of the Armed Squad naturally didn't move their feet, while the five guys dressed as Merchants were the ones walking over, supporting each other.

At this moment, the distance between the two sides was only about twenty meters, and the Armed Squad saw that there were indeed only five people appearing on the road ahead, and they spoke clearly and thought fluently, not like the clumsy parasitic monsters they had encountered at noon today.

Thus, the members of the Armed Squad breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that things were becoming normal.

And the Captain, located in the middle of the group, also opened his eyes wide to carefully observe the five panicked Merchants walking over in a disheveled state.

He saw that these Merchants were in a sorry state; the sturdy, expensive clothes they wore looked like they had kissed the mud and cheated with dust and grass stems, dirty and torn at the seams. Several of them were barefoot, and it looked like their desperate flight had caused them to lose even the valuable shoes on their feet. Furthermore, these people looked panicked, their complexions pale and dull, clearly having been subjected to extreme fright.

"What on earth happened? How did it end up like this?"

He stepped forward to ask.

But at this moment, behind those five guys, there was a stir in the weeds by the side of the road, and a Maomao with its tail held high jumped out of the grass. It braced its tail against the ground and landed silently on the path the five guys had just walked over.

It didn't jump out without a reason; where those five strange guys had walked, the guy who had tripped earlier had dropped something on the ground.

This Maomao hoped the other side had dropped a piece of metal, preferably, of course, a flat, soft Human metal—a coin! Because even though this thing was soft and slippery, a tiny piece could be exchanged for more metal.

The Maomao also knew the importance of coins in Human society!

It jumped over, reached out to grab it, and knew from the touch on its front palm that it wasn't metal or a coin. This made it somewhat disappointed; thinking it wouldn't have any more gains today, it examined the thing in its hand—oh, it was a Human's small toe, and the smell was very unpleasant.

Even without bringing this thing close to its nose, the Maomao could smell a rotten stench coming from the severed toe.

Hmm?

A severed toe? A rotten stench?

The Maomao turned its head to look toward the village entrance, watching the five Human figures slowly walking toward the Armed Squad guarding the village gate, and it tilted its head.

A toe fell off, it should hurt, right?

But why weren't they crying out in pain? After all, the Human wounded in the group, even with that Human Witch Doctor rubbing their wounds to treat them, would cry out in pain all night long. The sharp-eared Maomao could hear the low wailing of those injured Humans even at night.

Unless, among these five people ahead, the guy who lost the toe was not a Human!

Thinking of this, the Maomao immediately opened its mouth and shrieked: "Meow~~!!"

And the Yongqi Maomao, who had been idling by the carriage at the village entrance, reacted immediately upon hearing this cry; after shrieking in the same way, it instantly threw the Human Dagger it was holding—the Maomao's Long Sword—above its head.

Then it crouched on the ground with all four limbs, keeping stable and grounded, while its tail swung backward and then whipped upward to strike at the Dagger above its head.

Snap!

The very end of Yongqi Maomao's tail, the toughest part, struck exactly the end of the handle of the Dagger spinning in mid-air.

Immediately, a stream of light flew from Yongqi Maomao to the chest of the Merchant at the very front.

*Puchi*—after a quick and short stabbing sound, everyone present, or rather, the guys who weren't human, were stunned.

The leader of the disheveled Merchants looked down at the iron Dagger in his chest, and the members of the Armed Squad guarding the village entrance widened their eyes even further; many of them had their mouths agape, and after being shocked by this scene, they didn't even know what sound to make.

The Squad Leader was the first to turn his head in the direction the Dagger had been thrown, and he happened to see the alien sub-leader crouching on the ground, as well as the long tail the other party was flicking back and forth in the air.

"You..."

Just as he was about to speak, Yongqi Maomao, who was crouching on the ground, slapped the floor, stood up, and shouted at him: "Monster! Monster! They, monster!"

The Squad Leader was stunned for a moment, then turned his head back at an extremely fast speed; that speed made one wonder if he would sprain his neck if he went any faster.

When he turned to look at the five Merchants who had been suddenly attacked by the aliens, he saw the disheveled Merchant with a Dagger stuck in his chest raise his head, looking over at him with an expression of surprise.

Then the Squad Leader heard a sentence that made his scalp tingle, spoken from the mouth of the person opposite: "Seriously, you tell me, what kind of reaction should I have at a time like this?"

That person, no, that Monster, appeared to be asking the Armed Squad, but in reality, it was communicating with its other companions behind it.

The other four parasitic Monsters shook their heads and began to curse, and at the same time, while the Humans were stunned by the surprise, they quickened their pace, and the next moment, they broke into a run.

The Squad Leader immediately came to his senses and shouted: "Archers! Fire arrows! Fire arrows!"

The young men on the carriage preparing to draw their bows were not stunned like the others below; because they were on top of the two-meter-high carriage, they had seen everything that happened in front, including the sudden movement of the alien Beast, the disheveled Merchant who acted like nothing happened after being attacked, and everything that followed.

Therefore, when the Squad Leader just shouted for archers, before he had even finished speaking, the five young men using bows had already spread their arms, left arms extended forward, right hands pulling back the Bowstring. When the force was right, they shifted their fingers, and the Bowstring, no longer blocked by the leather guards on their fingers, directly drove the Arrow to fly forward.

The speed of the Arrow was far faster than the attacking Monsters.

Before the Monsters could even start running, the three guys in the front who were charging the fastest were hit by several arrows.

The force even caused these guys to be knocked to the ground.

At this moment, following the Squad Leader's nervous shouting, the others around finally reacted and rushed up one after another, waving their Torches to fight.

The members of the Armed Squad had seen the fire execution that afternoon and all understood that this kind of Monster feared fire; at least fire could burn the other party to death, so the Torches in their hands were waving with a *whoosh* sound, while their blades didn't hack over as much.

After all, everyone knew that although this kind of Monster wearing human skin had immense strength and was not easily wounded to death, that was not the most terrifying part; the most terrifying part was that if their limbs or heads were wounded, the disgusting root-like structures, similar to balls of earthworms or snakes, lurking inside their bodies would extend out, and not only could they attack, but whoever they grabbed was finished.

So at this moment, everyone shouted, waving their Torches in their left hands back and forth, constantly forcing back and burning the five parasitic Monsters charging over.

"Quickly call for the Knight! And the Priest! Quick, whoever it is, hurry up!"

The Squad Leader shouted a few times toward his back; they were guarding the village entrance, and not far behind them were the courtyards and houses of the Farmers, where other civilians who were resting for the night were naturally located.

Although it had been night for a while now and everyone was tired from the day and in urgent need of rest, not every young person would go to sleep. For example, young people who had taken a liking to each other on the road, or those who were already couples or married, or energetic young men—they had just finished eating and were at their most active time, chatting, bragging, or going together to the center of the Yingdi to watch other energetic young people train and fight.

At this moment, these people noticed the chaos and fighting at the village entrance, so they woke up their companions who had fallen asleep early and ran toward the center of the Cunzi as if flying, shouting non-stop on the way: "A fight broke out! A fight broke out at the village entrance!"

Because of the distance, everyone in the Farmer's courtyards or houses did not know that one of the parties fighting at this moment was the parasitic Monsters they had only encountered at noon.

After all, those Monsters still had a human appearance at this time, unlike at noon when many parasitic Monsters had broken limbs and heads with many conspicuous plant roots sticking out after Jier charged them on horseback.

*Whoosh—whoosh*, flames waved, and the Monster with astonishing strength lunged forward, wanting to grab an Armed Civilian, but the people dodged left and right, making it lunge at empty air.

After it landed on the ground, before it could even get up, the archers, having seized the timing, fired a volley, and all five Arrows shot into this unlucky guy.

Human flesh could not withstand such a close-range volley of arrows; although the archers were only using ordinary Hunting Bows and the Arrows were also ordinary or even average-quality homemade Bow and Arrow sets seized from Bandits, they could not withstand the close distance and the large quantity.

Five Arrows pinned the parasitic Monster that was trying to crawl up firmly to the ground, interrupting its attempt to rise. Subsequently, the Armed Civilians who had dodged left and right together smashed their Torches toward the torso of the parasitic Monster.

Everyone knew that those Monsters would parasitize the torso of a human body, so they didn't care about the limbs or head and directly smashed their Torches fiercely at the parasitic Monster's torso, and their blades hacked down hard!

*Crackling*, amidst a flurry of hacking and burning, this parasitic Monster no longer had any movement.

A particularly bold guy gripped the Cleaver in his hand, stepped forward, and hacked off the parasitic Monster's neck with one blow, but subsequently, no plant roots extended from the severed neck, and this Monster didn't even bleed the bright red blood of a Human, only spraying out some pleasant-smelling plant sap.

"Ha! Took one down! Took one down! Our squad has finally opened for business!"

"I see these Monsters are just like this, kill them! Take them all down!"

Having knocked down one parasitic Monster, the crowd became excited and started bragging. Meanwhile, several companions nearby, holding shields in their left hands and Torches in their right, were struggling to hold off the Monsters' offensive alongside the Squad Leader.

"A bunch of idiots! Come help once you've finished!"

The Squad Leader roared, and the others swarmed up, immediately submerging a parasitic Monster that the Squad Leader had knocked down single-handedly.

And watching their companions being knocked down and killed one by one, the sub-leader of the parasitic Monsters immediately wailed and shouted: "Retreat! Retreat into the darkness!"

As soon as it shouted, it and the other two parasitic Monsters immediately turned and ran; they finally understood how this group of numerous Humans had managed to come all the way here.

However, even if they couldn't confront them head-on, it wasn't impossible to ambush and attack in the pitch-black night.

Previously, when Merchants from Yemei Town wanted to leave the town to do business, they would mix in and take action at night, taking down several small Caravans. As for larger Caravans, a sudden attack might not necessarily take them all down at once; there would always be people who escaped under the cover of night.

But unfortunately, human vision at night was not very good, far inferior to that of the parasitic Monsters.

Therefore, the fleeing attacked Caravans were almost, almost all dragged into the darkness by these guys one by one, bit by bit, in the pitch-black night, and subsequently turned into one of them.

This sub-leader of the parasitic Monsters thought quite well; even if these Humans carried Torches, as long as they were far away or scattered in the surrounding barren farmland, weren't they just waiting to be attacked and ambushed?

But these Monsters didn't seem to have very good luck this time.

As the three of them retreated into the night and wandered howling in the farmland around the village entrance, Yongqi Maomao excitedly flicked its tail; it called out a few times, and things were moving rapidly in the farmland near the village entrance with a *rustling* sound.

The subordinates who were originally evenly distributed around the entire village quickly exchanged positions. Yongqi Maomao called over its melee Mao Mao, while the other Mao Mao continued to patrol and keep watch in the surroundings.

Subsequently, in a call that Humans could not understand, it issued orders to the melee Mao Mao, and the night Hunting of the long-haired lynx Beast began.