Chapter 815: The Young Man's Decision

Jier was drawing water by the well in the middle of the Cunzi to take a shower when he was interrupted by a villager who ran over quickly.

"What is it again? I don't even have time to take a shower."

Despite his complaints, Jier still wiped his wet body dry with a piece of dry cloth, then walked out of the shower partition made of a Wooden Box with his hair still wet.

He tossed the dry cloth in his hand to Xueya Site nearby, and through Xueya Site's words, he learned what had happened at the entrance of the Cunzi.

While pulling up his trousers, Jier complained: "Those parasitic Monster interrupted my shower; they are going to be in trouble."

"Ha, maybe they should have come in the middle of the night?" Xueya Site shrugged. Knowing that Jier was taking charge, he began to take off his own clothes, intending to take a shower himself while he had the chance.

"Coming in the middle of the night wouldn't be disturbing my rest? They'd still get a good beating all the same!"

Jier spat, quickly put on the full set of armor he had thrown on the ground, and after barely getting the parts below the waist on, he held the other armor components in his arms and put them on as he walked.

Once the tight-fitting clothing worn as Inner Armor was on, putting on the armor was much simpler. Outsiders might not understand the sequence of the various locks and belt buckles connecting the Inner Armor to the armor, but Jier, as the designer of this armor, knew it all too well.

He could put the armor on with one hand even with his eyes closed. At this moment, he strode through the somewhat nervous crowd, soothing the villagers around him as he walked: "Everyone go back to what you were doing. It's nothing major, just a few small Monster in the daytime. Don't worry, I'll go slaughter them right now."

Seeing Knight Jier looking so confident and relaxed, the villagers all breathed a sigh of relief. Knowing how powerful Knight Jier was, they also set their minds at ease and continued with their previous tasks.

Those eating continued to eat, those chatting continued to chat, and the energetic young men gathered around the campfire in the center of the Cunzi to wrestle and fight in pairs, while the young women, taking advantage of the bright campfire, gathered together to take out their 'weapons'—coarse needles and thick thread—to mend everyone's clothes and damaged shoes.

Other young women went to the well, soaked the clothes that the villagers needed to wash in basins, gathered in a circle, and began to beat them with sticks. Through repeated beating, the dust and dirt on the clothes dissolved into the cold water through the impact and vibration.

Lanu, a native of Yemei Town, had previously begged for food from the Cook and was very full. Originally, he had been sitting by the campfire in the center of the Cunzi watching other young people wrestle and fight to burn off energy, but at this moment, he could not, like the other villagers in the group, set his mind at ease just by Jier's words of comfort.

He quickly caught up to the young Knight who was putting on his arm guards, having words he wanted to say but hesitating to speak.

"What? If you have something to say, just say it."

Jier glanced at this native, then slid his Gauntlet onto his palm and flexed it, ensuring the palm and the leather glove inside the Gauntlet fit snugly without hindering movement.

Lanu gathered his courage and asked: "Lord Knight, is there a Monster attack at the entrance of the Cunzi?"

Jier nodded: "The person who reported it just now shouted so loudly that as long as your ears aren't deaf, I think you should have heard it."

"But, since the Monster are launching an attack, you should immediately make everyone alert. If nothing else, at least those who can fight should be gathered together to prepare for battle on the outskirts of the Cunzi!"

Lanu said these words in one breath.

Jier blinked and smiled: "Don't be anxious. The number of attacking Monster is small, only five. I can't just make everyone nervous over such a small matter. Will everyone still be able to rest? You must know that everyone walked a long way today and must rest well to recover."

"But..."

Before Lanu could finish his words, he was interrupted by Jier: "I know what you mean. The Monster are very powerful, very powerful, right? You were bullied miserably by these guys, so you gathered people from various villages into the town?"

"That's not it, my Lord. These Monster only started to become active after everyone arrived in the town. I heard that they started—no, that even now they are still posing as some Bandit Group, launching attacks and assaulting the Caravan organized by the Merchants in the town."

Jier began to put on the arm guard for his right arm: "So you are afraid. The Caravan never returned, and they even attacked the town, making you, and you, afraid. Just because of five Monster, you think I must assemble everyone to deal with them."

"Am I right?"

Lanu, the native who was as young as Jier, was silent and unable to speak.

He finally squeezed out some words: "At least, be a bit more vigilant..."

Jier laughed a few times and patted the thin young man with his gloved right hand. The young man's mouth twitched, and he made a hissing sound.

"I have over a hundred Armed Civilian, and they are not incapable of fighting those parasitic Monster on their own. Besides that, I also have some 'little ones' with special identities and skills; they help keep watch every night."

Jier finally tossed his cloak to a villager looking over from the side of the road: "Help me put the cloak by my carriage."

"It is an honor, my Lord." This villager by the road had originally been gazing toward the entrance of the Cunzi, but after being pointed out by Jier, he held the gorgeous and expensive cloak and ran toward the center of the Cunzi.

Without the cover of the cloak, Jier's back was fully exposed. A small bag hung right on his back, and there were also weapon hooks on the back of his armor, from which an axe emitting a faint blue light was hanging.

Jier hung the Sword Sheath of his Hunting Sword on the left side of his metal belt and his Magic Dagger on the right, and on the metal belt, there were also some square leather pockets containing items.

"Additionally," Jier finally said to Lanu: "You overlooked my strength, oh, and this one in front, the Priest of the Agriculture God in our group, Priest Luosa-Bata'er, he is also very powerful."

As Jier pointed, Priest Bataer, who had arrived at the entrance of the Cunzi early, happened to turn around and raised the Amber Metal Long Staff in his hand toward Jier.

"Warrior Jier, why did you only just arrive?"

Jier shrugged: "I was just taking a shower, and these blind Monster just had to come and disturb me at this time. I'll make them look good immediately!"

After Jier and Lanu walked closer, Priest Bataer pointed to the dirt road outside the entrance of the Cunzi: "Then you have missed your chance. Those Beast you hired, they have already defeated all the parasitic Monster that came to attack and then tried to flee."

The Priest looked at the high-spirited team of Armed Civilian beside him: "Of course, this was after the members of the Armed Squad repelled and killed two of the Monster."

The members of the Armed Squad, who heard the Priest's praise, raised their Torch, Long Sword, and Shield in unison and cheered: "Victory! Victory! Victory!"

Jier held his Helmet and smiled. He looked at the astonished native Lanu beside him and said triumphantly: "How about that? What did I say? Those Monster are no match for us. This land belongs to Humans, and it will surely be ours. You overestimated those Monster and underestimated the fighting skills of being Human."

Lanu did not know what to say, but the five corpses of Monster-parasitized Humans on the dirt road outside the entrance of the Cunzi, with their broken bodies and emitting a suspiciously fresh fragrance, made him unable to believe it.

Whether it was when he was in the town or during the wandering time after he and Qiaoyi escaped the town, these Monster parasitizing human bodies made him feel terrified and invincible.

But he never expected that today, he would discover that these Monster, which he originally thought were very powerful, could also be defeated by armed people.

This left him not knowing what to do.

Jier ignored the native who was too surprised to speak. He went to the Monster corpses with Priest Bataer and listened to the Squad Leader guarding the entrance of the Cunzi recount the previous battle.

The Monster approached under the cover of night, posing as local Merchants attacked by Monster, approaching step by step, the warning from the Beast in the messy farmland, the attack by the Beast leader, the charge of the Monster whose identities were exposed, the concerted counterattack of the members, the two Monster that were beaten and chopped into pieces, the retreat of the remaining Monster, and the hunting and killing by the small Beast in the night.

Beside Jier, Yongqi Maomao jumped excitedly in place following the Squad Leader's report, its tail supporting its body so that its line of sight was level with Jier's.

It shouted excitedly: "Maomao, meritorious service! Maomao, defeated, three, Monster! Meritorious service! Reward! Metal! Give me, metal!"

Priest Bataer looked in surprise at the three Monster-parasitized corpses whose torsos were full of Dagger holes and said: "I didn't expect these Beast to be quite useful."

"Ha, they have always been useful. You should know that I actually entrusted the night watch and perimeter security of the group to them. And think about it, hasn't the group never been attacked on a large scale at night since they joined us after Dorn Town?"

Jier gave the answer: "It's not that there weren't some bad guys on the road who wanted to sneak into the group's overnight Yingdi under the cover of night, but most of those people were discovered and driven away by these Maomao in advance. Some particularly persistent guys were turned into corpses by these Maomao, ha, and then as soon as dawn broke, they became the props for these Maomao to demand metal rewards from me."

Jier gently patted Yongqi Maomao's head, responding to it: "Well done! In addition to the Pocket Armed Belt we agreed on, for the three Monster, I will reward you with an extra thirty Iron Coin."

Seemingly confused by the number of thirty Iron Coin, Yongqi Maomao began counting on its fingers after hearing it. Since its own fingers and toes were not enough, it called over its companions to count the number of Iron Coin together using their fingers and toes.

It really is difficult for these Beast; they only have three fingers on their hands and feet, and their calculation is also a very distinctive base-six system, carrying over every six, which is very different from the naturally convenient base-ten system of Humans.

That night, no other parasitic Monster came to attack the small village with the blue well where Jier's group was staying overnight. It seemed that the five corpses of their companions piled up at the entrance of the Cunzi deterred those guys, so that most of the wandering parasitic Monster groups, which were about five in number, did not have the confidence to defeat this group of outsider Humans.

Those Monster would not be afraid of Jier and the others just because of this. After all, these guys were able to gather together to attack towns, and they succeeded. If it weren't for the Refining Qi Soldiers under the local Noble Lord repelling these guys, Yemei Town would likely have been crushed by the Monster overnight a few days ago.

However, it is hard to say. Based on what Jier saw and fought with his own eyes, as well as news heard from others, it is hard to say that the other side did not achieve their goals when the parasitic Monster attacked Yemei Town a few days ago.

It is obvious that those Monsters need to parasitize living beings to be active; not to mention the forests near Yemei Town, no one can say for sure exactly how many people went missing in the places attacked by Monsters that night.

From the news Jier heard from Lanu, he judged that among the deserted villages and farmlands on the outskirts of Yemei Town, there were at least a hundred parasitic Monsters forming wandering groups, plus at least a dozen individually active parasitic Monsters responsible for conversion.

And the number of these Monsters should not be this low.

He felt that the majority of these Monsters' strength should be gathered somewhere else, though he did not know what they were up to. It was very likely they were active beside the so-called 'Prophet' of the parasitic Monsters.

At daybreak the next day, the group packed up early, preparing to set off.

Lanu was currently with his companion Qiaoyi, eating thick Wheat Porridge they had begged for free while whispering about where the two of them should go.

"What should we do? I asked these people; they will reach the town today. I heard they will rest there for two days and then head southeast."

Lanu said in a low voice, "I don't know what these people are planning to do either. Besides a few remote villages, there is nothing in that direction. And they are going to the town, and they even intend to take the two of us along."

Qiaoyi slurped as he lifted the borrowed Wooden Bowl, ignoring the scalding heat of the Wheat Porridge, and shoveled the fragrant, thick Wheat Porridge into his throat in large mouthfuls. The small wooden spoon in his hand moved rapidly, scraping the thick Wheat Porridge stuck to the sides of the bowl into his mouth.

"Hoo, *hiccup*—"

After finishing quickly, the young man dropped the clean-licked Wooden Bowl and let out a loud, satisfied burp.

Qiaoyi licked the wooden spoon one last time, then turned his head to say to his companion, "I don't know what you're worried about. I made up my mind last night, about this."

He tapped the empty Wooden Bowl with the wooden spoon: "The last time I ate this full was the day my brother came of age. To celebrate my third brother's coming of age, my mother boiled a big pot of wheat at home, and even added over a dozen eggs that had been boiled in water beforehand."

Lanu seemed to guess his companion's meaning, and he did not interrupt his companion's words.

"Because I was young, I shared an egg with my two younger sisters, and as for the wheat porridge in the big pot, it was wheat porridge with all kinds of beans we could find at home, and we were allowed to eat as much as we wanted. That meal left a deep impression on me because the big pot at home allowed the whole family to eat their fill of the wheat porridge."

Qiaoyi smiled: "That was one of the very few times I ate that full. Even when my eldest brother got married, the family only brought a bag of wheat and a bag of Potato as a wedding gift."

"So?" Lanu asked tentatively.

"So you don't know how shocked I was when I ate the unlimited dinner in the wounded camp last night. I secretly asked the guy next to me who was pierced by an arrow; the vast majority of the food in the group comes from the God-given grain bestowed by that young Priest of the Agriculture God. Unlimited! They don't need to labor at all, yet they have more wheat grains than they can eat. 【Gibberish】, and they were all hulled wheat grains, each one almost as big as my pinky fingernail! Can you imagine? Nuzi!"

Only then did Lanu think of this layer; last night he was just surprised by the combat power of this group and hadn't thought of this.

At this moment, looking again at the Wheat Porridge in the Wooden Bowl he had borrowed, seeing those large, plump wheat grains that could be chewed repeatedly in the mouth, he was too surprised to know what to say.

"And," Qiaoyi suppressed his excited voice and said quietly, "they came all the way from the west and didn't pay any taxes on the road. No transit tax, no customs tax, no poll tax, no transaction tax, no cargo transit tax, no iron pot tax, nothing at all; nobody came to collect anything."

Lanu replied: "Nobody is collecting those at a time like this, right? After spring began, didn't the lord stop collecting taxes in the town too?"

"That's true. The land is abandoned, so naturally, nothing can be collected if no one is farming. But before I was arrested for that matter, I did hear my parents complain that the little property we had at home seemed to be disappearing rapidly. We even had to sell our farm tools just to survive."

Lanu didn't know about these situations either, and after complaining for a while, the topic turned back: "So, are you going to follow this group? Do you know where they are going? What they are going to do? You're just going to follow them?"

Qiaoyi had a 'what the hell' attitude: "Anyway, my family doesn't recognize me anymore, so it doesn't matter where I go. Since so many people in this group are going together, I think I can too, as long as they can give me a bite to eat. At least it's better than the two of us hiding from Monsters here every day."

Lanu sighed: "That's true. Those Monsters we thought were so formidable are no match for these people at all, not to mention this group is led by Knights and Church Priests. No matter where they are going, it's better than just the two of us."

"So?" Qiaoyi looked at his companion.

Lanu shrugged: "So let's just stick around here, if they don't mind us."

"They definitely won't mind. I've already asked; these people aren't all from the same place. Although I heard they all set out from a place called White Stone Pass, most of the people here come from other places. You don't know, but one tent represents people from one Village, and so many tents mean they come from many different villages."

"Do you think they will give the two of us that kind of big Tent? After all, we are also from Yemei Town, not the same group as the others."

"You're overthinking it; there's no such good luck." Lanu curled his lips.

"Haha, I think so too, but if we squeeze into a tent with others, will the others gang up and beat us up?"

"I hope not," Lanu said finally.

A moment later, the two of them were assigned work and supplies to carry on their backs by a middle-aged Merchant, who seemed to be an 'official' responsible for managing affairs in the group. The things were a bit heavy, but the two young men still had some strength after eating their fill. Being assigned work also made the two young men feel much more at ease; at least, they had some use in this group.

Even if it was just carrying some supplies.