Mercenaries and Adventurers

Just as the refugee team in Kiel was camping for the night and eating, the village of New Qingquan was not far away in the mountains.

The bandit who stayed behind in the village looked around and was walking around his house uneasily. This house was originally the place where the bandit leader lived. Several young and beautiful women were imprisoned here before. But during the day, Scarface took them all away, so Bald was the only one here at this time.

There are not many houses in the village, but there are a lot of people, so there are almost no deserted places. The bald head didn't want others to see how anxious he was at this time, so he specially found an empty place to wait.

Waiting for the big change tonight.

His house is located on the second floor in the center of the village, facing the village square with the spring in the center of the village, and has a large wooden window.

At this time, some women's moans were coming from outside, mixed with the fierce breathing sounds of some young robbers.

The sounds came from the darkness of the houses outside. It was fine during the day. He occasionally walked around the village to show his presence. The other bandits who were not very familiar with him also pretended to be on guard and sentry while spying on the slave captives owned by other bandits.

And when night came, these people didn't know who to start with. They all jumped down from their guarded positions and walked towards the house they had been peeping at for a long time during the day.

They scrambled to open the door of the house, and in full view of the arrested people, they unshackled the woman they liked and took them away. Some people even started fighting over a certain woman.

The scene outside the window finally made the bald man breathe a sigh of relief. After all, the gang of people left behind are in such bad shape, there's no way the bandit gang next door can't break in, right?

At the gate of the village, the bald henchman and another bandit nicknamed Dogfoot were leaning against a brazier to warm themselves up in boredom. In the mountains and forests, the temperature is low at night and the humidity is high. If you don't keep yourself warm all night long, you will have problems with your legs and feet in a few years.

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

The bald henchman pointed in the direction behind them with a strange smile, turned to Goujiao and said.

Goujiao is not very old, but he has joined the 'Iron Bucket' bandit gang for several years, so although he is a little eager, overall he is quite disdainful: "Let me tell you, don't look at how happy these people are now. Unless they kill or bribe people after they finish their work, those guys with unclean hands and feet will have an easier time when everyone comes back from the robbery."

"Oh, I just joined our group last year. Seeing that you are very experienced, tell us about it. Anyway, I am idle."

After the bald henchman finished speaking, he took out a pair of roasted chicken legs wrapped in cloth from his arms. He smelled them intoxicatedly, and then handed one to the dog leg: "Don't worry, these are not stolen, these are mine during the day." I specifically asked the captured guy who knows how to cook to cook it specifically for my eldest brother, but he has not had a good mood and appetite in the past two days, so he didn’t eat it, so let’s eat it.”

When Dog Leg heard that there was nothing wrong with the roasted chicken leg, he pretended to be relaxed and took it in his hand. He sniffed it hard first. Although he had just had dinner, the wheat flour paste mixed with wild vegetables was not filling at all. At this time, the roasted chicken leg came. It's so timely.

"Hi~ It's delicious, it's really delicious. Let me tell you, I have been a member of our gang for several years, and I have seen similar situations many times. Not to mention the far-reaching ones, just take the scene where the leader took the 'bandit hand' last month. The fact that all the gang members were hanged originally originated from the fact that the leader took people out to do errands, and the people who stayed behind stole the property hidden by several people."

"Uh, um. Everyone was celebrating when they came back, but someone discovered that a large amount of money was missing from the box he hid under the bed. This matter didn't spread, and the guy who was missing money only informed his acquaintances. After receiving the news, several people did not celebrate. They went back to check carefully and found that all the money was missing. These guys directly called the leader outside privately and told the leader about the matter. Guess how it was handled later? "

The bald cron took a bite of the roasted chicken leg absentmindedly and replied: "Didn't you say that you would hang all the people who were responsible for the 'bandits' who stayed behind?"

The dog's foot patted his companion on the shoulder and said proudly: "That's the result, what happened? Our leader didn't ask the 'bandit' people what happened, he led people to surround the 'bandit' people and handed over their weapons. , and then hang people directly without torture, and their wealth will be distributed to the damaged people."

After patting his companion's shoulder with his dog's foot, he discovered that there were oil stains on his fingers. He quickly put his fingers in his mouth and licked them clean, leaving no trace of oil or water behind.

"Is it."

The bald henchman was not interested in this. He pretended to move his hands and feet, stood up, took two steps, and leaned on the railing of the door facing outward. He looked at the roasted chicken leg in his hand, and then at the bandit's dog's legs, which had not eaten enough. He barked, and then threw the roasted chicken leg that he had taken a bite of to the other party.

"Then I took a bite. I don't have much appetite, so just take it and eat it."

"Thank you. You can't even eat such delicious food? You must have eaten delicious food during the day! Haha."

The bald head pretended to be blowing the cool breeze from the mountains at night, and the whole person turned away: "Just say it, that's it, don't eat too fast!"

"I know!" After saying that, Goujiao didn't mind being bitten by others. He opened his mouth and tore off the fragrant chicken skin on the surface of the chicken leg, and then licked the fat under the chicken skin with his tongue.

The bald henchman turned his back on his companion and looked outside the door, but except for the dark night and the sound of leaves blown by the wind, there was nothing different.

'If those people don't have the guts to come tonight, they'll be in trouble. ’

The bald henchman thought this, and he suddenly realized something. He then listened carefully and found that there were indeed two things missing in the farmland outside the village and in the mountains and forests that were not adjacent to each other.

There should be noisy chirping of insects and the chirping of nocturnal birds.

It's late spring, and those bugs and nocturnal raptors are supposed to be noisy so I can't sleep, but tonight it's too quiet.

‘Are you coming? ’

Thinking of this, the bald henchman waved towards the night, but there was no response.

He thought hard for a while, but the only sound from the village gate was the sound of a dog's feet sizzling chicken bones.

After trying to figure out what was going on, the bald henchman prepared to take off his upper body clothes, but the mountain wind was still blowing around him and it was still quite cold. He thought of a reason, then pretended to be itchy and turned around and said: "Dog's feet, why am I so itchy! It's so itchy, please help me scratch it!"

Gouzhi threw the chicken bones into the brazier and mocked lazily: "You must be the one who didn't wash your clothes and take a bath, so you got fleas! Catch them yourself slowly."

"Hey, hey, you guy, you just ate my chicken legs, I can't help you. It's so itchy, no, I can't keep these clothes, I have to find someone to soak them in plant ash water and wash them. "

After saying that, the bald henchman quickly took off his clothes and threw them to the ground next to him.

Then he patted his body repeatedly with his hands, pretending to kill the flea.

"It's much better now. It's true. We bullied those who were caught, and these fleas bullied us. Now I feel better."

Gouji glanced at his bald confidant and ignored it. He focused on lighting up the fire. After eating, he felt a little sleepy and lazy.

The bald henchman carefully paid attention to his companion's gaze, and then waved to the night outside the village gate.

This time, following the soft sound of rustling not far away, a guy wearing a black bear skin crept closer. The bald henchman opened his eyes wide and finally saw the figure of the other party in the weak light.

Although the figure outside the gate was difficult to identify because of his black bearskin clothing, the other person's eyes were shining brightly in the night, green, like a real beast.

That was the result of killing too many people, and their ‘Iron Bucket’ leader’s eyes were similar.

The man outside the gate rummaged around and found a bundle of rope. After finding the end of the rope, he tied a knot. Then he threw it up and landed right in front of the bald henchman.

The bald henchman quickly reached out to catch him. He glanced back in panic and found that the dog's feet warming up on the fire did not notice the noise. He breathed a sigh of relief and carefully tied the rope in his hand to the wooden railing on top of the gate. superior.

After the man below saw him tying the rope tightly, he first pulled the rope in his hand, and the railing did not shake. Apart from anything else, the people of this village were very careful when building the village's defense facilities.

However, most of the people in the village had fled earlier, and these defensive facilities had no effect. They gave the bandits an advantage in vain, and even became a powerful facility for the bandits to guard the captured people.

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

The figure wearing black bearskin clothes and trousers climbed up with the rope with vigorous movements. Except for the slightest sound when exerting force to breathe, there was no extra movement at all.

Soon, the man put one hand on the railing on top of the gate. He first stared at the bald confidant who was bare-chested, and then pointed at the remaining bandit warming himself by the fire next to him.

This man's face was covered with a black cloth, revealing only a pair of beast-like eyes. Facing the bald henchman, he silently pointed at the bald henchman, then pointed at the dog's feet warming up on the fire, and finally pulled his fingers on his neck.

The meaning is self-evident.

The bald henchman hesitated, thinking of the instructions given to him by the bald head during the day, and then he made up his mind and turned around and slowly walked towards the brazier: "Ah, it's a bit cold. The wind made the hair on my arms stand up."

Gouzhi nodded lazily: "Yes, it's okay now. You don't know, when I and our leader were hiding from the knight lord in the mountains, we didn't even dare to light a fire to warm ourselves at night. Those damn gangs The dogs have sharp eyes. After the smoke from the fire is illuminated by the fire at night, we ordinary people see nothing. Those dog knights can be seen from a long distance away. This has happened to everyone many times. He was attacked by knights who came for him in the middle of the night.”

Sighing, Goujiao continued: "Later, everyone learned the lesson. They either found the cave and made a fire again, or endured the cold and gathered together to keep warm, eating some wild fruits that were not known to be poisonous or not, and tearing raw meat with their teeth. . Many of my companions’ bodies were full of bugs after eating raw meat, and they could crawl out of their mouths and noses while sleeping. Those guys all died later. When they died, they were all skinny and skinny, but their stomachs were swollen. "

As if remembering the tragic situation at that time, the dog shuddered: "Later, the leader used a knife to cut open the guys who starved to death, and their stomachs were filled with parasites like earthworms. Ugh, no, listen. I said it’s nothing, if you see it with your own eyes, you will never forget it for the rest of your life.”

After exhaling, the dog pointed to the crackling chicken bones in the brazier: "So no matter how hungry we are, we will not eat raw meat, only cooked food."

"Really, so miserable?"

The bald henchman said with a smile. After he finished speaking, he looked at the stairs up and down the door platform and said in surprise: "Boss, why are you here?"

Goujiao felt strange and turned his head to look, but no one came up in his sight.

The next moment, he was knocked down by the bald henchman, and a big hand grabbed his throat tightly, making it impossible for him to beg for mercy. At the same time, there was also severe pain in the abdomen. This was the result of the bald henchman taking out his self-defense dagger and stabbing the downed dog's abdomen vigorously.

Goujiao struggled hard and hit the bald henchman on the head and face with his fists, but he soon lost strength. Seeing that he was dying, the bald henchman released his grip on his neck.

"No, I'm just going to eat you, two chicken legs..."

After saying this, the dog's feet stopped moving.

The bald henchman gasped and turned to look at the man who silently climbed up and climbed over the railing.

The man wearing black bearskin clothes and trousers tapped the seemingly dead dog's leg, rushed forward, and knocked down the escaping dog's leg.

It turned out that Dogfoot was not dead just now, but was pretending. Although his abdomen was seriously injured, it would not kill him quickly. Instead, his neck was pinched, which could easily make him suffocate and coma. So Goujiao pretended to be unconscious before he passed out, in order to run away as a warning.

But the man in black bear clothes saw through this tactic, and when the dog's feet started to move, he rushed up and held down the dog's feet, and then broke the dog's neck.

Seeing the disbelief and shame of his bald henchman, the man in black bear clothes spoke.

He said slowly: "Human life is very tenacious. Many times, no matter how many times you are stabbed in the body, you will not die. But twisting the neck once can always effectively kill a person."

After a pause, he added: "As long as this person is not transformed by some monster."

The bald henchman was so ashamed that he didn't know what to say, so he had to ask: "This, sir, what is your name?"

The man looked at the bald henchman and said slowly: "Didn't your captain, the guy nicknamed Bald, tell you?"

The bald henchman shook his head in embarrassment: "He only asked me to take off my clothes tonight. If I want to make a contribution, I will help you take down the village gate."

The man nodded: "Well, you have done a good job. Come with me and open this door together to let the brothers outside come in."

The bald henchman looked at his dog's feet lying on the ground with a horrified expression on his face, and took the initiative to follow the man.

The two of them climbed down the stairs. Amidst the passionate moans of women and the wanton gasps of men coming from the village, they opened the slanted wooden stake fixed on the inside of the door, and then grabbed the concave joint of the door together. The grooved handle pulled the heavy wooden door inwards and opened the door.

The shirtless bald henchman stood there, watching the man take out a tightly tied bag from his waist, then untied the bag and released a bag of fireflies inside.

The little bugs were a little sluggish, but as they breathed in the fresh air, they eagerly fluttered their wings and flew up, and the luminous glands at the end of their abdomens also flickered with fluorescence.

Seeing these gathered fireflies, in the fields outside the village, figures climbed up silently one after another. These people rushed over excitedly, forming fighting groups in groups of two and rushing into the gate.

In the sound of urgent footsteps, the man wearing black bear clothes said to his bald henchman: "My name is Ken. People often call me 'Ken the Killer'. You are welcome to join my bandit gang - —'Death Spot'. You're mine now."

The bald henchman didn't know what to say, so he could only hum and hum for a while, then reluctantly said: "Yes, leader."

"Very well, come with me. Let's find your original captain in the context of the battle. Someone else will take over the village gate."

"Okay, leader."

-

Kil, who was sitting in the center of the refugee camp, suddenly felt something. He raised his head and looked towards the mountains and forests in the northeast.

He squinted his eyes and found that in the seemingly dark night, there was a faint fire rising in the forest. Although it's not obvious yet, the smoke and fire are getting bigger.

"That direction..."

Bloodyaster, who was eating with Keir, widened his eyes and said in the direction indicated by Keel: "Ah, that should be New Qingquan Village. My sense of direction is very good, yes, it is New Qingquan Village." Qingquan Village. I guarantee it’s true. This is the confidence of a caravan guard who has been working as a caravan guard for more than ten years. You know, on the grassland with no surface markings, even on a cloudy night, I can accurately identify the direction! "

After Bloody Fangster finished speaking, he was very proud, but he looked at Keir's face, and then asked: "What's going on over there? Look at you keeping staring."

Kil stirred the cold minced bean soup in his bowl with a wooden spoon. Regardless of the solidified fat, he put a spoonful into his mouth, chewed it and swallowed it before saying: "There is a fire there, and the fire is not strong." Xiao. If that place is indeed New Qingquan Village, then tonight, something must have happened that was beyond the expectations of some guys. Haha, some people must have a headache."

"Does it affect us?"

Bloody Fangster frowned, a little worried.

"It's okay, it's most likely a good thing. Well, it's a good thing for us." Kiel concluded.

Bloodfangster breathed a sigh of relief, and then continued to eat bean soup and wheat porridge.

He had been trying hard to convince Keir, who had no appetite, to finally eat. And when you go out, it's best not to waste food, because you can't be sure how long it will take and how much will happen between the next meal and this meal.

Therefore, if possible, you must eat more, eat enough, and don’t leave anything behind.

-

The temporary camp of the ‘Iron Bucket’ bandit gang.

The leader of the bandit gang named 'Tie Tong', Tie Tong, was gritting his teeth and standing at the top of the temporary camp, looking in the direction of his lair.

There was a faint fire rising there.

You must know that his current location is a certain distance from Xinqingquan Village. If the bandits on guard had not seen the clouds where the village is located strangely illuminated by fire, none of them would have known that something had happened to their lair.

And at first glance, it’s definitely something big.

"You bald man who deserves to be drowned in a manure pit! Is this how you ￥ # ￥ help me guard my lair? Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

The good mood that came from eating the luminous food that the bandits thought was only eaten by the nobles, now disappeared with every curse. The bandit leader looked at the other bandits around him and roared loudly: "You all have to watch what I do. Pack your things! Put the looted things here first. You can't throw them away anyway. Everyone else, please follow me." !”

One of his subordinates, a seasoned bandit, tried to dissuade him: "Boss! It's already night. If everyone moves in the woods at this time, they will get separated and something will happen!"

"That's right, there are dozens of us. When we return to the village, there will probably only be about ten left. The others will gradually gather at dawn. Boss, think about it, you can't walk in the woods after dark!"

"So, you ￥%￥ want me to wait here until dawn? Fart! All the guys who think they can walk at night should come out and follow me back to the village to teach those idiots who stayed behind a lesson! And those damn ones who are likely to rebel, set fire and escape. slave!"

Following the call of the bandit leader, a dozen bandits among the dozens of bandits who had the experience and ability to walk through the woods at night stood up and strode out of the temporary camp behind the bandit leader.

"Everyone else is willing to stay in the camp. If I come back at dawn and there is one less person, everyone else who is familiar with him will die! Do you understand!"

The bandit leader roared out these threatening words, and the bandits in the temporary camp nodded and sat down honestly.