Three days later, Chen Gou arrived in front of the two-meter-wide gate of an adobe house in Panshi City.
Although it was better than the slum houses, it paled in comparison to the Abyssal Expedition Team's garrison.
After Chen Gou knocked on the door lightly, a young lady around 17 to 18 years old with pockmarks on her face revealed her timid head through the crack of the door with an inquisitive look.
Chen Gou asked politely, "Is this the garrison of the Abyssal Knight Team's left flank, the Long Song Team?"
"Yes, it is. And you are…" The young girl grew increasingly more alert.
"I'm Chen Gou, a newly-promoted official member of the Long Song Team," said Chen Gou as he pulled out a silver mask and raised it.
Ever since he had been given the title of a Silver Knight, his previous bronze mask had been taken back and replaced by this silver mask.
"Ah… It's you, Sir. Come in quickly. You look very young." The young lady quickly opened the door and welcomed him joyfully.
"Where's Captain Xin Qi?"
The first thing he had to do in a new environment was naturally greet the boss.
He was a tough man of at least Awakened Level 40. Despite experiencing a crushing defeat that had wiped out all his team members in battle, a starving camel was still bigger than a horse.
"He…"
The young lady wanted to say something but hesitated. She then answered with a sigh, "Ugh! You'll know when you see him."
The courtyard wasn't very big, so Chen Gou arrived at the backyard with the young lady within one minute. He saw a middle-aged man leaning against the threshold in a drunken state with empty wine bottles by his side.
Chen Gou put his clenched right fist against the left side of his chest and said with a bow, "Captain, I've come here to report on the orders of the Panshi Division's headquarters."
The man had his eyes closed tightly and was snoring without giving a response. There was a scar on his face. It ran through the entire left side of his face like a centipede crawling on his skin and looked ghastly.
"Team member Chen Gou has come to report!" Chen Gou couldn't help but speak louder as he repeated himself.
Xin Qi turned over so that his butt was now facing toward him. There was still no response.
Chen Gou sighed helplessly and asked, "How long has he been like this?"
"He has been like this ever since he was rescued."
The young lady then said with a sigh, "I'm really worried that he will keep being this decadent and will not pull himself together. The death of the other knights, especially Anan, was a huge blow to him… They were lovers, and she was already pregnant. She actually planned to rest after completing her previous mission."
No wonder…
Chen Gou couldn't help but sympathize with the drunkard before him.
A real man did not shed tears unless he was heartbroken.
For the next half hour, Chen Gou found out a lot of information from the young lady regarding the Long Song Team.
The young lady was called Ayun and was an orphan taken in by the team a few years ago. She had eventually ended up playing the role of the team's housekeeper.
All this time, she had been helping the team take care of things not related to battle in an organized manner.
This time, the Long Song Team had been seriously injured, stripped of its duties, and demoted to the Bronze Rank. All the other retainers had left except for her. She had been following them and taking care of Xin Qi, who had become akin to a handicapped person.
Bang! Bang…
Another knock on the door was heard. Ayun wanted to open the door, but Chen Gou stopped her and went over instead.
Upon opening the door, he saw that Tony was indeed standing outside.
"Where's your younger sister?" Chen Gou glanced behind him and saw that there was no one there.
"She was called to accompany an important figure of the Holy City today, so I'll introduce you guys in a few days."
Chen Gou replied disdainfully, "In a few days, are you going to say that this important figure has taken a liking to your younger sister and brought her to the Holy City?"
"Based on what you are saying… it's not impossible." Tony stroked his chin as his eyes lit up.
Chen Gou said, "You're despicable!"
"Ha ha…"
Tony went forward and put his arm around his shoulder before saying, "Don't worry. I won't let you be on the losing end of this deal. I'll certainly find a chance to repay you for that favor."
"Ha ha!"
Suddenly, they suppressed the expression on their faces, as an Abyssal Knight riding a warhorse arrived at the gate.
"The Panshi Division headquarters has an order for you! Long Song Team, please listen to the order!" shouted the knight who was riding the warhorse.
Upon hearing that this was an order from the division headquarters, Chen Gou and Tony didn't dare be complacent and quickly stepped forward.
"Where's Xin Qi?" The knight had a rolled-up parchment scroll in his hand but didn't give it directly to them.
"He…" Chen Gou didn't know how to explain the situation to him.
"Forget it. You guys can pass this on to him." The knight shook his head and threw the parchment scroll to Chen Gou before he sighed and left on his horse.
"Captain, a mission has arrived from headquarters!"
Chen Gou and Tony both returned to the courtyard and turned Xin Qi around in an attempt to wake him up. However, they nearly passed out from the unpleasant smell of alcohol on him.
"It seems that we can't expect anything. We can only rely on ourselves," Chen Gou said with a sigh once again.
He felt like he had sighed more this day than he had sighed after transmigrating.
"Let's open it first."
Tony took the parchment scroll and used his mana to gradually activate it.
[Mission: Investigate and solve the unexplained and tragic deaths of the villagers of White Stone Village.]
[Difficulty: Two Stars]
[Venue: White Stone Village, 15 kilometers southeast of the outskirts of Panshi City.]
[Description: Three days ago, we received a report from the village chief of the White Stone Village, who said that villagers have been dying tragically for no reason for a month. No traces of injury were found on their bodies, but they looked as horrified as if they had encountered something terrifying. A Demon Hunter team went to investigate this matter but was unsuccessful. Villagers continued dying tragically without a reason.]
[Suggestion 1: The headquarters thinks that this might be a case of revenge murder committed by a villager through some kind of special method and disguised as an attack by evil spirits.]
[Suggestion 2: Even if this was done by an evil spirit, it should be a less powerful one because the dead were all civilians. There is no record of Awakeners being attacked.]
[Suggestion 3: The investigation can focus on unknown poison or soul attacks.]
[Rewards: 50 Merit Points for investigating the cause of the incident and an additional 100 Merit Points for solving the entire case. There is no penalty for failure.]
[Note: Based on the information obtained, the danger level has been set at two stars for now, but the incident may have a higher danger level. In the event of a change in the situation, you will be allowed to withdraw early and report to the headquarters.]
[Deadline: Immediate departure. Results expected within a week.]
Tony carefully reviewed the information on the mission twice before he said, "It seems that the headquarters is letting us have a practice run. Since this mission has a two-star difficulty… the two of us should be able to handle it."
"It's the only thing we can do. Hopefully, by the time we return, Captain will have pulled himself together."
Chen Gou also knew that there was no other way. After a man suffered a heavy blow, it would usually result in one of two extreme outcomes.
Either he would be extremely cold and do everything he could to take revenge, or he would be defeated and live without a meaning in life, unable to get back up.
Unfortunately, the latter applied to Captain Xin Qi.
Usually, in such situations, there was nothing they could do to help except let him figure it out on his own.
Of course, Chen Gou and Tony were bold enough to carry out their mission in the absence of their captain, which showed the amount of confidence they had.
After all, they had gone into the world of evil spirits for the Abyssal Assessment. A two-star mission just around Panshi City shouldn't be very dangerous even if they couldn't complete it.
After the two of them bade Ayun farewell and told her to take good care of their captain, they made their way to the headquarters to collect their armor, weapons, and warhorses.
The warhorses were two young Black Abyssal Horses, which were also the most valuable resource given by the headquarters.
Other than that, all the Abyssal Knights could only collect ordinary steel armor and weapons for free.
If they wanted magical weapons, they needed to exchange their Merit Points for even the lowest bronze-grade weapons.
Of course, steel armor and weapons did not have any magical qualities. However, they were definitely exquisite in terms of strength and sharpness.
Since Chen Gou had the Deathwalker Armor, he didn't need any armor. He also didn't use the longsword as a weapon anymore. Instead, he chose a long-handled hammer similar to a scepter with an octagonal top.
An inch longer was an inch stronger. As a summoner, he didn't like enemies to come too close to him, so it was best that his weapon had a wide attacking range.
Since he didn't do well with bows and arrows, he could only use a long-handled hammer that resembled a spear.
After half an hour, amidst the speculation and awe of many commoners, the two young knights rode their warhorses out of the city gate and plunged into the vast wilderness.
…
The White Stone Village was a big village.
There were more than 100 households and 400 or 500 villagers. A small town could be built after a few more years of development.
When Chen Gou and Tony arrived not far away from the village entrance, they saw a small group of people blocking the road leading to the village.
"The Wildfire Demon Hunters are eliminating evil spirits. No one is allowed near the area!" a tall strong man shouted in warning from afar.
However, how could Chen Gou and Tony listen to his nonsense?
Tony, who had no intention of slowing down, took the lead, riding his armor-covered Black Abyssal Warhorse and crashing over ferociously.
This was overbearing and unreasonable.
"Abyssal Knights!"
The people near the roadway, including the strong man, shouted in unison and then moved aside to make way for them.
"The Abyssal Knights sent by the Covenant are here, so I think we have no business here anymore," a yellow-haired man next to the strong man said as he watched the knights' backs and stomped his feet.
"That's not necessarily true. The Abyssal Knights have always acted with all their members. However, there are only two of them here. They're most likely new… They are presumably two newcomers who have just passed the Abyssal Assessment.
"The evil spirit here is strange. It didn't leave any traces behind. Inexperienced Demon Hunters are easily put at a disadvantage!" the strong man said in a low voice.
Demon Hunters had always only been able to pick up the leftovers from the officials. Some arrogant ones even considered themselves no worse than the knights of the Three Great Knight Teams while also feeling unconvinced.
"All jokes aside, to be honest, I look forward to them unraveling the secret behind this and finding out what's going on," said another person in a low voice.
The Wildfire Demon Hunters had been there for five to six days, yet they hadn't found any clues.
Not only were villagers still dying every day, but their numbers were also increasing. The killer behind this seemed to be provoking them.