In a house in the northern district of Mingxiang Village, the air was filled with smoke and the atmosphere was tense. No one was speaking.
There were three burly men dressed in rough hempen clothes, each with a lit cigarette in their mouth. They puffed smoke continuously, lighting up a new cigarette each time one was burnt out.
They were bandits who couldn't continue to live in the wilderness after the war started in the west.
Suddenly, a figure rushed in.
"Big Brother, that couple from the Red Moon Clan has fallen!"
Ye Changrong's face was filled with fear. He was weak at the knees and his voice was trembling.
"How many times must I tell you before you learn your lesson? What's the use of panicking? You've caused such a huge commotion. If we're discovered, we can't escape."
Lu Jinyi glared at Ye Changrong and took a deep drag of his cigarette as he scolded the other man.
As their leader, he had to maintain a dignified image in front of his subordinates at all times. He could only use smoking to hide his anxiety.
"Fourth Brother, calm your nerves with a cigarette and tell us what you saw."
The third brother, Han Jingfei, picked up a box of cigarettes from the table beside him and took one out. He stood up and offered it to Ye Changrong.
Ye Changrong took the cigarette and dug out the lighter he always carried with him from his pocket. However, he couldn't light it even after several tries. He even dropped the cigarette from between his fingers.
Seeing this, Han Jingfei had no choice but to help Ye Changrong light the cigarette.
"Big Brother, it looks like things aren't looking good. Should we just escape through the tunnel?"
The second brother, Jiang Yisheng, suggested as he looked at Ye Changrong who had lost his composure. He was afraid that they wouldn't be able to escape in time if they stayed any longer.
Lu Jinyi glanced at him and thought for a few seconds before saying, "It's not the first day that the city patrol team has come to check the household register. They're not that fast. Let's hear what Fourth Brother says first."
He was secretly very dissatisfied with Second Brother's behavior. Among the four of them, he was ranked second in terms of strength. However, when he saw that the situation wasn't looking good, his first thought was to escape. How could he rely on such a subordinate?
"Huff!"
After smoking through half a cigarette, Ye Changrong pulled himself together and stopped trembling.
"Today's city patrol team consisted of five people in total. Two of them are responsible for blocking both ends of the street while the other three are responsible for checking the houses."
Ye Changrong recalled what he had seen carefully and explained the situation.
"With so few people, they can't seal off the entire Mingxiang Village, right?"
Lu Jinyi heaved a sigh of relief. His worries were mostly gone.
"Yes, they sealed off the road from the north to the center of the village today. I took a look at the other two exits, but I didn't see anyone from the city patrol."
"Let's cut to the chase. Get straight to the point. How strong are the members of the city patrol team?"
When Lu Jinyi heard this, he no longer had the patience to listen to the full story from Ye Rongchang and urged him to hurry up.
"Oh, I saw that Zhao Baolong was sent flying by a young man with a single punch, and half the wall was destroyed. I don't know what happened after that."
Ye Changrong immediately skipped to the outcome of the battle.
"Hiss!"
Lu Jinyi sucked in a breath of cold air. He had felt relieved earlier, but was anxious again.
At this moment, he wanted to beat Ye Changrong up immediately.
"What's the use of running back so quickly? What happened after that? You didn't even see which side won in the end. What are you even doing?"
Lu Jinyi smacked his head and covered his face, cursing his subordinate. As he cursed, he suddenly thought of something and his voice gradually became quieter.
His face was red with rage. Clearly, he was infuriated by Ye Changrong's actions. If he didn't see the most important situation clearly, the information he brought back wouldn't make much of a difference.
"I…"
Ye Changrong was shocked by Lu Jinyi's reaction and stammered, not daring to reply.
"There's nothing to think about now. Big Brother, let's go out via the tunnel and hide for a while," Jiang Yisheng suggested again.
"That's the only way. Next time, Ye Changrong, you won't be in charge of investigating the situation. Han Jingfei, you go instead," Lu Jinyi instructed without even sparing him a glance before he went into his room to get his luggage.
There was not much luggage to bring along. There were only two bags filled with some important items.
"Don't be like that, Big Brother. If Ye Changrong isn't in charge of gathering information, what else can he do?"
Han Jingfei immediately shirked the responsibility. He no longer looked as concerned about Ye Changrong as before.
The four brothers quickly packed their luggage and left through a secret tunnel that they had dug in advance.
At the entrance of the secret tunnel was a thick growth of grass on the east side of the village. They had deliberately piled a lot of miscellaneous items on top of the entrance. They had even used weeds that were about half a meter tall to hide the entrance.
…
In the courtyard with half of the wall destroyed, Zhao Baolong was still lying on the ground. Dong Fen was half-squatting beside Zhao Baolong as she quietly comforted her dejected husband.
Chen Shaojie and He Chunping placed the items they had found from the body search on the ground for Chen Yiming to examine.
"Have you searched the room?"
Chen Yiming looked through the items on the floor as he questioned Chen Shaojie and He Chunping.
He had not learned any knowledge relevant to the situation, so he might be no better than Chen Shaojie and He Chunping in this aspect. He could only choose to trust the two of them to get the job done.
"Consultant Chen, Chen Shaojie and I have searched the room carefully three times. We have searched every corner. Everything we can find is here,"
He Chunping answered seriously. She was glad that she was not just a bystander throughout the whole incident.
"It's just that the woman hasn't been searched thoroughly," Chen Shaojie added quietly.
The two colleagues at the scene were both people who were doing their jobs seriously. He Chunping was too embarrassed to do anything too untoward to Dong Fen in front of everyone else, but she also did not have the guts to enter a room alone with Dong Fen to conduct a more thorough search. She only did a simple body search on the spot.
When Zhao Baolong heard this, he momentarily felt short of breath. A mouthful of phlegm was caught in his throat, and his eyes were bloodshot, the killing intent in them becoming almost tangible.
Dong Fen quickly helped Zhao Baolong sit up and tried to help him breathe properly, and cough out the phlegm in his throat.
"Cousin, why don't you bring that woman to the room for a checkup? He Chunping and I will wait for you outside."
Chen Shaojie thought that both sides had already formed a deep grudge, especially the woman who had given him a look as if she couldn't wait to kill him. Thus, he started to have some wicked thoughts.
Zhao Baolong was already furious to begin with. With this, he could no longer suppress his anger and spat out a mouthful of blood.
When Dong Fen heard this, her face was filled with shame and anger. She was completely in shock and completely forgot about Zhao Baolong who was vomiting blood beside her.
Although bandits in the wilderness like the Red Moon Clan valued strength above all else, women who had lost their husbands would usually be quickly taken by other powerful men.
However, there were also exceptions and some women were forcibly taken away by men who were stronger than their husbands.
However, there were also exceptions, and some women were forcibly abducted by men who were stronger than their husbands.
Her heart was already wavering. Should she abandon Zhao Baolong? Even if she could only be a mistress, at least she could escape the fate of being sent to the front lines as a criminal.
She knew exactly how dangerous the wilderness was.
The leader of the Red Moon Clan, who had undergone three transformations, had died in an accident. The group of bandits were then forced to disband on the spot, and each tried to find their own way to escape into the city.
The alternative of fighting against mutant beasts would be much more dangerous. With her ability from the second transformation, she was probably not even able to serve as cannon fodder. It would be almost impossible for her to survive.