ATPnovel #511 - Second Master
#511 - Second Master
The镖師 (biāo shī,镖师 is a person who escorts valuables in ancient China) on horseback shouted, the sound traveling far and echoing in Zhang Chen's ears.
"Not allowing fire?" Zhang Chen frowned. How could they cook or boil water without fire?
Although he could understand the镖局 (biāo jú, security company in ancient China)'s actions, he couldn't agree with them.
Zhang Chen turned to look at the refugees beside him, only to see that they seemed used to it, silently forming a long line.
"This uncle, what are you all queuing for?" Zhang Chen asked, grabbing one of them.
"Although the Dragon Tiger Security Company doesn't allow us to make fires to boil water, they will actively dig wells and boil water. We can exchange firewood for boiling water, or get well water directly. If you want to cook and eat cooked food, you can use your millet to exchange for the security company's cooked rations," the man whispered.
Zhang Chen was stunned, then said, "In that case, the Dragon Tiger Security Company is quite compassionate, they've thought of everything they could."
They provide well water, and you can drink cold water directly. If you want hot water, you can collect firewood and they'll boil it for you. If you can't cook your millet, they'll cook it for you and exchange it in equal amounts. This enhances secrecy and greatly reduces the risk of exposure. This Dragon Tiger Security Company is really capable.
Zhang Chen didn't have any food with him. He thought he wouldn't lack food along the way, since with his Beast Mastery skills, what kind of wild animal couldn't he catch? Wouldn't he have plenty of meat to eat? He did prepare some millet, but not much. The north was suffering from disaster, and millet was scarce. This millet was some leftover rice from previous years.
Zhang Chen scanned the long queue of people, didn't join the crowd, and led his family to a large tree. He instructed Cheng Yu, "Take good care of everyone, I'll go find some food."
After speaking, Zhang Chen found a hidden place and used Earth Escape to leave, arriving at a mountain gully dozens of miles away to light a bonfire. By this time, the falcon had already prepared three wild chickens. Zhang Chen made the wild chickens into beggar's chicken and roasted them, then filled a large pot with hot water before using Earth Escape to return.
"I miss the fox spirit Nannan a bit now. If I had the fox spirit Nannan, why would I have to do these small tasks?" Zhang Chen missed the fox spirit: "I'll have to find some suitable mystical beings to be servants in the future."
When Zhang Chen returned with the roast chicken, it was already dusk. The Zhang family's eyes lit up when they saw the roast chicken, and they all crowded around, drooling.
Zhang had already piled up the luggage, forming a windbreak to block outside views, so the family could eat roast chicken inside the enclosure without being noticed by the refugees.
Zhang Chen divided the roast chicken, then took out some millet and said, "Eating only meat without rice is not good for digestion, I'll exchange for some millet."
Zhang Chen walked past the crowd with the millet. The refugees were gathered in small groups, eating their own food. Zhang Chen inadvertently walked past the eight men who had been hostile to his group during the day. He saw that the eight men were not only eating roast meat, but also drinking wine freely, causing a cold light to flash in Zhang Chen's eyes. With a thought, the wine instantly sealed the eight men's respiratory tracts. The eight men suddenly clutched their throats, opening their mouths wide to shout, but their throats seemed to be blocked by glue, and no sound could escape.
No matter how hard the eight men struggled, their faces red, rolling on the ground, they couldn't make a sound.
The eight men desperately clawed at their throats, trying to clear their airways, but it was useless. In the end, the eight men's eyes turned blood red, their faces red, and they suffocated to death.
The eight men's struggles before death alarmed the nearby refugees, attracting their attention, but no one came forward to check. Everyone just watched coldly. These eight were not good people, they had bullied the refugees along the way, and everyone hated them. How could they come forward to help?
Moreover, the eight men's deaths were strange, revealing a frighteningly bizarre phenomenon. How could people dare to rashly provoke disaster?
At this time, the storyteller Wang Yan watched the eight men's strange deaths and mustered his courage to say, "These eight people died abnormally, quickly report to the Dragon Tiger Security Company, lest something dirty has mixed in."
Someone went to report to the Dragon Tiger Security Company. Before long, a dozen Dragon Tiger Security Company men pushed through the crowd. The leader was a martial artist who had ignited his blood energy. He first stood at a distance and cautiously watched the eight men's deaths, then stepped forward and carefully squatted down to examine them.
"Strange!" After examining them for a moment, the man's expression became heavy: "The eight men all died by drowning, but there is no water here... Could it be a phantom technique? There are cultivators of the soul path here, with successful practitioners stationed nearby?"
The man was a Dragon Tiger Security Company powerhouse who had ignited his blood energy, a pillar of the security company, a first-class expert in the martial world, and a knowledgeable person. He had many lives in his hands and saw the cause of the eight men's deaths at a glance. But when he pried open their mouths and carefully examined their throats, he saw that there were no traces of drowning, and he immediately deduced phantom techniques.
Before cultivators of the soul path can manipulate objects, their most powerful method is phantom techniques. Once a person reaches the object manipulation stage, that's a whole new world!
Soul path cultivators are extremely rare, a unique heritage of a small number of hidden people. Even princes, grandsons, and large families don't have them. The appearance of a soul path cultivator in their security company's team is no small matter. What does it mean?
Did they follow the large group south to seek refuge and hide, or do they covet the security company? No matter which situation, he had to be vigilant.
"Come and tell me what happened," the martial artist who had ignited his blood energy said to Wang Yan.
"Greetings, Second Master!" Wang Yan quickly gave a respectful salute, then recounted the eight men's deaths.
Hearing Wang Yan's description, the martial artist called Second Master frowned, his eyes sweeping over the distant dark mass of refugees, a gleam of light in his eyes, then said to Wang Yan:
"Did these eight people have conflicts with anyone?" Second Master asked again.
"These eight guys secretly bullied a lot of people," Wang Yan said.
Second Master's gaze swept over the crowd, too lazy to meddle in other people's business, and simply instructed:
"Go get two catties of mutton and one catty of millet."
"Thank you, Second Master." Wang Yan was overjoyed, quickly knelt down and kowtowed, then scurried away.
That Second Master glanced at the crowd, then turned and walked towards the security company's camp, ignoring the corpses. The corpses would be food for some people, and food for some wild animals. It was better than directly wasting them. If wild animals ate the corpses and were full, they wouldn't eat living people, and the living would have a few more opportunities.
Further away, Zhang Chen's family finished eating rice and roast chicken, then went to sleep. At night, some restless people made moves, wanting to sneak over to steal things, but the falcon scratched their faces and scared them away.
After all, there were many people here, and few dared to openly rob. Everyone was acting secretly.
The night passed without incident. The next day, as soon as it was dawn, the security company began to prepare food. After eating and drinking their fill, everyone continued on their way.
The days seemed to have calmed down. Every day, besides traveling, there was only traveling. There were a few ignorant people who plotted against Zhang Chen's group, but they were all 'drowned' by Zhang Chen in advance. This didn't cause any waves. Only the security company's Second Master investigated and quietly suppressed the matter, instructing people to throw the corpses on the roadside to feed wild animals.
The two little ones' martial arts practice improved, and little fatty Zhang Tuo visibly thinned down, his whole person becoming slimmer.
These days, Zhang Chen also learned some useful information from the refugees' miscellaneous words. The Second Master's surname was Chen, and he was called Second Master Chen. He was the leader of the security company this time, responsible for the security company's affairs. As for more, he didn't know, and it wasn't something ordinary people could find out.
The road was silent, everyone's faces were numb and desperate. Zhang Chen walked in the crowd, quietly absorbing the sun's essence. When they rested after walking for half a day, Zhang Chen went to a secluded place to urinate. Suddenly, his ears twitched, and his eyes looked in the direction of the grass. He couldn't help but be stunned. A large gray wolf was lurking in the grass.
The large gray wolf met Zhang Chen's eyes, but didn't pounce directly, instead quickly disappearing into the grass.
Zhang Chen glanced at the large gray wolf, nonchalantly shook his bird, then summoned water to wash his hands, and turned to disappear into the mountains.
But after another eight or nine days of peaceful travel, Zhang Chen gradually noticed a trace of something wrong, because ever since he shook his bird that day, he had noticed that wild beasts often appeared nearby, and the frequency of their appearance was not small.
"Something's not right!" Zhang Chen narrowed his eyes, raising his vigilance: "Logically speaking, tens of thousands of people gathering in one place, ordinary wild animals would have fled long ago, how could wild animals actively come forward to spy?"
That's right, after seven or eight days of gathering, the team behind the security company had gathered tens of thousands of people.
Zhang Chen directly activated his Beast Mastery technique to sense. Now his Beast Mastery skill could sense all wild beasts within a 2,000-meter radius. In his perception, the wild beasts in the mountains were increasing, and not just ordinary wild beasts, but all fierce beasts, such as jackals and wolves.
In this short 2,000-meter sensing range, there were actually more than a dozen hungry wolves, three tigers, bears, and dozens of weasels scurrying around underground, peeking at the large team.
"As expected, they've been targeted by the demon race." Zhang Chen had already noticed something was wrong, and secretly raised his vigilance: "I'll have to investigate tonight to see what's going on."
Ultrasound is useful, but there are too many obstacles in the low-altitude state, and it can't transmit too far.