265 Bandits 1 (1/2)
Chapter 265: Bandits 1
Amidst the continuous stretch of burnt yellow mountains, the horse carriage lanes seemed like grey cotton threads winding their way around the rocky hills. Clusters of little green trees were scattered sporadically across the area, making it seem as if someone had accidentally splattered green ink on a yellow canvas.
The afternoon sun shone on the yellowish mountains, and was especially bright on the rocky peaks.
Four youngsters in khaki coloured hunting clothes lay beneath the shade of a fruit tree and nibbled on round red fruit while looking below intently.
There was a grey-white lane at the bottom of the hill, located in the narrow space between two cliffs.
The four of them climbed onto one side of the hill and stared attentively at the center of the lane in the crevice.
This quintet consisted of three men and a woman, who seemed like some sort of group.
”Garen, make your butterfly fly a little further towards the east. Try and see if there’s anything there?” said one of the friendly-looking men in a soft voice. ”We’ve been waiting here for such a long time, yet we haven’t managed to find anything yet. Wasn’t this area supposed to be a hotspot for bandits?”
”I’ll try and see,” said a handsome, golden-haired youth sat against the bottom of the tree trunk. The youth was Garen, who had just arrived from Iron Tank City. ”My neon butterfly would be too conspicuous in this area. Besides, my maximum control range cannot exceed three kilometers.”
”Right now the only thing we can do is wait like here like a bunch of fools,” Goth said as he lay on his back. He took a large bite out of the fruit in his hand. There was already a pile of five or six fruit stones beside him.
”Be patient,” Jessica replied softly.
Crunch.
Goth bit down hard on the red fruit. A look of utter boredom was plastered on his face.
Time continued to tick away. In a blink of an eye, half an hour had passed.
”I’ve found something!” Garen stood up suddenly. ”I’ve found the bandits!”
”What’s their specific location?” I’ll send the black panther over!” Andy rose to his feet as well.
Garen knitted his eyebrows tightly.
”The bandits just left. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that we were a few steps too late,”
”Doesn’t matter. Let’s just hurry over and then we’ll talk.”
The four of them got up quickly, and raced towards the direction that Garen had pointed towards.
Following the burnt yellow and grey rocky slope, the four people rushed down the mountain, and climbed up the slope of a different rocky hill.
Just as they reached the other side of the slope, they froze in their steps when they noticed the scene before them.
Two white ox carts had been toppled to the ground, and the black ox that had been pulling the cart earlier now lay in a pool of its own blood. At the same time, a swarm of green-headed flies circled its lifeless body.
On the football field-sized perimeter, corpses were strewn everywhere. The smell of rotting blood hung in the air, causing the onlookers to feel a sense of tightness forming inside their chests.
The dead bodies spanned a continuous distance of thirty-four meters. From the left to the right corner of the lane, not one living body could be seen.
The Black Panther squad had only been standing there for a few moments, but Jessica could not help but muffle her mouth as she began to retch.
Andy took a deep breath, and furrowed his brows at the sight that was laid out before him. ”This is terrible… We should start looking for survivors for now.”
Goth patted Jessica’s shoulders.
”Are you alright?” Although his own face was beginning to turn pale as a sign that he was also having a hard time, it was obvious that Goth’s patience was stronger than Jessica’s.
”I’m fine.”
Garen, however, still had the same expression on his face. The only difference was that his brows were wrinkled now.
”I’ve seen worse places before. Now isn’t the time for chit chat. Go check at once if you can find any survivors. The bandits just left. If they decide to turn back now it’ll spell nothing but trouble for us.”
Goth grunted.
”It’d be better if they came back here. This type of scum should all be sentenced to death!”
”I’m afraid we don’t have the power to decide that…” Andy walked towards the pile of dead bodies, and began to check them carefully.
The more he investigated, the darker his expression turned.
”At least three totem users were present! And it’s obvious that one of them possesses second form attack abilities!”
”Second form…” Goth was left speechless. ”A second form totem user would never be this desperate for money in the first place! Why would he resort to becoming a bandit?”
No one replied him. This was a reason that everyone else wanted to find out as well.
Garen might have thought of an answer, but he kept it to himself.
The four of them continued to look for survivors in the corpse pile. The began their search in the middle and spread out in two separate directions.
Not long after, a cry of surprise was heard in Jessica’s direction.
”I’ve found one! Everyone come here quickly!”
Garen turned his head in that direction and saw Jessica pulling open the wooden section of a carriage. From there, she lifted out a bundle in white swaddling clothes.
”This baby is still alive!” Jessica yelled happily.
The four of them gathered together quickly, and formed a circle around Jessica.
They could see that the baby was still sound asleep in his wrappings, and did not wake up even as Jessica rocked him a few times. It looked as if the baby was in deep sleep. But they noticed the wet tear stains in the corners of the baby’s eyes, indicating that he had been crying for a while.
Andy reached a hand out to touch the baby’s forehead and nostrils.
”That’s good. He isn’t sick, and his breathing is also normal. I’ve also sent the black panther to notify the nearby marshall squad already. Someone should be arriving here soon to take care of this situation.”
Garen stood at the side and looked at the other three people who were gathered around the baby. He attempted to access the old images and look into the memories of this period of time. Unfortunately, the images did not contain everything, and only the most important events were usually documented. A normal circumstance like this would not have been recorded.
He lifted his head, and looked at the blue neon butterfly flying circles in the sky. Suddenly, his expression changed.
”Watch out! Someone’s coming! It’s the bandits!”
”How many?” Andy asked calmly.
”Five of them!” The look on Garen’s face began to change again. ”And three of them are carrying totems!”
”Scatter quickly!”