After calming down, he asked another subordinate, "Did the old people, women, and children in that cave also come out?"
"No, they're still in the cave, but the ropes have all been untied."
The leader said sinisterly, "Since they like setting fires so much, then set fire to that cave and roast them all alive. Tell the people in the other caves that this is the consequence of protecting those who escape from their caves!"
The subordinate said, "But aren't the people in that cave going to exchange it for supplies? Why don't we go to another cave to burn it?"
The slave traders were very selective. They went through so much trouble to capture so many people, but after picking and choosing, they could only sell enough people to fill one cave.
If they can't sell them, they won't be able to get salt, food, or water. Eating human flesh is just a special preference of a few of the leaders; they don't eat it themselves.
"Burn their cave, let them escape, burn them to death!"
As Chen Nong and his companions waited anxiously, two bandits suddenly ran into the cave, threw a torch into their cave, and ran away.
The cave was lined with dry grass, which quickly caught fire.
"Ahhh—Fire! Run!"
The crowd began to descend into chaos, filled with shouts, cries, and curses.
An old woman shouted, "Shut up! Calm down if you don't want to die. Quickly gather the dry grass together so it doesn't burn us. Hurry up, once the fire at the cave entrance dies down, we'll rush out. Don't push, those who are closest go first, and those who rush out will stop the bandits."
Everyone frantically followed the old woman's instructions, but some people still caught fire and had to take off their burning clothes.
The woman who had previously disappeared shielded Chen Nong and Bai Chuan to the side, quickly tore her clothes into strips and stuffed them into their hands, snarling, "Cover your mouths and noses! Run as fast as you can later, don't worry about anything else."
She has two daughters to protect, but she won't be able to look after them when she runs away; they'll have to rely on themselves.
Chen Nong and Bai Chuan were already staggering from the smoke, their eyes were watering, and they felt like they were having a hard time breathing.
Chen Nong couldn't care less about anything else now. He put his hand in his pocket to cover himself, took out a bottle of water, quickly unscrewed the bottle, wet the cloth strip, and then wet Bai Chuan, the woman, and the two girls as well.
His uncle had taught him this before: if you are trapped by fire, you should cover your mouth and nose first, preferably with a damp cloth.
After doing all this, Chen Nong secretly put the bottle back into his spatial storage. Now that things were so messy, no one noticed him.
He and Shirakawa had enough water in their space to drink, but it wasn't nearly enough to put out the fire.
Before long, someone took the lead and rushed out.
Chen Nong and Bai Chuan covered their mouths and noses and followed closely behind the woman.
Just as they rushed to the cave entrance, several more torches were suddenly thrown in.
A torch came hurtling straight at Chen Nong. Bai Chuan quickly pulled Chen Nong away, but the torch hit the person behind him, who was burned and rolled on the ground in pain. The cave entrance became even more crowded.
The people at the front were also burned by the torches that had just been thrown, and they were now writhing in pain, while the exit was blocked.
An old man, burning with the heat, charged madly toward the bandits guarding the exit. With someone leading the way, those who were also burning and unable to extinguish their flames followed suit and rushed toward the bandits.
Thanks to the sacrifices of these people, an exit was finally torn open, and people slowly escaped.
Those who escaped didn't run around aimlessly; instead, they frantically attacked the bandits rushing towards the cave entrance, buying time for those inside to escape.
A woman whose face was burned halfway saw a bandit holding a torch, pounced on him, bit his arm hard, and tore off a large chunk of flesh.
When Bai Chuan reached the exit, he tripped and was about to be trampled by the people behind him. Chen Nong turned around, pushed the people behind him aside, and then pulled Bai Chuan up to continue rushing forward.
Just as they escaped, bandits attacked them again. By this time, everyone was exhausted and choked by the smoke. They were powerless to resist the bandits' attack.
Chen Nong and Bai Chuan stood back to back; they couldn't back down!
Just as a bandit was swinging a club at them, Chen Nong bent over and rushed towards the bandit, headbutting him in the stomach.
He clearly heard a cracking sound upon impact, and the bandit was sent flying.
At this moment, the leader also led his men to attack. He did not expect that they had just created some chaos when those damned bandits actually set fire to the cave.
The woman breathed a sigh of relief when she saw them coming. "Quickly deal with the bandits at the cave entrance. There are still people inside who haven't escaped."
"Honey, something terrible has happened! Someone's here to cause trouble!"
The head of the household said impatiently, "You bunch of good-for-nothings! Haven't you dealt with those who ran away yet?!"
"No, it was another group that broke in. There was a woman, a woman wielding two axes, who killed many of our brothers."
Upon hearing that a woman was wielding two axes, the head of the household was so frightened that she fell off her chair. Then, she kicked him angrily: "You bunch of good-for-nothings! Didn't I tell you not to mess with those people from Anping Village? How did you manage to provoke that female killing god!"
The bandits, on the verge of tears, said, "We didn't arrest anyone from Anping Village. We only arrested the people who were following behind them, and we only arrested them after they had gone far away."
The head of the household, his face deathly pale, exclaimed, "It's over, it's all over!"
He didn't care about anything anymore and desperately tried to escape; he didn't want to die. He could be tough in this den of thieves, but against that female assassin, he was nothing but trash.
"Master, wait for me! Take me with you!"
Here, Old Man Chen and his group found the cave entrance where the battle was raging.
Looking at the thick black smoke coming from the cave entrance, Old Man Chen and the others were terrified.
The village chief's wife was so frightened that tears welled up in her eyes. "Bai Chuan, Bai Chuan, where are you? Grandma has come to pick you up, where are you?"
"Grandma! We're here!" A coughing sound came from over.
Bai Yu spotted his disheveled younger brother in the crowd and felt a pang of heartache. When a bandit attacked them, he swiftly and decisively shot out the arrow in his hand. He had no pity for these ruthless bandits.
Looking at the bandit lying on the ground, wounded by an arrow, Shirakawa exclaimed happily, "My brother is here too!"
Chen Nong breathed a sigh of relief and said, "My mother and grandparents are here too!"
Soon, Old Man Chen and the others rushed over.
The village chief's wife clung to Bai Chuan and wouldn't let go, crying incessantly.
"You little rascal, you scared your grandma to death! Will you dare to run around like that again?!"
Shirakawa cried, "I won't run around anymore! I'll never run around again!"
He was really terrified today; he almost lost his life. It's too dangerous outside.
After all, he was just a child. He didn't dare to cry before because he had no one to rely on, but now that he had found someone to rely on, he started crying unrestrainedly.
Chen Nong was also held by his grandmother and cried loudly. Now he didn't have to be afraid anymore, his family had come.
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