The day of leaving the town was about ten days later than Woolley expected, but that had nothing to do with the speed of collecting dry food. Although he would distribute some of the dry food he found every day so that other people he met who were also scavenging for food in the ruins would not go hungry, he and Shelley's "food reserves" still quickly reached the planned amount.

The number of troops stationed in Baidun Mountain is unprecedented, and the daily consumption of food and fodder is also astonishing. Therefore, the number of food and fodder carriages and horses traveling on the horse road is increasing day by day, there are more and more checkpoints, and the inspections are becoming more and more strict. And judging from this situation, it will continue for a long time. However, this will not cause too much trouble to Wu Lai and the others, because they originally planned to avoid the horse road and only take the small paths and mountain roads.

What slowed down their plans were a pair of children - the older sister was Yun Leya, eleven years old, and the younger brother was Yun Jila, only six years old.

The two children were the survivors of a civilian family. When the Japanese soldiers ravaged the town, the brother and sister were picking wild fruits halfway up the mountain. Seeing the smoke and the hustle and bustle of people in the town, they hurriedly hid in a small stone cave, and thus escaped the war. But their family was not so lucky. Even the small house that was renovated with great difficulty a few years ago was burned into a pile of broken bricks and tiles.

After the Tianjuan soldiers left, the tired and hungry brother and sister returned to the town. During the day, they rummaged through the ruins to find useful things, such as food and clothes. At night, sister Yun Leya took her brother back to the small cave halfway up the mountain, because the brother and sister were not brave enough to sleep soundly near the pile of corpses.

The small stone cave where the siblings hid was on the mountain behind the small courtyard where Wu Lai and his friend lived.

Perhaps it was destined that they would meet. On the evening when Wu Lai and Shelley were packing their bags to leave town the next day, Yun Leya walked into the courtyard where they were, carrying her unconscious brother on her back.

“Please, save my brother.” Yun Leya begged while crying. She was a very smart girl. She didn’t come here with her brother on her back just because she was desperate. Instead, she knew Wu Lai lived in this small courtyard. She believed that he was a kind man because he had given the siblings food twice and a piece of animal skin to keep them warm.

"Don't cry, don't be afraid, your brother will be fine." Although Wu Lai didn't understand what Yun Leiya said, the situation in front of him made him understand what the girl meant. While holding Yun Jila down from behind Yun Leiya, he gestured and asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"His leg was scratched two days ago." Yun Leya said with sobs, gesturing as she spoke.

Wu Lai glanced at Yun Jila's face, reached out and touched his forehead, then looked in the direction where Yun Leya's finger was pointing, and his brows frowned. The little boy's lips were black and blue, his face was pale, and his forehead and cheeks were so hot. It was obviously a fever caused by the infection of the wound, and it was a very high fever. His breath was weak at the moment. If he was not dealt with quickly, the consequences would be unpredictable.

"Shelley, go and boil some hot water right away." Wu Lai gave the order, and while carrying Yun Jila into the house, he pointed to the pile of firewood in the corner of the yard and said to Yun Leya who followed him, "Don't worry, we still have a way to help him. Go, help Auntie move some firewood."

Yun Leya nodded after understanding, and ran into the yard swiftly to carry firewood...

Finally, the situation was handled in time. Near midnight, the exhausted Yun Leya heard Yun Jira's crying with joy.

"Brother, I'm here." She hurried over.

"Sister, it hurts..." Yun Jila cried.

"Be good, brother. The pain will go away at daybreak. At daybreak, I will go find you a new pair of shoes, okay?" Yun Leya said with a distressed look on her face.

Seeing this, Shelley at the side couldn't help but sigh softly, pulled Wu Lai, who was wiping his hands, aside, and asked in a low voice: "How about we take these two children with us?"

Wu Lai was stunned. He could naturally understand Shelley's feelings, and he also knew that if the two children stayed here, they might encounter greater difficulties and have a more tragic end. However, the journey he and Shelley were going to take next would require even Shelley's help. If they took the two children with them, unless the group was extremely lucky and avoided all the dangers, the best result would be that Wu Lai would be the only one left.

After all, leaving the horse trail means getting closer to poisonous snakes, ferocious beasts, and bandits.

"I'm not sure if everyone is safe, so they have to stay here." Wu Lai said this reluctantly.

"Can't we give them more help?" Shelley couldn't help feeling a pang of pain in his heart when he thought that it might not be long before these two children would become corpses among the ruins and weeds like the other townspeople.

After hesitating for a while, Wu Lai nodded and said, "Okay, we'll stay for a few more days to find some food and supplies for the child. Maybe I can find someone who is willing to take them in."

Shelley sighed and gently hugged Wu Lai's waist. She knew very well that what Wu Lai had just said was his maximum limit.

Perhaps I can still try harder, Shelley thought to himself.

In the next ten days, Wu Lai went out several times every day. Naturally, there was no food in the town, but there was still firewood, clothes and other things to collect, which were all useful for the two children in the future. In order to leave more food for the children so that they could last longer, he also made a bow and went to the dense forest to hunt for two days. The harvest was quite good.

During the day, Wu Lai was busy except for changing Yun Jila's dressings. At night, he taught Yun Leya how to make a small mechanism with ropes. There were many small animals like hares living in the woods behind the mountain. Mastering the noose mechanism would definitely greatly increase the survival probability of the brother and sister.

What makes Wu Lai feel gratified is that Yun Leya has a strong learning ability and studies very seriously. She can quickly master even some very complicated nooses. Yun Jila has also recovered quickly under Shelley's careful care and is almost able to walk.

"We will stay for three more days. You stay at home to take care of Yun Jila during these three days. The weather is good these days, so tomorrow I will take Yun Leya to the woods to teach her how to hunt." Wu Lai said to Shelley while stretching the bowstring on the small bow he made specifically for Yun Leya.

"Okay, teach Yun Leya more." Shelley nodded. These days she had begged Wu Lai many times to take the siblings with her, but Wu Lai refused every time. After a while, Shelley had no choice but to accept the reality because she knew that everything Wu Lai said was right.

…

At noon the next day, after Shelley hung up the washed clothes, she took Yun Jila to the yard to bask in the sun. This was what Wu Lai had instructed before he left, saying that more sun basking would be good for the child's recovery.

Yun Jila has become familiar with Shelley these days. To him now, Shelley is like a mother. Being able to stay with Shelley is naturally a very happy thing for him. So even though they don't speak the same language, he still smiled and gestured to tell Shelley that he likes being with her and Wu Lai.

After finally understanding what Yun Jila meant, Shelley smiled and felt heartbroken at the same time, and couldn't help but hug Yun Jila tighter.

After a while, with a loud "bang", the courtyard door, which was not very strong to begin with, suddenly broke into pieces. The wooden board covered with fragments and wood chips splashed all over the ground, and more than a dozen soldiers in leather armor and holding swords rushed in.

When Shelley screamed and stood up quickly, the soldiers had already stopped and quickly split into two rows to make way. Then a familiar face appeared. Immediately, Shelley's heart felt like it was hit hard by something...

Oh, God Amon, is this my hallucination? Shelley's eyes were filled with panic and surprise.

"What a surprise, right? My High Priest Shelley, you must have thought you were seeing things, right? Hahahaha! You two should have killed me before throwing me into the river, right? Oh, it seems that the supreme 'Lo' heard my Cleo's prayers. Now, High Priest Shelley, you are my captive again, hahahahaha..." Cleo's voice was filled with pride and joy.

She had every right to be proud, for not only had she escaped death, but she had also found Shelley, and if Shelley was here, Woolley would naturally be there too.

Cleo was undoubtedly lucky. The reason she was still alive was first of all due to Woolley's momentary weakness. After all, he was unwilling to personally end the life of a woman who no longer posed a threat to him.

Secondly, it was because of the structure of the carriage - it was very strong. Even after crashing into the water from such a high bridge deck, it did not fall apart. Moreover, there were two independent large weapon boxes under the carriage. They provided a certain buoyancy to the carriage like two sealed cabins, allowing the carriage to float on the water surface half-sunk and half-floating instead of sinking into the water.

In addition to the above two points, the water flow in that section of the river also provided Cleo with a chance of survival, because the turbulent section of the river was not long, which definitely greatly reduced the chance of the carriage hitting the boulders in the river or being caught in a whirlpool.

After Cleo drifted for more than 200 miles in the river, the carriage ran aground on a grassy island in the middle of the river. She still couldn't break free and stayed on the grassy island for another two nights and one day in fear. Finally, a small fishing boat approached her...

Fortunately, Cleo's perseverance, physical strength and resilience were far beyond that of ordinary people, otherwise it would be impossible for her to survive these days and nights of hardship. Of course, she also fell seriously ill and took a long time to recover, but when she was well again, she came here along the way because she was sure that Woolley and Shelley must not have crossed the White Shield Mountain.

However, running into Shelley today was purely an accident, because Cleo received an imperial edict from Helen two days ago, asking her to rush to White Shield Mountain to meet up. For Helen, Cleo, who was much more familiar with Assyria and Hulit than herself, could be of great use.

So when Cleo saw Shelley hanging out the clothes to dry, she almost couldn't believe her eyes - she had been searching for Shelley for so many days and couldn't find him, but now she ran into him while rushing on the road.

"Okay, since I've found it, just kill it and let the kid go." Shelley gritted his teeth and took a step forward.

“So straightforward?” Cleo laughed. “Oh, no, no, no, Archpriest Shelley, you are trying to cover up the fact that Wooleglindor is nearby.”

"Him? Humph, he left me alone a long time ago." Although Cleo hit the nail on the head, Shelley would not admit it.

“Really?” Cleo glanced at Yun Jira…

…

When he saw the courtyard gate leaning against the side, Wu Lai's heart suddenly skipped a beat. He quickly took two steps back and gestured to Yun Leya to keep quiet.

With his keen eyesight, he could see that this gate was kicked in pieces and then repaired to its original state. Although the repair was good, there were some traces that could not be covered up. The most important thing was that Shelley would not leave the gate closed.

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It was almost evening, and Shelley should have been lighting a fire to prepare dinner, but the yard was unusually quiet at the moment, which was obviously extremely abnormal.

After a slight hesitation, Wu Lai lowered his voice and gestured to leave Yun Leiya where she was. He then grabbed the three hares he had caught today, frowned slightly, and stepped forward...

"Shelley, I'm back." Wu Lai walked into the yard.

When Shelley heard Wu Lai's call, she struggled hard, but she couldn't get free. Cleo, who was standing beside her, sneered and coughed lightly. She was misleading Wu Lai.

"Are you not feeling well?" Wu Lai's voice asked as he approached the door.

Cleo coughed again, then gestured to the soldiers lying in ambush on both sides of the door.

"I told you, don't kick off the quilt at night." As soon as Wu Lai finished speaking, a black shadow suddenly rushed into the door. The soldiers on both sides of the door subconsciously raised their sticks and hit it. With a light "puff" sound, a robe was knocked off in mid-air, and three hares rolled out of the robe.

The soldiers were stunned for a moment, and at the same time, another black shadow rushed into the door.

"This time it's..." Cleo's warning just came out of her mouth, and Wu Lai had already rolled to the feet of three soldiers on the right side of the door. He moved his left and right hands alternately, and with a series of "chi chi chi chi chi" sounds, the three soldiers screamed and fell to the ground at the same time.

Why are you yelling? I just cut your tendons. Wu Lai smiled coldly, but his body didn't slow down at all. He bounced up and did a beautiful backflip and kicked a soldier who rushed over. Then he tilted his body and fell to the ground and rolled. "Swish, swish, swish", two more soldiers were stabbed in the ankles. He stretched out his arm and slashed the neck of the soldier who was kicked down with the dagger in his left hand. "Puff", a pool of blood rose...

"Kill him!" Cleo shouted as she grabbed Shelley's neck and pulled her over to protect herself.

When the ten soldiers hiding in other places in the house quickly appeared, Wu Lai had already turned around and rushed out the door. After they chased him out the door, they could no longer see his figure.

"Swoosh", a feather arrow broke through the air and a soldier's body shook, and he fell down, covering his pierced neck.

"Swoosh", the second feather arrow directly pierced into the eye socket of a soldier.

"He's at the gate! He's at the gate!" The remaining eight soldiers shouted and dispersed.

"What are you panicking about? You're useless!" Cleo pushed Shelley out, "Go ahead!"

"Swoosh", another soldier fell down, and even Cleo couldn't help but take a step back.

"Woole Greendo, Shelley Oliver is in my hands, don't..." Before Cleo could finish her words, the fourth soldier fell to the ground, holding his neck and howling in pain.

"Woolley Greendo, if you don't stop, I will kill Shelley Oliver!" Cleo was so angry that she was shaking all over. She had seen cruel people before, but she had never seen anyone as cruel as Woolley. She had clearly held Shelley hostage and threatened him, but he still shot his men without any care.

She was responded by two sharp arrows. Naturally, two more soldiers fell down, holding their chests and abdomens and wailing.

After gritting her teeth, Cleo pressed the dagger in her hand hard against Shelley's neck.

A figure flashed at the gate of the courtyard, and Wu Lai strode in with a bow in hand. He glanced coldly at Cleo, frowned, and rushed towards the nearest soldier.

"Surround him!" Cleo screamed.

"Bang", Wu Lai raised the longbow in his left hand to block the first soldier's slash, turned his body and passed by him, and the short dagger in his right hand swept across the soldier's neck, "Swish", "Puff"...

He ducked his body to avoid a blow, and at the same time, Wu Lai charged forward fiercely. His bow knocked away the other's sword-wielding right arm, and the dagger in his hand fiercely stabbed the soldier's crotch, "chi chi chi chi"...

A greatsword came flying at him, cutting a bloody groove on Wu Lai's back, but before the soldier holding the sword could rejoice, his vision suddenly blurred and his eye socket suddenly felt a sharp pain. As he fell down with his eyes covered, Wu Lai had already snatched his greatsword and slammed into the last soldier who was stabbing him with his sword.

With two soft "puff" sounds, Wu Lai and the soldier's bodies froze at the same time, and then separated. The soldier fell heavily, with a sword tip protruding from his lower back, and blood was constantly flowing out from the wounds on his lower abdomen and lower back...

Wu Lai staggered back two steps, reached out his hand to touch his waist, and his entire palm was immediately stained bright red.

"You, let her go, I'll give you a chance to escape." Wu Lai pointed at Cleo and said.

Cleo had no way of hearing what Wu Lai was saying at the moment. She was still completely immersed in the shock of the fight just now. Wu Lai's agility, decisiveness, ruthlessness and sense of timing perfectly explained to her what a true warrior was. She even felt that those so-called super gladiators were not only weaker than Wu Lai, but also unspeakably merciful.

"Do you really want to die here?" Wu Lai asked, picking up a big sword and quickly walked to a soldier who was still struggling and crying out in pain. With a fierce swing of his right arm, he cut off his neck...