Chapter 78 Soldiers Entering the Mountains? ...
Officers and soldiers?
Chen Gengnian's heart tightened. Before he could figure out what was going on, he saw the bandits around him abandon the stolen grain and flee in one direction.
Chen Gengnian grabbed one of the people and angrily asked, "What exactly happened?"
The man was a burly, dark-skinned fellow. He said tremblingly, "Don't ask so many questions. Just run! These soldiers are deserters who fled from the front lines. They'll kill people; they're far more ruthless than us!"
After finishing his sentence, the burly man took advantage of Chen Gengnian's distraction and slipped away.
Mo Xing grabbed Chen Gengnian and tried to run away, but Chen Gengnian saw the village chief's family running in their direction. Behind them were several soldiers in armor, each carrying a silver longsword and a torch, their faces showing lewd smiles and ruthlessness.
Seeing that the village chief's wife was about to be taken away by one of the soldiers, Chen Gengnian didn't hesitate any longer and rushed over to save her.
But Chen Gengnian flew over and rescued the person before he even reached Mo Xing.
The soldiers, enraged, shouted, "Who are you to dare attack soldiers? Do you know... ah..."
Before the man could finish speaking, Mo Xing leaped up, gripped the hilt of his sword, and struck the man's mouth. The soldier screamed in pain, and as he opened his mouth, several teeth rolled to the ground along with drops of blood.
Mo Xing's swift, accurate, and ruthless actions frightened the others, who dared not advance and retreated repeatedly, gripping their long knives.
Chen Gengnian didn't have time to worry about anything else. He quickly led the village chief, saying, "Village chief, you should take your family to the back of my house and follow us there to hide."
Upon hearing this, the village chief led his family up the mountain.
But after taking only a few steps, he was surrounded by four or five soldiers who suddenly appeared from the darkness. Before he could even shout, his throat was slit with a knife.
Mo Xing's eyes darkened instantly when he saw how professional and ruthless those people were. It was obvious that those people were more capable than the useless people behind him.
When the stench of blood filled the air, Chen Gengnian finally saw the village chief and his family lying on the ground. He had hunted countless times but had never witnessed a killing before, and he was so frightened that he stood frozen in place.
"Go!" Mo Xing grabbed him and tried to retreat, only then did Chen Gengnian belatedly shout.
"village head--"
Unfortunately, the village chief could no longer hear his trembling voice.
Chen Gengnian picked up the knife from the ground, ready to fight those people to the death, but Mo Xing whispered in his ear, "These are not ordinary deserters."
Chen Gengnian gripped the knife tightly and asked, "So what do we do now?"
Mo Xing said, "We need to finish this quickly. There must be someone more powerful behind them. We can't save the villagers."
It's not that they can't be saved, but that's not Mo Xing's task.
Chen Gengnian looked around. The village was deserted; some were dead, others had fled.
He was barely able to save himself, let alone others. Thinking of this, he didn't say anything more, nodded, and rushed over after Mo Xing flew over.
To their surprise, just as they were about to rush forward, two more people appeared in the shadows ahead, making a total of five people in front of them!
Mo Xing instantly blocked Chen Gengnian's path, shouting, "I'll distract them, you go first."
Before Chen Gengnian could even agree, the other party launched an attack, his sword aimed directly at him.
Mo Xing drew his sword and rushed in front of Chen Gengnian, constantly blocking the enemy's attacks.
The opponent's martial prowess was indeed formidable, but it was nothing to Mo Xing.
Chen Gengnian did not run away, but instead swung his knife and rushed over to help without any strategy.
Fortunately, he knew some martial arts and was very strong. However, his haphazard fighting style was actually of little use against real martial arts.
Mo Xing fought back while protecting Chen Gengnian, and in a few flashes he took down both of them.
Both of them knew that they could escape as long as they took down all the people in front of them, but the remaining three were too clever. When they couldn't win, they focused on attacking Chen Gengnian. After fighting for several rounds, Mo Xing felt that he was losing strength.
Several times they nearly injured Chen Gengnian. Seeing that every move these men made was aimed at Chen Gengnian, Mo Xing panicked completely. He tried his best to protect Chen Gengnian and escape, but no matter how he dealt with them, they were relentless in their pursuit. Just when the two were unable to break free...
Bang--
A loud bang exploded beneath their feet, startling everyone into instinctively jumping back. Thick smoke then billowed out, the stench causing everyone to cough uncontrollably.
Everyone, including Mo Xing and Chen Gengnian, thought it was poison gas and covered their mouths and noses. Just as they were in a panic, some scattered things were thrown at them.
Bang bang bang—
The objects exploded one after another. Amidst the mist, Chen Gengnian and Mo Xing were pulled away from the scene by someone, leaving only the enemy covering their mouths and running around in panic.
Just as Chen Gengnian was about to let go, he heard a familiar voice.
"Brother Nian, it's me."
As Lin Qing'an spoke, he pulled the people along and continued running forward. Mo Xing, after seeing who it was, thought everyone was running too slowly, so he grabbed one person in each hand and used his light footwork to escape.
Lin Qing'an and Chen Gengnian were being carried around, swaying unsteadily. Although they didn't fly completely, they were indeed much faster. Just as Mo Xing was about to lure the enemy away, Lin Qing'an quickly said, "Just run up the mountain. I deliberately left a gap in the opposite direction. They won't chase after us."
Lin Qing'an's feint worked. Just as the three of them entered the forest, the others followed the clues left by Lin Qing'an and headed in the opposite direction.
They hadn't gone far when they were intercepted by a group of people who were extremely skilled in combat and killed them on the spot in a few quick movements.
The group of men were all dressed in black and masked. Someone asked, "Boss, should we go into the mountains to protect them?"
The man in the lead had a strong presence and said in a deep voice, "No need, the mountains are safe. Just guard the entrance."
The man made a fist gesture, and then everyone, including the three corpses on the ground, disappeared into the night with him.
The village soon fell silent, save for the surviving villagers' trembling sobs and the clatter of armor left by the deserters as they walked away.
A tall, bearded man looked at the group of villagers gathered before him and loudly proclaimed, "If you want to live, you must obey our orders and serve us well from now on, otherwise..."
The man raised his hand and made a throat-slitting gesture across his fat neck. The ferocity in his eyes made everyone tremble violently. The adults were alright, but the child couldn't help but cry loudly.
The boy in the crowd had just started crying when his parents, before they could even cover his mouth, were pulled out of the crowd.
"Mother, save me..."
Seeing this, Zhang Cuiping desperately ran over and grabbed the soldier's leg, crying and begging for mercy: "Sir, spare him... He's just a child... I promise I'll serve you well, I promise, please spare my child, please..."
Lin Yongwu quickly stepped forward and knelt down on the ground to kowtow with Zhang Cuiping.
Instead of begging for mercy, the soldier kicked them, nearly knocking Zhang Cuiping and Lin Yongwu unconscious.
Despite the excruciating pain, Zhang Cuiping tremblingly pulled out a money pouch from her person and handed it to the soldier, pleading through tears, "Please, spare my child... This is all I have, it's all yours, please..."
Lin Tianyou and Zhang Cuiping cried their hearts out, filled with regret that they had to return to the village today of all days.
With a wave of his hand, the soldier obeyed and took the money bag from Zhang Cuiping's hand, then released Lin Tianyou from his grasp.
Zhang Cuiping and Lin Yongwu quickly picked up the child and hid in the crowd.
It was described as a large crowd, but there weren't many people at all. More than half of the people in Linjia Village had disappeared; some had fled, while others had been killed.
The rest were mostly elderly, weak, sick, and disabled villagers, as well as some bandits who hadn't escaped.
Those people dared not admit that they were bandits, so they pretended to be people from Linjia Village and mingled among them.
The bearded man ordered some people to come out and prepare food, and then instructed the rest of his men to clean up the corpses on the ground and the village with their subordinates.
After everyone had left, he ran to the village entrance and respectfully welcomed in a luxurious carriage and a group of guards.
The person inside the carriage lifted the curtain, glanced at the village, and immediately closed it again. Long, slender fingers pulled a silk handkerchief from their bosom and covered their mouth and nose, a hint of disdain in their sinister eyes.
The carriage stopped in front of the village chief's house. The bearded man bowed at a ninety-degree angle beside the carriage and said in a flattering tone, "Sir, this is the best house in the village. Please rest here for a while. We will renovate it tomorrow."
There was no response from inside the carriage. A guard stepped forward and said coldly, "Keep those lowly people in check. Don't let anyone near this courtyard."
"Yes, yes, yes," the bearded man quickly replied.
The guard waved his hand, and the bearded man backed away.
After a while, the curtain of the carriage was lifted, and a guard stepped forward to help the man out.
The man's magnificent clothes shone even brighter under the torchlight. He jumped off the carriage with great agility and strode into the village chief's courtyard.
However, beneath those splendid robes, the sleeve of his left hand hung empty as he moved.
Lin Qing'an and his group were unaware of everything that was happening in the village. After escaping into the mountains, they did not run immediately. Instead, they covered up all traces of their journey and then took a detour through the mountains. Only after confirming that no one was chasing them did they venture into the deep mountains.
Without lingering, the group headed straight for Lin Yanfeng and his companions.
Even with A-Meng leading the way, their journey was extremely difficult. None of the villagers had ever been to the mountains before, so they were covered in bruises and falls along the way. Before long, Lin Qing'an and the others caught up with them.
When they approached, A-Meng was very wary, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he confirmed that it was Lin Qing'an and his group.
Yang Ruo and Mo Xing exchanged a glance and immediately sensed something was wrong, but she didn't go over to ask. Not only her, even if everyone wanted to know what was happening down the mountain, they didn't ask any further questions because they were focused on getting on their way.
The flashlight Lin Qing'an gave us was particularly useful, and with A Meng and Bai Fu around, all the wild animals and snakes would avoid us.
So they walked until dawn before finally reaching their destination.
That was a thatched hut that Chen Gengnian built for hunting. The hut was small, just one room, but it had a yard.
When Chen Gengnian said we could stop and rest, everyone stopped. Everyone was exhausted and sat down on the wet and cold ground without caring about the dampness.
The outbreak came so suddenly that everyone was caught off guard.
After resting for a while, everyone turned their attention to Chen Gengnian and his group. Someone asked, "A-Nian, how's the situation in the village?"
The man who asked the question was named Lin Deyi, an honest man whom Chen Gengnian respectfully called Brother De.
Chen Gengnian hesitated for half a second before speaking: "Brother De, I'm afraid we won't be able to go back to the village for a while. The bandits have run away, but a group of deserters have come and taken over the village."
Chen Gengnian did not hide anything and told everyone the truth about the situation down the mountain in advance, so as to give everyone a heads-up and prevent anyone from secretly going down the mountain and causing trouble.
"Waaah... How could this happen... How could our perfectly good home suddenly be gone..."
Some women began to sob and mutter, and the children who followed them also started to cry quietly when they saw their mothers crying. Just as the scene was about to get out of control, Lin Deyi roared and stopped the crying.
"Alright! What's with all the crying? If we keep crying and attract the pursuers, won't our escape have been for nothing?"
That roar silenced all the crying.
Chen Gengnian allowed Lin Deyi to take charge of the situation.
Someone should have taken charge of this matter; otherwise, it will be troublesome if they have to step in on everything in the future.
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