Chapter 64: Nothing Found, More Disappearances
Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Nothing Found, More Disappearances
He went back into his house, put on two layers of Scale Armor, and then a suit of Leather Armor over them.
Two Guards led the way. The group of three riders headed straight for the Scavenger Camp.
The sound of hooves echoed.
People who had just returned from outside and Scavengers on the road heard the hoofbeats and quickly moved to the sides.
Some distance west of the camp was the Scavengers’ settlement.
Further west from there was a large lake.
Tang Wen rode all the way to the lakeshore, where he met subordinates from his Hunting Battalion.
"Commander Tang!"
"Commander Zhou took some men and followed them down the small path."
"Followed them?" Tang Wen was surprised.
"Yes, we found boot prints in the woods up ahead. The missing Scavengers were taken by someone."
Tang Wen’s thick brows shot up. ’Could it be that the Black Mountain Camp is short on slaves?’
’It’s possible. They just acquired the coal mine and are in desperate need of manpower.’
’Looks like the missing Scavengers are going to be worked to death in the mines.’
’In these chaotic times, a person’s life is worth less than a dog’s in an age of peace.’
He sighed, having no intention whatsoever of trying to rescue the Scavengers.
The sun set, and the dense forest before them fell silent.
"CAW CAW CAW." A red-eyed crow flew overhead, as if announcing a death.
Following Zhou Bing’s tracks, Tang Wen entered the small path on foot.
In less than half an hour, he ran into Zhou Bing and her group, who were on their way back.
"Any discoveries?"
She first smiled at him, then shook her head. "They were prepared. First, they forced the people to walk. Then, further ahead, they brought in horses and carried them away."
The two walked back side by side as Tang Wen shared his theory.
Zhou Bing agreed. She also thought it was the Black Mountain Camp’s doing.
They were of the same mind.
"It seems the Black Mountain Ghosts haven’t learned their lesson! Kidnapping people right on our doorstep!"
Back at the camp, the two of them analyzed the situation with Commander Zhang, who was in charge of administration. The latter immediately let out a cold sneer.
He had a vendetta against the Black Mountain Camp—they were responsible for his severed arm—so he naturally advocated for teaching the Black Mountain Ghosts a harsh lesson.
Commander Zhang said, "In the Black Mountain Camp, usually only one General-Level figure, Black Old Ghost, is active, and he doesn’t leave the camp easily. So, the ones who came to snatch people at night were at most led by a Commander. Why don’t we ambush a wave of them?"
Tang Wen and Zhou Bing exchanged a glance. The former said unhurriedly, "Lying in wait is no problem, of course. But even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. It would be best to inform General Zhao."
The message was sent up, and in less than a quarter of an hour, General Zhao arrived, followed by two other Commanders.
"These Black Mountain Ghosts are getting awfully bold!"
General Zhao’s eyes were filled with killing intent.
Tang Wen explained, "It’s just speculation at this point. We don’t have any evidence yet."
But General Zhao waved his hand dismissively. "Evidence? Our word is the evidence!"
Seeing the others look as if this was how things should be...
Tang Wen shook his head. "Regardless, we should still figure out their motive for kidnapping people. If it’s just for mining, it doesn’t matter much. I’m more worried about some other factor we don’t know about."
General Zhao frowned in thought and said, "Alright, then. We’ll split up and lie in wait tonight. Arrange a few Hunting Teams to watch the roads leading to the Black Mountain Camp."
"Alright, I’ll make the arrangements for tonight. As for the Scavenger Camp, I’ll send a few men to stay there as well."
After speaking and seeing no objections from the others in the room, Tang Wen added to General Zhao, "General, just in case, I’ll have to ask you to come to the Outer City camp for the next few days to keep things in order."
"Mm, I’ll stay here tonight."
Tang Wen breathed a sigh of relief at those words.
In truth, according to his analysis, for the Black Mountain Camp to be carrying out these kidnappings so sneakily...
...it was highly unlikely they would dispatch a General. They might not even have a Commander-Level expert involved.
After all, for one, experts had their pride.
And for another, ordinary Guards were more than enough to handle a group of starving Scavengers.
Even sending out Hunting Guards would be overkill.
But what if?
Tang Wen didn’t want to take any chances.
’Imagine this: a Guard spots the intruders and fires a Whistling Arrow.’
’I rush over like an idiot, and what do I find? A General-Level powerhouse. What would I do then?’
’Drop to my knees on the spot?’
’Shout, "I, Wen, have drifted through half my life, my only regret..."’
He shook his head and turned to have a messenger summon all ten squad captains from the Hunting Battalion.
Before long, the ten captains had assembled.
General Zhao made the arrangements one by one, just as they had discussed:
Squad One would lie in wait at the coal mining area to see if any slaves were brought there.
Squad Two would hide along the main route to the Black Mountain Camp.
Squad Three’s mission was to stake out the Scavenger Camp every night and see if they could intercept the intruders.
They were all surveillance missions, nothing too difficult.
One squad had enough manpower. They just needed to rotate shifts day and night.
The three captains went down to prepare.
The other seven Hunting Teams couldn’t just be let off the hook, either.
Every night, at least half of their members had to remain and lodge in the camp.
Until the matter was resolved...
Tang Wen and Zhou Bing also had to stay in the camp.
However, three straight days passed with no activity whatsoever.
General Zhao was getting restless. "The drought is coming. I have a lot to do and can’t stay in the Outer City forever. You two need to be more vigilant."
After giving a few instructions, he took his men and left.
Tang Wen was reluctant, but he had no reason to stop him.
On the night of the fourth day, he was on duty. He slept fitfully in the rest chamber, never quite falling into a deep sleep.
Fortunately, the night passed without incident.
After five days, the supplies for the three Hunting Teams ran out, and all their food was gone.
They sent men back to report that they hadn’t seen anything suspicious in five days. Out in the wilds, there wasn’t a soul to be seen, not even a ghost of a shadow.
And no more people had disappeared from the Scavenger Camp.
Zhou Bing guessed, "Could it be that the Black Mountain Ghosts didn’t need that many people? After taking those hundred or so, they had enough?"
’Could it be such a coincidence?’
Tang Wen didn’t believe it, but keeping the teams on this kind of surveillance duty indefinitely wasn’t a solution either.
The great drought had already begun. His three-level cellar was finished, and he was about to proceed with the next phase of his food hoarding plan.
’I don’t have time to be protecting Scavengers.’
He made a decision. "Pull them back! Notify Squads One, Two, and Three to withdraw today."
"Yes, sir!"
The sentry took his orders and left.
Seeing that only the two of them were left in the room, Tang Wen said to Zhou Bing, "Next, I want to have three squads go out for field training every day."
"Field training?"
The Ice Beauty had never heard the term before.
Tang Wen took her long, slender hand and played with it as he spoke. "For now, the beasts in the forest haven’t migrated because of the drought yet. We need to stockpile some meat."
Zhou Bing shot him a playful glare and shook her head. "Hunting is fine, but the meat won’t keep. It’s not winter, and even if we cured it with salt, where would we get that much salt?"
The salt in the camp was rock salt from the mountains, and it wasn’t easy to purify.
Ensuring everyone had enough salt to eat was no problem.
But using hundreds or thousands of pounds of it to preserve food was impossible.
Tang Wen didn’t answer, instead pointing outside the city walls. "We need to cut down all these trees around our camp. Otherwise, when the drought hits, they’ll dry out and become a fire hazard. We can use the green branches from these trees to smoke meat."
"Smoked meat?" Zhou Bing was confused; it was another new word to her.
Tang Wen said, "I just happened to learn about it. Smoking meat doesn’t require much salt, and the resulting jerky can be preserved for over half a year."
"Alright! Since you want to do it, let’s give it a try." Zhou Bing had never heard of smoked meat, but she trusted Tang Wen unconditionally.
Tang Wen reached out and brushed his hand against her smooth cheek. Her White Jade-like skin grew warm and turned a rosy red.
"Come on, let’s go find the cook."
"It’s so late."
"The sooner, the better."
When it came to the matter of having enough to eat, Tang Wen dared not delay.
On the morning of the sixth day, he led three Hunting Teams out of the city.
One team was assigned to cut down trees.
The other two teams, plus him, made a total of twenty-one people.
They split into seven groups to hunt in the forest.
Speaking of which, although the forests in this world were dense, their resources were not abundant.
The climate where Flame Camp was located was somewhat similar to Northeast China from his previous life.
But it completely lacked the abundance described by the saying, "beat a roe deer with a stick, scoop a fish with a ladle."
In his several months of hunting, Tang Wen had rarely seen any herds of animals, only a few solitary ones, and they were all the difficult-to-catch kind.
He guessed that, for one, the Mutated Beasts ate a lot.
And two, the environment was harsh.
Natural disasters were a trial not only for humans but for animals as well.
At dusk, the Hunting Team’s harvest was average.
Over ten Martial Disciples, who in his past life would be experts at least on the level of kickboxing champions, after a full day, had each harvested less than eleven pounds of meat.
They had consumed more than they had gathered.
But that wasn’t how the accounting worked. The food they ate was provided by the camp.
The game they hunted, however, was all their own.
On the seventh day, they continued hunting.
But as soon as they set out, the omens were bad.
A red-eyed crow followed them the entire way. Tang Wen raised his hand, intending to shoot it down.
But an archer in the team said that killing the creature was bad luck, and besides, its meat was too sour to be edible.
Only then did Tang Wen give up the idea.
As expected, the day’s harvest was also average.
On the eighth day, just as Tang Wen was preparing to go out hunting...
...a Guard suddenly came to report: "Commander Tang, we’ve received news! More people disappeared from the Scavenger Camp last night!"
"Hm?" Tang Wen whipped his head around, his gaze sharp as a blade.