Dead?

"Xiao Ha found it," Wu Youren said solemnly. "Take it back to appraise it. If it's a crystal, I'll buy it." The little fellow was rather sensitive to these crystals, so his acceptance of it would likely be higher. "I agree," Kenpa nodded. "In pitch darkness like this, it would have been really tough to spot without this little critter." The female archer took out a pill, popped it into her mouth, and asked casually, "Little Wu, how many Guizu did you kill?" "A dozen or so," the youth replied in a low voice. "One of them was a wounded knight-rank Guizu, but unfortunately it didn't drop anything." "Impressive!" The female archer gave him a thumbs-up. "You can really fight!" Manna finally spoke up. "Where's Namuzha? Where is he?" None of the other three wanted to mention that name. The moment the battle began, he had turned coward and fled without a word, earning nothing but their contempt. Now that there was loot to split, the thought of sharing it with someone like that sat uncomfortably with everyone. Yet they couldn't stop Manna either. After all, that barbarian knight was indeed a potential hazard. As for why they concluded he had fled out of cowardice—well, that was a matter of intuition, but... those who knew knew. If he had gone off to chase the barbarian knight, couldn't he have said something first? Manna shouted his name several times, but received no response at all. Seeing this, the other three exchanged surprised glances. In the end, Kenpa broke the silence. "Let's head back to the off-road vehicle first and light another campfire." The wilderness in the dead of night hid far too many dangers—Guizu, beasts, and people! With a companion missing, even if they wanted to search, they had to ensure their own safety first. The four drove the off-road vehicle to a nearby gentle slope, reconstructed their defenses, and lit a campfire. Sporadic wisps of Guizu aura actively kept their distance. Throughout this process, Manna tried various ways to contact Namuzha, but none was answered. Once the camp was secure, seeing that the campfire hadn't drawn Namuzha, she wanted to go out and look for him. The female archer flatly refused to help. "I won't even consider it until daybreak tomorrow." Kenpa was slightly more tactful. "I trust his ability to protect himself. Let's not lose our footing." Manna turned to the youth. "What about you?" "I feel like something's off around here," Wu Youren said gravely, his gaze solemn. "I suggest caution above all." "You guys... sigh," Manna sighed. "Hong Da thinks very highly of him." "Hmph," the female archer grunted, saying no more. "Let's search within five hundred meters," Kenpa mediated. "If we come across any barbarian corpses, burn them as needed." Fighting night battles against Guizu involved endless trouble. Dead martial artists were best incinerated as quickly as possible, or else they might undergo Guizu transformation overnight. The two stood up and set off to search. The female archer looked at the youth. "Damn it, if we actually find him, that's one more person to share the spoils!" That was what irritated her most: the man had clearly acted the coward, yet had a barely passable excuse. If so, another person would be dividing up the spoils of war. "Let's guard the camp," the youth said, shaking his head slightly. "That's important too." In short, the four of them got virtually no rest that night. Manna and Kenpa found many severed limbs and broken arms. Some were severely decayed, not only liquefying but giving off a foul stench... It was an unbearable sight and an indescribable smell, requiring prompt incineration. Later on, Wu Youren and the female archer couldn't sit still either—some of the severed limbs had begun to mutate. It was not simple Guizu transformation, but the initial stage of becoming corpse Guizu! The four worked until the sky began to pale with dawn. Finally, Kenpa found Namuzha's corpse—a full two kilometers away. Not far from him lay a patch of shredded flesh and bone, along with a relatively intact head that clearly belonged to a barbarian. At a glance, the scene made everything clear: Namuzha had pressed the barbarian knight too hard, and the man had blown himself up. However, the cause of his death came as a bit of a surprise: a broken rib from the barbarian had sliced through more than half of his neck. Wu Youren inspected the scene and couldn't help clicking his tongue. "A knight's self-destruction is that fierce? Even battle qi couldn't protect him?" "That's nothing unusual," Kenpa said calmly. "The man was dying anyway. Why wouldn't he take someone down with him? "Besides, some of the barbarians' combat skills really shouldn't be underestimated." "Burn it, burn it," the female archer urged. "Save the hassle." "Hold on, let me search the body," Kenpa said. "What if there's loot?" "He has family," Manna couldn't help saying. She and Namuzha both belonged to Hong Da's faction. "Then have his family come burn the body," Kenpa said, his expression darkening. He turned to the youth. "What do you think?" Wu Youren pondered for a moment before answering, "Leave his own weapons for his family. As for the other spoils... consider them funeral expenses." "Exactly," Kenpa nodded vigorously. "We came out here to kill Guizu, risking life and limb. What for?" Human conscience is a scale. Namuzha had acted poorly first; it was already generous enough of them to leave him some dignity. On his body, there were indeed no Guizu relics or the like, but... there were three barbarian weapons! Though somewhat damaged, they could easily fetch four to five thousand silver dollars, if not more. If Kenpa hadn't spotted them, he wouldn't have been so insistent. Manna yielded. "How about this: what if we haul his body back to Red Pine and burn it there?" This place really wasn't far from Red Pine—less than a two-hour drive. "If you want to take it back, take it yourself," the female archer retorted. "There are so many checkpoints along the way. Bringing back an urn would be so much easier." Manna was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled. "Turns out I'm not the only one who didn't like him! "Then let's burn it. I won't stop you." "The main issue is the pressing Guizu situation," Kenpa said seriously. "Tonight, let's head back to Red Pine to rest and regroup." "Yeah, let's see what else we can hunt during the day," the female archer agreed with a nod. "No need to force it. We've already had a decent harvest." Last night's battle had indeed been perilous and costly, and they had even lost a teammate. Still, the haul wasn't bad. Yet, seeing the three reach a decision, the youth shook his head. "You three head back first. I want to stay out here a while longer." Coming out this time, he had his own plan and objectives. Considering that he needed to receive bursts of experience points from time to time, he had originally intended to act alone. It was only because Hong Da showed interest, prompting four other instructors to come along, that he couldn't refuse. Now his objective hadn't been met yet, though fortunately he could unobtrusively receive and absorb the sporadic trickles of experience points. If the three wanted to leave, he had no objections, but he was definitely going to stay behind. "Hm?" Manna glanced at the youth. "After deducting costs, the share between the four of us won't be small." Aside from three Guizu relics, there were several cold weapons. The latter alone would leave a surplus after offsetting costs. With one less person to split it, are you still not satisfied? Kenpa also chimed in to persuade him. "It's too dangerous alone. You experienced what happened last night; the barbarians are a massive instability factor." The youth pondered for a moment, then smiled. "If they really come looking for trouble, once I get my hands on their weapons, I'll still need you all to help sell them." Barbarian weapons weren't easy to fence; Sister Hua had even used that to threaten him previously. But with Red Pine instructors stepping forward, things would be much easier—not to mention they had personally experienced being set up last night. To be fair, the youth's tone was rather bold. The female archer's eyes were bloodshot, an aftereffect of the previous night. She looked at him thoughtfully. "When you attacked yesterday, you used large explosive packs... Do you hate the barbarians that much?" Indeed, one should never underestimate anyone; his various actions were now worth analyzing for the instructors. "I suffered at the barbarians' hands in the mountains," Wu Youren replied casually, clearly reluctant to elaborate. A moment later, his eyes dimmed considerably. "Besides, Instructor Namuzha treated me well. To think that he..." He took a deep breath, his voice dropping low with a faint tremor. "If I don't avenge this, my mind will never find peace!" "He..." Kenpa started to speak, then hesitated, finally giving a slight nod. "The barbarians could certainly use a lesson." "You... are so kind-hearted!" The female archer pondered for a moment and nodded slowly, thinking to herself: *You really are blind!* In the past, when the youth wasn't around, Namuzha had let slip faint hints of his true feelings. An archer excelled most at observation, and being a woman, her perceptions were relatively keen; she had caught certain unfriendly signs. It was only her suspicion, but she was confident she wasn't mistaken. Pity the youth before her was still too green—actually thinking of avenging that guy? Manna felt something was off, but couldn't put her finger on it. She looked at Wu Youren. "You're mainly targeting the barbarians?" "Depends on whether they mess with me," the youth answered in a deep voice. "If they do, it'll be the perfect chance to settle old scores and new ones alike." Manna looked at him sideways, pausing for a few seconds before nodding slightly. "If you're dealing with barbarians, count me in. "Once I deliver the goods back, I'll come find you!" Of the three knights present, she had interacted with Namuzha the longest. Their friendship hadn't been particularly deep, nor did their personalities mesh well, but a colleague she frequently bumped into had suddenly died just like that... That feeling couldn't quite be called grief over a fallen comrade, but the psychological shock was considerable. *If one day I suddenly die like this, would I hope someone would stand up and avenge me?* "Words like that... shouldn't reach the government's ears," the middle-aged knight remarked, eyeing the two with great interest. "I'll only be responsible for ambushes," the female archer said, pointing to her eye. "If this grudge isn't avenged, my mind won't find peace either. But I'm not doing close combat." Kenpa chuckled. "I actually didn't want to get involved, but I'm afraid the three of you might silence me." "Then get lost!" the female archer snapped without hesitation. "If those two dare try to silence you, I'll help you... coward!" "I was just saying," Kenpa said with a grin. "Plundering barbarian weapons—that business is actually quite lucrative!" "Lord Kenpa," the youth spoke up solemnly, "that's not what I meant. Compared to infighting among humans, I prefer fighting the Guizu!" Manna nodded without hesitation. "That, I can attest to!"