The night was dark, and the cold wind of late autumn made people want to hide in the house. There was no one on the road where small groups of horse thieves often passed by during the day, but Ji Yijun and his group of four were still very careful to avoid the main road.
Ji Yijun wore a black jacket and black pants. He didn't hold the usual spear in his hand, but a "standard steel knife" of the guards, which was just a sharpened steel sheet. However, his knife was slightly different from others. The narrow blade glowed blue under the moonlight, which was the frost power after Morey's enchantment.
"There is light in the village." Huang Zheng hid in the bushes with a steel crossbow in his hand. From where he was, in the dead silent town of Frollo, there was a fire in a house. The flickering and lonely firelight appeared in an empty town, making people feel uneasy.
"Are there any villagers left in the village?" Ji Yijun asked Garcia.
"No more. Except for those who have taken refuge in the mountains or big cities, the rest have come to our place." Garcia looked in the direction Huang Zheng pointed and judged: "That is Master Julio's house. They have already taken refuge in Suero."
"Humph, this must be the bandits' outpost. These guys are really brave, lighting a fire here so blatantly. Do they think our guards are made of mud?"
"We have been avoiding the horse thieves who were coming and going outside the school before. I guess some people underestimated us." There was some dissatisfaction in Huang Zheng's words. It seemed that he was also fed up with the horse thieves and spies who were hanging around the school every day.
"Let's go in and take it away." Ji Yijun stood up first and ran lightly towards the center of the town.
Enrique and Garcia were very familiar with the town. Under their leadership, Ji Yijun and his men climbed into a house opposite Julio's house. From the windowsill on the second floor of the house, they could clearly see the movements of the horse thieves.
"There are not many people." Ji Yijun took a look and saw that there were only three or four people walking in the opposite room. They didn't look like masters, so he was ready to lead people downstairs to attack the opposite house, but he was grabbed by Huang Zheng after taking only two steps.
"You promised me when you came out that you would never act rashly!" Huang Zheng looked into Ji Yijun's eyes and emphasized every word.
Ji Yijun replied impatiently: "There are only a few of them, why would you be so reckless? Just rush in and kill them."
"No! We have to wait and see. What if there is an ambush?" Huang Zheng refused to give in.
"You guy! Okay, take a look!" Ji Yijun shook off his hand, squatted on the windowsill, and observed the actions on the opposite side with Huang Zheng.
"Five people. Two were sitting by the fireplace, one was going in and out of the kitchen to get food, one was keeping watch on the balcony, and one went to the bedroom next door." Ji Yijun came to this conclusion after observing by the window for nearly a quarter of an hour.
"Wait a little longer." Huang Zheng observed for a while and said, "There are six."
"How did you count? There were only a few people coming and going."
"The ones who came in and out of the kitchen were twin brothers. Look, the one who came out of the kitchen this time was different from the previous one. There was a hole in the sleeve of his coat, the color of his shirt changed from gray to dark gray, the dagger on his waist was an inch longer than the previous one, and his beard was shorter..."
"That's all right..." Ji Yijun looked at Huang Zheng speechlessly, "I give in. Can we take action now?"
"Should we make a plan?"
"Look at their appearance, they are just a bunch of weaklings. Rush in through the main gate and beat them one by one. We'll get it done!" Ji Yijun answered without thinking, but as soon as he finished speaking, he saw Huang Zheng looking at him with contempt. He sighed and said, "What's wrong?"
"Class monitor, you are an educated person after all, can you use your brain a little?"
"Fart if you want to!"
Huang Zheng walked into the room and took some bottles and placed them on the ground where the moonlight shined. "Look, this is the front door, this is the back, and this is the balcony. Since there is someone in the kitchen, Enrique will attack from the kitchen and don't let that guy escape. Then go directly from another staircase to deal with the guy sleeping in the bedroom. We will make some noise here, and then lead people to this position to ambush with crossbows. Garcia will wait at this staircase. If there is an enemy we haven't discovered who wants to come downstairs to support us, we will kill him..."
Huang Zheng spoke for a long time. After he finished speaking, he saw Ji Yijun looking at him with strange eyes. He couldn't help but touch his face and asked, "What are you looking at?"
"You are quite capable, Old Huang. I didn't realize you were such a talent. You speak so well." Ji Yijun turned to Enrique and Garcia and said, "How much did you understand? If you don't understand, ask. Then, do as the military advisor tells you!"
The battle ended very quickly. In Ji Yijun's words, it was a crushing victory of absolute strength.
There were only two prisoners, and the two guys in the kitchen and bedroom were killed mercilessly by Enrique. The sentry was shot in the chest by Huang Zheng's crossbow at close range and died soon after falling down. A horse thief wanted to attack with a dagger when Ji Yijun broke into the room, but was killed by Ji Yijun instead.
Although the leader of the bandits was quite skilled in martial arts, he was still knocked unconscious by Ji Yijun and Enrique. The last bandit did not resist but surrendered immediately to save his life.
Garcia and Enrique tied the two horse thieves to the chair, but turned around and saw that Ji Yijun had disappeared. Garcia touched his head and said, "Deputy squad leader, isn't the squad leader going to interrogate them himself?"
Huang Zheng smiled: "As for the squad leader... we need to check around to see if there are any hidden enemies. Let us handle the things here."
As he said this, he took out a dagger from the twins' dead hands and walked towards the horse thief leader.
Ji Yijun squatted in the corner of the garden behind the house and vomited all over the place.
After vomiting for a while, he felt exhausted. He leaned on a stone bench in the garden and turned his head to the other side with great effort to avoid smelling the fishy smell.
During the battle, his blood was boiling and he was in high spirits. He felt that he had infinite power to vent. But when he later saw the guy whose neck he had cut off, he found that he did not seem to be that strong.
The bloody smell, the rolled flesh, the overflowing blood, and the lifeless eyes all gave him a strong stimulation, and suddenly he had an indescribable sense of guilt.
Even though his mind told him that he was doing the right thing, and his instinct told him that he loved fighting, when he killed someone with his own hands, he felt a sense of guilt for killing his own kind, and the first thing that reacted to this guilt was his stomach.
This made him feel ashamed. He had always thought that he was a natural warrior and should be able to drink the blood of his enemies. However, his body betrayed him the first time. Before he could spit it out, he ran away faster than he rushed in. At that time, he saw Huang Zheng smiling at him.
This bastard, he is so proud! He looks like a nerd on weekdays, but he is like nothing happened at the murder scene. It is said that the most ruthless people are scholars, it really makes sense.
Ji Yijun panted, looked up at the sky, and thought about what happened today again. He found that Huang Zheng was really a good guy. When he failed to stop him in school, he volunteered to follow him out. There were not many people in school who had such courage. He dared to follow the enemy when he saw him, and he did not hesitate to kill him. Apart from being a little cautious and nagging, he should be considered a good person.
Ji Yijun calls the people he likes good people. As he thought about it, Huang Zheng's eyebrows and eyes didn't seem as annoying as before.
After a long while, he suddenly heard the sound of hurried running. When he turned around, he saw Huang Zheng standing in front of him, panting.
"Are you injured? Why do you smell of blood?" Ji Yijun stood up and asked.
Huang Zheng spoke quickly: "Dead man's blood. One of the two prisoners died, but we only got some bad news."
Ji Yijun widened his eyes, looked Huang Zheng up and down and said, "You, you forced a confession? And then, the person was tortured to death? You are not a hidden pervert, are you?"
"It's already this late, why are you still talking nonsense?" Huang Zheng laughed angrily, "The enemy is coming tonight! The bandits are going to attack!"
Hearing this, Ji Yijun also became serious, "How much time do we have left?"
"I don't know. They just said that tonight, these people were sent by the bandit leader Cadiz to pick up bandits from other gangs."
"In other words, it's not Cadiz's own team that's going to occupy this town?" Ji Yijun thought, "I heard that Cadiz is the most powerful bandit. Where is his own team?"
Huang Zheng said: "That person said he didn't know, but I think it's obvious that they must have attacked the school from other routes. This was a long-planned night attack. The bandit leader was organizing bandits from all sides, and on the other hand, he delayed the attack to gradually paralyze us. He waited until the day when we were most tired, and then launched a surprise attack from all sides."
Ji Yijun fell silent, seemingly thinking about something.
"Squad leader, let's go. Let's take this prisoner back to school first." Huang Zheng saw that Garcia and Enrique had already escorted the bruised and battered horse thief downstairs.
Ji Yijun still looked at the ground without saying anything.
"Squad leader!"
Ji Yijun suddenly looked up and asked seriously, "Old Huang, you know that I was knocked unconscious and received a letter, right?"
"So what? It will be too late if we don't leave now."
"Wait, I'm thinking of something very important!" Ji Yijun said, holding his chin, "Those people are obviously not in the same group as the bandits. Why didn't they show up after delivering the letter?"
"Maybe, it's someone from a third party force who wants to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between two tigers?" Huang Zheng also slowly calmed down and analyzed the situation.
"No, I think they are on our side and will get involved in this. I have fought with them and I have this feeling."
"Yes, in the eyes of outsiders, the magician's castle may not be weaker than the horse thieves. Providing information to the magician to reduce losses should be a gesture of goodwill. If you personally help at a critical moment, it will be a greater favor. But what does this have to do with our situation?"
"If they might be of help to us, and I met them in this town..."
"You want to stay outside the school and contact them? And then use their strength to fight against the bandits together?" Huang Zheng asked in surprise.
"Hehe, I also know that there are some dangers, but since you said so, then it is like this." Ji Yijun scratched his head and said, "Maybe they were just planning to take a look, I can convince them to take action as soon as possible. Even if I don't meet them, maybe I can assassinate a leader or something."
"You simply..." Huang Zheng pointed at Ji Yijun, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Ji Yijun suddenly stretched out his hand and asked him to calm down. He listened carefully and there seemed to be a sound in the silence of the night, a buzzing sound like a low-flying mosquito. Then the sound slowly grew louder and the earth in the distance began to tremble low and tremblingly.
That was the sound of approaching horses.
"They are coming, we can't go back." Ji Yijun smiled a little excitedly. The situation was very urgent, but he felt happy to see Huang Zheng getting furious.
"Bastard, bastard! How could I meet a lunatic like you!" Huang Zheng angrily took out a dagger and cursed at Ji Yijun.
Then, he stabbed the captured horse thief in the heart and said to Garcia bitterly, "Just leave the body here! Find a corner you know and hide us all!"