Unlike the past Xiaocheng, which was a place of peace and prosperity, now seemed to be in a state of chaos. Every house was closed, and there were only a few pitiful lights in the whole city.
The whole city was silent, with only the occasional chirping of insects and the metallic sounds of armor joints colliding. Gong Shuwu followed Chu Yao, and the two of them went straight to the butcher's house. The previously bustling night market was deserted, with stalls scattered along the roadside, looking desolate.
Even someone as cold and hard as Gong Shuwu couldn't help but sigh.
This is war.
Even if the enemy hasn't actually invaded yet.
However, silence does not mean that the city is "dead". Dirty things are happening all the time in the dark corners that cannot be seen, such as robbery and murder. In the alley leading to the butcher's house, there are two dead bodies lying with their eyes open, and the body temperature has not yet completely dissipated.
Gong Shuwu stepped on the puddle of blood formed by the blood of the two corpses, leaving a trail of bloody footprints on the muddy and smelly road.
He said, "Alas, I am late."
It would be better if it could be earlier.
Perhaps the old man and the young man on the ground can save their lives.
Chu Yao looked calm and expressionless as he said, "It's useless to come earlier. It's a good thing to see the King of Hell earlier."
These two should be grandfather and grandson beggars who make a living by begging nearby.
Before the rebels came, they were already starving to the point of being emaciated. But as the rebels attacked the city, ordinary people themselves were in danger of losing their lives, let alone having the kindness to help them.
Living one more day means suffering one more day.
Gong Shuwu sighed when he heard this, and agreed in his heart.
It's obviously a fallacy, but it's perfect for the current situation.
You can see how the world is...
No one spoke for the rest of the journey.
Chu Yao was familiar with the road to the butcher's house, and he felt something was wrong as soon as he approached. As a "rich family" among the people nearby, the butcher's house was neater and cleaner than those of his neighbors.
His wife and parents were diligent and clean people, and there was never any garbage or dirt piled up in front of their house. Anyone who threw dirty water in front of their house would be scolded for a long time. At this time, the front of the house was in a mess, and there was an unspeakable stench in the air.
The wooden door that used to be washed every now and then was split in half by some sharp weapon. Chu Yao pushed it with his hand, and the remains of the wooden door fell to the ground with a clang. A trail of dried blood extended from the door to the house, and the hemp rope for drying clothes in the yard broke at one end.
Chu Yao's heart skipped a beat.
Change from a slow walk to a fast walk.
Gong Shuwu also hurriedly followed.
The same thought flashed through their minds -
Something happened!
There are four rooms in the butcher's house.
It wasn't big, and it would take only a short while to search it. Apart from the furniture that had been turned upside down, there wasn't much left, and no one was alive. If it weren't for the trail of blood outside the house, they could have comforted themselves that the butcher's family had received the news and hurriedly packed up their bags to flee.
but-
Gong Shuwu looked at Chu Yao's back and opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something to comfort Chu Yao, but the words were swallowed back by him. It was useless to say anything now.
How could Chu Yao, as a teacher, feel good about losing two students at once, even though he had not been with them for a long time
The atmosphere was almost frozen, making it hard to breathe.
"Oh, please accept my condolences..." Gong Shu said.
Chu Yao's cheeks were tense as he suppressed his anger.
"What are you mourning for?"
If something bad really happened, would the murderer be kind enough to collect the body for the butcher's family? That pool of blood could also be from an animal...
all in all-
If he's alive, I want to see him in person. If he's dead, I want to see his body.
Chu Yao's hands hidden in his sleeves were slightly clenched into fists. His nails, which had not been trimmed for a while, had grown a lot, leaving a crescent mark on the palm of his hand. Although he said so, the ominous premonition became stronger.
He said: "Try to find them before the rebels attack."
If the rebels break in, trying to find a few people in the chaos will be like looking for a needle in a haystack, and the hope is slim.
Gong Shuwu said: "Then let's go check out some of the nearby stores."
Whether they fled or were murdered, we can always find out something. Chu Yao was about to nod when they heard a very quiet sound - rustling, rustling, like fingernails scratching the wooden door. They looked at each other and went to find the sound.
The noise came from the corner of the woodshed.
They moved away the piled up debris and finally found the source of the sound in the cracks, a dirty, crumpled thing.
His eyes glowed eerily in the darkness.
When I looked closer, I found it was a cat.
Chu Yao recognized it at a glance.
"Su Shang!"
He lowered his voice.
Perhaps it heard a familiar name, the cat meowed softly and obediently let Chu Yao carry it out. This kitten was Su Shang. Qi Shan was worried that something might go wrong during the robbery of tax silver, so he was worried about leaving it in the bandit camp, and he was afraid that keeping it with him would cause trouble...
Coincidentally, Lin Feng quite liked it.
So he asked Lin Feng to take care of Su Shang temporarily on his behalf.
As soon as Su Shang was in Chu Yao's hands, he couldn't wait to lick his fingers and palms, making a weak and aggrieved meow.
The cat held in the palm of the hand of its owner Qishan is more clingy, loves to act coquettishly, and is not afraid of strangers compared to other cat slaves.
Chu Yao: “…”
Even though he didn't like cats, which were little creatures that were hard to tame, he was still softened by Su Shang's call. He poured some water for it, soaked some dry food, and handed it to it.
Gong Shuwu also recognized that this was Qi Shan's beloved cat and said, "Finding this little guy is also a good sign..."
Chu Yao hummed absentmindedly.
However, that’s the only good news.
They found that the neighbors nearby were in the same situation as the butcher's family. Some houses had blood stains, some were clean, and some had signs of scuffles and fights. They wanted to find out but had no idea.
The search scope will be expanded again.
Only two thugs committing crimes were found in the alley. Their territory was at the other end of Xiaocheng, and the situation in the surrounding area was unclear.
Seeing that he couldn't get any information out of him, Chu Yao winked at Gong Shuwu, who understood what he meant and exerted force with his fingers.
There was only a short whimper, and the corpse fell to the ground with its neck twisted at an angle, without any sound.
"What should I do..."
We searched until late at night but still found no clues.
Just when he was at a loss of what to do, Gong Shuwu discovered that there was a little orange-red color in the sky above the city gate. After a while, the orange-red color gradually expanded and spread, becoming more and more intense.
Faintly, there were sounds of killing and shouting.
Gong Shuwu's heart skipped a beat: "Are the rebels outside the city attacking the city again?"
Chu Yao shook his head: "Not really..."
If it was the rebels attacking the city, the shouting and killing should have been clearer, and the location of the orange-red flames was wrong. It seemed like - it seemed like something happened in the rebel camp!
Just as Chu Yao judged, the walls of Xiaocheng were fine.
However, it does have something to do with them.
To be precise, it is related to Shen Tang.
After they dealt with Yan Cheng, they wanted to meet up with Chu Yao and the others as soon as possible, but they encountered a little accident on the way.
The two men saw a group of rebels escorting a batch of food and fodder passing by.
I was originally planning to avoid it, but—
The enemy can't resist the enthusiasm of giving away heads!
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