Chapter 4 City of Marauders <TOC> Chapter 6 Departure
Translator: SumTLMan
A gleam sparkled in Yue Zhe’s slender eyes as he sat across from Li Mu.
As the second-in-command of the Iron Claw Gang, he generally does not participate in looting, but is responsible for processing stolen goods and purchasing supplies at Raginbeard.
He satisfiedly looked over Li Mu.
“How should I address you?”
“Wang Liu.”
Li Mu casually gave a name.
When he learned that Goldbeard planned to attack the Eastern Xia sentry outpost, a plan formed in Yue Zhe’s mind.
Within the scope of the sentry outpost’s surveillance, there are not a few Eastern Xia people who graze, forage, and hunt. If several Xia marauder leaders could pretend to be herders and secretly lurk around the sentry outpost, when the Iron Claw Gang launches its attack, they could pretend to support and enter the sentry outpost, attacking both inside and outside, and easily capture the sentry outpost.
Unfortunately, earlier because Xia marauders often disguised themselves as Eastern Xia people and infiltrated Eastern Xia settlements to loot, the Eastern Xia people specifically issued many warrants for the capture of Xia marauders, and now there are very few faces that haven’t been wanted.
Yue Zhe quietly looked for a long time and only managed to gather five people, including himself. Li Mu, a strong Western Xia person, appeared to be just what the doctor ordered.
The Eastern Xia sentry outpost should have seven people, and if they suddenly sneak attacked, the success rate wouldn’t be low.
“This time, our Iron Claw Gang plans to sneak attack the Eastern Xia savages’ sentry outpost and grab a vote back to Raginbeard. One young Eastern Xia woman can be traded for three gold Lasu, and even an old person who is not worth anything can be beheaded to Avonigarda for seven silver Taka. How about it, do you have the guts to join us?”
Li Mu bared his white teeth and squeezed out a fierce smile.
“Of course I dare, I fled from Avonigarda to Raginbeard to make big money and then awaken my psychic energy.”
Yue Zhe satisfiedly nodded, feeling even more relieved. Eastern Xia, due to a shortage of supplies, couldn’t raise such good teeth.
“Tomorrow morning at seven o’clock, we’ll meet at the east gate of Raginbeard. Take it easy tonight so you can get up from a woman’s belly when the time comes.”
Li Mu nodded.
“Where is the sentry outpost located?”
Yue Zhe shook his hand and gestured.
“When you reach the sentry outpost, you’ll naturally know.”
Li Mu continued to sit in the bar for a while, until he left after not hearing any useful information. He planned to take advantage of the early hour and replenish some ammunition in Raginbeard and see if he could have any unexpected joys.
At a firearms store, Li Mu suspiciously checked the 5.45 mm caliber rifle bullets in the store. These bullets were obviously all reloaded.
It must be known that reloading bullets is also risky. Different gunpowder burns at different rates, and mixing may cause a burst. Overloading or underloading may also cause a burst.
It is easy to understand overloading, but underloading will cause the bullet to get stuck in the barrel, causing the barrel to be blocked. When firing the second shot, the pressure inside the barrel exceeds the barrel’s tolerance, causing a burst.
The workers in the firearms store, who were from Xingdu, seemed to be cutting corners while reloading, making it difficult for Li Mu to trust the quality of these bullets.
In order to prevent a burst from blasting himself into a mess of flesh, Li Mu had to borrow the machinery from the firearms store and barely scrape out a batch of bullets with higher consistency from recycled lead heads, weigh the gunpowder, and reload more than a hundred bullets.
Although his strength increased and his close combat combat power skyrocketed, firearms are still the most efficient means of killing at present.
By using a fast reloader to load all the bullets into all the magazines carried with him, Li Mu’s sense of security greatly increased.
He took a quick look at the Iron Claw Gang who were keeping an eye on him nearby without leaving any traces and continued to wander.
The appearance of Raginbeard is completely different from the previous world. Some people are pushing a cart with dirty yellow plastic barrels, selling low-radiation water to passers-by. Some are crouching in the corner, with a pile of processed lizard jerky, swamp rabbit jerky, and fish jerky next to them.
The meat jerky was so hard that it turned black, some even grew green mold, but still had no shortage of customers.
Li Mu stood in front of a small stall, with various processed birds and animals on the stall, and a cage made of wire.
There was a falcon in the cage.
This was an extremely large falcon, with a length of over one meter. It may be a peregrine falcon, but even with the changes in the environment causing all creatures to undergo different degrees of enlargement, it is rare for a bird of prey in the falcon family to grow to this size.
Even if its condition was not good, with messy feathers, it still had the beauty of birds of prey, looking extremely majestic. Its back feathers are blue-gray, reflecting a magnificent sapphire color in the sun. The feathers on the chest and belly are gray-white, and the underside feathers are covered with fine black reed-like cross stripes.
“Shriek—-“
The falcon trapped in the cage suddenly spread its wings and flapped against the iron cage, making a sharp scream that almost penetrated the eardrum. The stall owner quickly took out a stick and poked it inside the cage, but the falcon was still unruly and directly broke the stick with its fierce claws.
The stall owner made a living by catching small prey with traps, but he unexpectedly caught this fierce mutated falcon. Not only was the bird net torn to shreds, but even his arm was pecked off a large chunk of flesh.
Falcons are naturally unruly, let alone mutated individuals whose physical appearance and intelligence surpasses their peers. To tame them, one usually has to wait until they are not yet hatched and induce domestication through imprint learning.
This falcon’s eyes and nose had not yet turned yellow due to pigment deposition, so it should still be immature, but it was basically impossible to tame.
Li Mu spent some time bargaining and almost emptied his wallet to buy this magnificent falcon.
Others were unable to tame this falcon, but Li Mu was different. As long as he brought it into the Exile Realm, he could make it obediently follow his commands. The falcon’s flying speed exceeded that of the black cranes he raised, and it could find the Eastern Xia sentry outpost faster.
Taking advantage of the early hour, he finally learned the general location of Loban Lake through various means and spent a lot of energy.
As the sky darkened, Li Mu used the last of his money to rent a room in the inn. According to what he heard, even in Raginbeard, the night was not very safe.
Some flying mutants, psychic creatures, and clans could fly into Raginbeard to hunt humans.
The most dangerous were the infiltrators, said to be strange monsters that would drain the soul essence of humans.
Through the thin iron walls of the inn, Li Mu could clearly hear the intense battle coming from the next room. After looking at the bedspread stained with various suspicious stains, Li Mu chose to sit directly in the chair.
He locked the door and took the falcon directly into the Exile Realm.
As soon as he returned to the God and Demon’s Nest, the overwhelming smell disappeared. Overlooking the land, the civilians had already built neat and tidy dwellings in front of the small hills. The mulberry trees were only planted a year ago, but under the nourishment of spiritual energy, they were lush and lush.
Two Taoist apprentices were still recuperating. They were injured by the strange wound caused by the strange eyes and have not yet healed.
Several black cranes landed on the roof of the Exile Realm’s Nest, hearing the noise in the palace, and flew into the hall, eager to get close to Li Mu.
“Shriek—-“
The falcon spread its wings and gave a sharp scream.
Several black cranes raised within the Exile Realm were so strong in muscle and bone that they were not afraid of falcons as their natural enemies. They made a racket as they surrounded the iron cage, trying to attack.
Li Mu quickly stopped the attack and released the falcon from the cage.
After coming out of the cage, the falcon was indeed very affectionate to Li Mu and landed on his shoulder, rubbing his face with its head.
This behavior made the black cranes even more angry.
Li Mu pacified the black cranes and gave the falcon a name.
“You will be called Fei Lian.”
Using the authority of the Domain Master, Li Mu summoned a cloud and descended to the ground with the falcon and black cranes from the sky. When the civilians on the ground saw this, they all knelt down and shouted “holy lord”.
Li Mu landed by the side of a pool and first took a pot of sun spring water flowing down from the cliff, drinking it all.
His body was suddenly comfortable and a warm energy flowed through him.
After taking a break by the pool, Li Mu ordered the black cranes to catch some fresh fish in the pool and asked several other black cranes to bring dry branches from the mountains to start a fire.
Wang Liu brought an iron pot and food ingredients respectfully to Li Mu’s face. There were clean young chickens, water rabbits, and fresh fruits; mushrooms and fresh bamboo shoots from the salty-shady mountain; and blue salt from the mine cave. If it weren’t for the fact that killing a pig was a bit late, Wang Liu would have killed the two-month-old piglet raised at home to offer it.
Water rabbits have rapidly multiplied in these two years because there are no natural enemies, almost becoming a disaster. Therefore, Li Mu lifted the ban on hunting water rabbits. Fortunately, the skilled elf hunter was able to control the number of water rabbits.
After entering the Exile Realm, the lives of these civilians changed dramatically. They no longer feared marauders and famine, and they even got some fairy spring water every day. So, when Li Mu wanted to have a picnic, they offered their best things.
Place the iron pot on the campfire and pour in the diced chicken and water rabbit with the water from the spring of the sun, seasoned with fresh bamboo shoots and green salt. Before long, a fragrance wafted from the pot.
Li Mu picked out a few pieces of charcoal from the campfire and skewered the fresh fish, sprinkled it with crushed green salt and roasted it.
The fish in the pool have already multiplied and thrived, having absorbed the essence from the spring of the sun since they were young, and their meat is exceptionally fresh and delicious. If it weren’t for Li Mu’s order for the black cranes not to hunt freely, the fish in the pool would have been completely devoured.
Fei Lian was still somewhat disdainful of cooked food, and caught a small fish, tearing it apart. After smelling the aroma of grilled fish, he swallowed the small fish in a few bites and approached Li Mu.
Li Mu tore off a piece of tender fish meat from the grilled fish, put it in its mouth, and gave some to the black crane that was staring hungrily, before eating the rest of the grilled fish with oily hands.
Before long, the meat soup was cooked, and with the fresh bamboo shoots in the soup, he ate three large bowls of white rice sent over by Wang Liu. After eating and drinking, Li Mu’s heart was a little more settled, and he sat on the green stone by the pool, took off his shoes, and soaked his feet in the pool water.
He was not as calm as he seemed on the surface.
The strength of Goldbeard is unknown, and Yue Zhe is not an easy opponent. Although it is possible to retreat back to the Exile Realm if the wind is not right, the action tomorrow is not low risk.
But one cannot get the tiger cub without entering the tiger’s den, and hunting those clans and marauders can obtain a large amount of source essence.
Relying solely on achievements to obtain source essence, the development of the Exile Realm will soon encounter bottlenecks. For example, the next most likely to be completed speed-run achievement, building a village, cannot be completed if you cannot find or draw the three buildings, the school, temple, and hospital, in the store or directly.
The store only refreshes after purchasing items, and if all the stored source essence is spent without refreshing, he will be left in a very passive position.
“Tomorrow it will depend on you.”
Li Mu stroked Fei Lian’s head and said.