Chapter 9 Luxurious Underground Dwelling <TOC> Chapter 11 The Little Man in the Bottle
Translator: SumTLMan
Zhou Yi gazed intently at the remote control.
The trio exhibited great patience; they remained just outside the patrol range of the Warrior Crabs, attempting to find a way to circumvent the defensive line.
Upon realizing that their efforts were in vain, they halted.
On the screen, only three humanoid figures could be discerned. Apart from the leading Enhancer emitting a more intense red glow, there were no distinctive features.
Zhou Yi ordered the activation of [Bird’s-Eye View].
This time, words materialized above the Enhancer’s head.
——He has quite a number of E-class monster guards. This guy isn’t ordinary; we must proceed with caution.
——A character like him coming to a godforsaken place like Grub Grain Town, and setting up camp at such a time… He’s probably here for that thing.
——We need to take the initiative and strike while he’s not yet established. This is the best opportunity. Luckily, we brought the latest weapons; dealing with these monsters shouldn’t be a big problem.
Zhou Yi frowned deeply.
This person has a gang backing him.
One of the men beside the Enhancer had simpler thoughts:
——So sleepy; I really wish I could go back and get some shut-eye.
——Why hasn’t the boss called it a day? We didn’t go robbing today, came all this way, neither advancing nor retreating, fighting nor leaving… The boss is getting more and more cowardly.
Another person’s thoughts caught Zhou Yi’s keen attention:
——How does A Jin know this outsider?
——He’s so stubborn, not the type to adapt; otherwise, he could have been our inside man.
——Last time, my aim wasn’t true; the short spear didn’t hit his vital point. Today, I must eliminate him. That kid has probably started to suspect me…
Zhou Yi’s gaze sharpened like a blade.
This man is a resident of Grub Grain Town.
Zhou Yi immediately summoned A Jin, who was still laying grass for the box house, and asked him about the situation.
The boy, who had been excited about moving into a new house, now had a shadow over his face: “I know. There are robbers among the townspeople.”
“The cave where Grub Grain Town is located indeed keeps out the Light Absorber species, but the robbers have never come even once, which is strange in itself.”
He continued with a sigh: “If they wanted to act, whether by lighting fires inside the cave to smoke us out or by scaring us and sealing the cave entrance, we’d have no choice but to flee and be robbed by them. The townsfolk lack combat experience and metal weapons; we simply can’t fight back.”
“But the town has never been robbed even once. Everyone says it’s because we’re too poor, and the robbers can’t be bothered to risk coming in, afraid of getting injured in the cave full of sharp stones, it’s not worth the candle.”
“When I was a kid, I believed that. But later, I discovered that whenever someone picks up good stuff outside, valuable copper and iron, gems, hides cut from monster carcasses, they’re immediately taken away. Even if we hide them, they threaten us to hand them over.”
The boy’s face was full of bitterness: “I was lucky to meet you, Master; otherwise, I might have been dead.”
“Everyone knows there are robbers hiding in Grub Grain Town. Now, people guard against each other, afraid that the person next to them might be a robber…”
Zhou Yi sorted through the information.
The robbers here are adopting a “raising pigs” strategy; they don’t directly kill the residents of Grub Grain Town, keeping the underground market in the cave intact. The robbers need the locals as free labor, gathering resources everywhere, and then they sift through to take what is worth stealing.
They keep the locals in a state of barely scraping by, yet unable to escape, numbed by their plight.
“I’m certain about one person: the guy missing a front tooth. That day when you came to town, the one who wanted to trade for the hat you gave me, that’s Missing Tooth.”
A Jin furrowed his brows and said: “Every time he goes out at night, Missing Tooth always disappears quickly. No one knows where he goes, and few people ever see him around.”
“He even approached me, asking if I wanted to run errands for the hunting group, doing dirty and tiring work, but it required absolute secrecy. I felt something was off and didn’t agree.”
“Once, when I was collecting dry dung by the river, I saw Missing Tooth washing his hands. He didn’t notice me; he just took off his clothes and changed into a set buried under some stones. After he left, I went over and saw that his clothes were covered in human blood, still warm.”
“That day, someone in town was killed, said to have defied the robbers and refused to hand over his belongings, and was murdered. His head was thrown at the cave entrance as a warning to the townspeople.”
Zhou Yi now had a pretty clear picture: the Enhancer outside was brought by Missing Tooth.
Their target is the remote control of Red Falcon.
Since they are enemies, there’s nothing more to discuss.
Years of experience in the Dead Sea have proven that any mercy toward enemies is a knife turned against oneself.
Zhou Yi gave the order: “Annihilate the enemy.”
The Warrior Crabs, poised for action in the Dead Sea, swiftly mobilized, silently maneuvering to flank from behind.
On the screen, forty-five green dots rapidly expanded their encirclement of the enemy. The three robbers realized what was happening but were already entangled in close combat. The battle lasted a mere minute before the three enemy red dots vanished.
Zhou Yi watched, puzzled.
Why did the Enhancer seem as fragile as an ordinary person, shattering at a touch?
The Red Falcon expanded its detection area, confirming no other suspicious lifeforms nearby and that all enemies were eliminated.
Only then did Zhou Yi ride over.
By the beam of the flashlight, he saw three mangled corpses lying on the ground, all slain by the poison knives launched by the Warrior Crabs. Even in death, the three robbers kept their faces covered, only revealing the frozen terror in their eyes at the moment of demise.
Zhou Yi lifted the black cloth covering their faces.
As expected, one of them was Missing Tooth, the bone necklace still hanging around his neck. His face was ashen, lips slightly parted. The other ordinary person was a bald teenager with a fierce expression and no eyebrows.
The deceased Enhancer was a man in his twenties, his face stiff with astonishment.
His hair was neatly slicked back, as if oiled. He wore a leather jacket, boots on his feet, and a brown linen coat draped over. This man clutched tightly in his hand a brass handgun.
It was a wooden-handled, brass-adorned flintlock pistol that required loading gunpowder and bullets to fire, not exactly quick on the draw in a sudden attack. Being taken down by the poison flying knives of the Warrior Crabs was only natural.
This led Zhou Yi to ponder.
It seems this era also possesses the technology to manufacture firearms; the cave-dwelling lifestyle of Grub Grain Town likely represents only a fraction of the impoverished and backward regions.
The Enhancer carried a leather suitcase.
Zhou Yi found inside a copper badge, a stack of papers nailed to a wooden board, a charcoal pencil, some small oiled cloth packets packed in a wooden box, a water flask, a comb, and a simple toothbrush.
He stowed these items away and returned to the seaside camp.
As for the three corpses, they were hefted by the Warrior Crabs and thrown into the Dead Sea.
The Death Light would rapidly decompose the remains, returning them to the elements.
…
Sitting on the soft leather sofa in his new house, Zhou Yi turned on a portable lamp. The illumination was better, but it consumed batteries and had to be used sparingly.
Under the lamplight, he took out the seized flintlock pistol.
On the gun’s body was engraved a Y-shaped emblem, next to the serial number “19941.”
Zhou Yi’s knowledge of firearms was limited to what he’d seen in TV shows and games. The only time he’d ever handled one was during military training, but unfortunately, the instructor only let them fire blanks, just going through the motions.
He pulled back the hammer and tried pulling the trigger.
With a click, the flint fixed on the hammer struck the frizzen.
In his own time, this would be an antique fit for a museum, but now it was the personal weapon of an Enhancer.
Zhou Yi opened the small oiled cloth packets, and sure enough, inside were bullets. These bullets appeared to be made of lead, heavy and somewhat soft, with two kinds of markings on the outer cloth cartridges.
One had a black circle drawn on it; the other had a blue circle.
Could these represent two different types of ammunition?
Zhou Yi compared the two kinds of lead bullets but couldn’t discern any surface differences.
He mused: “Should I try firing a shot?”
Chapter 9 Luxurious Underground Dwelling <TOC> Chapter 11 The Little Man in the Bottle