Chapter 1 Before Dawn

The two traveled all night, and the night gradually faded.

When the outline of Baiyuan City appeared at the end of their vision, it was already the twilight before dawn. The sky was a dim, dark blue, brewing the coming of day.

Zhou Jing strained his eyes to look into the distance from the wilderness. His comprehensively enhanced physical qualities had also improved his eyesight to a certain extent. Instantly, it was as if he had zoomed in, and the scene of Baiyuan City was quickly magnified and clarified in his vision.

It was not yet time to open the gates. The gate at the city entrance was still closed. The bonfires on both sides had burned out after a night, leaving only wisps of smoke.

There were no villagers or merchant caravans waiting to enter at the gate. Several guards leaned against the wall, nodding their heads, probably dozing off.

Zhou Jing raised his gaze and looked at the crenellations on the city wall. The torches were still burning, but there were no patrolling guards. And in the watchtower of the city wall, no guards were on duty at all times.

"The defense is so lax. It's been more than half a year since I tricked them into opening the city gate last time, and the town's defenses don't seem to have improved much."

Zhou Jing muttered to himself.

Although he and Ross were currently dressed in coarse cloth clothes and could pretend to be farmers, he didn't want to enter the city openly.

More than half a year had passed, and maybe some people in the town still recognized his face, after all, the towns in this world were just that big.

Now that he was in the dark, he didn't want to expose his whereabouts easily, and he couldn't trick them into opening the city gate directly with his identity as a beast hunter like last time.

Zhou Jing tore off a corner of his clothes to cover his face, and asked Ross to do the same. Then, the two of them deviated from the road to the city gate and quickly touched the city wall from other directions, paying attention at all times to whether there were patrolling guards on the city wall or in the watchtower.

Fortunately, this time was the most suitable for sneaking into the town. It was the dim moment before dawn, and with the cover of night, the two quickly moving figures were like ghosts, difficult to detect.

Moreover, Zhou Jing had chatted with the town guards before. Don't expect this group of people to always have a high degree of dedication. After standing guard all night, some people had already slacked off and were unable to keep their nerves tense at all times.

The two successfully reached the base of the wall. Zhou Jing dug into the gap in the city wall, exerting slight force with his knuckles, and inserted them into the hard brick. With 40 points of physique, the rough stone bricks of this world were not much different from plastic.

With his knuckles inserted into the cracks in the wall, he easily climbed up the wall like a gecko amid slight cracking sounds. Soon, he flipped over the crenellations and entered the city wall passage. Then, he immediately squatted down against the wall, his eyes quickly scanning left and right, confirming that this passage was temporarily free of patrols.

Only then did Zhou Jing beckon Ross to climb up as well. After the two reunited, they did not delay and immediately flipped over the wall and entered Baiyuan City.

It was still curfew time, and the streets were almost empty, with only guards patrolling. The two walked along the edge of the town for a while, hiding in the shadows of the houses, patiently waiting for dawn to arrive.

It was not difficult to sneak into the town. The ordinary defense force inevitably had loopholes when facing Hetero-blood Warriors. After all, the extraordinary physical qualities were there. As long as the guards were negligent and relaxed, they could sneak past with swift movements.

While waiting, Zhou Jing sat cross-legged behind the house, thinking about the action plan.

The main goal of sneaking into the town this time was to kidnap Lute and pry information from his mouth. Before that, he had to find out how long it had been since the last time he transmigrated, what extent the last incident had fermented to, and what changes had taken place in Baiyuan City today.

Secondly, he had to find out Lute's current defense force and whether there would be another mysterious person like the buzz-cut man blocking the way last time, and estimate the difficulty.

Now that his body was intact and he didn't need to risk his life, Zhou Jing didn't want to be surrounded and preferred to sneak in. It would be best to kidnap Lute silently and ensure that he had time to react and retreat safely.

"So, first consider the escape route after succeeding, prepare some things… I have to get some equipment. Money is not a problem, although covering my face to shop will attract attention, but I just need to be careful..."

Zhou Jing calculated in his heart, and time continued to pass. Finally, the sound of bells rang in the town, and the curfew ended.

After waiting for a while, the number of pedestrians on the street gradually increased, and the town residents began their day.

This time, Zhou Jing brought Ross to mix in with the pedestrians. Apart from occasionally attracting the attention of passers-by by covering their mouths and noses, they looked like ordinary farmers and were very normal.

He was familiar with Baiyuan City, and detoured far away from the direction of the guard patrols. He went to a clothing store to shop and dressed up as a town resident, making himself even less conspicuous than a farmer.

He also bought two felt hats to cover his ears as well, which made the two's disguise of covering their mouths and noses seem like they were just keeping warm, which was not so eye-catching… After all, this was the Northern Land, and the weather was cold, so it was normal to dress warmly.

After buying the things, Zhou Jing did not leave immediately, but indirectly inquired about the date from the clothing store owner—confirming that more than half a year had passed since his last death.

The current city lord was still Lute, and he had not been dismissed by the empire, but he rarely showed his face anymore.

As they chatted, the shop owner suddenly became a little emotional:

"Ever since that Jason attacked the lord half a year ago, Baiyuan City has become more and more desolate."

Zhou Jing became interested: "I'm from out of town, what happened later?"

The clothing store did not have a chat service, but Zhou Jing paid quickly, and there were no customers early in the morning, so the shop owner didn't mind chatting with Zhou Jing for a few coins.

"Ah, after that, the hunters said that the lord had some inside story and wanted to silence Jason, but was almost killed by Jason instead. These rumors spread throughout the city. And the lord has been bedridden ever since, hardly showing his face.

About a month or two later, it seemed that an imperial envoy came to investigate the matter. In the end, it was announced to the whole city that this matter was a private revenge by the lord's guard, and the lord himself was unaware of it. It was a misunderstanding, and then he turned around to appease the hunters of Baiyuan City..."

Hearing this, Zhou Jing sneered in his heart, but his face remained calm.

"And then?"

"The hunters seemed very angry and did not accept this explanation. Many hunters left directly, which led to Baiyuan City not having enough hunters to deal with the threat of strange beasts, and the surrounding area became more and more unsafe. In recent months, fewer and fewer foreigners have been visiting, and merchants are not taking this route anymore... On the contrary, there are more and more surrounding villagers entering the city to escape."

"So, after the hunters left, many villages nearby were attacked by strange beasts?" Zhou Jing raised his eyebrows.

"There were two villages, right? If there were enough hunters, these strange beasts could have been repelled in time. However, now most of the hunters in the city are guarding Baiyuan City and rarely go to support the villages." The shop owner sighed.

"Which two villages were attacked?"

"Xueshi Village and Languo Village. Many people were bitten to death by strange beasts, and the survivors fled to the city… Because of their experiences, and because the hunters now almost only guard the city and do not go out, other villages also feel that it is unsafe to live in the wild, and many people have taken the initiative to move into the town."

Zhou Jing nodded.

"Has this situation continued until now? Has there been any improvement?"

The shop owner shook his head and said helplessly, "How can there be any improvement? Although it has attracted many wandering mercenaries, new hunters have not come for a long time. I heard people say that the matter of Jason attacking the lord has spread to many towns, and Lute's reputation has been ruined. Many people are unwilling to work under a lord who killed a hunter. As long as he is here, hunters will not come... If this continues, Baiyuan City will probably be finished."

Zhou Jing clicked his tongue and said, "It's already like this, why not change a lord?"

The shop owner couldn't help but feel a little angry and complained, "Who knows what the empire is thinking? They don't care at all! Lute is still the lord, but as the threat of strange beasts becomes more and more frequent, the unlucky ones are still the people of the whole city! It's no longer safe here, and people are panicking now. I heard that many Baiyuan City residents are planning to move to nearby towns."

"I see..."

Zhou Jing had a rough understanding of the current situation.

He died after assassinating the lord, and the hunters felt sorry for him, so they expanded the situation and wanted a result.

In the end, because the empire was protecting Lute to the death, most of the hunters in Baiyuan City were angry and dissatisfied, and chose to leave. At the same time, they spread the matter to more towns, so the entire Baiyuan City area had a huge security risk and became precarious and in dire straits...

It could be said that he was the source of the far-reaching impact.

However, in this situation, Lute ignored the negative effects he had brought to Baiyuan City and stubbornly held on to the position of lord.

Although his reputation was ruined and Baiyuan City was also desolate because of this, as far as Lute was concerned, he was safe after the hunters left... Perhaps in his opinion, he had already suffered a huge loss, and this matter was over.

He could be a low-key lord in the future and still be able to live his life... His own interests were guaranteed, and the losses of the town and the safety of the villagers could only be left to fate.

As long as Lute was in power for one day, Baiyuan City would go from bad to worse.

'Isn't this just occupying the latrine without shitting...’

Zhou Jing curled his lips under the mask.

The Terra Empire was indeed too weak, and they didn't even dismiss Lute as the lord.

It seemed that he still had to take action to solve the problem.

Since the problem was brought about by a person, wouldn't it be solved by dealing with the person who created the problem?

Lute held on to the position of lord, so he would just kill him directly and replace him with someone else. No matter how bad the reputation was, it wouldn't be worse than his. In this way, the decline of Baiyuan City could be slowly stopped, some of the hunters who had left in the past might return, and new hunters would gradually appear...

Zhou Jing estimated that some of the other hunters might also want to assassinate Lute, but they were persuaded... After all, not everyone was like him, who didn't have to worry too much.

It just so happened that he originally had a plan to kidnap Lute, and he would just tear up the ticket at that time... This was saving Baiyuan City!

After inquiring about the information he wanted, Zhou Jing said goodbye to the shop owner, left the clothing store, and looked in the direction of the Lord's Longhouse, his eyes flickering.

"Next, I have to scout the area."

…

Lord's Longhouse, reception room.

Two people sat opposite each other, talking in low voices.

One of them was Lute. Compared with half a year ago, he was much more haggard, with heavy dark circles under his eyes and a gaunt figure.

Opposite him was a man wearing leather armor, with a dagger stuck in his waist, like a mercenary... In fact, he was a confidant messenger sent by Lute's backer.

At this time, the messenger frowned at Lute and said in a deep voice:

"Your matter has had too much of a bad impact. The palace has a lot of opinions on you, believing that you caused the first incident of a strange beast hunter attacking a lord, which has caused great damage to the relationship between hunters and lords! Last time, the imperial envoy endorsed you and investigated, claiming that it was a misunderstanding, and saved your position. The lord has taken a lot of pressure..."

"I know."

Lute's voice was weak, and he coughed twice.

Baiyuan City had made such a big commotion, and the empire would definitely send people to investigate the cause of the matter. Fortunately, he had cleared the clues, and with the help of his backer, he finally covered up the truth.

Although this result led to the loss of hunter power in Baiyuan City, it saved his position as lord.

"The lord means that you can consider replacing your position as lord with a blood relative from your tribe. Even if you are still the lord now, the pressure in the palace will not disappear, and the lord may not be able to withstand it all the time. Moreover, if you don't change the lord, Baiyuan City will only have a vicious cycle..."

"I still need to consider it."

Lute perfunctorily replied.

He also saw the situation in Baiyuan City. If he wanted to revitalize this "business", he also knew that replacing himself was the best choice.

But in the end, he still couldn't let go of the position of lord, and planned to just hold on... If he wasn't the lord, his position in the tribe would not be the same as it was now, and he couldn't bear to give it up.

Moreover, as time passed, the impact of this matter would always fade away slowly. Lute felt that as long as he survived the most turbulent stage, he would have a chance to recover if he was a low-key lord in the future.

As long as the position was still there, he would have plenty of time!

At this time, Lute remembered something and asked:

"By the way, I wonder when the lord will arrange a new secret guard for me?"

In the past half a year, he had recruited some Hetero-blood guards, some of whom were transferred from the tribe.

But Lute still lacked a sense of security, and only hoped to have a secret guard like the buzz-cut man again.

He had thought that after the buzz-cut man died, the force behind this person would send a newcomer to take over from him, but more than half a year had passed, and no one had contacted him at all.

Hearing this, the messenger said helplessly:

"The lord can't help it either. That mysterious cooperative force has all disappeared, and even the secret guard beside the lord has bid farewell and left. Now we can't contact that group of people at all, and we don't know what's going on."

"This… okay."

Lute's face was disappointed.

In the past half a year, he often had nightmares, dreaming that Jason, who had no chin, was approaching him with a bloody knife. Every time he woke up, he was covered in cold sweat, so he was so haggard now.

But Jason was dead, and the matter had passed. No other hunters would attack him, so he should be safe. Gathering so many guards was just to seek psychological comfort...

Even without a secret guard, it should be okay, right?

Lute comforted himself in his heart.