"So few?" Zhu Yu was sowhat surprised.
It was clear she wasn’t the only one surprised; Yan Shu beside her was also astonished: "Just such a small number of people, where did those few bastards get the nerve to be so arrogant?"
Lu Zhang had been so tense that his face changed color slightly, but now he’d finally cald down a bit, realizing the situation wouldn’t be hard to control. He then slightly steadied himself and looked at the others, noticing Lu Qing and Yan Daoxin, as well as Zhu Yu and the young woman, appeared calm without any signs of being startled.
This actually made him sowhat uneasy, gripping the reins as he walked beside them, his face sowhat sheepish.
The bandit-looking oddballs no longer had the energy to scream, desperately running back, shouting, "Brothers! Retreat! Quick, retreat!"
Seeing they were nearly back to the place where they had stopped the five earlier, several more people erged from the roadside.
"Why are you coming out! Run! Run quickly!" The scar-faced man shouted while gesturing frantically at them.
But those in front seed deaf, not running, but instead rushing towards them.
After running a few more steps, they finally realized sothing was wrong; the ones running toward them were not their brothers originally ambushed on the hillside and in the woods, but rather the opposing troops.
Once they realized this, they stopped, glanced at each other, looked around several tis, and confird that none of their ambushed brothers were seen, and they themselves were completely surrounded by unknown forces, with no chance of successful escape unless they sprouted wings from their backs.
Lu Zhang’s n quickly rushed over, surrounding them front and back, keeping guard to prevent a sudden breakout, while waiting for Lu Zhang’s orders.
Lu Zhang, finally reassured, returned to the composed deanor he intentionally displayed.
"Take these thieves into custody and bring them back for thorough questioning!" he raised the hand holding the whip, signaling to the soldiers ahead.
The surrounding soldiers closed in, moving closer to those bandits.
But as they approached without resistance, a soldier reached for a bandit’s sleeve, and suddenly their expressions changed slightly. The scar-faced man abruptly shouted sothing unknown, then collapsed weakly.
This sudden scene startled the soldiers nearby, who quickly backed off defensively, fearing a trap.
Yan Daoxin, on horseback, shouted, "It’s bad," then leapt from his horse, pulled aside the obstructing people, and squeezed into the center of the circle, turning over the collapsed ones, checking for breath, and prying open mouths to sll, his brow furrowing deeply.
Lu Qing and Zhu Yu also dismounted quickly. Zhu Yu stepped swiftly up, grabbed the wrist of the closest bandit, and felt no pulse.
Reaching out to lift the person’s eyelid, Zhu Yu saw the pupils had already dilated.
"Dead?" Zhu Yu asked sowhat shocked, turning to Yan Daoxin, "Can you revive them?"
"Can’t be revived." Yan Daoxin shook his head, "They’re those trained for death."
"It’s bad!" Rune exclaid, quickly turning to run while shouting to Fu Lu, "Go check the other captured ones!"
Fu Lu, realizing, hurried in the opposite direction, striding away.
"No need! If they’re dead, they’re dead; running over there now is pointless!" Yan Daoxin called after the brothers, but they had already dashed off, beyond recall.
"Forget it; let them confirm too." Lu Qing said calmly, though he had little hope.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Rune and Fu Lu returned, their expressions confirming what Yan Daoxin had said earlier: the bandits caught on both sides were dead.
"These folks always prepared; as soon as anything seed wrong, they wouldn’t let themselves be captured alive," Yan Daoxin sighed helplessly, "Never expected them to act this way; otherwise we might have saved one or two alive with better tactics."
"How many associates caught in all?" Lu Qing asked Rune.
"Not many over there, only five caught." Rune replied.
Fu Lu quickly nodded, "Sa over there; General Yi’s n caught only six, and both sides searched the woods and hillside; absolutely no fish slipped the net."
"Isn’t this count low?" Zhu Yu found the situation suspicious, "Barely twenty people making such a scene? With so few, couldn’t even form a small competent hideout."
After speaking, she recalled the scar-faced man’s shout before death, quickly moving closer to Yan Shu, asking softly, "What did that scoundrel shout before dying? Did you hear clearly?"
Yan Shu nodded expressionlessly, "Heard clearly but didn’t understand."
"Wasn’t it Jie Country’s language?" Zhu Yu wasn’t particularly surprised by this result, more or less expected.
"Sounded similar, but not a single word was correct," Yan Shu nodded, "Like imitation, just for bluffing.
In the world, besides Jie people, who else understands Jie Country’s speech? And this is where Jin Country, Shuo Country, and Lan Country intersect, not far from any, yet far from Jie Land.
Locals have never seen real Jie people; as long as they pretend, bluffing a few isn’t hard.
I wanted to catch one alive, figure things out, but these bastards died cleanly!"
"General, what do we do about these people?" Lu Zhang’s subordinate asked, sowhat at a loss.
Lu Zhang instinctively glanced at Lu Qing but quickly realized asking Lu Qing would be embarrassing, so he acted like he had known what to do, "Forget it, since Divine Doctor says they can’t be revived, there’s no point delaying; dig so pits here and bury them nearby!"
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