Walking further south from Jingling City, you will enter the safe zone. Theoretically, there will be no obstacles for Yan Zheng on the rest of the way. He follows the road signs along the way, taking advantage of the cool weather at dawn and waiting until the sun is high at noon. Just find a safer place to rest, avoid areas where monsters are active at night, and try to make the most of the day.
However, if nothing unexpected happened, something did happen. The journey that was originally expected to take four or five days has actually lasted a week and has not yet ended. Yan Zheng was a little unconvinced at first because he had repeatedly confirmed that he was following the road signs along the way. This secluded place is really weird. I wonder if the position of the road sign has changed, or if his perception has been confused unknowingly?
Yan Zheng was a little helpless. The food he prepared was only enough for five or six days. Although he realized that there might be a problem with the route and started to implement fixed rations, but seeing that he would not be able to go out for a few more days, the food seemed to be a bit stretched. And without enough food to provide energy, his walking speed also slowed down significantly.
In the final analysis, this is because his cultivation level is too low. If he is now a Yuxu monk, then he can at least absorb the vitality of heaven and earth and go without eating or drinking for a month. Even if he can use magic weapons, at least he can fly. Explore the road, but now he only relies on one pair of legs. He doesn't even have a chance to try and make mistakes, so he can only continue to walk along the road signs.
A few days later, the familiar border line still did not appear. Yan Zheng leaned on a walking stick made of branches and walked forward with one foot deeper and one foot shallower. There was not much food left in the bag, and there was only a small amount of food left. There was half a piece of cake and a piece of dried meat. Hunger was rolling in his body like roundworms, and the gastric acid secreted from time to time was burning his empty stomach. Hunger was more unbearable than death. Yan Zheng could only distract himself with thinking. attention.
As an ordinary soldier at the bottom, Yan Zheng doesn't know much. He can only rely on the existing information to speculate on the possible development of things. The fifty-seventh exploration operation that has been prepared for a long time now seems to be a A complete failure, originally sleeping in
The World-Eating Crocodile from the depths of the Netherland appeared above the plateau without warning, causing a devastating blow to them. The maps and information recorded by Yan Zheng during this exploration operation were not found among the ruins. They may have been Completely damaged, or lost elsewhere with the earth and stone rubble spit out by the underworld crocodile.
However, the information learned from the last exploration operation showed that there are no particularly powerful monsters around the plateau. The last exploration operation failed to reach the plateau due to insufficient material preparation, so a full investigation was conducted on the surrounding environment and distribution of monsters. , the information obtained should be credible.
The initial purpose of Yan Zheng's exploration operation this time was to climb to the plateau and establish several simple garrison points on it to prepare for the next operation across the plateau. The Dalin Dynasty's exploration of the Netherland over the years has already Promising results have been achieved. Many underground mines that can stably produce rare ores have been established within the safety zone. The transportation team can also deliver daily supplies to several fortresses to ensure the smooth progress of the exploration operation. You must know earlier. In the past, the entire Netherland was a dangerous place that no living being could enter. Ordinary monks did not dare to fly there for fear of disturbing some unknown existence.
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster. Yan Zheng is now basically certain that the sudden appearance of the World-Eating Crocodile is definitely not an accident. Someone must be secretly working to wake it up and attract it here with the purpose of hindering this exploration operation. But this What is so special about this exploration operation that it allows the mastermind behind it to exert so much power?
In addition, although the forces of various major families are embedded within the border army, and many children of aristocratic families hold important positions, in general, the function of the border army in guarding the border is extremely important, and can even be said to be related to the rise and fall of the dynasty. Exploration operations will not only obtain intelligence, but also bring great benefits. From a rational and emotional point of view, obstructing exploration operations seems to be worthless.
Yan Zheng couldn't think of a reason even after racking his brain. He was of low status and had too little information. It was still too difficult to investigate this exploration operation from his level. However, Yan Zheng would not give up. Those The big shot regards his comrades as abandoned sons, so he will pick these people out one by one and make them pay the price.
On the tenth day, Yan Zheng finally arrived at the border. The towering city wall slowly appeared in front of him. Although he had returned to this place countless times, every time he saw this city with his own eyes, it was responsible for guarding the dynasty's border. He still had a feeling of excitement.
"Stop! This is Dalin's eighth guard post. Who are you?!" came the guard's angry question from the city wall.
The eighth guardhouse? Yan Zheng was startled. There were nineteen guard posts in the Dalin Dynasty, guarding the borders of the dynasty. His unit belonged to the seventh guard post. Most of the people who performed the mission this time also came from the seventh guard post. , only a few monks were transferred from the imperial capital.
Although the Eighth Guard Station and the Seventh Guard Station are both responsible for guarding the northern border, the distance between them is not close. Even if Qingxu Monk flies with his sword, it takes a lot of time. How could he end up in completely different directions? here? But now is not the time to think about these problems, he must settle down first.
"I am a soldier who participated in the fifty-seventh exploration operation, Yan Zheng, from the seventh guard station." Yan Zheng replied loudly.
"Seventh guard post?" The guard was as confused as Yan Zheng. The direction of the fifty-seventh exploration operation was completely different from the direction leading here. Even if the soldier got lost, he would not be able to get here. The guard did not dare to be hasty. Decided, he asked another guard to keep an eye on Yan Zheng while he went to the corps commander to report the situation.
After listening to the guard's report, the captain did not dare to be careless. He hurriedly walked up to the city wall, and also called the monk who was on duty with him. The team responsible for guarding the city gate had ten soldiers, led by a captain. The team leader is also paired with a Qingxu mid-level monk to deal with emergencies.
"Why are you here alone? Where is your large army?" the corps commander asked.
"I came from Jingling City and followed the road signs to get here," Yan Zheng replied, his voice suddenly choked, "Both of them led the large army and they all died."
The monk stood side by side with the captain and secretly scanned Yan Zheng with his spiritual consciousness. No abnormality was found in his body. In the past, evil creatures in the secluded realm have parasitized the human body and sneaked into densely populated areas through the guards. In the town, the result was a serious proliferation incident, so everyone who participated in the exploration operation had to undergo a spiritual scan before entering the guardhouse.
The monk nodded gently to the team leader, indicating that Yan Zheng was fine. The team leader immediately ordered two guards to open the small door on the side and go outside to bring Yan Zheng in.
After not eating for nearly two days, Yan Zheng collapsed softly when he saw the two guards. He had worked hard when he was asking questions, but now he finally reached a safe place and relaxed all of a sudden. The body naturally falls into a state of hibernation.
The corps commander who had just arrived stretched out his hand to support him. The monk who came with him grabbed his wrist and briefly explored it. After hearing that Yan Zheng was just extremely tired and weak in energy and blood, he felt relieved and immediately He ordered someone to take care of it, and he quickly reported to the subordinate general. The exploration operation was of great importance, and he did not dare to neglect it in the slightest.
Yan Zheng received good care. Two guards were always guarding his door. During his coma, the doctor gave him several kinds of elixirs to replenish his energy and blood and speed up his recovery. After he regained consciousness, Hot meals, a large wooden bucket filled with hot water and a set of clean clothes were delivered.
Yan Zheng took a quick shower, put on clean clothes, and had a rare meal. He did not want to be treated like a hero, as long as he could return to the army and continue to be a sideline soldier. The army was enough. Only by serving in the army would he be able to obtain more advanced cultivation techniques and be more likely to find out the truth behind the failure of the exploration operation.
But such days did not last long. A few days later, Yan Zheng was woken up by two guards in his sleep. They changed their previous friendly attitude and roughly pushed him out of the door. Yan Zheng still didn't understand. What happened was that he was stuffed into a carriage at the door. The carriage drove quickly towards a nearby town.
There were two monks in gorgeous black robes sitting in the carriage. They couldn't help but put a pair of shackles on Yan Zheng's hands, and then several restrictions fell, closing Yan Zheng's five senses. Although Yan Zheng didn't understand what happened What, but he never made any act of resistance. The auras exuded by these two monks were as good as the two monks. If he dared to resist, he would be killed on the spot. In this way, he The fact that she is pregnant with the red gauze Bodhi will definitely be exposed.
And if he remembered correctly, the two monks in gorgeous black robes should belong to the dynasty's law enforcement agency-the Yushi Mansion, and these two people were obviously the supervisory censors who made all civil and military officials afraid of the news!
But how could such a person target him? Is it because of the failed exploration operation? Or is it due to some other reason? Yan Zheng kept thinking about all the possibilities and was prepared to be questioned. No matter what, he could not expose the identity of the time traveler, let alone the fact that he was carrying a red gauze bodhi. An ordinary man was not guilty, but he was guilty of carrying a jade. Yan Zheng has no doubt that those monks are absolutely capable of separating the red gauze bodhi from his body. His fate can be imagined at that time.
I don't know how long it took, but the carriage stopped at the mansion in the center of the town. The censor had commandeered the mansion to conduct this interrogation.
News of the failure of the fifty-seventh exploration operation has been uploaded. After the emperor learned of the news, Long Yan was furious and ordered a thorough investigation of the truth of the incident. The supervisory censor immediately took action, and the first target they targeted was... It was Yan Zheng, the only survivor of this operation.
