A team of six trudged through fallen leaves and snow.
Grani carefully calmed the horses under him. They still had a long way to go back.
Just a day ago, the scout team that scouted in this direction did not send back any news, nor did they leave any useful traces along the way.
"In front of us is an abandoned village. There may be wanderers. The missing scout team can only go there to take shelter in the wind and snow."
The six-man team was led by an old knight named Casimir, who had extremely rich experience and had been active on the battlefields of the three Uqa Wars.
But his words didn't sound convincing at the moment.
Although the invader ship has not been opened, and no one knows the appearance of the invader so far, the wanderers are not easy to deal with, especially those who know the terrain well and travel in groups. Once the missing scout team falls into Trap, I'm afraid they have turned into corpses now.
As early as last month, Casimir relocated all nearby villages and small towns, leaving only the buildings that could not be taken away. This gave the wanderers a chance. So far, there have been several incidents where the scout team was attacked. .
One team member muttered: "Those wanderers have no nationality and no family. They are like wild dogs gathered together temporarily. They should all be hanged!"
The old knight frowned and said, "We are soldiers. Soldiers do their job well and leave the rest to the politicians."
He glanced at Grani behind him. This Kuranta girl volunteered to be a member of the reconnaissance team. Compared with those competitive knights who only show off their skills in the arena, I don’t know how much better. If everyone was like her , the Conquest Knights will not be suppressed by the Commercial Federation.
Fortunately, Casimir is now back on track, rekindling hope for the disheartened knights.
"You can see the abandoned village through this forest."
The old knight repeated his words four times, and finally arrived at the destination when everyone was almost exhausted in the cold wind and snow.
The abandoned village was silent, submerged in the snow, with only the sound of the howling wind and no sign of human activity.
“Are there really any homeless people here?”
"It's hard to say, just be smart!"
The six people stood apart, with the old knight walking in the front, and Grani on his right. The knights were holding weapons and hand crossbows, ready to fight at any time.
Due to the snow covering the road, they could not find any useful traces and had to check the nearest buildings.
"It's two o'clock in the afternoon, and there are still two hours until dark. We must leave here before four o'clock."
The old knight's words were very clear. He had no intention of bringing anyone here to spend the night.
Grani used the handle of her gun to smash open the door that was covered with snow, and turned on the flashlight on her chest to shine the light inside. The furniture in the house was in a mess, and most of it fell to the ground. Just as she was about to leave, she caught a glimpse of something under the door frame. There seemed to be a touch of dark red. I stretched out my hand to push aside the snow, and a shocking pool of red appeared in front of me.
She whispered: "There is blood here. According to the depth of the snow, it cannot be more than three days old."
Another member had a different opinion: "Maybe it was a fight between the homeless people. Apart from this pool of blood, we have no other evidence, right?"
The old knight frowned, glanced at Grani's discovery, and pointed to the largest building in the abandoned village: "Go there and have a look, maybe you will find something. If there is nothing there, we will retreat."
"Let's go."
Grani nodded and covered the blood stains with snow again.
Generally speaking, the largest building in the village is undoubtedly the auditorium used for prayer, and sometimes it also serves as a temporary warehouse for storing supplies. No one would object. Anyway, faith is not as practical as some food.
Looking at the pointed top of the tower, the old knight sighed: "The Lateran missionaries traveled all over this land and preached in every place where there were people. After they left, the doctrines were forgotten, and only the church remained. It’s somewhat useful.”
Pushing open the door of the church, the inside was just as they imagined, with messy, tattered clothes, vegetable leaves that had not yet rotted, and even some furniture moved from elsewhere. Most of the prayer benches were in pieces, even the sun's Symbols were smashed.
Nothing was found.
Even Granny thinks so.
It seemed that the missing team had either lost their way or fallen into the hands of the wanderers, which was in serious danger.
However, the old knight did not give the order to retreat. Everyone stood there and waited. The burly old Kuranta took two steps forward and pushed away a pile of clothes thrown on the ground with his feet, as if he had kicked something.
He took out the sword hanging from his waist and carefully opened the strip of cloth, and something fell out from it.
Suddenly everyone felt their scalps numb!
That's a severed hand!
The gaps in the flesh and blood were very irregular, as if they had been torn off by force, but that was not the point. What really made everyone gasp was the clothes that were torn off along with the severed hand!
Casimir Scout Squad hand armor!
"Was there a fight here?"
Grani looked around. Although the church was in tatters, they could tell that it didn't look like a battle was taking place.
The old knight looked cold: "Look for the cellar, there must be a cellar!"
The five people made a splash and found the location of the cellar in less than three minutes.
Casimir's Lateran Church has a similar structure and shares the same design. There are no complicated mechanisms, so it is particularly easy to find.
When I opened the cellar, I was greeted by an unpleasant smell, like the smell of rotting vegetables.
Grani looked back at the old knight and said, "I'll go down and check the situation."
As she spoke, she put on the Rhode Island standard gas mask, screwed the filter device, took out the fluorescent stick from her pocket and threw it down. The fluorescent stick emitted red light and bounced at the bottom of the cellar. After a few clicks, Kuranta climbed down the ladder.
With her feet on the ground, Grani felt that she had stepped on something, maybe rotten vegetables that no one wanted. She held a short gun in one hand and a crossbow in the other, groping forward by the light of a powerful flashlight.
"Woo..."
A whimper came from the darkness.
Grani's whole body tensed up. She heard correctly. There seemed to be something alive here, perhaps an enemy.
She moved in small steps and breathed hard. Through the goggles of the gas mask, she suddenly found a person sitting in the corner at the end of the cellar. The voice just now seemed to be from that person.
This man was wearing the equipment of Casimir's scout team. His race was Kuranta, and his gender was temporarily indistinguishable. He did not move until Grani came closer.
