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"Yes." Zhang Mu looked at the mountains half hidden and half exposed in the mist in the distance. "Find the problem, come up with a solution, and then put it into practice.
Summarizing the lessons learned from failure and ultimately finding the most appropriate solution at the moment is called exploration.”
As if talking to him, or as if talking to himself, Zhang Mu stroked the cat girl's head in his arms: "Why do you emphasize "currently"?
The situation in each city is different, and as time goes by, people and things change.
A solution that you have spent your entire life figuring out after countless failures may no longer be suitable after a year, half a year, or even a month.
Or, it works in this city, but not in the next city.
Now, do you understand what you are going to do?
Do you understand why I have no interest in your ideals?"
Zhang Mu withdrew his gaze from the quiet forest and looked at the somewhat silent back: "I can't give you the permanent solution you desire.
Because I don’t know either.”
It is now the end of summer, and the heat should still be raging, but the Silent Forest is located in the extreme north of the Kingdom of Lake, and the overall temperature is low. The summer breeze is enough to make people shrink their necks.
"Huh..." Domit exhaled a column of cold air, "No, Mr. Zhang Mu, you are different.
Although you have eyes that can see through others, you subconsciously ignore your own characteristics. "
Isn’t that clear enough?
Zhang Mu looked puzzled, not quite understanding where his trust in him came from.
The topic was temporarily suspended.
In the sparse woods, a bumpy dirt road that was so narrow that only a horse-drawn carriage could fit through it extended forward into a village.
Domit told him that this was the last human gathering place before entering the Silent Forest.
After passing through the village, the carriage drove for another three days and reached the edge of the forest.
When he said this, perhaps because he was almost home, his tone was filled with joy.
Zhang Mu's expression became serious.
"Domit, do you smell blood?"
Chapter 108 Magic Array
The smell of blood in the air was not too strong.
The smell seemed to come out from the crack of a tightly closed door and vaguely enter my nose.
After Zhang Mu's reminder, Domit also noticed it. His face suddenly changed. He raised his right hand high and swung the whip, making a loud bang as it broke through the air and hit the horse's butt.
The two horses felt pain and ran away wildly.
As the outline of the village gradually became clear, bursts of shouting and killing sounds floated into my ears.
Domit raised the whip again, and the carriage ran at full speed for the first time since leaving the city of Bala, and rushed into the village a minute later.
The village was built along a dirt road.
The low row houses made of irregular stones stretched forward on both sides of the road. The bodies of male villagers lay messily on the stone steps in front of the door and hung in the half-open window holes.
Lying flat on the ground were the bodies of naked female villagers.
Blood flowed along the stone steps of the house wall to the dirt road, and gathered into pools of blood of varying sizes in the depressions.
Further inside the village, there was a faint sound of laughter.
"Damn bastard!"
Without waiting for the carriage to stop, Domit drew the one-handed sword from his waist, jumped down, and rushed madly towards the source of the laughter.
"Brother Zhang Mu, what's wrong?" Leah, whose eyes were covered by a big hand, asked in confusion.
"nothing."
Zhang Mu got out of the car holding the petite cat girl, and quickly chased in the direction where Domit disappeared, looking around.
Is this...robbers entering the village?
When he saw from a distance the back of Domit, swinging a sword and killing people in the crowd, he realized that he was not a robber - he was a soldier.
As he approached, he had already dealt with most of the soldiers and raised his sword to the last soldier who was close to the door of the roadside house.
"and many more."
The murderous Domit turned around, his eyes bloodshot: "Mr. Zhang Mu, they destroyed this village!"
Zhang Mu glanced at the scattered spears, the sharp iron spear tips were dyed bright red by the blood. The spears that fell at the feet of the soldiers had clean and bright tips.
"There are some anomalies. Also, we need to keep someone alive to interrogate who sent them."
Domit wanted to punish the murderer immediately, but what he was thinking about was - eradicating the murderer completely.
The soldiers who carried out the orders were hateful, but the one who gave the orders was the one who deserved to die the most.
He glanced ahead.
The shivering female villagers huddled together in the middle of the road. A female villager who had been dragged out and pressed to the ground and humiliated was now climbing up with sobs, trying to close her torn clothes with both hands.
Turning his back to them, Zhang Mu looked at the male soldier who was knocked to his feet by Domit.
He looked very young, about seventeen or eighteen years old. His trembling lips under his helmet were covered with a circle of fine hair. Judging from his hands that had never been calloused, he had joined the army not long ago.
"Are you hurt?" Zhang Mu asked Domit who was walking over.
"They are just ordinary soldiers. Even if they only use their fists, they can't expect to stab me even once."
So... the blood on the gun tip is indeed from the villagers.
"You didn't kill the villagers?" Zhang Mu looked down.
The young soldier was still frightened. He opened his mouth several times, but his teeth were chattering and he couldn't utter a word.
"Domit, this lord." A female villager stumbled over to them. "He didn't hurt us. He tried to stop the other soldiers, but was pushed aside by a spear at his throat."
Hearing this, Domit was stunned and sheathed his sword with one hand: "I'm sorry, Mr. Zhang Mu, I..."
"It's understandable that you lose your mind after seeing the tragic scene before your eyes." After saying that, Zhang Mu added, "You need to learn to stay calm."
"Domit understands."
"Brother Zhang Mu, can Leah see it now?"
Cat Girl's weak question rang out in his arms, and Zhang Mu lifted her up: "Not for now."
He freed up one hand and took out more than ten bottles of healing potions from the storage bag and handed them to Domit: "Go and see if there is anyone who can be saved."
Healing potions were valuable items that low-level adventure groups had to use sparingly even when going into a maze.
Domit didn't expect that Zhang Mu would take out so many bottles at once to treat the villagers who were just ordinary people.
After taking the potion, he folded his arms, nodded gratefully, and turned to search the house one by one.
Zhang Mu was not worried that the soldiers lying on the ground would escape or attack him. He turned his head to the left, smiled, and talked to the village woman who was still trembling slightly, to ease her panic.
"Sister, do you know Domit?
Besides, why do you call me Sir?"
His gentle attitude eased her trembling hands, and she swallowed her saliva and explained: "Domit is the leader of the resistance army and a knight who can use a sword.
He respects you very much, you must be an adult too."
Actually, she addressed Domit incorrectly.
Common sense from Avril's classroom - Knights who practice breathing techniques are not called knights, but generally called "warriors" or shield warriors.
Knight is a title of nobility in the Sol continent, usually granted by nobles and royal families of major duchies, kingdoms, and empires.
But Zhang Mu didn't care too much. He thought in his heart that the village woman and Domit were familiar with each other and got along well with each other.
So I started a conversation with this point: "What do you think of the resistance army?"
"The resistance is kind."
It seems that the rebels have a good reputation among the people. Perhaps they often go into the villages to help the villagers deal with some of their life troubles?
Thinking of this, he asked, "What do the rebels usually do for you?"
"The resistance didn't help us."
"Ah?" Zhang Mu was stunned for a moment, and asked in astonishment, "Then why do you think they are kind?"
Comforted by his gentle tone, the village woman, who had already relaxed a lot, smiled.
"Sir, the rebels never steal our food."
Zhang Mu suddenly lost interest in chatting.
He hugged the cat girl in his arms a little tighter to absorb the warmth, and looked at the lying soldier with a wooden face: "Who asked you to come here?"
"First, sir, he is the eldest son of the city lord."
"What are you doing here?"
He recounted the reason in a halting manner.
The cause of the incident is not complicated.
Yesterday, the city lord's eldest son went out of the city alone to relax. When he passed by this village, he fell in love with the daughter of a villager.
He was used to being lawless and grabbed the girl and tried to strip her clothes on the spot.
The villagers who came over after hearing the noise worked together to wave their hoes to scare him away.
The next day, this happened.
"The eldest son of a city lord is not a professional. What a fucking waste."
He muttered something and was about to ask for detailed information about the city lord, but was interrupted by Domit who returned in a hurry.
"Mr. Zhang Mu..."
Glancing at the medicine in his arms, which was sealed intact, Zhang Mu's eyelids twitched rapidly: "I see."
All the men in the village died, and the remaining female villagers were obviously unable to take care of the large tracts of farmland.