Mercenaries and Adventurers

The outside of the camp looks very natural and primitive. Except for the occasional artifacts and garbage left by humans on the roadside a little distance away from the business road, there are no traces of human beings elsewhere.

No, it cannot be said that there is no such thing. The bushes and woods near the trade routes are obviously gathering places for bandits who rely on the trade routes for their livelihood.

Relying on the moonlight and starlight in the sky, Keir and four Maomao carefully walked through the shrubs as tall as one person.

Occasionally large clusters of unseasonable berries hang from these shrubs, and a rustling sound comes from the surrounding grass and shrubs.

The Maomaos are very comfortable here. Unlike Kil, who lowers his body and moves slowly, they can naturally not be easily discovered in the wild at night. So at this time, I was following Keir excitedly while digging holes to catch insects.

As if by instinct, the furries easily pushed aside the cover of the grass and found the jerboa hole and the rabbit hole. At this time, they would deliberately knock hard at the entrance of the hole. Although most of the small animals in the holes would hear the sound, Later, we hid in deeper caves, but there are always brave and curious little animals.

Often before Keir has gone far, Maomao who is guarding the entrance of the cave will wait for a silly little animal, pierce the little animal with the 'long sword' in his hand, tie the tail or ears, put it on the shoulder, and quickly Catch up with Keir.

The four Maomaos around Keer all gained something in a short while, and they chatted in small voices to show off their gains tonight. This forced Kil to hiss at them, but then Kil realized that these furry meows did not need to be camouflaged and hidden in the wild.

No matter who hears a low meow in such a natural environment, it is obvious that they will not take it seriously.

"Forget it, it's up to you, as long as you don't make a big fuss, I'll take a look at the woods not far away. Which of you will do some reconnaissance first before me?" Kil squatted down and covered himself in a long position. Behind the tall and pleasant flowers, he whispered to the furries.

Courage Maomao originally wanted to go, but he was too excited just now. At this time, his shoulders were covered with jerboas, but he couldn't move his hands.

So it pointed at the one with the least harvest among the four Maomao, and let it complete the task assigned by the powerful man.

This close combat Maomao was not happy. After muttering for a while, he dropped the long-eared hare in his arms on the ground and angrily ran away to the woods ahead.

"Is that possible? What's its name?"

Kil asked Courage Momo.

Courage Maomao replied in a low voice: "No, question. Fast legs, Maomao, run, fast!" After saying that, he nodded vigorously.

So Kil activated the plant hiding cloak on his body, got out of the flowers, and squatted on the spot. The cloak on his body changed silently, and branches, leaves, flower stems, and several huge flowers grew.

One of the particularly large flowers was still growing on the hood of the cloak that Kil was wearing, but Kil himself didn't see it.

He lowered his head and looked at his appearance at this time, and was quite surprised. If it weren't for his body, Keir would have thought he was a wild flower!

Several small fluorescent bugs buzzed and flew over hungry. They wanted to eat some pollen from the flowers to fill their stomachs. But after they landed on Keir, no matter how they tinkered with what was in front of them. There is no pollen to be found in the flowers.

This made the fluorescent bugs furious and wanted to tear these flowers that deceived the bugs into pieces, but no matter how they pushed back with their bodies or tore them apart with their limbs, they couldn't tear these tender-looking flowers apart.

-

Although Kuaishan Maomao was angry and felt that he had been humiliated in the 'hunting activity' just now, he still had to do the task well to get the metal reward.

It carefully used the cover of shrubs to approach the woods, which are extremely dark in the wild at night. Generally speaking, these places are occupied by powerful beasts and are the territory of other animal groups. Maomao, who is familiar with mountain forest survival, will not do this. Before the long-term observation in the early stage was completed, I carelessly created the unfamiliar woods.

But this is the world of humans after all, not the natural forests where their living conditions are worse, so there is no need to be particularly careful.

Of course, there are probably some more powerful humans here, so we still can't be careless.

When they came outside the woods, Kuaishan Maomao secretly pricked up his ears, closed his eyes and stuck his head out to listen to the movement in the woods.

Although skilled hunters will hide their voices, there are still very few skilled hunters after all. The majority are stupid, unintelligent animals and stupid guys with no skills.

For example, there are goblins who like to groan, and human bandits who are rude and savage.

Sure enough, after listening attentively for a while, Quicklegs Maomao heard yawns and whispers coming from somewhere in the woods ahead.

It can understand human language, but it can't speak it. On a big tree at the edge of the forest, there are two human bandits complaining about why they are performing surveillance and tracking tasks.

"You must have offended the deputy leader. I know that last time you slept with the woman he liked first, which offended him."

A person was talking quietly.

Another voice snorted, obviously acquiescing to the accusation, but he still slightly retorted: "Whoever has agreed to grab it will get it. I used my own ability to deceive the woman from the village. That's my ability, right?" Right? He said he liked it first, so he can apply this to everyone he snatches. There will be no end to it. He can’t be a bullshit deputy leader, and there are so many of us brothers just giving in to everything. With him?"

After retorting, the man also cursed: "It's not because that guy slept with his sister for the leader, gave birth to a baby, and became related that he came up here. Otherwise, if he instigated me and everyone in this way, he would have secretly taken care of his sister." That guy was stabbed to death."

After the man's companions in the tree heard this complaint, they laughed in a low voice: "I'll give you the knife. How about you go back and stab him to death now?"

The man stopped talking, and his companions laughed even louder.

"Keep your voice down, don't let the group in the distance hear it. I heard that there are very powerful guys inside. If we are discovered, we won't survive."

"Don't worry, how powerful can one be? We are so far apart, let alone talking, even if we shout loudly, the farmers and women in the camp can't hear it. Besides, how many can one person hit, no matter how powerful he is? There are so many of us, and throwing stones would crush them into pieces. Let me tell you, our team has expanded greatly recently. The leader said that he would select a few more raid captains under the deputy leader. Do you have any? Not interested? How majestic. With seven or eight people, you can plunder nearby villages. If you see a caravan, you can directly lead the team to capture it. When the harvest comes, you can pay as much as you want to the leader."

Feeling a little moved, the man asked his companions in detail about the source of the information and the process of selecting the raid leader.

Maomao couldn't understand these words, what was meant by pleasing the leader, pleasing others in the group, and achieving great achievements and rising to a high position. Because Maomao's tribal society has a hard time surviving in the mountains and forests, there are very few such things.

It's not easy for everyone to survive. Occasionally, we have to deal with powerful mountain monsters unluckily. We are very united internally.

After discovering two bad guys, Quick Legs Maomao decided to walk around the woods a little longer to see if there were any other bad guys hiding around these two people.

Because Courage Maomao once took them to work for a group of bandits for a while, trying to obtain human metal supplies from the bandits through hard work. But bandits are bandits. Although they did not attack directly because they were no match for these Maomao, the bandits kept making various promises and benefits, but the metal rewards that were supposed to be given were kept in arrears. In the end, the bandits patted their butts and disappeared. , the Maomaos' part-time job failed directly.

But Kiel, a powerful human being, is much better. He won't brag about the conchs. After completing a task, he will reward them with corresponding metals in return. In this way, the Maomaos believed in Keer even more.

Long-legged Maomao sneaked away, and although he made a soft squeaking sound, the two bandits who were having a heated discussion in the tree didn't pay attention at all.

After bypassing this place, Maomao walked along the outer edge of the woods for a while, hiding in the woods and peering out for reconnaissance. Of course, he would not be too close to the woods. It is spring now, and the leaves on the trees are so lush that they cannot be seen if they are too far inside. Something outside.

So every time Maomao walked for a while, he would stop and prick up his ears, paying careful attention to the various noises in the woods.

Just when it thought there was only one group of people peeking at the powerful human team, Quick Legs Maomao suddenly heard a gurgling sound of drinking water.

This sound is very special in a night full of insects and birds, because insects drinking water make no sound, and birds drinking water also make no sound. At most, it is the sound of a bird's beak hitting a pool or the water between trees.

It won't be the gulping sound of a human swallowing.

Quick Legs Maomao carefully pricked up his ears, gently pushed aside the tall weeds, lowered his body and touched the place where the sound came from.

But when it walked a few steps towards the source of the sound, it felt a chill, and its little heart began to beat violently.

Quick Legs Maomao remembered that the last time his heart beat so violently was when he and Courage Maomao in the tribe fought against a giant crocodile monster that could spit mud.

Although the final result of that so-called confrontation was that the giant crocodile monster crawled away after eating a lot of the tribe's fur, but their tribe also gained a certain amount of experience in the confrontation with the monster.

After that, their tribe survived near the territory of the giant crocodile monster. As long as the Maomao people fed the captured beasts and monsters to the giant crocodile monster in advance, that particularly powerful monster would lazily bask in the sun all day long. Eat the furries living in its territory.

At this moment, Kuaishan Maomao's little heart was beating fiercely. It was obviously his intuition telling him that life or death could happen in an instant.

what can we do about it?

After being confused for a moment, it remembered what Courage Maomao had told them before. Because they have fur on their bodies and are very short, humans who see them for the first time often regard them as wild beasts or monsters.

Those who see them walking upright, talking and working will call them monsters. If they see them for the first time, most humans will regard them as beasts.

Therefore, Quick Legs Maomao remembered Courage Maomao's teachings, and tentatively imitated the human-tamed kitten in the powerful human team. In a voice that he found disgusting and boring, he meowed obediently: "Meow, meow— —”

At the same time, it put its hands on the ground, imitating human domestic kittens, walking around on all fours, sniffing a flower next to it, and biting a fluorescent butterfly on it.

The next moment, the chill that made Maomao's heart beat suddenly disappeared, and a faint whisper came from the top of a big tree in front: "Strange wild cat. Brother, are all the local wild cats this big?"

"How do I know? I haven't been here either. How about hunting this large wild cat? I think its fur is black and gray. It would be a good idea to make it into a scarf for your sister-in-law. Come out and participate this time. God hunting activity, if you don’t order a gift for home, your sister-in-law will definitely make trouble with me.”

The person who spoke behind had a middle-aged voice, and he was obviously already married and starting a business.

Kuaishan Maomao heard it clearly, and the hair on his body was about to explode. He could only imitate how humans tame kittens, pretending to be playful and gradually stay away from here. When it felt chilled again, the whole Maomao jumped on the ground, and whoosh - flew past with a soft sound, getting out of the way of the fatal arrow that flew secretly.

This arrow flew silently, and the bow that fired it made no vibration of the bowstring. It was perfect for silent hunting at night.

"Huh? Ran away?"

The middle-aged voice was a little confused, but then he became interested: "It's interesting. Tracking the arrow, let's go -"

This time, the arrow made a sound that cut through the air in flight, like a rapidly attacking poisonous snake. The moment it left the bowstring, it quickly slid left and right and chased forward.

Maomao didn't care to hide anymore, and immediately gave up moving on all fours. Instead, he flicked his long tail, hit the ground to give it a boost, kicked off the ground with his own legs, and the whole Maomao flew away towards the distance.

It is said to be called fast legs, but in fact, its fast movement during combat does not rely on a pair of short short legs, but the coordinated coordination of its tail and legs, making it move quickly like jumping.

But it was very fast, but the strange sharp arrows chasing after it were even faster, and they made a hissing sound like a snake. The entire arrow body swung left and right to draw twisted arcs in the air, and the arrows that came after them arrived first. He caught up with Maomao, the fast leg.

But just when the sharp arrow was about to kill Maomao with a headshot, Quick Legs Maomao showed off Maomao's amazing agility and combat intuition in close combat. It was flying in the air, waiting for the sharp arrow to be less than half a meter away from it, then turned around and swung out the 'iron long sword' that had been on its body!

Clang—squeak!

The strange sharp arrow was knocked away by such a collision. It twisted twice unwillingly, and readjusted its direction while it was still in the air. With the last of its own flying strength, it turned around in the air and then downwards fiercely. Bite 'n go.

"Meow!"

Long-legged Maomao shouted, and regardless of the value of the 'iron long sword' in his hand, he swung it directly to his head, then gathered all his strength to twist his tail, and threw his long tail upwards.

The end of the tail issued a whip and swung at a supersonic speed that broke the air. After a loud "snap" sound, it hit the end of the dagger handle of the 'iron long sword' hard and accurately, and then touched the flesh of the tail. Splashing everywhere, Maomao on his long legs wailed in pain and ran away.

This time it can no longer use its tail to move, and can honestly use its short legs to run.

The 'Iron Long Sword' that was hit received a new burst of strength and headed straight towards the strange sharp arrow that fell from the sky.

boom! When Lang Lang had a violent impact, a crisp sound resounded in the air.

-

On the top of a big tree in the woods not far away, the younger brother was about to raise his bow and nock an arrow, and then shot a tracking arrow to kill the strange wild cat. But he was quickly stopped by his brother: "Wait a minute, there's something wrong with that thing! It's not a local wild cat, it's a sword-wielding monster!"

"Then why don't we just kill him?"

The young man replied and wanted to nock an arrow, but his brother lifted his whole body by the neck, his feet were empty, and the two of them jumped down from the tree.

His brother pulled him and ran quickly towards the depths of the woods: "Something's wrong, let's retreat back to the depths of the woods first."

As the younger brother, the younger brother had no choice but to put away his bow and arrows and complained: "Brother, don't you want our concealment arrows and tracking arrows?"

Of course the eldest brother felt sorry for his precious arrows, but he had an uneasy feeling that something was obviously wrong with such a strange monster appearing in front of them.

"Come back and get it later."

He said this unwillingly.

-

The fast-legged Maomao ran straight through the bushes and flowers, with his tail raised high, and the smell of blood from the beaten and rotten end kept attracting all kinds of bloodthirsty flying insects. .

"Snort, snore, snore, snore."

Quick Legs Maomao panted and ran to the place where he calculated that powerful humans existed. The thrilling scene before still made him panic. It was obvious that he had wandered around between life and death several times.

If it hadn't had a premonition that something was wrong, its fur would have been skinned by evil human hunters and used as clothing material.

"Ugh..." Thinking of this, it was so frightened that it cried out, but in the next moment, someone grabbed its abdomen, and then when it swung its arms and legs in panic to break free, a big hand put force on its head. Rubbed it.

"What's going on? Are you afraid of being like this?"

Hearing the voice of a powerful human being and the doubtful inquiries from the three Maomao figures that appeared around him, Kuaishan Maomao cried out: "Maomao, dead, Maomao, dead!!"

"Hey, can you speak?"

Keir looked surprised, although his face was completely hidden in the lush stems of the cloak's temporary structure and could not be seen clearly.

Courage Maomao sniffed hard, grabbed the injured end of his companion's long tail, and exclaimed: "Tail! Tail, it's injured!"

The other two Maomao came around with surprised faces. It seemed that for them, having their tails injured was a very surprising thing to Maomao.