Chapter 218: Captives |
Bai Mu confiscated over a dozen muskets from inside the cave, along with two large crates of gunpowder. In addition, the food these men had plundered from the villagers was also stored in this cavern.
There were six sacks of mixed grains in total, consisting primarily of millet and unhusked wheat. They also found small amounts of red and mung beans, along with some ready-to-eat dry rations resembling baked flatbreads.
It would be difficult to transport these supplies before the rain stopped, as neither food nor gunpowder could afford to get soaked. Thus, Bai Mu decided to stay in the cave for the time being, using it as a shelter from the storm while simultaneously interrogating his captives.
However, due to the language barrier, he couldn't get any coherent answers for the moment.
After waiting a few hours for the rain to cease, Bai Mu used the men's horses and deer to transport the weapons and food. He brought the eight captives along with him back to the camp.
The newly replenished food supplies brought immense joy to the people in the camp. Comforting smiles spread across their faces, likely feeling blessed to have been taken in by such a kindhearted lord.
Bai Mu handed all eight captives over to the Shaman. The men were absolutely terrified, making it impossible to glean any useful information right away; they needed some time to calm down. Following that, Bai Mu taught the young women how to use the firearms. Being highly proficient with gun mechanics, he only needed to disassemble one musket as a model to understand exactly how it operated.
Bai Mu test-fired a shot at a nearby boulder. The iron projectile cracked the rock upon impact, embedding itself about five centimeters deep into the stone.
In terms of sheer power, this weapon packed a heavier punch than his Revolver. While not quite on par with a shotgun, it wasn't far off. The downside was its massive recoil, coupled with the fact that it took over ten seconds to reload the gunpowder and lead ball after every single shot.
If this were a video game, their unit class would have likely leveled up the moment they fired their first shot, evolving from archers into musketeers.
Bai Mu placed a great deal of trust in these tribal girls who had followed him all the way from the grasslands, over the mountains, and across the battlefield. Unlike the refugees, they genuinely viewed him as their object of faith and devotion.
Because of this, Bai Mu confidently entrusted them with the firearms and gunpowder, greatly boosting their combat capabilities.
That evening, Bai Mu resumed interrogating the captives.
He sat inside a pitched tent with an oil lamp burning, accompanied by a local refugee he had specifically selected to act as an interpreter. Under the veil of night, the mouth-watering aroma of porridge drifted in from outside. Using a large stew pot, Xiao Wei had cooked up a batch of lean meat and millet porridge, combining today's confiscated grains with wild mushrooms and herbs foraged along the way, as well as some of their own dried meat reserves.
Now that they had reached a more civilized region, even their seasonings had become much richer and more varied.
The people in the camp lined up waiting for her to distribute the food. The scene resembled an official disaster relief effort, yet the government of this country was nowhere to be found. Through the captives' confessions, Bai Mu realized that to them, the nation seemed to exist only in name. All of these men were refugees fleeing from the east.
The country's monarch and capital were located in the east. The leader of this group apparently used to be a prominent noble near the capital. However, some terrifying cataclysm had erupted over there. Whenever they mentioned why they had fled to this area, a look of sheer terror washed over their faces—the exact same expression they had worn when Bai Mu systematically sniped them with his handgun inside the cave.
After an entire night of interrogation, Bai Mu finally managed to piece together some details.
"Death," "monsters," "the Son of Heaven," and "divine punishment" were words that frequently tumbled from their lips. Sure enough, they had come here as refugees to escape something dreadful.
The reason this area had been flooded with an unsustainable population in such a short period was simply because it was the only safe haven left.
As the influx of fleeing refugees steadily increased, severe food shortages inevitably followed.
However, judging from their testimonies, Bai Mu found one thing particularly strange. Why hadn't they crossed the mountain range to the west? They had already reached the westernmost village. Unaware of the Mountain Evil God lurking on the other side, their best option for survival shouldn't have been lingering in a war zone, but retreating deep into the mountains.
With their equipment, they would be in no danger even if they encountered fierce beasts like lions or brown bears; their firearms were more than enough to handle such predators. Even if the food in the mountains wasn't necessarily more abundant than what they could scavenge in the war zone, survival should have been their priority.
Unless, of course, they knew there was danger to the west. That would explain why they had turned back toward the war zone right at the entrance to the mountains, struggling in their death throes like drowning men stranded on a reef, watching the water levels rise with nowhere left to run.
Bai Mu was certain these people knew something more. Eventually, he managed to pry the information he wanted out of one of the musketeers. Sure enough, this man had been to the other side of the mountain. When Bai Mu sketched out a quick drawing of a giant wild boar, a noticeable shift occurred in the musketeer's expression.
Bai Mu told the musketeer to answer by simply nodding or shaking his head for yes or no. Then, through an exaggerated pantomime, Bai Mu mimed holding a musket and firing it at the drawing of the boar on the animal skin. The musketeer nodded in confirmation.
Next, Bai Mu mimed throwing the shot boar over his shoulder and carrying it away, using this gesture to ask if they had entered the forest specifically to hunt something. The musketeer initially shook his head, but then nodded.
This meant that while they had indeed gone into the forest to hunt, their target hadn't been the giant boar, but something else entirely. Bai Mu realized this was very likely the source of everything. However, just as he prepared to delve deeper into the questioning, Xiao Wei suddenly called out to him from outside the tent. It was already the morning of the second day. Stepping outside, Bai Mu noticed that the mountains to the west had taken on a withered, sickly hue.
Before they set out yesterday, the peaks had still been vibrant and green. Although a war was raging in this region, the natural environment hadn't suffered much damage. Battles in this era were fought primarily with swords and longbows, devoid of the rampant artillery and bombings seen in later generations. A modern war could rewrite the very geography of a map, but the conflicts here were little more than petty internal squabbles in the face of nature's vastness.
It was impossible for a lush green mountain to wither naturally in just a single day. Bai Mu knew immediately that the Mountain Evil God was catching up to them. The curse was spreading toward their location like a raging forest fire, and it was already closing in.
With no time left for further interrogation, he had no choice but to immediately order the group to form up. Packing everything they could possibly carry, they set off toward the east to flee for their lives.