Chapter 44: Murderous Intent Arises, Misjudging the Enemy

On the fourth day after departing from the infected zone, the Igor Family convoy, laden with exhaustion and pain, officially left this hair-raising Land of the Dead and Horror Park. Hundreds of thousands of zombies were left behind in the infected zone by Xiahou Yan. Despite his recent poor mood, he wasn’t crazy enough to release this Catastrophe Corps to the outside world. For all Imperial Humans, the best destination for this horde of zombies was to remain in the infected zone forever to enjoy their eternal lives.

However, the Lord still kept the Illusory Bracelet and hadn’t erased Simon Adrian’s Magic Rhythm engraved upon it. This meant that as long as Mr. Xiahou wanted to, he would always retain control over the zombie horde. His past life’s experience told him that a strategic deterrent on the level of an Undead zombie horde—even if never used—was best kept firmly in his own hands.

The only Undead Creatures the Igor Family convoy brought out of the infected zone, aside from the few guards resurrected by the Lord, were the heavily armored Death Knight Clement and dear Zombie Dave. Dave wasn’t abandoned in the infected zone mainly because the Lord withstood the fierce opposition of Master Laurie and the other subjects. He arbitrarily kept this zombie specimen—who had been disciplined into relative docility with a crowbar—in the group "for experimental needs." By dressing Dave in old clothes and covering his cage with a burlap sack, the extraordinarily obedient Dave—subdued by the effects of the Illusory Bracelet—was successfully disguised as a leper who couldn’t bear the light. He easily slipped past the inspections of the Imperial checkpoints along the way.

Thus, the family convoy—having suffered heavy losses, lacking supplies, and possessing a few strange new members—journeyed along Nelumbo Avenue in the Southern Empire, heading straight for the capital of the Houston Grand Duchy: Yanxi City. The Southern Empire was inherently desolate, and it was currently the bleak season approaching winter. Therefore, on the broad Nelumbo Avenue, apart from the Igor Family’s own convoy, hardly any other travelers could be seen all day.

This highway, which crossed the Southern Empire from north to south, was originally built during the Battle of the Apocalypse to transport supplies. In recent years, it had fallen into a semi-abandoned state. Not only had the road surface gone unrepaired for a long time, but the roadsides were also overgrown with weeds and intertwined with old trees. As a result, on this morning, not a single person in the convoy rushing on their journey noticed a pitch-black figure flash through the dense woods by the roadside.

In the northeastern suburbs of Yanxi City, amidst a vast expanse of wheat farms, stood the magnificently carved and opulent Holy Mother Flower Monastery. Jose Tebili, the vice-captain of the Desolate Wind Mercenary Corps, sat imposingly beneath the massive Saintly Divine Stained Glass Painting. His left arm was wrapped around a terrified young nun, while his right hand held a Golden Chalice originally meant for church rituals. He took a vicious gulp of the alluring, blood-red wine inside.

To the Holy God Faith, this was undoubtedly an act of blasphemy, but Vice-Captain Tebili felt absolutely no psychological burden. The young nun in his arms tremblingly raised the wine bottle and refilled Vice-Captain Tebili’s Golden Chalice. Although her clothes were in disarray and Vice-Captain Tebili’s large hand had slipped down her collar, the young nun didn’t dare make a single sound. After all, compared to her sister kneeling in tears before the chair, acting as Vice-Captain Tebili’s footstool, her treatment was already far better.

On one side of the church hall, the young and beautiful nuns of the Holy Mother Flower Monastery stood respectfully in a row with folded hands, waiting for their turn to serve Vice-Captain Tebili. As for the old and ugly monks and matrons in the Monastery, they had long been herded into the backyard and locked up by the lackeys of the Desolate Wind Mercenary Corps, lest they became an eyesore to the vice-captain.

These violent and tyrannical Martial Artists, who resembled bandits more than proper Mercenaries, had stationed themselves in the Monastery a few days ago. They were VIP guests personally invited by the Houston Duke, who demanded that the Holy Mother Flower Monastery "entertain them properly." And this rural Monastery, which had long relied on the Duke’s charity to survive, had no power to refuse. The Holy Mother Flower Monastery had long been in an impoverished state, struggling to make ends meet. Fortunately, after the seemingly wealthy Desolate Wind Mercenary Corps moved in, they didn’t heavily pillage the place like previous guests had. It was just that they had ravaged all the nuns in the Monastery on their very first day there. Sometimes, human dignity and freedom were simply cheaper than Gold Coins. Of course, the thoughts of these pitiful people in the Monastery were not within Vice-Captain Tebili’s scope of consideration at all.

At this moment, he was sipping the Monastery’s cellar-aged wine from the Holy Grail while listening to the report of his subordinate Scout. "A day ago, I spotted the Igor Family’s convoy on Nelumbo Avenue."

"That’s a bit strange..." Vice-Captain Tebili smacked his lips, groping the young nun indiscriminately. "According to the Duke, shouldn’t the Igor Family’s group have arrived near Yanxi City a long time ago?"

The Scout standing to the side, clad in pitch-black Leather Armor, shrugged. "I don’t know. From my observations, their numbers didn’t seem to be as high as the thousand stated in the intelligence. Perhaps they ran into bandits or something and got delayed on the road."

Vice-Captain Tebili let out a sneer. "I didn’t realize people were so eager to do our dirty work for us!"

"So, Vice-Captain, what’s the plan?" The Scout licked his lips, his eyes filled with both greed and madness.

"We were entrusted with a task, and we’ll see it through faithfully!" Vice-Captain Tebili raised his glass high, sneering as he toasted toward the direction of Yanxi City. "The Duke’s order to us is to root out the bastards of Eagle’s Rest Castle, and of course, I can’t let His Grace down! It just so happens that the roads are empty this season, making it convenient to act. We’ll set off tomorrow and deal with them good and proper!"

Hearing that the Desolate Wind Mercenary Corps was about to leave, a trace of joy uncontrollably appeared on the nuns’ faces, which they quickly suppressed.

"Should we bring everyone?" The Scout tilted his head. "They were all sitting in carriages; I couldn’t gauge their combat strength."

"As if the current Igor Family has any fucking combat strength left!" Vice-Captain Tebili smiled contemptuously. "The Duke already told me. The only ones in this Eagle’s Rest Castle group whose combat strength is worth a damn are some female Swordsman named Comstock, a few shabby guards, and a tier-five Elder Mage—heh, and in an ambush, what use is a Mage?"

"So..." The Scout shot him an inquiring look.

"Let’s bring everyone just in case! I’ve survived so many vicious battles, big and small, throughout my life, and isn’t it all thanks to being cautious?" Vice-Captain Tebili pondered for a moment, bit the young nun’s cheek, and made his final decision. "Oh, and tell the brothers to leave that female Swordsman for me to deal with. I’m afraid you lot won’t know your own strength and will end up killing her, ruining a perfectly fine treasure!"

The Scout nodded excitedly.

"Piss off, go pick one of these nuns for yourself to play with, and don’t ruin my mood!" Vice-Captain Tebili grinned hideously. He kicked his leg out, sending the nun acting as his footstool tumbling away across the floor. Another young nun beside them immediately crawled over to fill the vacancy. "Tomorrow, I’m going to lead our men to slaughter every last one of those Igor Family bastards!"