Chapter 51

Qian Ye walked around the garbage dump and found that the Scorpion Stinger had turned into a pile of parts, completely destroyed and scrapped. He separated these parts and carefully buried them in various corners of the dump.

The Scorpion Stinger was a standard weapon of the Red Scorpion, unique to them, so even a single part could not be exposed casually, or it would bring endless trouble.

Next, he had to deal with the werewolf corpses, especially those with human bite marks on them.

However, Qian Ye found it strange that werewolves were a highly communal species. They would not easily let their kin's bodies be exposed in the wild. Now, with so many werewolves dead here, and no new werewolves coming to handle the aftermath, it suggested that something had likely happened to the entire tribe.

Qian Ye finally found two棱刺 (lengci) used by Yeting and then cleaned a blood knight's dagger. These were his only defensive weapons. As for the small items he originally brought, including the Red Scorpion military knife, he had no idea where they had fallen.

The night was not yet over, and the wind on the wasteland was still cold. Qian Ye looked up at the blood moon, which occupied half the sky, and felt no bloodlust or agitation. The crimson color seemed to have faded, and perhaps in a couple of days, the Crimson Night would pass.

Dawn would eventually come.

Although the threat of Dark Blood had temporarily been lifted, Qian Ye still needed to be cautious and avoid the imperial military and noble families. There were many powerful figures there, and who knew who might discover that he had half Dark Blood in his veins.

Qian Ye's first priority was to return to Lighthouse Town. Calculating the time, he had been absent for five days. However, in the chaotic lands of the Eternal Night Continent, a person's disappearance would not cause much of a stir.

After running for several hours, Lighthouse Town appeared before Qian Ye's eyes. The town looked unchanged, but Qian Ye felt it was strangely quiet. It was almost dawn, and the horizon was still black, but the sky above was beginning to turn white, with a faint light. At this time, at least the scavengers should have woken up and started preparing to go out.

Qian Ye did not directly approach the un-repaired and open gate but instead circled around to the side and slowly approached the city wall.

From his position, Qian Ye saw the bald sheriff sitting on the city tower, his hat upside down on his face, seemingly dozing off. Clearly, the sheriff had to keep watch every night until the town gate was repaired. Although the sheriff always looked drowsy, Qian Ye knew it was just an act. With his stealth skills, he would still alert the sheriff if he got too close at night.

Qian Ye chose a position slightly farther from the sheriff, lightly leaped, and silently landed on the city wall. With this jump, Qian Ye clearly felt his jumping ability had significantly improved, almost losing control and clearing the wall, which was less than five meters high. He was about to head into the town when he suddenly noticed the sheriff's sleeping posture seemed unnatural. That posture should be very uncomfortable if maintained for a long time.

Qian Ye crouched low, almost贴 (tied) to the city wall, and approached the city tower. From a distance, he smelled a strong scent of blood. His night vision clearly showed a large bloodstain on the sheriff's chest, the blood long dried and almost blending with his black uniform.

The sheriff was already dead; the body on the city tower was just a corpse.

Qian Ye's heart sank, and he crouched even lower, hiding in the shadows.

Although the sheriff was just a minor official, he represented the order of the empire. As long as he was there, it meant the land still belonged to the empire. Even if outsiders were stronger than the sheriff, they would not dare to kill him easily. Killing the sheriff would be a challenge to the empire's dignity, and the imperial expeditionary force's base was not far from here.

Qian Ye looked into the town, took a deep breath, and realized his sensitivity to the scent of fresh blood had increased. The good news was that the scent of flesh no longer triggered any hunger in him.

However, Qian Ye had no time to be happy, as he noticed that the blood scent in the town had decreased by more than half!

Qian Ye jumped down from the town wall and circled around a few familiar ordinary residents' houses, confirming that the original inhabitants were still sleeping inside. Then he stealthily approached his own Manjusha Bar.

The bar was in chaos, the newly installed door was skewed to one side, and none of the windows were intact. All the furniture and objects inside were shattered, with several pools of blood that were particularly shocking.

However, from the direction of the bedroom, loud snoring could be heard, even echoing through the corridor and reverberating in the main hall.

Qian Ye did not go directly over but circled around to the back door, entered the bar, and silently walked into the living area. There was no movement in the guest rooms on either side, and the sound was coming from his own bedroom.

A young man was hugging a hunting rifle, leaning on the sofa, and sleeping soundly. This guy was clearly assigned to stay and wait for Qian Ye's return.

However, after several days with no sign of Qian Ye, the guy had lost his vigilance and started slacking off. But one couldn't expect much from such a thug.

Qian Ye lightly tapped his face with a dagger.

The young man immediately woke up, clearly very displeased at being rudely awakened. Before he could see who was in front of him, he started spewing a string of curses.

Qian Ye punched him in the stomach, making him curl up like a shrimp, and the rest of his curses were stifled in his throat. Then Qian Ye pressed his face into the sofa and used his knee to strike his ribs repeatedly, stopping only when he heard several cracks of broken bones.

As soon as Qian Ye let go, the young man tried to scream, but the cold blade at his throat made him swallow all his cries.

"What happened here? Who sent you? If your answer doesn't satisfy me, I'll cut off your fingers one by one," Qian Ye said coldly.

The young man, recognizing Qian Ye, immediately shrank back and hurriedly said, "I'm one of Yan Laohu's men. Two battalions from the expeditionary force came to Lighthouse Town to search for blood slaves. We followed them over..."

"Continue," Qian Ye pressed the short knife against his neck, cutting a bloodline.

The young man, sensing the calm but deadly intent in Qian Ye's eyes, shivered and quickly said, "Lord Qi from Blackstream City is very dissatisfied with you and Lord Zhao. He lost a large sum of money and a high-grade energy gun because of you. So he found a way to get the expeditionary force to send two battalions, ostensibly to search for blood slaves, but actually... to kill you and Lord Zhao."

Qian Ye's heart tightened. He knew very well what the search for blood slaves meant for the people of Lighthouse Town.

"What about the missing people?"

"Most were killed on the spot, and some were taken away by the expeditionary force."

"Where is Yan Laohu? Where is he?" Qian Ye asked.

The young man trembled and said, "He's with Lord Zhao."

Qian Ye nodded, slowly withdrew the short knife, and said, "Since you've been honest, I'll give you a chance to live. Leave here immediately, and go as far as you can!"

"Yes, yes! Thank you!" The young man nodded rapidly.

Qian Ye turned to leave, but as he stepped out the door, he suddenly threw a棱刺 (lengci) over his shoulder. The棱刺 (lengci) flew like lightning, instantly piercing the thug's throat!

The young thug stared at Qian Ye in shock. His hunting rifle was already aimed at Qian Ye's back, but he no longer had the strength to pull the trigger.

Qian Ye returned, picked up the thug's hunting rifle, and examined it.

It was a flintlock long gun, capable of firing homemade shot. Due to its rough construction, it was not effective beyond ten meters. However, at close range, it was still a powerful weapon, better than a short knife. Qian Ye found ten rounds of shot on the thug, threw the body on the ground, and took one last look at his bar.

The bar was in ruins, even the blue stone floor had been pried up, and anything of value had been looted. The Manjusha that had accompanied him through the darkest times of his life was now gone.

When Qian Ye left the bar, he was not angry but unusually calm, even a bit excited.

This was the best state before a mission in Red Scorpion training.

Qian Ye headed straight for Lord Zhao's abandoned factory base, where Yan Laohu had been staying since taking over Lighthouse Town.

The sky had not yet brightened, and the tall factory buildings ahead cast eerie shadows, like monsters ready to devour anyone. Only one factory had been renovated by Lord Zhao to be habitable, while the others were ruins.

There were clear signs of battle outside the factory, with shell casings scattered everywhere.

Qian Ye picked up a shell casing and examined it, his heart sinking slightly.

This bullet was from the imperial expeditionary force's standard assault rifle. Although this gun was an antique from decades ago, it was still far more powerful than ordinary homemade weapons.

Since the other side could use a large number of military-standard weapons, Lord Zhao was likely already in grave danger.

The factory's door was open, but Qian Ye did not enter directly. Instead, he ran a few steps, leaped onto the outer wall, and climbed up, quickly reaching the top of the factory.

Yan Laohu had not set up any guards here, allowing Qian Ye to easily enter the factory through the rooftop exit.

Inside the factory, there were three levels of buildings along the walls, with the rest being the original large hall, which now contained a huge, rusted power generator.

Qian Ye remembered that the top floor was where Lord Zhao originally lived, the middle floor was for his guards and senior members, and the bottom floor was for the general members.

Qian Ye came down from the top floor and naturally arrived at the third floor first. He silently approached Lord Zhao's bedroom and immediately smelled a strong, stale scent of blood.

Qian Ye paused for a moment, then gently pushed the door open and looked inside.

Lord Zhao lay on the ground, covered in wounds, with part of his leg missing. His last action was to struggle towards a cabinet, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. There was a bullet hole in his forehead, but his face bore a satisfied smile.

Qian Ye felt no sorrow or joy, entered the room, and squatted beside Lord Zhao.