Chapter 22: Speaking of Discoveries…

Although Zhang Cheng was badly injured, dealing with unconscious bandits—who were essentially the same as corpses—was still within his ability. With his help, it only took a short while before every last bandit in the surrounding rooms was reduced to a corpse.

The danger of the knockout smoke wearing off had been dealt with, but the stench of blood…

“Brother Zhang, the smell of blood is too strong in here. If we want to stay until morning, we have to do something about it.”

Of course—otherwise, they’d wake up in the middle of the night to find themselves surrounded by wild beasts.

“What do you want to do with it? Dump the bodies outside? There are so many—might be hard to get them far enough.”

“Yeah, it’s not easy. There’s a steep slope on one side, sure, and it’s hard for people to climb up, but tigers or leopards would have no trouble at all. If we throw the corpses out there, it could bring danger right to us. So I’ve thought it over—we should pile up the bodies and the bloodstained stuff into one room and burn it. That way, it’s truly settled once and for all.”

That was actually a pretty good idea. Still, fire in the mountains… Zhang Cheng glanced at the light rain outside, feeling a bit concerned.

“Alright, that could work. But we’d better be careful and choose a more remote spot—if a wildfire breaks out, we’ll be in trouble too.”

“Heh, already thought of that. That place you were kept in—it’s perfect.”

It was. That room, having been used as a jail, was built halfway into the mountain. The exposed parts were all made of stone. Lighting a fire inside wouldn’t risk any flames leaking out. Plus, the surroundings were clear—no trees or buildings nearby—so even if sparks flew, there was little chance of starting a blaze elsewhere.

With a plan in mind, it was time to act. Oh—one more thing to take care of first.

“Brother Zhang, I’ll move you to that little guard shack at the front gate and leave you with a gun. Keep an eye out. If any stragglers come back, we might not be able to stop them from shooting us in the back.”

That was a fair point. Zhang Cheng immediately nodded. Even his trembling, weakened body seemed to straighten a little. Looking at Fang Dahai, he said:

“Alright, find me a stick to lean on. I’ll go over right now. You get on with it. Even with the rain, the smell of blood is just too thick. If someone happens by, they’ll notice something’s wrong right away.”

It wasn’t that bad—if anyone had come, Fang Dahai’s sharp ears would’ve picked it up already. Still, with Zhang Cheng being so cooperative, he didn’t argue.

“Thanks, Brother Zhang.”

He said it was thanks, but Fang Dahai was actually quite thoughtful in action. Not only did he fetch a stick, but—being quick on his feet—he ran ahead to the guard shack and got the stove there lit up.

“The mountain rain makes it chilly. You sit by the fire and keep watch. Your body’s already weak—if you catch a cold on top of it, we’re in real trouble.”

Without waiting for any grateful words, he left a loaded rifle by the stove and turned to jog off. Zhang Cheng looked at his back, then at the already-warming stove, and felt a surge of warmth in his heart. The corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously.

“What a considerate kid.”

What Zhang Cheng thought behind his back, Fang Dahai didn’t much care about. Right now, he was too busy cursing under his breath.

Ugh—this is what happens when you don’t think things through. Why didn’t he just move the bodies to the cell room before killing them? Now that they were dead, they were so heavy. People always say “dead weight”—and they’re right.

What made it worse was that most of them had their throats slit, so their blood had soaked their decent clothing. Not only was it messy, it made it easy to get his own clothes stained during transport. To avoid being mistaken for a murderer and shot dead when he left the mountains, he even had to wrap himself in a blanket—one more step, a few extra pounds.

There were thirty-odd people, which meant thirty-odd trips. By the time he got all the corpses in place, stacked the firewood, and lit it up, Fang Dahai was nearly collapsed with exhaustion. And only then did he remember something really important—

He hadn’t eaten a single bite or drunk a drop of water all day.

He’d been following tracks since the beginning, nonstop; then foraged for herbs, released the knockout smoke, rescued people, killed bandits, and cleaned up the mess—it had been almost ten hours straight, and not once had he stopped to eat or drink!

God, how did he forget for that long? Was he possessed?

No, this wasn’t something to dwell on. The more he thought about it, the hungrier he got. His stomach was growling, his vision blurry—he had to eat something.

Eat what? Come on—was that even a question? When he released the knockout smoke, the bandit leaders in the main hall had been eating, right? There was food ready and waiting. What, the food was laced with knockout drugs from the water? So eating it would make him faint? Who cared—he had the antidote!

And anyway, only the cooked food had the drug. The raw stuff in the kitchen was clean. He could just take the antidote, scarf a few bites to fill up, and then cook fresh food. The water he used to drug them was running stream water—by now the drug’s potency was gone. Cooking with it now would be perfectly safe. He could finally have a hot meal.

No sooner thought than done. Fang Dahai left the burning house behind and used the last of his strength to run to the main hall. Before even entering the door, he popped an antidote pill into his mouth. By the time he reached the table, the antidote had gone down and his hand was already grabbing a chunk of perfectly cooked meat.

To stave off his hunger, this kind of meat was the most effective. It also required the least amount of water to cook—perfect for him to eat at the moment.

Huh, that guy came in and hasn’t fallen under the charm yet. Could it be the same as him—he ate this meat first, which caused a delay compared to the others? That way, he realized the food had been drugged and became cautious, right?

Forget it. Whether that’s true or not, the person’s already gone—no point looking into it now. What matters is taking care of your own stomach.

After several big bites, just enough to settle the burning hunger in his gut, Fang Dahai neatly stopped eating and turned toward the kitchen.

He’d already been to this place during a previous scavenging run, so he was familiar with it. But now that he was back, he suddenly thought of a potential flaw in that previous trip.

You tell me—once he sends Zhang Cheng out of the mountains, won’t the rest of their team realize there’s a hidden spot here and come to take it over, especially when they reach the bridgehead into the capital region? Fang Dahai, with his old military knowledge from hundreds of years ago, was sure of one thing: even if the full army doesn’t come, the advance team definitely will. After all, this place is so close to the capital—it’s an ideal location for a supply or intelligence post.

And when they really come here… well, if they don’t find any gold or silver, fine—that can be explained. Maybe no one was here. Or maybe the bandits were just crafty and had multiple hiding spots, and nothing valuable happened to be left behind. After all, who knows exactly how much loot these bandits were hoarding?

But if there’s not even a scrap of food left—that’s suspicious. Mountain bandits living out here can’t survive without food, right? And the wood storage—there must be some. After all, people living under military pressure like this can’t afford to lack weapons.

Thinking about this made Fang Dahai ache inside. All he wanted was to save someone, not get dragged into a situation where he’d lose money! This was a serious loss. No—he’d have to find a way to make up for it later, maybe by salvaging something else from somewhere else.

Determined but still efficient, Fang Dahai didn’t slow his hands. He set up a pot on the earthen stove, and while rice cooked, he stored a pile of grain in a vat. Five hundred pounds of wheat noodles, 500 pounds of sweet potato flour, and 20 pounds of white flour. He even carefully put away some of the original stored goods: 5 pounds of bacon and 10 pounds of salted meat. After everything was set, Fang Dahai uneasily estimated the food consumption for thirty people.

“Going by one person eating one catty of grain per day, this should last them a month, right? Good, good. If it’s not enough, well, I’ll just have to go out and do another job. That way, accidentally robbing Zhang Cheng will seem completely reasonable and justifiable.”

If those bandits, now burnt to charcoal, had known that Fang Dahai had set them up like this, who knows if they would have wept?

“Reasonable, my ass,” they’d probably cry. “What kind of bandit doesn’t stockpile for winter? Winter’s almost here!” They were seasoned bandits—they knew how to plan ahead.

No one knew if those bandits had survived, but Zhang Cheng certainly didn’t. So when Fang Dahai brought him five rice balls and a bowl of soup, Zhang Cheng was clearly puzzled.

Upon seeing the noodle nests and hearing Fang Dahai talk about the amount of food stored in the kitchen, Zhang Cheng’s expression grew richer by the second. There was hatred, condemnation… and most of all, the kind of surprise that came with realizing he’d just struck it rich.

“This much? Seriously? But wait—this is a big mountain, and there’s no sign of farming around here. So all of this grain… was stolen? These people were ruthless. With this much food, they could’ve fed so many people outside.”

After saying this, Fang Dahai sighed with particular regret.

“Unfortunately, this place is too far from the mountains. I wanted to carry some of the supplies away, but I can’t bring much—at most 50 pounds. Otherwise, I would’ve cleared it out completely.”

You can’t clear it out, but I can. As soon as I return to the army, I’ll lead a squad over and take all the grain here. At this critical point in the war, this extra food could feed the advance unit for several days—enough for the soldiers to get a full meal.

“Good thing I didn’t lose out. After seeing the grain, I got reminded of something and went back to the main room to look around—and guess what I found?”

“What?”

What else could there be? In a bandit’s den, there’s never a shortage of money. Unfortunately, his current persona couldn’t be exposed. The young man who saved him wasn’t one of their soldiers either, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to make him hand over his loot to the military. Otherwise, this haul could easily cover a large chunk of the army’s supply needs.

“Look—I found a little yellow fish—more than 150 silver dollars. A big unexpected windfall.”

What? Only that much? How could it be? Their unit had fought bandits before—how had he never encountered such poor ones?

Zhang Cheng found it hard to believe. He had a bit of suspicion: was this kid hiding something? But… under those thin clothes of Fang Dahai’s, there clearly wasn’t anywhere to hide heavy objects! Besides, he’d be going with him shortly—if he were hiding something, would it really escape his notice?

He looked up again. The kid was holding the silver dollars and blowing on them, his movements completely natural, filled with the joyful eagerness of someone wanting to share his find with a friend. This made Zhang Cheng start to question his own judgment.

Maybe… the bandits really were just that poor? Or perhaps they’d hidden their loot somewhere else, like the proverbial cunning rabbit with three burrows? That wouldn’t be impossible either. After all, this guy was just a humble scavenger, not trained in military search techniques—he probably didn’t even think to look for other hiding spots.

Thinking of this possibility, Zhang Cheng pushed aside his doubts and set the matter to the back of his mind. Fang Dahai soon brought up the plan for leaving the mountain in the morning. There was no point wasting time over details now—getting out of the mountains and completing the mission was the top priority.

“How are we leaving tomorrow? If possible, I’d like to trouble you to take me to the village below Niutou Mountain, to the east. I have relatives there, and with their help, it’ll be easier for me to find a doctor.”

“East? Niutou Mountain? That’s fine—it’s only about half a day out of the mountains from there. Not too far.”

“You really know your way around the mountains. As soon as I mentioned it, you knew the distance right away.”

Of course he knew. This area was close to the Ming dynasty emperor’s mausoleum. As someone from a family that had settled here since the Ming, he knew this terrain like the back of his hand—he could practically walk it with his eyes closed. He could still clearly make out the lay of the land.

Since the man wasn’t pressing him over the matter of the money, Fang Dahai figured he could carry on with this act to the end.

Yes, you read that right—taking out that yellow fish and those silver dollars was all part of Fang Dahai’s performance. Just as Zhang Cheng had suspected: the bandits had been wiped out—how could there be no silver among them? Even if most of it had been hidden, surely some would be carried on their person. That’s why Fang Dahai staged this little drama of “striking it rich.”

“By the way, although I saved you, you also contributed afterward. You fought too, and you’re still recovering from that head injury, so…”

Fang Dahai, with a pained expression, looked back and forth between the small yellow fish and the silver dollars as if parting with a piece of his soul. Finally, he counted out a hundred silver dollars into his own bag and pushed the rest in front of Zhang Cheng.

“These days, a yellow fish can be exchanged for 50 foreign dollars. We split it right down the middle—fair and square.”

He was clearly reluctant to part with the money, but his tone and expression were full of righteousness. His serious demeanor made Zhang Cheng want to laugh, but at the same time, it cut down his suspicions that Fang Dahai might be hiding more of the loot. Smiling, he replied:

“If we’re splitting it like that, then I’m the one making a big profit here. I haven’t even repaid you for saving my life, and now I’ve gotten free money out of it. How is that fair?”

“Come on—you were injured by those bandits, you deserve a share of the money for that alone. Don’t be so wishy-washy. I just checked all the houses. The quilts may look dirty, but the cotton inside is still good. Even if we don’t use them ourselves, we can sell them to the old clothing stores and make a few coins. Tomorrow morning, I’m taking two quilts on my back, plus 50 pounds of grain. I’ve made a nice profit on this trip.”

Huh? Oh, right—the quilts! Burned corpses, destroyed gear… but the clothing those people wore was actually quite thick. If washed, it would be perfect for the soldiers to use! The weather was getting colder by the day, and the troops could really use those supplies.

Zhang Cheng, reminded by Fang Dahai, realized this was another practical source of value. The bandits’ wealth was quickly packed up. Now he was even more eager to get out of the mountains.

“In a bit, I’ll guard the door. You go get some sleep. I’ll wake you at dawn—we’ll head out early.”

“You’ll guard? You’re not going to sleep?”

“I’m not sleepy.”

Not sleepy? Don’t be ridiculous. If he stayed up all night and collapsed on the road tomorrow, that’d be a serious problem.

“Don’t be stubborn. Let’s split the rest of the night. There are still about three hours until dawn—you sleep first. You’re injured, after all, and you need the rest more than I do.”

Most importantly, if I’m sleeping and you’re not quite at ease, you can get up and go patrol or check on things, right?

Hmm, come to think of it… did the back-room finish burning yet? He’d already eaten, so maybe it was time to go check it out.