Chapter 417 The Undead Brings Luck
The Huggins and Bernie father and son were so frightened by the undead that they suddenly appeared in the mountains that they absentmindedly cut down a few clumps of Khata grass. Then they hastily collected their harvest, carried it down the mountain, loaded it onto a truck, and rushed back to the town.
As soon as they entered the South Town Gate, the father and son heard the townspeople setting up stalls on the roadside talking about the undead who had recently entered the town.
The father and son looked at each other, then quickly stopped the cart on the side of the road and leaned over to listen in, sweating profusely.
Hearing that the undead didn't hurt anyone or steal anything, the Huggins father and son finally felt relieved...
People in small places are not very reasonable when they encounter unexplainable misfortunes; everyone will instinctively use the simplest and crudest way to explain the phenomena they cannot understand, and subconsciously look for the most suitable scapegoat to bear all the responsibilities.
If those undead spirits hurt the people in the town or caused any trouble in the town, then Hawkins Bernie knew without a doubt that he and his son would become the targets of accusations and blame from all the townspeople - after all, the undead spirits first appeared in the katha grass slope of Bernie's house!
"These undead are the ones we talked about on the radio... Tarantan undead, right, father? They are running around in our Adler Territory, but they won't attack anyone. No matter how you think about it, they can only be Tarantan undead."
On the way home, the son said to old Huggins in fear: "Fortunately, we were so scared that we didn't throw sickles at the undead... I remember what the merchants said, that the Tarantan undead would never show mercy to those who dared to attack them."
Harkins's face turned red, and he lowered his voice and scolded, "What do you mean by scared silly? We clearly recognized from the beginning that it was the Lord's undead soldiers who came! How could we be so rude to them!"
The son looked at his father strangely and responded reluctantly.
Kata Town is a small town developed around the land trade route among the mountains. A spacious trade road runs through the center of the town, and on both sides are alleys spreading out along the staggered hillsides, and stone houses of varying sizes built with long and square stone slabs following the terrain. Bernie's stone house is in an alley called Jam Alley.
There are about twenty households in Jam Lane, and most of them, like Bernie's family, are engaged in the feed farming business . The women who were sitting at the doorstep weaving straw sandals and spinning burlap strips were surprised to see Bernie and his son return so early.
Old Huggins' wife, Mrs. Burney, got up and opened the gate, and asked her husband and son to pull the cart into their yard. After closing the gate, Mrs. Burney hurriedly checked her son and husband's hands and feet, which were tied with burlap strips. "You came back so early, were you injured in the mountains? Let me take a look."
When men in feed-producing families go up the mountain, they wrap long strips of coarse linen around their arms and legs. This is similar to the leggings and wrist guards worn by ancient Chinese mountain dwellers. This is to prevent the skin of their hands and feet from being scratched by khata grass bushes and to prevent insect and snake bites. It is also to protect the wrists and ankles when carrying heavy objects up and down the mountain.
"No." Huggins didn't have the patience to explain to his wife. He waved his hand to send her away and asked anxiously, "Aren't there ghosts coming to town? What are those ghosts doing? Have they come to our house?"
Mrs. Burney was originally dissatisfied with her husband's perfunctory response, but she became excited when she heard this topic: "That's right, he appeared in town more than an hour ago! I was collecting twine at home when I heard a loud noise on the street outside, so I ran out to see what I saw. Guess what I saw? The Tarantan ghost in the radio story ran to our place!"
"What happened next?" Huggins demanded.
"What happened later?" Mrs. Burney asked curiously.
"What did the undead do afterwards?"
"Nothing happened, it was just in our town." Mrs. Bernie said, "The kid from Tommy's next door tried to run away with the undead, but his wife dragged him back home. Also, the son of the grocery store across the alley ran to hang around the undead, and the undead scared him away just by looking at him. He often brags about how brave he is and that he wants to be a mercenary in the future. I think it would be great if that kid could take over his grocery store..."
Unable to bear the woman's aimless chatter, Huggins told his son to stay home and process the khat grass he had cut, and he went out alone.
Under normal circumstances, Higgins was not such a curious person; but this morning he had just thought of taking his whole family to the big city in the south for an "adventure", and the ghosts of these lords appeared in the town, and Higgins really couldn't help but have wild thoughts.
What were those undead spirits doing in Kata Town, the most remote town in the territory? This was the question that concerned Hawkins the most.
The town of Kata is far away from the most prosperous central and eastern regions of Adler Territory, but the news is very well-informed - after all, there are caravans passing through here for most of the year, and no matter whether the locals care about the outside world or not, news from the outside world will flow in continuously.
For example... the residents of Dutata City may not be able to clearly explain the reasons for the drastic changes in the southern wilderness and the changes after the drastic changes, but the people of Kata Town have already heard about it countless times from passing merchants.
Since the National Defense War two hundred years ago, when the then Lord of Adler, Ezekiel's family, decided to reduce the territory and the wealth of the people, there are still some villages in the north due to the proximity to Taqia, and the town of Kata, which relies on trade routes for survival; in the south, there is really nothing left...
Otherwise, the southern area would not have been turned into a base by slave traders.
The year before last, starting in the summer, the townspeople of Kata began to hear from traveling merchants what had happened in the south.
The Tarantan Undead sneaked into (actually was trafficked) the headquarters of the southern slave black market, killed (actually captured) all the slave traders overnight, and snatched away (rescued) all the slaves. This news shocked the people of Kata Town...
By last summer, people in Kata town heard that the southern part had been taken over by officials sent by Innadli, and that some poor people from the central part had been brought there to open up wasteland.
By last fall, when the caravans returning from the south talked to the people of Kata about the once desolate and unappealing southern wilderness, their words turned into high praise for the place - the rich food that was no less delicious than that of Dutata City, the vibrant new town, the fertile fields, the large number of farmers, forest owners, orchard owners... and so on.
Such amazing changes have made the people of Kata town sigh with envy and say that people living in the south are so lucky.
During this period, we also heard news like the new lord of Adler, the governor of Dutata City was an undead, the family of a noble whose ancestors were famous was cleaned up, the manor and horse farm of a noble was seized by the city hall, etc. None of these news were as concerning to the people of Kata Town as the changes in the southern wilderness.
After all, the original conditions in the south were worse than those in the north. The south became a prosperous place that was said by merchants to be no less prosperous than the central and eastern parts. Naturally, this made the residents of Kata Town in the north wonder - why didn't such a good thing happen to the people in the north?
This time, when the Tarantan undead suddenly appeared, most of the townspeople were just surprised and puzzled. However, Hawkins Birney, who was considered an elderly person among the civilians, thought a lot.
"Master, the Undead Archon of Dutata City, have you finally remembered our people in the north?"
As old Huggins strode down the street, looking for traces of the dead, this thought kept turning over and over in his mind.
His memory had not yet faded, and he remembered what those passing merchants had said - the south became prosperous only after the undead appeared first!
The town of Kata is very small, only the size of a block in Dutata City, and soon, Harkins found the undead.
Then, after this excited and surging feed farmer actually saw the groups of armored and sharp-armed undead, his boiling blood quickly cooled down - he didn't dare to approach them at all, but instinctively turned on his toes from a distance and jumped into a nearby alley...
About a dozen undead souls, working together to carry the corpse of a giant python that was at least twenty meters long, hurriedly ran across the street.
The group of undead turned a corner, and old Huggins emerged from the alley with a dry mouth.
"What are they doing?"
"I don't know. Where did they find such a big snake?"
"Hey, I think I've heard someone talk about a python this big before..."
Old Higgins, who was so nervous that he kept wiping his sweat, heard the whispers of several townspeople hiding on the side of the road, and suddenly shuddered: "That big snake - the king of Snake Valley?!"
"Old Huggins, you know that snake?"
In Kata Town, which has a total population of more than 2,000 people, the townspeople are familiar with each other. When they heard Hawkins speak, the townspeople who were watching the excitement on the side of the road all looked over.
"Have you forgotten? A few years ago, a country hunter saw the king snake!" Huggins Bernie said excitedly, "This snake was lurking on the road from our town to Snake Fruit Village. There were originally many snakes in the nearby valley. After a hunter saw the king snake, he directly called the valley Snake Valley!"
After Huggins said this, the other townspeople also remembered.
"Oh my god, the undead went to the Snake Valley and captured the Snake King?!"
"Ah, without this snake king, the people from Snake Fruit Village won't have to take such a long detour when they come to town to sell food."
"I wonder if wheat will be cheaper this year... "
Hawkins didn't bother to listen to what others were saying. The old feed farmer stared at the direction where the undead left. After struggling for a while, he gritted his teeth and followed them.
Turning the corner and entering an alley that half-surrounded the mountain and was sparsely populated, Old Higgins saw from afar the stone house where the undead came in and out.
That was the stone house of the tinker's family. After the tinker died, his son moved to the countryside and the house became empty.
Because this stone house is located at the deepest part of the alley and in a bad location, it has been vacant and no one has lived in it. Last year, Huggins heard from his wife that the stone house of the tinker had been bought by someone, but no one was seen living in the house or coming in and out. He wondered who had taken advantage of the situation and wasted his money.
Now, the mystery is solved.
Hawkins swallowed his saliva. Groups of undead were entering and exiting the stone house with the open door like ordinary people. Even though he knew that these undead were Tarantan undead who would not attack people casually, it still took a lot of courage to approach them.
The few houses in the alley had their doors and windows tightly shut and their curtains drawn; no one dared to approach the alley except old Higgins who walked to the entrance.
Just as Higgins was hesitating, he heard the sound of "click, click" behind him again.
Harkins, who already knew that the sound was the footsteps of the undead, instinctively jumped under the wall of a house on the roadside, pressed his back against the wall, and nervously looked at the undead turning into the alley.
There were about six or seven undead in this group, all carrying large backpacks that were stuffed bulgingly, and in their bony claws were bamboo utensils and woven bags that were also stuffed with some common herbs.
When passing in front of Huggins, one of the undead looked at Huggins, pointed at and said something.
Huggins' heart almost jumped out of his throat...
Fortunately, these undead spirits had no intention of dealing with him and hurriedly ran past Hawkins.
"Hey, why does this civilian NPC look familiar? I feel like I've seen him somewhere before?"
"Don't cause trouble. Be careful not to interact with NPCs and affect the mission."
"oh oh."
"Why does this crappy quest have so many side quests? How many have we completed?"
"It's still early... Including Yao Ge's side, we've just dealt with four..."
"Luckily I have the reputation of the Chamber of Commerce, otherwise I really can't complete this trivial task..."
