Monarch of Evernight - Chapter 177

Chapter 177

Chapter 177: Hijack (Part 1) [Volume 3 - The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace] 

Qianye stealthily climbed onto a rooftop . A blood-red hue suddenly emerged in the depths of his pupils as he observed the surroundings .

The abrupt howl broke the silence of this small village . A large werewolf soon appeared in the distance and charged toward where Qianye had been previously standing . Qianye, however, had already disappeared into the night, leaving the werewolf howling in confusion .

Several werewolves appeared while an arachne climbed onto a roof . This large arachne occupied half the roof—the house creaked and moaned under its weight—it seemed as if it could come down at any moment . A man and a woman ran out from the house in panic amidst astonished cries .  

One of the werewolves pounced toward the street with a growl, pinning the woman beneath its body as it opened its wide jaws .  

A low voice was transmitted from one side, “If you bite down, I can’t guarantee the gun in my hand won’t accidentally go off . ”

The werewolf raised its head—its greedy eyes stared at the middle-aged man who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere . The latter’s appearance was ordinary with the exception of a long scar on his face as his only notable characteristic .  

The werewolf let out a threatening howl, but the middle-aged man seemed relatively unaffected . His finger was gradually adding more force on the trigger . The weapon in his hand was a rank three origin gun . Its large, modified muzzle indicated that it was a weapon which leaned heavily toward firepower .

Another werewolf walked over, dragged its comrade away from the woman, and then said to the middle-aged man, “Captain Zhou, are you trying to renege on this transaction?”

The Captain surnamed Zhou replied, “The deal doesn’t include the lives of my subordinates . You gave me your word that a repeat of yesterday’s incident won’t occur . Or perhaps you can’t even handle your own men?” 

The werewolf leader let out an angry roar . “You’re insulting Bernt the Brave! I can raze this camp to the ground as long as I will it!” 

Captain Zhou was seemingly unthreatened and replied with a cold laugh, “You can try! Although my men and I may die here, I promise you that the chances of your group returning alive is not greater than one third . As for you, Bernt the Brave, I wonder if you’ll return as a hero or an idiot after you destroy a trade channel that’s been established for well over a decade . ”

Bernt was immediately incensed—he furiously roared but restrained himself in the end . He didn’t dare charge in because he knew Captain Zhou wasn’t exaggerating .  

The arachne came down from atop the building and said, “We came to complete this transaction and not to mess things up . Bernt, why did your subordinate suddenly jump out and cause a commotion?”

Bernt turned toward the werewolf from earlier . The latter replied, “I smelled one of those damned vampires just now!”

Bernt turned to glare at Captain Zhou . “Are you hiding those from the vampire race here?”

Captain Zhou replied, “Are you lot trying to invent more problems? You’ve checked every corner of this place when you arrived . If there truly are vampires hiding here, why did you discover it only now?”

The arachne also shook his head . “Bernt, handle your subordinates well! This is a horrible excuse! Besides, they can’t do anything even if they really are hiding here . So, stop your empty threats . I still want to take a rest . Additionally, there are things among this batch of goods that Marquis Ross personally requested . That bad-tempered sire will have your head if you foil this deal!”

The werewolves howled in dissatisfaction but eventually withdrew . Captain Zhou also left after letting out a sigh of relief .

Qianye was silently observing the commotion nearby . He turned into a small alley and headed toward the other side of the camp .

He had sensed a large number of human blood energy reactions there . The density had far surpassed that of normal residents . There were actually hundreds of them albeit with much weaker blood energy reactions .

A vague possibility came to his mind .

He sped up his footsteps and soon arrived before a peculiar camp separate from the village . From the features of the buildings sticking out, he immediately discerned that the interior was likely a barracks . Security was tight with several sword spiders standing guard near the door . The walls were of the same height as the village’s . Qianye chose a relatively deserted corner and, climbing to the top of the wall, observed the interior of the camp .  

Numerous long buildings stood within the campgrounds . Their windows had been nailed shut while the doors were tightly guarded by several wargs . Two werewolves stood in the center talking amongst themselves .

Qianye immediately understood what this camp was for—this was a slave pen, a place to hold the numerous slaves for trade . Every long building could hold over a hundred humans . The crowded human blood energy he had sensed came from this place . Such a camp could hold nearly a thousand slaves at its peak, a staggering number to speak of .

The goods for trade was now clear—humans . . . real, live humans .

Qianye had heard from Yu Renyan that Wu Zhengnan’s trade with the dark races included humans . However, this was his first time witnessing such a spectacle . Some of these people would become food, while the rest would be forced into labor or used as breeding machines .

Perhaps the deal included other contents, but these humans were obviously the most important merchandise .

Qianye stealthily withdrew from the village and found a place in the wilderness from which he could directly observe the village gates . He tightly pulled his cloak over his head while recalling the regional topography, defenses, and troop distribution of the various races in the village .

The arachne leader was rank seven . There were three more rank five arachne and werewolves, while the rest were all below rank five . Such a group was anything but weak, however, this wasn’t the first time Qianye had fought a dark race patrol squad . To him, eradicating them wasn’t an impossible endeavor as long as he had sufficient range and geographical advantage .

Qianye selected a few potential areas for an ambush and played out the scenario in his head for a couple of times before turning in .

Dawn . The village gates opened, allowing passage to a convoy which gradually drove toward the north . The containers on these cargo trucks had been modified, allowing one to see the numerous human figures through the iron bars .  

Qianye’s judgement was correct . It was indeed a slave convoy . These cargo trucks were surprisingly advanced in terms of horsepower and auxiliary equipment, even comparable to the equipment issued to the main imperial corps .

This convoy cast an entirely new light on the value of this transaction . In the past, the dark race would have the slaves walk after capturing them—rarely would they ever transport them by car . Additionally, the dark race warriors were accustomed to moving through the wilderness . They probably wouldn’t take kindly to these constantly jolting tin cans which reeked of fuel .

For this trade, however, cargo trucks had been arranged for all the humans . Apparently, the dark race had attached a great deal of importance to this batch of merchandise . They weren’t willing to lose even a single one of them along the way .

This strengthened Qianye’s resolve to prevent the dark race from obtaining them!

The convoy was still slowly moving through the rugged terrain . Qianye, on the other hand, was already running through the wilderness and had soon arrived at the predetermined ambush points before long . It was a valley with numerous towering stone pillars . The ground was uneven, and the path was barely enough for a single car to pass .

The valley was permeated by a faint yet peculiar fishy smell, and there wasn’t a sign of life amidst the deathly stillness . It was because of these characteristics that Qianye was confident that the convoy would pass through here . He had already distinctly picked up the scent of an arachne . It was a great disaster for the small beasts and insects wherever an arachne passed . This path was highly likely to be the one taken by the dark races on their way to the village and was naturally their path back .

The location was already quite close to the dark race borders, but the dark race had no concept about repairing roads, or at least the lower level dark race didn’t . It has been said that the high ranking dark race members had already developed a greatly advanced culture and had built various lofty landmarks that were supposedly even more majestic than the Great Qin Empire’s trans-century projects . It was as if the higher level dark race members and the lower level ones were living in completely different ages .

Qianye selected a hiding place, laid down a few traps, and patiently waited for the convoy’s arrival .

An hour later, rumbling sounds began to ring out within the valley as a large cargo vehicle appeared in Qianye’s vision . The one behind the steering wheel was a werewolf while two arachne were cramped into the rear seat . They could only prop a few of their limbs outside because their large bodies weren’t able to fit entirely into the compartment . The sword spiders and wargs roamed at either side of the convoy . These less intelligent cannon fodder preferred running through the wilds than being crammed into these tin cans .  

Qianye raised his Eagleshot and locked the crosshairs onto the target . The arachne with eye-catching white stripes on its abdomen was the leader of this trade procession and the only rank seven monster . Half the battle would be won so long as it was killed .

The foremost cargo truck suddenly spat out large clouds of black smoke and came to a halt . The agitated werewolves from the cars behind jumped down and growled menacingly as they glanced at the surroundings .

“Bernt! What is it this time?” the arachne impatiently shouted .

The tall werewolf roared in reply, “The scent of vampires is in the air and it’s extremely fresh . You know there shouldn’t be vampires in this area!”

The arachne shivered slightly . “Hold on, I’ll come down to take a look . ” Moving its large body took some effort, almost as if it was trying to pull its bulging abdomen out of the car .

This action became the cause of its death .

A red light flashed in the distance . Sensing great danger, the arachne let out a screech and hacked away at the car with its limbs . This action didn’t merely break apart the vehicle but also hacked the other arachne seating beside him . The rank five fellow was completely split open from the waist up and immediately lost the ability to fight .

But even that didn’t allow the first arachne to escape harm . The incoming bullet was clearly reflected upon the center of its abdomen . The projectile wasn’t merely emitting a hazy origin light but was also surrounded by a band of radiance! The origin power within this bullet had stirred an external reaction . The more colorful it was, the more terrifying the might behind it .

A bloody mist burst out of the arachne’s abdomen and its bulky body was flung back from the momentum .