It is a deserted and remote village called Wuhoude.

It's a big dump, full of low sand dunes and ruins, dotted with equally low, patched tents.

The land here is barren, only sand millet can be grown, most of the people live by working as traders, and most of the people who remain in the village are old, weak, sick and disabled.

In recent years, there has been less and less groundwater in the vicinity, and water has become the most precious and valuable resource for survival. The village is weak and has no competition, so it can only make a living from a seepage well, and can only get two small buckets of water per hour.

Five days earlier, a strange group of Julians had come to the village, rudely announced that the village's land had been bought by them, and had produced several papers, whether they were true or not, bearing the seal of the governor of the city of Dorihachi.

Then they began to build a large construction project, leveling one tent after another along with the low sand dunes, and they didn't know what to do.

Calafate and Daq lay on a sand dune, their bodies buried in the sand, with only their eyes exposed.

Calafate whispered to Dark, who was also lying on his stomach, "That's the Julia." ”

Duck looked over the sand dunes to see a group of men in black in white shawls and fur hats leveling the land in an orderly manner. Some of them instructed the villagers to tear down tents and broken walls, some shouted at the livestock to grind, and some held longbows and looked around vigilantly.

Duck stared intently for a while, didn't see any clues, and asked, "What other villages are there around here?"

"Khutard and Negard. One is in the northwest and the other is in the east, about three kilometers. The three villages are about twenty kilometers from the city of Dorihachi. ”

Duck complimented the young man, "Good." ”

"Master, something is wrong, have you noticed the villagers?"

Darker searched intently and said, "No, where did they go? Hidden, moved away?"

"No way. There are only old and weak women and children left in the village, and there is no food and no water, and they can't walk. ”

An ominous premonition rose in Dark's mind: "Are there any other observation sites nearby?"

"Yes, go around it. ”

"Let's go. ”

The two crept to the back of the village and found a huge, freshly filled sand pit. There are already sand slimes on top of the pit that are starting to gather.

Dark's cheek twitched.

Sand slimes are fanatical liquids, and they can be found everywhere from the ground to the ground. Now they are clustered in large numbers on the shallow surface, which is unusual.

With a burst of cursing and cursing, two guards carried a dead body with hoes and shovels, walked to the edge of the sand pit, and began to dig the pit.

The sand pit was buried deeper, and the two of them threw the dead body into it with great difficulty, filled it up, and then cursed and left.

Duck could see clearly that when the body was being dumped, there were several hands and feet overlapping in the pit.

No need to ask, this must be a villager from Wuhoude Village.

Calafaten's eyes were red, and he tried to get up with his hands and feet. He was pushed to the ground by Dark. He struggled desperately, but Dark's big hands were like iron tongs, and he couldn't move.

"People can't be resurrected after death, and red eyes can't take revenge. ”

Calafate clenched his fist in his mouth and pressed the whimper back down his throat.

"There are so many of them, we used to die. Find out what they're doing, or you'll have more people dead. ”

Calafate nodded as he wept silently.

Duck handed him a piece of dry food. He took it, chewing quickly, his blood-red eyes staring at the Julia as they walked up and down the village.

The two continued to lurk silently.

For the whole afternoon, the people of Julia only cleared the ruins and leveled the land, and did nothing else.

The sun was about to set over the horizon, and the surroundings were in obscurity, and several horse-drawn carriages drove into the village.

Most of the obstacles are cleared and the view is excellent.

The light was too dim for Calafate to see clearly, but Duck could see through the ghostfire mask.

Several big men jumped out of the carriage of the carriage, and moved piles of equipment down the carriage with their hands and feet, and a man in black stood by to supervise, and there were three or four overseers. Whoever moves a little rougher, immediately a violent reprimand and whipping.

Soon, the equipment and materials were piled up and arranged in different categories.

The executioners who had arrived earlier also came to help, moving some of the more coarse materials such as steel bars and timber to the designated location.

Calafate whispered, "Master, it looks like they're going to assemble an alchemy machine, and they're laying the foundation. ”

"You know alchemy?"

"I learned a little bit, but there was no money...... Hey, the man in black, what did he take? a little long box on the ground? a level, it must be a spirit level!"

The spirit level is a leveling instrument commonly used by alchemists, and it is as simple as filling a hollowed-out crystal with a drop of water and then sealing it. Draw a red line in the middle of the crystal tube perpendicular to the ground, as long as the water droplets can stay at the red line and not offset, this position is horizontal.

"Shhhh ”

The man in black quickly found several horizontal positions, and he walked around, selected one of them, and beckoned his men to start ping-pong.

Soon, a miniature five-meter-tall slender iron tower was erected.

At this moment, the others came with several huge rolls of thin silver-white blankets and pushed them away.

These blankets are large in size, each with tens of square meters, spread on the ground, and even in the dim light, they are still bright and dazzling.

They connected the wire at the bottom of the blanket and connected the other end of the wire to the tower.

The man in black began to set up a formation near the tower, and then inserted several light magic crystals in the center of the array.

Duck whispered, "Let your little brother go back and report the news, tell Lord Sahil, and let him bring someone to come over at about one o'clock tonight." ”

"Understood. ”

Calafate quietly retreated to the anticline of the dune, whispered a few words to the two brothers, and the two crept down the dune and ran away in a puff of smoke.

By the time he returned, Duck had already begun to organize his equipment, untying Yatai's gan knife behind his back and pinning a sharp dagger to his waist.

Calafate knew what Duck was going to do at a glance: "Master, our people haven't arrived yet, do you want to-"

"No, you wait here, I'll go in and see what's going on, there's something weird about that machine. ”

"I'll go with you!"

"Don't hold back, wait here. They are defensive. ”

"Why?"

"Because there can be no village with only the old and the weak, women and children left. If the young man does not return for a long time, there must be something strange, they can't not think of this, the defense must be very tight. So we're going to sneak in, and the fewer people the better. You wait here, Lord Sahir, and they will come to understand the situation. ”

"Yes. ”

The night was already dark, and the humming and trembling of the alchemy circle had gradually stopped, and there was silence except for the torches swimming around.

Under the cover of night, Duck cautiously crept into the village, and after about an hour, slipped out unscathed. Just in time to catch up with Sahil, who had arrived to meet them.

Duck put it succinctly: "The people of Julia slaughtered the village, leaving no one alive. They built an energy storage tower to power a larger alchemy device. There were thirty-two men in all, well equipped. There are two leaders, a leader of the Julia mercenaries and an alchemist of Doland. ”

Sahil said: "It is not uncommon for the Julia people to have no country of their own, and it is not uncommon for thirty or fifty people to form a group as mercenaries, but how did they get together with the Dolanders?

"This place is vast and sparsely populated, and in order to cover up his whereabouts, he killed the whole village, and he can't let go of this blood debt alone. ”

"We have few people, how can we deal with it?"

"I'm doing something to their energy storage tower, and we'll ...... like this in a moment."

"Got it!"