Three days later, Fern and Rick continued to make their way along the foothills of the Pilatus Mountains, passing them in a number of convoys, including nobles escorted by well-equipped mercenary teams, as well as small groups of only a few men.

The group's surroundings slowly changed from a yellow gravel to a yellow-green grassland, and there were more hidden water sources, and Fern could always find a creek on the humble hillside to replenish their shriveled water bladder.

Rick often expressed his worries about whether he would be able to cross the Pilatus Mountains with his family before the dark tide caught up, and this time he walked over to Fern again. "Fern, how many days will it take to get to that gap? You see there are more people than we can count, and I don't want my whole family to die at the hands of those monsters. ”

Fern pointed to the mountain peaks in the distance, where there was already some greenery. "Look over there, Rick, it's no longer an earthy yellow, it's green, we're far away from the desert of Rodanok, and it's going to get greener and greener. ”

"Well, green does make me feel better, I hope you'll forgive me for bothering you so often. Rick sighed, and could see that Fern's words hadn't made him much more relaxed.

Fern glanced back at the exhausted others behind him, then glanced up the hillside. "Let's rest for a while, there should be a water source there, we can replenish some water. ”

Not long after the group sat down to rest, another group of people came from the rear on horseback, led by two mercenaries, followed by a dozen travelers dressed in ordinary clothes. The mercenary who took the lead stopped in front of Fern and greeted him in a friendly manner. "Hey, man, my name is Jacquesson, do you know where there's a water source nearby?" the mercenary tilted his head to his companion behind him. "We can only last until tomorrow evening, but we haven't found a source for three days. ”

Fern looked at the dozen or so people behind the mercenary, and Jacques noticed it, and then smiled. "Don't worry, they are all villagers of a small village in Rodanoke, and they can only hire us two mercenaries of very poor level if they put together the valuable things of the whole village, and they will not pose any threat to you, presumably we have the same destination. ”

Fern nodded, stood up and picked up a couple of water bladders. "Come with me. ”

Jacques and his companion glanced at each other, then picked up the water bladder and followed. In just over half an hour, the mercenaries were fully loaded, and the Rick family had already mingled with the villagers in the clearing, and a middle-aged man among the villagers invited Fern and his party to accompany them.

Before Fern could say anything, Rick looked embarrassed. "It's an honor to be invited by you, but you see that you all have mounts, and we only have two horses, so we obviously can't keep up with you, and walking with you will only slow you down. ”

The village chief walked back and discussed with the two mercenaries for a moment, and finally walked up to Fern and Rick again, shook his head, and said, "I'm sorry, I suggested to Jacques that we share mounts, but he very firmly rejected my offer, and I think we had to separate." ”

Fern shrugged. "Jacques Sen's decision is right, village chief, their primary goal is to escort you to your destination, not us. ”

Finally, in order to apologize, the village chief gave some dried cheese to Fern and his party, and after saying goodbye, disappeared into the dust raised by the horses' hooves. Fern and his party set off later, and they were traveling much slower, but Fern knew that if he could follow his own pace, he would reach his destination one day, no matter how fast or slow.

The sky was slowly turning crimson, the Pilatus Mountains were blood-red with the sunset, and the group was tired from a day's trek, and Fern was about to start looking for a suitable place to spend the night, when a distant rock caught his eye. It was an earthy yellow rock lying on the ground, and there were several similar rocks around it, but this one had a dark red patch on it, which was even more faint in the light of the setting sun.

Fern's heart sank, and he tightened his grip on the scabbard. "Pick up your arms and keep an eye on your surroundings!" he said, slowly walking forward.

When Rick and Joshu heard this, they immediately drew their weapons, nervously protected their families, and followed Fern.

Fern could see the dark red on the stone, and as he expected, it was a bloodstain, and he found several other stains of blood that had not yet had time to be treated. "Wait a while, don't do it without my instructions, leave it to me... ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a dozen sword-wielding robbers suddenly appeared from the hillside, shouting and rushing towards Fern's group, but in a matter of seconds they surrounded them. Rick surrounded the two horses behind the family, and then he and Josh stood in front to protect his wife and younger children. Qiao Shu was still very young after all, he had never seen this formation, his legs were weak and he almost fell to his knees, if it wasn't for his father holding him, I'm afraid he would have fallen. Rick looked at the dozen robbers in front of him, he knew that he was dead this time, and all he could do now was to pin all his hopes on Fern.

Fern remained still, unfazed, and he watched his surroundings with his eyes, and quickly found the bandit leader, a thin man with a cleanly shaved beard, but he showed his cruelty even more.

The bandit leader was surprised to see Fern's calm appearance, and couldn't help but speak first. "You don't seem to be scared at all, do you know how many people we killed?"

"I don't know. Fern looked at the other coldly. "But I know how many people you've just killed. ”

"Oh, then you knelt down and begged for mercy without fear?" the bandit leader sneered, "don't look at their numbers, they are about the same number as us, and there are two mercenaries to protect them, but they dare not resist at all, watching us kill the mercenaries, and begging for a way to survive with all our possessions." ”

"They're just civilians, all you want is money, why do you want to kill them all?" Fern's tone didn't change.

The bandit leader laughed and said, "Without the protection of the mercenaries, they will soon starve to death on the road, and even if they can survive, they will still be killed by the dark tide in the end, so it is better to let me solve them here and reduce the pain." ”

Ferne's face was expressionless. "How long have you been here?"

The bandit leader walked around Fern and looked him up and down. "I'm dying, and I'm asking so much!" Before he could finish speaking, he raised his scimitar and slashed at Fern.

With the exclamation of the Rick family, a cold light flashed, and Fern's sword was unsheathed, firmly against the scimitar, through the sword, Fern's sharp eyes were firmly fixed on the other party. "So, you didn't let go of any of the people who passed by?"

The corners of the bandit leader's mouth curled. "We don't dare to mess with the well-armed nobles, but the commoners ...... Hehe, it's also their luck to die in my hands, my knife is fast, and it won't leave any pain. ”

Fern's gaze was still fixed on the other. "My sword is faster, and you won't be in pain. ”

"Whit......" The bandit leader's mouth was only halfway open when he felt a burning heat gush out of his neck, he threw away his scimitar, and put his hands on his neck, but he couldn't stop the bright red from squirting from between his fingers, and then with a click in his throat, he fell to his knees and fell forward, and in a few seconds his body was dyed red.

The other robbers were shocked when they saw the scene in front of them, they didn't expect their boss to die like this, and before they could react, a few more cold lights flashed, and several robbers fell in pools of blood, and they didn't even have time to scream.

The rest of the robbers finally relented and raised their swords to lunge at Fern, only to fall under Fern's sword after a few scattered swords clashing. The last bandit, before he could rush to Fern, stopped and stepped back tremblingly. "You...... Who the hell are you?"

Fern walked over to him and did not answer his question. "The dark tide is coming, and you are still killing innocents here. ”

"I ...... I'm just following the boss's orders, it's none of my business!" The robber was about to cry when he spotted Rick's family nearby, and his face suddenly burst into murderous light and rushed towards them.

He had just taken a few steps when a dagger stabbed through his left temple, pierced through his right, and stabbed across his head. The robber's eyes widened in horror and he slowly fell.

Fern walked slowly, pulled the dagger from the robber's head, cut off a large piece of clothing from him, and wiped his sword and dagger. Rick's family, who were a few steps away from him, looked at him with arrogance, as if he was more terrible than the robbers.

Fern turned his head to look at Rick, his eyes calm restored. "Let's take a different place to rest. ”