The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 645 Fellow Travelers
Yibula waved his hand and gave the order, filling the camp with a murderous aura.

at the same time.

On a gentle slope a hundred feet away from the Tatar camp, an old man, dressed in tattered clothes and covered in bloodstains, closed his eyes and used his inner strength to suppress his heartbeat and breathing to the limit. Only after the patrolling alien celestial beings left and a cup of tea had passed did he slowly open his eyes.

He stared at the departing Tumed tribe for a long time.

The old man slowly crawled backward with barely perceptible movements. Once he reached the bottom of the gentle slope, he paused for a moment to make sure there were no patrolling alien celestial beings around before suddenly standing up and using his lightness skill to quickly leave.

A moment later, the old man disappeared into a dense forest.

He slowed his pace and stopped after walking several dozen feet.

A short knife silently pressed against his back.

"The king of heaven overshadows the tigers of earth."

The old man breathed a sigh of relief.

"The pagoda suppresses the river demon... There's something going on. Take me to see the two pacification envoys."

There was a rustling sound behind him, and the short knife moved up and hooked around his neck.

"excuse me."

The person behind him reached out and poked the old man several times, shutting down the old man's five senses.

The disparity between the enemy and ourselves is enormous, and no one can guarantee that they can escape the detection of the alien celestials. As scouts, they could fall into the hands of the Tatars at any time, and the celestials can basically regenerate flesh and blood... This means that the enemy can prolong the torture to the point of destroying anyone's mind, so no scout can know the most critical information about their own side.

Especially the position of the commander.

This was a necessary precaution, and the old man was well aware of it.

When faced with life-or-death situations and matters of great importance, no one cares whether they are trusted or not.

The old man had lost his five senses, only feeling someone pull his arm and swirl around him several times until he completely lost his bearings, at which point he began to walk straight ahead. About an incense stick's time later, they stopped and released his pressure points.

"I'm sorry, senior."

The guards apologized and turned to leave before he could see clearly.

The old man squinted, then refocused his gaze.

The firelight flickered, making the daytime light dim. The dense forest overhead completely blocked out the sunlight, making it difficult to determine one's location by the sky. The air was thick with the stench of blood, and the ground was covered with countless human bodies lying haphazardly, crowding the small clearing in the forest.

Elder Zhou…

Someone shouted.

The old man looked down and sighed.

"Master Li."

The man who spoke was lying on the ground, his left arm and left leg were completely bald, and half of his face was missing. If the old man hadn't also come from the Beggars' Sect and were quite familiar with each other, he really wouldn't have recognized him... This was the reason why the old man sighed; this man was about to die.

"you……"

The old man hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to say.

The man laughed heartily.

"Is there any good news?"

"Hmm... I don't know if it counts, but there is indeed some news."

"That's fine, that's fine."

The man propped himself up with his only remaining right hand and laughed.

"News means change, and change means hope. It's not in vain that I gave my life here!"

Seeing that the old man had no intention of talking to him, he was taken aback for a moment, then realized what was going on and said with a wry smile.

"I saw an acquaintance before I died, and I was overjoyed, which is why I started talking to you."

"Elder Zhou, there's no need to waste your time on a dead man like me—"

He pointed.

"The two garrison commanders and the Wudang masters are over there. Elder Zhou, go quickly!"

The old man nodded and strode forward. He hadn't gone far when he finally couldn't help but turn back.

"Does Chief Li have any unfulfilled wishes, if I can survive—"

He stopped halfway through his sentence.

In the short span of time he took to walk forward, Chief Li, who had just been talking to him, collapsed to the ground... He was dead, and did not hear the old man's reply.

creak-

The old man gritted his teeth again and clenched his fists.

After a few breaths, he calmed himself down and was about to step forward to close the corpse's eyes.

But as soon as he moved, a petite figure walked past him, crouched down beside the corpse, and placed her hand on its chest. A rustling sound was heard, and several Gu worms burst open the chest and burrowed into the sleeve of the hand.

As the Gu worms left the body, the corpse convulsed a few times, then white smoke billowed from all over its body, and the flesh and blood instantly turned into pus before collapsing. In just a few breaths, only a wet, blood-soaked garment remained on the ground.

"you!"

The old man was both shocked and furious.

"Chief Li sacrificed his life for the country, how can you insult his body like this... Shouldn't he be given a proper burial!"

Seeing an acquaintance die before his eyes, his grief still lingering, the body was turned into a pool of pus and blood. How could he bear it?

But the petite figure let out a cold laugh.

"Dead is dead, what's the point of talking about insults?"

She turned around, revealing her pale face.

"My Gu worms allowed him to pass away without pain, and saved time on burial. What's wrong with that? Do you think we're playing house?"

"But--"

The old man was furious.

Because of his outstanding martial arts skills and rich experience in the martial arts world, he had been acting as a scout since he arrived here, and only returned after seeing the Tumed tribe's actions. Therefore, he had no idea about the situation here... Even though he knew that the other party had made the most rational choice, he couldn't accept it for a while, and his mind was not yet calm. He couldn't help but step forward to continue arguing with the petite girl.

But as soon as he took a step, he heard a burst of laughter from all around him.

"Little Fourth Miss... no, Commander Li is right!"

“That’s right. We should be happy to be able to leave easily without causing trouble for the living. How can you call it an insult? Elder Zhou is an old hand. How could he say such a muddled thing?”

"If it weren't for Miss Si's Gu worms, we would have been in so much pain that we would have soiled ourselves by now. How could we possibly put on a brave and heroic act! Miss Si has given us a shred of dignity. How can you, old man, be so ungrateful!"

"Yes! Yes!"

The old man was taken aback, stopped in his tracks, and turned to look.

But then they saw the wounded lying on the ground all raise their heads, smiling as they looked this way, shouting in unison. Their tone was relaxed, as if they were chatting casually on the street, as if they weren't talking about their own lives at all.

The old man hesitated for a moment.

My eyes welled up with tears, and all my anger vanished.

Yet, a mix of cool and warm emotions rose from the depths of my heart.

Having spent decades wandering the martial world and being a member of the Beggars' Sect, he had only ever seen petty scheming, bravado, and hypocrisy, so he always scoffed at the chivalrous heroes in novels... But today, facing a group of dying people, his old heart, which had been wandering the martial world for decades, began to beat violently for the first time in a long time.

"I see."

The old man bowed his head and gave a deep bow to Xiao Si.

"It was my overzealousness, I hope you will forgive me, Commander. And... thank you very much, Commander."

Xiao Si's expression softened slightly, and he nodded.

"It's alright. Since they risked their lives, I should do something for them. It's none of your business, so you don't need to thank me."

She turned around.

"Let's go, I'll take you to see the two garrison commanders."

(End of this chapter)