Cataphracts, surviving in a world full of mods

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent. After a long while, they looked at each other and saw the determination in each other's eyes... Although this determination still seemed weak, it was quite unified at this moment.

The middle-aged man with the big nose nodded:

“You’re right, Ark. I agree to take the risk. Anyway, there’s a high chance we won’t run into any trouble… but you two need to be quick-witted. We’ll find a way to make a scene.”

Having settled their matter, they didn't linger any longer. Three people continued to explore forward, while the other two remained in the shadows to observe.

Having already explored the area quite thoroughly, they had a general idea of ​​what to expect. They all headed towards the last possible location, quickly searching the surrounding alleyways. After finding nothing, they finally focused their attention on the courtyard.

This courtyard has an owner, but the family has been busy doing business and purchasing goods in distant places, leaving the place empty for a long time. It is usually locked, but today it is clearly open.

Seeing the brass lock hanging on the door knocker, the three knew this was the place. Yak led the way, and they slowly crept inside... Then, in unison, they froze, exchanging glances.

What appeared before them was not some eerie, dark scene... to be precise, it was indeed quite eerie, but not dark. Upon entering the courtyard, the two houses in front of them were lit up, but there was not a sound coming from them, only the flickering light of the torches inside.

This scene was quite frightening, making one's mind involuntarily wander to guess where the person who lit these lights had gone... And once that thought started, it was hard to stop; even the lewd Ark's face turned pale. Finally, he licked his lips and forced himself to calm down.

"Slow down, I'll search the west room first. You two watch the east room... If anything happens, sound the alarm immediately."

After saying that, he gritted his teeth and walked first to the west room—this looked like the kitchen where they usually cooked and ate. Because the Zhu family was well-off, it was quite spacious. At this moment, there was a fire burning inside, and it was just as quiet.

He gently pushed open the door with the short sword in his hand, every movement extremely careful, as if his joints were frozen with frost. He moved forward haltingly, his face twitching with tension, his teeth clenched like pliers.

He's starting to regret not bringing his shield when he came out because he thought it was too bulky. With a shield, if someone inside really wanted to harm him, he could at least stop them for a while and not be knocked over all at once.

Fortunately, the big-nosed man behind him was holding a hunting bow, which he was also nervously drawing back, ready to support him at any moment.

Just as he guessed, this was the kitchen where they ate and cooked. At this moment, in addition to the smell of burning torches, there was also the smell of leftover oil from the food. On a low table were leftover bones and bowls, and on a large plate was a small knife on a half-eaten loaf of bread. Oily juices were dripping down the edges of the table, and there were five very messy glasses that smelled of alcohol.

It was clear that someone had just eaten and drunk there, as the room was now a mess of cups and plates. However, no one was lying drunk on the table. He cautiously peeked his head out from beside the table and quickly scanned the entire room. After finding no one, he slowly stood up and began to search carefully.

There was a cabinet in the room, but when he opened it, it only contained some bowls and plates. So he pushed open a side door again and entered the kitchen where the stove was located.

There were no lights on here, so he had to turn back to get a torch, but after illuminating the way, he still found nothing... The pot showed no signs of being used for cooking, and it was even rusty from water stains. The firewood next to it was covered with a thick layer of dust, indicating that no one had used it.

Yak scratched his head and searched carefully again, but in the end he could only helplessly walk out of the west room and call the other two to approach the east room together.

This time they were much bolder. They pushed the door open and rushed in, brandishing their knives, ready to shout threats. Whoever it was, they'd take them down first...

What came into their view was a low wooden bed, on which were four drunkards, but strangely, they were not snoring; only their chests and abdomens were rising and falling slightly.

The three men exchanged a glance, each seeing deep surprise in the other's eyes—weren't these the four guys they were looking for? What were they doing asleep here?!

Without hesitation, Yak hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed the leader of the group, and slapped him twice across the face, leaving red marks on his cheeks.

The two slaps were delivered without any restraint; normally, they would have been enough to leave someone feeling suffocated for a while. But at this moment, the man who had been slapped twice was still fast asleep, limp and boneless in the man's hands.

"Could it be that someone has drugged her?"

The big-nosed man who came with him also pulled up another person, and even pinched the soft skin on the other person's side with his fingernails, twisting it until a bruise appeared, but still couldn't wake the guy up. Then he said to him somewhat uneasily.

"We need to find a way to wake them up quickly and find out what happened, Dosa! Go fetch a bucket of water from the well outside!"

They went through a lot of trouble to drag the guys out of the house and into the yard, then drew cold water from the well and poured it over their heads without any hesitation.

This really worked. After one bucket went down, several people started to move. After all, the feeling of being soaked and icy cold was quite stimulating. They continued, going down the slope with several more buckets until one of them took two mouthfuls, suddenly got up and started coughing violently, and they finally stopped.

"Brother Taylor, what are you doing?!"

"What?! I'd like to ask you guys what's going on? You're in charge of patrolling this area tonight, what's with you all so drunk?!"

Before the drunkard could even regain his footing, Ark pounced on him, grabbed his shoulders and shook him violently, causing water droplets to splash all over the guy's hair, and finally letting the drunkard see what he looked like.

"Ah, Ark, what are you doing here..."

After catching his breath a couple more times, he was mostly out of his daze. He looked left and right with some confusion… When he finally saw the pitch-black night, he jumped up as if he'd been bitten by a dog, his face instantly contorted with panic.

"What time is it now? Damn it, how did it get dark in the blink of an eye!"

"It'll be almost dawn soon! Are you crazy? What exactly happened? Explain yourself. I didn't hear any of you patrolling around here tonight, so I came looking for you. When I got here, I found the four of you sleeping like logs on the bed, and you'd been drinking."

He was struck dumb, his face trembled, and he dared not hide anything.

“We did have a few drinks. A guy named Tyler Catos treated us. He said he was the older brother of the owner of this house and had the keys to the yard. We met at a bar and got along quite well, so…”

"You still have errands to run today, how dare you go drinking?!"

"That's what I said at the time, but the person was just too polite and enthusiastic... and it was still early, we thought we could have a few drinks and still have time to get things done... who knew that after just a couple of sips... and then I opened my eyes and it was this time."

He frowned. He remembered the five cups he'd seen on the table earlier. Clearly, there should have been another person here. This person had persuaded the four-man patrol team to come into the yard for drinks, and then quietly left...

A sense of foreboding was surging through his mind, almost bursting his heart... He didn't think things were such a coincidence. These four people weren't exactly heavy drinkers, but they shouldn't have passed out after just a couple of sips, unable to be woken up no matter what. There was a high chance they had been ambushed.

Why would this guy ambush a patrol? Sooner or later, someone would find them and wake them up. What could he possibly accomplish in such a short time? And why would he need this much time?

As Yak thought about it, he became increasingly alarmed, but at the same time, a strange sense of excitement began to emerge in his heart—a kind of exhilaration at seizing clues and opportunities, which made him rack his brains to think.

Eliminating the patrol teams in this area is certainly not the other party's goal, but merely a means to achieve it. This guy needs to be unguarded here for a period of time so he can accomplish his objective... But what is the most crucial thing here, capable of stirring up unrest?

The area here consists mostly of ordinary houses. It used to be a fairly ordinary neighborhood with two bakeries, a simple tavern, a vegetable stall, and a well that supplied water to the entire area!

Chapter 380 Surge (3)

The more Yak thought about it, the more convinced he became. In an instant, he broke out in a cold sweat and even trembled. The hand that had been gripping the drunkard's collar unconsciously loosened its grip.

The other guys were doused with two more buckets of cold water, and then they finally woke up one after another. They started yelling things like, "Why does my face hurt so much?" and "Why is my waist bruised?" They were kicked and beaten to their feet by the other two, and they were all startled by the pitch-black night, so they all panicked.

At this moment, Ark felt his limbs getting cold. He realized that this was no longer a small matter that they could handle alone, so he made a quick decision and turned around to shout behind him.

"Barbosado! Tell those two outside to report to the garrison immediately. Someone may have poisoned our wells. Hurry!"

Finally, he turned his head back:

"We can't just sit here doing nothing, we have to go check it out! Hurry up and get everything ready, stop standing there doing nothing. If you guys don't get to work done, you're in big trouble tomorrow!"

"Bring your torches and weapons here, quickly! We need to go check this out, hurry!"

Without giving the four drunkards time to process their actions, he kicked and punched them out the door. Knowing there was no time to waste, Yak made the necessary arrangements and led the others towards the well. Their hurried footsteps quickly dispelled the silence of the night, even lighting up some houses.

Of course, since no alarms have been sounded yet, there are only some awakened civilians peeking through the windows. It hasn't reached the point of mobilizing the masses yet... but it might change in a little while.

None of them dared to slow down; they all ran until they were drenched in sweat, panting heavily. Barbossado, the slightly overweight one with the big nose, in particular, had run until his face was flushed, and the sweat had made his hair stick to his forehead in small curls.

As they ran, the gap between them naturally widened due to their physical condition. The overweight and weak Barbossado naturally fell to the back, and later he even had to use the shaft of his spear to support himself while panting heavily.

Just as they were not far from the well, after running breathlessly for a while, they saw the stone well platform surrounded by three houses in the distance.

"Stop for a moment, move slowly, let's go together."

Upon arriving here, Yak became more vigilant. He urged everyone to slow down, form a line, and then approach, to prevent anyone from preparing to ambush them.

As they got closer and closer to the well, everyone's hearts were in their throats. Barbossado even felt a little hesitant to move his legs. This was partly because he had run too fast earlier, but also because he was afraid of losing his life there. After all, he had never been a brave person.

This well platform is also an old well, which has been providing water to the people here for more than a hundred years. About 20 years ago, the nearby residents raised some money to build a stone well curb. Children who play around here are usually scolded and driven away, for fear that they will dirty the water.

This is also because it is the only sweet water well in the city. Wells in other places have become bitter and unpalatable due to the accumulation and sinking of sewage, which pollutes the groundwater. Even slightly wealthy people would have their servants come here to fetch water. In the past, this place was even controlled by a gang, which used it to make money.

Now, most of the former gang members have become heads on flagpoles near the city gate, so this well truly belongs to them, and they naturally dare not neglect it.

The well was covered with a bluestone slab to keep out dust and debris. Under their torchlight, the slab remained perfectly in place, seemingly unaffected… but this well was used daily, and not a speck of dust ever accumulated around it. At this moment, there was no way to determine if someone had tampered with it. After all, those four guys had been sleeping since evening; they had plenty of time for someone else to do as they pleased.

In the end, they could only move the stone slab aside, then light torches and peer out at the shimmering water below, trying to discern any clues that made things different from usual.

This was obviously a waste of time. The water inside neither changed color nor produced any impurities. Even if they found a wooden bucket and scooped up a bucketful, it would be the same. Although they dared not taste it, it looked no different from ordinary water, still clear and icy cold. The four guys who had drunk too much that day couldn't help but swallow and want to take a few sips to quench their thirst.

Just as he was at a loss, Yak, who was scratching his head, suddenly noticed a large, gray rat sniffing around in the alley next door. He immediately had a plan:

"...Be quiet, look, there's a fat rat over there. Let's catch it and let it drink some water..."

The others nodded in agreement, since they couldn't think of any other way. Barbossa volunteered to catch the mouse.

The fat man with the big nose looked left and right, then grabbed a clump of soil from a nearby flowerpot, added some water to make a sticky mess, aimed at the direction the mouse was heading, weighed it in his hand, and then threw it forward with a thud—

With a snap, the mud accurately covered the unsuspecting mouse. The sticky mud made it difficult for the agile and light creature to escape despite its desperate struggles. Barbossado, however, had already jumped up from the ground and grabbed the mouse before it could break free of the mud.

This was a brilliant move, but the others were already used to it. They just urged Barbossado to bring the rat back quickly, and a group of people gathered around with torches, watching intently as the rat was soaked in water and drank its fill.

Half-drowned, the rodent was terrified. It was struggling desperately in the fat man's hand, but couldn't break free. The attention of the surrounding men was all focused on it, anxious yet strangely expectant.

Yak was equally worried—no one wanted the well to be contaminated, otherwise he couldn't imagine how they would drink water in the future, or how they would manage their business… The reason their bread was soft and sweet was thanks to the sweet water here; if they used bitter water from other places…

Things seemed to be turning for the better. Despite being stared at for a long time, the mouse remained energetic, constantly turning its head and trying to bite the hand that was holding it.

Finally, after their legs had gone numb from squatting, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Barbossa was even ready to throw the rat away:

"Looks like we were overthinking it... That guy named Taylor probably didn't come here with any designs on this place; maybe he's after something else..."

At this point, a strange smile appeared on his face. His gaze kept drifting downwards as he looked at the four drunkards. Even Ark couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing, along with the other unrelated people. For a moment, the air was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

The guy who messed up the job blushed, but couldn't really explain himself, so he could only mumble a few curses while worrying about what would happen next... Of course, there were also two who had started to have doubts, and they were even more worried at this moment.

Just as they were relaxing, heavy footsteps and the clanging of armor suddenly came from the street in the distance. Accompanied by the officers' shouts and a large number of torches, countless torches illuminated the entire street as if it were daytime. Under the torches, a group of soldiers in full armor and carrying weapons were approaching.

The leading officer, whose helmet had brass trim, carried a shield in one hand and a battle axe in the other. He walked briskly straight toward them, waving them over from a distance.

The group straightened up somewhat awkwardly, then quickly approached in the formation they had practiced in the past, stopping about five steps away from each other and saluting first.

"What exactly happened? I heard that a thief is trying to poison the well. Where is the thief? Have you seen him?"

The officer looked around impatiently, his expression surprisingly excited. He unconsciously twirled the axe in his hand, as if ready to chop someone at any moment. This sent chills down the spines of the patrol team members. The murderous aura emanating from him was almost impossible to conceal, and even the axe seemed to carry a hint of bloodlust on its blade.

Yak had no doubt that the officer in front of him had at least a dozen lives on his hands, and that such a ruthless man was actually assigned to maintain order in a city, which even made him feel a little flattered.

"Report: We noticed that a patrol team had not been on patrol as scheduled. When we came to look for them, we found that they had been drugged and knocked unconscious. So we guessed that the target might be the most important well in this area, which is why we came to check."

"Oh, so have you found anything?"

The officer's beard twitched as he looked around, his attention always focused on his surroundings, even when he was talking to people.

“We suspect the well water may have been poisoned, but we caught a rat and tested it, and there was nothing wrong with it… We are currently preparing to search other areas.”

"...Is this the rat you're talking about?"

The officer suddenly stopped, then frowned, took two steps forward, picked up a twitching mouse from the corner of the well, and showed it to them.

The rat that Babusado had just thrown away, which had been quite energetic, was now twitching its limbs and nervously gnawing at its own tail, drawing blood but refusing to let go, its gray fur bristling like a hedgehog.

"Yes, yes, that's the one. Just now... just a moment ago, this rat was perfectly normal. The well water really is poisonous!"

Everyone's expression changed drastically, especially Barbossado, who had just soaked his hands in water for half a day. His face turned pale as he frantically wiped his hands on the pillar next to him, even though his hands had long since dried.

"Sound the alarm and seal off the surrounding area. Commander, please order the city gates closed and everyone to refrain from drinking well water for the time being."

The officer, frowning, turned and calmly gave the order, then turned back to look at them:

Which patrol team is responsible for patrolling this area?