Not only the Markey clan, but lots of clans had established places to gather intelligence throughout the Continent. Big clans would set up an intelligence network in Montenegro Fortress, not to check out military affairs, since not many military events occur here. They established it only for one main purpose: talent!
The aristocracy in the Ark Continent, after thousands of years, naturally was very aware of the importance of talent. For a noble, a powerful warrior would be a great help to them, so those major clans would send intelligence agents to Montenegro where mercenaries and adventurers were concentrated. They had to find potential warriors that could become the strengths of those clans.
It was precisely because of this that, when Zhao appeared in Montenegro Fortress, a lot of large clans had received messages regarding their arrival.
But those people that were tracking Zhao had miscalculated. They did not consider that Zhao would stay out of the towns that he passed, and that he would go into his space and rest at night, so there is no way for those people who were trying to track him find his whereabouts.
With such a performance from Zhao, the people were surer that he was a black mage.
Zhao was not aware of the people that were following him. He was just going at his own pace, his speed not being too fast. Going to Casa City from Montenegro, even with a horse, would take seven days, and Zhao was riding on his undead with a similar speed.
Right now it has only been three days, and in this period of time they have ran into two towns and numerous small villages, which showed that the Purcell Duchy was indeed prosperous.
On the morning of the fourth day, they were going along like usual. It was not the rainy season yet, so going through the dirt road was very smooth. But Zhao felt that something was a little off, but he didn't know what it was.
Seeing Zhao looking puzzled, Meg spoke up, "Ah, Master, it's strange. We've been going for more than two hours, but he still hasn’t seen anyone. At this time of day, there should be a lot of people."
It was as Meg said. Zhao finally realized that after two hours, they haven't met a single person today. No wonder he felt weird, like something was lacking.
"Stop," Zhao said as he felt that something was wrong. The undead immediately stopped. Zhao got up and leaned on its ribs to speak to Green. "Grandpa Green, what has happened? Why didn't we meet any people, after so long?"
"I've noticed, Master. But don't worry, we will move forward. I want to see what happened. It's not a big deal anyway, since Master can just go into the space to hide so nobody can find you."
Zhao didn't think that Green had already noticed that something was amiss. Even if it's a little irresponsible, going forward to find out what happened was a valid reason. There was nothing they could do but to keep moving.
Thinking of this, Zhao nodded. "Well, let's go."
Alien immediately started moving at the same pace as before, it really was moving at a leisurely pace. But Zhao and Meg were tense. They didn't have much experience in these situations. Unlike Green who was calm, they restlessly looked around at the surrounding woods, as if at any time a spirit beast would burst out.
To Zhao's surprise, they walked through the whole morning without encountering a single person.
Passing through a village, they carefully looked around, but no one was there. And to Zhao's surprise, there no signs of being attacked, like all the villagers had simply got out of bed and left. They didn't hear any chickens or even the sound of a dog. Complete silence.
Zhao couldn't help but feel a chill going down his back. This village was too strange.