When they returned to Hope Town, it was already midnight.
Before they had even arrived at the town, Yue Yang could smell a dense smell of blood.
In the darkness, a large group of low leveled flesh-eating beasts came out upon smelling the blood in the air. Under the light of the fire, the eyes of these beasts flashed with a faint green colour. From time to time, sounds of quarrels and conflicts burst out. The distinct sound of laughter from hyenas were heard one after another echoing through the town. It was a horrific and strange atmosphere, causing people’s hairs to stand on end hearing it. The town was ablaze. Aside from some houses that were burning, there were countless foot soldiers who were patrolling the area with torches.
All of the mercenaries and civilians who had survived were sitting on the floor, being surrounded by foot soldiers in a circle.
“Are you survivors?” A burly Platoon Leader from the patrol came out from the line and asked Yue Yang and the others warily. “Are there any other survivors on the valley floor? What’s the situation below?”
“We’re all Ivy Academy’s students, we are here to train.” Yue Yang gave the academy-approved Training Application Records and academy badge to the Platoon Leader.
“A student from the Da Xia Empire?” The Platoon Leader furrowed his eyebrows. If he did not manage these students from Da Xia Empire well, this situation might escalate into a dispute between countries as a serious diplomatic incident. After confirming again that there was no mistake, he quickly nodded his head and inquired, “Are there any casualties in your group? No? Then, that’s really good, you’re really lucky! Please come over here to rest. Don’t worry, after you’ve rested up, we’ll send you as quickly as possible back to your country. Before that, we hope that you could help us. Could you tell us about the situation at the Settlement Camp at the valley floor? Are there any survivors below?”
(Shiro: This was previously translated as Camp, Army Camp, Gathering Camp, Mercenary Camp because I lack the better name to translate it and felt one name sounded better with each chapter (apologies :X). But Sephillia managed to find the perfect translation – Settlement Camp. I’ll change the previous chapters to this)
“I don’t know, they’ve probably all died. We escaped the chaos by hiding inside the Ant Hole. After we came out, everyone had died, and there were even meteors falling from the sky! The whole valley floor was in ruins, we were almost buried!” Yue Yang spoke a few sentences in a fleeting manner.
“This situation seemed to be caused by the Golden Ant Eggs.” Ye Kong chipped in.
“Those mercenaries have gone crazy!” Fatty Hai acted as if the incident was haunting him.
“We’re came back to search for our companion. Her name is Yi Nan (Sephillia: He/She in Chinese sounds the same, Yue Yang can’t differentiate between gender with this phrase). She departed two days after we did. Please help us to check if she’s already here.” What Yue Bing was most worried of was still Sister Yi Nan’s safety.
“Alright, I thank you for the information that you have provided. We will record it in your training Training Records to score a few points for you! As for your companion, we will follow up on it. If your companion is still in Hope Town, we will bring the person back as fast as we can!” The Platoon Leader brought Yue Yang and the others into an intact house. Then, he ordered some people to bring hot water and steamed buns for them. After recording the names of Yue Yang and the others, the Platoon Leader hurriedly went out.
After around half an hour, a male dressed up as a general came in.
The Platoon Leader was following behind him respectfully. Seeing the wary expressions on Yue Yang and the others, the Platoon Leader hurriedly waved. “Students, it’s fine! Our general just wanted to understand the situation on the valley floor better. This situation may not be that simple. We need you, Da Xia Empire students, to help us. Everything’s fine. Let’s all sit down and discuss!”
The general whose face was completely stern with his eyebrows furrowed also tried his best to show a smile. “Students, I’m Ma Xing Kong, you may call me Old Ma.” (Sephillia: Ma = Old Horse, Ma Xing Kong = Flying Horse)
“Old General Ma!” Ye Kong and Fatty Hai were in perfect sync as they called him with this name.
“We do not have any records of your companion. Your companion should be as lucky as you and averted this disaster. Perhaps she have not even arrived at all. Students, could you tell us what happened?” That Old General Ma extended his hand and patted the Fatty Hai’s shoulder. Then, leisuredly sat opposite of Yue Yang. He could see that within this team, this low-profile masked guy was the core of the party.
Old General Ma did not doubt this boy’s ability to survive, having a Silver-ranked Level 4 Twin-headed Demon Wolf as his pet.
With him around, it was normal for this party to arrive here safe and sound.
Even if