Chapter 37 Ross: The Dumber the Person, the Deadlier the Blade

"So it's the grain collection team. Is it that time of year already?"

Balon realized.

The villages under the jurisdiction of White Plains City had to pay agricultural taxes. The grain collection team visited each village every year, taking away a portion of the grain as taxes, and in return, the village received the protection of the town. The lord had an obligation to deal with any monster attacks the village might encounter.

Zhou Jing turned to look at Balon.

"Do we need to help?"

"No need. The village chief will summon the villagers to transport the grain. They don't need us," Balon shook his head.

"Alright."

Zhou Jing's eyes darted around. He agreed verbally, but still wanted to take a look and see what was happening.

Balon didn't pay much attention to the grain collection team. After a pause, he said:

"By the way, go to town in a couple of days. Weiss needs to divide the money from selling the prey with us. Go and get it."

"Aren't you going?"

"I'm too lazy to move. You already know the way anyway," Balon waved his hand.

He only went to town when he needed to do something. The rest of the time, he stayed in the village.

Some monster hunters spent their lives walking on the edge of life and death and needed to vent. Many hunters liked to find tavern maids, but Balon didn't know if Zhou Jing had that kind of hobby. Anyway, he wasn't interested. He only liked lifting weights.

So Balon didn't plan to go this time, so as not to embarrass "Jason" from having fun.

"Okay, then I'll go tomorrow. Weiss should have received the money by then."

Zhou Jing nodded in agreement.

He had been to White Plains City several times in the past three months and was already familiar with the route. He could go alone without any problem.

Balon's visit this time was mainly to express his support for Zhou Jing's ambition to venture out. Now that he had said what he needed to say, he bid farewell and left.

After watching Balon leave, Zhou Jing thought for a while and walked to the village entrance.

The village entrance was very lively at this time. Beasts of burden were pulling carts and stopping at the entrance, a dozen soldiers from White Plains City were guarding them, and the tax collector from the grain collection team was negotiating with the villagers of Frostwood Village.

The atmosphere was still peaceful, and the villagers didn't seem to have much resistance.

The two sides quickly finished their discussion. The village chief organized the villagers to carry bags of grain from the mill to the entrance, while the tax collector's men were responsible for counting and loading the carts.

Zhou Jing watched for a while and found that there were no village riots or anything like that.

When he was researching the history of various countries in the main world, he saw many records of grain collectors being stabbed to death with pitchforks, but the villagers in the Monster World cooperated quite well with paying taxes.

'It seems to be because of the threat of monsters. The village can't live without the protection of the town, so they are willing to pay taxes.'

Zhou Jing nodded. After confirming that there was no problem, he didn't plan to stay here any longer.

Just as he was about to leave, his gaze swept over one of the members of the grain collection team and suddenly stopped.

In the crowd, a man with a goatee was calculating the grain with a list in his hand, which Zhou Jing found somewhat familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

"This person..."

Zhou Jing thought for a while and remembered who this person was.

The first time he went to White Plains City, he had almost bumped into a person in the apothecary, and it was this man with a goatee.

If he remembered correctly, this person seemed to be an apprentice at the apothecary, but now he wasn't wearing the apothecary's coarse cloth uniform.

But even though he looked familiar, it was only a chance encounter, so there was no need to go up and talk to him.

Zhou Jing took a few more glances, then walked away to the training ground to start his day's training, sweating profusely.

...

Time quickly came to the afternoon.

The grain collection team finished counting the grain and didn't want to travel at night, so they planned to stay in the village for the night and leave early in the morning tomorrow.

Although Frostwood Village was small, it had a simple tavern. They temporarily found a few villagers to help in the kitchen, barely able to accommodate the grain collection team, setting up ten or so tables in the open air to provide meals for the grain collection team.

The grain collection team members were eating, drinking, and chatting, leaving the villagers of Frostwood Village stunned.

Liner and a group of village children gathered around them, listening to the stories from the outside world with fascination.

When Zhou Jing returned in the sunset, covered in sweat, he saw a noisy scene.

He glanced at the dozens of grain collection team members who were eating and drinking heartily. Zhou Jing ignored them, thinking that he might as well just eat a meal, so he went straight to the tavern kitchen and took two freshly cooked meals, which were similar to potatoes, steaming hot.

The tavern cook didn't stop him when he saw it was Zhou Jing. Monster hunters definitely had this privilege.

Zhou Jing returned to the house with the meals, casually ate with Ross, and then stayed in the house, instructing Ross to practice breathing techniques.

This was a must-do item every night when he personally descended. It was as much of a headache as tutoring a child with their homework.

The red glow faded, and the moonlight sprinkled down.

The visiting grain collection team had eaten and drunk their fill and were resting.

The night gradually deepened. The outside was no longer noisy, becoming as quiet as usual.

After finishing a tiring night of tutoring, Zhou Jing impatiently told Ross to make the bed. He walked to the window and prepared to draw the curtains and turn off the lights to sleep.

But just as he was about to lower the curtains, Zhou Jing suddenly saw a few sneaky figures through the window, moving in the village, just turning around the corner not far away and disappearing from his sight.

In a fleeting glimpse, he recognized one of them, the man with the goatee he had seen in the morning.

"Hmm, these guys aren't sleeping in the middle of the night. What are they doing wandering around the village?"

Zhou Jing's heart stirred.

He thought for a while, called Ross to follow him, and the two of them jumped out of the window, quietly following these people.

Zhou Jing was astonishingly agile, making it difficult for ordinary people to notice. And Ross had Stealth and Nimble Footwork, making him even better at tracking. Zhou Jing sometimes couldn't even sense his presence, so there was no problem.

The two of them followed behind the goatee and the others, all the way until they found that these people were heading out of the village.

The direction of advance was the apothecary's hut where the village witch doctor lived.

"Yo ho, there's a situation!"

Zhou Jing's eyes lit up, and he immediately became energetic.

He had been in Frostwood Village for half a year, and the witch doctor Gama had always been very low-key. There had never been any situation, so he couldn't find any trouble with him. He didn't expect to encounter a clue today.

Outside the village was a continuous wilderness, making it difficult to hide. Zhou Jing and Ross stopped and went, waiting for the group to walk into the sparse forest surrounding the apothecary's hut before they followed them in.

Zhou Jing hid behind a tree and saw the scene at the apothecary's hut.

He saw the man with the goatee gently knock on the door. Gama quickly opened the door and welcomed them in.

The door closed tightly again.

Zhou Jing rolled his eyes, flashed to hide under the window, hid in the blind spot, pricked up his ears, and listened carefully to the movements coming from the house.

The异血强化 (Yi Xue Qiang Hua - Different Blood Enhancement) slightly enhanced his perception, and the voices of the conversation in the house were captured by his hearing.

"Gama, where's the goods this time?" This seemed to be the voice of the man with the goatee.

"It's here."

Gama spoke, his voice no longer as old and frail as usual, but full of energy.

There was a sound of rummaging in the house, followed by the sound of some kind of mechanism sliding, and then the sound of several boxes being placed on the ground with a bang, mixed with the crisp tinkling of bottles and cans colliding.

After a while, the man with the goatee spoke with dissatisfaction: "Why is there so little? It's far from the previous amount."

Gama said helplessly: "Many hunters in the village have died, and I've been busy training new people recently, so I have fewer opportunities to bring me herbs. There aren't enough materials, so I can only make so much."

The man with the goatee: "Forget it, the price per bottle is still the same."

Clink, clank...

The sound of coins colliding.

Gama chuckled twice, then whispered, "Did anyone find out when you came over?"

The man with the goatee didn't care: "Don't worry, the whole village is asleep. No one saw us."

Gama was unhappy: "You should be more careful. There are outsiders in the village. A guy named Jason Wood came to live in the village half a year ago and became a monster hunter. He's an unstable factor..."

The man with the goatee laughed: "Look at how timid you are. So what if he's an outsider? Does that mean he'll definitely notice you?"

"I..." Gama was suffering in silence.

The man with the goatee shook his head: "If you're so afraid, then we don't have to trade in the future. Anyway, I have other apothecaries supplying me."

"Don't!" Gama hurriedly said, "I can do it."

Zhou Jing listened to the wall for a while. Although he didn't see the scene, he more or less understood the situation.

If he wasn't mistaken, Gama was reselling potions to the man with the goatee, and this transaction might have been going on for years.

'Frostwood Village supports Gama, and Gama provides potions and medical services. The two sides cooperate, but he hides a portion of the potions, claiming that it's easy for potion-making to fail, but in reality, he keeps a lot of inventory and has been using it to earn extra money.'

Zhou Jing roughly guessed.

If it were the interstellar era, similar things might be very common, and it might even be turned a blind eye to.

But in the simple-minded concept of the villagers in the Monster World - we provide you with food and drink, and you still cut corners and embezzle, you're simply not human.

The villagers definitely wouldn't accept it. As long as it happened, even if Gama was a rare apothecary willing to stay in the village, he would probably be driven away.

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, but Zhou Jing didn't jump out immediately.

He gestured to Ross, who was hiding not far away, signaling Ross to show himself and make some noise.

Ross silently got up, came to the door of the apothecary's hut, and suddenly bumped his head against the wall.

Bang!

Very loud.

The sound in the house disappeared, and it became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Whoosh!

The door was suddenly opened. The man with the goatee didn't see anyone at first glance. He moved his gaze down and saw Ross squatting at the door, covering his head.

"Catch him!"

The man with the goatee said in anger.

Three of his followers immediately pounced on him and grabbed Ross.

Ross looked up at the bottom of the window, but Zhou Jing, who was originally here, had disappeared and was quietly hiding.

Seeing this, Ross silently allowed himself to be pressed to the ground without resisting.

Seeing that the uninvited guest was subdued, the man with the goatee breathed a sigh of relief, frowned, and looked at Ross:

"Who is this person?"

Gama also hurriedly followed out at this time. When he saw Ross's face clearly, he was stunned:

"This person is that monster hunter Jason's attendant. He's a mute with a problem in his head."

"A mute?" The man with the goatee's expression relaxed slightly, and then he asked, "Then how did he appear here?"

"I, I don't know. This idiot usually follows Jason, but he occasionally runs around... maybe he just happened to run here?"

Gama looked dazed.

He immediately thought of something, his expression changed, and he murmured, "That Jason has been watching me. Maybe he sent this person to monitor me... no, that doesn't make sense. He's a mute and an idiot. Even if Jason suspects me, he wouldn't send him over."

"Suspect you?" The man with the goatee was puzzled. "What else haven't you told me? Why is Jason watching you?"

"I... I just didn't cure his brother."

Gama stammered.

"That can't be so simple!" The man with the goatee looked suspicious: "You still want to hide it from me even now?"

Hearing this, Gama had no choice but to explain:

"Half a year ago, the hunters found a refugee in the forest named Will, who happened to be seriously injured. Because he was an unknown outsider, I was worried about affecting the transaction, so I deliberately didn't treat him and let him die... I didn't expect that he had an older brother, that Jason, who actually came looking for him."

Hearing this, the corners of the man with the goatee's mouth twitched, and he said angrily:

"You're more timid than a hamster. You're so afraid of outsiders, why didn't you poison that Jason to death too?"

"What nonsense are you talking about! I didn't think it would turn out like this!" Gama quickly shook his head.

At most, he dared to deliberately not treat the seriously injured. As long as he waited for the condition to worsen, that would be enough. He didn't have to do anything, so he didn't mind seeing people die.

But poisoning was another matter. He didn't have the guts.

The man with the goatee took a deep breath, didn't want to dwell on this issue any longer, pointed at Ross on the ground, and asked in a deep voice:

"To what extent is this idiot's brain broken? Are you sure he won't reveal what happened here?"

"I, I don't know." Gama swallowed, hoping for the best, "Maybe he didn't hear anything?"

The man with the goatee's expression changed, hesitated for a few seconds, and suddenly made up his mind.

"We can't risk letting him leave. Kill him!"

As soon as he finished speaking, one of his followers immediately pulled out a dagger.

"Don't cause any deaths!" Gama was shocked and quickly grabbed the man with the goatee's clothes.

They were only reselling potions. It wasn't a big deal. Was there a need to silence him?!

The man with the goatee turned around and said in a sinister voice, "As long as we kill him, find a place to bury him, and make it look like he's missing, then nothing will happen."

"But that Jason..." Gama was hesitant.

"Anyway, he's an idiot. It's normal for him to get lost. You're just too guilty. You always feel that whatever you do, that Jason will suspect you, but if an attendant gets lost, he has no reason to suspect you, right?"

The man with the goatee continued to speak, continuing in a cold voice:

"And think about it clearly. If this idiot accidentally reveals what happened here in some way, you'll definitely be driven out of Frostwood Village, and you won't be able to earn this money. With your mediocre potion skills, can you still find a village willing to support you? Can you still retire comfortably?"

Gama's brain was in chaos, his heart was in a mess, but he involuntarily let go of his hand.

The man with the goatee snorted, looked at his follower, and made a throat-slitting gesture.

The follower nodded, his expression hardened, and the dagger slashed towards Ross's neck.

Clang!

At that instant, Ross used his strength to break free, and his powerful force suddenly threw off the person holding him down.

He bounced up and pinched the follower's hand holding the dagger.

In the other party's shocked eyes, Ross twisted his hand expressionlessly.

Crack!

"Ah!"

The follower screamed, clutching his broken wrist.

However, before he could scream a second time, Ross quickly pulled out the dagger hidden in his waist and stabbed it into the person's abdomen, mercilessly pulling it upwards.

Rattling... intestines instantly fell to the ground.

The eviscerated body fell to the ground, leaving only convulsions, eyes wide open, frozen with fear.

The ferocity on the man with the goatee's face instantly turned into terror, horrified and desperate, stumbling backwards, desperately trying to get away from Ross, who was covered in blood and still expressionless.

Ross didn't change his expression and was about to continue killing when Zhou Jing's voice suddenly came from the forest.

"That's enough."

Ross immediately stopped and stood still.

Everyone present looked at Ross in fear. No one dared to move. They were all frightened by Ross's ruthless actions.

At this time, Zhou Jing leisurely walked out of the forest.

He didn't show himself at first because the identity of a monster hunter was too intimidating. He estimated that if he came out, people would be afraid. Most of them would beg for mercy, explain, prevaricate, and find reasons, and he wouldn't hear the truth.

So he simply hid and let Ross, who had already established the image of an "idiot," act as bait to lure these people in and fish.

He was secretly observing the situation, watching the actions and attitudes of these people, and also being careful.

He didn't expect to gain something. This man with the goatee, as a buyer, was even more excited than Gama and had such a resolute intention to kill... It was probably not that simple.

"It seems we have a lot to talk about."

Zhou Jing narrowed his eyes and looked at the man with the goatee and Gama, whose expressions had changed drastically, with a meaningful look.