Walking back into the house, Tang Wen put on two pieces of Scale Armor and then a leather armor over them.
Two guards led the way, and the three of them rode straight towards the Scavenger Camp.
The sound of hoofbeats echoed.
Those who had just returned from outside and the scavengers on the road heard the hoofbeats and quickly moved to the sides of the road.
A distance west of the camp was the settlement of the scavengers.
Further west from there was a large lake.
Tang Wen rode his horse all the way to the lakeshore, where he encountered his subordinates from the hunting camp.
"Commander Tang!"
"Commander Zhou has taken people and chased down the small path."
"Chased?" Tang Wen was surprised.
"Yes, we found boot prints in the forest ahead. Those missing scavengers were taken away by someone."
Tang Wen's thick eyebrows raised. Could it be that the Black Mountain Camp was short on slaves?
It was possible. They had just acquired a coal mine and were in need of manpower.
It seemed the missing scavengers were destined to toil to death in the coal mine.
Truly, in chaotic times, people are worse off than dogs in peaceful times.
He sighed, showing no intention of rescuing the scavengers.
As the sun set behind the mountains, the dense forest before them fell into silence.
"Caw, caw, caw," a Red-eyed Raven flew overhead, as if announcing a death.
Following the trail left by Zhou Bing and her team, Tang Wen walked into the small path.
In less than half an hour, he encountered Zhou Bing and her group returning.
"Any findings?"
Zhou Bing first smiled at him, then shook her head. "The other party came prepared. They first drove the people away, and then brought horses to carry them off."
The two walked back side by side, and Tang Wen shared his conjecture.
Zhou Bing agreed, also believing it was the work of the Black Mountain Camp.
Their opinions aligned.
"It seems the Black Mountain Devils haven't learned their lesson yet! They're kidnapping people right at our doorstep!"
Returning to the camp, they analyzed the situation with Commander Zhang, who immediately sneered.
He had a severed arm grudge with the Black Mountain Camp and naturally advocated for teaching the Black Mountain Devils a harsh lesson.
Commander Zhang said, "In the Black Mountain Camp, usually only one General-level Old Black Devil is active, and he doesn't leave easily. So, the ones who came to steal people at night were likely led by a Commander. Why don't we ambush them first?"
Tang Wen and Zhou Bing exchanged glances. Tang Wen said unhurriedly, "Ambushing is fine, but even a lion must use full strength to catch a rabbit. We should inform General Zhao."
The message was sent up, and in less than a quarter of an hour, General Zhao arrived, followed by two Commanders.
"These Black Mountain Devils are getting quite bold!"
General Zhao's eyes were full of menace.
Tang Wen explained, "It's just speculation for now; we have no evidence."
But General Zhao waved his hand dismissively. "Evidence? Our words are the evidence!"
Seeing others nodding in agreement.
Tang Wen shook his head. "Regardless, we should still figure out their purpose for kidnapping! If it's just for mining, it's not a big deal. But we should be wary of any unknown factors."
General Zhao frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "Alright, let's split up and ambush tonight. Arrange a few hunting squads to guard the roads to the Black Mountain Camp."
"Good, we'll arrange it tonight. And for the Scavenger Camp, I'll also send a few people to stay there."
After speaking, seeing no objections from the others in the room, Tang Wen said to General Zhao, "General, just in case, we'll need you to stay at the outer city camp for a few days to keep things in order."
"Alright, I'll stay here tonight."
Hearing this, Tang Wen breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, based on his analysis, the Black Mountain Camp, sneaking around to engage in such abductions, was unlikely to dispatch a General, and might not even send a Commander-level figure.
After all, for one, the top-tier experts cared about their reputation;
Secondly, dealing with a group of Scavengers who could barely feed themselves, ordinary soldiers would suffice.
Sending out the hunting squad would be overkill.
But what if!
Tang Wen didn't want to take the risk.
Imagine, the soldiers discover the intruders and fire a Signal Arrow.
He foolishly rushes over to check, only to find a General-level powerhouse. What then?
Would he immediately drop to his knees and perform a kowtow?
Shouting: "Wen, after wandering half a lifetime, I regret..."
He shook his head, turned around, and ordered the messenger to summon the captains of all ten squads from the hunting camp.
Soon, the ten captains arrived.
General Zhao, as previously discussed, assigned tasks one by one:
The first squad was to stake out the coal mining area, waiting to see if any slaves were being sent there.
The second squad was to lie in ambush along the only path to the Black Mountain Camp.
The third squad's mission was to stake out the Scavenger Camp every night, hoping to intercept the intruders.
All were surveillance tasks, not particularly difficult.
A single squad was sufficient, with shifts rotating day and night.
The three captains went to prepare.
The other seven hunting squads couldn't be left idle either.
At least half of them had to stay in the camp every night.
Until the matter was resolved.
Tang Wen and Zhou Bing also had to stay in the camp.
However, three days passed.
Nothing happened.
General Zhao grew restless: "The drought is coming, and I have many things to attend to. I can't stay in the outer city indefinitely. You two need to take this seriously."
After a few instructions, he left with his men.
Tang Wen was reluctant but had no reason to stop him.
On the fourth night, he was on duty, sleeping fitfully in the restroom, never quite resting well.
Fortunately, the night passed without incident.
As five days went by, the supplies brought by the three hunting squads ran out, and the food was gone.
They sent people back to report that nothing suspicious had been seen in the past five days. In the wilderness, not a single person, not even a ghostly shadow, was spotted.
No one had gone missing from the Scavenger Camp either.
Zhou Bing speculated: "Could it be that the Black Mountain Devil didn't need many people, and after capturing those hundred or so, they had enough?"
Could it really be that coincidental?
Tang Wen didn't believe it, but keeping the squads on such surveillance missions wasn't a solution either.
The drought had already begun, and his three-tiered cellar was ready. He was about to proceed with the next step of his food storage plan.
He didn't have time to protect the Scavengers.
He decided: "Recall them! Notify squads one, two, and three to withdraw today."
"Yes!"
The sentry went to deliver the order.
With only the two of them left in the room, Tang Wen said to Zhou Bing: "From now on, I want to send three squads out for field training every day."
"Field training?"
The ice beauty hadn't heard the term before.
Tang Wen took her slender, jade-like hand and played with it, saying: "Currently, the beasts in the forest haven't migrated due to the drought. We need to stock up on some meat."
Zhou Bing gave him a reproachful look and shook her head: "Hunting is fine, but the meat won't keep. It's not winter, and even if we use salt to preserve it, where would we get so much salt?"
The salt in the camp was rock salt, sourced from the mountains, and not easy to refine.
Ensuring everyone had enough salt to eat was manageable.
But using hundreds or thousands of pounds of it to preserve food was impossible.
Tang Wen didn't respond immediately. Instead, he pointed outside the city wall and said, "We need to cut down all these trees around our camp. If a drought hits and the trees dry out, they could easily catch fire. We can use the green branches from these trees to smoke and cure meat."
"Cured Meat?" Zhou Bing was puzzled; it was another new term to her.
Tang Wen explained, "I came across this by chance. Smoking meat doesn't require much salt, and the dried meat can be preserved for over six months."
"Alright! If you want to try it, let's give it a shot." Zhou Bing had never heard of smoked meat before, but she trusted Tang Wen unconditionally.
Tang Wen reached out and gently stroked her smooth, jade-like cheek, which flushed a deep red as her temperature rose.
"Let's go find the cook."
"It's so late already."
"Better sooner than later."
Tang Wen didn't dare delay matters related to food.
Early on the sixth day, he led three hunting squads out of the city.
One squad was assigned to cut down trees.
The other two squads, along with him, totaled twenty-one people.
They split into seven groups and entered the forest to hunt.
Truth be told, the world's forests were dense, but the resources were not abundant.
The area where Flame Camp was located had a climate somewhat similar to the northeast of his previous life.
However, it was far from the "rich game and fish" abundance he had known.
In the months Tang Wen had been hunting, he had rarely seen large groups of animals, only a few, and they were all difficult to catch.
He speculated that one reason was the Mutated Beasts consumed a lot;
Secondly, the environment was harsh.
Natural disasters were not only a test for humans but also for animals.
By evening, the hunting squads' harvest was mediocre.
More than ten Martial Apprentices, who in his previous life would have been at least championship-level fighters, each managed to gather less than 10 pounds of meat in a day.
They consumed more than they hunted.
But the accounting wasn't done that way; the food they ate was supplied by the camp.
And the game they hunted was their own.
On the seventh day, they continued hunting.
But as soon as they set out, the omen was bad.
A Red-eyed Raven followed them the entire way, and Tang Wen raised his hand to shoot it down.
But the archer in the team said killing it was inauspicious, and its meat
was too sour to eat.
Tang Wen then relented.
The day's harvest was indeed mediocre.
On the eighth day, as Tang Wen was preparing to go out hunting, a guard suddenly reported, "Commander Tang, we've received news that someone went missing in the Scavenger Camp last night!"
"Huh?" Tang Wen sharply turned his head, his eyes piercing.
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