I Start with a Mysterious Island

Chapter 560: Chapter 363: Attack Under the Moonlight

"That’s not necessary. You don’t have to clean the house every day. Once every four or five days, or even six or seven, is fine," Lin Li said.

On Blue Star, he usually cleaned his home about once a week, and he considered that to be quite diligent.

"Oh." Qin Muqing nodded happily. ’I finally don’t have to clean every day,’ she thought. ’Cleaning this whole villa by myself is exhausting.’

"When you make dinner in a bit, cook some extra rice..." The side effects from the Magical Little Fruit were still lingering. Lin Li was worried that if he didn’t say anything, the amount of rice Qin Muqing cooked wouldn’t be nearly enough for him.

"Okay."

"Make enough rice for five people."

"Huh???" Qin Muqing froze when he told her to make enough rice for five people. She stared at Lin Li, baffled. "Won’t that be way too much?"

"It won’t be. Just do as I say. We’ll finish it," Lin Li said, offering no further explanation.

"Okay." Qin Muqing nodded doubtfully. But since Lin Li, the master of the house, had given the order, she, a mere servant, couldn’t argue. She would just have to do as he said.

Qin Muqing then left the living room to prepare dinner in the kitchen, while Lin Li went up to the villa’s open-air balcony on the third floor.

Gazing into the distance, he saw only the last afterglow of the sunset lingering on the horizon.

At the nearby construction sites where other villas were being built, work had stopped for the day as the sun was about to set. The workers were leaving one after another.

Lin Li lay down on a lounge chair, watching the sky stained red by the sunset as his thoughts began to drift.

’After dinner, once it’s completely dark, I’ll pay the Red Blood Gang a visit. I’ll deal them another blow, and then I’ll head back to Blue Star.’

...

The sky had grown completely dark. The sun had vanished, and a bright, round moon now hung high in the sky, becoming the world’s sole source of light after nightfall.

A hazy moonlight spilled across the land, draping everything in what looked like a silver-white veil.

Mist began to form over the surface of Bibo Lake, which stretched as far as the eye could see. Anyone standing on the shore and looking toward the lake’s center would find their view obscured by the fog, unable to see very far at all.

WHOOSH...

RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE...

A sudden gust of wind swept across Bibo Lake. The moisture-laden gust rustled the flowers, grass, and trees along the shore.

A short distance from the shore, the orange-red glow of many flickering fires could be seen.

A circle of wagons, linked end to end, formed a large defensive ring.

Bonfires blazed within the defensive ring, surrounded by people sitting in small groups, holding bowls and slurping down noodles.

"Old He, these noodles are pretty good tonight!" a caravan guard exclaimed after swallowing a mouthful. He was speaking to a burly cook not far away who was adding wood to a bonfire.

"You rascal, what do you mean they’re ’pretty good tonight’? My cooking is *always* good!" The cook, finished with the fire, turned and shot back with a good-natured laugh.

The caravan guard was left speechless. ’Everyone knows your cooking is terrible,’ he thought, ’and you still have the nerve to praise yourself.’

Still, he figured, when you were traveling far from home, crossing mountains and rivers, just getting a hot meal was a blessing. Even if the taste was a little lacking, it was acceptable.

After finishing his dinner, the Guard Captain approached the Merchant Team Leader’s carriage. The leader, who had also just eaten, was sipping hot tea served by a servant. The captain began his report.

"Shopkeeper Wu, I’ve already spoken to the men. I told them to be extra vigilant on watch tonight."

The Merchant Team Leader nodded and gestured for the Guard Captain to take a seat. A nearby servant immediately poured the captain a cup of tea.

"We’ll set off for Dongwu City at dawn tomorrow," the Guard Captain said, taking a sip of tea. "At our usual pace, we should arrive by noon."

"Thank you for all your hard work escorting us to Dongwu City," the Merchant Team Leader said graciously.

"It’s our duty. We took your money, so we’ll be sure to get the caravan to its destination in one piece," the Guard Captain said with a smile.

He and his men had been in this business for years and had an excellent reputation.

Just as the Merchant Team Leader and the Guard Captain were chatting over their tea, a firework suddenly shot into the sky in the distance.

WHOOSH...

BANG...

The brilliant firework bloomed in the pitch-black sky, a dazzling, colorful burst that everyone saw clearly.

In a safe place, seeing such a firework burst in the night sky would have only elicited sighs of admiration. ’How beautiful!’

But here, in the dangerous wilderness, the moment the firework exploded in the sky, the color drained from everyone’s faces.

They reacted this way because the firework had been launched by the guards posted on the perimeter.

They had launched it as a warning: enemies were near.

"Enemy attack! Grab your weapons! Prepare to fight!" the Guard Captain roared, leaping up from his chair.

The guards who hadn’t finished eating immediately dropped their bowls, grabbed their weapons, and rushed to the edge of the wagon circle. They scanned the darkness ahead, searching for any sign of an attack.

"Shopkeeper Wu, get inside a wagon and hide! You don’t want to get hit by a stray arrow when the fighting starts," the Guard Captain warned the flustered Merchant Team Leader.

"Right, I’ll go take cover in the wagon." The Merchant Team Leader immediately led his servant toward his own rather luxurious carriage.

Seeing his employer retreat to the carriage, the Guard Captain turned and yelled to the panicked grooms, "Everyone, stay calm! Non-combatants, get away from the wagons! You don’t want to get hit by friendly fire when the fight breaks out!"

The grooms, who had no fighting ability, heard the captain’s warning and immediately scrambled toward the Merchant Team Leader’s carriage. They huddled around it, their faces filled with terror as they watched the guards standing at the ready.

A figure sprinted out of the darkness. The guards holding crossbows immediately took aim.

"It’s me! Don’t shoot!" The figure, apparently sensing the crossbows trained on him, yelled as he ran toward the wagons.

"He’s one of ours." Hearing the familiar voice, the guards lowered their crossbows.

As soon as the man ran inside the defensive ring of wagons, the Guard Captain rushed over. "Why are you the only one? Where are the others?"

"They’re dead. They were ambushed... all of them killed," the perimeter guard stammered, his face pale with terror as he recalled what happened.

"Damn it... Was it men or Mutant Beasts?" the Guard Captain demanded.

"Men. We were ambushed by a group of bandits..."

"How many of them were there?"

"I don’t know. It was too dark, but from the noise... there were a lot of them."

The Guard Captain had just finished his questions when a sudden noise came from the tall grass in the distance—a wave of intense rustling.

RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE...

In the moonlight that spilled down from the bright moon hanging overhead, numerous figures emerged from the tall grass. They were blurry silhouettes, indistinct, but visible nonetheless.

...

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