The bandit grabbed the head that was biting at his neck with both hands, straining with all his might to pry it free, though from afar it looked as though he were holding it close.

In just a few breaths, the bandit’s limbs had grown weak, and the moaning cries grew fainter.

Soon, the bandit had lost all of his strength to struggle, just twitching and spasming on the ground. In the end, only a withered corpse was left on the ground.

The rain was still falling, soaking into the surrounding ground. Some wounded men were waiting for the fighting to end. Many, weakened by the pouring rain, opened their mouths to quench their thirst.

Another man, lying on his side on the ground, felt someone rub against him from behind. He turned to look, and was bitten on the neck.

…

The fighting continued on not too far away. Night had already fallen, and the rain meant that the stars and moon were blocked out, making the visibility extremely low.

However, most of the people here had practiced some martial arts, and could see more or less clearly after adapting to the darkness.

The bandits did not intend to fight to the death. They were experienced in dealing with such skilled opponents, and in using their numbers to engage in grueling battles of attrition to minimize their own losses.

But even so, they suffered more casualties than anticipated.

The only difference from the norm was that the target group they had surrounded was undoubtedly well-connected. More importantly, they had two women among their number, both exceptionally beautiful, especially in the eyes of bandits living in this cold, bitter land.

They hadn’t seen a woman in a long time, and these two, with their curves and outstanding appearance, were striking. They had been eyeing them for two days. The other two or three women in the group weren’t bad either — their appearance might not have been quite as outstanding, but their figures were no less impressive.

Comparing both sides, although the warriors’ tricks were difficult to guard against, they weren’t so difficult as to be insurmountable.

In fact, ever since the fighting had begun, before the rain began to fall, many bandits had noticed that the warriors’ Qi recovery speed was slowing down.

Several bandit leaders wearing bamboo hats hats rode their horses, observing the battle from afar. The fierce and aggressive moves they had used at the beginning had slowly become fewer and further in between.

“Haha, so what if they’re a bit more skilled? Martial artists are just martial artists. While they’re skilled at fighting, they don’t know how to fight against an organized group.”

Hearing his companion’s sneer, another man scoffed.

“True. Their initial moves were powerful, but they consumed a great deal of Qi and energy. While they killed and wounded many of our brothers, they couldn’t turn the tides of the overall situation. If the strongest of them had managed to break through alone, they might have had a chance…”

“Hmph, if it weren’t for the heavy rain, the crossbows alone would have been enough to take them out!”

As the leaders chatted, they glanced over the bandits’ formation, catching sight of another bandit dragging a wounded compatriot out. This one hadn’t moved at all as he was being carried, and it was impossible to determine how injured he was.

…

There were two bandits who were specifically tasked with dragging the wounded out of the fight today. The battle had been intense, and they had likely performed this service for at least twenty of their brothers, not counting those who had already died.

With one man on each side, the two dragged the unconscious bandit to the rear, alongside the rest of the wounded.

“Haah… Haah… Haah… so tired! Ba Zi was lucky, he just passed out. I can’t tell if he’s faking it.”

One of them rubbed his face, wiping away a streak of blood and mud, then raised his head to let the rain wash over him.

The other sat directly on the muddy ground, panting.

“Well, being tired isn’t a big deal. We don’t have to rush in to fight today, so at least it’s a lot safer!”

“It makes sense. Besides, we’ve saved so many of our brothers, so they’ll have to give up some share of the meat when it comes time to eat, hehehe…”

Having quenched his thirst with rainwater, the bandit suddenly stopped laughing mid-sentence. He felt that something was wrong, but he couldn’t put a finger on it.

It was his companion who pointed out the problem first.

“Hey, hey, brothers, why are you lying still?”

“Yeah! Hey, hey…what are you doing? Falling asleep like this in the heavy rain? Old Sparrow?”

The two men nudged their nearest injured brother. The man’s nickname was Old Sparrow; he was a slippery warrior, and never managed to get seriously injured. Today, he had merely gotten a sprained foot and a swollen ankle. It looked bad, but was actually nothing serious.

But after nudging the man several times and seeing no reaction, the bandit who nudged him suddenly felt that something was wrong. He stepped over Old Sparrow’s body and looked at his other side.

He leaned in for a closer look. Although visibility was low, he could still tell that something was wrong with the wounded man. He reached out and felt his chest, only to find that the heartbeat had disappeared.

The bandit looked at his companion nearby with a grim expression.

“Dead!”

“Quick, check the others!”

The two men’s faces no longer had any traces of mirth. They approached each of the wounded, checking for breath or heartbeats. All of them, without exception, were dead.

While feeling for a pulse, one of the two bandits suddenly felt a wound on the corpse’s neck. Startled, he tugged open the man’s shirt a little to get a closer look.

“What kind of injury is this!?”

The other man saw it too. The two examined the corpses again, finding similar wounds all over. Their expressions suddenly changed.

“Bosses… this is terrible! All the wounded here are dead!”

“Come and see, our brothers here are dying in a strange way…!”

The two men’s voices attracted the attention of the others, and some bandits in the periphery immediately came over to investigate.

A muscular leader quickly approached the pile of corpses on the ground.

“Third Commander, look at their necks. They all have bite marks!”

The Third Commander glanced at the speaker, then knelt on one knee beside the corpse and pulled back its shirt. Due to the limited visibility, he could only make out the wound on the neck, but couldn’t see it clearly, so he reached out and touched it.

The bite marks were wide, but two of the holes were particularly deep.

The leader then touched the corpse’s forehead again, lifting the bangs that covered it. He saw several deep marks on the forehead. He compared them with his own hand, and found that it was the perfect angle for someone to have gripped it.

A picture was forming in the Third Commander’s mind: something bit the deceased’s neck, a hand with long fingernails pressed down on his head, preventing him from struggling, while the nails scratched grooves into his forehead.

Following this line of thought, the leader looked at the chest and abdomen of the corpse, tearing the shirt further off. Sure enough, he found another scratch mark, indicating that the victim had been prevented from getting up.

‘What great strength! ’

The icy spring rain had failed to make the Third Commander cold, yet now a piercing chill shot through him. His scalp tingled, and goosebumps ran down his body.

‘We can’t stay here any longer! ’

This thought echoed loudly in his mind!

Without hesitation, the Third Commander pulled out a short whistle from his jacket and blew on it with all his might.

“Tweeeee— Tweeeeeee—“

The sharp whistle pierced through the night and the rain, reaching the ears of all of the bandits currently fighting, as well as the ears of the dozen or so warriors.

Immediately, it was clear that the bandits eased their offensive. Many of their spears and halberds retracted, and a majority of the men retreated.

This undoubtedly gave the warriors a lot of breathing room, but they couldn’t immediately retaliate, partly because they didn’t have enough energy, and partly because they feared a trap.

Many people knelt down on one knee, leaning on their swords, gasping for breath.

“Haah…haah…haah…What… what’s going on? Why are they all retreating?”

The burly hooded man, clutching two stolen swords, rested on the ground. He had continuously maintained his dominance as the most powerful individual among the warriors, bravely leading the fight.

But at this time, his two strong hands were trembling slightly. However, because of the rainy night, not even his companions noticed, let alone the bandits.

“No, I don’t know. There was a whistle just now… Could it be someone from the army attacking?”

“It doesn’t look like it! Hurry, let’s hurry up and get some rest! Haah…haah…haah…”

Some warriors took the time to catch their breath.

“How is everyone? Is everyone all right?”

“We’re not going to die!”

“Hold on, we can just hold on…”

…

The warriors were gasping for breath, while on the other side, outside the encirclement of bandits, the other two leaders rode their horses towards the source of the whistle. Before they had even reached it, they shouted at the Third Commander.

“Third Commander, what’s going on? It looked like they couldn’t last much longer!”

“Yeah, why did you blow the retreat whistle? It’s dark and rainy, what else could possibly happen?”

The Third Commander stood up, wiped his face, and pointed at the bodies around him.

“There’s something foul here. These wounded brothers are all dead. Every one of them had been bitten in the neck. This place is unsafe. We have to run!”

As he spoke, the Third Commander mounted his horse and yanked the reins towards the far end of the circle of bandits.

The two leaders who had come over glanced at their fellows, then back at the Third Commander, who was twisting his neck back and forth to look around and rubbing his hands, clearly frightened.

The two deliberately dismounted to investigate, and confirmed the bizarre situation in front of them.

“Retreat! Everyone withdraw!”

One of the leaders shouted, as he and the other commander whipped out their whistles. The third leader also brought his whistle to his lips again.

“Tweeeee—“

“Tweeeee—“

“Tweeeee—“

The three of them blew their whistles in unison. This time, the bandits reacted even more vigorously, retreating to the outside, even breaking the encirclement.

Several leaders shouted from the outside.

“Everyone, mount your horses! Those without horses, ride with someone else. Two people per horse should be enough!”

“Move! Everyone, move! Let’s go…”

Countless bandits broke into a run, following their leaders’ commands, and fled together into the rainy night.

The group of warriors all stared blankly in amazement at this scene, powerless and unwilling to intervene.

“They… ran away?”

“We beat them back? We beat them back!”

“Hahahaha… We won!”

“We fought them off!”

The cheers grew from sporadic to frequent, from disbelief to extreme excitement, and the relief of surviving this disaster rose in the group’s hearts.

After a short while, the warriors calmed down from their turbulent emotions. Many of them were injured, some even severely so. They urgently needed to find a place to rest, recuperate, and take shelter.

Seeing that the bandits had left many corpses, the hooded man and two of his companions went over to search them, hoping to find some suitable medicines and other supplies.

“Ouch, uuuh…”

A bandit on the ground snorted, and immediately two knives were placed at his neck.

“Aaah! What, how…”

The bandit with the knife at his neck was terrified. He looked around, only to find that there were no other brothers, aside from the corpses. It seemed his own people had been defeated!

“Haha, wondering why all your bandit compatriots are gone? Of course, we fought them off!”

“Don’t waste time talking to him, just kill him!”

“Wait, don’t do anything yet!”

The hooded man came over and looked at the bandit on the ground.

“Where can we find a place where we can shelter from the wind and rain nearby? You’d better tell the truth. We even killed or wounded your entire band of bandits. If you want to live, just cooperate!”

The bandit nodded hurriedly.

“I know… I… I know! There is a village up ahead. No one lives there, but some houses are still intact!”

“Well, what’s your name?”

The gangster gulped and hurriedly replied, trembling.

“Ba… Ba Zi… My name is Ba Zi!”1

. . .

In the deserted village, Ji Yuan put down the book in his hand, stood up, and opened the door a little wider, letting the wind and rain from outside buffet his body.

Just now, he heard bursts of unique whistles. Although the sound was very faint, he definitely could not be mistaken.

1. Unclear whether it’s Bazi or Ba Zi, but based on the naming patterns I’ve seen in other novels, 2-syllable names tend to be for wealthier families or more higher-status people, so I’m going with Ba Zi