Boiling Beast Bloodline
Chapter 336 - 72: Shocking Change in ShaoKa_2

Chapter 336: Chapter 72: Shocking Change in ShaoKa_2

Despite thorough searches, Liu Zhenhan couldn’t find Rovi among the fallen Wolf Cavalry. He carefully examined the wounds on the corpses of the wolf riders and dog-headed soldiers. The blood had begun to coagulate, suggesting they had died the previous night. Though stiff due to the cold weather, the bodies showed no sign of liver mortis. Their wounds were piercing ones, caused likely by bows and arrows or swords, though the weapon had been retrieved afterwards. What’s more, every Wolf Cavalry’s neck bore a deep slash wound, demonstrating a merciless blow. Some were so vicious that the spine was severed, the head barely attached by a layer of skin.

What was even more striking was that the pants of these wolf riders had been removed, leaving their proud and magnificent furry tails missing, with a bloody hole in place of the tail.

Closing the eyes of the last wolf rider who had a look of unwillingness, Liu Zhenhan clenched his fist, producing a crisp sound.

It seemed the Wolf Cavalry had been caught off guard in a close-ranged attack. The identities of these attackers must be special, and there cannot have been many of them. They also managed to fool the keen vision of the Wolf Tribe. The attackers were ruthless; the attackers’ methodology was confirmed by the slash wounds on the necks of each wolf rider and dog-headed militiamen. They were finishing off their victims to prevent any survivors.

In the middle of the camp were two piles of extinguished ashes, leaving behind nothing but blackened remnants of vegetation. Around the piles, a sizable portion of tent fabric had been cut and placed on the ground, evidencing the impression of a fallen body.

There were disjointed hoofprints scattered across the ground, large and deep. These prints were twice the size of a native pony or a direwolf living in the wasteland, and unlike the Wasteland’s ponies and direwolves, they also bore the markings of horseshoe nails.

Kicking away the ashes with his boot, Liu Zhenhan touched the ground to find a faint residual heat.

The audacity of these attackers was sickening to Liu Zhenhan. They killed Bimon Army soldiers, stole their magnificent fur, and had the gall to make camp here overnight!

Liu Zhenhan found some crumbs on the grass in the camp, which seemed to belong to a gourmet who was eating bread carelessly without a napkin, letting crumbs fall from the corner of his mouth. The grit, without even a speck of dew, felt crisp when Liu Zhenhan crushed it between his fingers.

Perhaps noticing their leader’s solemn expression, Ardu and the Musketeers spread out to search for suspicious items.

In no time, the diligent Musketeers discovered a pile of feces in the undergrowth nearby, next to which lay a rope smeared with filth.

This discovery was strange because the Beamon would typically make use of nearby materials and not bring along a rope for toilet purposes. As for the bandits in the wasteland, they are even less likely to do so.

Human beings are the only species that eat white bread, and it goes without saying that horseshoes are a direct implication. The Beamon hadn’t yet developed enough luxury to shoe their livestock.

As for the hemp rope used for cleaning after nature’s call, Liu Zhenhan had heard from Elder Andulan that it was a toilet habit of human nobility.

The Yostley Festival was just a few days away, so the human traders from Dorott should not be heading back to Witherspoon at this point in time. They had their trusted ones handling their business in the Bimon Kingdom, and they could communicate via carrier pigeons. They should be at some Aristocrat’s cocktail party, bragging about their adventurous tales of gathering wealth in uncivilized nations.

Over the years, there has been a surge in both traders and robbers on the wasteland, which Liu Zhenhan had heard. However, the idea that the human thieves would dare to openly attack the Bimon border outposts came as a surprise. The sudden emergence of the possible involvement of human nobility made things rather interesting for Liu Zhenhan.

Liu Zhenhan immediately rode the Fire Crane to inform the other border stations of the Wolf Tribe along the wasteland about the matter.

The disaster exceeded his fears: the six stations which were responsible for controlling thousand miles of the vast wasteland had all fallen under the same fate as Rovi’s station.

The Wolf Tribe was primarily stationed in the Saline-alkali Forest. The main supply point was a good 500 miles away from here. The addition of these six outposts was mainly to do their duty for the Halfling tribes of the Bering Mountains, as well as to help the Fox Tribe of Fawkes protect the border as a return for economic aid.

Along with Rovi’s outpost, all seven points within the wasteland had fallen to a surprise attack, leaving no survivors. The implications behind this sent shivers down Liu Zhenhan’s spine.

Bandits would not possess this level of coordination. The only ones capable of this would be the reconnaissance soldiers of the Dorott Army, Liu Zhenhan’s counterparts: the Scouts.

This indicated that the neighboring human nation, the Dorott Duchy, was gearing up for something. No adventurer or mercenary would dare confront a nation without support. Attacking border outposts was a declaration of war, firing the first shot of invasion.

Dorott Duchy, known as the nation of mercenaries, had only a population of 3 million - only half of the Bimon Kingdom – and a standing army of only ten divisions. However, countless mercenary groups were stationed in Dorott, and most famous mercenary groups on the continent had a branch there. Just among these, the "Tornado" mercenary group – founded by the Second Prince, Thomas of the Dorott Duchy - consisted of 10,000 members. During a war, Dorott Duchy could mobilize a force of at least 40,000 troops, matching the combined forces of the Wolf and Fox Tribes stationed at the northeast and southeast borders of the Bimon Kingdom in the Donau Wasteland.