Chapter 61: Saimel's Premonition

  This kid named Baire died very quickly, his body had already completely turned black, when he died his eyes were wide open and empty, his fingers still in the shape of grasping upwards with force...

  He died a terrible death, with a large hole in his forehead. To Du Wei, that hole seemed to have been corroded by the most concentrated sulfuric acid! The skin and flesh on his forehead, as well as the skull inside, had all melted into a hole! The brain matter inside had all flowed out...

  The ground in this place is too hard and cannot be dug to bury the body. Helplessly, everyone can only throw the child's corpse into the lake.

  "That impetuous kid..." Bainerich snapped a branch in two and tossed it into the fire, his face filled with regret: "He was one of my recruits from Fick City, originally an excellent hunter. His archery skills were great, I even taught him some combat techniques... He just wanted to catch a few fish for everyone..."

  Du Wei didn't say anything.

  Bayinrich shook his head: "He forgot, this is the damned Ice Forest! There are no ordinary beasts here! They're all magical creatures! Even the fish in the lake are equally dangerous! This stupid guy! Damn it! Fool! Idiot! It's... it's my fault! I should have reminded him earlier, he's a first-timer here!"

  Du Wei didn't know how to comfort the self-blaming captain, so he thought for a moment, patted the captain's shoulder, and then repeated what the captain had said during the day:

  "That's adventure life! Some come, some go! Some die, some live!"

  Bayerin quickly regained his composure; he was the captain and a whole hundred people were looking at him!

  He threw away the branch in his hand, stood up, and fiercely patrolled while loudly shouting: "All of you get away from the lake! Bastards! Whoever dares to approach the lake again, I'll break their legs!!"

  This episode didn't add much burden to everyone... Those old mercenaries who were used to life and death would say at most: "Oh, that kid was unlucky."

  At dinner time, Striir with eight fingers came back with the patrol team. His face was a bit gloomy, as if he had discovered something. However, this cautious guy did not disturb everyone, but quietly walked to Baiyinliqi's side.

  "Squad leader, found something."

  The archer pulled out a charred piece of wood from his bosom and handed it to the captain.

  This is clearly a piece of wood that has been split and used as firewood, but it hasn't been completely burned. There are still obvious signs of being split on the cut surface.

  "It seems we have company nearby." Striel said in a low voice: "I found a place, there are buried ashes of a fire pit in the snow, but they didn't bury them deep. I took a look, about four or five piles, judging from this, the other side has more than thirty people."

  Bayer's eyes flashed with a hint of sharpness: "More than thirty? Are you certain?"

  "No more than thirty, definitely not over forty." Strider answered with certainty: "Judging from the color of the ashes of the fire, they didn't leave for long and shouldn't be too far away. And..."

  Strelnikov's eyes narrowed, the corners of his mouth twitching downward as he said in a low voice: "Judging from the traces they left behind when they camped, these guys are 'well-equipped', bringing quite a few things!"

  Bayinrich trusted this subordinate very much, although he only had eight fingers, his archery skills were excellent, and he was cautious in his thinking, with a keen eye for observation, making few mistakes.

  A strange smile appeared on Bayinrich's face... slightly gloomy: "Oh, in that case, are we going to 'get in touch' with these colleagues?"

  Du Wei didn't quite understand what the captain said, but Dandanier's face next to him looked a bit unnatural.

  At night in the tent, Dadanier explained it to Du Wei.

  "In the world of adventurers, it's simply survival of the fittest! Especially in a place like this, when you encounter fellow travelers, there are usually only three possible outcomes." Dandanil said slowly: "The first is that one side is strong and the other weak, but the weaker side doesn't have anything valuable on them. In that case, both sides can coexist peacefully."

  The second is when both sides have equal strength, and they coexist peacefully.

  The third one is when one side is strong and the other side is weak. If the weaker side still has a lot of spoils in their hands... then it will probably lead to a certain consequence..."

  Dadanier smiled and said in a low voice: "Black eats black."

  Du Wei didn't say anything, he knew every circle had its own rules of the game.

  The next morning, Du Wei found that Striel with eight missing fingers and several other old mercenaries were gone from the team.

  He didn't ask where those people went, and Bainrich didn't say either.

  The mercenaries rested for a night, regained their energy and started working. They took out large nets with many sharp hooks, some iron clamps for capturing beasts, and some pine torches for burning. Several teams were dispatched to search for the monster's tracks.

  In the morning, Striel and others returned. Striel's face was somewhat disappointed. He walked up to the team leader and shook his head: "Can't find them, they may have gone far away."

  The captain shrugged his shoulders and smiled: "It's their luck, and ours. Friend, okay, since we can't find our fellow travelers, let's just do our own thing and take your people to rest for a while."

  As expected, Du Wei and Dadanel plan to help these mercenaries for another day, helping them catch two more magical beasts before bidding farewell to them and continuing northward.

  Du Wei sat under a big tree, watching Dada Nil help the mercenaries set up iron clamps to catch beasts. He watched Stride come back and talk with the captain for a while before going to rest.

  Du Wei let out a sigh of relief. He didn't intend to interfere with the rules of these mercenaries, but he was willing to help them catch the demon beast, and didn't want to see them doing any shady business, nor did he want to participate in it. It seemed that Striel hadn't found his target, and Du Wei was very satisfied with this result.

  She let out a soft sigh and gazed at the beautiful lake in front of her, which was as calm as a large mirror... Who would have thought that there was a deadly crisis hidden beneath the water?

  "It's very beautiful, but full of danger." Du Wei muttered to himself.

  "What you said is right."

  The voice behind him startled Du Wei! He immediately reacted, it was Semira's voice! This damn woman, not showing up for so many days, suddenly jumped out at this time!

  Looking back, Saymer was still wearing a bright red robe, standing lightly behind Duwei, her snow-white bare feet stepping on the soft snowy ground... Fortunately, she was just a shadow, and shadows were not afraid of the cold.

  Du Wei shrugged: "Oh, you finally decided to show up?"

  "The magician beside you the other day was quite formidable." Saimel shook his head: "I could sense the horror of his spiritual power, and I even felt danger! That magician has the ability to search for others' spiritual power. With his strength, he can even see my existence, so I had to hide."

  "Oh." Du Wei furrowed his brow: "Can't I be the only one who can see you?"

  "It's like that for ordinary people." Semel said in a low voice: "I am connected to your spiritual power, but if the other party can explore your spiritual power, then they can see me... Only a very small number of strong people can do this. And in the following days... you were living with that Dandanier in the same tent, although that guy couldn't see me, but if he always saw you talking to the air alone, he would think you're crazy."

  "Oh? So I should also thank you for being understanding?" Du Wei hummed.

  Xiao Mei laughed and sat down beside Du Wei, seemingly not minding the unhappiness in his tone. She quietly sat there for a while, gazing at the beautiful large round lake in the distance.

  Du Wei turned his head and glanced at Saymehr, but found that this woman's expression was very strange...

  Her face wore a hint of an unusual expression, her eyes flashing, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if pondering some question.

  "I... I feel strange." Semel gazed into the distance, her eyes sweeping over the beautiful lake surface and then to the distant forests on either side. "This place is beautiful... but why..."

  "What?"

  Xia Mei'er took a deep breath, her face perplexed: "I don't know... but I always feel like I've been to this place before... I have a very familiar feeling about this place. At least the scenery in front of me, I seem to have seen it somewhere before."

  "You? Been here before?" Du Wei really wanted to laugh, but couldn't bring himself to do so.

  Stop joking... She, Saymeir, the true Saymeir's memory duplicate, has been sealed in a painting since she arrived in this world, and hasn't left the castle for 200 years! How is it possible that she came here?

  If it were really Semel who had been here, Du Wei would have found it not strange... but the woman in front of him.

  Xia Mei stared blankly into the distance, after a long while, she shook her head vigorously and suddenly smiled. Her voice was somewhat low: "You must think I'm talking nonsense, right? It's impossible for me to have come here before, but...I don't know how to describe my feeling...In short, it's just weird."

  She lowered her head for a moment, then raised it and changed the subject, smiling: "By the way, you've made quite some progress in magic these past few days. I saw those Slowdown spells you cast - it seems actual combat really does enhance your abilities."

  Far away, Dathanil was walking towards here. Semir sighed: "Alright, I'm leaving, be careful yourself...I think this lake is strange."

  As soon as she finished speaking, her body disappeared before Du Wei's eyes.

  "Hey, Harry." Dada Neil had some sweat on his forehead and looked very pleased: "You know? Bayinrich knows we're leaving tomorrow and says he's going to see us off tonight. Old Cyclops said he'll bring some special food tonight... what are you thinking about, my friend?"

  Du Wei stood up, patted the snow on his buttocks, and smiled: "Nothing... Alright, let's get to work. We're leaving tomorrow, so today we have to help our mercenary friends."

  In the evening, Old Lone Eye surprisingly brought out a big pot of mushroom soup! These mushrooms were collected by Old Lone Eye along the way.

  In such cold weather, after eating the nauseating wolf meat for several days, this big pot of delicious mushroom soup almost made the mercenaries bite their own tongues!

  Bayinrich warmly entertained Du Wei and Dada Nil, taking out his last wine to see off the two. In the end, Du Wei even drank two more cups and fell asleep dazedly.

  In the morning, Du Wei was woken up by Dada Nil's forceful push! Dada Nil's face looked terrible, his expression solemn: "Hari! Something has happened! Get up quickly!!"

  Captain Beyer's eyes were red! He gritted his teeth, just like a beast ready to devour people! All the mercenaries were on high alert! Everyone didn't do anything, silently holding their weapons...

  Du Wei looked around at everyone and found that some people were missing!

  Eleven! A whole eleven people! Gone!

  Last night's eleven mercenaries on night patrol collectively disappeared!

  What's inexplicable is that they don't seem to have been attacked by any monster... Even if there were monsters, it's impossible for them to silently make eleven people disappear without making a single sound!

  There were no beast tracks around the campsite, nor even human footprints! They hadn't left, there were no corpses around, and no footprints on the snowy ground!

  Ten people, just like last night... suddenly vanished collectively!

  Bayerich sent out half of the people to search for half a day, but still no news! The people who were sent out came back empty-handed!

  "Even if they were ambushed, at least they could have made a sound!" Bayinrich growled in anger: "They are all seasoned old mercenaries! It's impossible for them to be taken out silently! And even less likely to sneak away quietly!! Damn it! We didn't lose this many men on the entire journey! But in just one night, I lost eleven brothers!!"

  The furious squad leader gave the order: "We'll stay here for another day! To hell with it! Tonight I'll take watch myself, and everyone be on high alert, don't fall asleep! I want to see what kind of thing can make my eleven brothers disappear collectively!"

  Du Wei returned to his tent to pack up his things, intending to stay for another day. No matter what, the Snow Wolf Mercenary Corps was in trouble now, and he didn't want to leave just like that.

  "I've said it before, this lake is a bit strange." Semel didn't know when he had quietly stood behind Du Wei.