Chapter 66 Local Flavor
It was unclear how much time had passed when the carriage suddenly became bumpy, and Han Jin looked around through the wheels to see that the convoy had turned onto a small road. At the end of the small road was a hill that was neither big nor small, and at the foot of the hill was a desolate village with only a few households, but not one of them lit up, filled with a gloomy atmosphere.
The fleet went straight through the village and all the way to the foot of the hill, where a dozen guards jumped down, moved away the piled-up straw, and in a faint rumbling sound, an entrance over three meters high and more than two meters wide appeared before everyone.
There were still a dozen or so knights in the cave, who seemed to be familiar with the people of the merchant group, and let them pass by without surprise, waving their hands to signal the convoy to hurry up.
When the stone gate of the secret cave slammed shut, the convoy had already entered a downhill road. Due to its heavy load, it started with horses pulling carts, but later became carts pushing horses to run. Fortunately, each horse cart had an experienced driver who controlled the rhythm of the entire convoy.
After walking for over a thousand meters, the speed of the convoy slowed down. In front of them was a fairly large square with a campsite in it. The cold north wind was blocked by the earth, making this place very warm. Several soldiers wearing bright silver armor sat at the entrance of the campsite, chatting about something. Occasionally, there were also shadows of women walking around inside the campsite. It seemed that this campsite had been here for a long time.
Leopold and the warriors in front of the camp gate chatted for a few words, then commanded the chariot to continue moving forward. Han Jin was still hiding under the carriage, carefully observing the movements around him. Just now, he saw those warriors sitting around, his heart was already in his throat. The angle was almost horizontal, and as long as those warriors were slightly more careful, it wouldn't be difficult to discover the unusual shadow under the carriage. Unfortunately, this place had been lax for too long, and vigilance had become an unnecessary thing.
The surroundings are filled with artificial excavation marks, this is not a natural formation. So far, the amount of engineering he has seen has left him speechless. If this tunnel can reach the Holy Crown City, it would be a miracle, really hard to imagine who could have such great courage?!
The road ahead looked very dark, with a magical long-lasting lamp installed about every fifty meters, which could only make people vaguely see some things, and it was absolutely not bright.
The guards in the convoy began to complain in a low voice, and Han Jin listened for a moment, understanding some things. In peacetime, this passage would not be opened, and during wartime, it would not be easily opened. Only when the situation is extremely difficult and urgently needs blood supply will this passage become the lifeline of Shengguan City. The other end of the passage is in the territory of Bait Alliance. To avoid provoking unnecessary disputes, the armies of Hei Ya Castle and Di Pu Castle would never enter Bait Alliance without authorization, and the safety of the passage was greatly guaranteed.
Of course, if Black Crow City and Deep City were to discover such a tunnel, they would definitely not be polite. The problem is that since they won't invade the borders of the Beit Alliance, then it's impossible for them to discover it.
Every kilometer or so, several forks in the road would appear on either side, with clear signs at each fork indicating the correct direction. Passing through one fork was nothing, but after passing through a dozen or more forks and seeing nearly a hundred forks, Han Jin couldn't help but feel a sense of shock - wasn't this an enormous underground labyrinth?
Dark places are always prone to drowsiness, but the guards on the first carriage dare not slack off. Others can make mistakes, they cannot afford to; if they lead the convoy astray, the consequences would be severe, perhaps forever trapped.
Leopold plucked up his courage, got out of the carriage and sat down behind the coachman. He was a responsible person, at least to himself. It was laughable that others only knew jealousy, only saw his wealth rolling in, but couldn't see the hard work he put in. When others were having fun, he had to carefully calculate every business gain and loss; when others were resting, he had to keep his eyes wide open all the time; and there were many other social interactions, flattery, and deception. It could only be said that doing any line of work was not easy.
"Give me the wine jug." said Leopold, yawning.
The guard was leaning against the carriage, sleeping soundly, and hadn't heard a word he said. Leopold's eyes widened involuntarily. This is also a common human disease, when he enjoys himself, he doesn't want anyone to enjoy more than him, and when he suffers, he wants everyone to suffer with him.
He himself was trying to put on a brave face, but the guard was sleeping like a pig, Leopold had suffered severe stimulation, his appearance and his inner heart were not matched, it could even be said that they were diametrically opposed. Leopold casually grabbed a whip and was about to lash out.
The whip hadn't even moved, when a suddenly appearing fireball fulfilled Leopold's wish, only the consequences were a bit too severe, that guard was flung to the side and crashed into the wall of the cave, then rolled to the ground, his head had already turned into a lump of charcoal.
Leopold was stunned, a figure fell from above and sat beside him. Leopold turned his head to look, and involuntarily let out a sharp cry, the mournful sound echoing far away through the deep cave.
"What's going on?"
"Enemy attack? Enemy attack......"
The whole team of horses neighed and became a mess, the coachman in front of Leopold discovered something was wrong, hurriedly jumped down from the carriage, but Leopold didn't dare to move, just staring blankly at Han Jin, like a frog that had seen a snake.
A guard poked his head out from the corner, half of his body hidden behind the carriage, a longbow slowly drawn open, an arrow pointing at Han Jin over ten meters away.
Just as the guard was about to loosen his grip, a massive fist flew in from the side and struck the guard's cheek. The guard only had time to let out a pained cry before flying backward and heavily crashing into the wall of the cave, then bouncing back.
A wooden man jumped over the carriage, chasing after him in mid-air, and his second fist hit the guard's cheek again. Then another punch, the entire wall of the cave shook, when the wooden man locked onto the next target, the guard had already half of his head deeply embedded in the wall, only a mouth flowing with blood could be seen, the arc between his neck and body was almost ninety degrees.
"Kill him..." A dozen guards rushed over from both ends of the front and back.
Han Jin smiled and released another wooden puppet, the two puppets standing guard at the front and back, blocking the guards' attacks. Although the nature of the guards' work was similar to that of mercenaries, in terms of strength they were at opposite ends of the spectrum. If one had enough power, joining a mercenary squad would increase their personal income by tens or even hundreds of times, making it unnecessary to curry favor with others.
Han Jin was well aware that the strongest guard captain was only a fifth-tier swordsman, and he had enough confidence to take down all his opponents.
Leopold didn't dare to move, his head and face were covered in cold sweat. The merchant's mind was quick-witted, and in this brief moment, he thought of many questions. Why hadn't Mario arrived after all this time? Could it be... that those knights had been taken out? And thinking about the mercenary who had followed him into the cave, the more he thought about it, the more terrifying it seemed, a feeling of creeping horror that made him gasp for breath.
