Chapter 615: What Was Seen

Chapter 615: Chapter 615: What Was Seen

At dawn the next day, as the sky turned pale, Shen Hao and his party set out eastward again.

One obvious change was that the whole squadron was moving slower, and the number of scouts out ahead had doubled, with the formation in the center tightened up even more for better protection.

"We’re in Jianchuan now, which means we’re in the war zone. Might run into the Barbarian Race at any moment. Captain Xu just came by and said we’d better not leave the main force—just stick to the formation."

Chen Zifang was much more familiar with the people than Shen Hao, and having been in the army longer, he took the initiative to explain when he saw Shen Hao’s face change a bit.

"We’ve only just entered Jianchuan, right? Is it really necessary to be this cautious?"

"Of course. Better safe than sorry. You and I are outsiders to the military business, so just follow orders." Chen Zifang grinned as he spoke, very bluntly, and unlike some others, he didn’t think Shen Hao was hard to get along with, so he spoke with more ease.

"Alchemist Chen is right. I guess I’m just nervous being on the frontline for the first time."

"Hahaha, Lord Shen, you’re kidding—with your Cultivation, the Barbarian Race’s nothing special. The thing is, there are plenty of rules in the army. We don’t deal with marching or fighting, and if we ask silly questions or stick our noses in, we’ll end up breaking taboos and paying for it. Don’t you agree, Lord Shen?"

"You’re right. Alchemist Chen’s advice is spot-on, we really should be more cautious." Shen Hao responded with a smile as well. If someone treated him politely, he treated them the same, and Chen Zifang’s words made sense—the same as Jiang Cheng and the others had warned him before: the military’s full of rules, best to speak less and observe more.

After that, Chen Zifang went on chirping, trying to tire Shen Hao out to get him to say something new and interesting. But Shen Hao had learned his lesson, answering with a couple of "mm-hmm"s but always keeping silent about anything useful. Not everything from another world could be transplanted, and if he said too much and someone compiled it for explanation, what then? Did he really think an "already deceased enlightenment mentor" could fool everyone?

But even if Shen Hao said nothing, he couldn’t stop Chen Zifang’s chatterbox nature—after a while, Shen Hao felt the background noise of riding on the road was supposed to be Chen Zifang’s rambling... He got numb to it.

"What are those? Dead bodies?"

As soon as they entered Jianchuan, Shen Hao saw a few Barbarian corpses by the roadside. The way they died was strange—limbs severed, lying face down, a large stone pressed on their backs, blood sprayed on the ground in front, and in the blood, bits of organs mixed in with chunks of flesh.

"They’re vagrants from the surrounding tribes. Looks like they ran into a scouting patrol. Heh, unlucky bastards, these Barbarians."

"Vagrants? The Barbarian Race has vagrants too?"

"Heh, of course. These guys run in groups of three or five, all kicked out of various tribes as bad seeds, or leftover remnants from tribes wiped out, banding together to roam around—either stealing or ambushing lone Barbarians, hated by everyone in Barbarian Territory.

When the fighting started before, the line from Jianchuan to Hu Zhu Yuan saw its Barbarian tribes swept clean. Jianchuan’s got some Barbarian infiltrators now, but we’re only just entering the war zone; all you’ll see here are vagrants. See, none of them are from the same tribe—only vagrants would mix like this."

"Why kill them like that? Looks like there’s a method to it." Out of professional habit, Shen Hao found the way these Barbarians died fascinating—it was his first time seeing severed limbs and a huge rock used to crush someone. If it was just about killing, surely there were easier ways.

"Oh! That’s what they call ’Stone Turtle’—not one of our methods. It used to be the Barbarian Race’s technique for killing their enemies, meant as the highest form of humiliation. Later, the Border Army started using it back on them. These unlucky bastards probably died less than half a day ago—otherwise, their bodies would’ve been dragged off by wild beasts already."

"Let’s go."

Shen Hao nodded and followed as Chen Zifang rode ahead.

Just a few corpses like that let Shen Hao feel the front line’s murderous air firsthand. This was nothing like his old cases or hunts for Evil—it wasn’t about right or wrong, only raw tribal conflict, either life or death, with brutality pushed to the very limits.

Of course, Shen Hao doubted all soldiers enjoyed the so-called "Stone Turtle" technique, but judging from Chen Zifang’s reaction, most of the Border Army didn’t see anything wrong with torturing the Barbarian Race this way.

Shen Hao kept his nose out of it—he’d seen scenes far crueler than this "Stone Turtle" before, but for the first time, he had a visceral sense of war.

The urgency of war wasn’t just the corpses of those unlucky bastards—it was more the frequent patrols along the route, and the severely wounded soldiers dragged back by wagons and horses.

The state of the first supply post was far worse than Shen Hao and Chen Zifang had expected.

"Sir, there’s nothing we can do! We don’t even have enough water here to drink, let alone extra for the wounded to wash their wounds daily. I—this is unjust, sir!"

Seeing Chen Zifang about to have him beaten with twenty rods, the physician at the post was crying and begging at the same time, feeling utterly wronged.

"You’ve all had Orders sent down—water boiled from the river isn’t just good for drinking, it’s good for washing wounds too. Why are you short on water?"

"But sir, there are always corpses floating in the river—that’s the Barbarian Race’s filthy trick. Anyone who drinks it gets sick, sometimes even an outbreak. Boiling it doesn’t help at all!"

Chen Zifang took a deep breath, finally understanding. On the front, people saw corpses floating in the river every day—who would dare drink the water? Even if they got Orders saying boiling would fix the quality, who’d believe it?

Honestly, Shen Hao couldn’t guarantee water with dead bodies floating in it could be safely drunk just by boiling either, and he’d never told anyone otherwise. But this was flowing water, so maybe, even with corpses, not so many bacteria would settle in one place? After all, it was just "floating," not "choking."

"In the army, instructions come from above, and orders aren’t to be bargained with. No disobedience allowed. Someone, add ten more strokes!"

"Sir, mercy! Begging for mercy, sir!"

A Qi Refining Realm Third Layer physician should be able to take thirty military rods, right? Carrying on so fiercely was truly unseemly. Shen Hao had originally thought so, but then had a sudden revelation: maybe the guy wasn’t afraid of the beating, but was showing "the effect of punishment." If he got dragged off without a word, looking disdainful—what’d happen then...

Then, at this supply post, cauldrons were set up, water started boiling, and as soon as the first batch was ready and still hot, Chen Zifang, in front of the wounded and physicians, blew on it a bit and then swallowed it all in one go, drinking three bowls straight.

"Boiled water—safe to drink!"