Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 525: Trouble

If Xin City has already turned into ruins, where then did the troop I just saw come from?

Unless, they were the culprits who attacked Xin City.

But they were merely a hundred or so people. How could they have captured Xin City?

Shen Wenchen lost himself in thought, his brows furrowing even deeper.

Thanks to Liu Jie and his men knocking down part of the rotting wood at the city gate a few days ago, he could now clearly see the scene below.

A wind arose from somewhere.

It caused a rustling sound in the "forest". As the wind blew over, Shen Wenchen only caught faint whiffs of a certain scent.

The stench exclusive to the rats.

As the idea formed in his heart, Shen Wenchen’s expression darkened.

If it were people, they could still staunchly defend the city, but what if their opponent was no longer human?

Could they actually defend against them?

"Start the bonfires, make them blaze!"

"Yes!"

One after another, the bonfires on the city walls lit up, encircling Yan City entirely, leaving no gaps.

Those rats were afraid of fire, the only thing they knew now.

The night passed without incident.

As daybreak approached, the soldiers guarding the city let out a cry, stumbling into the camp.

"General, disaster struck!"

Shen Wenchen had not yet fallen deeply asleep. Hearing someone enter, he sat upright.

"What happened?"

"Outside the city gate... General, you should take a look!"

The young soldier was at a loss for words for a brief moment. He could only ask Shen Wenchen to go and see for himself.

"Lead the way."

Shen Wenchen rubbed at the space between his eyebrows, donned his coat, and stepped out of the camp.

Climbing onto the city wall, he saw several "people" lying around a hundred meters away from the city gate.

They were better described as half-decayed corpses than people.

Some had lost all flesh from their legs, with only tiny bits of skin sticking to their leg bones.

Some had their abdomens split open, with their insides spilled all over the ground.

Some were left with only skeletons for limbs, and only an occasionally twitching head to show they weren’t yet dead.

It was Shen Wenchen’s first time encountering such a scene.

Even on the battlefield, such brutal means were rarely seen.

"What happened here?"

Shen Wenchen asked through gritted teeth, his fists clenched tight.

"General, these people, they, they just appeared a quarter of an hour ago."

Where could the young soldier withstand a scene that even Shen Wenchen had never seen before?

He had already vomited at the sight when he first discovered it. Now, he could only answer Shen Wenchen sideways, not daring to turn his head and face the scene below.

"Open the city gate. I need to go out."

"General, the situation outside is still not clear...."

The young soldier wanted to say more, but he was silenced by the cold gaze of Shen Wenchen.

"Yes, sir."

The city gate was opened once more, and Shen Wenchen led a few men out.

"Help, help me."

They didn’t know how long they had been moaning, their eyes empty as they kept repeating this sentence.

Hoping someone could save them.

"What happened?"

Shen Wenchen looked at the "people" in front of him, his heart aching in a way he couldn’t put into words.

"There are, monsters, help, help me."

"Save me."

"I don’t want to die, don’t want to die..."

They repeated these words as the blood continued to flow from them.

Looking at their pale faces, the result of excessive blood loss, Shen Wenchen clenched his lips tightly but found he had nothing to say.

These people were beyond saving.

With the last man’s outreached hand falling heavily, the surroundings fell eerily silent.

"General, they are villagers!"

Among the soldiers who had been stationed in the village, one recognized one of the men, incredulously saying.

"I recognize him too, that, the one on the left is from Niuniu Village!"

"The one on the right is from Datian Village!"

Six bodies were identified, all villagers from a few of the outer city villages.

In other words, those monstrous creatures had already made their moves against the villages outside the city.

After receiving orders to collect the six bodies, Shen Wenchen returned to the city. He led several people back outside again.

The only solution now was to bring all the villagers living outside the city to the safe interiors of the city.

But if they really did that, as long as they attacked Yan City, no one would be able to escape.

Perhaps this was their aim, but he had no other choice.

Going by the information that the few men brought back, those humanoid monsters seemed to rarely move in the daytime, instead becoming active collectively at night.

They had to take advantage of it being daytime, quickly relaying this news.

Otherwise, if they delayed till nightfall, who could guarantee that nothing would happen to the rest of the village residents?

Everyone in Datian Village had been on tenterhooks for the entire night.

Last night, several figures suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Catching them off-guard, they kidnapped several villagers.

Chi Sheng looked at Yuanbao in Ming Qin’s arms, and Yueyue sleeping on the table next to him, feeling a complex mix of emotions.

Just as they had finally reunited as a family, one thing after another kept happening.

He often wondered if he could truly protect them all.

The Third and Fourth Heads were also not looking too good.

Long-term malnutrition combined with high-intensity labor, they had long since reached their limits.

"If you’re tired, go rest for a while."

Chi Sheng patted their shoulders, telling them to rest first.

Upon seeing the two of them genuinely about to leave, the people in Datian Village were unwilling.

Last night, the burly kidnappers had abducted several people. What would they do if those ghost-like creatures came back after these two left?

They noticed that these two were taller and burlier. If they were gone, who would guard the village?

"Where are you going! What if you leave, and those ghost-like things return, what are we going to do?"

"What are we going to do if they come back, are we going to barricade against them?"

The grievances from both sides were accumulating, and they were on the verge of exploding.

Even though both sides were nearly at the breaking point, out of respect for Shen Wenchen, each side still took turns for night patrols.

However, it had been the turn of the people from Datian Village to keep guard last night, but those people had instead run off to the end of the village to catch fish. If they hadn’t deserted their posts, everyone would have discovered the intruders immediately when they came into the village.

That being the case, the tragedy wouldn’t have happened.

Other than the several persons who were kidnapped, many had also been hurt.

The Third and Fourth Heads were martial artists. They had put in the most effort last night.

Even after standing guard for the whole night, they couldn’t return for rest.

Naturally, the people of Qing Fenghan would not accept this.

"If it weren’t for your people deserting your posts, the incident last night wouldn’t have happened!"

"What do you mean we deserted our posts! Clearly, clearly your people live nearest to the village entrance. If they hadn’t been in such a deep sleep, this wouldn’t have happened!"

The villagers of the two villages were not giving an inch, and seemed ready to start fighting again at any moment.