We agreed to seek enlightenment together, but how did you end up seeking enlightenment for my mother

"Little Black, I really didn't mean to..."

Watching the raven squawk and flap its wings to fly away, Xu Zhou could only pray silently in his heart.

"You'll definitely come back to guide us, right?"

Sure enough, the guard's attention was drawn to Xiao Hei's movements.

He raised and lowered the crossbow in his hand, finally shielding his eyes from the glaring sunlight and squinting as he gazed into the distance.

The wait was less than two seconds.

A shadow silently appeared behind the guard, and an arm suddenly wrapped around his neck from behind, dragging him into the shadows.

A moment later, Wu Lulu poked her head out from the edge of the platform and hopped and waved towards the bushes, her movements so exaggerated that it seemed she was afraid Xu Zhou wouldn't see her.

Xu Zhou immediately felt reassured.

The confidence in taking this outpost has increased from 97% to 99%.

He crouched low and quickly approached, pressing himself against the gate of the outpost. He leaned against the door and listened intently, faintly hearing hurried, anxious voices coming from inside.

Wu Lulu, who had half her body sticking out upwards, made a hand gesture, and the other party immediately understood, shrinking back and disappearing at the edge of the platform.

A few seconds later, a loud thud came from above.

Boom—

The entire watchtower seemed to tremble slightly, and the accumulated dust on the walls began to fall.

As expected, the raiders inside the door interrupted the conversation. After a few short, low shouts, the sounds of clattering tables and chairs mixed with chaotic footsteps rushed upstairs.

As the sound faded into the distance, Xu Zhou gently pushed open the door and entered, only to find that the first floor of the watchtower was completely deserted.

The walls on both sides were piled with wooden crates of all sizes, and further in were two rows of long dining tables side by side, with unfinished food and overturned wine glasses still on the tables.

The passageway directly in front of you leads to the staircase at the very back.

Clearly, this place serves both as a warehouse and a restaurant.

Xu Zhou walked over to the boxes and glanced at them briefly. Most of them contained basic supplies and food, but there were also a few weapon boxes.

He randomly flipped one open.

[Creation: Crossbow]

[Durability: 7%]

[Note: This is a handmade item; the workmanship is quite rough.]

"With a durability of seven, it'll probably fall apart after just two shots, right?"

On second thought, it seems reasonable. After all, they've become raiders, so how could they possibly have good equipment?

Not only were the bows and crossbows in such a state, but the swords and armor were also tattered and broken, with some blades even having rolled edges.

Xu Zhou immediately abandoned the idea of ​​borrowing their weapons, grabbed two crossbows loaded with arrows, and turned to walk towards the stairs.

At this moment, the shouts and curses of the raiders could be faintly heard overhead, along with Wu Lulu's arrogant retort without showing any weakness. It seemed that the two sides were engaged in a passionate confrontation across the damaged staircase.

Xu Zhou tiptoed up to the second layer.

This seemed to be the resting place of the raiders, with the doors of several simple cubicles half-open. He stopped and did not continue to go upstairs.

If nothing unexpected happens, all the raiders inside the watchtower should be crammed into the third floor right now. Rushing in directly would most likely result in running straight into gunfire.

So he went straight to the back of the second floor, approached a window without glass, and peered up.

The location of the stairs has not changed; going up from this position, you can directly face the raiders' backs.

Xu Zhou flicked out strands of his hair, the golden threads silently wrapping around the protruding wooden stake above the third-floor window sill. His body was then lifted into the air, and his feet landed firmly on the wooden edge of the outer wall.

With his body pressed against the wall and the wind whistling in his ears, he quickly peeked out from the window frame before pulling back down.

There were four raiders, all male, each armed, all facing the fourth-floor stairwell.

The leader was the most muscular, holding a short sword in one hand and a round shield in the other at the very front, and he was also the one who cursed the most fiercely.

"Damn thief! You're dead meat when the main force gets back!"

"A bunch of trashy bums~ Come on, let's fight one-on-one if you dare~"

Wu Lulu's voice drifted down from above, her tone extremely arrogant, and the two sides immediately began hurling insults at each other.

"Get down here, and I'll fight you one-on-one!"

"Do you think I'm stupid? You want to go down there and wait for yourselves to take me on one-on-one, huh?"

"Get down!"

"Come up here!"

Xu Zhou seized the opportunity, aimed his two crossbows at the two people behind him, and pulled the triggers at the same time.

Whizzing--

puff puff!

Both arrows hit their mark. One arrow pierced through the shoulder blade of one of the men, while the other pierced the back of the head of the man next to him, killing him instantly!

The instant the trigger was pulled, Xu Zhou threw away his crossbow and flung out a strand of his hair to strike the third person.

Almost the instant the two raiders were struck by arrows, the golden thread wrapped around the waist of the third man.

Xu Zhou exerted a sudden burst of force, and the silk thread tightened abruptly, pulling the man off the ground and sending him hurtling towards the window.

"Ugh!!"

"Aaaaaah—!"

Two screams rang out simultaneously. One person clutched their shoulder and fell forward, while the other was thrown out of the window amidst screams. The shouts faded into the distance and finally stopped with a heavy thud.

"What?!"

The man in the lead suddenly turned around.

He saw that one of his three companions was dead, another was lying on the ground convulsing and groaning, and the third had simply floated away.

He was still in shock when he suddenly heard a "pfft" sound.

A bright silver spearhead protruded from his chest.

He stared blankly down at the gun tip, where dark red blood still clung, slowly trickling down the edge of the gun.

The next second, the leader collapsed to the ground.

Xu Zhou, clinging to the windowsill, saw Wu Lulu appear, then flipped over and jumped inside, drawing his short knife as he approached the raider who was still groaning on the ground.

Wu Lulu seemed to sense something, and she held her spear horizontally in front of her, blocking Xu Zhou and the man.

"I'll do it."

"No." Xu Zhou gently pushed the gun barrel away. "This is a necessary experience for me. I can't always stand behind you."

Wu Lulu was silent for a moment, then put away her spear and obediently stepped aside.

Xu Zhou held his breath and brought the knife down.

Are raiders human?

Aside from their skin color, they look almost identical to ordinary people.

Looking at the dismembered body, Xu Zhou wiped the blood off the victim's clothes and sheathed his sword.

A feeling of discomfort did arise, but it wasn't to the point of nausea or vomiting. Perhaps it was because I'd seen so much of this within the Zoroastrian community. At this moment, I only felt a chill down my back, and apart from that, there were no other symptoms worth mentioning.

Even his sanity remained unchanged; he seemed to be more adapted to the scene than he had expected.

Wu Lulu peeked out from the side, sniffed lightly a few times, and gradually relaxed.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Actually, I could have killed them all by myself. You didn't need to put yourself in danger."

"Haha, just consider it as you guiding this newbie."

Xu Zhou smiled faintly in response, and subconsciously raised his hand to rub Wu Lulu's head, but the movement suddenly froze halfway through, and he immediately realized that this seemed a bit too abrupt.

He hadn't forgotten what the red-eyed wolf mother had said that night.

Seeing his hand hovering in mid-air, Wu Lulu was slightly taken aback, a blush rising to her cheeks. After a moment's hesitation, she leaned her head closer and gently rubbed it against Xu Zhou's palm.

At this moment, Xu Zhou felt his rationality was about to explode.

"Alright, the outpost has been captured. Does that count as mission accomplished?"

Wu Lulu blushed and took a step back, putting her hands behind her back and avoiding eye contact.

As if to confirm her question, a distant notification sound rang in both of their minds at the same time.

[Mark Acquired: Ominous Sign (To be activated)]

The voice was deep and hoarse, clearly originating from the god of creation.

"An ominous sign?"

Xu Zhou turned to look at Wu Lulu, his eyes full of questions.

The girl shook her head, blinking her big eyes, her face seemingly saying, "I can't do it."

Seeing this, Xu Zhou couldn't help but sigh.

"Let's put that aside for now and quickly loot the area. The main force they mentioned will likely return to defend before nightfall. This tower has a good structure; we can set traps nearby and inside."

"You know all this?" Wu Lulu immediately revealed her two little tiger teeth, her eyes sparkling. "No wonder you're the most intelligent person in my tribe!"

"Yes, yes, I am super intelligence, you are super strength, when we combine our powers, we are invincible."

Xu Zhou gave a casual reply and quickly got to cleaning up the mess.

Surely a raider squad that can build an outpost wouldn't be without at least one or two decent collectibles?