My health recovery is incredibly fast.

"Haha, Pidov, we won't leave you a single drop," said Puev, the cloaked man, laughing as he fed a peanut to his squirrel with his right hand.

"No, no, no, no!" Pidov looked anxious and slammed his fist on the table. "You have to leave me half a barrel of Babarov. This operation won't be complete without my poison."

“I saved some for you.” The tall man picked up a small barrel from beside his feet. “Look, this barrel is yours.”

"That's good, that's good..." Peter muttered, picked up his wine glass, took a small sip, and stuffed a slice of smoked meat into his mouth.

The tall man looked at the gloomy-faced Kakuf. "Kakuf, is your plan alright?"

Kakuf wiped the grease from his lips, his eyes flashing with hatred, and said in a resentful tone:

“Boss, I’ve found out everything. That bastard will be going out of town these next few days to search for the lost packhorses. Serenf and Puev will follow him. I’ll shoot him with a longbow. The arrows will be coated with Petov’s poison. Make sure that bastard absolutely won’t come back alive.”

“Sounds not bad.” The tall man, the leader of the group, stroked his beard and looked at the cloaked man feeding the squirrel. “Puyev, will those mercenaries who sell poison glands cause us trouble?”

"Don't worry, boss. I have dirt on those guys. Once this job is done, I'll expose them. These guys think they'll be okay without our goods? Humph, I'll put them in jail!" Puyev said, taking a sip of his drink.

After finishing speaking, Puyev patted the squirrel's furry back and asked, "Boss, who's on watch tonight?"

The five men looked at each other, then at the wine barrel in the center of the table.

Finally, four of them looked at Peter, who was about to make the poison.

“Alright. I’ll keep an eye on things,” Peter said helplessly. After all, he’d had the least amount to drink tonight.

Five people were whispering and talking around the table, occasionally raising their glasses for a hearty drink.

Alcohol impairs the mind of alcoholics, making them speak incoherently.

Xia Zuo eavesdropped in the shadows behind the door for half an hour and finally figured out who these people were.

They belonged to an assassination organization that advocated personal revenge.

All members are from the western part of the province of Spree.

Their ancestors were natives of this continent, but their homeland was occupied by the kingdom's army and transformed into standardized villages or towns.

Bloodshed and riots were inevitable.

Every member of the assassin organization is, on the surface, an ordinary civilian who submits to the kingdom, or has even served in the army to defend towns or occupied other places.

In the shadows, they are avengers who carry out assassinations and murders.

Their target of revenge was not the Kingdom of Starry Night, but the soldiers who had occupied their homeland.

Individual revenge, gang assistance. Living separately, obeying orders.

This is Xia Zuo's summary of the assassin organization's operational guidelines.

The five men inside were acting to avenge Kakup, who had driven the carriage that afternoon. This wooden cabin, hidden deep in the forest, was his masterpiece.

Kakuff had also prepared water and dry rations in advance, and was making a rough assassination plan.

A person called the "sender" played a crucial role.

After receiving Kakup's assassination request, the "sender" will send a secret letter to the assassin near the applicant.

The other four people came from all directions to help after receiving the secret letter from the "sender".

Although Kakoff initiated the assassination, he was not the leader. The "messenger" decided that the tall man should be the leader of the five.

The target of this operation was the stablekeeper's assistant in the town. This stablekeeper had killed Kakuf's father during the occupation war two or three decades ago.

At this point, Kakoff downed a large glass of strong liquor and shouted that the stable assistant should pay for the blood debt with his life.

As the alcohol entered my stomach, troubled thoughts welled up in my mind.

The five people in the room gradually shifted the topic to their respective recent situations.

Some wanted to retire from crime, settle down, and find a wife after this heist. Others wanted to go to Sbreir province and return to their hometown to make a living. Still others were still grieving the loss of loved ones.

A group of grown men, their voices hoarse, recounted their suffering and their hopes for the future.

Xia Zuo stood outside the door, feeling bored. Human joys and sorrows are not shared; all he knew was that his points had been secured.

This group of people had probably just gotten together and were still getting to know each other. Whether it was the leader or the others, they all drank heartily tonight, finishing off half a barrel of strong liquor while chatting and drinking.

Even Peter, who had been insisting he shouldn't drink too much, was flushed and drunk. He seemed to have completely forgotten about his night watch.

Xia Zuo turned and walked to the room next door, searching the bungalow.

The structure of the bungalow is very simple.

There are three rooms in total: a large shared bedroom, a messy storage room, and a room for five people to drink.

In the bedroom closet, Xia Zuo found a notebook belonging to a poison alchemist in Pidov's bundle.

The author of this notebook doesn't seem to know much about making poisons. From separating basic toxins to polymerizing complex toxins, he used unorthodox and rudimentary methods.

To put it more bluntly, it's about throwing everything into a crucible, heating it up, and then praying that a pot of useful poison will be produced.

The last few pages of the notebook contained something unexpected: my reflections on "The Separation of Toxins".

Pidov somehow found the textbook "The Separation of Toxins" from Starry Night Academy and copied some of the contents into his notebook.

This section contains very little information, but the recorded details are comprehensive and all relate to deadly poisons, clearly indicating that the purpose was to kill by poison.

The package belonging to Pidov contained other things, all letters with messy handwriting and crude content.

Xia Zuo put the important package back in its place and looked at the armor and leather clothes piled up in the simple wardrobe.

He reached out and rummaged through the slightly worn armor, but found no patterns or embroidery that indicated his identity.

Should we hide these protective gear?

Xia Zuo touched the alchemy pouch under his robe.

Forget it.

If someone gets drunk and wants to go back to their bedroom to sleep, and happens to notice something amiss with the wardrobe, it could give them away.

Well... that is, provided that the person can maintain keen observation skills even under the influence of alcohol.

Xia Zuo thought about it and decided it was better to play it safe.

He put the protective gear back in its place and peered into the dark depths of the wardrobe—a pile of old clothes and smelly boots, nothing more.

The same was true in the storage room, where baskets held potatoes, vegetables, and black bread, and several large buckets of water were piled up in the corner.

Xia Zuo transformed into human form in the storage room and, in the darkness, activated the mechanism on the secret message ring, sending out a secret message:

I'm in a wooden hut. Five enemies. Four breathing technique practitioners. This is troublesome. I need backup. Bring more men.

Xia Zuo paused for a moment, then turned the lever again.

There are traps outside the cabin. I'll disarm them.

Xia Zuo waited in the storage room for a while, and the ring on his finger vibrated slightly.

He looked down at the coded message above:

[Received. Your location has been locked. On their way. Arriving in half an hour. We need to capture them alive. Keep a close watch on them. Stay in touch.]

"We'll be there in half an hour..."

Xia Zuo transformed into a cloud of qi and returned to the corridor to look at the room where the five men were.

They were drunk and were singing softly in a circle, their arms around each other's shoulders.

Hmm... it seems that tonight's dinner gathering of the five will end with a special program.

Xia Zuo transformed into a cloud of vapor and drifted outside, bypassing the sleeping packhorses and silently disarming the traps, reducing the obstacles for the approaching soldiers.

Demolishing the traps would grant a small amount of agility and experience, but the amount was too small. He glanced at the information in his mind and then stopped paying attention.

Chapter 20 Surrender and You Will Not Be Killed

Half an hour later, Xia Zuo transformed into a cloud of vapor and hid in the treetops, looking down at the wooden house.

Light yet rapid footsteps echoed through the forest.

Mars walked ahead of the group with a solemn expression, carrying a thick vine staff in his hand.

Beside him stood a imposing soldier clad in matte armor, his thick beard extending from his chin to his dark gray breastplate.

The soldier looked rather old, with wrinkles and scars on his face, but his eyes were bright and piercing. His expressionless face filled the surrounding air with a chilling atmosphere.

Mars led his group to stop about ten meters away from the cabin.

He tapped his staff lightly in the direction of the cabin, and an invisible shockwave emanated from the end of the staff, spreading across the grass toward the cabin.

“Captain Warrick,” Mars said in a low voice, turning his head to the imposing figure beside him.

"The five people inside were in the room to the left of the main entrance. Three of them were already asleep, and the remaining two were drinking."

Mars gestured to show the seating arrangement of the five people, "The person sitting at the very back is probably a senior mid-level mercenary."

"Hmm," Captain Warwick let out a deep sigh.

The soldiers behind him, each of them, wore metal armor that had undergone special treatment.

Not only does its surface not reflect light, but it also does not make any clicking or clattering sounds when it moves.

Shazo used a detection spell on Valic.

..

[Character Name] Warwick

[Identity] Captain of the West City Soldiers

[Health] ? ? ? (Health)

[Resistance]

【Four-elemental resistance】10% (provided by armor).

[Strength] 16

[Agile] 12

[Endurance] 15

[Vitality] 3