After strangling the two petrified guys to death, the whole conflict came to an end. The final casualty ratio looked good, after all, it was five to zero. Thinking about my wife getting shot, I quickly carried and soothingly put her on the bed.
I dragged the bodies together, arranging them neatly. I didn't even bother to cover them up with anything. The first thing I did when I returned to the cave was to check my wife's wound. Because the solid bullets from the flintlock pistol didn't have any fragmentation effect, the internal injuries should be small. You could see lead-like pellets still lodged inside the wound.
The next step was to remove the bullet. The only useful tool I had on hand was a pair of small scissors. Honestly, I wouldn't even dare to pick out a splinter from my own hand, let alone remove a bullet and treat a wound for someone else. But this bullet had to come out, since she was my wife.
My hands were shaking, it was an instinctive physiological response that I couldn't control. Taking a deep breath, pressing my finger joints, I looked at her.
She looked surprisingly relaxed... Come on, you got shot, sis.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, nothing. It hurts, just bite me."
"Huh?"
While we were talking, I used a lighter to heat up the scissors as a disinfectant. I took a deep breath and inserted them into the wound, forcefully levering out the bullet.
"Sorry... Does it hurt a lot?"
"I'm fine."
My wife was very strong. Even with my rough approach to bullet extraction, she only frowned slightly.
The bleeding was not severe, so I decided not to bandage it. Besides, even if I wanted to bandage it, there was no way to disinfect it with alcohol or anything. Looking at the bloody wound, it was the first time in forty-five days that she had been injured for me, and it was our first victory over the "enemy".
What exactly constitutes an "enemy" in this world? I used to think that it was just ferocious beasts and harsh weather that we needed to guard against. But this time, I deeply realized that danger could easily come knocking on our door.
I began to reflect on the beginning of the whole incident. There were many doubts, with the most pressing one being why humans could find this place. I was very certain that there were no humans within a radius of ten kilometers, because that distance had to be more than the distance between here and Night Fall Town.
Looking over the entire mountain plain within my sight, there were no traces of human habitation. I tentatively assumed that these five people had traveled a long way to find us. Later, I found materials for setting up tents in their luggage, which served as proof.
So, even if they had traveled long distances, how did they manage to accurately find us? If it was because they saw the big sheep and the cart I tied up near the Cold Creek, that reason seemed too far-fetched. The cave entrance was far from Cold Creek, and the trees blocked the line of sight.
Two possibilities gradually emerged. One is that these people knew about our existence and our location from the very beginning. The second is that they used positioning and some kind of method to find us. Personally, I tended towards the second one, because the shining gemstone made me think of the tools used by perception magic users.
With this in mind, speculation yielded results. The actions of these five people were purposeful; they were indeed searching for monsters.
However, assumptions are still assumptions, and there are many possibilities that haven't been considered. But when it comes to matters that have already endangered our lives, we must think in the worst-case scenario. Think about the threatening posture Captain Jin Mao had, and the decisiveness when those people opened fire. There was no reason not to think in the worst direction.
Another question is whether it was necessary to kill all five of them. At that time, my mind was indeed clouded by anger, but now, upon careful consideration, not one of these five people could be let go.
If the girl named Alisa had let her sympathy get the better of her and let her go, our position would have been 100% exposed. If we let them all rest here, there would be no more people who knew our location. This was the safest way to handle it, but not interrogating them at that time was a mistake. For us now, information is the most important.
Regardless of whether the reality is as speculated, I must take action. The current "big project" is to dispose of these five bodies.
Apart from the military knife and gun, the only useful thing on Captain Jin Mao's body is money. The next bulky guy with short hair had quite a few good things, the backpack contained materials for setting up tents, and there was a lantern that looked very European in style. Other little trinkets included matches, a water jug, needles, and thread. I didn't know what to do with everything on Alisa's body, except for the lady's small mirror. The other two men had fewer things, mostly food.The last collection of usable items was quite substantial, among which there were two particularly special items: a pocket watch and a glowing blue gemstone. At that time, these two things were like treasures to me. The pocket watch meant something, it meant time! With this item, not only could I simply know the time, but I could also measure many other data. Moreover, the time units used by this watch were exactly the same as those in the previous world, namely hours, minutes, and seconds. Although the way the numbers were written was different, the minute markers on the dial were exactly the same.
That blue gemstone, to be precise, was a pendant because it had a metal casing. Strangely, this mysterious gemstone didn't emit any light when I held it in my hand, even if I put it in my wife's hand it wouldn't glow...
Anyway, I'll study it later. I took off the clothes of the five bodies and spent the whole afternoon burying them in the ground. With so much fertilizer, my yam plants will surely grow well. I originally wanted to burn the clothes, but then I thought it would be troublesome, so I tore them into strips to stuff in the cracks of the door. The fabric I used to make the tent was also conveniently draped over the eaves, and it had a good waterproof effect.
Using some ingredients that I found in the luggage, I made a pot of soup. According to our family tradition, soup was only made during winter or when someone in the family was sick. You wouldn't see soup on the table otherwise. Although there were "luxury foods" like bread among these "spoils", the bread was so coarse that it cut the inside of your mouth... The cheese also had a strong smell of milk; the only thing that I could eat was the sugar.
Speaking of sugar, it was more like crystallized honey, mixed with yellow and white that could whet one's appetite.
First, I chopped the giraffe's meat into pieces and put it in the pot to cook. After a few minutes, I added some sliced yam, then cheese, spices that could ward off the cold, and salt. Finally, when the soup became thick, I sprinkled the torn bread on top and the hot air made the bread soft. I often made this kind of "patient's meal" because my father was not well for a period of time before and we couldn't afford to hospitalize him, so we took care of him at home.
I'm someone who enjoys taking care of others. As my friend put it, it is a way of expressing oneself without relying on others. While taking care of others, I myself am also mentally dependent on the person being taken care of.
But I prefer to call this kind of thing "mutual support".
"Is it delicious?"
"It's delicious, hehe."
A beautiful woman eating, according to an idiom: "It is delightful to the eyes and the appetite." If it weren't for her injury, I think I would definitely do something...
"Eat more..."
As I fed her, I pondered about our future life.
Previously, I mentioned why these people were able to find us. Sometimes it was because we exposed ourselves first, such as the smoke when cooking or our interactions with humans. Could it be because of the trip to Night Fall Town?
How should I put it, I couldn't sense any hatred towards monsters from the residents of Night Fall Town. Even Wolfrang, the werewolf, could live there peacefully, and the blacksmith Park was very friendly towards me and my wife. The people in the tavern were also wary at first, but later on, they didn't pay any attention to us at all.
These five people probably didn't come from Night Fall Town, but this strange little town is worth visiting again.
Gathering as much information as possible, getting answers to my questions, what I currently know is just the tip of the iceberg in this world. I have a feeling that the future for me and her will far surpass anything I can currently imagine.
