Mercenaries and Adventurers

There is still a while before the sun sets and dusk arrives, and the gate of the city is already crowded with farmers returning to the town. Most of the farmers are with their own children, and they are carrying farm tools. The older child was wearing rough sackcloth and was holding a jar of water, while the younger child was next to him, wearing only a change of clothes from a sack for things, with a small piece of rope tied around his waist, and the other end of the rope was tied around the waist of older children. As for the women at home, they all went home earlier to cook.

Zhao Ji avoided the flow of people and squeezed out of the city from the edge of the city gate. Fortunately, he came out earlier, otherwise with so many people crowded at the gate of the city, he would be locked up in the city before he could leave the city in time.

He returned to his small camp according to the road he had traveled before. He lit the embers of the campfire with flints, and added a few broken branches. After the fire flourished, Zhao Ji took out the bread sticks he had just obtained.

Putting it under the nose and smelling it, there is indeed a smell of pine nuts, and a faint fragrance of turpentine can be smelled. Zhao Ji wondered if Chef Whitier used the pine branches as firewood when baking this batch of bread sticks. It is conceivable that the bakery next to the chamber of commerce's kitchen must be filled with the smell of pine trees.

Hold the breadstick between a clean twig and heat it slowly over a campfire. Sitting by the campfire, Zhao Ji turned the branches and hummed a ditty he had created at will.

"La la la la, the ants are moving."

"If it doesn't rain, I don't have a home."

"Swamp mud, with feet."

"Make a small bridge, and you won't be afraid of mud."

"Little slime monster, die quickly."

"It's just tonight, it's sputtering."

"You don't have a life, I make money to spend."

"You don't have a life, I make money to spend."

"Haha." Zhao Ji himself became happy, and the bread was almost heated after singing.

The breadsticks heated by the fire gave off a burnt aroma. If it weren't for the fact that the place is too close to the swamp and there is always a stench in the air, Zhao Ji must be satisfied with the taste of the breadsticks. The breadsticks were not fully fermented, so they were very solid. Zhao Ji bit into it, but he didn't bite it off. After tearing it off hard, it needs to be chewed fully in the mouth before it can be swallowed.

Zhao Ji rubbed his cheeks and looked at the bread stick in his hand. He was afraid of this thing, and it took so much effort to eat it.

After a hard fight, Zhao Ji finally ate half of the bread stick. Zhao Ji was full after eating half of it. This food is really filling, but it’s too much to eat. It may be that Zhao Ji’s eating method is wrong. Wheat flour is not the kind of rye bread that was not sifted well before, and it will not be scratched by the wheat husks and the like.

Swallowing dryly, feeling very thirsty, Zhao Ji hurried to the drain, scooped up some water with his hands and drank it slowly. After gulping and drinking enough water, Zhao Jicai slowly returned to the campfire.

When passing through the sewage outlet, the sewage outlet made the sound of sewage flushing down from the upper city, which happened to be the time to clean the sewage channel at dusk. Zhao Ji hurriedly took a few steps away to avoid being splashed with dirt or something.

Every time the sewage outlet discharges sewage, it is a gluttonous feast for the animals in the swamp in the south of the city. Dirt-eating animals stay near the swamp near the sewage outlet from time to time, and higher-level predators linger nearby at this time, waiting to eat other weak animals, while monster-like creatures live in the swamp. The top predators, they have no other enemies, only the mutual confrontation between the same kind.

But after tonight, Zhao Ji will become the top hunter in this swamp. Because humans don't hunt for food, they hunt for money.

Human beings will not stop hunting if their desire for money is not satisfied.

And human desire for money is never satisfied.

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After a while, dusk passed, the sun dipped below the horizon, and night fell. But before the dark night became fierce, the bright full moon had already risen, and the earth was illuminated again. The surface of the swamp reflected the moonlight, as if there were countless fragments of the moon shining.

The animals in the swamp seemed to be more active today, the sound of frogs came and went, and the flapping and rubbing of various insects were also resounding and loud. Some tall flowers emit faint lights of various colors, attracting flying insects whose tails also emit various faint lights to stop and pollinate.

The cry of the night owl came from the woods in the northwest, which attracted other nocturnal birds circling and flying over the swamp to make various calls.

Zhao Ji is well-dressed, with a rattan helmet on his head and a branch cloak. He holds a pot cover shield in his left hand, a short dagger in his right hand, and a snake driving stick inserted on the left side of the branch cloak. This time Zhao Ji put on shoes, because he mainly cut down and laid trees during the day, and his bare feet would hurt.

The campfire has been handled by Zhao Ji, and other items are wrapped in bedding and pressed with stones to prevent them from being taken away by small animals.

Tonight's hunting is about to start, Zhao Ji is full of energy, this time he is not the prey, but the hunter.

The slime monsters who chased him last night were prey, and they were going to be in bad luck today.