Cloud Mist Mountain Range, the area of Clear River Township near Two Rivers Village.
On the road where the Bandits had ambushed him that day, Lin Ze drove his donkey cart out of the mountains at an unhurried pace.
After selling the matsutake he had brought back last time, Lin Ze made a few preparations and came straight back to the Great Zhou Dynasty to buy more goods.
Compared with matsutake selling for three thousand yuan per jin in the Main World, the matsutake here in the Other World, which he could buy for two yuan per jin, offered far better profits.
He glanced at the battlefield from that day. By now, not the slightest trace of the fight remained.
A week had passed since the battle. The Bandits' scattered body parts and the blood splashed across the ground had all long since been cleared away.
A sudden downpour had washed away every last trace.
Lin Ze stopped the donkey cart, went into the woods, and retrieved the Miniature Camera he had taped to a concealed spot seven days earlier.
Although it had rained in the Cloud Mist Mountain Range over the past few days, that posed no problem for the waterproof camera, which had been wrapped tightly in tape. It had kept working until its battery ran out.
Lin Ze removed the Miniature Camera's built-in memory card and connected it to a tablet with a card reader.
As he drove the donkey cart toward Two Rivers Village, he started reviewing the footage.
From the time Lin Ze had set up the camera until the next morning, nothing particularly noteworthy happened.
So many people had died here all at once that the dense stench of blood kept even the fiercest beasts in the mountains from approaching. They feared that some dangerous presence might still be lurking in the area.
It wasn't until broad daylight the next morning that residents from near Two Rivers Village dared to approach.
They had actually heard the succession of thunderclap-like booms the night before, but only now, after daybreak, did they dare come and investigate in groups.
"They're dead. Every last one of them."
Forty or fifty able-bodied men came over together. Now, as they stared at the bodies strewn across the ground, they trembled with fear.
Though these men were usually brave enough to fight lions, tigers, and bears, seeing twelve headless corpses still drained the color from their faces.
Since the being who had struck could so easily kill those twelve, killing the forty or fifty of them would only take a little more effort.
"They're the Bandits who call themselves Cloud Mist and have been running rampant nearby."
Soon, someone calmed down and began identifying the bodies.
A quick look at the twelve corpses' clothing made it clear they belonged to a band of Bandits active around Clear River Township.
Some of the men had seen the Bandits from a distance before.
"I don't see Young Master Lin's body. Before night fell yesterday, he was driving his cart this way..."
Someone else spoke up.
Many of them immediately thought of the young man named Lin Ze, whom they had met the day before.
Since Lin Ze's body wasn't there, he was most likely the one who had struck.
Though he hadn't said so outright, they could guess that Lin Ze was a disciple of some reclusive master. He had learned impressive skills, which was why he dared to travel the martial world alone.
The twelve Bandits' corpses, their heads blasted apart and their lives taken almost simultaneously, made it plain that their guess had been right.
"Young Master Lin is a good man."
The people of Two Rivers Village present all shared the same thought.
The twelve Bandits, who had all died almost simultaneously, were proof that Lin Ze was a rare expert even across the Great Zhou Dynasty.
The authorities often found it difficult to control experts like him.
Yet this expert had spoken with them in such an approachable way, and paid a generous price for the assorted fungi that weren't worth much.
He could have robbed them, but he chose to pay.
He was simply too kind.
"Since they were Bandits, this is easy to handle. We'll just report it to the authorities."
"Let's take the bodies back first. Once the authorities have inspected them, we'll bury them somewhere so they don't spread a plague."
An Ye, the head of Two Rivers Village, made the decision then and there.
He assigned some of the young men to clean up the chaotic scene, then sent his son to inform the township head.
The township head would contact the Fengping County authorities to handle the aftermath.
Lin Ze watched this far and nodded slightly.
Events had unfolded just as he expected.
The villagers would testify that Lin Ze had killed Bandits, so he wouldn't face any consequences for it.
Killing a few Bandits in the Great Zhou Dynasty was no great matter. Once the authorities had handled the aftermath, they might even give him some kind of commendation.
If the Bandits had bounties on their heads, he'd get those too.
If the county magistrate took a liking to his abilities, he might even recruit him to work at the County Government Office, giving him a post like constable or clerk to help keep the county safe.
But Lin Ze didn't stop watching the surveillance footage. He wanted to see if anyone would show up later.
He thought it would be less trouble to drag out and kill the rat who had secretly tipped off the Bandits.
He fast-forwarded through a long stretch. The camera showed someone from the County Government Office arriving to inspect the scene that afternoon.
"Is this where the crime took place?" a man dressed as a constable asked.
"Yes. We suspect the Bandits were robbing travelers when they ran into an expert. It had just gotten dark, and we heard what sounded like thunder striking the ground," An Ye, the village head, replied honestly.
The constable examined the surroundings carefully, but saw no signs of lightning strikes or fire damage.
"He struck with the force of wind and thunder. The marks on the bodies show that their heads were shattered by hidden weapons in an instant. It does look like the work of an expert," the man dressed as a constable confirmed.
But at that moment, Lin Ze paused the footage and fixed his eyes on an inconspicuous figure in the crowd.
The man was a smiling, mild-mannered middle-aged squire: Zhang Yuanwai.
Zhang Yuanwai's name was Zhang Shouye.
He lived in Clear River Village, where he was the village head, and was also a local notable who helped the authorities manage Clear River Township.
A week earlier, when Lin Ze had gone to Clear River Village to sell rock sugar and buy matsutake, Zhang Shouye had been one of his best customers, buying two jin of rock sugar in one go.
At the time, Lin Ze hadn't thought there was anything special about him.
But in the surveillance footage, when no one was looking, the expression in his eyes as he watched the crime scene was extremely grim.
He and Lin Ze had hardly interacted, yet he was showing such a change in emotion. That was certainly worth pondering.
Since Lin Ze wasn't the one who had stirred such feelings in him, then it had to be the other group of dead men.
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