Many people had already received word and were waiting beneath the city walls.
Seeing so much prey being brought back, the people in the city were overjoyed.
But when they saw the expressions on the hunters' faces, they instinctively sensed that something was wrong.
The captain's family, along with the families of those hunters responsible for holding the rear, rushed over.
"Where are they? Where did they go?"
"Where's my son?"
"Where's my dad?"
"Grandpa... why didn't Grandpa come back?"
The hunters lowered their heads sorrowfully. "I'm sorry. On the way back, we passed through a village and provoked three mutated monsters. The captain and the others stayed behind to cover our retreat..."
Everyone knew what it meant to encounter mutated monsters and stay behind to cover the retreat.
The hunters' families immediately burst into tears.
"Uwah..."
The jubilant atmosphere from moments ago instantly turned incomparably mournful.
Just as they were consumed by grief, the captain and the others returned atop the city wall.
"Everyone, we're back."
At first, no one noticed that they had returned.
It was only when the captain and the others came down from the wall that they said, "A few of the injured are in pretty bad shape. Get some people over here to help carry them."
"We still need to go back and retrieve another load of prey."
The injured men had initially forced themselves onward so they would not hold everyone back, but halfway through, their injuries flared up and they collapsed to the ground.
The captain and the others had all been startled.
They could only abandon some of the prey and carry them back.
"Captain?"
"Old Qian?"
"Old Zhong!"
"You're all right?"
The hunters stared at them in utter shock.
They hurriedly helped carry the wounded inside.
"Go on, go on.