The instant the sound rang out.
The two men standing nearby had already lunged at the maid, faces twisted with fury, and shoved her violently to the ground.
Then they clamped their mud-smeared palms over her mouth, pressing down hard as if they wanted to bury her in the dirt!
The girl was already frightened, and when she caught a whiff of that foul stench, her stomach lurched. She struggled desperately with both legs.
"..."
Chang Yi had originally been standing nearby, escorting everyone onward.
The scream thundered through his mind like a bolt of lightning, leaving his dark face stricken with confusion.
He stared at the maid on the ground in the distance.
Suddenly, he didn't know whether to blame her or himself for not thinking things through.
If only he'd anticipated this and warned everyone about the corpse by the entrance, or prepared strips of cloth to cover their mouths, or perhaps...
Chang Yi pressed hard against his brow. The taut string in his chest seemed ready to snap. He had rehearsed this in his mind countless times, yet something had still gone wrong.
"Move!"
He drew a deep breath, abruptly reached for his sword hilt, and roared.
The instant the maid screamed, hurried footsteps had already begun to echo across the entire earthen mound.
Whatever had gone wrong, he was the only one left who could handle this situation!
The people around them quickly scattered in all directions. Even the two men who had been holding the maid down hurriedly let go and fled, putting every ounce of strength into getting away.
But their escape came to an abrupt halt.
Foxes weren't skilled in martial arts, but that was only compared with Fierce Wolves. Even someone who hadn't learned a shred of martial arts would have at