On the boundless plains.
Somewhere amid the grass, a figure sat before a cleared patch of ground, where a fire had been built to roast an animal's leg.
Smoke curled upward, and gusts of breeze carried the aroma into the distance.
Seeing that it was cooked through, Zhou Changqing took the food off the fire and began devouring it.
He tore off a large mouthful of meat. It was satisfyingly chewy, fragrant with fat.
After leaving the Jia Ma border, he had headed southeast, traveling hundreds of miles and passing through several small countries before finally reaching the edge of the Black-Corner Region-the Black Domain Great Plains.
Fortunately, he flew extremely fast. Even with rest stops along the way, the journey had taken less than three days.
Though the journey had been short, his experiences had been rather eventful.
Along the way, he had witnessed more than a dozen incidents of robbery and murder alone.
And the closer he came to the edge of the Black-Corner Region, the more frequently such things occurred.
By comparison, conditions within the Jia Ma Empire were much better.
Such incidents happened there too, but people at least made some effort to conceal them, and ordinary folk were unlikely to encounter them.
In those small countries and along the edge of the Black-Corner Region, however, it was not just traveling merchants who suffered. Even ordinary people were not spared if they encountered bandits.
They would rob you even if you had no money.
After all, people were a kind of resource too.
Although he had expected this, what Zhou Changqing saw and heard still opened his eyes.
All he could say was that this region certainly lived up to its reputation as a land of chaos.
"I still need to find a town and update