Leaden clouds hung low, and a few peals of thunder rolled down from the sky.
The black-robed figure crouched beside the corpse that had been severed in two, his withered fingers roughly tearing open the goods sack.
After rummaging through it, the black-robed figure simply seized the last half of the sack and shook it hard, dumping everything onto the muddy ground.
The other attackers gathered one after another as well, pouring out the contents of the other three goods sacks with it.
Eight black-robed figures crouched on the ground and began searching in earnest, as if picking soybeans out of a pile of rice.
And yet they still could not find what they wanted.
The one in the center crushed a crystal in his hand on the spot in a fit of rage, and the other black-robed figures on either side all backed away, whether to avoid the flying shards or their leader's fury.
"Not here... not here... not here, not here! Why isn't it here?"
The suppressed voice was wrapped in anger, but what came out was not a human language.
"The intelligence can't be wrong, and these lowly humans couldn't possibly have noticed anything unusual so quickly. Something must be off!"
"My Lord," a black-robed figure beside him stepped forward and reminded him carefully, "could it be on the body?"
"Then why are you still wasting words here? Go look!"
"Yes, yes!" Several black-robed figures scattered in panic to search the other three corpses.
Ten minutes later, all the attackers arrived at the original ambush site and looked at the bloodstained arrow on the ground.
The leader picked up the arrow and said softly, "Avina?"
One of the black-robed figures immediately knelt and hurriedly defended herself. "My Lord Lacus, I swear that arrow definitely pierced his heart!"