The Guards' Robbery

"Su Ming, the security team is almost here," came Zijin's reminder through the earpiece. She had been monitoring the battlefield using the drone's camera.

Su Ming dispelled the bone spheres from the warrior's body, leaving only a layer of bone armor. Then, he formed hand seals and channeled all his remaining Magic Power into the archer's corpse through a magic circle.

After finishing, having lost his Magic Power, his knees buckled, and he nearly collapsed. The unicorn, transformed into a young girl, caught him in time, allowing him to slowly sit down on the ground.

"You're amazing! A normal mage would faint if they did that," Qiluo exclaimed in admiration.

"Thank you for the compliment." Su Ming steadied himself, indicating that she could let go. "Quickly put away the array materials and cover up the traces," he said.

The unicorn nodded, erasing any unwanted marks from the scene and tidying up various props. Su Ming put on a forbidden magic cloak and a tattered outer robe, filled the shotgun with three-inch buckshot, put on a cloth cover, and slung it on his back along with the dwarf musket.

He struggled to his feet. In the coming period, with his Magic Power completely depleted, his necromancy would be extremely low, and with the concealment of the magic-banning cloak, he would be even more undetectable.

****

When Rupert heard the commotion coming from Old Luo, he guessed it was caused by the outsider gunman. He quickly gathered his men, donned their armor, grabbed their weapons, and rushed over.

He had never drunk two glasses of such strong liquor in a row, which made the usually heavy-drinking security captain a little unsteady on his feet. As he approached Old Luo's house, he glanced around and stared in astonishment, instantly sobering up considerably.

Five corpses lay around the house, and worse, there were broken bone fragments everywhere, with a strong aura of the dead permeating the air.

There's a necromancer here!

"Captain Rupert, it's me." Su Ming leaned against a section of the remaining courtyard wall and waved to the sheriff of Shafeng'er Town.

Robert gestured for everyone to slowly back away. It was impossible; judging from the extent of the damage, their group wouldn't even be enough to satisfy this mysterious outsider's whims.

Fortunately, the clerk of Whitaker Territory happened to be visiting Shafeng'er Town tonight, and he brought with him a large number of powerful guards. Given the commotion just now, these people should be on their way.

Rupert felt slightly relieved and replied to Su Ming, "Hello, adventurer."

Su Ming raised his hands to indicate that he meant no harm. "Captain Rupert, would you like to hear my explanation?"

"You said it!" Rupert said with a wry smile.

"I came here looking for someone, but Joseph isn't here at all," Su Ming said.

Rupert nodded immediately. "Then I'm really sorry about the drinks you bought me; I gave you the wrong directions."

"The person who opened the door was very rude, and we started arguing. During the argument, I suddenly discovered that a necromancer was hiding here." Su Ming kicked the archer's corpse at his feet. "They immediately attacked, intending to kill me to silence me, and I was forced to defend myself."

Rupert carefully examined the scene, noting that the undead energy emanating from the corpse at Su Ming's feet was the strongest. Even Rupert, who only knew a smattering of magic, could sense the dark power overflowing from it. The body was tall and had long arms, making him a good candidate for an archer, but it was also possible that he was a niche combatant like a curse hunter.

Rupert pondered this.

On the other side was a body riddled with holes by a wooden stick. Judging from the leather armor and weapons, it belonged to a thief, probably a member of a small group on night watch.

Behind Su Ming was a burly, warrior-like corpse. The signs of a fierce fight were most pronounced around these three.

"And what about this young lady?" Rupert pointed to the green-haired girl beside him. The girl was dressed lightly, and her clothes were somewhat tattered, but she possessed an unapproachable air about her in the cold wind.

In her mature, older sister form, Qiluo nodded slightly in greeting. The aura of a unicorn was released, and even the moonlight seemed to dim at that moment.

"Ah, my apologies, Moon People, Miss Holy Beast!" Rupert hurriedly bowed, and the security guards behind him immediately followed suit. However, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief; with the Pure White Holy Beast here, the one in front of them was definitely not an evil enemy.

"I came from Rick Village, looking for the recently missing girl," Qiluo explained. "I encountered this group on the way, so I pretended to be arrested and they took me back and locked me in the cellar. After this gentleman intervened, I seized the opportunity to escape."

Clearly, it wasn't just a matter of fleeing; the unicorn had also joined the battle, and she was wounded. Rupert deduced, glancing at the warrior with shattered bones and the thief impaled by a stick—that made sense.

***

A rustling sound rang out, and four heavily armored warriors rushed over, weapons in hand, and stood a short distance away. "Rupert,"

"What happened?" one of them shouted to the security captain.

"Su Ming, these warriors are very strong," Zijin's voice came through the earpiece. "You have no Magic Power right now, so be careful."

Su Ming gave a soft "hmm".

On the monitoring screen of the drone camera on the Youth Civilization, Hansite also watched this scene. He found it strange, "A small town's security team shouldn't have such skilled personnel."

"Judging from their equipment, they seem to be professional bodyguards. Could there be some important figure here?" Zijin wondered as well.

"That doesn't make sense either," Hansite said. "That's four already. There must be others with the person being protected. Why would a small town need so many—" He suddenly slammed his fist into his palm. "I remember now, it's the tax collection team! It's close to the Winter Solstice Festival; the lord collects taxes for the entire second half of the year around this time!"

The tax collection team passed through all the towns in the territory, collecting and transporting taxes along the way. The territory's annual income would certainly be substantial, and the combat strength of the guards would be considerable.

Zijin immediately called Su Ming and said, "There are many people on the other side, get away as soon as possible!"

With the arrival of four strong reinforcements, Rupert felt much more confident. He gestured for the guards to wait a moment and stepped forward alone to examine the details.

The necromancer was neither wearing a robe nor carrying a staff, nor adorned with any jewelry; clearly, the battle had come unexpectedly. Upon examining the body, he found it riddled with bullet holes, the mage's body nearly torn to pieces. This outsider had not only struck with deadly force but had also added unnecessary damage.

The soldier on the other side was also only wearing pajamas, with a layer of bone armor remaining on his body. He peeled back the bone armor, and several horseshoe-shaped bruises were clearly visible.

The thief's death was the most gruesome, his body covered in marks from impactful magical attacks, and he retained the aura of necromancy, exactly like the necromancer.

The entire courtyard was covered in bone fragments, and several shattered skulls lay near the back door. The merchant, Old Luo, and the last mercenary lay dead there, their bodies covered in claw marks from the skulls. Particularly puzzling was the mercenary's naked body; he had no fatal wounds but was coughing up blood. As Rupert approached, he caught a whiff of a hallucinogenic drug, a common remedy used by certain heretical sects who indulged in self-hypnosis.

Rupert looked around, reconstructing the encounter in his mind: the night watch thieves were too incompetent, failing to buy enough time before being trapped in the gunslingers' nets. The warrior was injured by the unicorn at the first encounter, and even the necromancer's White Bone armor couldn't reverse the tide.

This outsider gunslinger might also have some combat skills in spellcasting—but it's also possible she's Miss Unicorn—anyway, they attacked the thief with magic. The necromancer cast a dark energy shield on the thief, but it was to no avail; the unicorn took advantage of the chaos and stabbed the thief through the body with a wooden stick.

The necromancer summoned skeletons in an attempt to buy time to escape, but was riddled with bullets by the gunman. With the necromancer's death, the skeletons he summoned went out of control and tore Old Luo to death.

Finally, there was the mercenary from the hypnotic school. The cause of his death wasn't important; showing off his "evil god" possession in front of a unicorn skilled in mental manipulation was enough to make him lose his mind. As for why he wasn't wearing clothes, Rupert guessed that perhaps he had practiced some special technique.

Rupert compared the evidence with the scene and found nothing amiss. The only suspicious point was that the outsider claimed it was an ambush. But the scene clearly showed that the killed side did indeed engage in hasty combat, while the gunman's side was completely at ease.

However, there's no need to take things so seriously. He waved his hand, signaling the security team members to collect the bodies, and then walked up to Su Ming and the unicorn. "Thank you for your righteous help, adventurer and sacred beast! Please come to the security office and have a seat; we'll entertain you."

"No need, I have other things to do," Su Ming replied.

"The girls they kidnapped are still locked up in the cellar," Qiluo interjected.

"Shut up!" Rupert's expression changed, and he sternly rebuked the unicorn, "The necromancer is a big deal; don't meddle in those trivial matters!"

Rupert's sudden change in attitude surprised Su Ming and Qiluo, and they exchanged a glance.

The security captain then turned to Su Ming, his tone softening considerably, "Adventurer, you know there's a bounty for killing a necromancer."

The four guards immediately focused their attention on this matter and all pricked up their ears.

Su Ming saw everything. He was well aware of the bounty, after all, his name, "Bone King," was second on the bounty list, with a reward of 30,000 gold coins.

In addition to the bounty list, there's a fallback clause: capturing any Intermediate Rank necromancer will earn you 1,000 gold coins.

Those killed in this way will have their numbers halved to 500.

"Shouldn't we get this money from the Church of the God of Light?" Su Ming asked.

Rupert nodded. "Our town's small chapel of the Church of Light can't handle it; the nearest one is Dawn Territory. Look how far it is, and you have to cut off a person's head to go through all that trouble to find them. There must be many inconveniences."

"Please speak frankly." Su Ming frowned.

"We can collect the bounty on your behalf, but—" Rupert stretched out his hand, making a counting motion as if counting coins.

Behind Rupert, four guards gripped their weapons tightly, staring intently at Su Ming. Five hundred gold coins was a considerable sum, and their posture clearly indicated they wanted a share.

"So, how much is the fee for collecting it on your behalf?" Su Ming's tone turned unfriendly. "Twenty percent," Rupert said, holding up two fingers. Su Ming was about to say it was alright, but then he noticed Rupert pointing at him, "It's yours!"

Su Ming laughed in anger, "I worked so hard to kill that person, and all I get is 20%?"

Four soldiers stepped forward in unison, demonstrating their stance. Rupert raised his hand to signal them to calm down, "I'm not just making this up. These brothers are the guards of Clerk Bennyfinn Whittaker. There are so many people in the tax escort team, plus the clerk himself. Everyone who sees this gets a share, so naturally—"

Su Ming suddenly realized that this person had been subtly reminding him all along. So when Rupert reached out to pat his shoulder, he didn't dodge.

"Alright, brother, if you trust me, I'll try to talk to you again. You go to the tavern and rest, I'll come find you," Rupert continued, giving him a wink.

This was an opportunity for him to leave, but Su Ming refused, saying, "No need for such roundabout methods. I don't want the body; you can take it."

He stepped aside and gestured for them to proceed.

Seeing that he was so sensible, the four guards stopped being hostile. The security team packed up the body, one of the guards picked it up with one hand, and the four of them left happily.

Rupert signaled to the security team to continue clearing the scene and collecting the other bodies.

"Brother, you can take 30%." He said to Su Ming, "This is the rule of the underworld, you have to leave a way out, they will give you some. So, is this the tacit 'rule' here, leaving only a feather after the goose has flown by?" Su Ming sneered inwardly.

The guards had already gone far away, and the sound of their laughter could be faintly heard in the wind; clearly, this unexpected windfall had made them very happy.

Su Ming turned to Rupert, "If you take them all, it won't be enough."

"Not enough for what number?" Rupert asked, puzzled.

Su Ming was annoyed and didn't bother to reply. It wasn't because of the five hundred gold coins; both the Cold Mountain Kingdom and the Church of the God of Light had their own methods for identifying a true necromancer—this archer's corpse wouldn't qualify for the bounty.

His displeasure stemmed from the fact that such blatant robbery was commonplace, clearly indicating that the people here had extremely poor values and understanding. Even Rupert, with his conscience, believed that letting him escape unscathed was the best outcome.

Qiluo walked over, pointed to the cellar, and questioned Rupert, "Hey, why didn't you save them?"

Rupert sighed, "Miss Holy Beast, the territory scribe Bennyfinn is a notorious lecher, and his guards are all cut from the same cloth. My rescue is like throwing these girls into the lion's den; it might not be better than them being kidnapped!" He patted Su Ming's shoulder again, "While they're not paying attention and I can still control them, you guys quickly take them and leave!"

He then led the security team to a sheltered corner, took out some tobacco, and rested.

"The Northern Lands is a truly awful place." Qiluo was clearly disgusted as well. Faced with this swamp-like mire, she felt a sense of powerlessness.

****

The cellar entrance was blocked by a lot of collapsed debris. Qiluo cleared a path and crawled inside, quickly leading out six panicked girls.

Under the soft moonlight, the unicorn soothed everyone's hearts with her divine magic. She told them that the thieves had been killed and that she would take them home. The girls wept with joy.

The temperature was very low at night and was still dropping. Su Ming noticed that the girls' clothes were not very thick, so he dug out Old Luo's wardrobe from the ruins and carried out a large pile of clothes.

Each girl put on a few pieces of clothing, and then they left together.