Edge of the Apocalypse

Chapter 333: Set Out

Big White waved his head towards the countryside, signaling for Alan to follow. It seemed that he did not want to expose himself under the eyes of the people of Sur City. Bai's intelligence was no less than that of an adult man. He knew that if he were to be seen by ordinary people, it would be strange if he wasn't treated as a dangerous person. Even so, Allen discovered that the creatures of this planet had no clear concept of dangerous species, and only classified these mutated wild beasts as dangerous beasts.

However, if Bai was exposed to the gazes of others, Alan could not guarantee that Sur City would organize a hunt against him. After all, Bai's current appearance gave off a very dangerous feeling. Walking beside its six to seven meter long snake body, Alan could feel the pressure an ordinary person faced.

After swallowing his heart last time, Bai fell asleep in the cellar. After Alan returned from the Arth Mountain Range, the king snake had long since left. Alan thought that it was just hunting in the wild as usual, but he never thought that Bai's change would be so great. Its scales weren't as smooth as they used to be, and each one was covered in fine granular protrusions, looking very rough. When Alan gently touched it with his hand, he could feel that the white muscles were instantly tense, and then he slowly relaxed.

In that moment of change, a magma-like power erupted from Bai's body. That enormous explosive force allowed Bai to launch a fierce attack in an instant. As for the snake scales, they weren't cold to the touch. Instead, they were slightly warm. The snake was originally a cold-blooded animal, but a mutant like the king snake seemed to break this rule. Alan remembered that when he brought the Black Twilight King Snake to the snake's nest, he had seen it adjust its temperature to hatch eggs. From this, it could be seen that Bai also gradually possessed the abilities of a king snake.

The scales were rough, thick, and white like a suit of armor. Especially the coronal skeleton on its head, which covered almost half of its head, perfectly protected the white vital organs. The bone crown was joined by many fine pieces of bone, and the thickness of the serrated edges was about two centimeters. It could be seen how thick the helmet was. If he used this method to hit the enemy, he would probably be able to use it as a siege awl.

He stopped in a forest and let out a silent scream. Not long after, two pythons that weren't much smaller than White came out of the bushes. Their amber eyes were constantly staring at Alan, and they spat out snake letters with intense hostility. One of them even tried to get close to Allen, and the thigh-thick snake made Allen believe that they could easily snap an adult's body.

Bai Chao opened his mouth to reveal his fangs. The python was shocked and retracted. Bai simply set up a snake formation around Allen, with his head right above Allen's head. Alan could not cry, and Bai was like a hen protecting her young, afraid that Alan would be hurt by a python.

Apart from pythons, there were also poisonous snakes that had swam out of the forest for decades. They didn't dare to approach the White and Python, lagging behind by a bit as they circled around the grass. Following that, there were many other beasts, most of which were strange little beasts that could not be named. They were the size of squirrels, with large heads and small bodies, and their round eyes were very cute.

Occasionally, however, their heads would crack open, revealing cross-shaped mouthparts and spitting out long tongues with thorns. Alan knew that was the beast's mouth. These things were like cannibalism, deceiving their opponents with their cute appearances. Only when the target was careless did they reveal their big mouth and eat their prey in one bite.

The last to arrive were three or four wild boars. They had long, curved fangs, palm-sized bone fragments on the ventral side, and rows of spikes of varying lengths on their backs. They were clearly mutated species.

Alan was greatly surprised. These wild beasts and snakes were like white armies, and their classes were distinct. Because White was a king snake, the snakes had the highest status in this special army, and they were the closest to White. As for the other wild beasts, they were inferior to the herd of snakes, and among the other beasts, they respected the status of those piercing-armored wild boars. Even two ferocious beasts that looked like leopards and tigers shrank behind those wild boars.

Bai lowered his head, his eyes revealing a complacent expression. It tilted its head, as if waiting for Alan's praise. Ellen was both angry and funny. He touched his big head and said, "Good fellow, have you developed your own power now?"

Bai nodded, opened his mouth and spat out a message, licking Alan's cheek. Alan patted his head and said, "I'm going to leave for a while. It's not convenient for you to wander around Sur City like this. Don't go back for the time being. When I get back, I'll think of a way to get along with Sur City."

"Try to keep your subordinates away from the city. Take care of yourself while I'm away."

Bai Zhi stood up and shook his head with a look of indifference. It was like a newly grown child, full of confidence in itself, and even a little disgusted with Allen's "parents" for being a little verbose.

Alan and it were already connected and couldn't help but laugh. He waved his hand and stretched out his head in vain. Alan hugged it. Bai closed his eyes, seemingly enjoying the hug.

"I'm going back. I'll see you later. Do your best, Bai."

A moment later, Alan released it and left the forest. Bai came to the edge of the forest and didn't follow him. He just looked at Alan from afar. Alan turned around and saw that the beasts behind the king snake were following suit. This made him very happy. White would no longer be lonely on this planet.

Two days later, the well-prepared caravan set out at the square in front of the City Lord's Mansion. The caravan consisted of more than a dozen carriages. The carriages carried fabrics that were newly produced and could be called high-grade. The merchants accompanying him were Shawn, the other three workshop owners, and their associates. Alan was in charge of the guards. Apart from Wilick, Adele, and Regis, there were also thirty Mountain King troops.

There were even more people sending them off. New City Lord Edward and his wife, Nelu, were both outside the arena at the same time. Other city officials, members of the Chamber of Commerce, and ordinary citizens were also sending them off. After all, Ellen and the others' trip symbolized the hope of Sur City's rise. No one prayed for the caravan in good faith, praying that they could return safely and bring fruits to the city.

The four of them were riding on war horses, their horses wearing a layer of light armor. These four sets of light warhorse armor were well-crafted and were found in Baron York's warehouse. They came from the interior of the empire and were one of Baron York's favorite collections. It had to be admitted that after putting them on, the warhorses looked extremely divine, but the significance of decoration was far greater than their actual use.

Although Allen was more willing to exchange the four harnesses for money, Edward insisted that he use them on horses and walk around in front of the townsfolk in order to enhance the image of Allen, the new knight in their minds. It seemed that Edward, who had once been a superstar, was much better at image packaging than Allen.

Sure enough, with the warhorses and gorgeous harness, Allen and the others' images were even taller in the eyes of the townsfolk. Especially Allen's knight badge that was worn on his chest. It reflected the morning light and dazzled people's eyes. When people saw him, they only knew how to shout loudly, and there were even girls constantly throwing incense kisses at Ellen, which made Adele want to shoot these idiots in one shot.

After leaving Sur City, the world gradually returned to silence. The yellow-brown earth began to be the sole subject, and towns were the most basic units of settlement on a planet that was not yet well-traveled. And between these units, there was often a desolate land. In this world, in this era, people's connections were not close enough, which gave the earth more grey areas.

The grey areas were filled with words like violence, bandits, and chaos.

In the vast empire of Bailegan, only the center of the empire could be called prosperous. As a result, the vast borders and the lack of close ties between them allowed the wars between the Empire's dukes to last for hundreds of years. The imperial family controlled the most powerful dukes, and the archdukes also relied on the imperial family to consolidate their power. The two were like holly trees and ivy, symbiotic and prosperous, thus forming and extending the power of the empire's most central region.

After leaving this center, war became a topic of frequent discussion and action among the nobles. There were no eternal friends and no eternal enemies. This sentence perfectly reflected the normal behavior of the lower and middle nobles of the Bailey Empire.

In this normal state of war, bandits, thugs, and pirates were the products of this era. Sur City was located at the border of the empire, and there weren't many thugs in the Bloodstone Wilderness. However, there were also one or two hundred bandits that lived in this wasteland all year round, looting past merchants. The only one they didn't dare to move was Storm City's army. As for the other caravans, they didn't put them in their eyes.

Otherwise, Sur City would not have to sell the fabrics they produced to Storm City at a low price all year round, because Sur City itself did not have a strong enough army to escort the caravans. Perhaps this year was an accident. Xiao En, who was sitting in the carriage, thought. He looked out of the window and saw Ellen, who was riding on a horse, in front of him. His silver hair shone like flames in the sun.

The journey on the first day was calm and undisturbed. The next day, just as the sun rose, the caravan set off again and stopped in front of a rift valley. The Wind Erosion Rift Valley was the only way to pass through the Bloodstone Wasteland. Riding on a horse, Allen could see a small stronghold at the entrance of the rift from afar. Roadblocks were erected at the entrance to stop people from passing. Behind the barricade were two wooden houses. In front of the wooden houses were even two warhorses.

Under the corridor of the house, there were soldiers dozing off. The gun on the corridor fence was clearly pointing towards the road outside the entrance. Coupled with the Storm City flag on the wooden house, there was no doubt that this stronghold belonged to Storm City.

Ellen smiled and said to Wilick, "Looks like we've met the bandits."

It was clear that Storm City would not simply set up checkpoints on such a major road to protect civilians. Setting up card charges within the territory was often one of the most direct sources of income for Lords.