Chapter 46: Mission

 

For weeks, the Huangshan mountain range has been full of activities by soldiers and martial artists trying to find criminals. Because of that, most bandits fled the mountain, and the nearby villages became wary. It’s not strange to find someone who has a similar feature as the criminal. It’s better to kill innocent people than let the criminal escape.

 

Zou Jie had been living in the courtyard house and only went out to hunt; although this place looked familiar, he still didn’t remember anything.

 

When he is bored, he disguises himself as an elderly martial artist to blend in with the crowd of martial artists and gather information.

 

“Where is that criminal hiding?” A young martial artist looks dejected. Most martial artists are already tired, other than from a lack of food and shelter. There are also bugs and poisonous creatures on the mountain.

 

“Be patient.” Zou Jie advised while cooking meat on the campfire.

 

“Senior Jie is right; does the meat already cook?” A martial artist wipes his saliva.

 

“Almost.” Zou Jie sprinkles some salt and spice on the kebab.

 

"Fortunately, we have Senior Jie here, and we can finally eat meat.”

 

“When you go to the mountain, you need to prepare. It’s done. Eat up.” Zou Jie handed a kebab to them.

 

“Delicious.”

 

“It's better than my mom's cooking.”

 

“I thought you were an orphan."

 

Zou Jie eats the meat while smiling. He left the group as the day grew darker and returned home. They want to follow, but he won't let them and his fast speed makes it impossible for them to do so.

 

Inside a room, Zou Jie sits cross-legged on the bed.

 

“Why don't I remember anything?” Zou Jie had tried many ways to restore his memory using his medical knowledge. It looks like his amnesia might take a longer time to cure.

 

When he is contemplating what to do, a monotone voice can be heard inside his mind.

 

[There is a problem restoring the host memory.]

 

[The system required more karma points.]

 

[System patch is under progress.]

 

[Calculating the fastest way to earn karma points]

 

[Release Mission…]

 

[Kill 1000 people.]

 

“Who are you?" Zou Jie jumps down on the bed and gets ready to attack, but he doesn’t see anyone.

 

“Come out!"

 

There was a long silence inside the room.

 

The next morning, Zou Jie doesn’t sleep the whole night thinking. Since he is a martial master, it’s not a problem if he doesn’t sleep for a few days.

 

“Kill 1000 people to restore memory.” Zou Jie murmurs. That voice must be related to his missing memory. However, killing 1,000 people because a voice inside his head is telling him to do so is crazy. He also doesn’t know what the system and karma are.

 

“Am I going to trust that voice?” Zou Jie begins to doubt if he is even sane. “Maybe I am already crazy.” Zou Jie frowns and leaves the room. If he wants to kill a thousand people, he needs to prepare a lot of things. Since they want to capture and kill him, they can’t blame him for what's going to happen.

 

As long as he doesn’t restore his memory, he feels something is missing, and he doesn’t know who his enemy or friend is.

 

-

 

The Bai Kingdom army had set up camp on the mountain, and the soldiers stationed on the border were fine since they needed to live in the mountain and forest. However, soldiers who come from towns and cities can’t get used to humid environments.

 

“The weather is hot."

 

“It's useless to complain; as long as we don’t capture that criminal, we will be staying here for a long time."

 

“Don’t worry, you get used to it.” A senior soldier advised.

 

Inside a large tent, a middle-aged general looks listless. He wants to return to the capital, but he has been ordered by the king and prime minister to capture the criminal, alive or dead.

 

“General, do you want me to bring a dancer or courtesan here?” The man whispered.

 

“No, if the people find out I am having fun, they will report it to the palace.” The general is not stupid if the king and prime minister find out and get mad. He might be demoted and stationed at the border.

 

“Maybe the criminal has already left the mountain.”

 

“There are eyes witnessing that the criminal enters the mountain."

 

“General, how about I secretly find a scapegoat?" Finding someone with similar features is not hard.

 

The general eye lights up. "Good. If we don’t find the criminal, we will use the scapegoat.” He also doesn’t want to stay here for a long time.

 

-

 

On the mountain, there are many martial artists that enter alone or in groups.

 

Song He and his wife, Lai Ru, also come and hear the news if they manage to capture the criminal. They can ask for a reward to see the imperial physician and cure his damaged meridian.

 

"Husband, are you alright?" Lai Ru holds her husband's hand.

 

“I am fine; I just need some rest.” Song His face is pale.

 

“How about we find a place to hide and live our lives in seclusion?” This is not the first time Lai Ru proposed this idea, but Song He didn’t want to give up. If his whole life is protected by a woman, he can no longer be called a man.

 

“We will talk about it after we find the criminal; maybe we can find a rare herb on this mountain.” Song He changes the subject.

 

“If there are rare herbs, there will be a bloodbath.” Every time a rare treasure appears in this world, people will get mad, and even siblings will kill each other for the treasure.

 

“Maybe we will find the secret hiding place of an expert and can heal my injury.” Song He joked.

 

“There might be; I heard from other martial artists that there are certain areas of the mountain that are always covered with dense mist, and people that enter will get lost and come out of the mist.” Lai Ru smiles. Both of them knew it was unlikely to find a hidden expert, and even if they did, it would be hard to heal the damage.

 

-

 

A few days later, a group of Bai soldiers enters a village, and the villagers are wary.

 

“Sir, the whole village is here.” An elderly village chief spoke.

 

“Good, a criminal had escaped here. As long as you cooperate, we will not harm you.

 

The soldier begins to check on each male villager.

 

After a while, “Sir, we found the criminal!” One of the soldiers dragged a skinny and tall middle-aged man who had almost the same features as the criminal.

 

"Wait, I am not a criminal!"

 

"Wait, there might be some misunderstanding; he is just a hunter.” The village chief tries to persuade the soldier.

 

“No, he is the criminal; if you interfere, we will capture you as an accomplice!” The soldier warns. Actually, they already know that this man is not a criminal. However, they are trying to find a scapegoat. According to the information, the real criminal might be a martial master; they will cripple the scapegoat before sending him to the palace. With that, no one will find out the criminal is fake.

“Please, my husband is innocent!” A middle-aged woman holds her husband's arm.

 

“Move!"

 

“No!”

 

The soldier kicks the woman and begins to drag the middle-aged man. The scapegoat tries to escape, but he is already tied up by a few soldiers, and his mouth has been stuffed with cloth, preventing him from speaking.

 

He had heard many stories of innocent people being framed by authority. He never thought one day he would fall to the same fate.

 

“I think you captured the wrong person.” A skinny and tall middle-aged man walks calmly toward the soldiers.

 

When the soldiers see him, rather than being happy, their faces become pale. Because of this, a man manages to escape after attacking the second prince and the cavalry.

 

“Be careful; he likes to use poison!” The soldier draws out his sword.

 

“Surrender if you don’t want to die!”

 

“Since I am going to die anyway, why do I need to surrender?” Zou Jie chuckles.

 

“Attack!” The soldiers lunged with their swords and spears.

 

“To slow.” Zou Jie slashed his sword and just using his external strength, the soldier's weapon flew from their hand or was cut by the sword.

 

“Escape and report this to the general!” The soldier begins to flee.

 

Zou Jie doesn’t even move but channels his qi to his sword and swings toward the fleeing soldier.

 

The closer soldier feels pain, and when falling, he can see his lower body because his body has been separated by the blade. The other soldiers that are slightly far away get their limbs or bodies cut. In a few seconds, all the soldiers were already lying on the ground, either bleeding or dead.

 

Zou Jie walks calmly toward the surviving soldier.

 

“Stop! We are from the Bai Kingdom army; if you kill us, the Bai Kingdom will not let you off!"

 

Zou Jie, this time, doesn’t say anything and stabs the soldier's neck.

 

The villagers don’t even dare move, afraid that the killer will target them.

 

After finishing killing the soldiers, Zou Jie smiles at the scapegoat, who has been released by his wife, and leaves.

 

The scapegoat is initially in a daze but soon prostrates on the ground and shouts. "Benefactor, thank you for saving my life.” His wife also followed.

 

What happened next will be written in the history of Bai Kingdom.