Chapter 314: Strange Happenings in the Mine Town

“The station master saw her in rags, heavily pregnant, and too guilty to meet anyone’s eyes. He remembered the public notices in the city and wanted to hand her over to the authorities. The woman started crying and shouting, ‘I was just too hungry!’ and ‘I don’t want to hurt any of you!’ and then ran for the door. The constables rushed up to stop her, but then a meter-tall creature leaped out of the basket on her back. It killed the station master, the constables, and even the stablehands. It just so happened that two of our patrol brothers were resting at the post station. They came out when they heard the commotion, but even they couldn’t beat the thing. One died on the spot, the other was badly wounded. Still, they managed to knock the creature out of the station. At least a dozen travelers on the road saw it with their own eyes.”

“And after that?”

“The witnesses all bolted on the spot. By the time more constables arrived, the woman and that aberrant creature were long gone.”

“That pregnant lady and that aberrant creature managed to slip out of Panlong City?” He Lingchuan frowned in thought. “I guess when the city started that big sweep of pregnant women, she knew she couldn’t stay, so she ran early.”

But it had to be noted that it was bitterly cold out on the outskirts. A lone pregnant woman had almost nowhere to go, and the best she could probably do was hole up in some ruined shack.

Willow frowned. “There’s quite a long way from Xikou Village to the mine we’re heading to. Do you really think that a pregnant woman could make it that far?”

“She might,” Doorboard replied. “She’s not carrying a human child. Who knows what tricks they can pull?”

Willow sniffed.

Red Peak lay about fifteen kilometers northwest of Panlong City, so it could not really be said to be far. It was one of the most important mines in the region, producing a stable supply of high-quality iron and copper. After years of development, a small town had formed at the mountain’s foot. The town naturally came to be called Red Peak Town, and it currently has a population of over a thousand.

Living off the mountain, most of the residents were miners, blacksmiths, officials, and their families. Ore was smelted and forged on site to save on transport and processing, then inspected and purchased by the government and shipped back to the city.

Panlong City had been at war for years and valued iron weapons above all. As soon as word came that the mine tunnel had collapsed, they sent people out immediately.

The farther northwest they rode, the fewer trees there were and the more bare rock they saw. The hills undulated in earnest here, and some slopes were so steep that the snow could not even cling to them, exposing streaks of dark stone from the blanket of bright snow.

Animals were plentiful, though. A large herd of wild deer was scraping lichen from the snow. Even when the riders thundered past, the deer barely flinched, continuing to chew away where they stood.

When He Lingchuan and the others arrived at Red Peak Town, they saw that the road up to the mine really had been blocked, and right near the entrance at that. Because they had to move ore, the mountain path here had been specially widened and leveled for carts and horses, but now the snowpack from higher up had come crashing down, bringing huge slabs of weathered rock with it. Everything had slammed onto the road, sealing it tight.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Work to clear the blockage was in full swing. He Lingchuan saw two massive ice-rock golems digging out stone and snow. Each stood over six meters tall, and they were even more imposing than his golden-armored copper man. Their very bodies were made of dense ice and rock, and their hands were as broad as door panels, making them the perfect improvised shovels. They had no legs; instead, four or five huge ice wheels supported them, making it easier for them to haul heavy loads.

Whichever cultivator had summoned these two was definitely nearby. The longer they were active, the more spiritual energy the caster was burning.

They were not using laborers for the digging partly because the golems were stronger and more efficient, and partly because rocks kept tumbling down from the heights, some as big as round tables, and the smaller ones at least the size of a coconut. If one of those hit a worker, their skull would crack like a melon.

Aside from mules and horses, the hauling was being done by a team of massive, long-haired bison. Their horns curved in great arcs, and their hair nearly covered their eyes. They looked like bad-tempered bruisers, but each one stood meekly in its harness, dragging sledges of rubble for the humans. Every time they leaned in to haul another load, white vapor billowed from their nostrils.

One bison alone could pull a cart piled high with blasted rock. With their help, the clearing went much faster.

Everyone was clicking their tongues in awe when Willow pointed up the slope. “Look, the guardian spirit!”

All the creatures were working below, but on an overhanging ledge above the road lay a huge sand-colored leopard.

It was bigger than a full-grown male lion. It sprawled there lazily, bent over to lick the pads of its forepaws, which were the size of palm fans, clean.

“So that’s the local guardian spirit of Red Peak?” He Lingchuan found himself intrigued.

It looks awfully familiar. Wait, didn’t the original owner of this body get knocked off a cliff by a sand leopard? That was pretty much what kicked off my fateful bond with the divine bone necklace, wasn’t it?

Wait a second, wasn’t Zhong Shengguang’s spirit pet a sand leopard too?

“That’s Lord Zhong’s partner,” Willow said, her voice edged with respect. “They say he subdued the leader of the sand leopard pack[1] in his third year on the Panlong Wasteland. They fought side by side after that, and Lord Zhong later appointed it directly as the guardian spirit of the northwest.”

When one man attained the Dao, even his chickens and dogs ascended; how much more so a leopard monster that had real strength to begin with?

With the guardian spirit beast personally overseeing things, it was no wonder that the long-haired bison were so obedient they might as well have let humans put nose-rings on them.

He Lingchuan could not help thinking about that little leopard monster. Its ancestor had been an officially-appointed guardian spirit, so he could not help but wonder how the clan had degenerated into a whole bandit den?

Each generation worse than the last.

The guardian spirit leopard monster had no idea that he was being quietly slandered. It stretched lazily on the boulder, then loosed a roar at one particularly slacking bison.

The saw-like roar made the bison jump and drop its head to work harder.

He Lingchuan had only watched for a few breaths when a cheer went up along the road. The first choke point had been cleared.

A man from the town waved them over. The group rode up.

The man was the local headman[2]. He was a dark, scrawny fellow with high cheekbones and a naturally worried face.

He said to He Lingchuan, “Three squads altogether, right?”

He Lingchuan glanced into town, and sure enough, he saw other patrolmen there. Ever since he had defeated Meng Shan, his name had spread among the soldiers and warriors. Most of the patrol guards recognized him and nodded his way.

Doorboard answered for them, “Yes.”

“Then everyone’s here.” Headman Hu called the other patrolmen over and led them into the town shrine. The main hall was consecrated to Lady Mitian, and the rear hall was big enough that twenty-odd men could stand there without feeling cramped. “My surname is Hu. I deal with Red Peak Town’s day-to-day affairs. By order from above, I’m to brief you all on the situation here.”

Headman Hu began, “Our mine isn’t buried deeply. It’s close to the main road, and we can mine even in winter. Deeper in there are several very rich veins, but in winter they’re completely snowed in, and we can’t get in at all.” That was also one reason Red Peak Mine was so important to Panlong City. “We’ve had heavy snow the last three days, but the road to the mine stayed open right up until yesterday, when it suddenly avalanched. The slide was huge, covering at least a kilometer, possibly two kilometers, of road. Clearing it won’t be easy.”

Headman Hu went on, “The problem is, the mine didn’t shut down. There were still people in the tunnels. The workers who escaped say something got into the tunnels—an aberrant creature that eats people.”

“Eats people?” The squad captains exchanged looks. “What did it look like?”

“No one knows. It’s pitch-black in the mine tunnels, and the thing moves very fast. They never got a good look at it. Sometimes they’d just hear a fellow miner scream, and by the time they got there, the man was gone.”

He Lingchuan asked, “Could it be a monster or a wild animal?”

“With the guardian spirit here, no local monsters or beasts dare attack humans. Even ordinary beasts steer clear of people.” Headman Hu shook his head. “The guardian spirit has already questioned its underlings. All of them swear they haven’t eaten anyone.”

“Oh, right. Before the avalanche, some townsfolk heard strange sounds, something like a baby crying. At the time, everyone thought it was a wildcat in heat in the hills, but the more they listened, the stranger it sounded.” Headman Hu took a sip of water. “Honestly, in the last half month, our town’s lost two people. Well, originally we thought it was three, but one of them had just gone too far into the hills gathering firewood, then got stuck by bad weather and only made it back after two days...”

One of the squad captains, Xu Chun, cut him off, “Those two you said you lost, are they just missing or dead?”

“One left town on a buying trip eleven days ago, and never came back. The other, Old Ding, disappeared the morning after. Everyone woke up to find his door open and him gone.”

“Any blood?”

“No blood, no signs of a struggle either,” Headman Hu answered. “His footprints led straight out of his front door, went about twenty meters to the west, and then stopped. The snow was thick, so the tracks were very clear.”

In other words, twenty meters from his own doorstep, the man had just... vanished?

Red Peak Town was built in a narrow valley. Space was tight, so the houses were packed close together. The soundproofing was probably not much better than the wood houses in Panlong City. If someone had been attacked at night, the neighbors should at least have heard a scream.

Had he been grabbed in his sleep, with no chance to resist?

Willow stood up. “This man who disappeared in town, where does he live?”

Headman Hu pointed out the house.

“I’ll take a look,” Willow said to the others. “Be right back.”

As she slipped out to scout, Headman Hu gave a wry smile. “Ever since Old Ding vanished, no one in town’s been sleeping easy. Now with this mine business on top of it... Sirs, I beg you, please get rid of that aberrant creature. Otherwise, we won’t be able to finish the forging quotas from the city.”

Red Peak Mine had fixed monthly targets for iron goods.

Xu Chun had just opened his mouth when an old woman who was bringing in hot water suddenly cut in. “Headman, why don’t you tell the officers about that woman, too? She came half a month ago, the timing matches!”

Headman Hu glared at her. “What nonsense are you spouting? Don’t stir things up!”

The patrolmen were not about to let such a thread slip. “What woman?”

“It’s just some old hen gossip. But if you really must know, then seventeen or eighteen days ago, a woman came to town saying she’d come to throw herself on some relatives. It turned out her relatives had passed away long ago. She was heavily pregnant and looked pitiful, so we gave her an empty house to stay in.”

Heavily pregnant?

The officers all looked at each other, alarm bells ringing. Had Panlong City not just launched a sweep for pregnant women? The timing lined up a little too well.

He Lingchuan asked suddenly, “Is she short and skinny, and about fifty years old?”

Headman Hu blinked. “Uh, yeah, she was a bit short and thin, but as for her age? She looked to be thirty at most.”

The old woman with the water chimed in from the side, “Fair-skinned, too.”

That surprised He Lingchuan.

He thought that it would be that old woman he had run into before.

Xu Chun asked, “And where is she now?”

“She left a few days ago,” Headman Hu said, shaking his head. “She claimed to be five or six months along, but it really looked like she had to be at least nine months along. Her belly was huge, to the point of being downright scary. There was no way we could let her stay here any longer.”

1. Fun Fact: A leap is the collective noun for a group of leopards, so that’s technically the correct term, but I think pack is way more easily comprehensible. ☜

2. Just a reminder that this is basically just the leader of the settlement, as opposed to headsman, which is basically just an executioner. ☜