Liubai Camp: Remnants of the army attack northward

Chapter 28 Base

Three people were standing at the entrance of the camp.

The leader was an old soldier surnamed Zhong, in his early forties, with a face full of wrinkles, as if carved by a knife. He stood at the camp gate, followed by two younger soldiers, both of whom looked lazy and watched the Liubai Camp soldiers approach without moving.

Shen Bai stopped ten steps away from him.

"The handover?"

"Yes." Old Zhong's voice was dry. "I waited a month."

His eyes swept over Shen Bai's face, then over the soldiers behind him.

His clothes were tattered, he was limping, and his face was covered in dirt.

Old Zhong didn't say anything. He turned around.

"Come with me."

---

The campsite was small.

An earthen wall enclosed a flat area, with seven or eight tents, two stoves, and a well. A wooden shed stood beside the well, under which were piles of firewood, some of which were moldy.

Old Zhong said as he walked.

"You should have heard about Moyai Village before you came."

"I've heard of it." Shen Bai walked behind. "Harassing the border."

"It's not just harassment."

Old Zhong stopped in his tracks.

"Three villages."

He held up three fingers.

"At this time last year, the three villages together had a population of just over three hundred."

He pulled one finger back.

"Zhangjia Village has been burned down. The fire started at night, and only a few villagers managed to escape."

I've collected another one.

"Li Family Fortress offered grain. The chieftain thought that offering grain would ensure his safety, but the grain was taken away, and the chieftain was gone too—not dead, but ran away. There's no one left."

The last one.

"Zhoujiachong. There was no burning or looting, but everyone from the surrounding villages fled, and it couldn't hold on any longer. It was empty last month too."

Old Zhong put his hand down.

"Three months. Three villages gone."

He continued walking forward.

"The chieftain of Moyai Village is surnamed Meng, and he has connections with the Nanzhao Kingdom. They always come on horseback, dozens of men, loot and run. By the time the imperial army arrives, they're already deep in the mountains. The mountain paths are complex; those unfamiliar with them never come out."

He stopped in the center of the camp.

"We've been stationed here for six months."

His voice was flat.

Two hundred people.

He pointed to the two soldiers behind him.

"It's just the three of us left. Everyone else is gone."

---

Shen Bai didn't ask how the others had died.

He had Iron Shield lead his men to tour the camp first.

Old Zhong stood there, watching the people of Liubai Camp disperse.

Shen Bai stood beside him.

How much food is left?

"Based on 100 people, that's enough for five days."

Old Zhong glanced at him.

How many of you are there?

"A little over three hundred."

Old Zhong didn't speak. He lowered his head and looked at the moldy piece of firewood on the ground.

"Five days' worth of rations, enough to feed three hundred people."

He didn't finish speaking.

No need to finish speaking.

---

That's all.

The situation at the camp was worse than Shen Bai had imagined.

The tents were either torn or leaking. Two of them were simply frames supported by a piece of cloth, with straw laid on the ground inside, where people slept; the straw was already rotten.

There isn't much water in the well.

The water source is in a mountain stream a mile away, and it has to be carried in buckets, a round trip taking half an hour. Only a few buckets are enough.

There are only two stoves.

The camp had no walls. There was only a low earthen wall around it, only low enough to keep out cattle, not people. If someone came to attack, this wall would be useless.

After Iron Shield finished spinning, he came over to find Shen Bai.

"It's uninhabitable."

He lowered his voice.

"We don't have enough tents, enough food, and enough water. Three hundred people crammed here will lead to chaos in less than three days."

Shen Bai nodded.

"Secure the people first."

He said.

"Those who can move should work first, those who can't should rest. As for the grain—"

He stopped.

Old Zhong said it was five days' worth of food. Enough to feed three hundred people.

In other words, we'll start starving tomorrow.

"I'll figure out a way to deal with the grain."

---

night.

A small fire burns at the edge of the camp.

Shen Anning sat by the fire, two wounded soldiers lying asleep beside her. She had just come out of the tent, her hands still stained with blood, though she had washed them, there was still some on her sleeves.

Lin Yu sat not far away, cleaning his gun.

Shen Bai walked over and sat down by the fire.

Shen Anning glanced at him, said nothing, and continued to tidy up her things.

Shen Bai didn't ask her. He just stared at the fire.

After a while, Shen Anning spoke first.

"My father was a doctor."

Her voice was very soft, as if she were talking to herself.

"He's not an itinerant doctor; he comes from a legitimate family. My grandfather's generation were renowned physicians; they were even invited to the palace."

Lin Yu paused for a moment. Without looking up, he continued cleaning the gun.

"By my father's generation, the family had split into two branches. One branch continued to treat the sick and save lives, while the other branch..."

She paused for a moment.

"Study something else."

"Corrosion of the body," Lin Yu said.

He didn't look up, and his voice was flat.

"I know."

Shen Anning glanced at him.

"You know that?"

"I heard about it when the Lin family was still around," Lin Yu said. "There are people in the south who specialize in researching this, and they've been doing it for many years. The success rate is extremely low."

He finally raised his head and looked at Shen Anning.

"Is this the aristocratic family you mentioned?"

Shen Anning remained silent.

She lowered her head and continued tidying the strips of cloth in her hands.

"yes."

Her voice was very soft.

"My father objected."

---

"They tried many methods."

Shen Anning's voice was flat, as if she were telling someone else's story.

"Acupuncture, medicinal baths, talismans, incantations. None of them work. The Flowing Pattern doesn't eat those. It eats people."

She folded the strips of cloth in her hand.

"Later, one group thought that since they couldn't drive it away, they might as well change it."

"change?"

"Human and embodied as one." Shen Anning uttered four words, "To make the flowing patterns a part of the human body, rather than something that parasitizes the human body."

She shook her head.

"My father doesn't acknowledge it."

"He said that was a lie. The reason the Flowing Beasts eat people is because they are inherently evil, foreign entities, not part of the body. No matter how they are modified, their foreign nature remains unchanged."

"But some within the aristocratic families don't think that way. They believe that given enough time and effort, anything can be changed."

Her voice lowered.

"They started experimenting on live people."

Lin Yu remained silent.

Shen Anning continued.

"My father couldn't stop him. He opposed it too vehemently and was ostracized. Finally, one night, he took my mother and me and left."

"They didn't stop them?"

"We stopped them." Shen Anning's voice was calm. "My mother knows some herbs and helped a lot along the way. We traveled very quickly, walking for three days and three nights straight, before we shook off our pursuers."

"And then?"

"And then we just kept moving," she said. "My father didn't dare stay in one place for too long. He was afraid of implicating us, and also afraid of implicating the people who took us in, until he met your father."

She put down the strip of cloth in her hand.

He taught me to recognize herbs, acupoints, and injuries.

He said that medicine is for saving lives, not for harming them. This will never change.

She looked up at the fire.

"Therefore, I will not use flow patterns. Nor will I allow anyone to be influenced by flow patterns—"

She didn't finish speaking.

The fire was burning, crackling and popping.

---

Late at night.

The fire gradually died down.

Shen Bai stood up.

"We need to get some grain."

He looked toward the camp in the distance.

"We're short of food. Moyazhai raided three villages; they won't be short of food."

He turned around.

"We'll attack Moyai Village tomorrow."

Iron Shield paused for a moment.

"Attack Moyai Village?"

"We'll take the grain back from them," Shen Bai said. "They plundered three villages, and we'll take it back from them."

Iron Shield frowned.

"Unauthorized provocations on the border—"

"Our cattle have gone missing."

Chen Qingzhi walked over at some point and stood by the fire, his voice cold.

"We're going to find cows."

Iron Shield looked at him.

Chen Qingzhi didn't look at him. He was looking at Shen Bai.

"The cattle are in Moyai Village."

Shen Bai remained silent.

He glanced at Chen Qingzhi.

"We'll depart at 5 AM tomorrow."

He turned and walked toward the tent.

"Three hundred mouths can't wait."

---

(End of Chapter Twenty-Eight)