Chapter 154: Looting the Village, Discovering the Underground Prison

Seeing the effects of this item, Cao Xing's eyes lit up immediately.

"Good heavens, so this is why I couldn't detect the strength of those Hunters!"

This is a good item, and it isn't even restricted by level.

Thus, Cao Xing distributed one to each of his subordinates.

In an instant, Cao Xing felt their presence become much more obscure and difficult to detect.

Especially Phantom Assassin Sarah; as she stood there, she gave off an illusory feeling, making it very easy for people to overlook her.

Cao Xing nodded with satisfaction. "Not bad, not bad. With this cloak, other Survivors won't be able to easily detect my strength."

Meanwhile, Andrew and Assam had also completed their transformation.

A powerful force surged from within their bodies.

Cao Xing could even feel that the two big guys had grown another two or three centimeters taller.

Two system prompts appeared.

[Your territory member: Andrew has successfully advanced and has become a Tier 3 Boss-level creature: Base attributes increased by 100%]

[Your territory member: Assam has successfully advanced and has become a Tier 3 Boss-level creature: Base attributes increased by 100%]

…

Cao Xing was overjoyed. "Good, good, good! I have two more Tier 3 generals under my command!"

One must know that just a few days ago, Assam was only a Level 10 Tier 1 creature, and Andrew was only Level 15.

To break through to Tier 3 so quickly.

His development speed was truly terrifyingly fast.

The two walked over with expressions of joy on their faces.

Assam said respectfully, "Thank you for your gift, Lord. Assam has become a Tier 3 Knight!"

Andrew also said devoutly, "You and the power of nature both shelter me."

Cao Xing nodded and offered the usual words of encouragement.

Then, he took a look at their attributes.

[Frost Wolf Knight: Assam]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 20 0/100000 (Tier 3 Boss-level creature)]

[Detailed attributes: Click to view]

…

[Ice Plains Druid: Andrew]

[Race: Druid]

[Level: 20 0/100000 (Tier 3 Boss-level creature)]

[Detailed attributes: Click to view]

…

Seeing their attributes, a strong sense of joy appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

Too fierce!

Their attack power had all exceeded 1500!

Their HP was also terrifying, one after another.

Although their attributes were slightly inferior compared to Dabai, who was at the same Tier 3 level.

However, as a Mammoth, a sacred creature, Dabai naturally had its advantages.

Cao Xing said with satisfaction, "Let's go, let's go into the village."

"Understood!"

Assam drew his longsword first and walked toward the village.

Soon, they reached the interior of the village.

Once inside, the scene was a mess.

Sarah's battle with these Hunters in the village had destroyed quite a few houses.

Several corpses of Hunters were still left on the ground.

Besides these signs of battle, there was dried blood on the walls of those houses.

Sarah appeared beside Cao Xing's ear and reported, "I explored this place earlier; there isn't a single villager left in this village."

Cao Xing nodded; he had probably already guessed as much.

One could tell from the way those Hunters were being secretive and not letting Cao Xing enter the village.

Sarah continued, "However, inside one of the houses, I discovered an underground passage entrance. That was also where I was discovered by the Hunters."

"That place must be very important to them."

Cao Xing finished listening and pondered for a moment while holding his chin.

An underground passage entrance?

It seems that hidden beneath that entrance must be the secrets of that group of Hunters in this village.

But he didn't go over immediately; instead, he looked at the surrounding residential houses.

Then, Cao Xing pushed open one of the houses directly.

Inside, he saw some simple facilities.

A stove, a few tables, chairs, and benches.

Besides that, there was a kitchen area and a bedroom.

Cao Xing first entered the kitchen area.

Then he discovered a wooden cabinet hanging on the wall.

He pulled open the cabinet door, and inside appeared some bottles and jars, all used seasonings.

"Oh? There's even pepper powder?"

These daily necessities were still relatively scarce for Cao Xing's territory.

He collected all of them.

[Obtained: Coarse Salt * 1 bottle]

[Obtained: Leftover Soy Sauce * 1]

[Obtained: Inferior Liquor * 2]

[Obtained: Pepper Powder * 1]

…

Then, Cao Xing came to the bedroom area.

Inside the bedroom was just a bed and a blackened quilt.

Under the bed frame, Cao Xing also discovered a hidden cabinet.

"Creak!"

The cabinet opened, revealing a few sets of simple cotton clothes and a small bag of coins inside.

Cao Xing collected them directly.

[Obtained: Linen Cotton Clothes * 3]

[Obtained: Coins * 102]

[Obtained: Silver Ring * 2]

…

"These are some unexpected gains."

After all, these cotton clothes and coins were relatively important supplies.

Especially the cotton clothes; if brought to the trading market, they would be enough to cause a scramble among the Survivors.

With a look of joy on his face, Cao Xing continued to search the bedroom.

After not finding anything valuable, he walked out of the house.

Cao Xing clapped his hands and then looked at his subordinates, saying, "Everyone, go to those villagers' houses and loot… no, go search and see if there are any supplies that can be brought back to the territory."

"This village has already been occupied by the Hunters, and we cannot let these supplies fall into the hands of the Hunters."

Cao Xing spoke righteously.

Assam and the others immediately straightened up and began to take action.

As for Cao Xing himself, he also pushed open the doors of those villagers' houses one by one, searching carefully.

First, he searched the living room, then the kitchen, and finally the bedroom, taking away all the supplies that could be used.

System prompts kept appearing.

[Obtained: Dried Cheese * 2]

[Obtained: Inferior Wine * 1]

[Obtained: Eggs * 12]

[Obtained: Chanterelle Mushroom * 5]

[Obtained: Raw Buckwheat Honey * 2]

[Obtained: Linen Cotton Clothes * 3]

[Obtained: Gingerbread * 1]

[Obtained: Coins * 723]

[Obtained…]

…

Although they were all just low-value supplies, Cao Xing was enjoying himself.

How to describe this feeling…

It was as if this entire village belonged to you, and you could take whatever you wanted from inside.

Moreover, this village was quite large, with hundreds of houses of various sizes.

If all these supplies could be collected, it would be a significant gain.

Of course, this would take some time.

However, Cao Xing had many subordinates, so it wouldn't take long.

After searching more than a dozen villagers' houses.

Cao Xing arrived in front of a two-story building in the village.

That was the village tavern.

Once inside, a strong smell of blood wafted over.

It was evident that a battle must have taken place here.

However, in order to disguise their identities, these Hunters had cleaned up all the signs of the battle.

The tables, chairs, and benches in the tavern were neatly arranged together.

Cao Xing ignored it and went straight to the tavern counter.

His gaze was fixed on the wine cabinet behind it.

Creak!

The cabinet door opened.

Inside, dozens of bottles of wine appeared, dazzling to the eye.

"Whoa… so much red wine and white wine; this haul is a fortune!"

With an excited expression, Cao Xing collected them all directly.

[Obtained: Craft Rum * 24]

[Obtained: Gixter Dry White Wine * 6]

[Obtained: Local Pepper Vodka * 8]

[Obtained: Vizima Champion Spirit * 6]

[Obtained: Kaedwen Dark Beer * 7]

…

"Haha, this is so satisfying!"

"The tavern in my territory can stock a new batch of wine again!"

Then, he opened the bar counter, and a large pile of coins suddenly appeared inside.

Little stars were almost appearing in Cao Xing's eyes!

"Take it all, take everything!"

[Obtained Coins * 4724]

After looting the bar counter, Cao Xing headed to the second floor of the tavern.

Inside were a few small rooms.

He pushed open one of the doors, and inside lay a naked female corpse, her skin frozen snow-white.

In these small rooms, Cao Xing didn't find anything valuable.

He shook his head.

He walked down from the second floor and continued searching inside the tavern.

"Strange, why can't I find the tavern's wine cellar?"

"Could their wine have been transported from somewhere else?"

One must know that even Cao Xing had built a basement under the tavern in his own territory, specifically intended for storing wine and other things.

He didn't give up and searched again.

At this moment, Cao Xing came to the area under the stairs and discovered a loose wooden door.

Fixing his gaze on it, the information about the wooden door appeared before him.

[Tavern Underground Wine Cellar Door]

[Armor: 10]

[Durability: 200]

…

"Haha, found it!"

Cao Xing's expression brightened, and then he raised his staff and smashed it with an Ice Ball spell.

Bang!

The wine cellar door was smashed open, revealing a spacious basement.

A strong aroma of wine wafted out from inside!

"Whoa! Such a fragrant smell; there must be quite a lot of wine stored inside, right?"

Cao Xing jumped straight down.

Inside the basement, Cao Xing saw over a dozen round, wooden wine barrels!

He swept his gaze over them and saw a system notification.

[Rum * 100 Liters]

[Wine * 100 Liters]

[Tequila * 100 Liters]

…

"These are all filled with alcohol. Each barrel holds one hundred liters, and there are thirteen barrels here, which means a full 1300 liters!"

"I've struck it rich this time!"

Overjoyed, Cao Xing immediately collected all of the rum.

[Obtained: Rum * 300 Liters]

[Obtained: Rosé Wine * 200 Liters]

[Obtained: Tequila * 500 Liters]

[Obtained: Wine * 200 Liters]

[Obtained: Redanian Beer * 100 Liters]

…

The 13 barrels took up two slots in his backpack.

Cao Xing was satisfied.

After he finished collecting all the barrels, he noticed a storage chest in the corner.

Upon approaching it, a system message appeared.

[Discovered Drake Tavern Storage Chest (Blue). Open it?]

"Open."

[Opened successfully.]

[Obtained: Intermediate Basement Construction Blueprint]

[Obtained: Craft Rum Recipe * 1]

[Obtained: Coins * 27133]

[Obtained: Indenture Contracts for Vicki / Anita / Belle / Ulrika * 4]

[Obtained: Drake Tavern Ledger * 1]

…

"A craft rum recipe? And an intermediate basement blueprint?"

Cao Xing checked the attributes.

[Intermediate Basement Construction Blueprint: Expands the Primary Basement into an 8m long * 8m wide * 5m high basement, used for storing supplies or serving as a temporary shelter.]

[Armor: 100]

[Durability: 4500/4500]

[Space: 320 cubic meters]

[Required Materials: Primary Basement, Wood * 500, Stone * 300, Iron * 100, Primary Elemental Crystal * 5]

[Construction Time: 12 hours 54 minutes]

(A higher-level basement not only has more space but also possesses decent defensive capabilities.)

…

[Craft Rum Recipe]

[Required Materials for Brewing: Primary Winery, Rum, Sap, Honey.]

(Note: The flavor is mellower than ordinary rum and is deeply loved by those warriors.)

…

Cao Xing said thoughtfully, "Do I need a winery to start brewing? It seems I need to kidnap—no, find—a talent in brewing to join my territory."

He collected everything.

With that, Cao Xing had finished looting this basement.

He walked back up, feeling satisfied.

Meanwhile, Assam and the others had almost finished searching the village.

They handed all the various supplies over to Cao Xing.

Excluding the miscellaneous items,

Cao Xing had accumulated the following harvest:

[Coins * 26310]

[Linen Cotton Clothing * 273 sets]

[Coarse Salt * 154 bottles]

[Soy Sauce * 164 bottles]

[Black Pepper Powder * 72 bottles]

[Honey * 6 bottles]

[Dried Cheese * 324]

[Black Bread * 5324]

[White Bread * 253]

…

"Not bad, not bad," Cao Xing praised.

This round of looting had directly enriched the basic supplies in his territory.

At this moment, Cao Xing looked at the Phantom Assassin beside him and said, "Sarah, take me to see that basement you mentioned."

Sarah nodded slightly.

Then, under her guidance, everyone arrived at an inconspicuous small room.

However, as a Tier 2 Frost Mage, Cao Xing could sense that something was amiss here.

There seemed to be some magical fluctuations in the room.

Not only that.

Outside the room, some explosive traps, tripwire traps, and spike traps had been set up.

From this, one could see how much those Hunters valued this room.

Fortunately, these traps had already been dismantled by Sarah.

After pushing the door open, the facilities inside were also very ordinary.

Sarah walked straight to the corner of the room, pointed to a wooden board, and said, "It's right here."

Cao Xing looked over.

[Wooden Door to the Underground Passageway with Explosive Runes]

[Armor: 50 points]

[Durability: 1000 points]

[Attached Effect: Self-Destruct (If the door is forced open, it will trigger the self-destruction of the fire runes, dealing 500 points of self-destruct damage to nearby creatures)]

…

Cao Xing pondered for a moment.

The self-destruct could only deal 500 damage; this amount of damage was completely non-problematic for them.

Thus, he said directly, "Sarah, open it."

Hearing Cao Xing's command, Sarah slashed at it immediately.

Bang!

The wooden door's durability dropped to zero.

Then, a scorching flame rose up.

Boom!

After the explosion, everyone was unharmed.

It had only shattered one layer of their Holy Shields.

Meanwhile.

The door to the underground passageway opened, revealing a deep, dark staircase inside.

Assam immediately drew his longsword, "My Lord, let me lead the way."

Cao Xing nodded, "Go ahead, Knight Assam."

Then, everyone followed behind Assam and walked down.

The stairs were very deep and very long.

Tap, tap… tap, tap…

As they went deeper, only the sound of their footsteps echoed.

After advancing for about a hundred meters.

At this moment, Cao Xing discovered that they had arrived in a wide space.

[You have discovered a hidden area: Amur River Village Underground Prison]

"Oh? Is this an underground prison?"

A look of confusion appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

He then took out a Magic Torch.

As the torch's deep blue light flared up, the scene inside the prison was revealed to everyone.

Ahead was another passageway, with small rooms sealed off by iron bars on both sides.

Cao Xing walked to the door of one of the rooms and illuminated it with the Magic Torch.

He saw a human who, like the one who ran out of the village, was barely clothed and covered in various wounds.

However, the person didn't seem to be dead; they still had a faint breath.

The person's attributes appeared before him.

[Kingdom Soldier: Guillermo]

[Affiliation: Ice Crystal Kingdom]

[Level: 24 (Tier 3 Common Creature)]

[Health: 1194 / 11250]

[Attack Power: None]

[Skills: Intermediate Swordsmanship Mastery, Triple Slash, Jump Slash]

[Status: Severely Injured, Starving, Internal Injuries, Cold, Frostbite…]

…

"A soldier of the Ice Crystal Kingdom, why is he here?"

A look of confusion appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

He wanted to ask for some information, but this naked man was in a dazed state.

No matter what Cao Xing said, he stayed in the corner without moving.

Clearly, he had been tortured into a delirious state by that group of Hunters.

One could tell from the pile of negative status effects on him.

Even with his Tier 3 constitution, after long-term torture by the Hunters, combined with the sub-forty-degree temperatures of the underground prison, even an iron man wouldn't be able to withstand it.

The fact that this soldier could survive until now was probably because the Hunters were deliberately keeping him alive with his last breath.

"Let's go."

Cao Xing shook his head and led his people deeper into the underground prison.

They advanced along this passageway for about five hundred meters.

They discovered a total of over thirty rooms.

Some rooms were empty, while in others, a Kingdom soldier was imprisoned, tortured to the brink of death.

Their states were the same as the first soldier—dazed and delirious.

Cao Xing walked all the way to the deepest part of the prison.

Here appeared a room sealed by a thick iron door.

The person imprisoned inside seemed to be someone important.

He raised the torch and shone it inside.

A disheveled, naked male was curled up in the corner.

Cao Xing also swept his gaze over his attributes.

[Lieutenant: Declan Noble]

[Affiliation: Ice Crystal Kingdom]

[Level: 28 (Tier 3 Elite Creature)]

[Health: 1713 / 25300]

[Attack Power: None]

[Skills: Intermediate Imperial Swordsmanship, Five-Stage Slash, Sword Qi Burst, Flurry]

[Talent: None]

[Status: Severely Injured, Internal Injuries, Starving, Cold, Frostbite…]

…

"Good heavens, a Lieutenant who is an Elite-level creature?"

A look of surprise appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

Moreover, he discovered that this Lieutenant was different from the other prisoners; he still retained a sliver of consciousness.

Cao Xing asked directly, "Are you a Lieutenant of the Ice Crystal Kingdom? How did you end up here?"

The Lieutenant looked at Cao Xing, and a terrifying smile gradually appeared on his cracked lips!

…

Thanks to book friend: Yingnan Ershang for 3 monthly tickets, thanks to: Jiduo Huanxi, Jiduo Youchou for 2 monthly tickets!!!

Thanks to the book friends for the recommendation tickets and subscriptions!!!

(This little author bows and thanks you here!)