While I was just squatting and feeling terrible, all the guards had already started to remove the remains of the villagers from the spikes. There was no need for anyone to instruct them to do it, they just moved on their own. Judge Cui and Judge Tang just stood around us without making a move, but it is clear that they are on alert, and ready to move if something out of the ordinary occurs, as their hands are already on their weapons.
After puking, my mind goes blank and I just stare at my puke in a daze until everyone returns and Liu Kang snaps me out of my trance by gently placing his hand on my shoulder.
I look around and watch Judge Cui punch a hole in the ground and the guards carefully place the remains in the hole that he created.
"Mo Di and Sima Di, go search the vicinity together and return half an hour later. The bandits should be long gone by now judging from the state of the bodies. See if you can find out which direction they left in and place traps in the surrounding. If you spot any of the bandits, do not engage but come back as soon as possible. The rest of us will enter the village and search for survivors. "Judge Teng gives out orders. Mo Di and Sima Di are the best scouts we have right now, due to Mo Di's ranger training and Sima Di's skill in formations.
"Let's go Shi er, we should not stay in this place for too long and move to secure the village, or at least what's left of it." Judge Teng looks at me and says calmly.
I gather myself and enter the village with everyone while Mo Di and Sima Di head towards another direction.
...
As we walk through the desolate village, the depressing feeling just gets heavier and heavier with every step we take. Soon we come across more bodies.
"These bodies should belong to those who died in combat. Majority of them are losing a few body parts and their fists are closed, suggesting that they were probably holding a weapon but it was pried out of their hands after they were killed. There are also some corpses that don't seem to be a villager's body." Zhao Keng says as he examines the bodies.
Liu Kang who heard what Zhao Keng said makes a puzzled face and says "Are weapons valuable? The merchants and armed escorts I know of never bothered to take the weapons from the people they have slain."
Ding Sha and Zhao Keng are surprised by what Liu Kang said and Ding Sha says "It is standard operating procedure to retrieve all weapons and usable arrows from the body of your allies and enemies after each battle. The victim will keep them as spoils and return the bodies of the fall enemies to the enemy unless they have a use or if there is some of hatred between the two armies."
Judge Cui then says "Be extra careful from now on, if they were from the army, they would be proficient in combat."
Zhao Keng then proceeds to the bodies that are wearing beast hide clothes and stabbed them all again in the head with his spear. "Habit from the army." He says without a care.
Zhuge Pang who has already entered some of the depilated houses soon came out with a frown and said "There is nothing in the houses nearby. The bandit had taken everything of value and smashed everything they couldn't take, but there is something fishy as there are some trinkets which bandits should have taken but were smashed on the floor. Anyway, at this rate, we wouldn't even be able to find a bed that is not broken."
The frown on Judge Cui and Judge Tang deepens after hearing what Zhuge Pang said. It is clear that we are not dealing with a rag tag bunch of bandits anymore. "Stay alert and move, we will advance and search as we wait for Mo Di and Sima Di to return." Judge Tang gives a command.
...
Soon, we reach the village centre and we have not come across any living people yet. There were blood stains in the sand and marks of something being dragged towards the biggest house of the village. The biggest house in the village usually belongs to the village's mayor as the mayor will host the guests of the village and government officials like us.
We follow the marks on the ground and as we open the door of the mayor's house, a putrid smell comes out and everyone cannot help but pinch their nose.
*Creaaakkk*
"Damn!" Zhuge Pang cursed in anger once he saw what was inside the house.
There were about thirty women in here. Their throats are slit and they bled to death. Their clothes are all torn and it was clear that they were tortured before they died. Their bodies were stained and some even had marks from being whipped or slashed with a weapon.
Zhao Keng walked around with his spear and occasionally hit the ground with it, creating a *ping!* sound. It was probably to tell people to make some noise if they were alive and when he got near to a body, he would stab it with the spear to make sure it was dead.
Zhuge Pang clearly has a disapproving expression on his face, but it was standard operating procedure in the army to make sure your enemies were dead and to stab the bodies a few more times to make sure they were not pretending or that no one was hiding beneath the body. Ding Sha started stabbing the bodies this time as it seemed like an unexpected attack in this room would probably be dangerous.
After a few minutes, there was a weird bumping sound. At first, we ignored it as we thought it came from Zhao Keng's spear but he too stopped to look for the source of the sound.
"It's coming from the floor?" Ding Sha muttered to himself as he was unsure.
Everyone looked at the floor in response and Judge Cui focused on qi onto the tip of his feet and tapped the floor lightly with his feet.
A soft *Tap* reverberates throughout the entire room.
And then...
*Chink* *Chink*
The soft *chink* sound become faster and louder and now the sound seems to originate from other spots as well.
"It seems like there are people below us. Spread out and look for a way down." Judge Cui says.
Everyone spreads out and goes into the other rooms carefully. Judge Tang found a wooden rod from somewhere and is using it to pile up the bodies at a corner of the room.
Soon Ding Sha shouts out "I found it! There are some stairs that lead downwards here!"
Everyone gathered around him but before we head down, Judge Tang stops us and says "Wait, I will leave a message for Mo Di and Sima Di outside saying that we are downstairs."
...
Once Judge Tang returns, we all head downstairs through the stairs. It is dark here but there are torches on the wall. Ding Sha uses some martial technique that creates fire and lights them up so the path down is lighted.
Once we reach the bottom, we become clear what this dungeon is.
"This is a prison." Judge Cui says with a heavy tone.
"We need to be clear if the person we release is a villager or a criminal. We will execute the prisoners if their crimes are heavy and release those who committed petty crimes." Judge Cui's heavy tone makes it clear that there is no room of discussion.