Our family is in decline

"I believe everyone has received the news. What do you think?" After Gene finished speaking, he looked at everyone. He had no intention of expressing his position in a hurry.

"I think we have to send someone to verify the source of this news, otherwise we will be in trouble if the city is captured by refugees and our food supplies are taken away."

"There is nothing to verify. Everyone knows that there is a war over there now. As long as the food is transported there, even if the news is false or the city has been captured by refugees, there will still be many people in need. It will not hinder us at all. trade."

Merchants don't mind who they trade with, whether it's an imperial governor or a refugee, as long as they give money.

But some people still disagree.

"Those refugees won't give you money. Once you are robbed by them, who will be responsible for the loss?"

"The news may be false, but the battle line is real. I have just found a lot of refugees who have fled here. The rebel army has indeed advanced over there. This news does not seem to be false."

"..."

Both those in favor and against have their own reasons, but no one can convince anyone.

"You know, Walter, he was our biggest opponent and the one who almost collapsed. I originally thought he should be dead, but I didn't expect that he came back and expanded. I don't know why that guy came so many times. money."

Gene spoke while everyone was still arguing, but he was not talking about this matter, but was mentioning Walter again.

Before anyone could think about what this meant, Gene began to explain on his own.

"Now we control everything from the local purchase channels to the market. No matter how powerful he is, he is not a threat to us. And now I heard the news that they are actively preparing for this matter. They probably want to make a turnaround. Once they Once this business is done, it will be difficult for us to do business.”

Gene's words also explained their current situation. Their competitors have not yet fallen, and now it's a bit funny to start the chaos themselves.

"That's right! We must take action faster than them." Supporters immediately stood up and agreed.

"But what if we encounter refugees or rebels?" One person's words directly poured cold water on the increasingly heated situation.

Everyone knows that food prices must be high on the war-torn front lines, but why doesn’t anyone go?

Because the situation is very unstable, the risks are too great, and it is useless no matter how high the returns are, business groups have been easily swallowed up in the past.

So why are you so positive this time?

Because the refugees being stopped means that the situation is stagnant, that is, it is biased towards stability, and the statement of a consul means that they have a specific goal. Unless he does not want the follow-up food, otherwise he must fulfill his promise if he wants to protect the city. .

But the risks are still very high, even making these greedy businessmen want to shrink back.

And finally Gene spoke.

"I'm going to borrow thirty cavalry and one hundred infantry from the city defense force, plus our guards. Even if we face ordinary refugee bandits, we don't have to worry about safety."

Why was Jean able to take over the business group after his father disappeared?

Because of his father's accumulated background and connections, he also has capital, that is, his relationship with the city defense army.

And with this, those who opposed it gradually relaxed.

Just like Walter said, no businessman can refuse the huge profits. As long as the profits are high enough, they don't mind any battlefield.

The result was actually decided when everyone arrived.

They discussed so much, but they did not question the food prices that were several times higher than the market, because they knew that this was not surprising, because they had made the local food prices so high, and it was not surprising that those on the front line had such high prices.

"Other business groups are already ready to make moves, and our old rivals are already making aggressive acquisitions. We must be faster than them! After I finish speaking, who is in favor? Who is against?"

At this time, no one had anything to say, and Gene also demonstrated his authority.

"Okay! Collect grain, dispatch the fleet, prepare..."

Gene was high-spirited and ready for a big fight.

At the same time, Lance in the cave was encountering a fierce battle.

They encountered a group of pigs in a passage, with two pig-man slaughterers as the forerunners, followed by a crippled pig-man with only half of its body lying on the ground.

They had seen these before, so there was nothing strange about them.

But one of these pigs is different from the previous ones.

This Pigman is half a head taller than the Pigman Slaughterer, but he does not have that strong figure. On the contrary, he looks a little thin. The pigskin is loose and wrinkled, and it looks like the skin is hanging on the frame.

What's even more disgusting is that there are a lot of bulging tumors on its neck that look like lymphoma, and the pig's head is more exaggerated than other pigs, with protruding fangs, making it look very ferocious.

But if it was just that the body was weird and the appearance was ugly and disgusting, then Lance and the others would already be used to it if they came in and killed a lot of pigmen.

The strange thing is that this pig man has a very special shape, because it has a drum slung in front of its body, and its hands are not metal weapons, but two bones.

At the same time, he was carrying a very strange thing on his back. It was a long stick with a metal crescent arc at one end and several protruding spikes on it.

Isn't this the [Inverted Crown] mark of the Ascension Sect?

Disma followed Lance on many expeditions against cults, including the time he appeared underground at the Ovendo City Club. He just stood by the side of the ceremony, but no one paid attention.

Now that I see it, I understand that the stick it is carrying is not a weapon, but something like a ceremonial guard.

But how could something like this fall into the hands of a pig?

Compared to them, Lance was more impressed by this strange pig man.

The Pig Drummer has an ability similar to that of a shaman. By beating the drum in front of him, he releases an evil force that affects surrounding enemies. He can also command other pigs through the sound of the drum.

That kind of weird power makes its appearance full of threats, and it is usually the priority to deal with.

Facing two pig slaughterers, one pig cripple, and finally the pig drummer team, Lance gave the mark to the pig cripple who was also in the pig team.

"Disma kill the crippled pig first!"

Disma raised his hand without hesitation and fired.

The moment he shouted these words, the ax in Lance's right hand disappeared, and a musket appeared in his hand, firing almost at the same time.

But his target was towards that tall and thin figure.

Why do you have to choose? Lance wants them all!

Two gunshots that were indistinguishable echoed in the small space. The exaggerated sound was deafening, and even the pig man was frightened.

Both sides were originally in motion, and the pigs were frightened by the sound of gunfire and the sudden flash of fire.

Then a very strange phenomenon occurred. Neither of the two shots hit their respective targets.

But he didn't have time, so he shot directly at the two pig-man slaughterers blocking the front.

There was no way, the place was so big, two large bodies were blocked together, and the monsters were frightened and moved around, so there was no shooting angle at all.

In this kind of shooting environment, to a certain extent, it can only be said that shooting is not as good as catching.

Even his strong body could not withstand the power of the projectiles. The thick pigskin was torn apart, and it penetrated hard into the bulging muscles, bringing out blood and pieces of meat.

You must know that lead bullets are about the size of a finger, are very heavy, and are soft in texture. The most terrifying thing when injected at high speed is that they will deform in the body, causing a cavity effect, and the flesh and blood will feel like mud when they touch it.

Therefore, to a certain extent, the power of a flintlock gun into the human body is even more exaggerated than that of modern firearms. The most common way to treat such injuries is to ampute the limbs or wait for death.

The treatment of gunshot wounds is still one of the projects Paracelsus needs to study and overcome.

It's just that these injuries that are fatal to humans are not fatal to the huge pig-man slaughterers. They don't even lose their ability to move but arouse their ferocity, making them scream and go crazy. Attack them.

"Damn it!" Disma yelled, quickly took out the packaged ammunition, opened his mouth, bit open the paper, leaked the gunpowder into the barrel, and loaded the second round.

"careful!"

The chain hammer flew over and Lance didn't care to continue shooting. He blocked it with a shield and rushed forward. Facing the butcher knife that was coming towards him, he grabbed the ax with his backhand and swung it out.

Boudicca seized the opportunity to find the other one and waved the halberd excitedly.

But even a slight delay gave the pig drummer a chance. He waved the bones in his hands and hit the drum head.

A dull, but indescribably weird sound came and reverberated in this space.

Everyone who heard this sound felt an inexplicable palpitation. The rhythm of the drum was like the rhythm of the heart, as if it was not beating the drum, but their own heart.

For a moment, everyone could see something strange on his face, but Lance was the only one who was completely immune to the influence of the drum sound.

However, both Disma and Tardif were attacked by the soul-obsessing spells of the cult priests. In comparison, the sound of this drum was slightly inferior, and they recovered after a slight setback.

As for Boudicca, who was protected by tribal war marks, he opened his mouth and let out a tribal roar when faced with this kind of spiritual attack.

“waaagh!!!”

The surge of adrenaline directly eliminated some abnormalities in the body, and at the same time, the war lines on his face showed strength, like a roaring lioness, with extraordinary power, he directly hit the pig-man slaughterer in front of him.

The guy had just come closer, and before he even had time to throw the hammer, he was stunned and fainted on the spot.

Boudica was not polite, he directly raised his halberd and struck it down hard.

Massacre!

The long-handled halberd was considered a heavy weapon after all. This strike directly ended the life of the Pigman Slaughterer, and the efficiency was even higher than that of Lance.

Why are you provoking her if you say you have nothing to do~

However, Boudica's brave performance attracted the attention of the pig drummer. The pig's eyes stared at Boudica. The rhythm of its drumbeat changed, and then it raised its bone stick and pointed at Boudica who was rushing forward. .

Boudica may not know it, but Lance can see the originally spreading black ripples condense and attack Boudica instantly.

Lance didn't even have time to warn Boudica before he felt something strange. His body became heavy and his steps became stiff.

But at this moment, the crippled pig man took the opportunity to prop up his body with his arms and stand up, like a squatting cannon opening its mouth towards Boudicca, its constantly bulging belly foreshadowing what it wanted to do.

"Hide quickly!"

Lance's warning was finally spoken, but Boudica became weak due to the sound of the drum, and it was too late to escape...

"boom!"

The sound of a gunshot forcibly interrupted the situation that had been pressed to pause, and the scene immediately recovered.

The crippled pig is targeting Boudicca, and Disma is targeting the crippled pig.

Just when it propped up its body, it was much larger than the prostrate target. The projectiles whizzed directly into the mouth, and the crippled pig man's body, which had just stood up, looked up and fell down without any movement again.

It's good to be young, just fall asleep.

"I never miss." Disma blew away the smoke rising from the muzzle.

Just now, he hit the vital point with one shot and instantly killed the pig man and crippled him. At the same time, he also eliminated Boudicca's threat.

On the other side, Tardif realized the threat of the drummer and wanted to take action, but he was standing in position three, and the passage was so big that there was no room for him to go up.

At the same time, the several pigs standing in front of the pig drummer are also threats to him.

And now Lance has entangled one, and the other two pigmen have been killed, and the obstacles in front of the pig drummer have been cleared.

The pig drummer in Tardif was not aware of the intention, but after two people died, it realized that the situation was ruined, and immediately waved the bone stick and beat it with all its strength, and the rapid drum beats sounded like the end of the world.

But Tardif is a ruthless man. He is very brave and doesn't care about the dense drum beat. He quickly moves forward and throws the hook.

This hand has obviously been practiced, at least it has not failed until now, and it is the same this time.

The sickle-sharp iron hook immediately hooked the drummer's shoulder, causing him to scream tragically.

The pig's body structure, especially its short lower limbs, is not suitable for standing, not to mention how large the contact surface of the pig's trotters is. It has to support the body and walk at the same time, which simply violates the physiological structure.

With just a little force, Tardif moved the pig drummer's center of gravity, pulling it to stagger, and then stabilized after taking a few steps forward.

However, the sound of the drum was interrupted. When the drummer stood firm and raised his head, he saw Tardif's armor-like body appearing in front of it.

"Jie!"

A sharp scream stopped abruptly a second after it started, because Tardif's ax had already cut into its neck, decapitating it within a few strokes.

On the other side, Lance also hacked the tenacious pig-man slaughterer to death. It was obvious that the team had won another encounter.

The darkness made them energetic all the way, which was very energy-consuming.

Not to mention that the encounter between the two sides also happened suddenly at a very short distance, which made the nerves even more tense.

After this beating, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief and could take a breather in the high-pressure environment.

But at this moment, pig neighing noises were heard from both sides of the passage.

"Hey! It was beating the drum just now to call for reinforcements!" Lang suddenly understood something, but it was too late.

This tired team didn't even have time to rest before being attacked from both sides.