Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 731 A Sip of Blood

The cargo ship slowly sailed across the bay, propelled by the sea breeze.

……

"okay."

The captain took out a pen and drew a circle on the map of a remote area within the territory of Los Angeles.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

...

As he put the pen back in his pocket, the captain had a vague feeling that he had made a serious mistake, accompanied by waves of heart palpitations. He suddenly seemed to understand that what was truly terrifying might not be the giant dragon with a hundred-meter wingspan, but the young man before him.

Beside him, Milo carefully examined the blueprints, then gently rolled them up and put them away, adding:

"I will burn the blueprints after I'm done using them."

"Oh, okay, thank you." Now it was the captain thanking Milo instead, which was a bit strange, but it was hard to pinpoint why.

"You're welcome."

……

"The Hawkeye family is the Hooked Finger clan. They inherited the strength of the giants and the wisdom of the Ancients. They are the original inhabitants of the Zulu River and natural-born dragon hunters." The captain reminded Milo, "See those huge stone slabs on the cliffs on both sides of the bay? Those are the steps used by the descendants of the Hawkeye family when they patrol the Zulu River."

The captain had tried his best to describe the power of the Hawkeye family, perhaps subconsciously believing that this would help Milo dispel his unrealistic desire for revenge.

However, Milo seemed to have completely missed the point, and asked the captain, "Then wouldn't this count as betraying the Temple of Hooked Finger?"

The captain could only shake his head helplessly and reply, "I was never a believer in the Temple of Hooked Finger, just a money-grubbing businessman. There's no such thing as betrayal."

“Alright, I’ll go find the village behind the city of Ula Xilu that you mentioned first. Once my Xiren friend has recovered from his injuries, we’ll set off.” Milo said, taking out a heavy bag and placing it in front of the captain.

Those were temple stones he scavenged from the wreckage of a ship in the sea.

...

Their communication was concise and efficient, without any unnecessary pleasantries.

The captain readily accepted the bag of temple stones, which made Milo feel more at ease staying on the ship.

……

The rest of the trip went very smoothly.

The cargo ship, laden with unruly children, entered the inland section of the Zulu River. The main mast broke, limiting the ship's speed, and it had to stop and start along the way.

The good news is that Freya has pulled through; the three festering, penetrating wounds on her body have stopped bleeding.

Just as Aunt Shana said, as long as the dragon's grease is removed, the rest can be left to the powerful bloodline of the Xiren to slowly revive it.

However, Milo's recovery speed is worrying. He no longer has the body of Holy Communion, and fear and the fire of sin are just powerful killing weapons, not means of recovery.

The encounter high in the sky resulted in the loss of all the cheese I was carrying, but the only thing that survived was the most useless temple stone—damn it…

...

As the ship approached the end of Lower Losk, which is the central region of the Losk Kingdom, Milo, as originally agreed, carried Freya ashore ahead of schedule and disembarked.

After all, the captain had to deliver those unruly children to the priests of the Temple of Hook, and if the people of the Temple of Hook discovered that there was a Greek lying on the ship, the consequences would be unimaginable.

...

After crossing the bay, the banks of the Zulu River are no longer those strangely steep cliffs, but rather flat terrain bordering the land.

Of the two routes marked by the captain, Milo chose the Losk route on the east side of the Zulu River, rather than the Hylandris route, which had a relatively mild and simple local culture.

This was exactly what the captain had expected, since the Hawkeye family's castle was located within the borders of Losk.

……

With Aunt Shana's help, Milo successfully put Freya into a large wooden barrel, which was used on the ship to store drinking water.

Poor Freya, she could never have fit into such a barrel when she was healthy, but the dragon grease had corroded most of her flesh, and with what Aunt Shana had removed, she now weighed less than half of what she usually did. After curling up in the barrel, even the injured Milo could carry it on his back with relative ease.

Although Aunt Shana was a bit eccentric, she took excellent care of me throughout the journey.

Her many extreme behaviors and inexplicable emotional fluctuations often made people mistake her for a madwoman. For example, when Milo was leaving, she knelt on the deck and wept bitterly, muttering inexplicable words about "atonement" and "fate".

But Freya really couldn't survive without her.

The captain and the others seemed to already know what kind of person Shana was, and were not surprised by this.

...

To avoid attracting attention, the cargo ship made a brief stop at the shore, dropped Milo off, and then quickly departed.

Although this place is located on the western continent, it is also in the northern part of the entire west. After all, it is right next to the coast of the North Sea Serilian, so the air on land still carries a bit of chill, but it is still much more comfortable than the cold plains.

According to the captain's planned route, Milo's ultimate destination was the primeval jungle of the Hizhuok Mountains in the upper reaches of the Zuluo River. This area was no longer within the borders of the kingdoms of Hylanris and Losk, and its remote location made it an excellent hiding place. But the journey ahead was far from over.

Milo didn't initially intend to follow the route the captain had planned, and the reason for that needs no explanation.

Kofreya's condition did not allow him to act as he pleased; she needed a safe place to recuperate for a while, and Milo had nowhere to go except for the village the captain had pointed out.

He was carrying a critically wounded and dying Greek who needed to be "purified".

……

The city of Ulahiru is right next door, and especially at night, the lights from the buildings make it easier to find your way.

This can be considered as the captain doing his utmost; he has done everything he could to get Milo and Freya closer to their destination.

Unlike the towering walls along the coast, the city deep inland was not fortified with impenetrable defenses. Rather than a city, Ulahiru was more like a shrine or altar—a special place with strong religious significance, a settlement centered around a tall tower and surrounded by distinctive buildings.

The light that Milo saw in the wild at night came from the tower in the center of Ulahiru.

Through his observation, he learned that this so-called city was inhabited by several different races, all of whom wore uniform gray and white clothing. They neither farmed nor traded, and regardless of age or gender, they engaged in similar craftsmanship every day, seemingly related to the firing process of some kind of implement, from transporting, grinding, and filtering ore to designing, shaping, carving, mold making, pouring, and firing, etc.

They were producing, day and night, a huge container that was hard to describe as either a jar or a pot.

Then the Knights of the Lossk dynasty would come and take away these brand-new jars, and after a while the old jars would be brought back and placed in the ancient tower.

In addition, the grey-robed people of Ula Xilu would gather at the foot of the tower at specific times to perform sacrificial prayers.

It's like a large workshop infused with religious significance, where people have served the jar-making industry for generations without complaint.

...

Milo was not actually interested in the situation inside the city of Ulahiru.

He just felt that the large jars made by those laborers would be more practical than the large water buckets he carried on his back, because the finished jars themselves had loops for straps, and one side of the jar was relatively flat, as if they were designed specifically to make it more comfortable for people to carry...

……

So, why does Milo know so much about the city of Ulahiru?

That's because Milo was discovered by the grey-robed men on his first day passing through the forest near Ulahiru.

Normally, even if Milo was seriously injured, he wouldn't be stopped by these ordinary people who weren't even considered Spirit Visioners.

What makes Ula Xilu special is that it seems to be very inclusive. Among the gray-robed people who serve the tower, humans make up only a very small portion, while the vast majority are bizarre and extremely threatening hybrids.

Yes, a creature similar to a raven's young.

But each individual is different, with fangs, vestigial wings, sharp claws, and some even have two heads...

Milo underestimated the alertness of these special species, as well as their fighting ability.

To avoid attracting attention, Milo didn't even use the fire of sin.

He dragged his badly injured body and strangled the two bastards who had discovered his whereabouts to death in the woods.

...

Fortunately, after several twists and turns, they finally managed to bypass the city of Ula Xilu and find the hidden village that the captain had marked on the map.

……

...

A few days later, Freya regained consciousness.

She sat on the bed, hugging her knees in a daze.

She was wrapped in blankets, and most of the bandages and gauze on her body had been removed, except for a bandage of unknown purpose wrapped around the broken horn on the left side of her head.

Her memories are limited to the final experience of falling from a great height into the sea, being rescued by Milo, and the treatment she received from Aunt Shana on the cargo ship. She only has fragmented memories mixed with pain.

Fortunately, the Hiyan race's bloodline self-healing ability is ridiculously strong; even near-death injuries can restore consciousness in just a few days.

Although she looks a little silly right now, Milo is pretty sure Freya isn't mentally unstable.

...

"So, how did you manage to fight your way here, despite being so badly injured?"

She blinked and asked Milo.

“I drank a few sips of the bloody stuff,” Milo calmly quoted Aunt Shana.

Freya blinked again.

It seems she won't be able to react for a while.

Milo didn't explain much. He simply helped her lie down again, lit a fist-sized gentle fire and hung it by the headboard to lull her to sleep.

...

(End of this chapter)