Captain Yare had a gloomy face and kept urging the team to move forward quickly, making his voice hoarse. The sky had been completely dark half an hour ago, and the stars appeared in the sky, and the cold gray cross star was the most dazzling. Before it was dark, they could see the raised gray dome on the white snow field in the distance, but they had not yet dared to arrive. Although the northern horses were good at moving in the snow and tied snow boots made of dry vines to their hooves, they were still out of breath. After throwing the two people, Captain Yare ordered half of the heavy supplies to another vacant carriage, and let the horses of the two carriages exchange one.

"Hurry up! It'll be here soon!" Captain Yarey shouted. He had already ordered the torch to light, but the swaying flames emitted by the cold north wind was really weak. Whose north wind judgment is this? Captain Yarey thought depressedly. Now it is beginning to gradually become winter, and the Widow Mountains are also brewing a snow storm. Maybe we can't wait for two days. If we are trapped by the snow storm, we will all die here.

It is rumored that the fortress, which was buried mostly by snow, would not be haunted, neither the wild beast nor the snow robbers would get close to it. At this point, there is no difference between the snow robbers and the wild beasts. Captain Yare thought, but fortunately we only stayed there for two days at most, so it should be fine, right?

Captain Yare had long heard of the legend about the ancient fortress. It was said that it was just an outpost of an ancient kingdom. The real ancient kingdom had sank into the now frozen crater lake, which is the North Wind Judgment Site. But Captain Yare only knew so much. No matter what, it was already history. Captain Yare is not afraid of ghosts. If ghosts could hurt people, I was afraid that they had been killed by Mina. Captain Yare smiled bitterly. Mina was his late wife.

When he thought of Mina and his children, his mouth was full of bitterness, and even honey wine could not bring him a trace of sweetness. I went back this time and buried Mina and Bell, I was going to leave Lengshi Town. Captain Yare thought, I don’t want to stay in this ghost place anymore, I might be supposed to go to the south and start a new life.

"Captain! It's coming soon!" The person in charge of the forward shouted. Captain Yare couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and his tense nerves relaxed a little. If he dragged it down, the horse might be exhausted. "You two! Go and see if there are any damn snow bandits inside! Put the tricks on the highlights!" Captain Yare shouted loudly, and if there are snow bandits, he was not afraid of them hearing it. "Easy speed up later, don't fall behind!"

The team finally arrived at the ancient fortress. Then with the faint starlight, Captain Yare finally saw the huge dome of the fortress protruding from the snow surface, like a huge black monster lying on the snow field, giving people a strange sense of oppression. The team did not approach the real ancient fortress, but went to the hut that was buried most of its hut and only exposed the top floor. The buried hut had no entrance at first, but later a large hole was dug on the wall for two people to walk with.

As soon as the guards arrived, they immediately started to work. They were busy making fires inside the whistle, and fortunately found a brazier in the whistle. The ashes inside had been buried in the snow for decades. The coachmen first put on animal skin blankets on horseback, then fed them, then dragged them to the leeward side, and tied the reins to the stone. After all, the coachmen went back to help the guards. These northern men had easily raised flames and were cooking pastrami soup in the iron pot she accompanied them with. The fire lights lit up in the roof of the ancient and dilapidated whistle tower for a long time, and a cold wind blew outside the whistle tower. The guards in the whistle tower laughed and said vulgar jokes, and shared honey wine.

Captain Yare, who had been tired for two days, finally had a little rest. He sat in the wardrobe, staring at the snow-burned path leading to the lower level.

"Captain Yare?" The voice of a guard brought the tragic Captain Yare back to reality, "Do you want some wine?"

Captain Yare looked at him and was silent for two seconds, "Come on! But be careful not to get drunk, we have to take turns to stand whistle."

"Is this necessary?" said a young rider boy in the team. "No grass grows in this ghost place, no rabbit, and neither beast nor snow robber will get close."

"Except for ghosts!" The old guard said in a terrifying manner, which caused others to burst into laughter.

"Then come on! I haven't killed a ghost yet!" A guard laughed and drew his sword.

"Shut up!" Captain Yare sternly. He knew that these guys said this to give him courage, but in this place... it is not possible in this place. Captain Yare had an ominous premonition, "Shut up my mouth, don't joke about ghosts. Give me enough food and drink, and then take turns to rest and stand on the ward. I will stand in the first shift."

People muttered a few words in disappointment, and then buried their heads and chewed the bread. The fragrance of pastrami soup had never seemed so delicious. The guards used the plates dug out of bread and served one bowl after another. While they were feasting, they began to talk dirty jokes again. The laughter of a group of northern men rang out in this ancient sentry tower again.

The pleasant meal ended soon, and the joke was over. Then the guards became silent. Except for the people who were about to stand, the others were wrapped in animal skin blankets and armor, and fell asleep directly. After a while, the snoring sounded. Standing guard with Captain Yare was another fat guard, whose little eyes were staring at the darkness outside, "If a beast approached, the horse would scream." He said.

"If it were snow robbers, we would all wipe our necks off without realizing it." Captain Yare said tiredly, "Give me some caution."

"Yes." The fat guard said weakly.

Starlight was reflected on the snow outside, but gradually the wind blew, and the starlight disappeared, and then only the sound of wind and darkness remained.

I don’t know how long it took, but it seemed to be to determine whether Captain Yare was asleep. The fat guard shouted in a low voice, “Captain Yare?”

"Huh?" Captain Yare raised his heavy eyelids and looked at the fat man, his eyes full of blood.

"Have you been here before?" asked the fat guard.

"No, I haven't been here." Captain Yare looked at the darkness outside, "No one has been here for a long time."

"Is this really haunted?" the fat guard asked nervously.

"This is the legend," Captain Yare looked at the fat man with numb eyes with interest, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"

"Maybe." The fat man did not deny, and his eyes looked at the darkness, "Captain, have you heard any sound?"

Apart from the sound of wind and snow, "No." Captain Yare said so, but he still raised his ears to listen.

"The horse... seems to be starting to get restless." The fat guard suddenly became something wrong. Captain Yare thought it was too nervous at first, but seeing him holding up the crossbow and looking alert, Captain Yare knew that things were not that simple.

"Get up!" Captain Yarey shouted, "Get up for me!"

The men he brought out this time were all veterans. Several guards kicked the blanket open and pulled out the iron sword at his waist. The old guard also quickly came to Captain Yare with a crossbow, "What happened?" he asked nervously.

The groom was sleepy and nervously climbed up. "The horse seems to have something wrong!" Captain Yare's expression was grim. If there was no horse, we might all die here. The others naturally understood this. When Captain Yare said this, their faces changed one after another, "Light up the torches! Come and go out with me to see!"

"Captain! Is it a haunted?!" Suddenly, a subordinate asked nervously.

"It's worse than that!" Captain Yare gritted his teeth and said, maybe it's a wolf, but the worse is a bear. Winter is coming, and these beasts are crazy and hungry, and they won't give up the meat at their mouths easily.

"Be wary of me!" Captain Yare held up a torch and stepped into the wind and snow and darkness first. The flames dispelled the darkness around. The wind and snow were dancing around. Captain Yare couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. This was just a temporary night wind, not a big storm. Then he walked towards the leeing side of the whistle tower with a serious expression. Behind him were two more courageous guards, who were also holding iron swords.

When he walked to the place where the horse was tied, Captain Yare saw the restless horse. It seemed that the fat man was right. Then he raised the torch, and suddenly he found something was wrong. He counted the horses, "Captain, what's going on?" asked the companion behind him.

"One horse is missing!" Captain Yare said, clenching the iron sword in his hand, "Prepare for me to fight!" Captain Yare took a deep breath of the cold air in the north, and the cold seemed to burn his lungs. He turned his head and seemed to see something wrong. Then he moved his steps to the back of the horse. The horse was lying there at this moment, with blood staining the large area of ​​ground red, and some snow sand covered it thinly. A miserable white shadow squatted beside it and wriggled. Captain Yare widened his eyes. The two people behind him had never seen this strange phenomenon.

The miserable white shadow seemed to notice the sound and fire behind him. It stopped moving and slowly turned its head. Captain Yare swore in the name of the gods that he had never seen such an evil thing in his life: it was a toad-like face, with its white skin loose, a pair of black pearl-like eyes reflected the fire, and a row of sharp teeth like daggers on the lips revealed the horse's blood stained half of its face red. After seeing Captain Yare and others holding the iron sword, it rushed into the darkness. When it moved, Captain Yare saw its body clearly. It was a human body, but it crawled on all fours like a monkey, as if there was no flesh and blood on its body, only pale skin wrapped around its bones.

After a long time, the three of them recovered from the strange and terrifying scene just now. "What is that?!" a man asked.

Captain Yare frowned, and he walked towards the horse's corpse with an iron sword. His subordinates were also startled by his actions. Captain Yare plucked up the courage to come to the horse's corpse, and asked about the strong bloody smell as soon as he approached, but Captain Yare still did not retreat. The horse's corpse's belly was cut open, and its internal organs and intestines were scattered all over the ground. Many internal organs were bitten to pieces. Its black eyes were full of fear, and its throat was torn apart by something sharp, like a beast, and blood stained the large area of ​​snow under it red.

"The gods are here!" Captain Yare couldn't help but say, "You go back and call two more people over!" He pointed at one subordinate and said, and then he looked at another subordinate, "You! If you don't want to die, just be alert to me!"

The two northern men didn't say much next, holding iron swords and torches, staring at the darkness and wind and snow around them, without any other sounds. "Captain... have you heard any sound?" his subordinate asked in a trembling voice.

"No, what did you hear?" Captain Yare looked around alertly.

"It seems..." Captain Yare heard fear from his voice, "It's the bear's voice!"

At this moment, Captain Yare also heard it, as if it was another wild wind blowing with the wind and snow, which was the wild cry of a bear.

"Damn!" Captain Yare cursed, "Prepare me for the beast!"

At this time, the others also rushed over with torches, "Captain! We heard the bear's cry!" the fat guard shouted.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Captain Yare shouted in a hoarse voice, "Be prepared for me to fight! We will leave this ghost place as soon as the sky is dawn!"

...

Joel breathed out a breath of heat. The night wind lasted for a long time. When it finally passed, the stars in the sky finally appeared again. Joel crawled out of the shelter pit and shook the snow on the cloak to the edge of the pit. Sister Simoken beside him made a disgusting sleeping sound. Joel found that her body was trembling. It was too cold, and the two of them squeezed together had no effect.

Joel took off his thick cloak, covered the nun's body, and then climbed up from the pit. The temperature at night seemed to make people's lungs freeze. Joel stood up to endure the cold. The short sword dug out of the nun from the snow stood on the snow not far away. It was Joel inserted into it to distinguish the direction. Since he crawled out of the tomb, Joel felt that his body had become much stronger than before. Maybe it was because he became like a mercenary. Joel opened the "attribute panel" taught by the Alps, and found that there were a few more attribute points, so he frowned and thought.

After allocating the familiarity point, Joel felt that his body was much lighter, and his strength seemed to have become stronger, and the iron shackles on his wrist also seemed to be lighter. Joel raised his head and looked at the stars in the sky. It was said that every star was a palace of gods, red, and the most shining was the palace of the Lord of the Fireworks. Next to it, the shining star in the north was the palace of the goddess of winter. It would only shine brightly when winter came, and next to it was the palace of her daughters... Joel counted the stars she knew and finally stopped on the gray and cold cross star. Which god is this? Joel thought to himself.

Suddenly, a tiny sound came from afar. Joel looked along the sound, and his pair of green eyes were staring at him hungrily, a wolf away from the group. Joel was not panicked, but looked at the eyes closer little by little. It was not only hungry, but also very weak. Joel thought that it was an old wolf, and his gray hair shone with light under the starlight.

The old wolf spitted white air and walked towards Joel with tired steps. Joel took out an iron sword from his "backpack". The touch of the iron sword wrapped in cloth made Joel feel at ease. When the old wolf saw Joel holding the iron weapon in his hand, he also showed his fangs. But it was too weak.

Joel heard that the old wolf would take the initiative to leave the wolf pack and find its own burial place. Is this north wind judgment site your burial place? The cold winter is coming, and it cannot survive.

Joel thought about it and put away the iron sword again. He walked towards Laolang with bare hands. Laolang was ready to pounce. When Joel approached, it rushed out suddenly. However, unlike the weak one, Joel turned his body, wrapped the iron chain around its neck, and pressed it hard to the snow. Laolang initially wanted to struggle, but Joel still held it tightly. After a while, Laolang was exhausted, and the pain on Joel's body began to recur after this struggle. He exhaled white breath with difficulty, and then stood up. Laolang collapsed on the ground, and his chest was swelling, proving that it was still alive.

Joel took a short rest and was alert that the old wolf would get up at any time, but it was much weaker than Joel thought. Joel stuck its mouth with an iron chain and then hugged it. The skinny old wolf was much lighter than Joel thought. Joel hugged the old wolf back to the snow pit. Sister Simoken had curled up into a ball and shivered in the snow pit. Joel put the weak old wolf into the snow pit, locking its mouth with a chain of shackles, and felt the warm Sister Simoken leaned towards the old wolf. Then Joel saw her leaning her face against the old wolf's dry gray fur, feeling the old wolf's temperature. Joel also breathed a sigh of relief. After some tossing, he also lay down in the snow pit. The snow pit without a cloak was much colder, but Joel continued the old wolf's temperature and barely lay down to sleep.

Sleeping with the wolf made Joel feel difficult to fall asleep. The wolf breath spitted on Joel's face. A stinking smell accompanied the whole night. Just as Joel turned his head, he could see the old wolf's big mouth full of fangs. He had to block its mouth with iron chains, which also made Joel's hands maintain a very uncomfortable position. After a long time, he became numb due to blood obstruction. But the wolf's body temperature was very close to people, which also made Sister Qianmoken unconsciously press it against it, and the tremor of her body weakened a little. If she was sick, it would be really bad, Joel thought to herself.

Half asleep and half awake, the sky began to shine. The difficult night finally passed. Joel climbed up. The numbness and soreness all over his body made him adapt for a long time before he could relieve it. He lowered his head. Sister Ximoken was wrapping Laolang's neck and sleeping soundly. Laolang seemed to be asleep, breathing calmly. Joel moved his neck and looked at the sky. The sky on one side turned white, and the sky on the other side was still cold blue. The position of the stars last night and the current morning light allowed Joel to confirm the direction, so he lowered his head and gently shook Sister Ximoken in the sleeping Laolang.

"Mr. Kangting?" Sister Ximoken opened her eyes sleepily and looked at Joel sitting next to the snow pit. "This is..." She lowered her head and looked at the thing she was holding in her arms, with a look of surprise and horror on her face. "Wow!" She fell backwards in horror, but her back hit the edge of the snow pit. The old wolf still didn't move, but just lay in the snow pit and breathed quietly.

"It's dying," Joel said.

Sister Ximoken looked up at Joel, then looked down at Laolang, and finally understood what was going on. "It..." Sister Ximoken stroked Laolang's hair with a complicated expression, but Laolang could only lie on the ground. "Thanks to it, I...I felt like I was about to freeze to death last night."

"If it could move, it would bite off your neck without hesitation." Joel crawled out of the snow pit, "Let's go, it's time for us to set off."

Sister Simoken looked at Joel standing next to the snow pit, "Please wait, Mr. Kang Ting." As she said that, Sister Simoken reached out and picked up the bag as a pillow, took out the pastrami strips cut with a dagger from it. She put the beef strips down to Laolang's mouth, and then quickly retracted her hand, "Thank you, thank you." Sister Simoken said to Laolang softly.

Joel looked at all this, there was no need to waste that little meat. Although he wanted to say this, he still didn't say it. He reached out and pulled Sister Simoken out of the snow pit. Sister Simoken blushed and handed Joel's cloak back to him, "Thank you too, Mr. Kang Ting."

Joel took the cloak, put it on again, and then lifted the bag. "Give me your bag, too," Joel said.

"No, no, I can get it myself." Sister Simoken wanted to refuse.

"Get it." Joel reached out.

Seeing that Joel's attitude was so firm, Sister Simoken could only lower her head and hand over the bag in her hand, "Thank you, thank you." Sister Simoken said.

Without saying anything, Joel carried two bags and walked first in the direction marked by the dagger. He must arrive at his destination today. If she had another night, she might not be able to survive.

Sister Simoken looked at Joel's figure walking forward and followed, but after taking two steps, she came to her senses and bowed to the snow pit, and then continued to follow Joel.

And the old wolf was lying in the snow pit at this moment, chewing on the beef strips in front of him.
Chapter completed!