Lin Mu narrowed his eyes upon seeing the forceful attitude of the masked man's companions. He felt a little annoyed having swords pointed at him, but did not mind it as he understood their caution. He then watched them as they walked inside the old warehouse.
The masked man's companions seemed visibly shocked upon seeing the many corpses that were lying around in the warehouse. At least that's what Lin Mu was able to perceive from whatever he got from the masked individuals.
A minute later, the masked men seemed to have grasped the situation.
"Are they the culprits?" The captain of the masked individuals asked.
"Yes, they are." The masked man that was accompanying Lin Mu informed.
One of the masked man's companion was about to check one of the corpses when Lin Mu suddenly shouted,
"Careful! There's poison on their bodies."
The captain of the masked individuals turned towards the masked man in question.
"They are death warriors." The masked man informed.
An audible gasp could be heard coming from one of the masked individuals. Lin Mu felt a little strange upon hearing the gasp and could swear that it was a woman's. The masked man who had been accompanying Lin Mu sensed everyone's shock and then spoke.
"Let me explain from the start."
*****
A few minutes passed as the masked man explained the entire series of events that happened. From Lin Mu detecting him and fighting him, to them finding the two mercenary corpses in the old warehouse and then the assault of the death warriors.
During the entire explanation, all of the men kept silent and listened intently. A few more minutes passed and the explanation finally ended. After ending the explanation, the masked man gestured the captain of the masked individuals to come close to him.
He then whispered something in his ears that made the captain's breathing audibly disturbed.
"This boy is now considered as our ally." The captain of the masked individuals declared.
None of the people protested as they all nodded in acceptance. They all had heard the strength and the skills of the boy in front of them, thus they certainly did not want to fight him. Besides, having an additional ally that was this strong was only beneficial to them.
"Now that we have this at our back, can you please tell me your names? I'm getting confused at this point." Lin Mu asked in a friendly tone.
"Yes, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Hei Wen." The masked man who had been accompanying Lin Mu answered.
"My name is Hei Bao." The captain of masked individuals who had short hair answered.
"My name is Hei Shi." The masked woman replied.
One by one, the rest of the masked men reported their names. Lin Mu was a little surprised upon hearing that all of their surnames were the same.
"Why do you all have the same surname?" Lin Mu curiously asked.
"We all took up the surname when we joined our lord." Hei Wen spoke.
"We are called as the Hei Corps." Hei Bao added.
"Is this all of you or are there more?" Lin Mu questioned.
"There are more of us, of course, but I can't tell you how many." Hei Bao answered.
"That's fine. Now, what do we do about this situation?" Lin Mu replied while gesturing towards the multiple corpses.
"We will take them away and have them looked at. The higher-ups should be able to find some Clues from them hopefully." Hei Bao replied.
A few of the masked men started gathering the corpses together.
"We still have a huge problem on our hands, though. The people from the neighborhood they're not awakening." Hei Wen spoke.
"I think I know what happened to them." Hei Shi replied.
"You do?" Lin Mu probed.
"I don't know the exact cause for this, but I know that they should wake up after a few hours." Hei Shi answered.
"How do you know this?" Hei Wen and Lin Mu questioned together.
"I've seen it happen before in another town." Hei Shi answered with a cold voice.
Hei Wen and Hei Bao instantly understood Hei Shi's tone and did not ask further. Lin Mu too saw the hint of anger in her voice, hence did not ask to clarify.
"Though captain, we have found a major piece of evidence." Hei Wen spoke with a little enthusiasm in his voice.
Hei Bao nodded and gestured for Hei Wen to stop.
"Not here. We'll talk after getting to the safe house." Hei Bao spoke.
"We need to transport these bodies quickly before the guards come here." One of the other masked men spoke.
"Yes, we can't let them find out. The guards are involved in this too." Lin Mu suddenly spoke.
"Is this true?" Hei Bao asked.
"Unfortunately, it is. But it's better if we discuss it later." Hei Wen answered.
"I would be willing to show you the proof as well." Lin Mu added.
"Very well, we shall be leaving now then. Everyone grab a body… or whatever parts there are." Hei Bao ordered after looking at the dismembered and decapitated corpses.
Lin Mu could have very well just stored all the corpses in his ring and made the work easier, but senior Xukong advised him to wait and not reveal this yet. While the Hei corps knew that he had a spatial storage treasure, they did not know the capacity of it.
Lin Mu took up senior Xukong's advice and decided against storing the corpses in the ring. Besides, for cultivators such as them, bearing the weight of a corpse would be no trouble. It indeed proved to be true as everyone picked up a corpse and started running without any restraint on them.
Hei Bao guided them towards the safe house while keeping an eye out for guards or any other people. They did end up seeing some guards rushing towards the residential district.
While it was Lin Mu who had chosen to go inform the guards before, he had met and fought Hei Wen. Hence he did not reach the barracks and did not have the chance to inform the guards.
"This is strange. I never informed the guards." Lin Mu spoke.
"It must've been your companions from the Night Vigil, probably." Hei Wen guessed.
"I hope so." Lin Mu replied with an unsure tone.
Fifteen minutes later, Lin Mu and the rest of the Hei corps reached the Dark and decrepit Alley in which their safe house was located. Hei Bao seemed to be a little nervous upon reaching the safe house, and seemed to be looking around a lot while swiveling his neck.
'Looks like he hasn't refined his spirit sense yet either.' Lin Mu thought.
Lin Mu wanted to probe the Hei corps with his spirit sense to find out their cultivation bases but did not do that as it could be considered to be an offense. Wanting to maintain his allied relations for now, he chooses to avoid that.
Lin Mu then saw Hei Bao knocking on the door of a shop in a particular pattern. He himself had seen this shop before a long time ago, but had never bothered to go in and check what they sold. There was no signboard hanging over it either, thus it made it harder for one to know its purpose.
After Hei Bao knocked on the door of the shop, it opened and the face of an old woman was revealed. She glanced at everyone carrying corpses on their backs for a second before finally settling on Lin Mu's face. She just threw a questioning gaze on to Hei Bao and did not speak. Hei Bao just nodded in response.
The old woman then gestured for everyone to come inside. Lin Mu and the rest walked in with Hei Bao leading them. Lin Mu then saw the inside of the old shop. While it was not explicitly dusty or dirty, the items kept in the room did seem to be mottled due to age.
There were mostly paper scrolls, brushes, inkstones, inkwells, parchment paper, sheepskin, silk scrolls, and a variety of other materials that may be used in writing and literary arts present in the shop.
Lin Mu was a little surprised by this shop. He did not think a shop like this ever existed in the northern town. Literary supplies like these weren't really needed as much in a small town like the Northern town.
There were indeed other shops that sold writing materials in the town, but they did not sell them exclusively as this shop did, instead, they sold them in addition to other sundries.
Especially for high-end supplies such as the silk scrolls and the inkstones, there was a very small demand. People preferred to use normal paper scrolls and lamp black for writing instead.
The old woman then took them to another room at the side and took out a hexagonal metal plate. She then inserted it into a small opening in the wall. Soon the wooden panel of the wall shifted, and an opening was revealed.
The old woman went to another room and left them on their own. Hei Bao then picked a lamp with his free hand and took them to the actual safe house that was located at the bottom of the shop.