84: Chapter 84 The Appearance of the Skeleton

Under the protection of the five great cities of the Qin State, small villages sprang up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. Countless Farmers were tilling the land, and dense crowds of miners were extracting ore.

Villages were gradually transforming into townships. A dense population naturally required governance by officials. As the Qin State, bearing the name of Qin, although the System did not arrange officials for these villages that did not appear on the System interface, there was still a powerful local official System that extended the rule of the Qin State to the countryside.

The Tingzhang managed public security, and the Lizheng managed people's livelihoods. These officials were all soldiers who had been wounded in war and could no longer serve. Coupled with the influence of the System, they were incomparably loyal to Zhao Feng. Although limited by their abilities and unable to govern the local areas exceptionally well, they basically met the minimum requirements for officials.

The Tingzhang, who had transitioned from military to civilian life, were naturally incomparably enthusiastic about training. Although Zhao Feng's Qin State was not a farming-and-war System, this did not affect the development of the militia.

The System's fields did not require too much intensive cultivation, so the Farmers had plenty of time for training. Furthermore, although external enemies were blocked outside the national borders, small-scale enemies would still sneak into the Qin State. There were also remaining Corpse Beasts threatening people's safety, so the warehouses in the cities, which served as armories, would regularly allocate a batch of equipment for the training and arming of the militia.

The Qin State was gradually switching to iron equipment. Because there were no production workers, factories, or production lines to replace, such equipment upgrades did not consume resources, so the Qin State government was naturally happy to upgrade to better iron equipment.

And the bronze equipment that was gradually being phased out of the regular army naturally could not be wasted. Besides a portion being sold externally, the remainder was naturally handed over to the increasingly large local volunteer forces.

As a former soldier, Bao, the Tingzhang of Qingshui Ting, was naturally happy to see this situation. As a Tingzhang, Bao had nine regular soldiers under his command, who were ordinary swordsmen.

During the farming off-season, Bao would follow the orders of the County Magistrate to summon the young and strong, train the soldiers, and hold martial competitions. These times were the most exciting days for Bao, as if he had returned to the army.

Thinking back to those days of golden halberds and iron horses, Bao couldn't help but sigh.

"Tingzhang, it's bad!"

Bao, who was recalling the past, was startled by the loud voice, and the wooden door of the house was pushed open violently.

A swarthy middle-aged soldier ran in with large strides, "Tingzhang, something happened at Wu Village!"

Wu Village was one of the four villages under the jurisdiction of Qingshui Ting, not too far from the Qingshui Ting station. However, this was the first time such an emergency had occurred. On one hand, Bao sent two volunteers to Yun City to report, and on the other, he quickly armed all fifty volunteers and rushed to Wu Village.

The sun was already behind the western mountains, which was very inconvenient for operations. Human eyes could not compare to Corpse Beasts that relied on sensing, but as a Tingzhang, Bao had no choice.

Wu Village was home to twenty Farmer households, totaling forty people. These villagers relied on the Qingshui River that flowed near the village to irrigate their crops, and the harvest was truly good. In addition to the grain handed over, there was a surplus.

Fifteen of the volunteers under Bao's command came from Wu Village, and upon hearing that something had happened to their hometown, they were even more anxious.

Along the way, they gradually began to see crisscrossing fields, but there was no sign of Farmers in the fertile land, which was very abnormal.

Bao gestured for the soldiers to keep quiet and cautiously moved forward. The crossbowmen cocked their crossbows and nocked the bolts. Of course, such actions could only be performed by those few veteran soldiers; the volunteers were either clumsy or starting to show fear.

The houses of the twenty households were not sparse, and Bao could vaguely hear some sound coming over, so he quickly stopped his men and listened intently.

"Boyu, you and Tusun, go fifty paces ahead to scout, be careful!" Bao did indeed hear some sounds, as if something was pushing against a door, so he quickly gave the order.

"Understood, Tingzhang!" The two elite veteran soldiers crouched and moved forward quickly, covering each other as they scouted for the main force.

"Follow!" Bao led the rest behind, everyone tensing their muscles, ready for battle.

"Tingzhang, it's some skeletons, there are twenty of them, they are pushing the door." Boyu, who was scouting, ran back quickly and said in a low voice.

"No matter what kind of ghost things they are, prepare for battle, let them taste the power of the Qin Army!" Bao drew his short sword and shouted in a low voice.

"Halberdiers, form up, charge with me!"

The forty-nine soldiers lined up in five rows and began to run with small, quick steps along the stone path between the houses.

Turning a corner, sure enough, those skeletons were pushing and shoving each other, all exerting force against the tightly closed gate. The gate was wobbling, making creaking sounds, but it remained firm.

These skeletons were stark white, with a cluster of ghastly green ghostly light flickering in their skulls, looking exceptionally eerie.

"Halberdiers, raise your halberds, charge!"

Bao knew that among his fifty soldiers, there were only a few veterans. If they were frightened, these volunteers might lose their morale and be slaughtered by the monsters. So, charging at the front, he hurriedly gave the order.

"How can you say you have no clothes!"

Sure enough, long-term training made the volunteers subconsciously hold their long halberds level and begin to run in unison.

It started as a jog, then a sprint!

"How can you say you have no clothes!" The volunteers, amidst the only song they remembered, charged over with a roar.

The long halberds were about three meters long. After crushing the few skeletons on the periphery like dry wood, the front row abandoned their halberds and drew their short swords.

Crack! The short sword smashed the skeleton in front. Bao kicked the headless skeleton away with one foot and smashed another skeleton with a strike of his sword.

The skeleton's round skull rolled to one side, the ghastly green fire flickering, seeming somewhat helpless.

Although these bone frames looked very terrifying without weapons, they were still no match for the well-equipped Qin soldiers and were shattered all over the ground in the blink of an eye. Only one volunteer was unlucky enough to twist his waist, which was the only injury.

"Tingzhang, does this count as a beheading?" A bold volunteer picked up a skeleton head and asked with a grin.

"Naturally, I will report the merit for you all!"

"Tingzhang, they are not dead!" A volunteer suddenly cried out in terror.

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed and found that beside a round skull, some bones that had been knocked apart seemed to be alive, slowly crawling toward the skull.

"Damn heads, still causing trouble after death, I'll smash you!" Bao picked up a large stone from the side of the road and smashed it hard onto the smooth skull.

Crack!

Under the impact of the large stone, the skull shattered, the ghastly green light inside dimmed and suddenly extinguished, and the crawling bones also stopped moving.

"Smash these dead heads!" Bao suddenly realized. He hurriedly gave the order.

The soldiers hurriedly found tools and smashed those glowing heads. Sure enough, there was no more abnormality.

"Fellow villagers inside, I am Bao, open the door quickly!" After failing to push the door open, Bao hurriedly shouted loudly.

After a long while, the gate slowly opened, and a head poked out, "It really is the Tingzhang!"

The skeleton incident that occurred in Yun City soon turned into a wooden slip and appeared on Zhao Feng's desk. Zhao Feng slowly raised his head, a bitter smile overflowing at the corner of his mouth. His gaze rushed out of the room, broke through the sky, and headed straight into the distance. There, countless Evolutionary Spirits were invisibly changing everything.

"The curtain of evolution has finally been raised!"