4588

Chapter 4588: 5.0340 Danger

The Cangzhou guards who were patrolling the northwest shore all turned their heads, respectfully saluting them.

Duan Yue waved his hand, signaling them not to be so formal, and then stepped forward.

Qiao Mu, Mu Xingchen, and the others followed, their gazes subtly falling upon the commoners by the shore.

The people were all dressed in coarse cloth and hemp, their faces sallow and bodies skeletal.

They had been in the seawater for a long time, their entire bodies frozen blue, and their lips somewhat purple.

Qiao Mu glanced at them, then took out a small packet of medicinal powder from her sleeve and handed it to a nearby Cangzhou guard. "Mix this with warm water and make each of them drink a mouthful."

One packet of Cold Expelling Powder would be enough to help these shivering bodies recover.

However, this recovery was merely a temporary solution, not a cure for the root cause.

These people, looking severely malnourished, couldn't be nursed back to health overnight.

For now, they could only be temporarily awakened to clarify what had happened.

A moment later, under the effects of the Cold Expelling Powder, the people indeed slowly regained consciousness.

When they clearly saw Qiao Mu, Duan Yue, and the others standing before them, the bewildered commoners, still somewhat disoriented from being soaked in seawater, immediately knelt and begged for mercy, repeatedly crying out, "N-no, please, sirs, no, don't kill us, please don't."

Qiao Mu's gaze fell on one of them, a young man with an extremely pale, waxy complexion and deeply sunken eyes. "You tell us, where are you from? Why did you drift to our Snow Island?"

The man trembled incessantly, kowtowing in fear and pleading for his life. "Your Ladyship, spare us, spare us! We are villagers from a small fishing village outside of Wangchuan."

"This year, due to a poor harvest, ghostly monsters began appearing in the village, rigid and upright, able to jump and bite people. So, everyone who could run, ran. The remaining people, because they were almost starved to death, had no choice but to follow the Fire Nightmare Squad to work on their boats."

"We didn't do anything bad, truly nothing bad," the man said, tears streaming down his face. "We were originally honest villagers from a fishing village. It's just that life was difficult, we really couldn't survive anymore, so that's why we, we followed others to work on their boats, hoping to earn a few spiritual coins to buy food."

Master Qiao Qiao blinked. "What's the Fire Nightmare Squad?"

"They're said to be the most famous pirate group in the Wangchuan Sea Domain. They always like to take advantage of dusk, sailing out on their pirate ships to rob and intercept nearby merchant vessels."

"They were quite rampant for a while," Duan Yue whispered. "However, they were ambushed by the Chaohui Pavilion's fleet a while ago while intercepting them, and it seems they suffered heavy losses."

"I didn't expect them to be active again after only a few days of peace."

Qiao Mu said "Oh," her expression indifferent as she looked at the shivering people. "Since you joined a pirate group, why would you end up drifting in the sea again?"

The young man seemed to recall something terrifying and trembled repeatedly. "The-the boss, he disliked us being in the way, and our work wasn't efficient, so he threw us into the sea to feed the fish."

"Then you all are quite capable," Qiao Mu looked at them meaningfully.

"This sea is densely filled with corpse fish, yet you ordinary people managed to drift here unharmed, and even coincidentally encountered us."

"Qiao Qiao." Duan Yue's body suddenly tensed, as if sensing extreme danger. He instantly pulled Qiao Mu to his side.