Chapter 313: The Deity Fortress

A winding rugged mountain road stretched from Gaojia Village southward, all the way to Shijia Gou.

Shijia Gou was a remote small village on the border between Heyang County and Chengcheng County, with only about a hundred people in total.

This pitiful village had also suffered the brutal ravages of the drought, forcing the villagers to live in great hardship. Only when Li Daoxuan’s vision reached them did they finally receive grain, obtain rain, and escape their misery.

Now, the over hundred people in the village were working desperately on road construction during their free time from farming, aiming to build a cement road connecting Shijia Gou directly to Gaojia Village. That way, they could link up with the “public sun chariot,” and in the future, go to Gaojia Village to “work.”

However… with just their hundred or so people, no one knew how long it would take to build such a road.

On that day, as the villagers were fiercely digging the dirt road, a team of wheelbarrows rattled along the mountain path, the carts all stacked high with grain. Guarding this transport team was a group of burly and ruthless men.

The villagers were startled by the men’s ferocious aura, but seeing the overflowing grain carts, they deduced this must have come from Gaojia Village.

The Village Chief of Shijia Gou gathered his courage and approached: “Who might you be?”

The leader of that fierce group was Old Nan Feng, a fierce commander from the rebel band in Guyuan.

He had brought one hundred labor offenders to transport grain to Shijia Gou, then station there, protect the grain. If “returning bandits” passed by, they would feed them full. If anyone tried mischief, they would chop off the head and hang it as a warning.

He explained his purpose to the Village Chief of Shijia Gou, then ignored the old man. He led his men into the village, scouted around, and set up camp beside the mountain wall. Out of habit, he also ordered the labor offenders to unload the grain from the wheelbarrows, push the empty wheelbarrows out, connect engine to tail end, circle them around their “camp,” forming a simple “vehicle wall.”

In the camp center, a large pile of grain was covered with oilcloth. One hundred border army tents were pitched around the grain heap, making it all look orderly.

A subordinate sidled up to him and whispered: “Brother Nan Feng, now is our perfect chance to escape. That Dao Xuan Deity might not be watching us. If we steal this grain and flee, we’d be free as the sky is high and the sea vast.”

Old Nan Feng certainly wanted to escape, but barely had the thought formed when he recalled his last flight attempt. The Dao Xuan Deity had herded him into a “wooden castle,” where he faced all sorts of traps, barely surviving a narrow escape.

He slapped a subordinate with a resounding crack: “What the hell are you thinking? Is our opponent human? He’s a god! A god! A god!” He repeated it three times: “A god capturing you, can you really escape?”

The subordinate, hit, clutched his head, groaning in pain.

Old Nan Feng said: “The Deity said: Our crime is called ‘war crime.’ Normally, it means ten years of labor reformation, but with good behavior, we can have reduced sentences. Didn’t Head Guard Zhong tell you all the story? He used to be a Gaojia Village labor offender, like us now. Later, he behaved well, got his sentence reduced, became a resident, and is living quite comfortably.”

Here, Old Nan Feng sighed: “To be blunt, being a labor offender in Gaojia Village is much better than being in the border army at Guyuan before. Here, though we lose freedom, we eat our fill every meal, and sometimes even get sugar and meat…”

A subordinate felt a flicker of emotion upon hearing this: “That’s true! We have no freedom here, but back in the border army, we also had no freedom—strictly managed by those above us.”

Old Nan Feng: “Exactly, being managed like hell is the same everywhere. What difference does it make? Eating enough is already good. No more talk of escape—I’d rather die than ever set foot in that cursed castle again.”

Just as he finished, another subordinate rushed to report: “Brother Nan Feng, ten soldiers escaped, from Captain Wolf’s former personal guards.”

Old Nan Feng: “Oh? Right? Then let’s enjoy the show…”

He sprang to his feet at once, scanning the sky all around. Quickly, he spotted a giant wooden castle slowly descending in the air not far to the east.

“Look!”

Old Nan Feng pointed at the wooden castle and declared: “That thing is down; the ten escapees will enter it soon. Summon every non-escapee; we’re heading over for some fun.”

The remaining ninety men ran eastward behind Old Nan Feng. Soon, they ascended a small mountain, where they could see the wooden castle already positioned in the valley ahead.

Last time, Old Nan Feng was inside the castle and missed the full view. This time, looking down from the outside mountaintop, he clearly saw the entire structure.

What an immense castle! Inside, it had complex passageways, terrifying traps, and giant monsters crawling about, their eyes glowing red.

Inexperienced soldiers gasped: “What is this exactly?”

Old Nan Feng huffed: “This is called the ‘Deity Fortress.’ Only those who’ve gone in know its horror. You’re lucky to spectate from outside. Watch closely what horrors befall these escapees.”

At that moment, Captain Wolf’s ten personal guards were sprinting wildly down the hillside. Suddenly, a golden hand descended from the sky and began herding them from behind.

Old Nan Feng laughed loudly: “That’s the move—just how the Deity chased me into this ‘fortress’ last time!”

Those ten also had to run toward the big fortress when pressured by the giant hand. In no time, all ten entered the castle. Then, like Old Nan Feng’s past venture, they started the cute “Hamster Adventure.”

“Ahhhhh!”

One person fell into an underground tunnel and was scared into unconsciousness by an electric cockroach.

“Ahhhhh!”

Another triggered a device, tumbled into a pool, and was swallowed whole by a plastic shark.

One fled a giant iron ball hopelessly, fell with a thud, and had the ball crush him. Oddly, he survived—it wasn’t a real giant iron ball, just a large balloon.

The ten were tormented severely by the traps; no one escaped successfully. Finally, all were captured by devices, Game Over!

Then the Deity’s hand descended, stuffed the ten into a glass cup, and carried them back to Shijia Gou. Poured out before the watching ninety, they rolled softly from the glass cups, collapsing limp at Old Nan Feng’s feet.

Old Nan Feng strode over, kicked one of them, and said: “Still want to escape?”

The ten weakly murmured: “Dare not anymore.”