nycdaug #132 - Weird rules
#132 - Weird rules
Lu Jing hadn't taken the female shopkeeper's warning about the approaching darkness seriously at first.
After all, the sun was still hanging overhead, and there should have been a considerable amount of time before sunset and complete darkness.
However, as they were speaking, the sky visibly darkened.
By the time the shop assistant came out of the warehouse, the sky outside was almost like dusk.
Moreover, a strong wind had picked up, mixed with yellow sand, hitting the signboard outside the tailor shop and making a crackling sound.
Lu Jing, carrying the coffin lid, leaped onto the roof, covering the large hole, and then tied it securely to the beams with ropes.
He glanced at the street below and found that the surrounding shops had already closed their doors and windows.
Except for a few pedestrians hurrying home, the street had become deserted.
Then, Lu Jing looked in the direction the sandstorm was coming from and finally found the reason for the darkening sky.
A yellow line, stretching endlessly across the horizon, was rapidly approaching the small city he was in.
— A sandstorm!
No wonder the female shopkeeper and the shop assistant looked so nervous when they saw the hole in the roof.
However, Lu Jing didn't rush inside; instead, he quickly surveyed his surroundings, taking in the city's sights.
After seeing the clothing of the people around him, he had already formed some guesses about where he was, and upon coming outside and seeing the city, his previous guesses were further confirmed.
The architectural style here was obviously different from the Chen Dynasty; it was somewhat similar to the Byzantine style of his previous life, mainly with domes and a variety of colors, quite exotic.
The entire city was located in the desert, built around an oasis.
It wasn't too large, with an estimated population of only a few tens of thousands, but it seemed quite prosperous.
Lu Jing originally wanted to observe for a while longer, but the female shopkeeper's anxious voice came from inside, "Is it done yet?"
So, Lu Jing took one last look at the well behind the tailor shop and jumped down from the roof.
When he returned to the shop, he found that the windows had been sealed, and the only door had been tightly closed after he entered, and reinforced with a wooden bar.
The female shopkeeper lit an oil lamp and checked the corners again, blocking the gaps with coarse cloth, before finally breathing a sigh of relief.
Lu Jing was about to speak and introduce himself when he saw her finish.
But unexpectedly, the female shopkeeper then put her finger to her lips, gesturing for him to be silent.
Lu Jing could understand that everyone was rushing home to close their doors and windows when the sandstorm arrived.
But he didn't quite understand why he also had to keep his mouth shut.
However, Lu Jing was currently participating in the mysterious organization's assessment and had a mental expectation for any strange situations that might arise.
In addition, having just arrived in an unfamiliar environment, following local customs was undoubtedly the most sensible choice before figuring out the situation.
So, upon hearing this, he stopped talking.
The tailor shop fell silent again.
Only the sound of the wind outside grew louder and louder.
The signboard was blown and rattled, and the sound of sand pattering became more and more frequent.
But the apprehensive expressions on the faces of the female shopkeeper and the shop assistant beside him clearly didn't seem fake.
As the storm grew more violent, the female shopkeeper's hands clenched tighter and tighter.
Seeing this, Lu Jing calmed his mind, reversed the Little Vajra Strength, and sent his inner force to the Tinggong and Ermen acupoints.
In the next moment, the world became clearer than ever before.
All the movements within a mile were captured by Lu Jing.
And he finally heard some unusual sounds.
That was... the sound of an army marching.
Deep, orderly, and rhythmic.
They were approaching from a distance.
Every time they advanced a certain distance, several teams would break away from the main force and walk along different streets in different directions, as if patrolling the city.
However, Lu Jing couldn't imagine any army patrolling the city in such terrible weather.
Before long, one of the teams came to the outside of the tailor shop.
Lu Jing heard the sound of footsteps stopping outside the shop door.
Then he heard the sound of hands grabbing onto the doors and windows.
Immediately afterward, the owners of those hands pressed their faces against the openings, seemingly trying to peer inside.
It was only then that Lu Jing understood why the female shopkeeper had blocked every gap in the room earlier.
It turned out that she wasn't doing it to prevent sand from blowing into the house.
But because of the things now lying on the windows and doors.
The female shopkeeper had already blown out the oil lamp and huddled in a corner of the room with the shop assistant.
Lu Jing could hear their rapidly rising heart rates.
Only after the group outside left did the two gradually recover, and the female shopkeeper lit the oil lamp again.
And just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief,
A loud scream suddenly rang out in her ears!
The female shopkeeper was stunned by the scream.
There were three people in the room.
The shop assistant had been with her for a long time, always knowing what was important, and he was standing next to her at the moment, so the scream was clearly not from him.
As for Lu Jing, a stranger who had just arrived, the female shopkeeper had been watching him closely, her eyes almost never leaving him.
The latter was also very cooperative, and hadn't said a word since she made the gesture for silence.
So whose scream was it?
In the next moment, the female shopkeeper remembered something, and her expression suddenly changed.
That's right, there was also a female customer in the shop who had been frightened unconscious by the coffin that fell from the sky.
She hadn't been able to leave before the sandstorm arrived and had been carried by the shop assistant to a chair on the side.
She had woken up at this moment, and as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Lu Jing's shadow reflected on the wall.
Thinking it was some kind of monster, she screamed subconsciously.
However, she realized something halfway through her scream and quickly covered her mouth.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
In the next moment, Lu Jing heard the footsteps that had disappeared outside return.
But this time, the owner of the footsteps no longer grabbed onto the doors and windows to peer inside.
A scimitar directly struck the door of the tailor shop!
The two-inch-thick door panel was like paper in front of this scimitar, effortlessly cut through!
Half of the blade protruded from the other side of the door panel!
It wasn't just the previous female customer who was screaming anymore; the female shopkeeper and the shop assistant couldn't help but scream at this scene!
Their eyes were full of despair and fear!
And as if to respond to their despair,
Two more scimitars then struck the wooden door!
In the blink of an eye, the wooden door was completely chopped to pieces!
Gusts of wind and sand poured in from outside!
And entering with them was a tall warrior wearing a mask.