Ren Xiaosu carried the sheep and walked towards the next outpost. Along the way, he said to Zhang Jinglin, "See, didn't I say that there was something strange about those two sheep? Would any honest sheep follow us around like that? Sheep that follow us around can't possibly be honest!"
Zhang Jinglin wondered, "Why does it sound a little wrong to me? Are you saying we're not honest people?"
"Ahem, no," Ren Xiaosu said.
Actually, the two of them had realized there was something off about the sheep last night. But at that time, Zhang Jinglin squeezed Ren Xiaosu's shoulder and signaled him not to be alarmed.
Then Zhang Jinglin had Fortress 178 inform the various outposts to watch out for any suspicious people appearing in their vicinity.
In the end, the outposts did not discover any suspicious people. Instead, they discovered two suspicious-looking sheep.
Ren Xiaosu and Zhang Jinglin speculated that these might be the spies of the Magi. Therefore, they planned to capture them for research.
However, Ren Xiaosu did not capture both sheep and allowed one to get away instead.
Zhang Jinglin asked, "Are you planning to lure the opponent out by letting one sheep escape?"
"Mr. Zhang is right." Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, "Since the other party is hiding outside the surveillance perimeter of our outposts, it's not easy for us to find them. In that case, let's see if we can get them to come and look for us instead."
The two of them headed straight for the nearest outpost. When the sentry saw that Ren Xiaosu had even brought a sheep, he was moved. "We're already very grateful that Future Commander and Fortress Commander came to visit us. There's no need to bring a sheep as well. What a large sheep! The two of us can't finish it."
Ren Xiaosu was amused. "You can't eat this, but I can still prepare some mutton for you two."
With that, Ren Xiaosu took out a few gold nuggets and handed them to the sentries. He told them to go and buy another sheep from the herdsmen nearby, even specifically emphasizing that it must be a ewe.
"Remember, from now on, don't address us as Commander Zhang and Future Commander anymore," Ren Xiaosu reminded them. "Just use Mr. Zhang and Ren Xiaosu when you're addressing us."
The sentries looked at each other but did not ask why. Meanwhile, Zhang Jinglin seemed to have figured out something. "Are you worried the sheep can transmit information?"
"That's right. Liuyuan also has a supernatural being by his side who can control birds of prey. That hawk can transmit what it sees and hears to the person wielding the power." Ren Xiaosu said, "After all, our statuses are a little sensitive. If a large number of sorcerers have already gathered outside the surveillance perimeter of our outposts and discovered our identities through these sheep, I'm afraid that they'll come at us very fiercely."
"Mhm, that makes sense." Zhang Jinglin nodded.
Zhang Jinglin was much more accomplished in terms of knowledge and military command. But when it came to skirmishes between supernatural beings and the sense of wariness in the wilderness, Zhang Jinglin was far inferior to Ren Xiaosu. This could be considered an expertise.
After all, if it weren't for Ren Xiaosu, they wouldn't have discovered that two sheep had been watching them for so long. Such a situation might even sound quite unbelievable if it were related to other people.
When the sentry returned with the ewe, Ren Xiaosu poured a basin of cold water over the captured sheep's head.
The sheep shuddered and let out a baa before continuing to play dead.
Ren Xiaosu chuckled. He said to the sentry at the side, "Scrub the cauldron in the kitchen. I think this sheep might've suffered from heat stroke. Let's cook and eat it."
When the sheep heard this, it immediately bleated and fainted. This time, it fainted for real.
Ten minutes later, it slowly regained consciousness again. At this moment, it could even hear the crackling of burning firewood in the kitchen.
It stood up and looked at Ren Xiaosu in fear.
Honestly, Ren Xiaosu was unsure of what this sheep was. Was it someone's superpower? Or could it be something else?
Meanwhile, the sheep was not sure if Ren Xiaosu had discovered its identity or if he just wanted to have some mutton. In any case, both parties were still at the probing stage.
The sheep saw Ren Xiaosu turn around and say to Zhang Jinglin, "Mr. Zhang, head into the room first and get some rest. I'll mentally prepare this sheep."
When the sheep heard that, it started panicking. Mental preparation? How civilized was this guy to mentally prepare it before slaughtering and eating it?
However, it heard Ren Xiaosu addressing Zhang Jinglin as Mr. Zhang and asking him to get some rest in the room. This was quite in line with its suspicions that the two people had a master-servant relationship.
Ren Xiaosu asked the sheep, "Just what are you really?"
"Baa?"
"This will be hard to overcome with a language barrier." Ren Xiaosu scratched his head.
Then the sheep saw Ren Xiaosu pull out a handful of grass from the side of the outpost. However, he did not feed it to the sheep directly. Instead, he took out a small vial of black medicine from his storage space and applied it on the grass before bringing it close to the sheep's mouth.
The sheep did not even know what that black substance on the grass was, so how could it eat it?
But before it could run away, Ren Xiaosu grabbed it by the neck and stuffed the grass into its mouth.
First of all, Ren Xiaosu was sure there was something odd about the sheep. Now, all he needed to find out was whether it was controlled by someone or if it was self-aware.
Ren Xiaosu locked the ram up with the ewe. He was starting to pant heavily, but he still kept his distance from the ewe.
The ram felt a fire burning within his body. Unknowingly, the way he looked at the ewe had changed. However, his rationality did not allow it to do such a terrifying thing.
But even as he tried to avoid that, the ewe still came closer to him upon sensing the breath coming out of his nostrils.
The sorcerer's servant was nearly driven to despair. He recalled the young servant's smile and wondered how this was something a fucking human could do.
At the last moment, just before the ewe closed in on the ram, Ren Xiaosu took him out and said to Zhang Jinglin, "Mr. Zhang, I would guess that this sheep is a human. He probably doesn't have a way to turn back into his human form."
Zhang Jinglin asked, "How do you know that?"
"I fed him some medicine. If he were a sheep to begin with, he would've already given in to his urges by now. It should be his willpower as a human that made him restrain himself." Ren Xiaosu chuckled.
Zhang Jinglin pondered this for a moment. Although Ren Xiaosu's deduction was a little crude and simple, it did make some sense.
But Ren Xiaosu suddenly frowned. He said to the two sentries, "You two, take Mr. Zhang and leave. Now!"
"What happened?" Zhang Jinglin wondered.
"I've discovered a strange, gray-robed man approaching us quickly. Didn't we say that we wanted to catch a big fish? It seems like we've caught it." Ren Xiaosu turned away from the sheep and said, "But y'all had better leave first in case you get injured by the battle. Y'all can come back again in eight hours. At that time, no matter who might come here, the battle will definitely be over."
Zhang Jinglin gazed deep into Ren Xiaosu's eyes before turning around to leave.
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. "Aren't you going to say 'stay safe' or something? You're gonna leave just like that?"
Zhang Jinglin said without turning around, "It's not like I can help much!"
The sheep thoughtfully watched Zhang Jinglin's figure recede.