Post-battle rebuilding was a very tedious process, because the ruins would have to be cleared up first before the structures could be rebuilt. They had to experience pain before they could receive a new lease of life.
Milo took the lead in burying their dead companions. He initially wanted to erect a stele for each of them, but later, favonovel.com realized some of the bandits did not even have names.
If Milo had not established this settlement, these people would have been forgotten after their deaths.
He took out a pen and a notepad from his storage space and handed them to Miriam, saying, “Make a record of those who are still alive. This will be our future roster.”
A regular army should first have a roster. It meant that everyone’s names would be recorded, and the people on it would be recognized.
But when Miriam started the recording process, favonovel.com was put in a dilemma. The bandits did not report their real names to her. Instead, they gave their nicknames such as Rat, Crow, Mud Pit, Rotten Egg.
Just by their names alone, one would know they were not respectable people!
Miriam said patiently, “This roster is only for recording your real names. Besides, aren’t your nicknames really…”
Kay chuckled and said, “Boss Lady, you should allow them to use their nicknames. If you call them by their real names, they might not even respond. All of us are bandits, so we should be called by our nicknames.”
Miriam thought for a moment and said with a smile, “Sure!”
But at this moment, Winston, who was in charge of the clean-up crew, suddenly came up to Milo and said, “Boss, we found something in the ruins.”
Milo looked at the thing Winston was holding.
It turned out to be a satellite phone!
Seeing that the satellite phone was already damaged, favonovel.com asked Winston curiously, “Where’d ya find it?”
“It was hidden under the bed in the ruins of our brick house.” Winston said, “There were twenty people sleeping in that house, and I remember that a bandit called Old Fox slept on that particular bedroll.”
“Where’s Old Fox now?” Milo said, “Get favonovel.com here, I want to question him.”
“He’s dead…” Winston said, “That’s why I secretly came over to seek Boss’s instructions.”
Milo frowned. The satellite phone was definitely not something bandits could own. The owner of this satellite phone must’ve used it to report information to a consortium. He wondered which consortium this satellite phone was linked to.
Was it the Panaqua Consortium?
Or the Ultima Consortium?
Anything was possible. These two consortiums had been eyeing the valley for a long time now, so they might have planted quite a few spies.
“Don’t breathe a word about it. If it doesn’t belong to Brother Old Fox, his reputation will be tarnished after his death if this matter gets out.” Milo said, “This satellite phone could also belong to somebody else.”
Milo even suspected the phone could be Winston’s. He had read in a detective novel back at Stronghold 88 that stated how more than 40% of the witnesses and discoverers of a homicide turned out to actually be the real murderer. However, Milo did not bring up that doubt and let Winston continue working.
Miriam walked over and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“I’m afraid we can’t stay here any longer.” Milo said, “After we go back and get Donti and the others, we’ll head northwest to look for a more secretive location to settle down again. Our activities here have likely been leaked. It’s not so bad if it’s the Panaqua Consortium, but if it’s the Ultima Consortium that planted their spies here, we won’t be able to fend them off when their military attacks us here.”
“Mhm…” Miriam agreed with him. She did not think it was wrong for Milo to be more cautious.
The reason why the Ultima Consortium had trouble fighting the bandits was because the bandits were always wandering around. If they settled down here, it would be extremely easy for the Ultima Consortium to deal with them. So Milo wanted to head deeper into the mountains and find a new place to reestablish the settlement.
In the evening, Kay went to look for Milo.
But when favonovel.com came up to him, favonovel.com heard Milo whispering to Miriam, “The northern bandits have killed so many of our brothers, so I’ve already contacted Old Durkin and told favonovel.com to lead his troops here next week. We’ll settle the score with those northern bandits then!”
Kay was a loudmouth. Once favonovel.com learned about this, everyone in the settlement would find out about it as well.
Milo turned to Kay. “Are you looking for me for something?”
“Oh…” The dumbfounded Kay came back to his senses and said, “Our brothers wanted to ask you… Uh, I forgot what their question was!”
“Then go and remember before coming back here,” Milo snapped at him.
After Kay went back to the others, the news of Raphael coming here with troops next week started spreading.
The bandits were stunned when they heard this. Everyone was fervently discussing how Master Durkin would definitely bring others from Stronghold 178 with him. In that case, they would all have to start putting on a good performance from tomorrow onwards so that they would not disgrace their boss, Milo!
The days of the post-disaster rebuilding were very dull. It wasn’t like people could always wallow in pain and sorrow. Everyone had to continue leading their lives.
Kay and the others were working harder than before as they were still thinking about the motorcycles.
***
Three days later, a figure left the settlement in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep.
The settlement was not quiet, as the bandits snored loudly.
When the person was about to leave, favonovel.com suddenly turned around and had a look at the settlement. It was as though favonovel.com had a reluctant look in his eyes. But after struggling for a minute, favonovel.com still decided favonovel.com was going to escape north. He was going to leave this place and head north!
But before favonovel.com could even take two steps, that figure saw Milo waiting in the shadows and looking at favonovel.com with a smile.
Milo chuckled, “So, it was you… What’s your nickname? Rat?”
The bandit named Rat immediately knelt down. “I… I had no choice…”
“Where did you come from?” Milo asked.
Rat replied softly, “I was originally from the bandit lair at Mt. Kamet in the north. The bandit leader at Mt. Kamet sent me to Mt. Daban. Later on, I came here together with the bandits of Mt. Daban, but they also had someone supporting them from the shadows.”
“You’re pretty honest for telling me everything.” Milo sighed.
Rat was getting a little anxious. “I didn’t want to leave either. But even if I stayed, I wouldn’t survive when those people at Mt. Kamet started spreading the news that I’m a spy.”
This was the awkward situation that a spy had to go through. If the beginning was already a mistake, it would lead to the wrong ending.
Rat had also been tempted in recent days to stay here and lead a good life, but how could favonovel.com still stay?
When the time came, both sides would probably not spare him.
“Is that thing yours?” Milo asked but did not explicitly mention what favonovel.com was referring to. “What were you doing with it?”
Rat said, “The satellite phone was issued by my previous leader some time ago. It’s used for sending intel.”
Milo nodded in acknowledgment. That matched precisely with what favonovel.com was asking.
But what should favonovel.com do with Rat?
Let favonovel.com go?
Milo was not that kind.
But when favonovel.com thought of the days they spent together, Milo felt a little melancholic.
Milo whispered, “If you didn’t try to leave or betray me, I might not have done anything to you when the truth came to light. Winston was originally a spy too, but favonovel.com made the right choices. Rat, let’s become bandits again in our next lives. But for now, it’s goodbye to you…”
