Chapter 70: Even If You Surrender, You Still Get Tied Up
Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Even If You Surrender, You Still Get Tied Up
"These people are from Black Cloud Stronghold, and they used to be a Slave Capture Team. It seems they offended someone and had to flee here from Ganshan City. But a leopard can’t change its spots. After they discovered the Scavenger Camp, they couldn’t resist going back to their old business."
General Zhang began by explaining the group’s origins.
"So they’re new arrivals. No wonder they dared to mess with us!"
"They’re courting death. Let’s wipe them out!"
The moment they heard "Slave Capture Team," the various Commanders were filled with righteous indignation.
In this world, Slave Capture Teams were utterly infamous.
They treated people like slaves or livestock, capturing, killing, and trading them at will. It was monstrous!
"Where is their stronghold?" the Queen asked coldly.
Killing intent had already risen within her.
General Zhao immediately replied, "Killing them won’t be difficult. Their leader is only an Awakened. However, we must obtain their method for raising Blood Crows. Until we have it, a full-scale assault is ill-advised."
"How do we get it?" The Queen was eager for blood.
General Zhao said bluntly, "We infiltrate their base, find that Elder Ya, and bring him out."
"I’ll go!" the Queen spoke up again.
"This...?"
General Zhao and General Zhou exchanged a troubled glance.
They couldn’t indulge the Queen’s habit of always wanting to be on the front lines.
Unhappy with their silence, the Queen turned to Tang Wen. "Commander Tang Wen, what are your thoughts?"
Everyone froze, their gazes shifting to Tang Wen.
Tang Wen gave a wry smile inwardly. ’It doesn’t matter what I think. What you all think is what’s important.’
But under the Queen’s gaze, he only dared to entertain such a thought.
He began his analysis. "If the Queen goes, success is guaranteed, of course. But... are you familiar with infiltration techniques?"
"Can’t I just kill everyone and leave that... Elder Ya, was it? Just leave him alive?"
The group fell silent.
’Well... the Queen kind of has a point,’ they thought.
Tang Wen mused, "Killing them outright would be a waste. It would be better to use them as bait for Mutated Beasts."
"Good point. A simple death would be letting them off too easy."
"Exactly. We should make them die screaming."
Murderous intent gleamed in their eyes.
Tang Wen cut in, "In that case, since we’re several times stronger than them, I say we just infiltrate together."
"That’s just a frontal assault! How is that infiltration in any way?" General Zhao glared at Tang Wen.
He just laughed. "It’s a type of infiltration! As long as every enemy we encounter is neutralized before they can raise an alarm, it counts as a perfect infiltration."
He was, of course, only joking.
To his surprise, the Queen took him seriously. "That makes sense! That’s what we’ll do!"
And so, at the Queen’s insistence, this seemingly reckless plan of action was settled.
There was no more time for discussion. If the Slave Capture Team noticed their members hadn’t returned after such a long time, they would grow suspicious and might even flee.
General Zhou stood up and began to delegate tasks.
The Queen, of course, wouldn’t be assigned to capture a mere Beastmaster. Her target was to capture their leader alive.
A little over half an hour later, the Queen, General Zhao, Tang Wen, and the others led ten Hunting Team Captains and arrived before a towering cliff face deep in the forest.
The area was unguarded. According to the Third Master, one had to follow a winding crevice in the rock for several hundred paces to enter the stronghold, which was encircled by mountains.
After a brief search, the Queen, with her sharp eyes, was the first to spot a deep crevice in the rock, just wide enough for two people to walk abreast.
"This is it?"
"I’m afraid so."
"If he hadn’t told us, I’d never have guessed there was a stronghold in here, even if I walked right past it."
According to the Third Master, they had two camps.
One, located in the forest, was for raising large livestock like mountain dwarf horses.
The other was the one before them now.
All the leaders of the Slave Capture Team were hidden here.
There was once a village here called "Taohua Village."
Taohua Village was isolated from the rest of the world, its location a well-kept secret.
Its villagers lived quiet, happy lives.
That is, until the Slave Capture Team’s Blood Crows discovered it.
The village was taken over. The men who dared to resist were slaughtered, and the survivors were enslaved.
"I’ll go in first." General Zhao took the lead and stepped into the crevice.
Two Commanders were left behind to "guard the door" and await the arrival of General Zhou and the main force.
This was the first time any of them had walked through such a narrow crevice.
They glanced up from time to time. Although the Third Master had said there were no guards posted on the clifftop for fear of exposure, they still worried that a team of experts might suddenly appear and rain rocks down on them.
This was especially true for Tang Wen. As someone who often used rocks to smash his enemies, walking through a place like Heaven’s Edge gave him a paranoid fear of being crushed himself.
Suddenly, a noise came from up ahead.
Tang Wen quickened his pace and rounded a corner.
The view before him suddenly opened up.
"It really is a hidden paradise!"
The land in the mountain basin was flat, with houses arranged in neat rows, complete with fruit orchards and bamboo groves.
Three lookouts had already been taken down by General Zhao’s own hands.
The ten captains following behind quickly bound them.
General Zhao roused two of them, asked a few questions, and then knocked them out again.
He stood up and said, "The intel matches what their Third Master told us."
As he spoke, he began drawing a map in the dirt, then pointed to a spot.
"Tang Wen, Zhou Bing. Here. This is Elder Ya’s location. The two of you will go and capture him alive. He should be just a Martial Artist, and an old one at that. His vitality has waned."
Tang Wen and Zhou Bing acknowledged the order and crept into the pitch-dark village.
As planned, the Queen went to capture the First Master, while General Zhao went for the Second Master.
The entire Slave Capture Team numbered only thirty to forty people. Apart from their four masters, the strongest among them were Martial Artists, and the vast majority were merely Martial Disciples.
On the side of Flame Camp, however, not even counting General Zhou’s group, this small advance team alone consisted of the Queen, a General, three Commanders, and ten Peak Martial Artist Level Captains.
It was a complete stomp!
The group split up. Tang Wen and Zhou Bing crept quietly toward the two-story bamboo building where Elder Ya was located.
Hmm?
When they were still a few dozen paces from the bamboo building, Tang Wen pulled Zhou Bing to a halt.
She looked at him. Tang Wen’s eyes narrowed as a sense of unease washed over him.
He whispered, "I have a bad feeling. This Elder Ya can control Blood Crows; he must have other tricks up his sleeve. I’ll go in first. You wait in ambush."
Zhou Bing shook her head. "There’s a light on in the building; he’s definitely inside. Why don’t we wait for General Zhao and the others to make their move? Elder Ya is sure to come out then, and we can attack him together."
’Attack him together.’
’A surprise attack?’
’I like the sound of that!’
Tang Wen smiled, feeling that he and Zhou Bing were getting more and more in sync.
The two of them hid in the shadows and waited patiently.
BOOM!
A loud explosion erupted from the center of the basin.
The silent night erupted into chaos.
The members of Flame Camp no longer concealed themselves, accelerating as they moved on their respective targets.
On the second floor of the bamboo building, the door burst open.
A murder of crows flew out, followed by a stooped old man.
’Now!’
Tang Wen and Zhou Bing exchanged a glance and shot toward the bamboo building.
They were as swift as striking falcons, arriving below the building in the blink of an eye.
Tang Wen flicked a pebble. The old man dodged it hastily, his expression changing dramatically. "Two Martial Artists!"
Zhou Bing leaped into the air, landing on the second-floor balcony.
Her long spear struck like a dragon, aiming straight for his chest.
"Wait! I surrender, I surrender!"
The Ice Beauty twisted her wrist, turning the thrust into a sweep.
The old man’s footwork shifted and he barely dodged, shouting, "I’m not with these slave traders! I’m a Beast Tamer, I can be useful!"
VMMMM!
The butt of the spear quivered, its tip stopping a foot from his chest.
"Surrendering or not, you’re getting tied up!"
Tang Wen came up to the balcony, a length of iron chain in hand, and bound the man’s hands firmly behind his back.