Chapter 143: Half-Hearted

Chapter 143: Chapter 143: Half-Hearted

Renee Morgan worked quickly, and in no time at all, she had already whittled a dozen or so sticks. When she looked up and saw Dane toss over another half-finished piece, her eyebrow twitched. "Can you please do it properly? Don’t waste my materials."

Renee picked up the half-finished pieces, nearly ten of them, each only half-whittled and not broken, totally usable—she had no idea why he tossed them aside.

Determined not to waste resources, Renee picked them up one by one and whittled down the other halves, occasionally fixing up Dane’s handiwork on his side. Soon, the so-called reject arrows that Dane had dismissed actually started to look pretty decent.

Dane had always considered himself exceptionally talented, but watching the girl in front of him working so earnestly at whittling sticks, he suddenly realized just how ridiculous his arrogance really was.

Renee had truly skillful hands and quickly worked through all of the branches he’d thrown away.

Dane picked up one of the short arrows she’d made, and compared it with one of the ones he’d worked on. On the surface, there wasn’t much difference—after all, she’d gone over every stick he’d touched—but on close inspection, there was still a difference: one was a delicate, near-perfect work of art, and the other felt like it lacked some spark of craftiness or spirit.

Once she’d made enough short arrows, Renee started tinkering with something else.

Recalling the pleasant surprise of her last booby-trapped bow-and-crossbow invention, Dane couldn’t help but wander over curiously. "What’s this for?"

"Just some little traps," Renee replied casually, working away without stopping her hands. "Once I’ve finished, let’s talk about how we’ll coordinate later."

Dane didn’t say anything, but his eyes were sparkling, staring at her hands, not looking away for a second.

She really did have beautiful hands—long, slender fingers, but not bony or emaciated; nails shaped and trimmed smoothly, transparent and neat. That was the very definition of skilled, dexterous hands.

Renee fiddled with things for about an hour before she finished, then went back up the mountain road and laid the woven rattan she’d made on both sides of the path.

Bama tried to go help, but Dane grabbed him. "Don’t mess with it. Do you even know what you’re doing?"

"Nope..." Bama answered honestly, then looked to the busy Renee. "Morgan will teach me."

Dane was about to mock him for being cluelessly bold, but just then Renee glanced up. "Don’t just stand there, you two. Get over here and help."

Bama glanced at Dane, then scampered right over.

It was Dane for once—the guy who’s usually so confident—who hesitated a little.

"Morgan, how are we supposed to lay this stuff? Feels like you’re just tossin’ it anywhere," Bama said, baffled.

Renee tossed the rattan in her hand out. "Just toss it anywhere."

Bama was even more confused. "But what’s the point of that?"

Renee: "This thing’s called Heaven’s Net."

Bama watched as she tossed bundles of rattan, thinking if there was anything special, it must be that she tossed them really evenly?

Bama copied her and threw a bunch too, then looked back at Dane’s face, which seemed even more serious and conflicted now. Scratching his head, he was completely stumped.

The rattan net was laid out in no time. Renee then walked a little further down and took a long vine, tying it between tree branches on opposite sides of the path.

Bama, curious, came up to flick that vine. Smack! A stinging slap of wind lashed across, and Bama’s rough hand went red and swollen instantly, almost making him jump in pain.

Dane’s dark eyes flicked over at him. "That’s a trap. Don’t mess around unless you have a death wish."

Renee tied down both ends of the vine firmly, then came back over, and right in front of them, gave the vine a hard kick.

Bama: "..."

He gave Dane an aggrieved look.

Dane’s eyes darted in awkward embarrassment as he watched Renee use her long legs to check the height of the vine. It seemed a bit high, so she untied and redid it to lower it.

Dane couldn’t help but reach out to touch the vine himself, but nothing happened at all...

He’d been expecting something like an electronic laser tripwire...

A weird wave of disappointment hit Dane, but he felt he shouldn’t feel that way. Glancing at the still-busy Renee, he asked, "Why doesn’t anything happen when you touch this thing?"

"Nothing. It doesn’t hurt anyone if you touch it," Renee replied, sweating buckets as she tinkered, finding a moment to answer him.

Bama glanced at the busy Renee, then over at Dane, whose expression wavered between baffled and disappointed, and scratched his head, still not getting it.

It took another half hour to finish setting it up.

Bama and Boland, staring at the result of Renee’s several hours of hard work...

It was... pretty abstract.

On the road, apart from the randomly flung rattan nets, there was just a single vine strung beside the path.

Well... pretty ridiculous.

They say the higher your hopes, the greater your disappointment—and Dane felt exactly that way in this moment.

Renee, sweating and exhausted, called everyone over to discuss how they’d coordinate later.

...

Bama and Boland exchanged looks, half-believing, half-doubting, as they turned to Dane: "Dalton, is there anything... you wanna add?"

They actually wanted to ask if they should really go along with Renee’s plan—she was a great sniper, but tonight, none of this looked reliable at all.

Dane looked back at the "abstract" trap on the path, and even he looked a bit uncertain now.

Renee noticed something and hurried to explain: "We’re short on time, so I just made a rough version."

Dane: "..."

The rest: "..."

Might’ve been better if she hadn’t explained...

This was almost insultingly rough.

Renee, seeing them speechless, frowned: "It’s not like we’re getting married, why’s it hafta look so pretty?"

The rest all gave her complicated looks right then.

Prettiness—really the issue?

Were they really such superficial people?

No, they were staring past all the half-assed, abstract, and ridiculous surface, straight at the real core of the problem—these traps just kinda sucked, didn’t they?

Right?

Suddenly Dane had a thought, turning to Renee: "I get it now—you’re going for the ’element of surprise,’ making them second-guess our intentions and doubt themselves. Then we show up and take them all down at once, right?"

Renee: "..."

She looked at the others, who were all nodding seriously and agreeing.

If they were Team Red and saw their opponents slacking this hard, they’d probably start to question themselves too.

Renee: "..."

Dane’s explanation sounded more and more convincing the more he said it. After two ambushes before, Team Red was bound to be wary. If they hit another ambush, they’d never stick around—they’d bolt immediately.

No way would the old plan work again.

But if Renee’s "harmless" setup made the other team suspicious and hesitant, that would be the perfect chance to rush in and knock them silly.

Listening to Dane’s "analysis," Renee: "..."

What she meant was, when they triggered the traps, they’d dash in and just start the beatdown right away, not... well...

Never mind—close enough in steps. As for how they understood it, best not to sweat the details.

After all, everyone interprets things their own way. She couldn’t force it.