Chapter 335 - 330: Contacting the Resistance

Chapter 335: Chapter 330: Contacting the Resistance

The little girl rushed into the dark jungle.

Sharp branches scraped her cheeks, leaving bloody scratches, but she didn’t notice.

The firelight and screams behind her were swallowed by the dense vegetation, growing more and more distant.

She had only one thought: run.

Get away from those monsters, away from that bloody pit.

A few dozen meters behind her, several dark figures moved like ghosts, their steps silent on the fallen leaves.

Kael led the way, his body blending into the night.

Xiaolan followed him, her steps unsteady.

Her stomach churned. The image of the man being torn apart and the pirates’ maniacal laughter were seared into her mind like a brand.

Kael, ahead of her, stopped without warning and stepped aside.

Xiaolan nearly crashed into his back. Looking closely, she saw a tripwire on the ground, the same color as the vines. The wire was connected to a cluster of bushes, and behind it, she could faintly make out sharpened wooden stakes aimed at the path.

A simple but deadly trap.

"Follow my steps exactly." Kael glanced at Xiaolan, then bypassed the trap and continued forward.

Xiaolan didn’t dare let her mind wander again, her eyes glued to the back of Kael’s heels.

They bypassed three more similar traps in succession, each one more cleverly hidden than the last.

"You almost gave us away back at the pit."

Kael spoke suddenly, his voice cutting through the forest’s silence.

Xiaolan’s heart seized.

"That was completely unprofessional. You nearly exposed the entire team."

"I..." Xiaolan’s voice trembled. "I should have..."

"You should have acted?" Kael stopped and turned around.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting mottled shadows across his face.

"And then what? Let the Bloodsail Brotherhood know outsiders have landed on the island? Turn Lord Velin’s plan from infiltration into a full-frontal assault?"

Xiaolan lowered her head, her hand tightening around the hilt of her shortsword.

"Get rid of that compassion of yours," Kael said, his tone harsh. "Out here, it’ll only get you killed. And us with you."

He jabbed a finger toward Xiaolan’s chest. "If you want to save people, first make sure you can survive. Otherwise, you’ll just be the next sacrifice thrown into the pit."

With that, he turned away without another glance and resumed his silent advance.

"Keep up."

Xiaolan bit her lip hard, wiped the moisture from the corner of her eye, and followed.

After another half hour of travel, a moonlit clearing appeared ahead.

Kael raised a hand, and the entire team froze in place, blending into the surrounding bushes.

He crouched, his fingers brushing the ground.

Several sets of footprints of varying depth led toward a vine-covered rock face to the left.

"Within fifteen minutes," he judged.

Two team members silently fanned out and disappeared into the shadows on either side, standing guard.

The squad kept low, slowly approaching the rock face.

Pushing aside the heavy vines revealed a deep cave entrance.

The entrance had obviously been artificially concealed, but in front of Kael, the attempt was futile.

Kael gave a hand signal. The team members drew their weapons, preparing to breach.

Just as he leaned forward, a wary voice called out from inside the cave.

"Stop!"

Several figures blocked the entrance.

They were dressed in rags, holding crude weapons—fishing spears, machetes, and even wooden clubs embedded with stones.

Their leader was a middle-aged man, solidly built with dark skin, clearly a veteran of traversing the forests.

He clutched a well-honed hunting knife, his gaze as sharp as a hawk’s.

"Who are you?" the man asked. "Your gear, your accents... you’re not from the islands. Are you Mercenaries from the Seven Ports Alliance? Or observers sent by the Empire?"

Kael didn’t answer.

His gaze went past the man, sweeping over the cave’s interior.

Flickering firelight revealed more figures inside.

A woman holding a baby; a man wrapped in bandages; many more were wounded.

All the survivors stared at the intruders with a mixture of fear and hatred.

"Answer me." The man took a step forward, shielding the people behind him more defensively.

A standoff.

The air grew tense.

Just then, the little girl they had rescued pushed her way out from the back of the crowd.

She recognized Kael’s mask and build, freezing for a moment before her eyes lit up.

"It’s him!" she cried, pointing at Kael, her voice sharp with excitement. "He’s the one who saved me!"

The leader froze.

The gazes of everyone, both inside and outside the cave, converged on Kael.

"He saved me from that pit!" The little girl ran forward and tugged on the man’s hem. "And they killed those pirates! I saw it with my own eyes!"

The man’s fingers, clenched around his hunting knife, slowly relaxed.

When he looked at Kael again, the hostility in his eyes had faded, replaced by a deeper confusion.

"Who are you, really?"

Kael remained silent, assessing the situation.

But Xiaolan could no longer hold back. She stepped out from behind Kael.

"Xiaolan!" Kael hissed, trying to stop her.

But Xiaolan didn’t stop.

She walked to the center of the standoff and, under everyone’s wary gaze, took out a small crystal vial from her clothes.

In the firelight, the liquid inside the vial glowed with a soft, life-giving energy.

"This is a potent healing potion." Xiaolan offered the vial to the man. "You can use it on him... He’s dying."

She pointed a finger at a soldier with a grievous chest wound, whose breaths were shallow and infrequent.

The man glanced at the wounded soldier, a flicker of pain and despair in his eyes. He shook his head, his voice hoarse.

"Put it away, child. He’s beyond saving."

’This is a wound that not even Lord Elias could heal...’

Xiaolan grew anxious, her voice suddenly rising. "Just try it! We don’t want anything from you."

The man fell silent.

He looked back at his kinsman, whose chest was now barely rising and falling.

Finally, under Xiaolan’s insistent gaze, the man hesitantly reached out and took the potion.

He hurried to the wounded man’s side, uncorked the vial, and poured the entire contents onto the wound. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"HISS—"

A wisp of white smoke rose, and as the locals watched in stunned amazement, a miracle occurred.

As soon as it touched flesh and blood, the potion began to boil. Countless bubbles frothed, forcing out the congealed blood, cloth fragments, and filth from the wound.

Immediately after, the torn edges of the wound began to writhe, grow, and knit together at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The bleeding stopped.

In just over a dozen breaths, the horrific wound, which had been deep enough to show bone, was reduced to a shallow, pink scar.

The soldier’s breathing became steady and strong, and color returned to his pale face.

"..."

In the cave, even the sound of breathing had vanished.

The crowd stared at the healed wound, then back at the now-healed man, as if they had witnessed a divine act.

The Hunter knelt on the ground, his fingers gently tracing the newly formed skin, his hand trembling violently.

He snapped his head up, his hawk-like eyes filled with shock and disbelief. He looked at Xiaolan, his voice hoarse.

"What... what is this?"

Kael stepped forward to stand beside Xiaolan.

"A few ’small gifts’ from our lord, prepared especially for our friends on the islands."

"...A lord?"

The man stood up. The word transformed the shock in his eyes into a more complex emotion.

"Velin Klein," Kael stated the name. "Appointed by the Duchy Council as the Pioneer Baron of the Southern Islands."

’The Southern Islands... a Baron.’

The man looked at the well-equipped, mysterious team before him, then glanced back at the dazed, post-disaster faces of his people in the cave.

After a long moment, he finally sheathed his hunting knife, dropped all his guard, and gave Kael a slight bow.

"My name is Leg. I’m a Hunter. We... we follow the command of Lord Elias."

He looked up, and in his world-weary eyes, beneath the exhaustion and pain, a tiny flame of hope had been kindled.

"Please, come in. It’s not safe outside. Lord Elias... he will want to see you."

He stepped aside, clearing the way.