Chapter 46: I Admit I Was Taking a Gamble
“I’ll give you one more chance. Answer now, hand over your stuff, and our lord will see you!”
This time, Number Two’s desire to take action was evident.
“…We’ll hand it over.”
Huang Weiyang sighed, choosing to comply. There was no other choice. Sometimes you had to admit that numbers did matter.
“If you had done this earlier, we wouldn’t have had to go through this. I thought you were so tough that you could take on ten people at once,” Li Hang sneered, feeling an odd satisfaction from his borrowed authority.
With their hands bound behind their backs, they were marched back like prisoners. Soon, they saw Colin and his group sitting in the mist.
After bringing them over, Number Two and Li Hang whispered a few words to Colin before leaving.
Huang Weiyang couldn’t help but glance at the woman in the white and gold-trimmed church robe, but he quickly looked away, remembering what Li Hang had said. This woman was summoned by the special character card that had defeated them.
His gaze then shifted to Colin, but before he could get a good look, a voice called out from the front.
“Open your inventory and let me see.”See? How could it be just a simple look? It was like stripping us of our dignity!
Huang Weiyang’s face turned red, feeling humiliated. This felt as degrading as having his pants pulled down. But then, he felt a nudge on his pant leg. The older man, who had asked for the map earlier, signaled him to look to the side.
He glanced over and saw a pile of non-mutant corpses, quickly deflating his anger. Forget it, he thought. They’ve already taken the most important things—the scroll, crafting table, and lantern.
After calming himself down, he opened his inventory and watched his prized possessions being taken one by one, his heart breaking.
“Oh, right. Also, hand over the rights to your servants,” Colin said indifferently.
A capitalist once told him that exploitation shouldn’t be rushed—it should be done step by step.
…
Elsewhere, another team encountered Colin’s group. Unexpectedly, this team also had people who had integrated “ordinary tainted blood,” and there were quite a few of them.
Clearly, they were here for one reason: the saltpeter mine.
“Hand over the scroll, lantern, and crafting table, then come with us. Otherwise, stay here and don’t leave,” Number Two said fearlessly to the three lords and their dozens of subordinates.
“Your lord? Interesting…” The lead survivor looked at the surrounding bright lanterns and the hundreds of people in the light, taking a deep breath.
Then he looked at Li Hang in the crowd and, after a brief observation, sneered, “It seems you are not their lord.”
This was easy to see, given the lack of natural fear or respect servants had for their lords.
In response, Li Hang shrugged, saying, “Brother, if you’re going to surrender, do it quickly and cut the pretense. Otherwise, you’ll end up crying.”
“Hmph,” the lord said, looking around at the glinting axes without fear. “Did your cowardly lord tell you that some battles can’t be won with numbers alone? Not all lords are as weak as you think. There are strong and weak among lords too.”
He seemed confident, as if he had a trump card to turn the tide.
“Yeah, yeah, I love guys who talk tough. It makes it more fun to break them,” Li Hang laughed. Having decided to “pledge loyalty” to Colin, he was fully committed and wouldn’t underestimate any opponent. He had recently learned the hard way not to underestimate his enemies.
In the next moment, several servants in each group appeared, holding waist-high wooden barrels.
Li Hang didn’t hesitate to light a small piece of wood, tossing it to the ground where it ignited, releasing a pungent smell. The flames quickly spread toward the survivors’ feet.
The lead survivor noticed some buried traces ahead, realizing they were aimed right at them…
With Colin’s “full map hack,” Li Hang could easily see through and handle others, like cheating in a game.
The area was already filled with explosives!
“Do you want to bet that our barrels aren’t filled with gunpowder?” Li Hang asked, staring at him.
“You… You’ve got guts!” The confident survivor’s eyes darkened as he listened to the sizzle of burning powder, glaring at Li Hang.
After a moment of thought, he said, “I surrender…”
Without further words, he threw out the survivor’s core set. The other two, seeing this, also chose to comply.
The fire was extinguished.
No one took this “game” lightly. Everyone knew the cost of death and didn’t want to die easily. Without the explosives, he might have had a way to win, but with gunpowder, it was different. Even without guns or cannons, charging in with explosive barrels would have the same result.
Everyone knew that servant lives were the least valuable. They couldn’t believe a lord hiding in the shadows would care much for these guys. So, they thought they would be blown up before the Lord would even show himself.
Dying without knowing who the opposing lord was would be too frustrating.
“Smart move,” Li Hang said, relieved.
“Doesn’t it seem like you’re that loyal either…” The survivor taunted.
Li Hang remained unfazed, “I admit I was taking a gamble, but you lost, didn’t you? You performed well. If you keep it up, you might get the chance to be a ‘consultant’ like me.”
“By the way, what’s your name?”
For those who had surrendered, Li Hang was always cordial, albeit with a schadenfreude kind of warmth.
“Li Chou.”
“Same surname, huh? Nice to meet you. I am also Li. Want me to put in a good word with the boss so you do not have to mine?”
“Heh, there are about a billion people with our surname.”
“True. Open your inventory and show me your trump card… ‘Flesh Mushroom’? I thought it would be something impressive…” Li Hang pouted. “Is that all?”
“Have you seen it before?” Li Chou’s eyes narrowed, a faint glint passing through them.