Chapter 47: First Blood

“What are you all standing around like idiots for?”

“They’re only two peak quasi-apprentices using martial techniques! Everyone, attack!”

“Kill them, and there’ll be generous rewards for all of you afterward!”

Lant roared furiously at the White Feather Gang members, who had been frightened into stunned silence.

At that moment, the White Feather Gang members finally understood. Luo Wushang and Zhang Qingwei were not truly terrifying; they had merely used a surprise attack and martial techniques to suppress their leader, Lant, and Captain Maity.

“Kill them!”

“How dare two peak quasi-apprentices oppose the White Feather Gang? They’re courting death!”

“Archers, take out that boy and woman in the distance! Don’t let them escape!”

The three White Feather Gang captains who had regained their senses immediately pulled out the modular spears strapped to their backs. With a twist and turn, each extended into an alloy spear nearly three meters long, and they launched their attacks at Luo Wushang and Zhang Qingwei without delay.

Although the three captains did not know any martial techniques, their strength as basic apprentices—more than three hundred kilograms—was enough to easily suppress Luo Wushang and Zhang Qingwei when the two were not using martial techniques.

As Lant’s roar echoed throughout the base, the White Feather Gang members patrolling inside rushed toward the entrance at once, eager to claim the credit.

Within the gang, ordinary members found it extremely difficult to rise through the ranks. Generally, they had only two options.

The first was to complete missions assigned by the gang, accumulating achievements until their strength was sufficient for promotion.

The second was to kill enemies and accumulate enough contributions to be promoted from an ordinary member to a captain.

Now that only three people had dared to come to the White Feather Gang’s territory to abduct someone, this was clearly an excellent opportunity to seize credit.

“We’re done for.” Luo Qi looked at the dozen or more White Feather Gang members charging toward them in protective gear, as well as the archers aiming from the distance. She shouted at Lin Qi, “Run! I’ll find a way to hold them off!”

In Luo Qi’s eyes, Lin Qi had come all this way to make a fake trade with the White Feather Gang solely to rescue her. As a peak quasi-apprentice, there was no way she could let someone who was not even a quasi-apprentice step forward on her behalf.

However, just as Luo Qi prepared to drag Lin Qi into the vehicle and hold back the White Feather Gang members, she suddenly discovered that she could not move him at all.

“Linzi, you...?”

Before Luo Qi could recover from her astonishment, she saw Lin Qi calmly raise his other hand.

“Move! Take them out!”

Lin Qi looked at the approaching White Feather Gang members and suddenly swept his raised hand through the air.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Four silver-white streaks suddenly shot out from behind Lin Qi, striking the unprotected necks of the White Feather Gang members with pinpoint accuracy. All four died on the spot.

At the same time, more than twenty figures burst from the withered woods in the distance, each moving faster than the last. Several of them had already reached apprentice-level speed.

The sight shocked everyone in the White Feather Gang. They had never imagined that Lin Qi and the others had come prepared. They had not come with only three people.

“Damn it! Enemy attack! We’re under attack!”

“Quick! Inform everyone nearby! Another gang is attacking the plantation base!”

“Damn it! There’s no signal! The signal’s being jammed!”

In the darkness, four armored men had been killed by a single volley of arrows, while more than twenty others were charging forward. Aside from another gang attempting to raid the plantation base, there could be no other explanation.

“Who the hell are you people?”

“Do you dare attack our White Feather Gang base? Are you trying to become mortal enemies with us?”

Lant joined the battle and glanced from the corner of his eye at the players charging in from the distance. His expression became extremely grave and astonished as he roared.

Although it was difficult to see clearly in the darkness, the ten people at the very front were obviously moving at apprentice-level speed—more than twelve meters per second.

In other words, the opposing gang had sent a full ten apprentice-level experts, twice as many as the apprentices stationed at their base. Combined with the two monstrous women before him, this was a force terrifying enough to wipe out a small wilderness gang.

Yet according to Lant’s memories, he had never offended a force of this magnitude.

The members of the gang before him were especially conspicuous. Every one of them wore dark-gray long-sleeved shirts. Now that they had come closer, it was clear that each carried a shovel. Such an unmistakable symbol was impossible to forget.

As for the idea that this gang had come to rescue Luo Qi, not even a ghost would believe it. In the City of Chasing Light, anyone protected by a gang bore that gang’s mark. Touching someone with a gang mark was equivalent to declaring war on the gang behind them.

Luo Qi, however, bore no gang mark at all. She was merely an ordinary employee of the Cangjing Weapons Shop.

“This boss talks too much.” Luo Wushang could not help feeling speechless as she watched Lant question them while fighting. “The game developers really need to adjust the boss’s intelligence. We’ve already attacked him, yet instead of focusing on the battle, he’s asking whether we intend to fight to the death. What’s the point?”

“Just endure it. It’s required by the plot.” Zhang Qingwei, who was continuously dueling the two White Feather Gang captains, reminded her in a low voice, “The others are almost here. We should speed things up too. We can’t let someone else take the boss’s first blood.”

“Right. There’ll definitely be an extra reward for taking the boss’s first blood. We can’t let anyone else have it.”

Luo Wushang dodged Lant’s sweeping spear and nodded emphatically before striking out with Star-Piercing Point.

“You’re courting death!”

Their words left Lant furious and shocked. He slammed down with his spear, directly knocking aside Luo Wushang’s Star-Piercing Point and forcing her back two steps. Then he leveled his spear, causing the muscles throughout his body to swell as he prepared to use his ultimate move and kill one of them first.

Although Lant could not understand why the lunatics of this era were so powerful, or why they could unleash martial techniques one after another as though such techniques cost nothing, they had actually treated him like a boss and were even targeting his first blood.

Then he would show them how difficult his first blood was to take!

“This boss is getting angry. Looks like he’s about to enter his second phase!” Luo Wushang, who had been knocked back, flipped through the air and landed precisely on her feet. Her eyes shone with excitement. “Come on! Let me see what your second phase is like!”

“Damn you, you lunatic!” Lant stared at Luo Wushang, who showed no fear and instead looked eager for more. He felt unbearably stifled.

Martial techniques placed an enormous burden on the body. Normally, using one meant fighting with one’s life on the line. Either you died, or I did.

Yet this lunatic seemed to have no idea what death was. Lant was beginning to hesitate over whether he should use a martial technique and fight desperately.

Gambling his life against a lunatic was a losing proposition no matter how he looked at it.

“This boss is pretty weak. Why is it taking him so long to activate his second phase?” Zhang Qingwei glanced at Lant anxiously. “The others are almost here. Could he be planning to gather everyone around and let them compete for first blood?”

“Damn you! You die first!”

Lant glared at Zhang Qingwei as they battled. He could no longer tolerate this woman. He leaped into the air and brought his spear crashing down toward her.

The apprentice-level martial technique, Mountain Breaker!

This spear technique could increase strength and speed by more than fifty percent. A single thrust carried more than six hundred kilograms of force, enough to threaten an advanced apprentice.

“Is this boss’s second phase a threat-transfer mechanic?”

“Now that’s interesting.”

Watching Lant attack Zhang Qingwei directly, Luo Wushang began to regard him seriously.

Zhang Qingwei was already occupied with two White Feather Gang captains and had no time to evade. She could only forcibly swing the black-steel arrow in her hand and meet the attack with Wave-Stacking Blade.

Bang!

Zhang Qingwei was sent flying more than ten meters. The arm gripping the black-steel arrow twisted as the bone snapped, leaving her in a far more battered state and unable to fight the other captains.

Just as Lant was about to reveal a triumphant expression, he saw that Zhang Qingwei, despite her broken arm, was actually smiling with delight.

“Wushang, this boss is pretty good! He broke my arm with one move. If we take his first blood, he might drop something amazing!”

“This boss really is impressive. After entering his second phase, his strength and speed have increased considerably. But the backlash from that move doesn’t seem minor either. His aura has weakened. He probably can’t use it many more times.”

Luo Wushang nodded, her gaze even more excited, and thrust out another Star-Piercing Point at Lant.

Zhang Qingwei no longer bothered with the other captains. She gripped the black-steel arrow with her remaining hand, activated Leopard Shadow Step, and transformed into a black blur that shot toward Lant. Then she unleashed another Wave-Stacking Blade.

“Madwomen! These two are completely insane!”

Watching the two women charge at him without the slightest concern for their lives, Lant could clearly sense that they did not care whether they lived or died. They seemed not to know the meaning of fear.

The only thing on their minds was his first blood!

At that moment, Lant was not the only one who thought the people in dark-gray clothing were insane. Every White Feather Gang member who engaged them in battle felt the same way about this Grey-Clad Gang.

Damn it!

These people did not even use normal weapons in battle. They charged straight at them with shovels in their hands. Some were struck by several arrows, yet instead of showing fear, they pulled the arrows out and pocketed them, wearing expressions of having made a profit.

Then, while charging, they shouted, “Come on, shoot me! Shoot me!”

The nearby Grey-Clad Gang members actually looked envious when they saw this. They began copying the behavior, leaving the White Feather Gang archers completely bewildered.

The archers had seen people use others as shields, but they had never seen anyone volunteer to become a shield, wearing an expression that seemed to say, “If you don’t shoot me, you’re finished.”

The archers were so confused they no longer knew who was shooting whom.

The most ruthless were the gray-clad archers. Once they ran out of arrows, they would violently yank arrows from their companions’ bodies and shoot them back without even blinking. Such cruelty was almost beyond belief.

Meanwhile, thanks to the shooting of Fang Zhen and the others, the White Feather Gang suffered casualties every moment, causing the members who had originally charged forward to scatter rapidly.

“Wonderful!”

“The boss’s first blood is mine!”

A Cloud Adrift had already charged in front of Lant. Holding the spear in both hands, he spun through the air, his face alight with excitement as he unleashed Spiral Demon Spear Kill at Lant.

Lant had just endured a combined assault from Luo Wushang and Zhang Qingwei, and his health was already dangerously unstable. Yet A Cloud Adrift’s move instinctively triggered a sense of danger in him. He leaped once more and used Mountain Breaker.

Bang!

With only a single clash, the spear in Lant’s hands was knocked aside. In the next instant, a silver alloy spear pierced through his neck, sending his entire head flying.

In the last scene before his death, Lant saw A Cloud Adrift, who had unleashed Spiral Demon Spear Kill, standing with one arm missing and blood gushing from all over his body. It was obvious that he would not live much longer.

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, the dying man’s face was split by a grin as he shouted in delight again and again.

“First blood!”

“I got his first blood!”

“Damn it!”

Lant cursed inwardly. Even at the moment of death, he could not understand when he had provoked such a terrifying gang. There was not a single normal person among them.