Chapter 126: Joining Forces to Put on a Show (Please Subscribe)

Five days later, night fell.

"Help... help me!"

Dressed in black and calm as water, Du En flew on his artifact, returning right on time as always, yet at this moment, he keenly heard someone calling for help several hundred feet behind him.

He slowed his speed and turned his head to look, but did not see anyone flying on an artifact in the sky; shifting his gaze downward, he caught a glimpse of a stumbling, wretched figure far away in the dark, gloomy mountain forest.

Before Du En could change direction, someone inside the camp had already shouted: "It looks like someone is in trouble again! Let's hurry over and take a look!"

Because the distance was close, Du En could clearly see the person shouting within the field of his divine sense.

"I am going to tell the Camp Master and have him punish you!"

Fortunately, he was not completely forced into a corner, rushing to frame someone and creating this scene.

"Oh? Really?"

Zhao Jinlin!

"Hmm? Why is this guy unable to wait suddenly, creating an opportunity for himself just to make a move?"

Immediately, someone hiding in the crowd shouted: "Old Zhao is withholding people's spirit stones again, not even allowing them to mutter a word or two, so he messed with the supplies and harmed the man!"

"Hmph! I hope the death of this one can make you all behave and be self-aware; otherwise..."

Having received the message, Xiang Tao had already arrived at this spot; he stood there with his hands tucked away, brow slightly furrowed, staring at the fawning Zhao Jinlin who ran over, as well as the person he was dragging.

"What on earth are you playing at?"

Before he could make a move, Zhao Jinlin and his men had already rushed out of the camp, quickly closing in on the wretched figure.

"Kid, let's see how you run this time!"

Having been annoyed by He Bo for so long, and with Xiang Tao cutting in, he was currently venting his anger, and his resentment and malice toward Du En surged and multiplied several times over!

He could not wait any longer!

Whether they were new or veteran patrol guards, they all spat in disgust, either openly or secretly.

"That guy is truly annoying! What is there to rush about? Instead of spending such a huge amount of spirit stones on transmission talismans, he might as well just give them to me; I would endure the loss and just go. What an unspeakable piece of trash!"

In reality, Zhao Jinlin did not want to be so conspicuous either; it was mainly because He Bo kept urging him like a death-chasing ghost, especially since the start of this year, as the frequency of transmissions had risen sharply, becoming even more intense this month.

"Bury the corpse, and that will be that."

But he had also been obviously harassed, only being given low-grade spirit stones that were useless in the camp.

"Damn it! Isn't it just that I secretly said a few words about you withholding my monthly pay? Is it worth it for you to play such a dirty trick and lure a demonic beast to harm me?!"

This Camp Master appeared quite displeased.

Naturally, he also noticed that fleeting glance from Zhao Jinlin.

After today's incident, he was completely certain of one thing.

Then, he would put on a show, claiming he had actually intended to decline, but the other party was persistent, which was why the transmissions had gradually become frequent.

Since Zhao Jinlin had always been quite composed before, Du En only felt a bit puzzled now.

After all, he was the confidant of the other party, and on a daily basis, he could read people's expressions and use the convenience of the logistics department to observe some clues within the camp.

A fierce glint flashed in the Camp Master's eyes.

Du En remained silent behind the crowd, his whole person submerged in the dimness of the tree shadows.

Recently, the evil cultivators had been behaving and not causing trouble, and the retention rate of the new patrol guards was good, so even if a few more people died now, it would have no impact on him at all!

Du En low-key surveyed the overall situation, capturing every detail, and immediately guessed that Xiang Tao also had a hand in it.

That's right, they were actually colluding this time.

Sure enough, when Zhao Jinlin's figure was reflected in the eyes of the wretched figure who was calling for help—whose divine sense was already intermittent and who was severely injured—the other party was stunned for a moment, then became exceptionally indignant.

Xiang Tao's facial muscles twitched, seemingly even more dissatisfied.

In this way, he naturally could only find compensation from Du En's side!

Therefore, without a moment's hesitation, he turned and killed the severely injured man.

Xiang Tao waved his hand casually and turned to leave.

At this moment, he was near the outpost camp, with his back to the light shining from the camp, his face shrouded in the gloom of the mountain forest, with only a curled-up mouth appearing visible.

And so, the crisis was averted, and with Xiang Tao's intervention, today's scene was quickly performed.

Happy May Day, everyone.

Hearing such words, Zhao Jinlin took the lead, landed in front of him, raised his hand to support him, and said with a smile: "Fellow Daoist, don't be afraid, I'll help you back!"

Even so, it was mainly because there was no fun in withholding low-grade spirit stones; if he really wanted to take them, there was still a pile of idle ones in the warehouse, and besides, he had to stabilize Du En so he wouldn't choose to give up and break everything.

At the same time, they were secretly talking using their divine sense.

From Zhao Jinlin's perspective, his heart sank, and he was already losing his footing while pondering how to get out of the situation.

Do you think we believe that?

This isn't the first time you've done such a rotten thing; who hasn't had a spirit stone or two withheld by you?

Are you being too arrogant now, not even putting me in your eyes?

At first glance, that was his attitude.

Listening to these words—forced out, full of panic, carrying anger, and harboring unease—Zhao Jinlin just raised his eyebrows and hurriedly said to those behind him: "Hallucination! It's definitely a hallucination! It's a hallucination caused by his severe injuries!"

"Well done."

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare..."

Such a situation made some veteran patrol guards who paid close attention to the Camp Master and always wanted to find an opportunity to replace the existing confidants feel a stir in their hearts.

He had come up with a quick-witted lie at the time, claiming that the severely injured person before them was his target, and that someone from the border city wanted to finish this person off through him.

Tsk!

Hearing these obviously biased words, the veteran patrol guards couldn't help but click their tongues in secret, though they weren't too surprised; after all, who else but Zhao Jinlin was Xiang Tao's confidant?

As for the other new patrol guards, they naturally didn't dare to say anything openly, only exchanging subtle glances while standing there blankly, seemingly harboring some ulterior motives?

Xiang Tao naturally noticed it, secretly thinking to himself: "As expected."

Although half of it was buried in the dirt and a small portion was pressed and entangled by tree roots, was that... a corpse?

With this point weighing on his mind, he silently followed the others back into the camp.

Right now, Zhao Jinlin's divine sense was secretly locked onto Du En; if he tried to do anything desperate, Zhao Jinlin would take various actions to stop him.

The increasingly frequent exchanges between Zhao Jinlin and He Bo were eventually noticed by Xiang Tao, who specifically sought him out yesterday to question him.

Du En, who had just landed and quietly blended into the crowd, had not been shortchanged.

Heh!

I hope you have enough good things on you, kid! Otherwise, I'll have suffered a huge loss this time! If you really make me lose out, then don't blame me for torturing you mercilessly!

The others all stopped in their tracks simultaneously; the veteran patrol guards frowned, revealing wariness, while the new patrol guards were somewhat at a loss, hanging their heads and lowering their brows, feeling for a moment that they shouldn't have come to join in the excitement at all.

Therefore, Xiang Tao spoke up immediately at this moment, sternly refuting them to defend Zhao Jinlin: "Everyone is a colleague and a fellow traveler; you must not speak recklessly without evidence!"

Watching his colleagues disperse and Du En drag the corpse away, a fierce look flashed in Zhao Jinlin's eyes, and a strong sense of anticipation grew in his heart.

At this moment, several veteran patrol guards were following behind him, their expressions clearly showing suspicion and strangeness.

Their pace did not stop because of this, but the person over there who had been calling for help couldn't help but start backing away, only to be tripped by something, causing them to fall to the ground and start screaming.

Zhao Jinlin couldn't help but curse He Bo in his heart.

"It's you! You're the one who harmed me!"

Saying this, he directly used the contact to secretly exert magic power, knocking this new patrol guard unconscious.

"Don't come over here!"

"Camp Master, please listen to me!"

Xiang Tao's intervention this time was naturally not just to achieve his own goals; he used the excuse of a penalty to preemptively seize seventy percent of the commission from Zhao Jinlin's nonsensical, fake commission.

In fact, Du En was indeed deep in thought, but the subject of his focus was the thing that had just tripped the severely injured person.

However, in reality, this conveyed the false impression to Xiang Tao that they were merely haggling; after being pointedly and unhappily called out, they quickly begged for mercy and confessed, using this retreat as a means to advance, while actually secretly striking at some of the Camp Master's recent preoccupations.

Even though the person currently being secretly harmed by Zhao Jinlin was actually one of their own group, one of the twenty-five people who had finally managed to adapt.

Zhao Jinlin looked as if he had been startled, directly throwing the person onto the ground before bowing and fawningly approaching the Camp Master, spouting some circular excuses.

"You, you all!"

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(End of chapter)