Chapter 421

A burst of chaotic footsteps.

Everyone stopped where they stood.

A faint flame had already lit up in Zhao Ji's hand, ready to strike at any moment.

"What's wrong, Li Yan? Spotted an enemy?"

Zhao Ji widened his red eyes and carefully scanned the surroundings, but saw no movement at all.

He only saw Li Yan touching his face, as if something was on it.

Li Yan clawed at his face a few times and saw sticky silk threads all over his black gauntlets.

"Spider silk?"

Li Yan looked up at his surroundings.

It seemed every tree was connected by thin, soft spider silk.

There wasn't much silk between each tree, but every tree had some.

Zhao Ji noticed this too.

He asked, puzzled, "What's wrong, Li Yan? What's so strange about this spider silk?"

"This silk is sticky, it's tough, and there's a bit too much of it."

"So?"

"So… let's be careful."

"Shit! Why the hell are you such a coward? So what if there are spiders? I'll burn them all down with one burst of fire. Hurry up and move, damn you…"

Zhao Ji was genuinely speechless.

Being careful wasn't wrong.

But in a territory with a combat power index of less than 20, being this careful was a bit excessive.

Li Yan couldn't say anything either.

He could only keep his red pupils wide open and press forward cautiously.

Over ten minutes later, they saw a stretch of firelight ahead.

It lit up the area in front of them as bright as day.

But looking closer, there actually weren't that many torches.

It was just that each torch was astonishingly bright—one alone was enough to illuminate a very wide area.

Zhao Ji squinted. "Damn, that's bright. What kind of torches are these?"

Li Yan shook his head. "No idea. Probably some kind of super-modified torch?"

Zhao Ji laughed. "These rebels really do have plenty of good stuff—brighter than our spirit-energy lamps."

Li Yan nodded. "Yeah, that's how they've survived till now—relying on these clever tricks. So we absolutely can't let our guard down…"

Zhao Ji rolled his eyes.

"Shit, there you go again. Cut the crap—go, put out every single torch."

Saying so, he waved back to those behind him.

"Yes, my lord!"

Immediately, several dozen black-armored warriors rushed forward and extinguished the torches.

The surroundings went dark again.

The whole squad advanced while dismantling torches as they went.

Soon, they reached the edge of the woods.

Beyond lay a small clearing, and in the middle of the clearing stood a cluster of buildings.

There weren't many buildings—all wooden, packed fairly tightly together.

In the center were five defensive towers, already packed with people on top.

Below the towers there were also many people, quite a few standing on the rooftops of the buildings, all holding wooden spears ready to throw at any moment.

Outside the buildings, several rows of soldiers had already taken position.

All wearing leather armor and carrying iron shields, clearly prepared for battle.

At first glance, nothing seemed unusual.

Other territories' battles were pretty much the same.

But looking closer, they realized everyone ahead was actually good-looking women.

He rubbed his eyes and looked again.

Still the same.

What was going on?

Zhao Ji said, stunned, "Why is this territory all women? Where are the men? Lying in ambush?"

Li Yan shook his head. "Probably not. The towers plus the ground add up to about 200 people, matching their data. They must be some kind of mutated humans, right?"

Zhao Ji watched carefully for a while longer.

"Damn, this kind of mutation is pretty nice. The few dozen women I busted my ass to catch before are actually about the same in looks as these 200-plus."

Li Yan hurriedly said, "Lord Zhao Ji, please don't go soft. These are all enemies. If you want women, you can grab as many as you want from the civilians—just don't let your guard down at a time like this."

Zhao Ji snorted. "I fucking know that. I'm just saying my own catching efficiency is low. When did I say I wanted these rebel women?"

"Good. Lord Zhao Ji is truly calm and mature, knows what's important and what isn't."

"Cut the crap. The way you say it makes me feel like you're mocking me."

"…No."

Zhao Ji looked around.

He discovered that Zhou Qian and Zuo Yuan had also arrived.

The two of them each led 50 people, on the left and right sides of the village.

This way, they had the village surrounded on three sides.

Li Yan said: "Then let's just go straight in. Those torches on their buildings definitely can't be put out."

Zhao Ji said: "Mm, it's fine, a little light won't affect things. But I want to try to persuade them to surrender first."

"Persuade them to surrender?" Li Yan was dumbfounded: "They're rebels, how could they possibly surrender outright?"

Zhao Ji said: "With our 400 Blood Clan warriors here, plus you three heroes, what would our odds be against those 200 women?"

Li Yan was taken aback.

After a brief moment of thought, he answered: "It should be over 95%..."

"Then isn't that good enough, damn it? Killing them and persuading them to surrender — the merits are completely different."

"I understand. Then give it a try, but if things go wrong, kill without mercy."

"Got it. Let's go."

Zhao Ji clenched his fist tightly, a faint flame flickering in his hand.

He walked forward with confidence.

Li Yan stayed close beside him, and the 300 Blood Clan warriors behind them followed closely as well.

Zhou Qian and Zuo Yuan on both flanks also pressed forward with their men.

The entire encirclement grew tighter and tighter.

Soon, they had all walked out of the forest, and could already make out the faces of those opposite.

Li Yan's gaze was sharp, staring fixedly at those women.

But those women showed no intention of attacking.

They simply stared back at them as well.

Li Yan felt slightly relieved.

Meanwhile, Zhao Ji had already broken into a smile.

After walking forward another stretch, the straight-line distance between the two sides was only thirty meters — just within javelin-throwing range.

Only then did Zhao Ji stop.

He stared at the opposite side, a look of delight appearing in his eyes.

The corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upward.

Because he had seen three extraordinarily beautiful women.

The one in the very middle had an exceptionally pure appearance.

She seemed like a blank sheet of paper.