Chapter 236: Are You Threatening Me?

Heh.

Who!

Just as the captain made up his mind, a light laugh with a slight Taunt suddenly came from behind.

The captain's heart tightened; he spun and hurled a dart toward the source of the sound. The dart struck the tree trunk with precision, yet aside from a few drifting leaves, there was not even a ghostly silhouette.

"Little doll, I'm here."

Just as the captain remained vigilant, scanning the surroundings, something patted his foot, and an aged voice rang out simultaneously.

Instinctively lowering his head, the captain saw a mouse standing upright at his feet, looking at him with a mocking grin.

"Back!"

Without caring about exposure, the captain let out a loud shout and then lunged backward.

The other squad members instantly reacted, drawing their weapons and scattering in all directions.

But after moving a short distance from their hidden spot, before they could react, a flash of multicolored light streaked across their sight; when they looked again, the figure had already returned to its previous position.

Had they not still be holding the freshly drawn weapons, they might have thought it was a collective hallucination.

"Better not move recklessly, or you'll get hurt easily," Hui Siye said, hands clasped behind his back, smiling as he watched the scout squad as if facing a great enemy.

The captain swallowed, gently shook his head at the squad behind him, signaling them not to act rashly.

The gap is too great! Whether the opponent silently follows from behind or can trap us here, their methods have already exceeded what the scout squad can handle.

The best course now is to watch and wait; after all, they don't seem to be a band of Wokou, otherwise this would be unnecessary.

"Truly worthy of the Mixed Public Gate, so sensible."

Hui Siye, seeing the opponent obediently give up resistance, nodded—unclear whether in Taunt or praise—and turned his back to them, looking toward the beach.

"Captain."

One scout trembled and called out.

The captain thought a squad member was urging him to seize the chance, and was about to intervene, but realized the member stared at the beach in sheer horror, with no intention to act.

The captain, somewhat surprised, followed his gaze.

The next moment, his expression turned horrified, pupils dilated instantly, and the short blade in his hand nearly slipped from his grasp.

On the nearby beach, the "ordinary person" previously seen had somehow appeared among the abducted women; with a casual finger, a circular golden light rose from the ground, encircling him and the women.

The surrounding Wokou immediately sensed something amiss, shrieking incoherently while slashing at the golden circle with their katanas.

Yet the seemingly fragile golden light proved unusually resilient; the blades caused only ripples, having no effect.

With the golden circle shielding the women, the "ordinary person" seemed untroubled, his eyes brimming with Frenzy as he stared at the surrounding Wokou.

Then he raised both hands and slammed them down hard.

In the next instant, an invisible slash radiated outward from the "ordinary person" as its center, spreading in all directions. The Frenzy attack surged into the crowd, instantly raising countless severed limbs and arms; the Wokou were instantly divided by eight blood‑colored paths.

A single strike reduced the Wokou count by at least twenty, but that was only the beginning; an invisible domain seemed to appear over the beach, enveloping all the Wokou.

Some Wokou shrieked and charged, trying to break the golden circle and take hostages for safety, but after only a few steps they were sliced apart by the invisible slash, their blood splattering and dyeing the Wokou behind them a vivid red.

Other Wokou, terrified by the sudden assault, turned to flee, yet any approach toward the domain's perimeter triggered invisible slashes that continuously cut them until they became scattered fragments on the ground.

These Wokou, which kept the scouts from acting, turned before their eyes into trapped beasts—neither able to advance nor retreat—forced to watch helplessly as their bodies were sliced piece by piece, sinking into endless despair.

The "ordinary person" still seemed unsatisfied; after the Wokou numbers fell to a certain level, he abandoned the invisible assault and began to act personally.

With each step he took, he vanished from his spot and reappeared before a Wokou, his hand, bathed in golden light, reaching out simply as if snatching a chick.

He then ignored all surrounding attacks, snarling as he lifted the Wokou, gradually applying more force; he stared fixedly as the Wokou's complexion turned bluish‑purple, its legs kicking futilely before life slipped away.

Is such a method cruel?

The captain was somewhat dismissive; as scouts, torture and forced confession are basic training, and methods a ten‑thousand times crueler than this are not uncommon.

Yet this simple slaughter made the seasoned scout captain's hands tremble and cold sweat break out on his back.

"It's fine, it's fine; once the rage is vented, it's safe."

Hui Siye's slightly fearful voice jolted the captain awake; he looked at the few remaining Wokou and shouted, "We can't kill any more; leave two survivors!"

Upon hearing that, Hui Siye and the other scouts all stared at the captain in disbelief, making him realize what he had just said.

But recalling the Prince's order, he could only grit his teeth and explain to the mouse elder before him, "We act under Zhenhai King's command to investigate the Wokou army's garrison; please, elder, show mercy and let us interrogate two survivors."

"Talking to me won't help."

Hui Siye pointed at Chen Shicheng on the beach, who kept acting even as the Japanese pirates knelt in surrender, and said, "He is the one in charge; if you have the courage, go discuss it with him."

The captain weighed the consequences of failing the order against those of intervening now, blinked, and, under the admiring gazes of all his squad, charged forward as if embracing death.

"Stop, you can't kill any more!"

"Whoosh!"

The words barely left his mouth when a freshly torn head, along with a segment of spine like a drawn arrow, whooshed through the air.

The captain's complexion changed; his true Qi instantly gathered in both arms, forming a shield before him.

With a booming crack, the skull exploded, the radiating wave mixed with bone fragments, knocking the captain back and leaving streaks of blood on his body.

"A casual strike is this strong, imagine that invisible attack…"

The captain forced himself to swallow a mouthful of reverse blood, barely stood upright, and declared his identity hoping to make Chen Shicheng wary, "I am the scout squad captain under Zhenhai King, acting on the Prince's order."

"Zhenhai King? Are you threatening me?"

A cold voice rang out; the captain looked up to meet Chen Shicheng's emotionless blood‑red eyes, his legs went weak and he nearly collapsed to the ground. (End of chapter)