Demonic beasts made way
Early the next morning, outside the Jiangling Prefecture.
As soon as Lister led the Sixth Guard out of the city, he saw a large group of men waiting for him outside.
Lord Yang of Jiang Province, Prefect of Jiangling Prefecture, General Zou of the city guard, and another ten-man squad wearing black chainmail, led by a middle-aged man who was unsurprisingly the Duke Zhenguo.
He only delivered the message yesterday evening, and he thought the delegation from Great Chu wouldn't arrive so quickly from Jiangxia Prefecture.
He was supposed to wait outside the city for a while, but who knew the other party would arrive so quickly.
Even several important figures from the Jiang Province government were present.
"Count Merrick, are you finally preparing to return home?"
"It's all my fault for not entertaining you properly in Jiang Province, and for neglecting you, Earl!"
"If you come again next time, I will certainly treat you well!"
In front of so many people, even Governor Yang, who had a good relationship with him in secret, did not dare to pretend to be polite and try to persuade him to stay.
Lister gleaned only four words from the conversation. "Next time for sure."
Like other officials, they treated him as if he were a plague carrier and quickly sent him away.
This is not Lord Yang's fault at all. Since Lister did not leave, the eyes of the palace and other forces have been focused on Jiang Province.
The number of secret edicts and reports received by Lord Yang in the past few months is more than in the previous few years during his term of office.
While Yongping Emperor was staring at Lister, he was also scrutinizing the entire Jiang Province under Lister's jurisdiction with a magnifying glass.
Furthermore, the presence of the Duke Zhenguo in Jiangxia Prefecture only intensifies the pressure.
Lister was able to operate detachedly in Jiangling Prefecture, so the actual pressure naturally shifted to Governor Yang.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Lister turned his attention to the group of men in black chainmail.
The leader, the Duke Zhenguo of Zhenguo, was over fifty years old, with a long, donkey-like face and a small mustache.
Apart from his relatively prominent nose, his facial features are all rather plain; his appearance is ordinary, or even somewhat ugly.
His chainmail was the same as that of the Duke Wei and General Yu, a specially made red chainmail.
He was looking at Lister with a serious expression, remaining silent and quite arrogant.
Lister gave the Duke Zhenguo only a cursory glance before turning his attention to the ten-man squad behind him.
Concentrating his mind, he meticulously scanned the ten people with his Killing Intent Wave perception, which had been upgraded to level 40.
Based on my current senses, I believe that even without the system, I can detect the anomaly in one of them and find out which one the "Devious Theft" is hiding in.
Upon first glance, Lister's brows furrowed involuntarily.
The reason was simple: the guards in this group had no, or rather, very little, intent on killing him; on the contrary, several of them even admired him.
Only the head guard among the ten men harbored considerable hostility towards him, while the Duke Zhenguo showed no Killing Intent Wave him.
Lister temporarily suppressed his doubts; among the ten people, he truly couldn't identify the "Devious Theft."
He was somewhat disappointed with the performance of the upgraded Killing Intent Wave, and secretly considered that after leveling up for a while, he would upgrade the Killing Intent Wave to level 60 and then give it another try.
The system scan has finally been activated. Compared to sensing and probing, the system scan is much more direct.
After all, Lister was certain of one thing: if the other party wasn't lying, they must be mixed in with the delegation in front of him.
Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, all ten individuals' information appeared to be normal.
Their levels were between 30 and 40, and their overall rating was E, which left Lister completely baffled.
That shouldn't be happening!
Could it be that the "Devious Theft" he met with two months ago was just bluffing him?
Is his personality really that bad? You have to make fun of him over something so trivial?
Seeing this, Lister turned his attention back to the Duke Zhenguo, and without wasting any more time, prepared to officially set off.
Unexpectedly, the Duke Zhenguo opposite him also turned his head at this moment, his eyes met his, and a strange smile appeared on his face that was barely perceptible and disappeared in an instant.
Lister's eyes narrowed instantly, a bold guess forming in his mind. He quickly used the system to scan this Duke Zhenguo.
[Target scanned: Unknown]
[Occupation: Faceless Person (Other)]
[Level: 40]
It really is her...!
Lister subconsciously swallowed, surprised that the other party was so bold.
He thought he had only infiltrated the delegation by blending in with one of the guards, but he had underestimated the audacity of this "Devious Theft."
As expected of a future cosmic celebrity, he acted with the same lack of restraint.
He actually killed the Duke Zhenguo and took his Duke Zhenguo as the envoy of the Great Chu, accompanying him.
No wonder he couldn't sense any killing intent from the Duke Zhenguo.
Thinking about it from the perspective of a "Devious Theft," it does seem that becoming the Duke Zhenguo would indeed be more advantageous.
She can meet and talk directly with King Lucian, and obtain accurate first-hand information about the country's strength and her own needs.
However... this behavior truly exceeded Lister's usual way of thinking.
"Let's go! Lucian on the way back!"
Raising his arms and shouting, Lister, having found the person, stopped dawdling.
The red-armored guards behind him immediately formed ranks and galloped forward on their horses.
The Duke Zhenguo's entourage was no exception, and soon they were lined up alongside Lister's entourage, with only the Duke Zhenguo himself lagging behind Lister by half a body length.
Before long, as the two teams disappeared from sight, the officials outside the city breathed a sigh of relief.
"You've got some nerve."
The two groups of guards behind them were quite far away, and Lister lowered his voice to communicate with the "Devious Theft".
"Anyway, he's just a nuisance to you. I've taken care of it for you beforehand. Isn't that sincere enough?"
Lister pursed his lips, speechless.
The Duke Zhenguo was indeed a problem for him, but at least he was a valuable experience.
Given the current situation, he will most likely end up taking the blame again. What kind of mess is this?
They hadn't gone very far when they saw swarms of monsters still gathering.
This number is already enough to meet the standard for a monster tide.
It was estimated that it would erupt in the next day or two, and sure enough, the game progressed much faster because of him.
Lister began to slow his horse's pace; the horde of monsters before him blocked his path to Lucian.
Although a detour could be taken, as Overlord Tier force, Lister had no intention of making way for a mere monster tide.
Soon, the group was completely close to the monster horde.
Lister's aura was now fully revealed, his Overlord Tier pressure far exceeding that of the past, giving people a sense of facing death directly. The little monsters that were originally eager to try now instinctively curled up backward.
The two guards behind him also showed a mixture of admiration and fear on their faces.
Even the "Duke Zhenguo" standing to the side had a serious expression, no longer as relaxed as before.
He murmured in disbelief.
"It's only been two months... how... how did your strength suddenly become so strong?"
Lister ignored the "Devious Theft" and continued riding forward.
Under the oppressive aura emanating from him, the demonic beasts in the area directly in front of him retreated like a tidal wave.
"Moo~!"
Not far away, a piercing roar came from that moment.
The Killing Intent Wave, and the opponent was sensed. It was hundreds of meters away, but approaching at an extremely fast speed.
The next moment, a gigantic demon bull appeared in Lister's sight.
The demon bull, who was originally charging forward, stopped abruptly the moment it saw Lister at the front.
He looked at Lister with a surprised expression, then, as if remembering something, he quickly looked at Lister's waist knife.
The next moment, intense fear appeared in his eyes, and his enormous body began to tremble slightly.
Lister also remembered the other party at this moment; there was a huge scar on the side of this Vajra Demon Bull that extended all the way to its tail.
Unexpectedly, one of the monsters that escaped the Bloodmane Spirit Bear during the monster tide in Jiangxia Prefecture, a minor leader-level monster, actually survived and made it to Jiangling Prefecture.
It truly became the big boss of the first wave of monsters.
His right hand unconsciously gripped the hilt of the knife, and a sharp, unstoppable aura was revealed once again, far stronger than the mere pressure of the aura before.
"Moo~!"
Faced with the fear of death, the demon bull hurriedly raised its head and let out another roar, but this time the tone was much lower.
Through the Killing Intent Wave, Lister could even hear the pleading in the other party's cries, and the killing intent on his body had long since disappeared.
After all, he's the boss of the first act. If Lister really kills him, he's afraid the situation in the first act will change drastically.
For him, being able to accelerate global progress is not necessarily a bad thing.
Just as Lister's eyes were fixed on the Vajra Demon Bull, and he hesitated whether to draw his sword...
A cacophony of footsteps approached, and the demonic bull before him, along with the entire horde of demonic beasts, began to retreat to either side.
A huge, wide road was cleared out in front of Lister!
The Vajra Demon Bull had already walked to the side at a distance, its front paws kneeling on the ground, looking like it was begging for mercy.
Unexpectedly, this Vajra Demon Bull is much smarter than the Bloodmane Spirit Bear, and it even managed to pull off such a stunt.
Seeing that even the road had been cleared, Lister stopped gripping his sword, immediately calmed his aura, and remounted his horse.
Amidst the astonished gazes of those behind him, he led the team through the entire horde of demonic beasts!