I Admit I Was Taking a Gamble

"I'll give you one more chance. Answer now and hand over your things. Our lord wants to see you!"

This time, Number Two was clearly itching for a fight.

"We'll hand them over."

Huang Weiyang sighed and chose to give in.

There was no other choice. Sometimes you just had to admit that having more people really did make you strong.

"You should've done that from the start. I was beginning to think you were so tough you could take on ten people at once."

Li Hang said disdainfully. For some reason,

throwing his weight around like this was kind of satisfying.

Then the men had their hands pinned behind their backs and were escorted away like prisoners.

They soon saw Colin and the others seated in the mist.

After Number Two and Li Hang brought the men over, they whispered a few words to Colin, then left.

Huang Weiyang couldn't help glancing a few times at the woman in the white robe with gold trim, but he seemed to remember something and didn't dare look for long, much less resist.

Li Hang had already told him that the woman summoned by that special character card was the one who had taken them down.

Then he turned his gaze to Colin, but before he could get a good look, a voice suddenly came from up ahead.

"Open your Inventory. Let me see what's inside."

"See"? How could it possibly be as simple as just looking?

We'd already handed over our lifelines!

Huang Weiyang's expression changed. He saw gloating looks on the faces of the other Survivors behind Colin, none of whom he recognized.

How could he put up with that?

Huang Weiyang's face flushed red. He'd always been a proud man, and this was no different from having his pants pulled down.

But just then, someone kicked his trouser leg. The guy who'd asked him for lewd pictures earlier gestured for him to look to the side.

He glanced over and saw a heap of bodies on the ground that clearly weren't Aberrations. His anger quickly drained away.

Forget it. They'd already taken the most important things: the Parchment, the Synthesis Table, and the Hurricane Lamp.

They'd already stripped him down to his underwear. Pulling off his pants wasn't such a big deal anymore.

After reassuring himself, he opened his Inventory and watched his precious belongings get taken one by one, his heart bleeding with every item.

"Oh, right. Hand over your Servants' authority too."

Colin said it as if it were nothing.

A capitalist had once told him that exploitation shouldn't be rushed; you had to take it one step at a time.

Elsewhere, another group ran into Colin's team.

But surprisingly, quite a few of them had fused with Ordinary Filthy Blood.

They'd clearly come to this barren land for only one reason.

The Niter Mine.

"Hand over your Parchments, Hurricane Lamps, and Synthesis Tables, then come with us. Otherwise, you can stay right here."

Number Two looked fearlessly at the three lords in front of him and the dozens of people under their command.

"Your lord? Hah, now that's interesting."

The Survivor at the head of the group looked at the Hurricane Lamps lighting up around them and the hundreds of people standing in their glow, then drew a deep breath.

Then he looked at Li Hang in the crowd, studied him briefly, and sneered. "Looks like you're not their lord."

It was easy enough to tell. Servants naturally feared or respected their lords.

These people showed him neither.

In response, Li Hang merely shrugged. "Brother, if you're going to surrender, do it now. Quit running your mouth, or you'll be crying in a minute."

"Heh."

The lord looked around at the gleaming axes and didn't show the slightest fear. He sneered:

"Has your cowardly lord ever told you that some people can't be beaten just by outnumbering them? Not everyone is as weak as you think. There are stronger and weaker lords."

He was confident, as though he had some trump card capable of turning the tables.

"Yeah, yeah. I love guys who talk tough. They're so much fun to break in."

Li Hang smiled at the taunt, unbothered. Since he'd decided to "pledge his loyalty" to Colin, he would give it his all and never underestimate an opponent.

After all, he'd only just crashed and burned because he'd underestimated an enemy.

The next second, several Servants in each group appeared, carrying wooden barrels nearly half their height.

Without hesitation, Li Hang took out a small piece of wood, lit it, and flicked it onto the ground. A flame flared up, releasing a strong, pungent smell.

The fire quickly spread toward the Survivors' feet.

Only then did the Survivor notice traces of something buried not far in front of them.

The buried traces slanted toward them.

With Colin's cheat-like "map hack," dealing with others was as easy for Li Hang as playing cards with X-ray vision.

The whole area was already rigged with explosives!

"Want to bet there's no gunpowder in our Explosive Barrels?"

Li Hang stared at him.

"You've got guts!"

The confident Survivor's expression darkened. Hearing the gunpowder sizzle as it burned, he gave Li Hang a cold look.

He clenched his fists, then, after a brief moment of thought, said, "I surrender."

Without another word, he tossed out his Three Cores set. Seeing this, the other two had no choice but to make the same decision.

The flames were extinguished.

From beginning to end, no one had treated this "game" like a game. Everyone knew the cost of dying and didn't want to throw their lives away lightly.

Without the explosives, he might have had some way to win this fight. But with Black Powder involved, it was a different story.

Even without guns or cannons, they could rush in carrying the explosives and detonate them, with the same result.

Everyone knew that Servants' lives were worth the least.

They would never believe that a lord hiding behind the scenes cared all that much about these guys.

So, as they saw it, the only outcome was that they'd be blown to bits, and only then would the person lurking in the back come out.

To die without even knowing who their opponent's lord was would be a truly pathetic way to go.

"Good choice."

Li Hang felt relieved too.

"Looks like you're not all that loyal, either."

At the taunt, Li Hang didn't so much as change his expression. "I admit I was taking a gamble, but you lost, didn't you?

"You did pretty well. Keep it up, and maybe you'll get the chance to be sent out as a 'consultant' like me.

"By the way, what's your name?"

Li Hang was always warm toward "comrades" who'd surrendered—the sort of warmth that came with gloating.

"Li Chou."

"Same surname! Nice to meet you. I'm Li too. Want me to put in a good word with the boss so you won't have to mine?"

"Heh. There are nearly a hundred million people with the same surname as you."

"Oh, right. Open your Inventory and let me see what your trump card was. Tsk, a Flesh Mushroom. I thought it'd be something impressive."

Li Hang curled his lip. "That's it?"

"You've seen one before?"

At the words of the Survivor who called himself Li Chou, his eyes narrowed. His gaze lowered, and a barely noticeable glint seemed to flash in his eyes.