Lin's Battle

"Just take us to save the people; we don't need your life!"

Sabo and Koala quickly stepped aside before moving forward to help the man up, shaking their heads as they spoke.

"Fine! Just wait for me!"

Matthew, having been helped up, didn't say anything more. He simply nodded firmly, returned to his room, pulled back a bookshelf, and pressed a button hidden in the wall.

"Ding-a-ling-ling~~"

A bell rang out, rapidly echoing through every room in the courtyard. Soon, muffled groans erupted from several rooms, accompanied by the sound of heavy bodies hitting the floor.

Once all the noise had ceased, over a dozen men in black emerged from the rooms. Their faces and expressions were obscured by their trench coats, but the bloodstains on their black attire made it clear exactly what they had just done.

Seeing these men emerge, Matthew nodded in satisfaction before turning to Sabo and the others. "Just clearing out some spies mixed in among us. Please, follow me, benefactors!"

With that, he led Sabo and Koala through the courtyard corridor to a very cramped room. They stepped inside, where he located a passage leading downward.

"Go down through here, and you'll reach the area directly beneath Toby's amusement park. Just follow my lead, benefactors!"

After turning back to explain this to Sabo and his companion, he jumped into the passage first.

Over at Toby's amusement park, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the battle between Chen Qiang and Toby, Lin quickly slipped into the interior of the park.

Though it was called an amusement park, it was, in reality, still a slave trading house. Once inside, Lin saw various slaves held within cylindrical glass containers throughout the main hall.

There were beautiful merfolk, unique-looking giants, and all sorts of strange and exotic races. Whether you had seen them before or not, you could find them all in this hall.

These imprisoned slaves showed no interest in the battle raging outside. Even when Lin broke into the hall, they didn't react at all, sitting there with vacant, lifeless eyes. Even though only a thin layer of glass stood between them and freedom, they didn't seem to have the slightest thought of breaking it.

Lin felt a pang of unbearable pity for these captives and wanted to save them, but she remembered Chen Qiang's instructions: this was the best time to rescue her fellow villagers. If she missed this chance, there was no telling where they would be taken, and even if she wanted to save them later, it would be impossible.

Suppressing her pity, Lin cast one last look at the slaves and turned toward the deeper parts of the hall.

Although the hall was vast, the ongoing battle meant there were no customers inside; those who had intended to buy slaves had fled the moment the fighting began.

It didn't take long for Lin to find the crew of the Defu Slave Ship. After all, they had only been allowed inside to seek refuge because of the deal between Gill and Toby.

Being allowed in was already a favor; as for protection, Toby had assumed that with his presence, no one would dare cause trouble here, so simply being inside was considered protection enough.

What Toby hadn't expected was that Chen Qiang would disregard him entirely, refusing to enter the facility and instead attacking from the outside, even attempting to destroy the amusement park completely. That was why Toby had been forced to deal with Chen Qiang personally.

"Tell me, where exactly have you taken my fellow villagers?"

Upon finding the slave traders, Lin pushed aside her pity for the captives and rushed toward them. Her cute face was covered in frost as she demanded an answer.

"You scared me! I thought Chen Qiang had broken in, but it's just you, little girl!"

Because Captain Gill had been taken to the second floor to report to Toby, only Barque and his group remained. Hearing Lin's words, they were stunned for a moment, but after checking behind her and seeing that Chen Qiang was still outside fighting, they let out sighs of relief.

Seeing them completely ignore her, Lin didn't say much. Before they had left the ship, Chen Qiang had told her that if she wanted to ask something and they refused to answer, she should just beat them until they were afraid—it would make things much simpler.

"Life Deprivation!"

Lin didn't bother with further debate. A purple light flared in her hand, and the bodies of the few crew members who had participated in her capture began to glow with the same violet hue.

As she flicked her hand upward, the purple light detached from the crew members, taking their lives along with it.

Once the light left their bodies, their eyes went dull, their frames withered rapidly, and they collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

"Tell me, where are they?"

After doing this, Lin asked Barque and the others again, her expression cold.

"Little girl, do you think killing a few useless men will make us afraid? How naive!"

Although Lin's sudden strike had startled the others, they quickly recovered once they realized she had only killed the weakest members of their crew. Barque even drew the long sword at his waist.

"Swish!"

A slash was unleashed by Barque, flying rapidly toward Lin.

"Hmph!"

Seeing the incoming strike, Lin snorted, dodged to the side, and vanished from her spot as the purple light flared once more.

By the time Lin reappeared, she was already behind the group, the purple light in her hand intensifying until it enveloped all the slave traders.

"You... what did you do?"

This time, after being shrouded in the purple light, Barque lost his arrogance. He looked at Lin with a hint of fear, stammering as he spoke.

The moment the light touched him, he felt as if something had been added to his body—a chilling sensation that his life was no longer his own—and he was suddenly overcome with terror.

"Life Deprivation!"

Lin didn't listen to his words. She struck again, and the purple light dissipated from her hand, only to manifest once more upon the bodies of the crew.

She then beckoned lightly toward the nearest crew member; the purple light detached from his body, and his life was extinguished instantly.

"Tell me, where are they?"

Lin asked the slave traders again, her face as cold as ice.