In the League, but with the Taiwan Server System

Perhaps waiting by the tree stump was more practical than searching for a needle in the ocean.

"The plain where Yasuo and Yone will fight to the death... should be around here."

Chen Ce looked at the Ionia map in his hand, covered in markings, and searched through memories from his previous life.

As a transmigrator, his greatest "cheat" was not actually the Taiwan Server System, but... knowledge of the future.

He knew that Yasuo would eventually fight Yone to the death, with Yone dying in the end.

He was not certain of the exact time of their duel, but he knew the general location—some plain southwest of Navori Province, between Wuju and Feilor.

As long as he waited somewhere in that area, he would eventually encounter those sword-wielding brothers who loved and hated each other.

Having planned ahead, Chen Ce arrived at a somewhat remote village at nightfall and decided to rest there for the night.

What he did not notice was that... just as he was about to fall asleep, an eerie blue glow flashed through the woods not far outside.

Then, a pair of furry pointed ears emerged from the thick leaves.

Under the moonlight, those strange ears looked like...

A pair of fox ears.

Desert Rose · Samira

The next morning, Chen Ce was awakened by a rapid knock on the door.

Almost by reflex, he snapped his eyes open and sat up in bed, one hand already gripping the Doran's Spear beside the bed.

The knocking continued, accompanied by an anxious cry:

"The Noxians are here...!"

It was the innkeeper's voice.

Holding his spear, Chen Ce slowly opened the door. The panicked innkeeper was standing outside.

"The Noxians are here!" he repeated, as though the executioners' blades were already hanging over everyone's heads. "It's a warband... You must be careful. It would be best not to leave your room for now!"

"Alright, thank you for the warning." Chen Ce quietly hid the spear behind him. He had never revealed his identity as a Resistance Army soldier to anyone, so naturally, the innkeeper did not know.

After receiving Chen Ce's response, the innkeeper hurriedly knocked on the neighboring room's door, preparing to warn every guest one by one.

The Noxians were savage by nature. Burning, killing, and plundering throughout Ionia had long been commonplace, so he had no choice but to warn the guests to be careful.

The best course was to stay indoors—if they accidentally provoked those madmen outside, they might get a brutal beating at best and die on the spot at worst.

Chen Ce gently closed the door, then cautiously moved to the window and looked outside.

A Noxian squad had already marched into the village in perfect formation.

There were not many of them, only around twenty... This was probably just one squad from the warband.

"Damn it. I didn't expect to run into these bastards here too..." Chen Ce cursed under his breath and pulled the curtains shut.

There were no supplies nearby, nor any Resistance Army forces, around this remote little village. It was practically a miracle that it had become the target of a Noxian warband...

Unfortunately, it was a cursed miracle.

Hopefully, they were just passing through...

Chen Ce silently tightened his grip on the spear shaft, ready to fight at any moment.

This was far too sudden...

"This mission is way too boring... Still, the pay is good."

A woman with wheat-colored skin, a perfect figure, and long, voluminous wavy hair muttered as she entered the village.

She was not particularly tall, and standing at the very back of the group made her seem almost invisible.

But... that was only how she appeared.

No one in the warband dared offend her—even though she wore the least armor of all the soldiers.

A black eyepatch covered her right eye. A refined, jet-modified blade was strapped to her back, while two uniquely shaped revolvers of contrasting colors rested at her waist. Her bare arms were covered in strange yet beautiful tattoos.

Her gait was casual, sharply contrasting with the disciplined soldiers around her and making her seem rather carefree.

But as mentioned before, that was only how she appeared.

Her name was known throughout Noxus—a bewitching flower from the desert, the Desert Rose, Samira.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, and even more skilled at killing.

She should not have belonged to any warband, much less set foot on these First Lands already ravaged by war alongside the Noxian army. She only enjoyed chasing thrills, and earning endless gold while doing so.

The only reason she had come today was for a commission—just like every other commission before it: kill, then collect the money.

She had heard that today's target was fairly capable, and that the bounty was substantial, so she came.

"Hey, my dear soldier brothers, can you tell me where in this miserable little village I can find some fun? You know what I mean... A tavern? There should be one, right?"

Her discordant voice rang through the solemn army, yet no one dared object.

The Noxian squad captain halted and turned to salute Samira respectfully. "I'm afraid you may be disappointed today, my respected lady. There is no such place here."

"Oh, alright. Then there should at least be a brewery?" Samira shrugged helplessly, her tone full of disdain for the remote village. "I mean, somewhere to drink. Anything will do."

"If you only wish to drink, the inn may have some." The captain replied, "But I must remind you that drinking can interfere with the mission."

"Interfere? Heh, it seems you know nothing about a Shuriman's drinking capacity."

"Please drink in moderation, my respected lady."

"Moderation is disrespectful to alcohol, soldier. You should understand. It's like when an officer pinches his throat and says, 'Hey! Be careful during battle.' I think that's an absolute buzzkill."

"..." The captain stopped arguing and merely sighed inwardly.

When it came to this Desert Rose who loved alcohol as much as life itself, he only dared advise her, never stop her.

He had no desire to test the power of those two revolvers with his own skull—the products of Zaunite technology.

"Don't look so gloomy, soldier." Samira laughed heartily again. "You know the mission. This doesn't conflict with it, does it?"

"Perhaps." The captain gave a vague answer, then led the squad into the village's only inn.

When the innkeeper saw the soldiers enter, he obediently brought out wine and food—two full tables' worth, as though he had prepared them in advance.

"You're sensible." The captain nodded in satisfaction and waved the innkeeper away, telling him not to disturb their meal.

But just as the innkeeper bowed and was about to slip into the kitchen, a teasing female voice stopped him.

"Hey, I never said you could leave."

The innkeeper turned around and saw the female soldier who looked like she had come from the desert sitting with one leg crossed over the other, watching him.

"Our disciplined soldiers cannot drink while marching, but I don't really enjoy drinking alone... Hmm, I think you understand what I mean?"

"..." The innkeeper stood there blankly, his panicked mind too slow to process it.

"Tsk..." Samira clicked her tongue impatiently. "Fine, perhaps I should make it clearer—for idiots like you. I mean, go call everyone in the inn down here to drink with me. Understand?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the squad captain beside her frowned slightly.

But before he could say anything, Samira gave him a meaningful look—she was not fooling around.

From finding somewhere to drink to finding people to drink with her, it had all been part of the plan.

Before long, the innkeeper, threatened with death by the Noxian soldiers, brought down every guest in the inn, guilt weighing heavily on him. Perhaps today, he would become a sinner.

Looking at the Ionian people filling the entire first-floor hall, Samira nodded first, then shook her head.

"There are still too few people. It's not lively enough... You, go call everyone in the village. If there isn't enough room inside, have them sit outside the entrance."

"Ah..." Cold sweat streamed down the innkeeper's face as a terrible premonition suddenly rose in his heart.

This scene looked just like...

They were gathering everyone together to kill them...

"Didn't you hear me?" Samira narrowed her eyes, several nimble fingers playing with the terrifying revolver at her waist.

"I said, bring everyone here..."

I Bet Your Gun Has No Bullets

Two more Noxian squads had flooded into the village—or rather, surrounded it.

Chen Ce hid the Doran's Spear in his room and came down to the first-floor hall empty-handed.

He saw around twenty Noxian soldiers, dozens of villagers and guests, and... that wheat-skinned woman.

Samira.

She sat at a table with one leg crossed over the other, drinking leisurely. Her remaining eye occasionally swept across the crowd, filled with the cunning and cruelty of a wolf.

Chen Ce did not understand why this woman, who cared only about thrills and high-risk missions, had come to Ionia with the Noxian Legion. Nor did he understand why this remote little village had drawn her and them here—Samira should not have appeared in Ionia. This had never happened in the original timeline.

He only knew that today might not be easy to survive...

As Samira watched the crowd grow, her fingers stroked the two differently colored revolvers at her waist.

The other squads had completely encircled the village, and there had not been any sounds of fighting so far...

That meant... the target of the commission was among the crowd.

The head worth a full three hundred gold coins was here.

As for how to lure him out...

"Everyone's here, right?" Samira shook the revolver in her hand and glanced disdainfully at the innkeeper.

"Yes, yes..." The latter lowered his head in terror—just one look from her was enough to make him smell death.

"Mmm, very good." Samira nodded in satisfaction and slammed the revolver in her hand heavily onto the table.

Then, she raised her mug of ale high.

"Let us drink!"

"..." The crowd was both confused and terrified, but they still drank as Samira instructed.

Samira laughed recklessly and downed cup after cup like an old drunkard.

The squad captain beside her frowned.

"My respected lady, I think I still... don't quite understand what you mean."

"You don't understand?" Samira smiled teasingly as her sharp single eye slowly swept over the crowd. "Everyone in this village is here. Do you think... he wouldn't be?"

Hearing that, the captain nodded, but his furrowed brow did not relax. "Of course I understand that, but... what is the point of you drinking?"

Samira continued smiling without answering.

"This is truly interfering with the mission, my respected lady." The captain shook his head again. "If you truly enjoy drinking so much, then please continue. Leave the rest to us."

With that, he stood and quietly gave an order to the adjutant beside him. "Tell the crossbowmen to get ready. Kill everyone in this village."

"Yes." The adjutant saluted, then immediately turned toward the Noxian soldiers, ready to issue that cruel military order.

But just as he raised his hand, a silver revolver pressed against his left hip.

"Did I tell you to give the order?" Samira still wore a smile, but her voice was ice-cold. "Don't disrupt my plan—unless you never want to have fun on a woman's belly again."

"..." At those words, the adjutant's hands trembled with fear.

Yet he did not dare lower his hand completely—neither Samira's nor the captain's orders were something he could disobey.

"What exactly are you doing?" The captain's expression darkened as well. "Didn't you gather these people for this... This is the fastest and most efficient method."

"Heh, I don't do things that require no skill." Samira sneered. "Massacring an entire village just to kill one person is far too crude."

"...If we use another method to find that person, it will take quite some time."

"That's because you're too stupid."

"Even if you have another method, we are still going to burn down this village afterward—those are the general's orders."

"What you do to the village afterward is your business." Samira still did not lower her gun. "But right now, it is time for me to complete my commission."