When the Battle Begins

Outside the City of Light Chasing, on the Broken Cliff Ridge.

Night had fallen. On the ridge, filled with withered trees, a group of youths with wings on their backs patrolled in twos and threes within bases made of stacked cargo containers, guarding tens of thousands of acres of Blood Essence Rice.

Inside one of the cargo containers, five middle-aged men and women, wearing White Feather Gang captain armbands, sat together. They ate rice cooked with Blood Essence Rice and savored the taste of wild beast meat, making the members patrolling outside salivate.

Blood Essence Rice was a delicacy in the City of Light Chasing, enjoyed by only a select few. While wild beast meat was far from the energy-rich monster meat, it was still much more delicious and high-class than the synthetic food people ate daily in the City of Light Chasing.

"Boss Lante, do you really think the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop is willing to pay three hundred thousand to ransom her?" a burly man with a bear-like back, over two point four meters tall, wearing alloy armor, asked as he bit into wild beast meat. His gaze drifted to Luo Qi, who was tied to an iron table nearby. "This woman has decent looks among humans, but I recall the owner of the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop is a Three-Eyed Tribe. Those Three-Eyed Tribes are as cunning as monkeys. It's hard to believe they'd spend such a large sum. Could this woman be the old shop owner's illegitimate daughter?"

"Maiti, you scoundrel, do you think there's any more profit to be made here?" Lante, a dark-skinned, tall, and sturdy man sitting in the middle, glanced at the Three-Eyed man with a hint of greed in his eyes.

"I don't know," the Three-Eyed man shook his head slightly. "I just think that when we asked the Green Sparrow Gang for an exorbitant price before, we were hoping they would clash with the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop. That way, even if we took out some employees from the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop, they might not cooperate with the Green Sparrow Gang anymore, even if they had issues with us. After all, if they can't even protect their own employees, how can they cooperate in the future?"

"But I never expected the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop to be willing to ransom her. If anyone says this woman has no connection to that old man, no one would believe it."

"Indeed. When people from the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop arrive later, let's see if we can squeeze a little more profit out of them." Lante's gaze towards Luo Qi was filled with excitement. "Originally, I was worried about how to gather the three hundred thousand bounty offered by the Vice Leader. Now, all my worries are gone. This can be considered compensation for the lost shipment. If we can get a bit more, that would be our personal income."

"Boss Lante, didn't you have your eye on that A6 Grade Armor set from the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop?" a wild-looking Winged Tribe woman, also eating meat, teased. "Why don't you have the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop give you another set this time? With the A6 Grade Armor, you could completely compete for the sixth Vice Leader position this year, and we can all benefit from it."

"An A6 Grade Armor set?" Lante swallowed hard at the mention of it, his gaze towards Luo Qi growing even more fervent.

Currently, his physical stats were only at the Quasi-Apprentice level, with strength over 400 kilograms and speed at 15 meters per second.

With his A4 Grade Armor, he could barely contend with a High-Level Apprentice without armor. But if he had the A6 Grade Armor, worth over a hundred thousand, he could definitely stand on equal footing with those High-Level Apprentices.

Competing for the sixth Vice Leader position created by the Gang Leader this year would be entirely feasible.

The White Feather Gang valued strength above all else. The higher the status, the greater the benefits. Things like Blood Essence Rice and wild beast meat, which only captains like them could eat, were nothing to the Vice Leaders.

The Vice Leaders of the White Feather Gang could occasionally eat monster meat and even receive martial arts guidance from the Gang Leader. They could lead two hundred people, which was incomparable to a base leader who could only command fifty people.

As for Luo Qi, who was tied up, her heart sank into despair.

She didn't know why the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop was willing to pay three hundred thousand Bit to ransom her, but for an ordinary employee like her, three hundred thousand Bit was an insurmountable debt, even if she emptied her pockets.

"Boss, someone's here. They say they're here to ransom someone," a regular member of the White Feather Gang suddenly ran in to report.

"They're finally here. I've been feeding this woman for days for nothing. I'll make the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop bleed!" Lante stood up abruptly and glanced at the Three-Eyed man beside him. "Gather your men, and come with me to see."

Immediately, the other four White Feather Gang captains present chuckled and followed Lante with Luo Qi.

Outside the White Feather Gang's planting base.

Lante, leading a group of his subordinates, strode out of the base enclosed by barbed wire. A Big Three-Wheeler was parked at the main entrance. There were three people in total, all of them short, less than two meters tall. They looked like they hadn't even finished junior high school. Lante's expression immediately darkened.

"Is the Azure Crystal Weapon Shop out of people? Why would they send you kids?" Lante roared at Lin Qi, his anger rising.

He had initially thought Luo Qi might be some illegitimate daughter of the old shop owner, someone highly valued.

But now, they had sent three cripples. Where was the profit to be made?

Luo Qi, who was bound behind them, saw the three and her eyes widened in disbelief.

Luo Qi had imagined many people coming to ransom her, but she had never expected it to be Lin Qi.

"We're just here to ransom someone. We don't care about anything else," Lin Qi said very calmly. "Hand over the person, take the money. You'd better not mess around. If word gets out, your White Feather Gang won't be able to survive in the City of Light Chasing anymore."

Lin Qi knew these vagrants who roamed the wilderness outside the City of Light Chasing all too well. They could squeeze oil out of a toad. As long as they saw the slightest opportunity to profit, they would definitely seize it.

"Since the White Feather Gang said three hundred thousand for the ransom, it will be three hundred thousand," Lante said impatiently, glancing at the Three-Eyed man beside him. "Maiti, untie her."

"Yes." The giant Three-Eyed man nodded and untied Luo Qi.

In the wilderness outside the City of Light Chasing, and specifically outside their White Feather Gang's planting base, they weren't worried about Lin Qi and the others taking the person and not paying. After all, judging by appearances, the three of them would be lucky to have the skill level of a Quasi-Apprentice, and they certainly couldn't outrun the apprentices.

Lin Qi looked at Luo Qi as she walked over and signaled Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei beside him to hand the metal box containing three hundred thousand Bit from the car to the White Feather Gang.

"Exciting! This is too exciting! As expected of a team dungeon, to have so many people!"

"Why couldn't the Dojo Master choose me to go with them?"

Hiding in the withered forest, Huang Hun of the Gods and the other twenty-eight players gazed at Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei about two hundred meters away, filled with envy.

For this extermination mission, the first priority was to rescue the person, and the second was to eliminate everyone from the White Feather Gang.

Based on previous observations, the White Feather Gang's planting base had quite a few people, around forty or so. To prevent them from escaping, it was best to make a move during the ransom, as that was when everyone would be most concentrated.

Therefore, an extermination plan was devised: Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei would act as bait to draw the monsters, causing them to converge due to the commotion. Once the monsters were sufficiently gathered, it would be time for everyone else to act.

Unfortunately, drawing monsters required high strength and skill, and the number of people who could go was limited, so only Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei were chosen.

For a moment, the players hiding in the withered forest stared intently at Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei, waiting for the signal to act.

Outside the White Feather Gang's planting base.

As Luo Qi walked to Lin Qi's side, Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei, carrying the metal box, walked step by step towards Lante and the other four.

Thirty meters...

Twenty meters...

Ten meters...

When Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei were less than five meters away from Lante and the other four, they suddenly sprang into action.

Luo Wu Shang drew a piece of black steel arrow from the side of the metal box, and Zhang Qingwei also drew a black steel arrow. They swung them towards Lante and the giant Three-Eyed man respectively.

"How dare you attack!"

"You're asking for death!"

Lante and the others, seeing Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei attack, were first enraged, then stunned when they saw the weapons the two were holding.

Arrows?

What were they trying to do?

The White Feather Gang members behind them were also dumbfounded for a moment.

They had encountered many fierce people in the wild, but they had never seen such fierce and arrogant women. Charging forward with just one arrow each, they clearly didn't know how to write the word "death."

However, before anyone could recover from their surprise and shock, the Black Steel Arrows in Luo Wu Shang's hands transformed into six black streaks of light, while the Black Steel Arrows in Zhang Qingwei's hands turned into three black shadows, striking directly at Lante and the triangular-eyed man.

Quasi-Martial Artist level martial skill, Point Star!

Quasi-Martial Artist level martial skill, Surging Wave Blade!

Luo Wu Shang and Zhang Qingwei were so fast that even Lante and the triangular-eyed giant, whose physical condition had reached the apprentice level, couldn't keep up for a moment. Fortunately, both of them were wearing alloy armor.

Six deep arrow marks appeared directly on Lante's chest armor, and he was forced back three steps before stabilizing himself. As for the triangular-eyed giant beside him, his A3 Grade Armor directly caved in, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood and fall heavily onto the nearby wire mesh.

"How is this possible!"

This scene stunned all the White Feather Gang members present.

Two disabled Level 2 human women, using a single arrow, managed to repel the base leader and heavily injure the apprentice-level captain, Maiti. It was as if they were living in a joke.