All a villain's scheming couldn't beat a fool's bright idea!

After settling Song Yunshen and the others in, Xie Lin's five-person squad set off again.

Before leaving, Lu Ye planned out their route and told them to follow far behind to minimize the danger.

Xie Lin took the opportunity to make another small profit.

He couldn't sell any more snake meat. They had to keep it for their own people to replenish their strength.

He sold the others his surplus compressed biscuits and mineral water as sets.

The five-person squad traveled light.

He Jianing looked gloomy.

Although he didn't want to stay behind, everyone around him was now a mindless Xie Lin fan. Even if he had objections, he didn't dare voice them.

He only stared at Yu Zhiwei.

"Why bring her? She'll obviously hold us back, won't she?"

Xie Lin looked at him as though he were insane.

"Are you sick in the head? You're a useless idiot who got caught the second you stepped outside. What gives you the right to diss Sister Zhiwei?"

Wu Xinyou snorted too.

"A five-person squad means we don't leave a single person behind!"

Yu Zhiwei merely glanced at He Jianing and ignored him.

In the past, being spoken to like that would have upset her for ages.

But now, the task at hand mattered more. Irrelevant people weren't worth wasting any more energy on.

She looked seriously at Xie Lin and the others.

"We need to hurry. Xiao Lie's been gone for ages. We can't let him silence them all."

Xie Lin sneered.

"If he actually dares silence them, we'll wipe out the whole Red Team!"

Ever since taking Huang Jingrui down, his confidence had gone through the roof. He feared no alpha below S-Rank!

Wu Xinyou had a different opinion.

"I'm worried Xiao Lie will use those people to lure us in."

"...Good point. We'll deal with whatever he throws at us!"

As they spoke, they rushed in the direction Xiao Lie had disappeared.

That was also where Qiao An had said the remaining nine Blue Team members were being held.

After racing along for a while, they reached a mountain hollow just as the sun was about to set.

With his freakishly sharp eyesight, Lu Ye spotted many figures moving around in the distance.

"There are quite a few people!"

Xie Lin rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up.

"I have an idea."

In the mountain hollow, Xiao Lie was holding a meeting with his teammates, his expression grave.

"Lu Ye and Xie Lin are too strong. In a moment, we'll move everyone we have here out. Everyone heads for the finish line."

"Seriously, Brother Xiao? I believe Lu Ye's strong, but isn't Xie Lin just an omega?"

"Don't underestimate him. Jingrui got eliminated by him precisely because he underestimated his opponent."

An omega raised his hand.

"It's true. Brother Cheng and I were about to go meet Brother Xiao when we saw..."

He glanced at Xiao Lie, his voice growing quieter and quieter.

"Brother Xiao getting knocked down by Xie Lin."

"What?"

Several people rose to their feet in unison, staring wide-eyed at Xiao Lie in disbelief.

Whatever Xiao Lie thought of, his face flushed slightly.

He cleared his throat.

"Ahem, my fault. I let my guard down. I didn't expect Xie Lin to be so good at fighting solo."

"Holy-shit, Brother Xiao, you really got floored by an omega?"

"Tsk, I said I let my guard down..."

As though they hadn't heard him, the others kept talking among themselves.

"Brother Xiao, don't tell me you were blinded by lust?"

An alpha grinned lecherously.

"I've seen Xie Lin. He really is gorgeous. I definitely wouldn't be able to control myself either. It's rare for Brother Xiao to like an omega. We get it, we get it..."

"A pretty little spitfire with that much bite-who wouldn't like him? Right, Brother Xiao?"

They waggled their eyebrows at him, making the veins at Xiao Lie's temples throb.

He pointed at several of them.

"You lot, come uphill with me. The rest of you, pack everything up and finish off the prisoners, then follow us immediately. Understood?"

"Understood!"

Their shout was deafening.

Xiao Lie had barely left with his group, his face red, when Xie Lin sauntered out of the woods.

At the sight of the Red Side members, he jolted in alarm.

"Oh my god!"

He twisted around and took off running.

"Brother Youyou, run!"

Wu Xinyou was waiting under a tree and looked blankly at Xie Lin as he rushed over.

"What's wrong..."

Before she could finish, several Red Side members surrounded her.

"Caught two more from the Blue Team. Tie them up."

"Aren't we executing them?"

"Gather them together first. We'll finish them all off once we've packed up. Otherwise, the red smoke could alert the enemy."

"All right. I'm just worried something might go wrong!"

"What could go wrong? Don't jinx us!"

Bound tightly, Xie Lin and Wu Xinyou were taken behind a huge boulder.

Fu Yunxi was gazing up at the sky, pondering how to escape.

When he saw Xie Lin being shoved in, he froze briefly before becoming overjoyed.

"How did you get..."

Xie Lin shouted.

"Would I have been caught if I hadn't been looking for you lot?"

Fu Yunxi's eyes shone even brighter, a trace of bashfulness on his face.

"Taotao, I knew you cared about me!"

"Just shut up, you useless alpha."

Xie Lin nearly threw up. He rolled his eyes and looked around.

The other bound alphas were all staring at him.

The two Red Team members glanced at them. One stayed to guard them, while the other went to help pack.

Xie Lin signaled with his eyes for Wu Xinyou to turn around, his voice as low as it could possibly go.

"I'll untie you first."

Fu Yunxi stared at him dumbly.

"How? Do you have tools?"

"Hah!"

Xie Lin scoffed.

"Useless is as useless does. You've been captured this long and still haven't thought of a way to escape?"

As he spoke, he turned toward the alphas sitting on the other side, who were looking at him with hostility.

"What are you staring at? I mean you! Useless!!!"

With that, he opened his mouth and chomped down on the rope around Wu Xinyou's wrists.

Growling, he whipped his head violently!

Everyone else: "..."

"???"

Why hadn't they thought of that?

Snap!

He bit through the rope!

[...Tao Miaomiao doesn't have teeth. He has a hacksaw!]

[He's right to call them out. That rope is so thin. If those alphas had just started biting earlier, Tao Miaomiao wouldn't even have needed to save them.]

[A few more useless alphas for the list!]

Wu Xinyou opened her mouth, then reminded him anyway.

"Where's your Boning Knife?"

"...Lu Ye took it."

Fair enough!

Wu Xinyou hurriedly untied the rope around his hands.

Turning around, she discovered that the other eight were imitating Xie Lin, gnawing at the ropes around their companions' wrists.

"..."

No wonder they said the power of example was immense!

Just then, a Red Team member walked in. Seeing Xie Lin tossing rope onto the ground, he was about to shout.

Fu Yunxi rushed over at lightning speed. A few thudding blows later-

A plume of red smoke rose from the man.

A shrill mechanical voice sounded overhead as well, making everyone's scalp prickle.

"Red Team's Meng Guangjun eliminated!"

Xie Lin froze on the spot, then flew into a rage and kicked Fu Yunxi away.

"Are you fucking sick in the head?"

Fu Yunxi was sent flying a long way. After climbing to his feet, he looked furious.

"Why did you hit me? Am I not even allowed to help?"

"Help, my ass! You've blown our cover!"

As he spoke, he turned toward the others, whose ropes had already been undone.

"Run!"

Wu Xinyou glanced at Fu Yunxi, who was still standing there in a daze, and shook her head with a tut.

"No wonder Xie Lin doesn't like you anymore. You're such an idiot!"

Fu Yunxi finally caught on, but still tried to defend himself.

"I didn't know! I really didn't know he'd start smoking..."

[Fu Yunxi is so stupid I could cry. Wasn't this in the rules the Director read out when they came in? He didn't listen to a single word!]

[Why else did the Red Team leave them until last? Weren't they worried about giving themselves away?]

[All a villain's scheming couldn't beat a fool's bright idea!]

Xie Lin couldn't be bothered wasting more words on him. He shooed those eight people out like chicks, with Lu Ye and Yue Lan waiting outside to receive them.

Suddenly, a shout came from behind.

"The Blue Team's been rescued! Charge, guys..."

"Huh?"

Before he could finish shouting, the man discovered there was no one left behind him.

He turned toward his teammates, who had almost run out of sight, and withdrew his dramatically outstretched hand.

"What are you doing? We're just leaving these people?"

"We can't deal with them! Staying alive comes first. Go after Brother Xiao!"

Fine!

But the moment he tried to take a step, he realized he couldn't leave.

Xie Lin and Wu Xinyou approached him from the front and back, grinning menacingly.

"Aaah!!!"

A flock of birds startled at the scream and flew, squawking, into the gradually darkening sky.

The Red Team members who had already entered the woods paused and turned to look back the way they had come.

A plume of red smoke was slowly rising-

"Red Team's Liu Chong eliminated!"