A Group Came, One Person Left

Binding Ice Ring! Damn it!

Aili's trying to escape!

Chen Mo's skin was icy cold, and so was his heart. If Aili escaped and made it back, who knew what might happen over the course of a night?

As Chen Mo struggled with all his might, Aili, the one responsible, turned without a moment's hesitation and ran toward Black Crow Castle like a startled rabbit, stumbling as she fled with all her strength!

Aili was smart and decisive.

Born into a family of small merchants, she had followed her parents from an early age and seen all walks of life, gaining a deep understanding of how the world worked.

Her family was wealthy in the eyes of commoners at the bottom and the envy of her childhood friends, but before power and influence, they were no different from the lowly folk struggling in the mud.

If she wanted to rise above her station, she could either get lucky, meet a good man and marry into the upper class, or become a stronger summoning mage and break into it herself.

The young master of the Zircon Family was not an ideal choice. His family was far too distinguished to give an ordinary girl of modest talent and background like her any chance.

As her mother put it, the Zircon Family's placentas were lined with gold leaf, and silver flowed in their amniotic fluid.

From then on, Aili understood all too well that, given her background, it was almost impossible for her to gain an official status. She would probably be no more than a mistress kept hidden from the world.

She would also face a great risk of being oppressed by the principal wife in the future.

So, no matter how ardently the young master pursued her, she always kept him at arm's length, neither too close nor too distant.

The trouble was that, because of the young master, boys her age from decent families with good prospects all kept their distance from her. Settling for the next best thing, she could only turn her attention to the commoners, hoping to find and cultivate a "promising investment" worth backing and relying on.

Chen Mo was one of the many people she had her eye on.

Or rather, he was a "shield" she used to fend off those persistent suitors.

Several such "shields" had already been broken before him.

She occasionally felt a twinge of guilt, but it was quickly suppressed by a stronger desire to protect herself. I just want to live, and live better. What's wrong with that?

Now, the shield had killed someone.

Even though this shield had shown greater potential, Aili had completely given up any thought of being with Chen Mo. This ignorant brute had no idea what a terrifying behemoth the Zircon Family was.

I have to get back! I have to be the first to report to the grand mage!

She had to clear herself of involvement. She was merely an innocent, brave witness who had tried and failed to stop the tragedy! She must never become this guy's accomplice.

I'm so outstanding. I deserve a better future!

The girl panted in great gasps, pumping her legs desperately. Though Chen Mo's hoarse shouts rang out behind her, she never looked back.

She knew she couldn't afford to waste time.

And so, she couldn't see the black muzzle of the gun Little White had raised.

Chapter 10: A Group Came, One Person Left

An ear-splitting gunshot shattered the woodland silence, startling a noisy flock of birds into flapping away in a panic.

Aili, that shrewd girl, had decisively cast a binding spell on the mage without witnessing Chen Mo's initial attack. She could never have imagined that her short life would end at the hands of a slow-moving, seemingly stupid skeleton.

Chen Mo watched the graceful figure fall into the leaf litter and humus like a kite with its string cut. For some reason, a sharp pain pierced his chest.

Could it be... that I'm still a little reluctant to let go of that innocent affection?

No!

"I fucking... got shot?!"

Chen Mo looked down in astonishment. A short bolt was buried deep in his chest, its fletching still trembling slightly.

Not far away, Little Eleven's eyes were blood-red, and he looked like a madman.

The young scout pulled the trigger again without hesitation. A second crossbow bolt tore through the woodland air and slammed into Chen Mo's shoulder! Fortunately, the hate-filled shot was not accurate enough. If it had been aimed straight at his head, this story would probably have been "the end, cue the flowers."

Slowed by the pain, Chen Mo scrambled to dodge.

"Why did you kill her?!"

The young scout roared and charged at him recklessly, like a madman.

Having lived two lives, Chen Mo could perhaps regard Aili with the detachment of an observer. But to these children, who had spent years under the oppressive shadow of the castle, Aili was a rare light in their bleak lives.

To Little Eleven, Aili embodied every kind of gentleness. She always spoke softly, never cursed at anyone, and never kicked anyone.

She never spat in anyone's face, though everyone thought it would be wonderful if she spat on them.

She applauded when someone successfully advanced, and blushed as she thanked anyone who helped clean up after her summons. The sight of her long, lowered eyelashes was enough to keep boys tossing and turning all night.

Little Eleven was only a servant. He didn't dare hope for anything, and could only gaze at that beauty in secret.

Now, that light had been snuffed out by the damned bastard in front of him!

Little Eleven had completely lost his mind.

His crossbow emptied, he didn't even reload it. Instead, he hurled the hand crossbow at Chen Mo in a frenzy, then drew the short knife at his waist with a reverse grip and swung it wildly, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Why did you kill her?"

"She was such a good girl! Why did you kill her?"

"I didn't want to kill her! She insisted on running away!" Chen Mo struggled against the ice ring's restraint as he tried to bring the crazed scout to his senses. "If the grand mage finds out someone got away, I'm dead..."

"She was going to get you killed? Then you fucking deserve to die!" Little Eleven's voice twisted with extreme fury.

"Die!!!"

A pure and foolish modern college student, nurtured too well by modern society, Chen Mo had made two mistakes in his first encounter with a life-or-death situation like this.

First, because of the goodwill Little Eleven had shown earlier, Chen Mo had let them remain fully armed and move freely, even while he held the upper hand and knew they resented him for forcing them to go to the Six-Leaf Woodland.

Because he had overlooked himself, he had gone and repeated the exact same mistake when Little Goldie's corpse hadn't even gone cold!

Ultimately, he had too little experience killing people.

Second, stunned by the combined shock of the agony from his wounds and the threat of death, he had lost control of the skeleton Little White for a moment.

When a summoning mage was attacked, their summons would instinctively move to protect their master at once.

Little White was coming to his rescue.

Chen Mo glanced over, and his heart instantly sank.

After losing its master's guidance, the idiot had followed the most primitive instincts of a skeleton spearman. It had actually dropped the powerful automatic rifle, which still had more than half a magazine of ammunition, and was instead clumsily holding its broken bone spear, "trying" to approach with its signature staggering gait, as though it might fall apart at any moment.

It really was trying hard, but how could it outrun a woodland scout as swift as the wind?

A scout who had gone mad, at that.

Chen Mo staggered backward, caught his foot hard on either a tree root or a protruding rock, and fell awkwardly into the cold earth. The fall happened to shatter the ice ring around him, which had grown fragile as its magic power rapidly faded.

The restraint was broken!

With life and death hanging in the balance, there was no room for hesitation. Chen Mo dropped flat and kicked hard at the ground, sending up a blinding spray of leaf fragments and dirt as he pulled his pistol from his coat.

Little Eleven had seemingly transformed into a berserker. Ignoring the dust and the gun muzzle, his crimson eyes fixed on Chen Mo, he charged forward without any semblance of technique.

Bang! The first bullet bit into the scout's left shoulder.

Little Eleven's left shoulder jerked back as though someone had shoved him hard, and his body involuntarily twisted sideways. Yet he continued stumbling forward, straight toward Chen Mo's gun.

Bang, bang, bang, bang- the QSZ-92G let out a rapid series of shots.

Chen Mo emptied the magazine in one go, but still kept the muzzle trained on him, his whitened knuckles locked around the trigger until the firing pin clicked uselessly on empty.

Little Eleven finally fell to the ground. The coldness of death seemed to bring back a trace of his remaining reason. His body twitched a few times, and he seemed to try to push himself up, but ultimately slumped back down, powerless.

The young scout used the last of his strength to lift his head with difficulty, fixing his gaze on the fallen figure not far away. He stretched an arm toward her as far as he could, his five fingers grasping at the air in vain.

It was the direction in which Aili had fallen.

Little Eleven's lips moved, as though he had murmured something, but his voice was barely a whisper, and Chen Mo couldn't make out a single word.

By the time Chen Mo came to his senses, all that remained was the rustle of wind through the leaves.

More than twenty seconds later, Little White finally "arrived" at the scene. It clumsily poked the corpse on the ground with its bone spear, splattering itself with fresh blood.

Still shaken, Chen Mo sat slumped against a tree, gasping for breath. The pain from his wounds seemed distant one moment and close the next, until it finally began to break through the blockade of dopamine, or perhaps endorphins, and pull him back to reality.

After resting for a few minutes, he began to examine his injuries.

Both bolts to his chest had been stopped by the plate in his stab-resistant vest, leaving only deep dents and a shocking expanse of bruising beneath his clothes as evidence of how close he had come to death.

The bolt in his shoulder had sunk deep into his flesh, and its tip seemed to be pressed against the bone. He tried pulling it gently, but immediately sucked in more than a dozen sharp breaths, the pain making his vision go dark.

Forcing himself to endure the agony, he grimaced as he applied disinfectant and clotting powder around the wound, then swallowed an anti-infection capsule.

The warning in the Eastern Radiance leader's letter echoed in his mind: "When you are in a dangerous place, think of the worst possible outcome and prepare for the worst."

And what had happened? He had still grown careless and underestimated his enemies.

After getting in touch with the motherland, his greatest desire had been to go home.

If that path was closed, the next best thing would be to find a peaceful place to settle in this world and send some things back home.

It would be like telling his mom back home, I'm doing all right out here. Don't worry.

I'm busy with work, so I won't be coming home.

But they wouldn't let him go.

Probably because, in this world, ordinary people's lives were actually the cheapest things of all.

Goldie wanted him dead out of romantic jealousy;

Duo Gu wanted him dead out of loyalty to his master;

Aili wanted him dead to escape blame;

Little Eleven...

Chen Mo hadn't noticed Little Eleven's affection for Aili at all.

The young scout was always alone, scouting ahead. Whether they were taking a short break or making camp for the night, he never said a word. He always volunteered for night watch, too, and hadn't spoken a single word to Aili the entire time.

When Little Goldie and Aili chatted and laughed, Little Eleven had merely stood quietly to the side, chasing away mosquitoes and fanning them... Chen Mo had thought he was sucking up to Little Goldie!

Yet when Goldie died, he calmly searched the corpse. When Aili died... he went straight-up crazy!

Fucking simp!