Chapter 693.3: I'm Not Fighting These Freaks
Looking at the beasts whose faces were filled with despair, Midnight Pubg flashed a feral grin. He ejected the explosive bolts from the 19mm barrel and spun up the chainsaw welded to his arm.
The remaining trash were already fish in a barrel, there was no need to waste precious ammunition. For beasts that had abandoned their humanity, only the most brutal death was fitting.
“Slaughter time!”
The two walls of steel advanced together, bringing suffocating death as they delivered the final blow to the pitiful creatures trapped on the beach.
The blue-skinned Mutant Humans were either split clean in two by greatsword-like chainsaws, or had their legs blown off by mines as they fled in blind panic.
Watching chunks of flesh and sprays of blood hurled skyward by the chainsaws, Dilrang, crouched with his head down, turned deathly pale, his lips trembling uncontrollably.
He felt like a child. He was weak and ignorant, foolish enough to think he could trip a giant with a branch. The outcome was obvious, they hadn’t even touched the giant’s leg before being squished half to death by an accidentally extended toe...
He had already begun to regret accepting the mission from his superior.
Too bad for him, it was far too late.
...
From the first gunshot to the final silence, a full hour had passed. And for that entire hour, Mojave lay face-down on the beach, playing dead. Fortunately, the stretch of shoreline wasn’t the center of the battlefield.
Neither the Gray Wolf Army’s First Battalion rushing headlong to their deaths, nor the Mutant Humans later howling after the scent of blood as they charged into the rainforest, paid any attention to the man pretending to be a corpse on the sand.
After who knew how long, footsteps approached, and a hand grabbed the back of his collar, lifting him up from the beach like a chick. “Don’t kill me! I, I’m not with those guys!”
Finding the face vaguely familiar, OId Wine Lamp switched on his flashlight and shone it on the mud-smeared face. His eyes widened in surprise. “Holy shit? You’re that... fur-selling swindler?”
“...” Mojave stared at him with a dumb expression, mouth hanging open, too shocked to speak.
OId Wine Lamp was just as surprised at the coincidence. After pulling him fully to his feet, he let go and brushed the sand from his shoulder. “Heh, remember me?”
Mojave nodded nervously, then asked in bewilderment, “Wait, I remember you... weren’t you a butcher? What are you doing here?”
OId Wine Lamp looked at him with his eyebrows raised. “Being LV20 with three professions isn’t unusual, is it? I’m not just a butcher. I main a lifestyle skill and slot a soldier profession on the side to take missions. It’s basic stuff.”
“...?”
Seeing the NPC’s blank expression, OId Wine Lamp quickly remembered he wasn’t from the New Alliance. Realization dawned on him, and he patted Mojave’s shoulder. “Ah, right, you’re not one of us. Don’t mind it... Hey, weren’t you supposed to be stocking up at Silvermoon Bay? How did you end up mixed in with those idiots?”
At those words, a wave of grievance surged up in Mojave’s chest, and a bitter smile crept onto his face. “... You think I wanted to? I was kidnapped by them.”
“Kidnapped?!” OId Wine Lamp stared at him, then glanced toward the figures bound like rice dumplings at the forest’s edge, asking strangely, “By those guys?”
Mojave nodded nervously. “Yes...”
Sensing there was more to the night’s events, OId Wine Lamp’s interest was piqued. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Mojave forced a bitter smile. “Well... it’s a long story.”
“No problem. We’re done fighting anyway, plenty of time. Go on,” OId Wine Lamp said with a grin. Other players cleaning up the battlefield noticed and gathered around curiously.
Seeing all those eyes on him, Mojave suddenly felt it might be a good chance for revenge.
He swallowed, gathered his thoughts, and began in a sorrowful tone. “It was a bright, sunny morning. I had been drinking all night and was just about to get up and pay when a group of soldiers from the Xilande Empire kicked open the tavern door and dragged me off my chair...”
...
While Mojave poured out his grievances, accusing Captain Achim of brutality and brazen kidnapping in the street, Dilrang and his guards who had been beaten black and blue, were escorted to a military base several kilometers away. They were still stubbornly putting on a brave front as they were literally dragged over.
At first, they even refused to admit they were soldiers of the Xilande Empire, brazenly claiming to be from Silvermoon Bay and saying they were only passing through.
It wasn’t until the players brought over a Moonfolk girl that their poor acting was exposed.
“He’s Wolffolk! He and his men are all Wolffolk, lackeys of the Sunfolk and the Bullfolk!” She spat the words through clenched teeth, ignoring Dilrang’s warning glare, then turned respectfully to Ample Time. “Sir, I can be certain, these people were sent here by the Xilande Empire!”
“Very good. Thank you for your testimony. Go back and rest, leave this to us.” After giving her a reassuring look and seeing her to the door, Ample Time turned back to the still-defiant commander.
“I suggest you cooperate. We’re not unreasonable people. I’ll ask again, why did you open fire on us, and who ordered you?”
“I’ve said it countless times! I thought those Mutant Humans were with you! I admit I was wrong to run into them on your territory, but you’re hardly blameless either!” Dilrang clung stubbornly to his story, refusing to give anything up.
Ample Time narrowed his eyes slightly. “You take me for an idiot? Over 1,000 men, fully armed and supplied with two weeks’ rations... Were you going to the South Sea to feed fish?”
“...” Dilrang said nothing, trying to dodge the interrogation with silence.
Ample Time’s brow twitched. Just as he was considering whether to get rough, there was a knock at the door. Peepo pushed it open and walked in. “We found a survivor on the beach, his name’s Mojave. He claims he was kidnapped here by the soliders of the Xilande Empire. He also told us quite a few interesting things like how Captain Achim dragged him onto the ship, and that the men we captured are the Gray Wolf Army’s First Battalion.”
At the mention of Mojave’s name, Dilrang’s eyes bulged.
That man is still alive?!
Ample Time also showed a flicker of surprise, though for a different reason. “That name sounds oddly familiar...”
Peepo chuckled, “He’s been here before. Made a tidy profit off our guys. He’s the one who bought up bundles of fur.”
Ample Time nodded in realization. “So it was him.”
Peepo continued, “According to him, the soldiers boarded at Port Gallon in the Poro Province, rendezvoused with Achim’s warship, then headed for the Baiyue Strait. Their target was French Fry Harbor, same as those fish-scaled guys. They were coming for us.”
Ample Time asked, puzzled, “When did we ever offend them?”
Crossing the entire Poro Sea, over 2,000 kilometers, just to deliver themselves over to the New Alliance.
How deep did their grudge run?
Peepo shrugged helplessly. “No idea. Even Mojave couldn’t say. He only remembers Captain Achim saying something about making the New Alliance’s administrator pay for his arrogance and rudeness, collecting interest from his settlement, and throwing a seven-day, seven-night party at the port...”
“Of course, when they do bad things they’ll cover their eyes with a leaf and claim they’re marauders, then no one knows who did it. Even if the New Alliance gets mad, they won’t know who to blame.”
By the end, even Peepo couldn’t hold back his laughter.
Hearing that absurd explanation, Ample Time nearly cracked as well. He then looked with a half-smile at the only person in the room who wasn’t laughing.
Under that gaze, Dilrang swallowed and instinctively protested, “There wouldn’t be a party for seven days and nights, it was... three... no! I never said that! He’s talking nonsense!”
Ample Time smiled faintly. “So you’re saying the part about your empire making our dministrator pay is true?”
A bead of cold sweat slid down Dilrang’s forehead. He swallowed again, his scalp tingling. He had an ominous feeling he couldn’t quite put into words.
Stepping up beside the trembling commander, Ample Time patted his shoulder and said in a mildly reassuring tone, “Relax. We won’t punish someone just for mouthing off a few stupid insults. Be grateful, you’re not worth that much trouble to us.”
Dilrang let out a sigh of relief. But before he could fully relax, the hand on his shoulder paused, and the tone shifted. “Still, you traveled all this way just to get beaten senseless for nothing. Honestly, it’s rather pitiful.”
Seeing the commander staring at him blankly, Ample Time’s lips curled into a sly smile as he continued unhurriedly, “How about this, courtesy demands reciprocity.”
“Since you boarded at Port Gallon, we’ll trouble ourselves to make a trip and escort you back there.”
