Chapter 41: Li Hong's Involvement

It turned out that Zhang Lie's intuition was right: Fang Yi's patrol immediately identified quite a few lone wolves in the area.

Lone wolves were hunters who were confident enough in their abilities to hunt solo. Of course, no matter how confident they were, those who would hunt in an area like this were usually only at near-maximum capacity for mutated gene fragments, and they wouldn't even dare to lay their eyes on superior-grade lifeforms.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

If not for Zhang Lie, Fang Yi and Sun Mengmeng certainly wouldn't have, either.

He was relatively experienced in dealing with such affairs, and managed to fend them off with a few inspired lies. When these lone wolves saw Fang Yi's large team 'fleeing for their lives', they didn't dare draw any closer.

By the hole, Zhang Lie and Sun Mengmeng were harassing the dreadtoad, trying to squeeze it dry of genetic energy. Zhang Lie was playing the role of the tactician, whereas Sun Mengmeng was the attacker. From time to time, she would shoot a [Ninecloud Arrow] at the toad, causing it to shriek and croak.

Upon hearing these cries, the teams of hunters who had been lured to the scene by the disturbance were largely dissuaded from heading any closer and fled instead.

However, there were still a few hunters who kept approaching. For instance, the second-fiddle team fielded by the Li clan, on hearing the dreadtoad's cries, picked up their pace and rushed toward the fight instead.

Fang Yi's patrol naturally encountered them within the dense forest. He was quite familiar with Li Hong's team, a ten-member team consisting of hunters who were near the mutated gene capacity. They had a reputation for being tyrannical, and would frequently snatch the kills of other teams of hunters.

Fang Yi hadn't expected that they would encounter them at such a critical juncture; his team was lacking in terms of strength and numbers, and wouldn't stand a chance in a direct confrontation.

Thus, Fang Yi made use of a tried-and-tested technique: pretending to be fleeing in haste after encountering a life-threatening situation.

"Stop right there!" As expected, after glancing at them derisively, Li Hong commanded them to stop.

Fang Yi's team immediately stopped. He stepped forward and asked, "Is something wrong, Captain Li?"

Li Hong smiled. "You recognize me?"

"Of course! Surely there's no one from the Blacksteel settlement who hasn't heard of your team. Is there anything I can do for you?" Fang Yi might not have been a very strong hunter, but his social skills were unparalleled.

Li Hong preened at the flattery. "Good, good! Let me ask: why is your team running away?"

Fang Yi made a horrified expression. "Captain Li, don't you know? Just ahead, there was a dreadtoad that just fought off a thunderfur polecat. It seemed to be enraged after the fight, and it's killing off one of the hunting teams in the area now! According to the hunters I passed along the way, almost their entire team is dead or crippled now, and the scene of the fight's a mess of bloody gore!"

Fang Yi was trying to scare Li Hong off, but Li Hong clearly had much more inflated an opinion of his own abilities than Fang Yi had expected. Upon hearing Fang Yi's description, he seemed to grow even more interested. "Did you see that dreadtoad?"

Fang Yi shook his head. "Of course not! If I did, I wouldn't be alive right now. One croak from it would be all it took to kill me! Captain Li, that lifeform's really quite frightening—you aren't thinking of hunting it down, are you? Don't, it's simply too dangerous!"

Sensing Li Hong's interest, Fang Yi tried to dissuade him from the idea, but Li Hong wasn't to be swayed so easily. He immediately gave Fang Yi a condescending look. "If you want to run, run! Your team isn't like mine, after all."

Fang Yi barely masked the derision from his face. However, he was smart enough not to get into a direct confrontation. As Li Hong suggested, he hurried off with his team.

The moment they were out of sight, Fang Yi immediately had Sun Xiaowu report what had happened to Sun Mengmeng via conch shell, while he would rush back to her, taking a detour around Li Hong's team, to provide reinforcements.

At the edge of the trap, after attacking the dreadtoad inside dozens of times without sensing a response, Zhang Lie was about to head into the hole and take the dreadtoad's life when a conch shell by Sun Mengmeng's waist began to vibrate.

Sun Xiaowu's hesitant voice explained to Zhang Lie and Sun Mengmeng what was going on.

Sun Mengmeng's face filled with shock. "Captain, what will we do? Li Hong's coming!"

Zhang Lie frowned, then relaxed. "Let him come. If he wants to die, so be it! Tell Sun Xiaowu and the others to try to stall them or hold them back. We'll hurry and kill the dreadtoad before Li Hong gets here, and head back to help them immediately afterwards. Launch another attack into the hole. I'm getting ready to jump in."

Sun Mengmeng looked at Zhang Lie in disbelief. "Captain, what do you mean? Are you going to go against the Li clan? The Li clan's one of the six most influential clans in the settlement! If we get on their bad side..."

Zhang Lie narrowed his eyes. "In that case, what do you propose? Handing them this dreadtoad just like that? If you think it's dangerous, you can have your team retreat, and you can also retreat.

In that case, nothing that happens here will be of any concern to you."

Sun Mengmeng stilled at the ultimatum. Honestly, her behavior wasn't unexpected. Zhang Lie might have seemed like a top hunter, but he was just one person, whereas the Li clan was a massive player in the Blacksteel settlement that no ordinary hunter would be able to go against.

If they were to start a conflict with members of the Li clan now, they would likely face a thorny road ahead in the Blacksteel settlement. However, they also didn't want to give up this rare opportunity to obtain superior gene fragments. If they didn't seize this opportunity now, who knew when they would ever be able to obtain superior gene fragments?

After all, under usual circumstances, they wouldn't even be able to face a superior-grade lifeform in a direct confrontation before maxing out their mutated gene capacity.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but I have to think about my entire team's future." Sun Mengmeng regretted her decision almost instantly, but she had to do what was right. A rash decision on her part could irrevocably affect her team members' lives.

In the end, she chose to give up on the opportunity.

Zhang Lie smiled. "If you don't take this opportunity now, when will you ever take such an opportunity? If you choose to retreat, to cower, to back down just because it's a risk, you'll never become a top-tier hunter. Your two teams stand a fighting chance against Li Hong's team, and I'll be around to handle him myself. I'm asking you once more: are you certain you want to back down?"

Sun Mengmeng seemed even more conflicted. After a moment of desperate wrangling with herself, she called out seriously, "Captain! Let me ask you a question myself. If we offend the Li clan going forward, will you continue working with us?"

Zhang Lie began to laugh. "This is my prey, and I won't let anyone steal it from me! I won't give it up even to Li Jin, let alone Li Hong! Furthermore, who's to say that Li Hong will make it back to the Blacksteel settlement to report this feud to the clan?"

"You—you can't be thinking of killing…" Sun Mengmeng gaped in shock. After an agonizing few seconds of thought, she finally made up her mind. "I'll trust you this once! Xiaowu, Fang Yi, try to delay Li Hong's team. We're almost done here!"