Chapter 528: 528

Chapter 528 Ultimatum

One of the three major guilds, Arc of Light, issued an ultimatum to Shen Xixi’s newly formed union at midnight last night without any warning . It came as a complete surprise to Zhang Heng . They demanded an apology from Shen Xixi for the vicious conflict at Tongzhou that night, surrender the four murderers, and compensate for the losses . If she refused, they would declare war on her . Since no third party was present at the time of the incident, players on the forum couldn’t tell what really happened that night . According to Arc of Light, the number of players from their faction had been tracking down a monster . In the midst of the chase, they ran into another team of players belonging to the union . The Arc of Light players immediately issued the union’s players with a warning, to which they were wise enough to give way to them .

Regardless of why players joined the union, at least they did it intending to protect ordinary people . In other words, if Arc of Light were the ones who killed the monster, the union’s players should gladly accept the outcome . Unexpectedly, union players apparently played dirty . They pretended to leave, but instead, took another path back to where they were initially .

At the critical moment when Arc of Light was fighting the monster, the union players abruptly attacked them out of nowhere . The ambush resulted in five out of the six Arc of Light players’ deaths, where only one managed to stay alive to tell the tale to his faction . Following that, Arc of Light was furious; hence, the confrontation with Shen Xixi’s union .

However, players on the forum had a hard time believing the whole story . First, the Arc of Light survivor was the only one who brought the matter up . Shen Xixi and her union, however, hadn’t yet responded to the accusations . Next, the three major guilds had been trying their best to keep the players under control, intending to show that they were a very reasonable bunch . After all, they had the upper hand over most players, and it was impossible they wouldn’t take advantage of their powerful position . They had people from all manner of life them all the time; hence, it was unavoidable that a few rotten apples festered among them . Many small, medium, and even non-guild players had mixed feelings toward these three major guilds .

Once the player base saw the announcement, more and more happiness seemed to build over their misfortune . One of the most upvoted comments was: ‘The stupid dogs of Arc of Light bully whoever they can whenever they want to . They totally deserve what happened to them .

Less than two minutes after he posted his comment, he was muted by the moderator; the reason for that was attacking somebody with hurtful words . The player forum was actually something that the three major guilds created . Still, most of its moderators were supposed to be selected by players to ensure a fair atmosphere . Instead, the three super moderators were all members of the three major guilds, now endowed with the powers of banning or muting anybody whenever they so pleased .

The player that was muted had no intention to keep quiet . Since it was easy to make a new account on the forum, the muted player returned in less than ten seconds, even using the same username but with a 01 added behind it .

(Come on, you power-hungry pig! I dare you to ban me again! You can mute me, but can you mute justice?]

As soon as this reply came out, players began cheering for him . This was how the internet rolled . If you asked the group of people to confront Arc of Light in person, there wasn’t a single soul who dared to do so . However, no one would back down if you put them behind a keyboard and screen . The super moderator was aware of this problem, and after banning a bunch of worthless keyboard warriors, he gave up .

These cynics typically didn’t care about who was right or wrong in this conflict between Arc of Light and the union . Most simply took the advantage to vent their dissatisfaction with the Arc . Since the union had just been formed not too long ago, most players found no conflict of interest with them . Besides, the union was different from a guild-players who joined the union were complicated . Some were independent teams not attached to any guild, and since the union was in a weaker position than Arc, they were bound to get the sympathy and support of the player base .

For this case, unfortunately, all that sympathy and support in the world had no effect in solving the problem at hand .

Zhang Heng realized that Shen Xixi was in trouble this time as soon as he saw the post . Regardless of right or wrong, establishing the union itself was bad news for the grand guilds . The union’s current structure was relatively loose, and they were no threat to the three major guilds . And Shen Xixi had repeatedly stated that the union’s purpose was only to protect the ordinary .

However, no one would know what would happen if the union continued to grow, that they might one day become a juggernaut powerful enough to turn against the three major guilds . After all, strength within the union’s structure could be gradually cultivated, and player relationships could be enhanced through working towards the same goal . At the moment, everyone was working together to defeat the monster and to distribute the loot as per regulation . If these players were to cross paths in the same quest, there was a good chance that they would work together . Then, slowly but surely, they would stick with each other to form a powerful faction . This incident might just be a catalyst, but it did not matter if it was right or wrong . The three major guilds were tired of simply standing and observing Shen Xixi’s union . This time, they were determined to do something about it . As if it were not bad enough, the two other major guilds’ unanimous silence could only indicate that the situation was slipping toward the worst possible outcome .

They employed a cunning technique-force Shen Xixi to hand over players responsible for the incident . Aiming to tackle the union’s weakest link, they knew how the camaraderie within the union would be fractured forever once she surrendered her people . And if Shen Xixi chose to resist, then the Arc of Light would most likely declare war with the union . Let alone the difference in strength between the two sides—based on the union’s current situation, how many would choose to coexist and die with this new emerging force simply?

So no matter which path Shen Xixi chose to go down with, the union seemed to have reached the end of its road . She had only kept mum about her stand on this matter because the union was in a complete mess right now . After receiving the warning, she immediately contacted the union’s management, including the leaders of small and medium guilds, and representatives of the independent teams, beseeching them to develop a solution . Although Shen Xixi was prepared to face the worst, she felt a chill run up her spine each time she thought about everyone’s reaction .

Nearly 90% agreed that the incident’s team should be handed over to the Arc of Light . It wasn’t like these people cared about the truth . It was just as they said; the truth was no longer important . Whether the Arc was lying or not, the top priority was first to ensure the union’s safety . After that, they could prove their point to the Arc with words .

Shen Xixi looked at the allies in front of her, feeling a deep sense of exhaustion in her heart . No matter what outsiders thought, the reason she established the union was simple: to do the right thing .

Doing the right thing might sound simple, but those who had actually put it in practice only knew how difficult it was to do .

Because the world wasn’t always reasonable .

Before coming here, Shen Xixi had met the players who caused the conflict, and she was at least 80% sure that Arc of Light was the one lying . Even if it wasn’t the other party’s plan, they were obviously about to use this conflict to break the union . Everyone knew what the players’ fate involved in this incident would be if they chose to hand them over to the Arc . Everyone seemed to have deliberately ignored this . Personal sacrifices were underestimated in a big group of people .

Chapter 529 Deadline

Shen Xixi took Western cultural history as well, but she didn’t make it to class today. In fact, she did not show up in school at all for the whole day. Many were used to this, though. The boys would show a hint of regret whenever the name of their course’ beauty queen was mentioned. The girls, on the other hand, didn’t care too much about her.

Even among the three residing in Zhang Heng’s dormitory, two had drawn a clear line with Shen Xixi. Wei Jiangyang’s girlfriend, Han Xiaoxiao, still couldn’t let it go. She and Shen Xixi used to be close, and she once even persuaded her to rethink what she was doing. After all, she was from a decent family, where she didn’t need to sell her body. Her dad was no wealthy CEO, but compared to most girls born to working-class families, she never had to worry about her life.

It did not make sense that she went down this path, not to mention how she was never a vain girl in the first place. However, neither those who cared about Shen Xixi nor the gloaters at school knew the real situation she now faced.

The union’s impromptu meeting had been going on for a day and a night. Most important discussions had actually been completed in the first hour but, the founder of the union, Shen Xixi, didn’t agree to the solution. It was why the meeting had been dragging on until now. Arc of Light gave them only one day. That was, if the union did not give them what they wanted by midnight, war would then be declared on them.

If that were the case, it was an acceptable outcome for the union.

Most in the conference room knew that once the players were handed over to the Arc of Light, the foundation they were built upon would fall apart. If the players were to be handed over today, they might end up the same tomorrow. That said, they should at least try to stay alive today, much less think about tomorrow.

The president of a medium-sized guild attempted a last effort. In persuasion, he said, “I know you are displeased by the outcome. In fact, none of us are happy. This is a huge blow to the union, and it might also affect your reputation. However, we all know how tough a decision it must have been for you, and we guarantee this position will remain as yours in the time to come.”

“Reputation? I felt misunderstood! I don’t care who the boss of the union is. We are not a guild. It doesn’t matter who the chairman is.” Shen Xixi shook her head, “I cannot possibly agree to hand them over to Arc of Light. They will be killed!”

“You may not want to surrender them, but we can’t keep them as well,” someone immediately retorted. “Although our numbers won’t suffer, our players have far less strength than top guilds like Arc of Light. Their current admission criteria are to have at least survived five games, let alone that their guild has more than ten Grade-B game items. Most of our players have completed only three games, a less than average number. Moreover, we only have four Grade-B items, and most of them are non-combat type.”

“The Arc of Light is not the only top guild,” said Shen Xixi. “We will pay dearly if we go against them. Arc of Light must also consider if the balance between Silver Wings and the players can still be maintained.”

“What is that dear price we will need to pay then?”

The guild leader of a small guild asked the question that everyone was waiting to ask.

The union’s composition was inherently complicated, wherein small and medium guilds and independent player teams participated. So far, they had no problem cooperating, but in times of real danger, these apparently close allies would find it very difficult to work together.

Now that everything was out in the open, masks had come undone, and everyone spoke their minds. The medium guild leader who spoke before continued, “The agreement between us was to deal with monsters in the city. That does not include a battle against one of three major guilds, Arc of Light.”

Shen Xixi frowned and was about to say something, but the next moment, someone abruptly kicked the door open.

Li Bai, still with blood still on his body, and Rabbit, a lollipop in her mouth, strode into the meeting room. They brought along three captives with them. “These bastards wanted to kidnap someone, but we caught them,” said Li Bai. Rabbit went on, “…they are from Horizon. Li Bai beat up another two unlucky bastards, and they are now lying in the hospital.”

Shen Xixi cast her gaze on a middle-aged man who had not spoken much. He seemed gentle. It was the guild leader of Horizon, and he did not avoid her gaze. He pushed up his glasses and confessed, “Someone has to do it, at this point. Since you are unwilling, we will do it for

you.”

“We haven’t even come up with a conclusion yet!” answered Shen Xixi, still taken aback by the sudden intrusion.

“I don’t even know what the point is for discussion,” said the middle-aged man. “If you don’t hand them over, there is no need for the union to exist anymore!”

“Is that a threat?”

Shen Xixi looked around the people in the conference room.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was tense. No one replied to her. In other words, they must have agreed with the middle-aged man.

“So, this is the justice your heart seeks?!”

Shen Xixi’s heart sank, but there was a slight glimmer of hope, where she hoped to awaken the conscience in their heart through those questions.

However, after a long while, the oldest man and a representative of the independent players spoke slowly.

“Politics has nothing to do with justice.”

There were only less than three hours left before they had to reply to Arc of Light.

Until now, the union still hadn’t revealed their stand. On the other hand, the player forum was getting livelier by the minute-players had posted speculations about Shen Xixi’s decision, and some had even started a bet for this event. Judging by the wager that most people placed, they leaned more towards Shen Xixi eventually handing the players to Arc of Light. It was only a matter of time.

Dragging it a little longer would show that the union did surmount some resistance against the Arc of Light onslaught, something that might ease the consequences of handing over the players. Public opinion on the forum seemed to have reached a consensus-it was a choice any reasonable person should make.

After all, Arc of Light wasn’t really intending to destroy the union. At best, it was only because of the union’s rapid growth, causing the three major guilds to ruffle their feathers. They wanted to use this opportunity to stunt and stifle their development, in the fear that they might someday become a threat.

Handing over the players meant reducing the union’s internal cohesion, allowing the union to maintain its loose structure, and in turn, stopping Shen Xixi from integrating the emerging union into a powerful force. This would be an acceptable result for both parties.

However, at 11:12 in the evening, the medium-sized guild, Horizon, announced the forum, reiterating their respect for Shen Xixi and the union she led. They had also stated that the two sides chose to split due to personal differences and wouldn’t rule out the possibility of working together again in the future.

As soon as this thread got posted, a second thread emerged before the lurkers got even to say anything about it. It was quickly followed by the third, then fourth. These were all posts by guilds or independent player groups within the union. Anybody smart would promptly sense that something wasn’t quite right.

Without warning, the newly formed union was now on the verge of collapsing overnight.

Chapter 530 Preparation

Like everyone else, Zhang Heng had been following the progress of this matter. Even at night class, he would bring along his laptop, seat himself in the lecture room’s last row, and check the latest news on the forum from time to time.

Class ended at 9.45 p.m. After returning to the dormitory, Chen Huadong and Wei Jiangyang invited him for a round of League of Legends. Zhang Heng agreed to play, and he chose a Jungler, where he occasionally glanced the forum while free-farming in the jungle. The first three rounds ended very quickly; all of them ending in less than 20 minutes. It was either Zhang Heng’s team annihilating the opponents, or their core players were being targeted nonstop. Zhang Heng, the Jungler, did not even need to step out of the forest to help the battle.

However, the fourth game was extremely challenging. A very skillful player on the enemy’s team was showcasing his mad skills, carrying the entire team. Unfortunately, four useless players had joined Zhang Heng’s team, and all they knew was to cheer. The enemy team kept killing their team with no respite, like wolves hunting a flock of chickens. Once Zhang Heng’s teammates were sent back to the base, they rushed to protect their towers, trying their best to maintain the fragile and precious balance. The fight was so intense that nobody seemed to get the high ground.

In the end, Zhang Heng had to sneak to the enemy’s base to destroy their tower, leading them on to win the battle. When he turned off the game, he had already read Horizon’s thread. At 11:32, the union, or rather, half-disbanded union, finally posted an announcement. It turned out they refused to hand their players over to Arc of Light.

There was also an attachment at the end of the post about the conflict with Arc of Light’s players. The union told a whole different story, where the ones being assaulted was actually the union team. This independent player team was rather powerful, and though they were forced to face both the monster and Arc of Light players, they managed to withstand the onslaught. The monster ran away in the end. However, they managed to kill five Arc of Light’s players, and only two on the union’s side were killed.

Quickly, the post caused an uproar in the forum. It wasn’t about the truth. In fact, even without the video evidence, many had already suspected that Arc of Light had fabricated the whole thing. It was Shen Xixi’s decision that upset everyone. When Horizon announced they were leaving the union, some were guessing that Shen Xixi might eventually go against Arc of Light. Even with that knowledge, they were still left in shock after reading the announcement.

The union was way weaker than Arc of Light, let alone in a semi-disabled state.

Shortly after Shen Xixi’s announcement, more and more players announced that they were leaving the union for good. If the union looked shaky earlier, it now looked like it was on the verge of dying. All these took place the moment Shen Xixi posted the thread.

The Arc of Light reacted to Shen Xixi’s decision very quickly. At 11:45, they responded to Shen Xixi, expressing their regret for the latter’s choice. This time, they wrote in a very polite tone. They believed that Shen Xixi had been confused by the perpetrators, and they would head to the union at midnight to deal with the four murderers.

Any player that wasn’t blind knew that the union had already collapsed. In other words, Arc of Light had achieved their goal. There was no longer the need for wonton obliteration. They did not want to cause more players to resent them.

At 11:49, the bartender sent Zhang Heng a message, telling him she placed the stuff he wanted at the designated spot. He didn’t express his gratitude in the end since she didn’t give him any discounts.

He then put all the things he might need in his backpack.

He never brought a powerful weapon, the Pestilence Bone Bow, back to the dormitory because he did not want anyone messing around with it. His dorm mates were baffled by his actions, knowing how it was normal that he didn’t return. This was their first time seeing Zhang Heng leaving at such a late hour.

The moment Zhang Heng said that he had gone to find Han Lu, Chen Huadong and Wei Jiangyang gave him a quick glare. Ignoring the strange looks and questions they asked, he hurriedly left the hostel before the dorm lady locked the gate.

As usual, the world came to a standstill at midnight. There were a lot of things to do tonight, but Zhang Heng wasn’t really anxious. He set the time and decided to take one thing at a time. For now, he planned to go to the parking lot to get his Polo.

Once Shen Xixi made up her mind, nothing would stop the collapse of the union. There was nothing Zhang Heng could do to stop it as well. But compared to the others, he got to know her earlier. He knew her better than them, and he knew what was really going on. With Shen Xixi’s character, she would never give up the innocent in exchange for peace.

Now, she had to bear the consequences of her choice. Things had become less complicated since her mind was made, though. After achieving its goal, Arc of Light would proceed to punish the murderers. As expected, Shen Xixi chose to keep protecting the four players.

Zhang Heng finally got to pay back the favor he owed Shen Xixi in Dreamland of Death. Earlier this morning, he sent her a WeChat message, asking if she needed any help. She rejected him, saying that the union was capable of solving the predicament themselves.

Although Shen Xixi was stubborn in certain matters, it certainly didn’t mean she was stupid or naive. Based on the circumstances at the time, Zhang Heng believed that she, being the decision-maker, had naturally considered the worst possible outcome. She refused his help only because she didn’t want to drag him into this pile of crap.

Shen Xixi also knew that Zhang Heng had been reluctant to join the union because he thought it wouldn’t end well. She had no reason to get him involved at the union’s most precarious moment. However, Zhang Heng did not really care about the risk. Even if she refused to let him help her, he could easily get her position with his Lv.2 hacking skill.

But instead of looking for Shen Xixi first, he drove his Polo to the address given by the bartender and found a black box hidden at the bottom of a dumpster behind the wall. A key was tied to the handle, and after closer inspection, he confirmed that he got what he wanted. He then tossed the object into the trunk.

He then drove leisurely to the next location without hurries.

Zhang Heng had been working nonstop for more than ten hours, and finally, he had done almost everything on the list. After that, he checked into a nearby hotel to replenish his energy with food and well-deserved sleep. He waited for his cellphone to ring on time, and only less than fifteen minutes left before the hour hand completed a circle.

Zhang Heng washed his face, opened the password-protected black box beside the bed. He took out a number of parts, assembled them before it was all finally combined into a CS5 sniper rifle, a weapon courtesy of American firearms manufacturer McMillan Firearms.

Unlike the famous Finnish Star or L115A3, the CS5 was not a sniper that could shoot super long range. It is more suitable for urban warfare. And it is also a rare sniper rifle equipped with a silencer to meet Zhang Heng’s needs. He noticed that a post-it note was posted at the back of the rifle. It was written by a Miss Bartender with the words: Happy Killing. She even drew a cute version of a gunman at the lower right corner.

Chapter 531 Bait

The Arc of Light had proved worthy of being one of the three major guilds. Although it was established after the other two significant guilds, it was weaker than the rest. Grow into a guild comparable to the other two in such a short time was a gargantuan task, to say the least.

Unlike the union’s haphazard workings, Arc of Light had been planning for this operation for a very long time. Their management was infamously arrogant and efficient, a known fact among players—whether planning or execution, they were ready even before the get-go-going as far as to plant one of their own in the union. This came in the form of a president of a small-time guild, voluntarily joining the union when it was first established, and even becoming one of its representatives later on.

It meant that, while the union was locked in conclave, Arc of Light watched their every move. They also managed to find out the whereabouts of the four players they hunted. Obviously, the deadline were words that meant nothing to them. After Shen Xixi made the announcement at 11:32 p.m, they would not just there and do nothing to wait for the people from the Arc of Light to look for them.

In fact, at 11.00 p.m, Arc of Light’s first assault team had already arrived near the target location. If Shen Xixi was willing to cooperate, it would all end well, and no blood would be spilled. However, if she was still adamant about going against them, the assault team would attack at midnight, and if everything went according to plan, the battle should end in less than ten minutes.

However, Arc of Light was surprised when they received the latest intel. Their targets had apparently been secretly transferred half an hour ago. Arc of Light’s internal evaluation of Shen Xixi had always held her in high regard. She was young, no doubt, but an equally mature and calm woman. Not to mention the natural charisma and charm she possessed. For these reasons, Arc of Light knew who they were dealing with and had the ball rolling in advance. The current escapade, however, could be the act of Shen Xixi alone.

It was a question no one could solve. It did not matter who was the one that tried to solve it. The fact that Shen Xixi managed to transfer her people secretly in such a risky situation even had Arc of Light bemused.

There was nothing she could do to fix the situation right now—the union’s impending collapse was imminent. Few were willing to stay by Shen Xixi’s side-relying on them take on Arc of Light was no different than using an egg to hit a stone. Moreover, Arc of Light had all the information about Shen Xixi and her comrades in their hands.

Although they stated that they wanted to capture and punish the four murderers tonight, they did not promise that those would be the only targets. If they could not locate who they were looking for, they would look for Shen Xixi next. Since she insisted on getting herself into this pool of chaos, they wouldn’t mind if they ended up with her anyway. They could then interrogate them about the four murderers.

This was why Zhang Heng couldn’t use the extra 24-hours to help her move her people out. Unless Shen Xixi and her allies chose to permanently leave the city and never come back, it would be pointless. She would never take that option unless it was the last resort.

Arc of Light’s leader, Eryue Weicheng, had finished work on time at 4:30 in the afternoon. He drove to the elementary school to pick up his daughter and was about to throw a birthday party for her at Sheraton tonight. He invited all her classmates, and since tomorrow happened to be the weekend, he made an exception to allow his daughter an all-nighter with her friends. Everything had to be pinpoint perfect tonight. His daughter was the only princess of the night, and everyone would be giving their best wishes to her. This importance of this had even surpassed the plan.

Everything that needed preparing had been prepared a long time ago, and it made no difference if he stayed to monitor the whole operation or not. Not to mention that were are two vice-leaders and three chairpersons in the current war-room. Naturally, Eryue Weicheng was not worried about the situation at all.

At 00:05.

No one noticed a parliament of owls perching on the telephone pole, staring down at them with their large yellow-brown eyes. This place was an urban village located at the edge of the Fifth Ring Road. Most local farmers built their own houses here, and some were rented out to migrant workers. Since the subway station was quite a distance away, the rent was relatively cheap. That said, a room with a separate bathroom would still cost up to 1,000 yuan. To save on money, some shared rooms with up to four other people. Li Bai’s rented apartment was shared among four individuals. The room had two bunk beds, just like the setup of a dormitory. Each of them had to fork out 400 yuan per month, and the landlady decided to shut an eye on the matter.

After Li Bai became a player, his income suddenly blossomed. However, he chose to exchange most of his game points for money and sent them back to his hometown, choosing to live here in this urban village. Two minutes ago, he hurried back to this room. It seemed he had come back to retrieve something, not even bothering to reply to his roommate’s jokes.

The two Arc of Light strike teams had quietly surrounded this place. After that, they looked at their superior, a bearded man dressed like a director, who shook his head. “Try your best not to alarm the residents here. Just wait until he comes downstairs.”

Everyone then waited for another five minutes, but still, Li Bai was nowhere in sight. The bearded man realized something was wrong and immediately led a group to the rental house. Inside, three men were topless, drinking beer and playing Honor of Kings. Li Bai was nowhere to be seen. The one guarding the window saw no one coming out of the room either.

Had Li Bai fooled them?

However, the bearded man did not seem too worried. He turned and said to a man behind him, “Find him.”

The latter nodded, lit a handful of weird tobacco, took a deep breath, and made an odd cry. He then rolled his eyes, and at the same time, the group of owls standing on the telephone pole outside the door seemed to have received a message. They quickly spread their wings one after the other and flew in all directions.

The bearded man knew that their target had realized he was being trailed. That meant he probably didn’t come back to get anything. He just wanted to take advantage of the urban village’s complicated layout to distract the strike team. On the other hand, Shen Xixi was preparing to get the four out of the city. It was a pity that they made the wrong move tonight. The second strike team was prepared for this situation.

Those owls were used to deal with this situation. The bearded man knew that Li Bai had been with Shen Xixi for a long time, and he could be considered as a veteran in Shen Xixi’s team. As long they capture him, he would be able to make him tell them the whereabouts of their targets.

There was no problem with his plan. However, he had underestimated Shen Xixi’s determination.

To be more precise, everyone had underestimated Shen Xixi’s determination. She knew all too well how precarious tonight’s situation would be. The strength between the two factions was severely unequal, and it was pointless for her side to mount a defense. From the beginning, she never intended to adopt a defensive strategy, and beyond expectation, chose an offensive tactic instead.

Arc of Light wanted to capture her ally to force her to surrender. At the same time, she wanted to capture the Arc of Light’s senior management as a bargaining chip to negotiate with them.

Li Bai was bait, but not to distract Arc of Light.

He was the bait to draw them in.

Chapter 532 Barber’s Pole

Li Bai kept on running without looking back. Since he was familiar with the terrain, he could easily throw off the enemy’s scents. But no matter how fast he ran, he failed to get rid of the pesky owl above his head.

The latter clung to him like sticky candy. The owl practically served as a feathery Global Positioning System for his enemies. And it would not leave no matter how hard Li Bai tried to scare it off. Naturally, the bird wouldn’t get too close to him that could ensure its safety. Too bad Li Bai didn’t have any long-range weapons. All he could do right now was to flee in embarrassment. At times, he even had to run into others’ homes.

Both Li Bai and his enemies shared a common goal-none of them wanted to alert the residents living in this area. Li Bai only entered houses that their owners had still not returned from work.

The bearded man was impressed by Li Bai’s stamina. After running for a quarter of an hour, Li Bai was sweating profusely but showed no sign of slowing down. It was a pity that he was a player, or he should have tried marathons. Perhaps he would have earned himself a chance to be an Olympic champion after some training.

Arc of Light sent more than two teams of players to deal with them tonight. The other group of players wasn’t as friendly. While Li Bai was running away, he still kept an eye on the enemies that were going after him, but after running for a while, a golf club stuck out from behind the wall in front of him and hit him directly on the right leg.

Li Bai suffered a sharp pain in his calf. It seemed like the bones insides his leg was shattered. Though he was suffering from excruciating pain, he chose to endure it, gritted his teeth, and not said a word about it.

Li Bai then kept running with his other leg. The person who attacked him was in no hurry. He waved to stop his allies, who were about to pounce at Li Bai. “Run! Just keep running. Aren’t you good at running? Although we were asked to capture you alive, as long as you are still breathing, we can do whatever we want to you… really thought you could kill our people and stash away the murderer? You know you have to pay the price, right?”

While talking, the man loosened the tie on his suit and walked up menacingly to Li Bai with the golf club. Li Bai, running in front of him, tripped on something and fell to the ground. Despite that, he said nothing, continuing to crawl toward the barbershop that wasn’t too far away.

At that time, the two assault teams with the bearded man finally caught up. The bearded man frowned when he saw what happened. “Let’s not create more troubles for us. Just capture him and hand him in.”

“There’s no need to rush. Gotta have some fun after working your ass off for so long,” sneered the man in the suit. He then swung the golf club twice but found Li Bai had stopped running. He was leaning against the door of the closed barber, looking at it coldly.

For some reason, anxiety burdened the bearded man’s heart. He quickly pulled out a pistol from his waist. Before he could fully draw his weapon out, his body froze. His mind was still working, though, and he immediately realized what the problem was. The barber’s pole in front of the barbershop seemed to have been around for a long time and looked like a game item. Once the person took a look at it, they would be rendered immobile.

As long as one person got to remind the people at the back not to look at the light, they would regain their freedom. By the time they realized it, it was too late. Everybody quickly followed suit, given a rude awakening when they realized they couldn’t open their mouths.

A total of twenty-four people were frozen in place. At the same time, Rabbit and Shen Xixi walked out of the barbershop. The rabbit ran up to Li Bai. “What a mad lad you are! Are you okay?”

Although Li Bai’s calf hurt like hell, he still managed to squeeze out an ugly smile. “It’s okay. I had to let him hit me. If I stopped here abruptly, they might catch on about something fishy, and they wouldn’t have fallen into this trap.”

Shen Xixi nodded at Li Bai in return. “Hold on. I will ask the faceless man and old K to drive the car here. We will take you to the hospital first.”

“No, it’s just a fracture. I won’t die from it,” reassured Li Bai, wincing a little from the awful pain. “We finally caught so many of them, and there should be two small leaders within. The man holding the golf club and the bearded one are the leaders. Let’s use them to negotiate with Arc of Light.”

A strange voice suddenly echoed in everyone’s ears.

“I’m afraid those chips aren’t quite enough for a negotiation us.”

It was a woman who seemed to be Shen Xixi’s age. She was dressed in sportswear and appeared to be a night runner. She took off the Bluetooth earphones and put them in her pocket, seemingly oblivious to her people were frozen, not far away from her. She then looked at Shen Xixi, and a smile appeared on her face after a while.

“Very well. Just like what we analyzed, you are not the kind of person that would just wait to die.”

“You are?” asked Shen Xixi solemnly.

“You can call me Xiao Bing. Although I have always hated this nickname, all those guild bastards keep calling me Xiaobin anyway. So, it doesn’t matter to me,” the woman named Xiaobing lamented. “I am from Arc of Light’s Department of Strategic Analysis. For the past month, I have spent most of my time studying you.”

“So, last night’s attack was really premeditated?!” Li Bai exclaimed, “You’ve been preparing for this a month, right?”

Xiaobing rolled her eyes and looked at Shen Xixi, deeply bothered by the fact that her ally was asking stupid questions.

Shen Xixi ignored her dirty looks. “What have you learned about me?”

“Almost everything,” Xiaobing snapped her fingers. “I have studied your personality, horoscope, interpersonal relationships, acting style, values, outlook on life, and even the concept of mate selection. So no matter what you do, it’s no secret to me.”

“After talking so much nonsense, many of your allies still got defeated by us!” snorted Rabbit coldly. After seeing Li Bai was injured, she was furious at what they did to him.

“Wrong, little sister,” Xiaobing shook his head, “I said we have anticipated your every move. So, of course, we know that you want to take our people hostage, which is exactly why I sent them here for you to capture them.”

The bearded man did not know what the man in the suit was thinking. If he could speak now, he would have begun to curse her.

However, Shen Xixi seemed to have thought of something when she heard the words, and her face changed.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m talking about two of your allies who are in charge of taking care of our targets. However, the higher-ups need us to capture a few of your people to force you to hand in the four murderers to us. But I think that since we want to capture all of you, it is better to do it all at once. I don’t want any unexpected troubles. I have to thank you for helping us. After you capture our people, you notified your people to come to you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know where to find you.” Xiaobing smiled.