Chapter 114: Life is a Play, Success Lies in the Performance

Everyone had already donned their armor, merely cloaked in robes as a form of disguise.

Wu Qingsong knew such a tactic might raise the enemy’s suspicions, but he was unwilling to expose his team to any unnecessary dangers.

“Remember what you need to do. If there are many of them, either take their leader hostage or kill him and then find a way to escape. If there are few, kill them all.”

“Sir, what counts as many?”

“How many do you think you can take on? Be realistic, don’t exaggerate.”

“About… maybe two,” Beck responded, after a moment of hesitation.

“If we’re facing more than fifteen, that’s ‘many’,” declared Wu Qingsong.

He had resolved to personally take down at least three adversaries. Ling’s capability would be situational, but taking out two unprepared enemies seemed doable. If each of the six houndmen could ambush and defeat one enemy and then take on another, that would tally up to seventeen foes. Still, he chose to err on the side of caution.

Much would hinge on the enemy’s response. If they remained sufficiently vigilant, it would be difficult to annihilate them completely.

Ling’s power, once revealed, required no survivors. The adversaries knew the desert far better than they did, and any escapee could complicate matters.

Thus, the crux lay in catching the enemy off-guard.

“Your primary task is to protect yourselves,” he instructed the houndmen. “if they start shooting arrows right away, we’ll retreat behind those rocks for cover and engage them there. Get ready, they’re coming. Everyone, fall back.”

A motley crew of beastmen, clad in a colorful array of clothing, emerged from behind the wind-eroded rocks ahead. Some outfits were unmistakably women’s attire, likely plundered by the bandits and crudely adapted for their use.

The majority of the beastmen were lean and diminutive but exuded agility, all except the jackalman leading them, who towered above the rest. In the whole group, only a few, including this jackalman, were armored.

This boded well for them.

They feigned panic as per the plan, making a show of difficulty as they scrambled toward the chaotic heap of rocks behind. The bandits, predictably, relaxed their vigilance, pursuing them with raucous shouts and encircling them on horseback. They then regroup behind Wu Qingsong.

“One, two, three…” 

Wu Qingsong overheard a houndman softly counting in the back and almost sighed. In such a crucial moment, a mental count would have sufficed. Was there a need to be so diligent?

It was clear at a glance that their number exceeded fifteen but was under twenty.

Given that the enemy believed victory was within grasp and hadn’t launched an immediate assault, their chances of turning the tables were significantly higher.

Seizing the moment to demonstrate his acting skills, Wu Qingsong asked with feigned panic, “Who… who are you people?”

“Who are we?” the jackalmen roared with laughter. “We’re here to do good deeds, of course.”

Just then, Aberni, sporting a wide grin, emerged from behind the tall jackalman, leading the camels. Wu Qingsong, seizing the cue, adopted a pose of outraged anger, “You… you’re bandits!?”

“Hahaha~!” 

Inwardly, he thought his performance was slightly exaggerated. For someone supposedly parched for so long, his shout seemed implausibly vigorous. However, the bandits seemed oblivious to this overacting, their laughter intensifying.

“Did you manage to find water?” taunted the jackalman.

Surrounded by the encroaching bandits, Wu Qingsong looked around in feigned terror, offering no reply.

The jackalman, perhaps bored by the charade, sneered, “Hand over anything of value and strip off your clothes. We wouldn’t want them stained with blood. Behave, and you’ll get a swift end. You can even be buried in that pit you dug.”

“That girl looks fine. she can get to enjoy another day, hahaha,” jeered a hyenaman in a grating voice.

Wu Qingsong scanned the area. There appeared to be no lookouts or backup. The bandits, perhaps underestimating any threat from his group, had all converged upon them.

“You won’t get away with this,” he declared, feigning weakness as he unsteadily drew his sword and called out faintly. Leading his group, they all hurriedly retreated into the pile of rocks. 

True to plan, the bandits, chuckling and jeering, dismounted and gave chase.

In line with Wu Qingsong’s strategy, Ling escaped into a narrow path, quickly followed by three or four bandits. The rest, after a moment’s hesitation, pursued Wu Qingsong and his companions.

The tall jackalman and the few others clad in armor, perhaps due to their arrogance, didn’t join the pursuit.

Wu Qingsong then murmured under his breath, “Wipe them out.”

Ling’s voice echoed, fraught with feigned panic, “Stop! Don’t come any closer!”

But her warnings were met with the bandits’ oblivious laughter.

“Now,” Wu Qingsong whispered sharply, then escalated to a loud shout, “What are you doing? Stop! No, please!”

The bandits were momentarily paralyzed. As they rounded a large boulder, they were met with the sight of houndmen armed with crossbows, already in wait.

It was an ambush.

But the realization dawned too late. At such close range, dodging was impossible. The forceful bolts from the crossbows pierced through a bandit’s shoulder, his blood spattering onto a comrade behind him.

Their screams of pain were overpowered by the even louder cries of the houndmen.

“Help us!”

“Sir, save us!”

“I don’t want to die! Help!”

“Stay back, don’t come any closer!”

Amid the chaos of their cries, the houndmen swiftly abandoned their crossbows, unsheathed their swords, and launched a ferocious charge. They forcefully knocked aside the bandits in their path and mercilessly stabbed those who fell, silencing them.

The disparity in physical size between the two groups was evident, with the added advantage of armor significantly bolstering the houndmen’s combat effectiveness. Coupled with their readiness against the unsuspecting bandits, the skirmish was decisively brief. The pursuing bandits were rapidly subdued, leaving none alive.

“Ling!” 

Wu Qingsong, carefully avoiding to be seen, hurried to Ling’s location, only to discover a gruesome scene of dismembered bodies.

“Wu!” 

Ling, overwhelmed by memories of her past traumas, had instinctively unleashed her powers in a frenzied attack on the unguarded bandits, driven by fear and disgust. She rushed into Wu Qingsong’s embrace.

“It’s all right now,” Wu Qingsong reassured her. “These men received their just desserts.”

Meanwhile, the houndmen kept up their loud cries, retrieving and swiftly rearming their crossbows.

“Sir?” Beck, maintaining the illusion of ongoing combat by clashing his swords together, approached Wu Qingsong.

Outside, five or six bandits remained, all mounted on horseback. Capturing them would be challenging.

“Target their horses,” Wu Qingsong commanded. “Focus on the tall jackalman. We can spare the others, but he must be captured. Do it now!”