“There are actually others?”
Lin Zhen narrowed his eyes and searched carefully, but he still couldn’t spot where the person was hiding.
However, he had no time for further observation.
The squad of trainees Yun Ruoxi had mentioned had already launched their ambush!
A net-like object, shaped like a sphere, flew out from the forest and spread open with a thunderous sound in midair.
It descended like a heaven-spanning snare, enveloping the criminals on the ground.
The advancing criminals were caught off guard by the sudden attack and scattered in all directions, yet four of them
were caught squarely by the net.
Swish, swish, swish!
The Alloy Net abruptly shrank at high speed, turning back into a ball, binding the trapped criminals firmly within.
Immediately after, three figures leapt down from the treetops.
Two men and one woman; the two men were unremarkable, but the girl had striking red hair and a sweet face.
They engaged the criminals who had narrowly escaped, and a chaotic battle broke out.
These criminals not only carried weapons, some were also skilled in martial arts. With their numbers giving them the upper hand, the two sides fought fiercely, neither able to gain the advantage.
“Let’s go, we’ll join in too!”
Yun Ruoxi’s gaze lingered briefly on the red-haired girl, then she quietly led Lin Zhen to flank from the side.
But before they could get close, the battle changed once again.
Over a dozen criminals burst from the dense forest in the distance!
This was actually a case of ‘the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind’—a counter-ambush!
Not only were the three trainees caught off guard, even Yun Ruoxi, who was sneaking up, was stunned.
“Damn, these criminals are really ruthless…”
“They even set up a counter-ambush. The roles of hunter and prey have swapped in an instant. No wonder the criminals who survived this long are extraordinary—they must have all banded together.”
Lin Zhen kept his voice low as he analyzed.
“Should we still go in?” Yun Ruoxi whispered.
“Let’s observe a bit longer. If any Cyber-beings are hiding among them, that could be trouble.”
Having gone through brutal battles, Lin Zhen was especially calm.
Once bitten, twice shy—he had come to fully understand the importance of intelligence in combat.
With Yun Ruoxi by his side, unless he was certain of victory, he would not act rashly.
“Mm!” Yun Ruoxi nodded in understanding.
The two lowered their steps and moved to the edge of the battlefield, where they could observe the situation more clearly.
Including those trapped by the net, there were as many as twenty-two criminals in this group.
Most were men; though there was no obvious leader, four of them were extremely skilled in martial arts.
Among the trainees, only 0001, 0002, Yun Ruoxi, and a few others who excelled at hand-to-hand combat could match them in skill.
At first, the three trainees could hold their own thanks to their martial prowess and equipment, but with the addition of those four, they were quickly defeated, knocked to the ground, their limbs bound.
The red-haired girl tried to resist, but one of the men struck the back of her neck with a precise hand chop.
She immediately lost consciousness.
Yun Ruoxi looked at Lin Zhen, who shook his head lightly and said, “Don’t make any sudden moves.”
These criminals were far stronger than expected, especially those four—their martial skills were top-notch, and their teamwork seamless.
Just their level of threat alone surpassed even the Cyber-beings.
Rather than provoke them, Lin Zhen felt it would be better to pick another target.
Yun Ruoxi nodded slightly. Just as they were about to retreat, something changed on the battlefield.
It seemed not all the criminals were united—a male criminal walked toward the unconscious red-haired girl with a lecherous grin, clearly intent on something vile.
Some of the others gathered around, jeering and making suggestive noises.
They spoke the Universal Language of the Empire, but all with thick accents.
It seemed they were all from the same place.
“What are they trying to do?” Yun Ruoxi frowned, puzzled.
“Something despicable.” Lin Zhen gripped his gun tightly, a trace of anger flashing in his eyes.
They were all trainees—he couldn’t just stand by and watch one of his own suffer humiliation.
He took a deep breath, slowly raised his gun, and aimed at the man rubbing his hands together.
“Xiao Xi, I’ll shoot and then we retreat immediately. Is that okay?”
「Support justice in action!」
「Nice! Scum like this needs to be dealt with」
「Doesn’t anyone think this red-haired girl looks a bit like Alice from Mushoku Tensei?」
「It’s just the hair color—don’t force weird comparisons」
Yun Ruoxi’s eyes narrowed dangerously, “No problem.”
Just as Lin Zhen was about to pull the trigger, one of the four martial arts experts who’d been talking together suddenly sprang forward, darting into the crowd like a leopard!
Bang!
He kicked the lecherous criminal away, then quickly knocked down a few of the jeering ones, spitting on them in disgust.
Then, deftly, he picked up the unconscious red-haired girl and the other two trainees, and strode away before anyone could react.
The other three martial arts experts followed close behind, their figures quickly vanishing into the dense forest.
The beaten criminals groaned and climbed up, cursing after their departing figures, faces full of resentment, but they still chased after them.
“Let’s follow them and take a look.” Yun Ruoxi suddenly spoke.
“You want to save that girl?” Lin Zhen asked.
“Yeah, I don’t want to leave her with that bunch of scum.” Yun Ruoxi thought for a moment, then added,
“Besides, it seems those people aren’t united. If we launch a surprise attack at night, we might have a chance.”
“Alright, let’s play it by ear then”
Lin Zhen put away his gun without comment.
The two quietly tailed the last batch of criminals and arrived at the entrance of a pitch-black cave at the foot of the mountain.
“This is tricky. The cave is easy to defend and hard to attack.”
Staring at the dark, deep cave, the two, hiding in the grass, dared not rush in.
In such a narrow passage, if the enemy set up an ambush at a bend, it would be extremely dangerous.
“How about we wait until night to see how things go?”
Yun Ruoxi was reluctant to give up.
This wasn’t written in the original storyline outline.
She wasn’t sure if it had always existed, or if she’d caused a butterfly effect.
But the key was, the red-haired girl was useful to her plan—she couldn’t give up so easily.
“Then let’s wait till night.”
Their journey was no longer as urgent as before, so Lin Zhen let Yun Ruoxi have her way.
After all, the other side had the numbers, and there would definitely be someone on watch at night. Even if they couldn’t rescue those three, there was still a chance to complete their hunting objective.
So all that was left was to wait.
They retreated slowly and climbed up a giant tree.
From the treetop, they set up a Cyber-Eye Modified Telescope and kept silent watch over the cave entrance.
The mist of the Misty Forest made visibility especially poor, so Yun Ruoxi and Lin Zhen dared not stray too far—for fear that when the fog set in, they would see nothing at all.
There was still a long time until night. Before darkness fell, they saw the criminals leaving the cave one after another.
Yun Ruoxi counted; there were eighteen in total, and only three martial arts experts went with them.
“They’re probably out hunting again. That means at least four are left to guard the cave?” Lin Zhen rested his left hand on his waist, a sharp gleam in his eyes.
It seemed their chance had come.