Chapter 321 - 10: So It Was You (Part 2)

Chapter 321: Chapter 10: So It Was You (Part 2)

Not long after the fight began, it dawned on him that he was the one who had sent the distress signal. He just didn’t know what had happened between Lin Yu and the Lizard-men that had kept them from fighting.

But even though he realized he had misunderstood Lin Yu, he had no intention of stopping. It wasn’t often he met an opponent who was his equal. How could he stop before he’d had his fill of the fight? Besides, they’d already started.

The rest of their fight was more like a sparring match. They just got a little carried away, and their moves were a bit over-the-top.

Lin Yu tried to change the subject. "Didn’t I tell you to wait in the office? Why did you follow us?"

"If I hadn’t followed you, what would I have done if those Lizard-men went back and cornered me in the office? Judging by how you two started fighting the second you met, if I hadn’t come along, I bet you both would have forgotten all about me!"

"Aren’t you both lords? Don’t you get enough fighting in your own territories?" Li Xintong couldn’t understand their behavior.

"There’s no one in my territory who’s a match for me. It’s no fun!" Li Hua declared, striking a dramatic, invincible pose.

Lin Yu’s eyes widened as he glanced at Li Hua, then he chimed in, "It’s pretty much the same for me. No real opponents in my territory. The fights just don’t have any kick to them!"

Li Xintong, having no reason to doubt them, seemed to accept their explanation.

After that, Lin Yu and Li Hua exchanged intelligence (or rather, they just chatted). Li Hua learned that someone had been pulling the strings behind the scenes, causing these supposedly upright Lizard-men—who only wanted to mine—to attack him. Otherwise, they would have simply driven him and Li Xintong away.

"Someone’s actually playing dirty? Trying to get these Lizard-men to capture me?"

Li Hua was stunned. He’d thought that handing over the Star Technique would be enough to divert the attention of those princelings, but he hadn’t expected to be targeted anyway.

Now he had two options. One was to hurry back to the Lord Service Center. The other was to find the person who was stabbing him in the back and deal with the problem once and for all.

None of this had anything to do with Lin Yu, though. He was just here to check on the situation and maybe rescue someone while he was at it.

Li Hua thought for a moment and decided to first try and eliminate this lingering threat. Otherwise, when he had to leave his sister on Cuiwei Star next month, he wouldn’t be able to rest easy—even with the Lord Service Center’s supposed guarantees of safety for lords’ families.

"Let’s go find that Lizard-man supervisor, then. He seemed pretty reasonable," Lin Yu suggested when he saw Li Hua had made up his mind.

The three of them left the tunnel and walked openly through the base in search of the supervisor. Perhaps the other Lizard-man had already put in a good word, because none of the ones they passed showed any obvious hostility. They did, however, quicken their pace whenever they saw Li Hua.

When they found the Lizard-man supervisor, he was standing in the middle of a crowd of his kin. Two other Lizard-men were being forced to kneel in the center of the group.

"Beat them! And beat them hard! I don’t believe it. You act so tough? If you’re so tough, how did you let yourselves get bribed?"

At his command, two other Lizard-men brandished whips and repeatedly struck the ones kneeling on the ground.

Lin Yu took a closer look. ’Hey, aren’t those the two Lizard-men I controlled?’

"Hey, what did they do?"

The Lizard-men turned to look at him. The supervisor ignored his question and asked in surprise, "Why are you still here? Planning to stay for dinner?"

"Ask him!" Lin Yu said, pointing at Li Hua.

Li Hua stepped forward. "I hear someone told you I was a wanted criminal. Can you tell me who it was?"

"What? Looking for revenge?" the Lizard-man said with contempt. "With your meager strength? You couldn’t even fight your way out of my base, and now you want to go looking for trouble?"

"You don’t need to worry about that. Just tell me who it was."

"And why should I betray my ally for you?" the supervisor shot back.

Li Hua was speechless. It was true; he couldn’t just demand the Lizard-man supervisor give up information for no reason. Even if he tried to use force, the supervisor was quite strong himself. He probably couldn’t beat him, and even if he could, the supervisor could still easily escape.

"Supervisor, we did make a deal, after all. If it comes to it, let’s just make another one."

"Don’t be ridiculous! When did we ever make a deal?" the Lizard-man flatly denied. "I simply realized, thanks to your ’reminder,’ that I had been deceived, and I promptly ceased my attempts to capture an innocent man."

"My apologies, I must have misremembered. Well... since we’re practically acquaintances now, I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of learning your name."

"Vincent Lang."

"He’s Li Hua, my name is Li Yu, and this is my little sister, Li Xintong."

"Here’s the thing, Officer Vincent. We have a batch of ’Bountiful Resource Packs’ that we’d like to trade with your ally. If you could give us his information, we would be sure to thank you properly."

Vincent’s eyes lit up. "My ally is a man of considerable wealth. ’Bountiful Resource Packs’ alone won’t be enough. Why not add some random building blueprints, and maybe a Random Hero Summon Scroll of a random Excellent grade? If you do that, he might agree to see you."

"So, if you want me to give you his information, you’ll have to prepare the items for the trade first."

Vincent could see how desperate Lin Yu’s group was to find the mastermind, so he made an exorbitant demand, asking for even more compensation.

"Sir Vincent, how about a little discount?"

"No, no, that’s not possible. If it’s just ’Bountiful Resource Packs,’ he definitely won’t see you."

...

Lin Yu and Vincent began to haggle intensely.

This time, however, Vincent didn’t lower his asking price so easily.

He already had the Cultivation Manual he so desperately needed. Everything else was just a bonus—nice to have, but he’d be fine without it.