Chapter 166: He’s Completely Innocent

A warm, lively breeze swept by as three white horses unfurled their wings and took off, carrying three large baskets swiftly toward the northern district.

The people standing stiffly outside the city gates were dumbfounded.

Those standing on the city wall wore the same look of shock.

Yi Beimeng rested his right hand on the wall, his pale, devilishly handsome face squinting as he gazed into the distant sky, a faint smile playing on his lips. “Miss Yun really is mysterious. She even managed to get her hands on such mutated beasts.”

Beside him, Zhong Teng, who had come to see them off, shot him a cold, handsome glance. “What are you doing here, Chief Yi?”

Yi Beimeng looked up, his phoenix eyes crinkling with a smile. “Naturally, I came to see Miss Yun. That big green peach-flavored jelly I bought from her last time—everyone in Red Lotus Fort loved it. Recently, Lou Yan went out and earned us another batch of energy coins, so I wanted to see if I could buy another one from Miss Yun to reward the guys.”

Previously, Shen Tu had kept his promise and borrowed a hundred thousand energy coins that very afternoon to buy the green jelly stone they’d had their eye on from Longteng’s base.

That fool really had luck on his side. When he cracked open the green jelly stone, it turned out to be sweet—peach-flavored sweet.

He couldn’t finish it on his own, so he called all the brothers in the fort to share it after dinner. If there were a way to measure happiness, the fort’s collective happiness must have shot up by fifty percent after that peach-flavored jelly was gone.

The remaining fifty percent was filled up by those delicious vegetables.

Ever since then, everyone in the fort had a great impression of Miss Yun, the one selling them fruits, vegetables, and green jelly stones. Taking advantage of their chief’s good temper, they’d been buzzing around him, urging him to poach Miss Yun and make her the fort’s mistress.

If he hadn’t pretended to be sick, their loud voices would have deafened him.

And ever since he’d whimsically decided to pick a mistress to “ward off bad luck,” their enthusiasm for the whole thing had fizzled out. No one even suggested holding another selection.

Yi Beimeng himself wasn’t interested in the odd bunch of women they’d brought back, so he simply canceled the mistress selection altogether.

Still, he didn’t just let those women go. After all, Red Lotus Fort had traded several bottles of nutrient solution for them—he couldn’t just let them leave for free.

If they wanted to go, they had to sign an IOU, especially that Ding Rou woman. She’d benefited from Red Lotus Fort and even hooked up with the Bloodthirst gang. She’d have to sign a debt three times—no, ten times—the usual amount.

Zhong Teng knew Yi Beimeng’s words were half-truths at best, so he just snorted and didn’t press further.

Instead, he narrowed his eyes and asked coldly about another matter. “Three days ago, my brother was ambushed by Kui Hu at Chaos Ridge. Did you have anything to do with that?”

Yi Beimeng blinked, feigning innocence. “Brother Zhong, how could you think that of me? We at Red Lotus Fort just happened to discover your brother’s situation with Kui Hu’s woman, and we just happened to overhear Kui Hu planning to teach him a lesson. That’s why we kindly came to warn you.”

Zhong Teng pressed his lips together, his deep eyes dark and brooding as he stared at Yi Beimeng.

Lies, all lies.

How could there be so many coincidences? He didn’t believe a word of it. This guy was definitely involved.

Yi Beimeng, under his gaze, just smiled calmly, showing no sign of embarrassment or guilt.

As long as he didn’t admit it, he was innocent.

Zhong Teng snorted. “I don’t believe you’re so kind. Who in this chaotic city doesn’t say you’re moody, ruthless, and scheming?”

Yi Beimeng chuckled. “Now that’s not fair. My big, dumb guys all say I’m a great chief—a real good guy.”

Zhong Teng: …

He fell silent. He couldn’t refute that.

The muscleheads at Red Lotus Fort really were hopelessly naive, treating a vicious wolf like a fluffy little sick lamb.

The two of them traded barbs for a few more minutes, but neither gained the upper hand. In the end, they could only call it a draw and head home.

Huan Linyuan and the others stood in the baskets, experiencing a rush of wind and speed they hadn’t felt in ages.

Over an hour later, they left the blazing sun of the western district and crossed into the northern border. The visibility around them dropped sharply; the sky was gray, the colors dull, casting a shadow over everything.

Ming Xiao, whose body was filled with dark matter and extremely sensitive to it, immediately turned even paler, his breathing growing rapid and shallow.

Ming Mu’s handsome face filled with worry. He supported his brother with one hand and gently patted his back with the other. “Are you okay?”

“I’m—cough, cough—I’m fine. I can handle it.” Ming Xiao patted his hand, coughing several times before finally using the last of his light powers to suppress the surging dark matter within him.

At last, he could breathe again.

But Ming Mu still looked anxious. “You’re always pushing yourself. This is the northern infected zone—the place with the worst dark matter.”

He frowned, his heart—recently swayed by Pei Yu—now cooling with doubt. “Is there really an Earth Village that can grow crops with zero dark matter in a place like this?”

The others were worried too, especially after entering the northern district and seeing nothing but scorched earth below, not a blade of grass in sight, and countless berserk beasts roaming about. Their doubts peaked.

Fortunately, the white horses flew fast. Before anyone could regret boarding this “pirate ship” and want to jump off, excited voices came from above. “We’re here! Earth Village is just ahead!”

All twelve in the baskets grabbed the edges and squinted ahead.

At the very edge of the endless scorched earth, a patch of pure white suddenly appeared, standing in stark contrast to the barren land.

It was a towering white mountain range, snowflakes fluttering down as if it were snowing.

Snow in the middle of summer—none of the twelve knew what to make of it, but they all sensed that this must be Earth Village.

Meanwhile, the five riding the horses suddenly received a system message.

[Ding dong—Evil-doers are currently attacking our peaceful and harmonious Earth Village! The village defense battle is underway. All villagers, please take action to save Earth Village!]

Pei Yu, still excited, was stunned: What the hell?

Wu Xingyu, Yuan An, and Yun He, who had arrived late and never seen a village crisis before, were equally baffled.

Only Yun Qimu narrowed her eyes. “Look down.”

They saw a red shield hovering above the village entrance, with a bright red health bar—just like the ones above monsters in games.

Pei Yu and the others instantly understood.

“Damn it! Who’s attacking Earth Village while I’m away? Just wait and see how I deal with you!” Pei Yu was furious, pulling a huge iron sword from his storage and waving it as he angrily directed the white horses toward the village entrance.

He called down to the brothers in the baskets, “Anyone need a weapon?”"