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墨書 Inktalez
The bald man who ventured into the Dead End was clearly bewildered by the scene before him. He saw both mistresses sitting on the ground, while the man of slightly higher status stood. Confusion flickered in his eyes; it seemed that this was not permitted. If he dared to stand before the fallen mistresses, he would be met with a whip capable of tearing his soul apart.
The bald man looked at the three people, and they stared back at him, thoughts racing through his mind in an instant.
Jiao Ziqian felt somewhat anxious; the footsteps outside sounded chaotic. There were likely many people out there, and being trapped in the Dead End meant that if either Zebra Stripes or Ying Dou Dou shouted, he would immediately become a prisoner again. Yet, strangely enough, with four pairs of eyes locked on each other, no one spoke for a long while, only heavy breaths filled the silence. Ying Dou Dou remained silent, and it was understandable given their ambiguous position, but why was Zebra Stripes also mute, as if she wished to swallow him whole?
Jiao Ziqian took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and moved behind Zebra Stripes. Before he could act, Zebra Stripes spoke first.
"What do you want?" Zebra Stripes' emotions had returned to calmness. Although tears still stained her face, her voice had shifted back to her queenly tone—cold and haughty.
The bald man froze for a moment, quickly adopting a respectful posture. He babbled incoherently while pointing at Jiao Ziqian and then at the entrance, gesturing with various confusing signs.
"Does Red Mother want him?" Zebra Stripes asked tentatively.
"Uh-huh," the bald man nodded vigorously.
"Got it. You can leave now," Zebra Stripes replied coldly and turned to glare at Jiao Ziqian, giving him a meaningful look.
"Uh..." Jiao Ziqian was puzzled and didn't respond immediately.
"Help me up," Zebra Stripes said with an expression of exasperation as her tied hands moved slightly.
Jiao Ziqian suddenly understood and hurriedly took her arm to help her up. In doing so, his dagger inadvertently slipped into Fur Coat. Zebra Stripes was speechless at this ungrateful wolf; enduring the cold blade pressed against her skin, she lightly coughed to signal Ying Dou Dou, who was still frozen in place, to get up and follow. Both Jiao Ziqian and Ying Dou Dou were somewhat out of sorts; they felt the situation slipping from their grasp and dared not speak recklessly. They exchanged glances but quickly averted their eyes, the strange atmosphere from the earlier incident still lingering.
The bald man appeared troubled; he stepped back a few paces and gestured again. This time Jiao Ziqian understood—the bald man's intention was that Red Mother wanted them to take Jiao Ziqian away.
"No need; I'll take him," Zebra Stripes said decisively. After speaking, she walked straight out of the alleyway, with the two rebellious boys following closely behind her, their hearts pounding nervously.
Outside the Dead End, there were four or five bald men who hurriedly made way for Zebra Stripes and Ying Dou Dou, their eyes filled with awe. Although their expressions were awkward, they dared not shout again. Just like that, Zebra Stripes inexplicably regained the initiative, as if possessed by Moses, leading the two behind him through the sea of bald heads and into the depths of the tunnel.
"Cough." Jiao Ziqian glanced back and noticed that the bald men were no longer in sight, so he coughed to signal Zebra Stripes to stop.
Zebra Stripes shot him a glare and coldly asked, "What now?"
"Where are you taking me?" Jiao Ziqian inquired.
"Aren't you looking for Red Mother?" Zebra Stripes retorted.
Jiao Ziqian was momentarily speechless, glancing around with a strange expression. Just moments ago, he had been adamant about not going along; how had he suddenly changed his mind? Had he been conquered by the aura of dominance he had just exuded?
"Don't get me wrong. Red Mother happens to be looking for you, and I'm just showing you the way," Zebra Stripes seemed to see through Jiao Ziqian's thoughts and sneered. "You wanted to die, right? Then I'll help you along."
Jiao Ziqian rolled his eyes, unable to decipher Zebra Stripes' words. He raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you so sure that Tomboy will take care of me?"
"How much do you really know about us? Do you think killing a few Eunuchs will change anything?" Zebra Stripes scoffed at his unwarranted confidence.
"Oh, then why don't you show me a clear path?" Jiao Ziqian's mind raced; it seemed unwise to venture into the tiger's den alone, so he decided to adjust his strategy.
"Dream on." Zebra Stripes turned away and ignored him.
"Then go ahead and call for them. Call those bald men to come save you," Jiao Ziqian challenged, feeling defiant. It had clearly been a good opportunity for a counterattack earlier; Zebra Stripes' silence must have some reason behind it. Jiao Ziqian didn't believe he had any charm that would make enemies bow down before him; he suspected that Zebra Stripes was up to something.
"You’re scared," Zebra Stripes said, a strange glint in his eyes as he glanced at the silent Ying Dou Dou beside him. He scoffed, "Just a pretty face pretending to be a man."
"Don't worry about my manhood. You should know why I haven't killed you yet; don't test my patience." Jiao Ziqian was a bit annoyed. Clearly, he had the upper hand now, so why act like a big shot?
"Then go ahead and kill me," Zebra Stripes replied, her eyes sparkling with amusement, looking more like she was mocking him.
Seeing that Jiao Ziqian was getting a bit worked up again, Ying Dou Dou quickly interjected to break up the confrontation between the two. "What do you want from us? We have no grievances with you. Just take us away from here, okay? I promise I won't let him hurt you."
"And why should I trust your promise?" Zebra Stripes's focus shifted slightly, her sharp gaze fixed on Ying Dou Dou, a smirk forming on her lips that made Jiao Ziqian extremely displeased. "Don't forget he almost choked you to death just now."
"Stop trying to sow discord. She's my woman; our family matters are none of your business." Jiao Ziqian blurted out in a rush, his face flushing after realizing what he said. He steeled himself and continued, "No more talking. Either lead the way or die—your choice." With that, he drew a dagger close to Zebra Stripes's delicate throat, coldly stating, "I don't want to compete with a woman; you'd better not make me break that rule."
Zebra Stripes's expression shifted as she glanced at Ying Dou Dou, who was still processing Jiao Ziqian's declaration.
"I can tell you what you want to know, but there's no way for you to escape," Zebra Stripes said after a moment of silence. She sighed softly, conceding a bit. To be honest, she didn't want to see this interesting guy meet his end; she wanted to tame him and make Jiao Ziqian her own possession. Unfortunately, it was like wanting a wild donkey but finding there was no millstone in the cave.
Zebra Stripes wanted to negotiate further and paused before saying seriously, "There's a win-win solution: Doudou, just give him to me, and I promise to bury the hatchet between us. How about it?"
"Not happening," both of them replied in unison.
Before they could say more, a familiar male voice suddenly rang out from behind them.
"What’s going on? Still chatting here?"
Jiao Ziqian turned around at the sound and saw the battered Wu Wentao emerging from one side of the tunnel, dragging along a woman whose left cheek bore the mark of an 'S' and right cheek displayed signs of being a masochist.
"Hey, you're not doing too bad yourself," Jiao Ziqian chuckled, feeling a sense of camaraderie with Wu Wentao.
"What are you mumbling about?" Wu Wentao chuckled softly. Although this kid was still shackled, he didn't seem to have suffered much, unlike himself, who had nearly been ruined by that crazy woman.
"I'm not really cooperating," Jiao Ziqian said. Seeing friendly faces gave him a bit more confidence. He and Ying Dou Dou held onto Zebra Stripes and moved closer together. The five of them squeezed into a dark tunnel without any light, preparing to plot their next steps.
Wu Wentao glanced at Ying Dou Dou and asked in confusion, "I didn't see it coming; you actually have some skills. You even managed to turn someone."
"Something like that, but we'll talk about it later," Jiao Ziqian replied, his face slightly awkward as he looked at Ying Dou Dou, who quickly averted her gaze and pretended to be on lookout.
"What about Brother Jiu?" Wu Wentao inquired.
"I don't know. I just got out not long ago," Jiao Ziqian said, shamelessly burrowing under Ying Dou Dou's fur coat to steal some warmth. He muttered, "It's hard to navigate in here. Should we go out first or what?"
"Let's find a way out first," Wu Wentao frowned as he calculated the time. "There should be more than just us; another person escaped too. I heard those women say one got away and seems like they want to target us. The others probably got caught again."
Jiao Ziqian felt the situation was tricky and said with concern, "We need to think of a way. That Tomboy seems like a psycho; who knows how she trains them."
"We're just two knives; we can't just sneak around and act like thugs," Wu Wentao shot him a glare, feeling disheartened. "I asked around; our gear is with that Tomboy. It's heavily guarded, so we can't sneak in."
"Old Lin went back to get reinforcements; he should be on his way by now," Jiao Ziqian said seriously, frowning. "We need to buy some time and create some chaos."
"This is a cave system; what chaos can we create? We don't have explosives, and fire won't help either. Those bald heads are tougher than zombies. A surprise attack might work, but if they swarm us, we're done for." Wu Wentao expressed his frustration. Back in the grasslands, he had been pinned down by a group of bald heads, running out of ammo while piled under corpses without being able to scare them off.
Noticing Jiao Ziqian's silence, Wu Wentao looked at him curiously and saw that he seemed to have thought of something, his expression peculiar.
"What are you thinking?" Wu Wentao asked tentatively.
“Zombie,” Jiao Ziqian's eyes lit up as he recalled a move that Luo Yu had used at Riverside Camp. Mysteriously, he said, “There should be some Zombie outside. Let’s bring the Zombie in and let those bald heads wrestle with it.”
Zebra Stripes, Dan Fengyan, and Ying Dou Dou all stared at Jiao Ziqian in shock, their expressions filled with disbelief at how cruel he could be.
“Don’t look at me like that, as if you’re all so pure. Damn it, those bald heads are worse than Zombie,” Jiao Ziqian scoffed, secretly squeezing Ying Dou Dou's icy palm. His tone was somewhat unnatural as he muttered, “We need to be clear about our stance; we can’t show mercy to the enemy.”
Ying Dou Dou jerked her hand away as if shocked, her gaze flickering as she stammered, “Just do what you think is best.”
Wu Wentao furrowed his brow in thought before nodding. “It’s a plan.” He then tugged on the chain, pulling Dan Fengyan closer. “Lead the way.”
Dan Fengyan and Zebra Stripes exchanged glances, both filled with fear. The reason they felt safe being in charge here was due to the complex terrain keeping the Zombie at bay. If they let the Zombie in, the Red Mother Dynasty would likely be doomed.
“No, we can’t do this; everyone will die,” Dan Fengyan said, her face turning pale. There was a big difference between being tyrannical and living on the edge. Dan Fengyan realized that the situation was serious; while they could trample on slaves, when it came to survival, Wu Wentao alone could easily shake them off.
“Cooperate, and you two will survive; don’t cooperate, and everyone dies,” Wu Wentao declared, holding a carrot in one hand and a stick in the other. He had no qualms like Jiao Ziqian did; if any woman dared to utter a word of dissent, she would face dire consequences.
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