"Yo, still a tough guy." Huagulong sneered upon hearing those words.
Over there, Lao Xie gave a cold snort but didn’t get angry. Instead, he said, "The voice doesn’t sound like Boss Hu, does it? By the way, where’s Boss Hu? Hurry and tell him, we’re mainly here for him today. The other teams are innocent, and your passage fee has already been paid by Boss Hu. You can leave in peace now."
As soon as he said that, many people from the defensive teams in Akse City looked different, as if the strong defensive line was suddenly affected.
"Is what he said true or not?"
"Damn it, those are sand bandits, do you believe anything a bandit says?"
"What if it’s true? The passage fee... isn’t it true that if someone else paid it, we are off the hook?"
"They’ve reached the doorstep, and you’re still dreaming!"
At the Black Rose Bar, Hu Lushou’s face darkened upon hearing this, looking at the captains of several teams and swallowing secretly, while Sun Chang next to him also realized that the other party was trying to divide their camp. Although it seemed straightforward, under such circumstances, there was no guarantee that someone wouldn’t lose their cool, so she also moved forward vigilantly.
Unexpectedly, Lu Zhao from Team Dawn heard this, and immediately glared angrily, inexplicably laughed, picked up a loudspeaker, and sneered.
"Hahaha, no wonder you’re the leader of the sand bandits. Your brain may be sick, but you do have some understanding of military tactics." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel•fire.net
"Coming with a show of strength to intimidate, and then playing siege warfare, right? Trying to sow discord now, you think I’m an idiot? Do you think I’ll believe your sand bandit crap, or that tonight’s Abnormal Body is a sweet young lady?"
Hu Lushou was surprised by Lu Zhao’s words and couldn’t help but give him a thumbs up.
"Captain Lu is truly a brilliant person, seeing through their vile scheme at once!"
Lu Zhao casually tossed the loudspeaker onto the table, his face still serious. Even though he appeared rough and impulsive, it didn’t mean he wasn’t shrewd, nor did it change the fact that he was once a top student with a master’s degree. He could see through Lao Xie’s crafty mind immediately, but even so, the current predicament remained severe.
Lu Zhao’s words instantly suppressed the murmuring among the teams, bringing the survivors back to reality.
Wu Dapeng, who was blocking the west of the city, squinted his eyes and immediately called a subordinate over.
"Those few Lu-named guys are at the Black Rose Bar now. Take some people quietly to keep an eye on them, wait for the boss’s orders..."
He made a throat-slitting gesture; capturing the leader first is critical for these teams, as if they take out the leader, the defensive line will quickly collapse.
"Okay!" The subordinate responded and left.
Meanwhile, on Lao Xie’s side, upon hearing Lu Zhao’s words, a cold glint flashed in his eyes, then he still said sternly,
"Oh, it seems this team captain chooses the hard way. Since none of your people want to leave, fine, next all your team members, men will have their eyes gouged out and noses cut off, women raped on the spot, leaving no one behind, how’s that? Does that do justice to your courage?"
His words directly placed Lu Zhao and his team in opposition, with ruthless intent indeed.
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhao swore under his breath, knowing full well what the other side was playing at. These sand bandits wanted to completely annihilate them but were trying to employ psychological games to break them apart before taking them down easily.
But for a moment, he had no solution; the initiative was entirely in the opponent’s hands, and they had no choice but to defend.
"What do we do now?" Xie Guan asked gravely, "We definitely can’t win in a fight, do we just keep dragging it out?"
"That’s no good. With the tactics these sand bandits have, there’s no guarantee they won’t cause trouble once night falls. If we provoke the Abnormal Body, we’re really finished," said another team captain, looking distressed.
"What if they keep setting fire to the city ?"
"No, no, everyone calm down," Hu Lushou came over at this point, reaching for the loudspeaker on the table and looking at the team captains with a probing smile, "Since they called me by name, let me try negotiating with Lao Xie, okay?"
Then Hu Lushou picked up the loudspeaker under everyone’s gaze, cleared his throat,
The high-powered speaker outside was deafening, echoing down the street. Hu Lushou awkwardly chuckled, then got serious,
"Is... Lao Xie, Red Eagle, and Boss Huagulong there? It’s me, Hu Lushou, what... what happened today, bringing so many people, getting so heated?"
Hu Lushou’s voice echoed through Akse City, and on the sand bandit side, the three of them, including Lao Xie, smiled slightly upon hearing his voice.
Lao Xie picked up the loudspeaker, "Boss Hu, why are you acting ? You begged me back then to help you brothers collect passage fees, and now everyone’s risking their lives working outside, yet you want to abandon your brothers and run?"
"No way, how can that be, who said that?!"
Hu Lushou immediately denied three times in a row, "Today I was even planning to hand over what I collected over these three days to you, you must have heard wrong!"
Lao Xie snorted coldly, the fat on his face quivering, and said with interest, "Forget it, don’t come at me with that. I already saw through your schemes. I know you’re not one of us. How about this, leave the two percent cut you got, and considering your hard work, I’ll let you and your team leave safely, how about that? I know you actually don’t want to stick around here; with the Extreme Night coming, you also want to run, so from now on, I’ll handle the passage fee collections myself."