Who Entered the Fray?

"There is." He Lingchuan crouched to inspect the dead man's neck. With the severed head fitted back into place, four small puncture holes could be seen on the neck, along with gnaw marks from a row of teeth. "This killer is no ordinary foe." "These wounds are...?" "Bite marks from drinking blood." Humanoid, fond of blood. He Lingchuan was not merely familiar with such monsters—not long ago, he had dealt with one every single day. Hearing this, the personal guards behind him turned pale. Humans harbored an innate dread and loathing toward blood-drinking creatures. Who would have thought a ba would appear among the Longchuan bandits? He Lingchuan didn't have the heart to tell Chao Qian that a ba disliked drinking the blood of the dead. Which meant when it drank, Miao Mingming must still have been breathing. "None of the other ambushed units bore wounds like this. So that bloodsucker was likely sated after the first fight." Indeed, aside from Miao Mingming's team being slaughtered, three other patrol squads along the southern trade route had been ambushed in the past twenty-four hours, leaving thirty-nine dead and fourteen wounded. More had fallen than survived wounded—a testament to how brutal the combat had been, and how ferocious their adversaries were. Chronologically, Miao Mingming's unit had been the first to fall victim. "This is a counterattack by the river bandits." He Lingchuan rose and walked out of the courtyard. The others hurried after him, quietly letting out their breath. Inside the room, the stench of corpses was suffocating; anyone with less fortitude would have vomited on the spot. "Our recent sweep of the southern trade route has been very effective, so they're trying a different tactic to fight us." The great victory in the defense of Yuheng City had dealt a heavy blow to the Longchuan river bandits' arrogance. Following that, Yuheng City pressed its advantage, organizing its newly trained troops into patrol units deployed along the southern trade route and neighboring villages. On one hand, it served as live-combat training; on the other, it purged bandits and eliminated threats. This was also the first and most foundational step of He Lingchuan's plan: strictly police the southern trade route to squeeze the river bandits' living space. There were over fifty bandit gangs in Longchuan. Once they couldn't plunder enough wealth and goods, problems would inevitably erupt among them. Yet the Longchuan bandits were craftier than their counterparts on the Panlong Wasteland, after all. They had devised a countermeasure, daring to ambush Yuheng City patrols in broad daylight. This was an open challenge. Door Plank said through gritted teeth, "Let's storm right into their hideout and slaughter every last one of them!" He Lingchuan asked Chao Qian, "Do we know which gang it was?" Chao Qian shook his head. "No insignias on their clothes or weapons. And they carried off the bodies of their own dead." "In which gangs' territories did these ambushes take place?" "All I know is that the area around Manjia Village was claimed by the Globe Amaranth Gang as their raiding turf. As for the others, I'm not sure," Chao Qian answered. "These gangs fight among themselves constantly, so territories shift all the time. We'd have to ask our undercover informants inside Longchuan to be certain." He Lingchuan frowned slightly. Ever since Panlong City conquered Xiji, Yuheng City had been conducting bandit suppression for months, yet they still hadn't completely figured out the internal power dynamics and territorial divisions of the gangs. Was this not a form of arrogance? Government troops naturally looked down on bandits; the army from Panlong City looked down on the rabble hiding in the marshes of Longchuan. Yet suppressing the bandits this time was likely neither simple nor easy. "Outside forces are meddling in Longchuan." Chao Qian immediately said, "Jintao." Jintao refused to step onto the field itself, secretly funding the Longchuan bandits and rebels instead. Yuheng City had already grown wary of this. He Lingchuan gave him a look. "More than that. There's also the northern demon kingdom." "Beijia?" The men's expressions finally shifted. "Beijia is meddling in Longchuan?" "The wounds on Miao Mingming's neck were made by a ba." He Lingchuan turned to face them. "In this day and age, I've only ever heard of a ba existing in the northern demon kingdom!" Counting the years, this was precisely the time when Fu Shanyue's father was making a name for himself in Beijia. Without earth-shattering military exploits, how could it have later qualified to establish the thirteenth vassal demon kingdom? Seeing the shock on their faces, He Lingchuan spoke slowly: "You've fought a hundred battles and look down on the Longchuan bandits. Now that Beijia is very likely involved, do you still dare remain complacent?" His gaze, piercing as a torch, swept across their faces. The men lowered their heads one after another, stammering that they wouldn't dare. "Listen well. I want to charge into Longchuan and slaughter every last one of them too, but now is not the time. Commander Xiao already tried that, and unfortunately, it accomplished very little," He Lingchuan said in a deep voice. "The coming struggle will be locked in stalemate and protracted. The bandits' counterattacks will only grow more vicious, but our pressure on Longchuan will grow firmer still. This is a contest of endurance—to see who breaks first!" Chao Qian, Willow, Door Plank, and the others thumped their chests hard, shouting, "Panlong will prevail!" True to the conviction of the Panlong City army, they never admitted defeat, no matter what manner of contest it was. "Transport our brothers' bodies back to Yuheng City for a proper burial. Add ten more patrol squads along the southern trade route, and increase each squad to thirty men. Carry out two more sweeps against the outer Longchuan bandits in the coming days, and put up a hefty bounty on the murderers of our brothers," He Lingchuan ordered. "Anyone reporting vital leads will also be rewarded fifty taels of gold. Heavy rewards bring forth brave souls." The men chorused their agreement and dispersed to carry out their orders. Chao Qian hesitated, looking as if he wanted to speak. The bandits who murdered Miao Mingming and the others remained unidentified, and no one knew which gang was responsible, so why was the commander directly ordering sweeps of Longchuan's outer perimeter? He Lingchuan sensed his confusion and explained, "Longchuan is hardly a monolith. When we intensify our sweeps, the gangs will only think the killers provoked the authorities into furious retaliation, and they'll resent the perpetrators as well." They hadn't done it, yet they had to suffer the consequences. Who wouldn't feel aggrieved? The situation inside Longchuan was complex; the gangs should never have been treated as a single whole in the first place. Divide and conquer was the right approach. He Lingchuan had also reviewed the records and documents left behind by Commander Xiao. After taking over General Red's responsibilities and purging the rebels within Xiji, Xiao Maoliang had set about dealing with the Longchuan bandits. Initially aiming to cut the Gordian knot with swift encirclement and extermination, he had failed. He had also tried decapitation strikes, directly leading troops into Longchuan to strike the largest local gang, wiping out over six hundred bandits in that single campaign. The results had been just as disappointing. With over fifty gangs in Longchuan, taking down one merely allowed the rest to carve up its territory and power. In the end, nothing changed—if anything, he had cleared the obstacles for other gangs to grow bigger and stronger. When Wen Daolun said Xiao Maoliang had handled bandit suppression well, it had really been mere flattery. Xiao Maoliang had performed well in everything else, except bandit suppression... Conversely, if his suppression efforts had been effective, why would Panlong City have replaced him with He Lingchuan? This was the new mission Panlong City had assigned to He Lingchuan, and it had to be accomplished, but rooting out the Longchuan bandits would not be easy. A multi-pronged approach was necessary, He Lingchuan thought. Yet why had the northern demon kingdom set its sights on Longchuan and Yuheng City again? Was it maintaining their customary role as shit-stirrers, fomenting localized war and conflict here? After all, the gods worshipped by Beijia required nightmare energy. Or were they still suspicious of Mitian, and of Panlong City?