Shen Ya’s last vestiges of hope evaporated as soon as Zhao Kuo and the others strolled into sight. So the Sky Blade Squad had been decimated.
His plan—utterly broken.
He slumped against a tree trunk. “You win, Li Luo,” he muttered.
Li Luo ignored him, instead going to shake hands with Zhao Kuo.
“Brother Luo, have you tied things up on this end?” Zhao Kuo and the others hurried over. They looked over at the listless Shen Ya. His face told them all they needed to know.
It was a shocking result—the strongest Gold Gleam squad had been taken down by just Li Luo and Bai Mengmeng.
Incredible.
Zong Fu and the others looked at Li Luo with profound respect.
“Looks like you tidied up your end as well,” Li Luo said cheerfully.
“Brother Luo,” Zhao Kuo said with shame in his voice, “I’m sorry I compromised us and put you in danger.”
If not for Li Luo’s contingencies, Xu Ge’s betrayal might well have been enough to turn the tide on them.
Li Luo waved it off casually. “Don’t mention it. If you hadn’t alerted me at the start, I might have been done in by them as well.”
If he hadn’t been told about the Governor Squad’s evil intentions, he might not have made such preparations, and subsequently would’ve fallen to the combined onslaught of the Governor Squad and the Sky Blade Squad. Then again, he might not have lost, but it would have been a very close fight.
Li Luo didn’t like close and risky knife fights. He much preferred bringing guns to knife fights.
There was rustle behind them, then more people walked into view. It was Ye Hua.
“Stone boy.” Li Luo waved.
“Stop calling me that!”
“Thanks a lot for this, stone boy,” Li Luo beamed.
Li Luo had not only let him go after fighting him, but had even given him some points. He had asked for Ye Hua to watch for his signal, and also to gather some Gold Gleam squads just in case.
Back then, he had just made standard contingencies, unaware that Xu Ge would end up betraying them. He had simply felt that the information that he was being targeted had spread too easily. There had to be more to it.
Still, results-wise, Li Luo’s response had been spot-on.
Ye Hua stared at the recalcitrant Li Luo helplessly. “Ah, forget it. But our business is done. Time to settle up.”
He indicated the four Gold Gleam squads that had helped with the ambush.
“I’ve gotten my reward, but I promised them a gold badge each just for showing their strength.”
Li Luo flinched visibly. Well done, stone boy. Made free with my purse, eh? One gold badge per team. Four teams, four gold badges, 400 points!
A sizable sum indeed.
“Hey, you wouldn’t run out on the bill, would you…” Ye Hua accused. “It’s slightly steep, but it can’t be helped. It cost good gold to get them to overcome their fear of the Governor Squad, you know. They’re the best Gold Gleam squad after all.”
Li Luo shook his head exasperatedly, then he took out four gold badges and threw them down. Although it had cost him dearly, he couldn’t be ungrateful.
Ye Hua handed out the badges, saying, “Leave quickly, before he changes his mind and wipes you all out.”
The four Gold Gleam squads were happy. “If you need to hire us again in the future, be sure to let us know, Brother Luo.” They left in good cheer.
Li Luo watched them glumly. After hustling for so long, he had just been working to get points for others.
400 freaking points.
“Well, if there’s nothing else, I’m going too.” Ye Hua waved. He sensed a strangeness about Li Luo that he felt was better to avoid. The guy wouldn’t be ready to rob him back, would he?
He decided to beat it.
“Well, thanks,” Li Luo said with no thankfulness whatsoever. “Come find me if you’re in trouble next time. But I will charge a fee at that time too.”
“I wouldn’t be able to afford you,” Ye Hua called from a distance as he hurried away.
Li Luo turned back to Shen Ya and took a third of his badges.
It only added up to slightly over 300 points.
d.a.m.n, he was still short.
Life sucked.
“Brother Luo, we took down the Sky Blade Squad and Xu Ge’s squad. We got slightly more than 400 points there. Let me give you some,” Zhao Kuo said apologetically.
Li Luo glared at them. It was out of the question. Zhao Kuo’s squad was only middle of the pack among the Gold Gleam squads. It was definitely much harder for them to get points.
How could he possibly take that away from them?
“Seems like you made a loss on this one.” Shen Ya smirked.
“That’s not how losses are calculated,” Li Luo said calmly. “Now that you’re out of the picture, there’ll be no more annoying mice to deal with when the fight with w.a.n.g Hejiu rolls around. If I just finish off the Golden Gate Squad, there’ll be no shortage of points.”
Shen Ya snorted. “You’re that confident you can defeat the Golden Gate Squad? I’ll be waiting for the, er, good news.”
Li Luo stood up and stretched lazily. “In any case,” he yawned, “none of that concerns you anymore. Your ranking battle is over.”
Shen Ya was regretting his choices now. If only they had not crossed Li Luo. Given how strong his squad was, they could have gone much further, gotten many more points.
Li Luo looked up at the sun inching down towards the horizon. The battles would end when the sun set.
Xin Fu and Bai Mengmeng moved up behind Li Luo.
He smiled at them.
“Well then, the small fry has been dealt with.
“I think we’re ready for the main course now.”