Chapter 5: Saving People Calmly

This bandit lair used to be the old home of hill dwarves. The mountain and parts underground stretched vastly, and despite countless damages and obstacles, traces of its former glory could still be seen.
For newcomers, calling it a labyrinth was not an exaggeration. With Nio leading the way and Nancy helping analyze the situation, they had a clear target, wouldn’t get lost, and could also use the terrain to hide.
Compared to the gloomy atmosphere of the bandit lair “heard” during the daytime negotiations, this place was bustling with activity, filled with singing and laughter. Yet that laughter easily reminded one of a brothel, while the singing was rough, eerie, shrill, noisy, and lewd… nothing normal about it. Coupled with the echoing effect of the vast caves, it truly resembled a chaotic, demonic realm.
There was the scent of buttered bread, fried meat, wine, fruits, and even clams and fish. Even without seeing it, Nio could imagine how sumptuous the bandits’ meals were. Calling it a feast might be an overstatement, but noble families ate similar things during New Year’s celebrations—just with more elaborate cooking and dining.
This realization raised doubts in Nio’s mind: Were these bandits the same as those in the lair from the previous negotiations? After all, everyone there, including that young woman, appeared chronically undernourished. Even if they were celebrating in advance because of the impending ransom, their preparations seemed overly thorough.
“Kids, I’m gonna pee. We’ll keep drinking when I come back! Hic!”
Hearing such drunken talk, Nio quickly determined the direction and slithered through the shadows.
“Sir, please, just give us something to eat!” pleaded the emaciated woman in a trembling voice.
“Sure, today I’m in a good mood, so I’ll give you something to eat!” said the burly, oily-faced man. He gnawed on a chicken leg in a few bites until only the bones remained, then threw it at the woman. She thanked him repeatedly before handing the bones to a little boy beside her. The boy chewed the bones noisily like a dog.
“Hehehe…” The drunk man staggered to a corner, unbuttoned his pants, and urinated noisily. After finishing, he shivered in satisfaction. At that moment, he felt a sharp pain on the side of his neck and collapsed.
Waking up brought just as much pain. The man panicked to find his joints torn apart, his mouth stuffed with his own sleeve, and his eyes covered. Someone was torturing him.
“Uuuu…”
“Awake? Hehe, enjoy it!” Nio spoke through a mask, his voice rough. But the man had no time to care about that. Nio’s torture was unbearable—this was his top priority. Yet Nio neither asked questions nor stopped, simply continuing to torment him. The man’s limbs trembled in pain as he fainted and woke up repeatedly, eventually losing control of himself. Only then did Nio stop.
“I have some questions. If your answers don’t satisfy me, you’ll have to keep enjoying this.”

The strong man had long been tortured beyond having any backbone left. As long as he wasn’t tortured, even if Neo wanted to know how the man’s mother gave birth to him, he could fabricate a convincing story. Thus, Neo quickly obtained the information he wanted.

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me…” the strong man pleaded pitifully.

“Don’t worry! Since you’re cooperating so well, I won’t kill you. But you’ll need to faint for a while first…” Neo said in a comforting tone.

The strong man breathed a sigh of relief, then lost consciousness again. His last feeling was that it didn’t hurt this time.

His cooperation didn’t actually give him a chance to survive; it only brought relative peace before death. “Life Siphon” destroyed his soul immediately, and in the end, he turned into ashes, with his former clothes serving as an urn.

The place where Melian was imprisoned was heavily guarded. A winding, narrow passage connected several small huts, leading ultimately to the prison cells. Neo didn’t have the ability to enter the deepest parts without alerting any guards. Instead of forcing his way in, he moved stealthily in the shadows, searching for opportunities to kill those bandits who were alone.

His targets were easy to identify—those with red faces and bloated bellies. Most of these bandits were at level 3–4. Unprepared, even if two or three of them were together, they were no match for Neo. Using throwing knives and surprise attacks, Neo killed over 30 bandits in half an hour. Later, he simply dressed like one of the bandits, disguised his face slightly, and swaggered around the bandit den, gaining more opportunities to strike. He even picked one out in front of everyone, helped him walk outside, and explained to the other bandits, “This coward is already this drunk!”

About another 20 minutes passed, and a bandit rushed in in a hurry. Neo waved a wooden wine cup at him and said, “Come on, brother! Have a drink!”

“Go drink somewhere else! I’ve got important things to do now!” Neo cleverly used shadows to cover most of his face and spoke in a slurred manner, pretending to be drunk. The distracted bandit indeed didn’t notice his disguise.

“Damn, in such a hurry to reincarnate? What happened?”

“There’s an emergency signal from the target (the place to be robbed). Those Edrite brats are trying some trick!” The bandit headed toward the large house at the end of the passage without looking back.

Neo knew there was a problem at the temporary camp of the migration group. As he had expected, there were not only spies lurking among the migration group but also two types of spies—those on the surface and those hidden. When the spies responsible for reconnaissance were caught, those hiding in the shadows immediately sent out magical fireworks or similar signals as a warning. Given the distance between the bandit den and the temporary camp, it was easy to see such signals.

Not long after the messenger entered the large house, a group of bandits rushed out angrily, cursing as they headed toward the passage where the prison cells were. Standing in the shadows, Neo watched coldly as he telepathically informed Thorne that it was time to act.

Before long, the bandits who went to the prison to retrieve the hostages returned from the passage, furious and shocked. The leader shouted angrily, “Go guard the main gate! Gather everyone and search! The hostages are in this city!”

Chaos erupted in the gang’s lair—everyone was in a frenzy. The gang members put aside their food, drinks, and distractions, gathered together, and moved around aimlessly like headless flies. Under the commands and whips of their leaders, they tried to form a simple line, only to discover that nearly 50 people were missing—almost a quarter of the gang. This not only filled them with anger and fury but also caused unrest and panic.

Meanwhile, Neo was on his way to the prison cells, moving slowly yet swiftly. The watch posts along the way, which had originally been manned, were now mostly occupied by those who had gone to gather or search the city, leaving only two people at the last checkpoint.

“The others have all left—what good are you two here?” Neo snapped at them confidently as he strode forward. “Captain Sanderst ordered us to—”

The other gang member, clearly more alert, interrupted his companion and demanded loudly, “Who are you? What are you doing here?” He reached for the hilt of his knife at his waist.

“Damn it, are you idiots? I don’t even recognize you! How about the token of Boss Jison?” What Neo pulled out wasn’t a token but a flying knife. It shot out and pierced the forehead of one of the gang members.

The more alert gang member was far stronger than his dead companion. By the time Neo threw the knife, he had already charged at Neo, drawing his short sword, which gleamed like a blade of light. The sharp sound of the blade cutting through the air signaled its immense power.

Neo was prepared and wasn’t fooled by the brightness or intensity of the attack. With a quick left-foot kick, he hit the gang member’s hand holding the knife. Immediately after, he delivered a series of right-foot kicks, targeting the gang member’s chest.

The kick caused the gang member’s knife to miss, slicing off the top of Neo’s left arm and part of his shoulder. Neo’s kick made the gang member’s face instantly flush red. As pressure built, his vision darkened, he felt dizzy, and his perception of the world diminished drastically. His mind went blank. He never recovered again—Neo’s hand had already grabbed his head…

The two tall, strong gang members quickly turned into piles of trash. By then, Milien had also emerged from the prison cell.

The cell was small and completely visible. For this reason, even though it seemed unbelievable, when the gang members saw it was empty, their first thought wasn’t that the hostages had been hidden but that they had been rescued through some unimaginable method—especially with a spy having sent a warning message beforehand.

In reality, Thorne had used the Death Vines to create a stone coffin on the ceiling, a task Milien could never accomplish. This task had started as soon as Milien was found. The technically challenging part involved turning the thin layer of dust on the prison floor into dust using the Death Vines, which extracted a shell and transformed the stone into dust. As for Milien hiding inside the ceiling, having active armor with multiple tentacles made it far less difficult than concealing the gaps in that coffin-like stone shell.

“Neo…” All words were contained in this affectionate call. In just over ten hours, Milien seemed much more exhausted. She hadn’t realized that eating well, staying hydrated, and having enough strength were essential to cooperate better in the rescue. Since being captured, she had been in a state of shock, terror, subjected to insults and physical abuse, and cried nonstop. She hadn’t touched the food or water given to her, leaving her utterly weakened. If it weren’t for the active armor providing support, she might not even be able to walk right now.

Whenever involved in war-related situations, Milien was a complete burden, but Neo never complained or blamed her. He loved her deeply. Though this couldn’t be an excuse to ignore her flaws, it helped him appreciate her strengths. She had a heart as pure as crystal, and for that alone, Neo felt it was enough for him to cherish her for a lifetime.

After a passionate kiss, Neo said softly, “Let’s go. We need to leave this horrible place. Your stomach must be growling by now, right?”

With a pained expression and red, swollen eyes, Milien broke into a smile and nodded vigorously. “I’m hungry!”

When Neo and Milien emerged from the prison passage, the bandits were herding slaves toward an open square for assembly. By then, Milien had put on the bandits’ clothes, supported by the active armor, so she didn’t appear weak. They took advantage of the chaos to escape. Neo’s calmness allowed them to dodge the bandits several times.

At the end of a seemingly collapsed passage, they moved aside several large stones. Carrying Milien on his back, Neo climbed up and down, weaving through dark passages. He seemed extremely familiar with the area, and the path he chose was actually a secret route unknown even to the bandits. Milien was puzzled by his skills until she saw him collecting shrub seedlings the size of grasshoppers—realizing these tiny creatures might be the key.

After walking over a thousand meters, Milien felt a moist, fresh breeze, indicating they were close to the surface. Sure enough, after less than a hundred meters, she saw the night sky with the moon hanging in the east.

They were in a half-earth, half-stone shelter perched on a cliff in a valley—neither reaching the sky nor the ground. Neo had prepared thoroughly: tents, bedding, everything needed, even a hidden campfire with hot food on it. This once again showed her what thorough preparation, careful planning, and confidence meant.

Boom! Fireworks exploded in the night sky. Simpler than those used by the bandits, they could still be seen from the temporary camp. Seeing these fireworks, the migration group would know the hostages had been rescued, giving them peace of mind to guard against the bandits’ demands. After all, given the bandits’ cunning, they might try to capture Neo and Milien while simultaneously approaching the migration group, relying on deception for one last gamble.

Additionally, these fireworks also served to summon “Multi-Faced.” Neo gained a deeper understanding of these gangsters, and his earlier plan to have “Multi-Faced” wreak havoc in another gang hideout resembling a slum was canceled. After talking with Milien for a while, Neo soothed her wounded heart with gentle and soothing words. “I want to be more useful, like Sister Liz… so…” There was a reason behind it—seizing the opportunity, Milien observed Liz and Valentina’s behavior and their interactions with Neo. Though simple-minded, she instinctively felt a sense of crisis. Or rather, Liz and Valentina’s excellence made Milien realize that as an expression of love, she should share more of Neo’s burdens. Being exploited was the root cause of this incident. Neo fully understood Milien’s feelings and knew that, strictly speaking, he also bore some responsibility. With endless complicated issues piling up, he was overwhelmed and had no time to have heartfelt conversations and exchange feelings in a pleasant atmosphere like in Tulip Town. Yet, it was precisely during such times of frequent troubles that deep communication was most needed to find harmony and common ground in their differing perspectives. Neo realized that this incident had exposed the problems between them. For the first time, he felt a profound sense of powerlessness—how could he balance career and love?