Chapter 004: Not a Drop of Blood Spilled

It was a night of darkness and wind—perfect for murder and arson. Many thieves had already gathered outside the city, and Alexander was among them! He was covered in a cloak, hiding his identity, so no one recognized him as one of the Four Fierce Beasts!

Alexander glanced at the ruined city ahead. Due to the failure of their last mission, their superiors forbade them from taking any further action that might alert the enemies and make Du Fan even more suspicious. As a result, no more troops would be sent, and Alexander was warned not to trouble Du Fan again.

They also hinted that he couldn’t use the power of the Dark Demons, but he could use other methods, such as those thief gangs…

Ming Wei didn’t need sleep, so when he saw the thief gangs outside, he kicked Du Fan, who had fallen asleep while reading. Du Fan jolted awake—he had been having a nice dream, which was suddenly interrupted.

“What’s the matter? What happened?” Du Fan grumbled inwardly before standing up. Ming Wei wouldn’t interrupt his dreams for no reason, so unless something urgent happened, he wouldn’t wake him.

Ming Wei displayed a hologram in front of Du Fan. Seeing the figures in it, Du Fan was slightly surprised but not really taken aback. He doubted that those thief gangs would remain indifferent while they carried out such massive construction work here. An ambush like today’s, before even two months had passed, was the most likely scenario.

But… hmph, he would make sure they never returned!

Du Fan rushed outside the magic tower and loudly called for those who lived in the dungeon. Just as they had practiced before, the women protected the children, while the men went upstairs to wake everyone who was sleeping there. Inside the dungeon, cries filled the air, but once they stepped out of the underground passages, not a single voice was heard again. The only sound was the sound of their footsteps.

Although they had practiced this many times before and didn’t know how their city lord knew the thief gangs had arrived, they had absolute trust in Du Fan. So when he told them the thief gangs were coming and asked them to go to the dungeon, they hesitated not at all.

In the cities on the surface, there were only those of rank three and above, along with experts like Du Fan, while the majority here were Du Fan’s subordinates. Although they were knights, they had retained only the aspects of chivalry related to loyalty; ideas such as honesty and integrity had long been altered by Du Fan’s teachings.

Du Fan was also with them, all of them hiding in the city streets waiting for the arrival of the bandit groups. It was inevitable that the bandit groups would appear at this time. Initially, they had planned to split up and raid other cities, but they wanted to teach Duke Du Fan a lesson, so the four major bandit groups gathered together, ready to massacre the city of Doha once more. Of course, they might spare Du Fan’s life—after all, he was a duke—and they weren’t arrogant enough to think they could confront an army.

Even if Du Fan died, the Gavin Empire wouldn’t be able to deal with them right away. Their goal was to scare Du Fan; if they accidentally killed him, it wouldn’t matter—it would serve as a warning to prevent anyone else from becoming the lord here in the future!

While they made such plans, Du Fan and the others had already made preparations. Old Mark was sent by Du Fan to the dungeon to work with Elsik to stabilize the people’s morale. Their trust in Du Fan was unwavering, but after years of fearing bandits, their fear had reached an unprecedented level. If they resisted and failed, their fate wouldn’t be much better. They were just worried, not disbelieving in Du Fan.

When Elsik came to find Du Fan and said that the people in the dungeon were panicked, Du Fan wasn’t surprised—these were normal reactions. After all, ordinary people would naturally feel fearful. Du Fan had already thought of how to deal with it.

Seeing Du Fan hurry off to the dungeon, and with unfinished rooms everywhere in the city, Du Fan flew to the side of the magic tower and said to the people below, “Don’t be afraid. They can’t get here!”

They couldn’t see Du Fan, and the endless darkness only increased their fear. Du Fan watched them, but they couldn’t sense where he was.

“God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” This was the secret signal agreed upon by Du Fan and Mingwei. As long as he said these words, Mingwei would activate the lighting function of the magic array. Though it was only temporary, when they saw the space gradually brighten, they felt as though they saw hope!

Without Du Fan saying anything, the crowd gradually quieted down. “We’re not without anything. We have our own strength; we can protect our homeland by ourselves! We’re here in front of you! So there’s no need to fear. Wait for us to return victorious tomorrow!” With that, Du Fan ended the brief conversation and walked away. The crowd watched as he left, then chatter erupted—mostly about the miracle Du Fan had performed and some people going to see the light emanating from underground.

It was a city without shadows. Its former prosperity might appear here again someday. Ming Wei looked down at the hall; although there were only a few people there, he still hoped inexplicably that it would regain its glory!

Du Fan went outside again. In fact, as long as the common people saw these so-called miracles and were given hope, they would feel better. Commoners were truly easy to satisfy!

The bandit group didn’t make Du Fan wait long. In less than twenty minutes, they became impatient. It was unclear how they communicated, but they rushed toward them in an orderly and unified manner. They arrived at the foot of the city as if leading a massive army, just as they had imagined. The people of Doha City thought they wouldn’t arrive until two months later. But they were wrong—they arrived ten days earlier!

And they hadn’t even had time to set up their proud trebuchets before they showed up!

Du Fan watched them. The others already knew the battle tactics by heart, so they knew what to do without Du Fan’s orders. The bandit group quickly broke through the city gates, which could only hold back ordinary beasts. Now, their role was merely to block those beasts. Could those gates possibly stop a bandit group?

When they rushed into the city, they immediately threw their torches at the faintly visible buildings. But they saw no people, nor any cries—neither from women nor children. It was eerily quiet. Apart from the faint glow of fire, proving what they saw was real, nothing else was visible. No people, no animals… nothing.

After rushing in, they sensed something was wrong, but they didn’t stop. By the time they decided to scatter, they had already run about ten meters into the city. And there, Death was waving at them!

Who would have thought that Doha was filled with pits of all sizes? Or rather, traps? For in those pits, there were iron spikes, all coated with poison. Around the larger pits were smaller ones, which would cause those on horseback to fall into the larger pits, and the poison on those spikes was enough to kill them several times over. Most of the thieves rode horses, and because it was dark and their torches had been thrown onto the buildings, they had no idea what was happening ahead. Hearing cries of pain, they would just charge forward. Some even tripped not over pits but over the bodies of their own companions. Du Fan quietly asked the person beside him, “Is the entrance sealed?” The man nodded, “Everything is sealed, my lord!” Du Fan nodded. By the time the poison mixed with blood, Du Fan and his men had already taken the antidotes they had prepared. Of course, Du Fan wouldn’t let the corpses cover the poisonous spikes. Even if they were covered, the second wave of toxicity would spread into the air once blood was shed. The pungent smell of blood enraged the thieves, driving them almost mad. Their brothers fell one after another, but the people of Doha were nowhere to be seen! The poison, which induced negative emotions and contained stimulants, did exactly as intended. The stimulants made them excited, but since they only had their own companions, Du Fan certainly wouldn’t let them charge out like mad bulls to their deaths. Drugs that induced hallucinations were sent into the city through special pipes. The thieves gasped heavily, pointing their swords at their own companions. Those who followed them in didn’t know what was happening inside and continued to charge in. By the time the leaders of the thief gang, like Alexander, realized something was wrong, it was already too late. Out of the ten thousand thieves they brought, three thousand died in an instant! Now, they could no longer underestimate Du Fan. But they knew nothing about the situation in Doha; they could only hear cries from inside, with no one responding. To stay back was impossible, but there were three thousand brothers inside!

After waiting a while longer, someone finally rushed out, unsteady on his feet. As soon as he appeared, he stabbed violently the first person who saw him and was trying to help him! Under the effect of stimulants, he was beyond control even by those outside, so they had no choice but to slash him to death with their knives. Looking at their brother who died at their hands, they exchanged glances, not knowing how to react. Du Fan, of course, wasn’t going to wait kindly for them to react. With a gust of wind spell, he blew the poisonous substances from inside the city to the outside. Since the space outside was larger, the toxicity naturally diminished, but that wasn’t a problem—so long as they lost their sanity. The night was still long, and more drama was to come!