"Fuck!"
God knew if the needles above were poisoned. Xue Three wasn't Liang Cheng; he wouldn't dare test poison with his own body. He immediately, and quite cowardly, retreated. As long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood. For an assassin, retreating after a failed strike to find another opportunity was almost instinctual.
But as Xue Three dodged the falling white robe and his gaze swept to the side, he froze.
Shit, what did I just see?
"My lord!"
At that moment, Zheng Fan's mind raced: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
When Liang Cheng used a zombie roar to incite those two undead corpses to turn traitor, it wasn't just Xue Three who moved; Zheng Fan moved too.
Zheng Fan, saber in hand, charged from another side.
He didn't know why he'd charged. Perhaps it was because, in a group fight, if you didn't count the two children, it was originally a 3-vs-3.
But once those two undead corpses switched sides, it became a 5-vs-1 gang-up.
If he didn't jump in to land a few cheap shots now, what was he waiting for!
Then, Zheng Fan realized he was in a bind.
First, the white-robed woman dodged the pounce of the two undead corpses. Then, using a smart trick, she evaded Xue Three's sneak attack. And then, the woman, now clad only in her red, close-fitting undergarments, appeared before Zheng Fan.
To put it flatteringly, Zheng Fan had foreseen events with godlike accuracy, grasped the battlefield dynamics, positioned himself in advance, and cut off her escape route!
Realistically speaking, holy shit, I got too cocky!
Fortunately, having already tasted blood on the battlefield a few days prior, Zheng Fan almost instinctively tightened his grip on his saber hilt, raised it, and brought it down on the woman charging at him!
The woman, it seemed, also hadn't expected someone to be able to cut her off in advance. But her response was incredibly ruthless: she threw the little girl she was holding directly at Zheng Fan—at his saber.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
If it were any other time, with enough time to think and analyze, perhaps Zheng Fan might truly have, with a certain probability, chosen to ignore the vulnerable and brought his saber down without mercy!
Mercy towards enemies is cruelty to oneself!
Although it's morally questionable, it doesn't matter anymore!
But reality doesn't slow down to suit your needs. Without time to think and steel his heart, seeing a little girl thrown at him, knowing that in the next second she might be sliced in two at the waist by his sharp blade…
Zheng Fan's wrist twisted, turning the blade's edge aside so the flat of his saber struck the girl's body.
Ultimately, in that instant, he had still been... too soft-hearted.
Reason is certainly powerful, but emotions run faster.
The woman, however, seized this moment. While Zheng Fan's saber was turned, she closed the distance between them.
Her left hand still held the boy, but her right hand shot out, grabbed Zheng Fan's saber, and with a twist of her arm, sent the blade's edge arcing back towards Zheng Fan's neck.
She was using his own saber to make him kill himself!
Life and death hung in the balance. In that instant, Zheng Fan had no time to regret his earlier soft-heartedness; all he could do was grip his saber hilt tightly with both hands.
"TWANG!"
The blade stopped perilously close to Zheng Fan's neck.
The woman was somewhat surprised. It wasn't that she had held back; rather, his grip was stronger than she had anticipated.
This piece of trash before her wasn't just any piece of trash, but... a piece of trash with a very strong grip.
Behind her, the two undead corpses had already changed direction and were pouncing again. The short assassin had vanished. The woman knew she couldn't delay any longer.
She pressed her palm down, exerting force.
Zheng Fan, who had been wrestling with all his might, was suddenly forced down, his saber striking the ground with a CLANG! Then, a sharp crack sounded.
Hiss... my back...
The woman didn't pause for a second. Not even picking up the little girl on the ground, she clutched the remaining boy and leaped to get away.
The instant the woman leaped, Xue Three's figure reappeared behind her.
The woman's heart lurched in alarm, but she had no time to process it.
"THWACK!"
Xue Three's dagger pierced the woman's back.
But her movements were completely unaffected as she continued forward.
The blow wasn't fatal. Xue Three was about to give chase when Liang Cheng let out a low shout:
"Don't chase!"
Xue Three stopped, watching as the woman carried the child out of the shelter.
"ROAR!"
"ROAR!"
The two undead corpses stopped moving. Simultaneously, their skin began to rot rapidly, streams of pus dripping out. Like chocolate melting under heat, they rapidly began to dissolve.
Meanwhile, Liang Cheng collapsed to his knees with a THUD. Clearly, manipulating those two undead corpses had exacted too great a toll on his current state.
He had shouted for Xue Three not to chase because he himself had lost his combat ability and would even be a liability. If Xue Three had pursued, their lord's safety couldn't be guaranteed.
Zheng Fan, one hand propped on his saber hilt and the other clutching his lower back, slowly sat down, sucking in sharp breaths of cold air.
Xue Three walked over to the little girl. For some unknown reason, perhaps because the woman had drugged her beforehand, she was still unconscious.
Then, Xue Three bypassed the girl and came to Zheng Fan's side, asking with concern, "My lord, are you okay?"
Zheng Fan shook his head and immediately asked, "Was your dagger poisoned?"
Xue Three's mouth formed an 'O'.