Chapter 0015: Something's Wrong!

The car Yang Beihai provided was the marker.

War Bear needed it to identify the people from Hound Shelter.

"My idea is to use this car as bait — draw their people out into the open!"

Ning Fan continued, "The moment they start attacking the car, we'll know exactly where they are. That completely flips the situation in our favor."

"But who's going to drive?" Huizi's expression wasn't great.

He had been the one driving this whole time.

"We don't need one of our people to drive."

Ning Fan smiled. "Let's hope Cheng Bin's body hasn't been eaten by Aberrant Beasts."

"Him?"

That caught everyone off guard. "How does a dead man drive a car?"

"Doesn't actually need anyone driving. Just find a straight road and jam something down on the accelerator."

Ning Fan explained, "Cheng Bin's body just needs to be in the car so that when they see it from a distance, they'll think there's someone inside."

After he finished, Ning Fan looked around at the group with a touch of anxiety.

He wasn't sure whether his plan would get their approval.

Clap.

Clap.

Clap.

Lin Chuan applauded with a grin. "Anyone have objections?"

"Sounds good to me."

Qiao Fei replied coolly, "So what did you mean by me being the core?"

"Decapitation strike."

Ning Fan's eyes lit up. "Brother Chuan's Butcher is powerful, but your Flower Dance... is faster."

The moment Sun Wang realized he'd been tricked, a chill ran down his spine.

Without warning, a dark blur came hurtling straight at him at high speed.

"Spirit Servant: Giant Bear!"

Sun Wang reacted fast, activating his Spirit Servant without hesitation.

Thick fur rapidly spread across his bare torso, his face twisted into something monstrous, and his already imposing frame began to swell.

Whoosh—

The shadow flashed past.

Sun Wang's eyes went wide.

A red line appeared across his throat.

It quickly spread wider.

Splat—

A mist of blood sprayed out, and the shadow landed thirty feet away.

Qiao Fei.

With her Ten-Soul Tier Spirit Servant unleashed at full power, she moved faster than the naked eye could follow.

Qiao Fei's cheeks were flushed.

Ning Fan had given her just this one task — and yet it was the hardest part of the entire plan.

She had only one shot. If she failed, she'd be surrounded in the middle of enemy territory with no way out.

But she pulled it off.

Boom!

Sun Wang's massive body crashed to the ground, sending a spray of dirt into the air.

The War Bear members nearby were stunned.

This was supposed to be their ambush. And yet Monkey had been knocked out, and Sun Wang was dead.

Two men lost in the span of a few seconds.

"Damn it! Kill that bitch!!"

Someone roared, and the War Bear members unleashed their Spirit Servants all at once, charging toward Qiao Fei.

"Spirit Servant: Shield."

Dazhuang burst out from the rear, raising both arms in front of him as a translucent Light Shield expanded before him.

The attacks from the War Bear members slammed into the shield, cracking it all over with jagged fractures.

Dazhuang gritted his teeth, his blood surging, but he didn't give a single inch — holding his ground to protect Qiao Fei, who was weakened after her all-out strike.

"Fuck! Let me see what the hell War Bear from Zone F27 is made of — daring to block my way?!"

Through the mist, Lin Chuan came striding forward with bloodshot eyes, a large blade in his hand glowing red, each step steady and deliberate.

Ning Fan and Huizi followed close behind him.

From the flank, another figure darted out — not quite as fast as Qiao Fei, but not far off either.

Wang Ye.

As he closed in, Wang Ye leaped high into the air, his blade-knuckles gleaming with cold light.

Slash!

One of the men still hammering the Light Shield had his skull torn open without so much as a sound.

"Huizi, keep our top student safe."

Lin Chuan's low voice issued the order, then he charged blade-first into the War Bear group.

Huizi pursed his lips, clearly itching to join the fight himself.

"Brother Hui... why don't you go too?" Ning Fan said, a bit sheepishly.

Everyone else was out there putting their lives on the line, and he still needed someone to babysit him.

"Forget it. You're precious cargo."

Huizi shot him a sideways glance, then let out a sigh. "Not gonna lie — being smart actually does matter. That plan of yours... wasn't bad."

War Bear hadn't been fully taken down yet, but everyone on the team had already seen Ning Fan's value.

Without him, this plan would never have existed.

The way they used to operate, they'd most likely have charged straight into Ghost Mist Forest and gone fist-to-fist, seeing who came out tougher.

And what would that have meant...

Heavy casualties.

Ning Fan watched the battle unfolding before him and couldn't help clenching his fists.

He wanted to fight alongside everyone else.

But without a Spirit Servant, all he could offer right now was strategy.

Jumping in would only get in the way.

"Something's not right."

Huizi, standing beside Ning Fan watching the fight, suddenly scratched his head. "This War Bear... they're not that strong."

Ning Fan had just been thinking about when he might finally get a Spirit Servant of his own.

When he heard Huizi mutter that, an inexplicable unease welled up inside him.

He was right. Something was wrong.

Sure, his plan had executed well — they'd successfully taken out the enemy's leader, caught them off guard, and now had a tentative grip on the situation...

But War Bear's actual strength was noticeably weaker than expected.

It wasn't that War Bear was weak per se, but rather...

With this level of strength, there was no way they could have wiped out all of Hound Shelter in the field.

That was the problem.

Even without Ning Fan's plan, Hound Shelter going up against War Bear might have taken losses, but they wouldn't have been completely wiped out.

At worst, they'd still be able to run.

And Yang Beihai's goal was total annihilation of Hound Shelter — every last one of them.

Only then could he pin everything on Hound Shelter and walk away clean.

War Bear clearly couldn't pull that off.

"No — Brother Hui! There must be more of them!"

Ning Fan suddenly cried out in alarm. "War Bear is just cannon fodder! They're the bait! They serve the same purpose as Cheng Bin did!"

"What?!"

Huizi's face drained of color.

Not far away, Old Duan had just leaped down from a tree, moving to clear the battlefield.

A flash of white light.

Old Duan froze.

A bloody hole had appeared between his eyes.

He stared forward, his gaze filled with confusion.

Thud—

Old Duan collapsed straight to the ground, blood spreading from his head.

Lin Chuan, who had been deep in the heat of battle, caught a glimpse of what happened to Old Duan. A shock ran through him.

"Old Duan!!!"

Lin Chuan's eyes went crimson, the veins in his neck bulging.

Before he could even react, he faintly heard a low, calm voice.

"Spirit Servant: Light Arrow."

On a small hillside not far away, a young man with his head wrapped in a bandana stood with a lollipop in his mouth, hands raised in a drawing motion as if pulling back a bow.

A glowing arrow condensed from the ring on his finger.

Whoosh!

The arrow was loosed.

Wang Ye hit the ground.