Chapter 123: Infiltrating the Village—Alchemists Wearing Many Hats

Fan Chengcheng’s crotch was about to dry out.

Hung on an iron rod like a pig, he was once again overwhelmed by the urge to urinate.

This was shock-induced incontinence.

He had never seen anyone with scales on their body and a meter-long scorpion tail on their back.

There was no way he could hold it anymore.

“Brother Fan, are we done for? What the hell is this thing?”

The other members of the Five Tiger Generals were nearly in tears, especially one named Zhang Dachu.

Two days ago, the Martial Artists Center had issued a mercenary group mission.

The Five Tiger Generals were the first to respond, but they were completely caught off guard by the Swift Wind Squad’s attack.

Fan Chengcheng gritted his teeth in hatred whenever he thought of the Swift Wind Squad.

He would never forget being extorted for five million at Dangdang Mountain and missing the chance to complete the mission.

So he used all his connections to get the Martial Artists Center to change the rules.

Instead of one mercenary group taking on the mission, now three groups would set out simultaneously. Whichever completed the task first would receive a five million bonus, and the mercenary group would be promoted by one star level.

But they never expected this.

Last night, the Five Tiger Generals stayed at a shady inn.

When they woke up, they had already been captured by two half-orcs and brought here.

“You ask me, I ask who? It’s all your fault, Zhang Dachu. Otherwise, how could we have been caught?”

Fan Chengcheng swayed, nearly vomiting up the leftover food from the night before.

“What did I ever do to anyone...” Zhang Dachu was nearly depressed.

On the way here, the two bastards were chatting.

The Shenluo Alliance, half-orcs, spirit energy pills.

They listened in confusion but drew one conclusion: these two bastards were taking them somewhere to be refined into pills.

The Five Tiger Generals were caught simply because the Shenluo Alliance was looking for someone named Zhang Chu; they were innocent bystanders.

“Zhang Chu, damn that bastard for dragging us into this!”

Fan Chengcheng shouted angrily.

“Shut up, you’ve been noisy all the way,” one of the half-orcs in front growled angrily.

The group trembled in fear.

“Just endure it. These few martial artists are about to be thrown into the refining furnace to be turned into spirit energy pills. Our performance recently has been good. With these five, we can exchange them for a spirit energy pill.”

The tall half-orc behind them was excited.

He had been stuck at a four-star dual-power warrior for over a year.

With a spirit energy pill, he could break through to five stars.

Fan Chengcheng heard this and his vision blackened; he fainted immediately.

“Damn it, whatever happens, I just can’t calmly accept being slaughtered!”

A few hundred meters away behind a large rock on a slope, Chen Long looked awkwardly at Zhang Chu.

“Teacher Xiao Chu, I mean, we can’t just stand by and do nothing, right? That’s the son of Director Fan.”

“Teacher Xiao Chu, whether it’s Fan Chengcheng or not, we can’t just watch more martial artists get hunted and turned into pills. Besides, they’re students of our Martial Arts Research Institute.”

Seeing Zhang Chu’s troubled expression, Zhang Xueying added.

“Brother Chu, this Fan Chengcheng isn’t all bad.”

Hu Sanyi understood Zhang Chu’s meaning. That kid had picked fights several times and was indeed annoying.

But they were all martial artists from Binzhou; watching them burn to ashes was truly unbearable.

“Wait, I’ll go in alone. You guys stay outside to support.”

Zhang Chu made a bold decision.

As soon as he said this, everyone refused.

Going in alone was too dangerous.

But Zhang Chu explained: too many people would alert the enemy. This time, he was going in to gather evidence and to open the formation’s barrier so that the Binzhou Martial Management Bureau’s patrol team could come to rescue.

“Wang Peng, help me out.”

After arranging the others, Zhang Chu called on Wang Peng to quickly circle around to the rear.

Within 50 meters, Wang Peng could use his hypnosis divine technique.

“Who’s there!”

Hearing footsteps behind them, the two half-orcs seemed to sense something and quickly turned around.

But the next moment, Wang Peng unleashed his hypnosis divine technique.

The two half-orcs went blank on the spot and slowly lowered the iron rod.

The remaining four martial artists hanging on the rod were also hypnotized into a deep sleep by Wang Peng’s spiritual power.

Zhang Chu raised his hand with a sword.

He took Fan Chengcheng down from the iron rod and tossed him to Wang Peng.

“Take him away first.”

Zhang Chu pretended to be tied up, slumped between four martial artists, hanging his head.

Wang Peng carried the unconscious Fan Chengcheng and quickly left.

Once they were more than 50 meters away, the hypnosis divine technique immediately lost effect.

The two half-orcs snapped back to reality but didn’t notice anything unusual and resumed carrying the iron rod.

“Hurry up, don’t keep Teacher Ma waiting.”

Teacher Ma?

Pretending to be unconscious, Zhang Chu heard this name and felt a strange familiarity.

“I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere, but I can’t recall.”

Soon after,

Zhang Chu sensed an energy barrier sweep over him as they passed through the mist and entered Xianchi Village.

Zhang Chu skillfully activated the miniature camera hanging on his chest.

Outside on the slope, Zhang Xueying watched the footage from the camera, and everyone’s expressions changed drastically.

“Damn, this Xianchi Village is literally hell on earth. Look at all these skeletons, some human, some beasts.”

Huang Lili looked at a human skull and almost vomited.

“I’m contacting the Martial Management Bureau right away!”

Chen Long understood the gravity of the situation and immediately contacted Chen Tianxiang to report what they had found.

Knowing that Fan Chengcheng had been rescued, Fan Tianlei even video-called.

“That brat is good for nothing but causing trouble. If anything happens to Zhang Chu, Old Luo will skin me alive!”

“Director Fan, this must be the Shenluo Alliance’s base for refining spirit energy pills. Requesting aerial strike support.”

Zhang Xueying said solemnly.

“Don’t worry, that boy is your boyfriend. Uncle Fan won’t let anything happen to him.”

“The patrol team is dispatching four Heavenly God supersonic fighter jets toward Xianchi Village. We’ll wipe out these bastards in one strike!”

After hanging up the video,

Zhang Xueying anxiously watched the images on her phone.

Soon,

Zhang Chu and the other four were carried into the village.

The village was very modern, filled with mechanical equipment, and four large chimneys billowed thick smoke.

“Damn, this is hell on earth. The Shenluo Alliance treats human martial artists like livestock.”

Zhang Chu glanced once and was stunned by the scene before him.

He was now in an alchemy chamber.

At the center stood a gigantic alchemy furnace.

Martial artists were hung above the furnace like raw materials for refining pills, like slabs of cured meat. A few had already been dried out and died.

Besides them, there were also beast corpses.

“Teacher Ma, these are the newbies. This one’s called Zhang Chu, I think.”

A half-orc with a scorpion tail behind him grabbed the unconscious Zhang Dachu and threw him aside.

Zhang Chu turned toward the voice.

He wanted to see just what kind of person this Ma was.

But the next moment, Zhang Chu was stunned.

“Damn, it’s him?”

“Are all the pill masters at Binzhou Storage Bureau moonlighting now?”