Bai En returned with a few more items in his hand. Lily and Fragil looked over, seeing a blood-patterned black robe. "Are these the clothes of those guys?"
"That's right."
"We'll change into their clothes and then quietly follow them."
The members of the Bandit Group were very scattered, and they didn't seem to know each other well, like a bunch of newly joined individuals, a disorganized mess.
They simply followed orders to complete their tasks, gathering villagers, and in the process, doing as they pleased: stealing money, seizing food, and humiliating women... Bai En easily found isolated individuals and took their clothes without effort.
After the four of them, Bai En, changed into the clothes, they took advantage of the shadows and air raids to slip into the line of people being detained. The four of them dispersed, quietly following at the very end, heading towards the center of the village.
————
Eldos Village, center of the village.
A huge pile of firewood burned quietly, its bright flames piercing the darkness, clearly illuminating the faces of the people around.
Sitting by the fire was a one-eyed man wearing an eye patch. He menacingly held a longsword, seemingly glaring to intimidate the assembled villagers, but in reality, he was constantly glancing at a hunched figure in the crowd, awaiting instructions.
In the gathered crowd, the cries of children grew louder and louder, interspersed with women's comforting voices and men's muffled curses. As more and more villagers arrived, the crowd, exceeding a hundred people, gradually began to lose control.
"What exactly do you guys want to do? Let us go quickly!"
"The Magic Knights will not spare you!"
"Remnants of a scattered army from a few days ago, and now you dare to come to our village? Are you not afraid of death?"
A subordinate in a blood-patterned black robe ran up to the one-eyed Scott and whispered, "Monroe and Dyuer haven't returned yet. They probably got delayed playing around..."
"Send someone to find them. Those two dare to ignore my words. I'll show them when they get back."
"Yes."
After the subordinate left, Scott looked at the noisy crowd, then glanced at the elderly village chief, Goth, in the crowd. Seeing Goth's nod, Scott knew it was time to act.
He walked with a cold expression to the group of shouting men, glaring fiercely at them.
"You fellow, you must be their boss, right? Did you hear me? Hurry up and release us, or you'll see the consequences..."
Scott looked at the man still shouting in front of him and snorted coldly, "You really aren't afraid of death."
With that, the long blade in his hand swung down, directly severing the man's neck. Blood splattered everywhere. The blood and death instilled fear in the noisy crowd. They began to retreat, and soon, only the cries of children remained in the crowd.
Scott leaned on his blood-stained blade and nodded with satisfaction, "Very good~ Now everyone is finally quiet."
"You can listen carefully to what I have to say."
"Everyone, today, our Red Blood Slaughter Gang is here not to trouble you, nor to steal your food, but... to give you an opportunity to change your destiny!"
"An opportunity to change destiny?"
"What a joke? Randomly killing people is what you call an opportunity! Who would believe such a thing?"
Voices of doubt rose from the crowd.
But this time, the one-eyed man did not continue to kill, nor did he show anger. Instead, he continued to smile and said, "So what is this opportunity to change destiny? It's very simple: it's to join our Red Blood Slaughter Gang."
A clamor of gasps erupted.
"I think you don't know that the news of us being defeated by the Magic Knights was a disguise. So what's the real news?" Scott pursed his lips and smiled, a crimson magic power overflowing from his body, 壓迫ing everyone: "It is—that group of self-righteous Magic Knights were all killed by us!"
"Hahaha..."
The crimson magic power and laughter left the crowd speechless. After a while, a questioning voice rang out: "How is that possible? Magic Knights, they are the most elite force in our Clover Kingdom. How could you possibly defeat them?"
"Exactly, exactly, I bet you're just boasting!"
"..."
"Whether it's true or false, you'll naturally get the most accurate information once you join us. However," Scott's tone changed, "what I want to show you now is—the path to changing destiny."
He took out a dark red blood cup from his pocket. The blood cup was small, entirely dark red and crystal clear. The firelight shone on the blood cup, reflecting different colors.
When magic power was injected into the blood cup, it floated in the air, and then... the blood cup began to consume the blood that had spilled from the person Scott had just killed. Wisps of crimson blood circled around the blood cup.
Then, Scott dragged out the elderly village chief—Goth—from the crowd.
"What are you doing? Let go of the village chief!"
"Let go of the village chief!"
"Watch closely! This is a miracle!" Scott laughed loudly, scaring back the approaching crowd.
Under everyone's gaze, the wisps of blood floating beside the blood cup gradually merged into the body of Village Chief Goth. Slowly, the wrinkles on his face began to fade, and his hunched figure gradually straightened up... "This..."
"The village chief has become... younger? How can this be?"
Goth also pretended to be incredibly surprised, touching his face and hands.
"How do you feel?" Scott asked Goth.
"Not bad, very good. Strength... I feel like it's all back."
"Hey, now... have you all seen clearly?" Scott plunged the blade in his hand into the ground and loudly declared to everyone: "This opportunity to change destiny!"
"Join us, and you can receive the baptism of the blood cup. It can help you increase your magic power, bestow new attributes on your magic... and even allow people to return from old age to their youth!"
The sound of swallowing could be heard from the crowd.
Scott continued to speak, his words like the whispers of a demon, stirring up desires and evil thoughts in people's hearts: "Have you ever thought if this world is fair?"
"Royalty and nobles are born in places with the most abundant magic power, possessing unparalleled talent and enjoying the best resources, while we are born in this barren Hui Wai Realm, deemed the lowest of commoners. Sometimes we can't even get enough to eat, and some even starve to death!"
"You are like this, and your sons and daughters will be the same in the future, forever the lowest commoners of this country!"
"Are you willing to accept this?"
"Don't you want to see? The highest and most beautiful scenery of this kingdom!"
"Join us, and after the baptism of the blood cup, I... you all can change. No one will ever starve again, and no one will be treated like trash again!"
"You can pursue everything you desire: money, food..."
"Are you willing to accept this?"
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