Chapter 52: Rising Tensions |
At nightfall, more than two hours had passed since leaving Rogge Camp.
The Wood Puppet Abomination had yet to appear.
The frustration was not only felt by Luo Ming and the others who were acting as bait.
Yang Ning and Li Hu, who had been hiding in the shadows all along, felt the same way.
This was supposed to be the last attempt. If that Wood Puppet Abomination didn’t show up again, Yang Ning planned to leave Redwood Ridge with Li Hu.
Thinking about the many benefits of hunting the Wood Puppet Abomination, if the creature continued to not appear, the two could only leave empty-handed, which made their mood increasingly irritable.
At that moment, Li Hu heard complaints about the two of them from ahead. Already agitated, he immediately lost his temper.
Hearing the slap and Li Hu’s angry curses afterward, Lu He instantly realized something was wrong and rushed to the scene.
He saw Hong Mu, who had just been slapped by Li Hu, blood dripping from his mouth. Lu He hurried to his side, helped him up, and apologized to Li Hu on his behalf.
After saying this, he lowered his head and gestured to Hong Mu repeatedly with his eyes, urging him to quickly apologize to Li Hu.
There were a total of fifty-two people who went out this time, divided into seven groups. Since there were only five camps in total, the grouping wasn’t based on camps but mixed randomly.
Hong Mu was the son of Hong Gang, leader of Dachuan Camp. He was indeed young, just over twenty years old, and was assigned to Lu He’s group.
Lu He and Hong Gang knew each other and had a good relationship. He regarded Hong Mu as family, which explained his enthusiastic help.
Although the slap made Hong Mu’s face sting painfully, the physical pain was nothing compared to the shame burning in his heart.
Li Hu was stronger than him, but they were about the same age. Being slapped so harshly in front of seven or eight people ignited Hong Mu’s anger beyond measure.
Young and impulsive, Hong Mu instinctively resisted Lu He’s persuasion, struggling to stand and retort at Li Hu.
But before he could get up, Lu He’s hand firmly pressed him back down.
Seeing Lu He shake his head slightly, Hong Mu’s face flushed with frustration. The words already on his tongue were swallowed back.
As the son of Hong Gang, leader of Dachuan Camp, Hong Mu naturally knew more than others. He understood exactly what Lu He’s head shake meant.
Putting aside the Wood Puppet Abomination, if the two—Yang Ning and Li Hu—were the only ones fighting it, and they offended it, those living in Redwood Ridge would suffer the losses.
Even if he wanted to be tough and ignore the Wood Puppet Abomination, picking a fight with Yang and Li would only bring trouble.
Both Yang and Li were Digging Realm experts, with strength surpassing Luo Ming, the strongest in Redwood Ridge, by a margin.
Considering all this, no matter how angry he was, Hong Mu could only endure.
Even if he thought his earlier remarks weren’t truly insulting, the slap was taken in vain, but there was nothing he could do.
Suppressing the humiliation on his face, Hong Mu nodded to Lu He and prepared to apologize to Li Hu.
Unexpectedly, before he could speak, Li Hu spoke first.
“Still young? Judging by your looks, you must be at least in your twenties, yet your cultivation is only at the Lumberjack Realm. Being useless might be forgiven, but you can’t even control your mouth. If there’s a next time, it won’t be just one slap!”
Hong Mu’s face instantly flushed red. The anger he had suppressed flared up again, and he no longer cared about Lu He’s restraint. He snapped back at Li Hu angrily:
“You’re so strong, how come the Wood Puppet Abomination escaped you four times? Did I say anything wrong? That Wood Puppet’s power is definitely above you two. Those four times it probably was toying with us.”
Hong Mu’s retort stunned Li Hu.
He clearly hadn’t expected Hong Mu to dare shout back at him so loudly.
Once he realized, his rage exploded:
“You mutt, how dare you bark nonsense!”
As he cursed, he charged forward at Hong Mu.
“Sir, please hold back!”
Luo Ming’s voice failed to stop Li Hu’s advance.
Smack…
This slap was heavier and louder than before, heard clearly by almost everyone who had approached with Luo Ming.
Li Hu’s slap landed on Hong Mu’s face, but it didn’t end there.
Before Hong Mu could fall, Li Hu followed up with a heavy kick that sent him flying five or six meters.
“Mu’er!”
Hong Gang, who had been following Luo Ming, rushed forward to help his son. After checking the injuries on his face and body, he turned to Li Hu with extreme anger but did not lose control. Instead, he spoke sternly:
“Sir, it was only a few words of discussion. Was it necessary to hit so hard?”
Hong Gang probably felt he was being very restrained just by asking.
But from Li Hu’s perspective, this question was a serious provocation.
“You insignificant ant, how dare you question me?”
“Sir, could you watch your words? We may be ants, but at least we risk our lives cooperating with you two to hunt the Abomination. There’s no need to insult us like this.”
Luo Ming blocked Li Hu, who was about to rush at Hong Gang. His tone was low, and his expression extremely grim.
From the moment the word “ant” came out of Li Hu’s mouth, Luo Ming knew this matter wouldn’t be resolved easily.
If it were someone else, he could have persuaded Hong Gang to save face. But the one being hit was Hong Mu, and even Hong Gang came over only to be insulted alongside by Li Hu. There was no way to smooth this over.
What Hong Mu said didn’t just represent his own thoughts; his entire team had been discussing the same.
After the Wood Puppet Abomination escaped four times, the group already had some doubts about Yang Ning and Li Hu, including Hong Mu himself.
On top of this scene, if he didn’t act tough, this temporary alliance would collapse instantly.
He didn’t expect Li Hu to understand or cooperate with him in this act. Over these few days, his impression of Li Hu had only worsened. Despite Li Hu’s strength, his reckless personality and hot temper made him careless in words and actions.
As he had anticipated, Li Hu completely missed his point and seemed even more offended, his face darkening with anger.
“Enough, Hu Zi, don’t go too far.”
Fortunately, Yang Ning appeared and stopped him.
Seeing Yang Ning approach, Luo Ming finally relaxed.
In fact, both Yang Ning and Li Hu obviously looked down on them to some extent. Every time they spoke with them, there was a strong sense of superiority.
But compared to Li Hu, Yang Ning kept more to himself, was calmer, and far more mature and steady.
So those words were ostensibly directed at Li Hu, but actually meant for Yang Ning. Luo Ming knew Yang Ning would understand and cooperate with him to stabilize Hong Gang and the others.
Unfortunately, although Yang Ning cooperated, Luo Ming clearly underestimated the anger Hong Gang had been harboring these past days.
Seeing his son’s injuries, Hong Gang couldn’t help but stand and clasp his fists to Luo Ming with a bow. His voice was heavy:
“Enough, Leader Luo. I won’t say much. My Dachuan Camp is full of trash. Staying here would only disgrace the two of you. We take our leave.”
What made things worse was that once Hong Gang spoke, Huang Yong, Lu He, and Chen Ying all spoke up in turn.
“We feel the same. Please forgive us, Leader Luo.”
“That Wood Puppet Abomination won’t appear anymore. We can’t kill it anyway, so wasting time here is pointless. Leader Luo, I’m leaving with my people.”
“I think the same, Leader Luo. Huangzhao Camp is also withdrawing.”
Seeing the four camps, barely united yesterday, all ask to withdraw, Luo Ming’s head hurt badly. He wanted to say something to keep them, but didn’t know what to say, and his resentment towards Li Hu grew deeper.
“Who’s hiding over there? Come out now!”
While everyone was silent, Yang Ning suddenly turned and shouted angrily towards the east.
The others thought it was the Wood Puppet Abomination appearing and all turned their gaze in that direction.
But upon looking, they saw it was not the creature.
A burly young man quickly jumped down from a tree and stopped about ten meters from them. After looking around, he bowed with urgency and said in a low voice:
“I am Xia Hong, leader of Great Xia Camp. May I ask who Leader Luo Ming is? I have an urgent matter to report to him.”