101 Working in the Dark to Serve the Ligh

These Ratfolk seemed essentially the same as normal Ratfolk, and Zhao Fu could not see anything special about them. Normal Ratfolk were not very strong, and compared to the Great Qin Soldiers, who had all sorts of stat bonuses from the Great Qin Village and could almost fight Orcs one on one, it should not have been a problem for them to deal with Ratfolk.

From their attire and weapons, it seemed that these Ratfolk were so powerful because of their profession, which was definitely linked to the historical remnant.

Zhao Fu’s interest in the historical remnant grew greater and greater, and he looked at Zhang Dahu kneeling figure as he thought to himself and said, “Rise!”

Zhang Dahu let out a sigh of relief. He had been fully prepared to be punished by Zhao Fu, and he didn’t expect Zhao Fu to not even blame him, much less not punish him.

If this matter really was Zhang Dahu’s fault, Zhao Fu definitely would have punished him. However, Zhang Dahu had no faults to speak of, so why would Zhao Fu punish him? As the saying went ‘planning is with man, but accomplishing is with heaven.’ No matter how detailed and well thought out a plan was, unexpected things could still happen, so Zhao Fu did not blame Zhang Dahu.

Following this, a few captive Ratfolk were brought over to Zhao Fu, and he forced them to capitulate before taking them to convince the rest of the Ratfolk to surrender.

“You should know by now that your 2,000 soldiers have been killed by my forces. Now, you have less than 4,000 soldiers and will not be able to withstand my attack. Look at how many different professions we have and how fairly all of the different races are treated. As long as you surrender to me, I won’t mistreat you at all!”

Zhao Fu shouted as the Ratfolk loudly interpreted. Even though this never worked, it was something that Zhao Fu was determined to do each time, as the best-case scenario was always obtaining a village without sacrificing anyone.

Hearing Zhao Fu’s words, the Ratfolk started to panic. They finally realized why the team of 2,000 Ratfolk had not acted – it was because they had all been killed. With only 4,000 Ratfolk left, how could they stop the humans?

This news quickly reached the few elderly Ratfolk, and they all heavily sighed – the bad feeling that they had turned out to true.

“Now that they’ve found our tunnels, we won’t even be able to escape. Even if we continue to defend, we won’t be able to last for long. What do you all say we should do?” one of the elderly Ratfolk asked.

“How about we surrender? We’ve definitely lost, and just holding out like this isn’t a solution,” another elderly Ratfolk said gloomily.

“Absolutely not!” the elderly Ratfolk who had advocated for battle before yelled.

“What do we do then, if we don’t surrender?” the Ratfolk who wanted to surrender asked somewhat angrily.

The other Ratfolk paused and thought, and he suddenly had an idea. He said, “We still have a chance!”

Hearing his words, the other elderly Ratfolk quickly asked, “What is it?”

The elderly Ratfolk who had been advocating battle said, “As long as we can capture their leader, the enemy will do as we say. We can also kill their leader, making them like a headless dragon. They won’t be able to sustain the attack against our village and will have to leave!”

“What should we do then? Should we send out all of our special soldiers to assassinate their leader?” one of the other Ratfolk asked.

“That might not work. Even though our special soldiers are quite powerful, we’ve already alerted the enemy of their strength. The enemy leader must be incredibly wary right now, so it’ll be difficult for our soldiers to make a move,” the Ratfolk with the raspy voice said.

Hearing this, the other elderly Ratfolk nodded.

Suddenly, one of the elderly Ratfolk realized something and said, “Isn’t the enemy leader trying to get us to surrender? We can pretend to surrender and have our special soldiers prepare an ambush!”

This plan received all of the other elderly Ratfolk's approval.

Following this, they went on top of the wall and shouted down to Zhao Fu, “Respected Lord! We’re willing to surrender, but we want to talk with you about the details of our surrender. Please ask your soldiers to retreat a bit. We would like to talk with you by yourself, and neither side will bring any soldiers.”

Without even thinking about it, Zhao Fu could tell that the Ratfolk were plotting something with this ‘surrender.’ However, after thinking about it, Zhao Fu agreed and told his soldiers to retreat.

Zhang Dahu understood the danger of this because he had suffered at the hands of the special Ratfolk – they were incredibly stealthy and could launch incredibly sudden attacks. He couldn’t help but say, “Your Majesty, it’s too dangerous; please don’t go. I’ll go in your place.”

Zhao Fu lightly shook his head and said, “There’s no need; I know what I’m doing!”

Zhang Dahu did not say anything else because he trusted Zhao Fu. Zhao Fu was his King, so he took all of the soldiers and retreated 5 kilometers. However, he still made preparations to save Zhao Fu if necessary.

It was midnight right now, so everything was quite dark. There was a bonfire beside Zhao Fu, and the tall flames illuminated the surrounding 20-meter radius area.

Zhao Fu stood next to the bonfire as Zhang Dahu led the soldiers and retreated.

When the elderly Ratfolk saw that Zhao Fu had agreed to their request, they felt ecstatic and started to carry out the plan.

A while later, Zhao Fu saw the main entrance, which was a massive tunnel, slowly become unblocked, and a few elderly Ratfolk walked out. Seeing this, a smile appeared on Zhao Fu’s face. From the information that he had gleaned from the surrendered Ratfolk, these elderly Ratfolk were in charging of managing the village.

At a hidden region, a countless number of black figures used ropes to descend from the walls before blending into the night and slowly moving towards Zhao Fu.

The elderly Ratfolk slowly walked towards Zhao Fu until they were 10 meters away from him. They smiled and looked incredibly harmless, and it was as if they really were going to surrender. “Respected Lord, where are you from?”

The elderly Ratfolk wanted to make Zhao Fu let his guard down and attack when he wasn’t expecting it. However, Zhao Fu did not care about this at all, and he looked around himself as he coldly laughed and said, “What are you all still waiting for?”

Hearing Zhao Fu’s words, the elderly Ratfolk were shocked as their expressions changed, and they yelled in a cold, savage voice, “Kill this Human!!”

Following this, countless Ratfolk in black hooded cloaks appeared around Zhao Fu. There were roughly 200 of them, and their hoods hid their appearances, making them seem quite mysterious. They flicked their wrists, and the two short swords on their arms extended outwards – these were called hidden blades. Their movements were incredibly agile, containing a trace of elegance, and they turned into countless black blurs that streaked towards Zhao Fu.

Zhao Fu’s smile became cold as he drew the Sky Demon Sword, which gave off a cold, evil, murderous aura, and he slashed with it. In that instant, his King’s Domain was also released to the fullest, covering the surrounding 50-meter radius area.