Chapter 1412 Delay strategy

"kill!"

At the cloaked man's command, the men in black surged forward like a tide, wielding machetes and short clubs, charging towards Luo Feng and his companions with menacing expressions.

"Why not pretend to cooperate with him for now? You've only angered him by stalling for time. Do you have a better plan now?"

Looking at the large group of people before her, Snake Princess's older sister, still feeling some pain from the earlier encounter, couldn't help but furrow her brows and glance in Luo Feng's direction.

"The three of us are enough to deal with these people. I have faith in our strength," Luo Feng said without turning his head.

"Don't."

Upon hearing this, the Snake Princess's sister immediately interrupted.

"I am not with either of you. Please make that clear."

"But do you think he'll let you off the hook, and then wait for you to report this to the Shadow Council, only to suffer the consequences later?"

Upon hearing these words, Luo Feng finally turned around, revealing a sinister smile.

"You...you're really despicable. This is how you tried to drag me down with you."

In a true sense, Bloodhand and Shadow keep to themselves and neither side will provoke the other.

They are not organizations of the same nature; they do not cooperate, but they also do not interfere with each other.

But when they saw Snake Princess's sister with Luo Feng, they would naturally mistakenly believe that the Shadow Council had cooperated with Luo Feng or was protecting him.

The light gleamed coldly under the dim streetlights, and an intense killing intent instantly filled the air.

Luo Feng's eyes sharpened, and he made the first move.

Instead of fighting head-on, he darted into the crowd like a ghost.

With his left hand, he precisely grabbed the wrist of a man in black and pulled him, causing the man to lose his balance and crash into his companion who was rushing towards him from behind.

The moment the two collided, they were thrown into complete disarray.

Luo Feng swept his right foot across and kicked the man hard in the knee. With a crisp "crack," the man screamed and fell to his knees.

This series of actions was so fluid and efficient that the two men were dealt with in the blink of an eye.

Snake Queen's sister seemed a bit surprised as well, not expecting Luo Feng to be so skilled. It turned out he had been hiding his strength all along.

Seeing this, Colin gritted his teeth and rushed forward.

Although his short knife was not as fierce as his opponent's cleaver, it was more agile. Each swing accurately stabbed at his opponent's joints, clearly a technique he had practiced for many years.

It has to be said that Luo Feng was also quite surprised.

The Snake Princess's sister held a folding fan, the ribs opening and closing with a sharp whistling sound.

Her movements were more feminine than Luo Feng's, flitting through the crowd like a butterfly flitting among flowers. When she slapped her folding fan at someone, it would instantly render them unable to move.

The edge of that fan bone had been coated with anesthetic at some point; it seemed like a light touch, but in reality, it concealed a deadly intent.

The Shadow Council is somewhat similar to an assassin organization, but their hacking skills are clearly far superior.

The three formed a triangle, protecting each other's backs, and for a moment managed to block the first wave of attacks from the men in black.

The cloaked man stood outside the circle, observing the situation in the arena, his brows furrowed slightly beneath his hood.

He hadn't expected that Luo Feng and the other two would cooperate so well, especially Luo Feng, whose skills far exceeded the description in the intelligence. Almost none of the subordinates he encountered could withstand a single blow.

"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!" the cloaked man cursed under his breath, his voice tinged with agitation.

He originally thought that with his numerical advantage, he could overwhelm the enemy even if he had to overwhelm them, but now it seems that his men are no match for him at all.

Just then, Luo Feng suddenly noticed something unusual.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw what appeared to be dark shadows flashing across the rooftops on either side of the alley entrance, and a faint smell of gunpowder drifted through the air.

It didn't smell like guns; it smelled more like some kind of explosive device.

"Damn it, they're trying to block our retreat!" Luo Feng shouted, grabbing Colin beside him and pulling him back quickly. At the same time, he yelled to Snake Queen's sister, "There's a problem to our left rear!"

Snake Princess's sister reacted extremely quickly, almost the instant Luo Feng spoke, she changed direction and slammed her folding fan hard at a black-clad man who was trying to flank her from behind, using the recoil to leap back several meters.

Just as the three of them retreated to the vicinity of the alley entrance, a loud "boom" suddenly came from behind them!
A large hole was blown open in the wall at the end of the alley, and amidst the flying debris, several burly men wielding heavy clubs rushed out of the smoke and dust, blocking their retreat.

"Trapped like a turtle in a jar?" Luo Feng narrowed his eyes, his gaze towards the cloaked man turning colder. "It seems you were prepared all along."

To avoid alerting the enemy, he didn't bring anyone with him this time, only Colin. He hadn't expected anyone to want to attack him.

After all, this is the black market, a place teeming with all sorts of people, so getting away would be easy.

At first, he was really deceived by the Snake Queen's sister, because there was only one of them. Luo Feng was very confident that he could handle her. He didn't expect to fall into the trap of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

Even the Snake Princess's sister suffered the same fate, being used as a pawn.

The cloaked man smirked and said, "No one has ever escaped Bloodhand's encirclement alive in Ou City."

He slowly raised his right hand, and a black whistle appeared in his palm, which he was about to put to his lips.

How could Luo Feng give him that chance?

"Colin, take care of yourself!"

After being warned, Luo Feng suddenly hurled the short stick in his hand. The stick whistled through the air and headed straight for the cloaked man's face, forcing him to dodge to the side.

In that split second, Luo Feng pushed off with his feet and shot towards the low wall on the other side of the alley like an arrow.

The wall was only about two meters high, so it wasn't an obstacle for him at all.

Just as he was about to climb over the wall, several dark figures suddenly appeared on the top of the wall, and they covered his head with fishing nets!
The fishing net was made of some unknown material, but it was exceptionally strong. Once caught in it, an ordinary person would have no chance of escaping.

"I was prepared for this!" The man in black on the wall grinned as he tightened the fishing net.

Luo Feng's pupils contracted sharply, and he twisted his body forcefully in mid-air, narrowly avoiding the edge of the fishing net. At the same time, his right hand flashed and grabbed the ankle of a man in black, pulling him down forcefully.

The man in black cried out in surprise and fell off the wall, landing squarely on his pursuing companion.

Taking advantage of the momentary chaos, Luo Feng finally climbed over the low wall, but before he could land, he heard Colin's cry of pain behind him.

Looking back, Colin's arm was slashed open with a deep, bone-revealing wound, blood gushing out, and his movements had noticeably slowed. Meanwhile, the Snake Princess's sister, though still fierce, was being held tightly by three burly men, her folding fan opening and closing at an increasingly slower pace.

Even the most skilled person would gradually lose their stamina after such a series of battles.

"Want to leave? Not so easy!" The cloaked man seized the opportunity to blow his whistle, the sharp sound piercing the night sky, clearly summoning more men.

One thing the other party was right about: this was his territory, and it would be easy for him to gather more people.

Now we finally know who's behind this black market.

Luo Feng's eyes shifted. He was confident he could escape on his own, but with Colin and Snake Queen's sister by his side, it would be difficult.

Theoretically, he should sell the two people, but his other psychological state tells him that selling them might not be a good thing.

Colin, in particular, possessed exactly what Luo Feng needed.

Just then, his gaze swept over the broken shards of the pottery jar on the ground, and he suddenly remembered the fleeting golden light from just now.

A thought flashed through my mind in an instant.

Instead of jumping over the wall, he suddenly turned around, pulled out the bronze fragment from his pocket, and held it high!

"This is what you want, isn't it?" Luo Feng's voice echoed in the night sky. "I think we can talk, let's not be so impulsive."

"So... you want to cooperate again?" the cloaked man asked, narrowing his eyes.

The cloaked man stared at the bronze fragment in Luo Feng's hand, his eyes flickering beneath the hood.

The fragment gleamed with an ancient luster under the moonlight, its edges bearing patterns that resembled some kind of ancient totem, making it both familiar and strange.

This is exactly what they are willing to use the Blood Hands' influence to obtain.

"Cooperation?" He sneered, but his foot unconsciously took half a step forward. "Do you think you still have the right to negotiate?"

Luo Feng deliberately hid the fragment behind his back, his fingertips gently rubbing the edge as if he might crush it at any moment.

"Whether someone is qualified or not depends on who has this thing."

"You went through all this trouble to surround it, not just to watch it turn into a pile of rubble, right?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Colin clutching his wound and moving toward the corner of the wall, while the snake woman's sister was forced to retreat by the burly man, her folding fan already stained with blood.

It's unclear whether it belonged to the enemy or to her.

"Make your men stop first."

Luo Feng raised his voice, holding the shard even higher, "You hurt my people and you still want to take things? There's no such logic in the world."

The cloaked man hesitated for a moment, then the whistle suddenly stopped.

The fearless men in black seemed to have been put on pause; their attack suddenly slowed, but they remained in a circle, their weapons always pointed at the three of them, as if they were about to attack at any moment.

“I can give you three minutes,” he said menacingly, “but you’d better think carefully about the consequences of trying to pull a fast one.”

Luo Feng secretly breathed a sigh of relief; at least he had some time to recover.

He maintained a composed expression, saying calmly, "Three minutes is enough to explain. How much do you know about the origin of this fragment?"

"Enough with the nonsense!" a burly man with a thick beard roared. "Hand over the goods, and I'll spare your life!"

"Shut up!"

The cloaked man shouted a stern rebuke, as if afraid that Luo Feng would smash it in a fit of anger.

His gaze was fixed on the fragment, and he continued, "What are you trying to say?"

“I want to say…” Luo Feng deliberately dragged out his words, his eyes quickly scanning the shadows at the alley entrance.

A dark shadow seemed to flash past the hole in the wall that had just been blown open, as if someone had already approached because of the commotion.

That means we have to drag things out, which is advantageous for Luo Feng and the other two.

"This fragment is just one piece," he suddenly dropped a bombshell. "The complete artifact is hidden in three places, so having this piece won't do you any good."

The snake princess's sister suddenly looked up at him, her eyes filled with astonishment.

She knew the fragment had other parts, but she didn't know where they were.

Could it be that Luo Feng knows?
No wonder the Shadow Council wanted to take action against Luo Feng; there was a reason for it.

The cloaked man took the bait, his tone becoming more urgent: "What do you mean by that?"

"It means that if you want the complete product, you have to cooperate with me."

Luo Feng pressed on, "I know where the other two pieces are, and I even know how to put them together. But with your Blood Hands' limited abilities, even if you find them, you won't be able to take them away."

"Because the forces guarding that thing are much more troublesome than you are."

As he spoke, he quietly moved toward Colin.

Only by sticking together can the three of them have a glimmer of hope.

"That sounds nice, but how can you prove it's true?" The cloaked man clearly didn't fully believe him, but he kept his hand on the whistle to prevent Luo Feng from doing anything funny.

Upon hearing these words, Luo Feng suddenly laughed, the sound particularly jarring in the empty alley.

"It's very simple."

"Let us leave first, and we'll meet here in three days."

"I'll take you to see the clues for the second fragment. If I'm lying to you, you can come after me and kill me later. You have plenty of manpower, don't you?"

He paused deliberately, his gaze sweeping over the panting men in black.

"Besides, your men won't last much longer, am I right?"

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