Quadruple split.

Chapter 2831 News about Black Brahma

"Pack your valuables and run away?!"

Yi Zou stared blankly at Mo Tan, whose expression was quite relaxed, and after a moment of reaction, she laughed and said, "As expected of a senior, you still have the mood to joke at a time like this."

"joke?"

Mo Tan repeated, shaking his head, "I'm not joking. In the worst-case scenario, we'll definitely have to run away, so I'll have to let Elga know later."

Yi Zou: "...Huh?"

"Don't worry, we won't slink back to the Sanctuary in disgrace."

Mo Tan turned to look at the somewhat bewildered female knight, and without further circumlocution, said crisply, "It's just a strategic relocation. Although the location of Skolk Stronghold is hidden, it has already been locked onto by the strongest of the Blood Barbarians, Headless Cliff. We didn't touch them before because there was no need for it, but if the alliance model of the [Tonglu] Fortress expands further... the situation will be different."

Perhaps due to her innate talent for military strategy, or perhaps because she had been by Mo Tan's side for long enough, Yi Zou immediately understood and followed her train of thought, saying, "In other words, if the other side really does take action and wants to launch an attack on our current location, Skolke Stronghold, given that the proportion of non-combat personnel is too high and the main combat forces have been deployed to the vicinity of Eagle Claw Gorge, then retreating is the truly wise choice rather than holding out, right?"

"That's roughly the idea. Of course, there are differences between different evacuations, and there are also differences between the coordinators."

Mo Tan made a noncommittal remark, then turned his gaze to the chess piece representing the [Holy Church Joint Investigation Force] on the east side of Eagle Claw Gorge, and said leisurely, "If it's Richard Lane, holding firm is the wisest choice; if it's Mino Paladin, fighting and retreating is more appropriate; if Ramorok is in command... ha, the Steelmane Tribe is in danger."

"The Steelmane Tribe Kingdom?"

Yi Zou tilted her head curiously, then a hint of displeasure flashed in her eyes as she said irritably, "I remember Richard Lane. He's a terrible person, um, a really terrible person."

"But he is someone who is exceptionally good in certain situations, even as good as me."

Mo Tan smiled and said in a light tone, "As for whether he is a good person or not, that may be important during the Academy City Exchange Conference, but in the current situation, these shortcomings are worthless compared to his talents, because he may be able to save more people, which is the most important thing."

Yi Zou stared intently at Mo Tan for a long while before hesitatingly saying, "Senior, um..."

"Ok?"

Mo Tan looked at the female knight who seemed hesitant to speak with curiosity and asked, puzzled, "What's wrong? It's just the two of us now, so just say what you want to say."

"It's nothing, I just felt, uh..."

Yi Zou turned her head away somewhat awkwardly and muttered softly, "In my memory, you shouldn't be such a magnanimous person, senior."

Mo Tan: "..."

"Ah, I didn't mean to say anything bad about you, senior!"

Upon seeing this person, she was speechless. Yi Zou quickly blushed and waved her hand, saying, "I also hate that Richard. Well, I hate him now!"

"Alright, alright, stop trying to cover it up."

Completely caught off guard by his own junior's insightful observation, Mo Tan coughed lightly and said helplessly, "First of all, my friend took it upon himself to beat that kid up; secondly, according to reliable intelligence, that Richard has already realized during the [War League] that he is no match for me at all, and even more so, that he is completely unworthy of Wang Yu."

"Uh-huh!"

Yi Zou nodded readily and continued, "Is there anything else?"

"Third, his situation within the Holy Church Alliance was already quite delicate. However, under these circumstances, Richard Lane did not choose to legitimately lay low in Academy City, but instead decided to return to the City of Light and head north with the Holy Church Alliance investigation team."

As Mo Tan recalled Richard Lane's face, which was far, far more handsome than his own, he casually asked, "Do you know what this means?"

After thinking for a moment, Yi Zou replied, "Does it mean that Richard Lane is motivated by shame and wants to prove his abilities?"

"This is part of it."

Mo Tan smiled and said softly, "But most importantly, he is risking his life because he has ulterior motives towards Wang Yu and has offended me severely. I have also proven to everyone that my value is no less than Wang Yu's. Therefore, Richard, who is also a member of the Dawn Cult, will definitely be targeted by the cult. For example, Sister Clara, who is in charge of the team, will deliberately make him, as a priest, rush to the front line to carry out the most dangerous mission with the lowest survival rate, so as to rightfully ruin Richard Lane's life."

Yi Zou instinctively shuddered and asked in astonishment, "Are we just... sending him to his death?"

"That's right, just send him to his death."

Mo Tan nodded and shrugged, saying, "If you do something wrong, you have to pay the price. It's fine if someone else causes trouble, but... Richard's previous unwise move when he couldn't see the situation clearly was bad; and after I proved my ability, he will still be labeled as 'stupid.' Under these circumstances, it's reasonable for someone who is both bad and stupid and has offended both me and Wang Yu to issue a death mission just because he wanted to prove himself."

Yi Zou pursed her lips. Clearly, although she really hated Richard Lane, the bloody reality still had a certain impact on this pure and innocent female knight.

After a long pause, Yi Zou broke the silence first and asked softly, "Then, senior, if... if Richard doesn't have that ability, then you would... um."

"Would I stand idly by and let him die because of his stupidity and wickedness?"

Mo Tan turned her gaze back to the investigation team's pieces and asked casually, "Is this what you want to ask?"

Yi Zou didn't speak, but simply nodded silently.

"This is a false proposition, and I don't like to answer this kind of question in principle. After all, if Richard didn't have this ability, he would most likely have stayed in Academy City instead of recklessly joining the Investigation Unit."

Mo Tan smiled, then changed the subject, saying with a gentle smile, "But you are, after all, my dear guardian knight, so I can tell you—"

Yi Zou: "...!?"

"I will not let Richard Lane die."

Mo Tan sighed and said helplessly, "Cordova has already helped me vent my anger. I also vented my own anger during the competition. Although a large part of the reason I went to participate was to make that kid suffer, if I really wanted him to die... I can't do it, or rather, it's not that I can't do it, it's just that I simply don't want to take on this responsibility."

Yi Zou: "...Hmm."

"Uh?"

Mo Tan looked at the other person with some surprise, and hesitated before asking, "You mean... you're not satisfied?"

"Senior... what you just did..."

The half-dragon female knight, her face flushed, lowered her eyes and mumbled in a trembling voice, "Why did you suddenly ask me to kiss... kiss..."

Having just logged off from the account 'Tanmo', and having previously called at least sixty (or not so beautiful) girls (or a few) of the Wild Boar Man race "darling" in one go, Mo Tan, slightly tongue-tied, was speechless: "..."

He really wants to slap himself right now.

"cough!"

Mo Tan coughed lightly, secretly relieved that Jenny, who would furiously accuse him of being a 'scumbag priest,' wasn't there, and quickly changed the subject, saying, "Speaking of which, since Mino hasn't contacted me yet, she's probably planning to keep pushing herself to the limit."

"Huh?"

Yi Zou, who was also regretting blurting out her inner turmoil and even more eager to change the subject than Mo Tan, immediately followed suit, asking in an unusually flat tone, "Then why?!"

“Because Mino would most likely be able to see that I have a backup plan, but due to the lack of information, he is almost impossible to guess it.”

Mo Tan smiled and gently fiddled with the alchemical chess piece representing the Black Brahma Independent Army located on the left side of Eagle Claw Gorge on the terrain map. He said softly, "Although Mino himself should know this, the fact that he hasn't asked me yet means that he wants to at least guess my thinking, or... the specific nature of my follow-up move."

Yi Zou gripped the back of Mo Tan's chair with both hands and peered at the terrain map in front of them: "What is it?" "It's a 'surprise force' that's both reasonable and expected."

Mo Tan stretched and said in a light tone, "Now, it should be about time."

After saying that, he opened his friends panel amidst a faint fragrance.

Then--

"Oh my god! I don't have him as a friend on this account!"

"Huh?!"

……

at the same time
[Secret Realm Code: Thunderous Clear Sky], in front of the Central Restricted Area

"Bloodstained, crimson, and divine... Brother Cleaner has already joined up with those guys."

While holding her staff and gathering magic to maintain the lightning element energy array in front of everyone, which could resist the omnipresent 'paralysis' debuff and neutralize environmental damage, Hanmei turned to the captain next to her and asked, "Do you think Cleaner can keep that brat Scarlet in check and that crazy girl Bloodstained?"

"No problem."

Without hesitation, Xinglong answered calmly, "If it's the Divine Song, let alone the two of them, even if it were me and Guoshi Wushuang, he could still keep them in check."

“You and Xiao Wu are much more honest than those two guys in our family.”

Hanmei twitched the corners of her mouth, then smiled and echoed, "But I don't think there's any problem. That brat Feihong has already given in. As for Xueran, well, although she's crazy, she should be more obedient this time. After all, she's more afraid of that person than she is of Jiujiu and Xiaoyue."

Xinglong recalled how he reacted to the sight of the Cleaner like a cat seeing a tiger, and chuckled, "I have to say, that girl's intuition is even stronger than mine. If she could be specifically trained, her potential could be even higher."

"In that case, it will be even harder for Scarlet to catch up with her."

Hanmei clicked her tongue and sighed, "That kid is talented, but he's only slightly better than me. He's much worse than Hanguang and Xueran. He's okay in other games with lower skill ceilings, but in the [Innocent Realm], sigh, I'm really afraid the young master will hurt his pride."

Xinglong shook his head slightly and said calmly, "That's not necessarily true. Shenqu personally decided to take him under his wing. How well he will develop in the end is still an unknown."

"Just let him blow it."

Hanmei rolled her eyes and then said, "Speaking of which, now that we're not only the number one Question Mark Guy and Cordova, the number three Chaotic Evil should also be Epic, and Gu Xiaole is also Epic. Although none of them are insiders, you've already fallen to fifth place. Shouldn't you feel some pressure?"

"No."

Xinglong shrugged and raised an eyebrow, saying, "I'm under a lot of pressure."

"For a moment I couldn't tell if you were just brushing me off..."

Hanmei glared at Xinglong and said, "Do you think they can successfully make contact with Hei Fan?"

"I don't know, but judging from what Jiu Chong said, Shen Qu should have some channels. As for more specifics, she didn't say, and I didn't ask."

As Xinglong slowly wrapped bandages around his hand, he said, "As for Hei Fan's character, I don't know much about him, but since Fang Shi and the others are here, we should be able to make contact with him smoothly. After all, according to the information gathered by the intelligence department, the situation on the Blood Barbarian side is not optimistic, and the more manpower they have, the better... Ah?!"

"What's wrong?"

Upon hearing Xinglong, who was usually calm and collected, suddenly let out a strange cry, Hanmei immediately held her breath and, while carefully observing her surroundings, asked anxiously, "What's wrong?!"

"It's Black Van!"

"Black Brahma?!"

“Black Vanita…”

What's wrong with him?

"He added me as a friend."

"what?"

"Ah."

"Isn't your friend request switch off?"

"Uh, didn't everyone add Black Vane as a friend before? Although it didn't work at the time, there was a notification when he added her back."

"Then answer it!"

"I've already answered. Wait a moment, he messaged me."

"oh oh!"

……

five minutes later
Blood Barbarian Territory, southern part of the Steelmane Tribal Nation

Holy crap!

The Taoist priest walking in the middle of the group suddenly let out a strange cry, attracting the attention of the professional players around him.

"Fang Fang Fang Fang?"

The bitch cat immediately darted to the sorcerer's side and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"Hei Fan has added me as a friend!"

"Huh? You don't usually turn off your friends list?"

“I tried to add him before, and although I didn’t succeed, there was a notification when he added me back.”

"Oh! Did he say why he wanted to add you as a friend?"

"He said he contacted Xinglong first, and then Xinglong asked him to add... uh, Cleaner, and then Cleaner recommended that he add me? What's going on, Senior Cleaner?!"

"Ah, I didn't want the hassle, so I had him contact you."

"..."

So what did he say?

"They didn't say anything, they just gave us the task."

"what?!"

Chapter 2822: The End