Chapter 472: Lan Zao – Joining the Bayonet Gang Again

Chaos erupted in the black market.

Unlike last time, the tremors not only failed to subside but grew increasingly violent.

Boulders and pebbles of all sizes rained down relentlessly from above.

Casualties were mounting rapidly.

Some vendors were crushed to death, their merchandise now up for the taking.

Many seized the opportunity to act.

What began as scattered looting spread like sparks igniting oil, a wildfire consuming human greed.

More and more joined the stampede!

A horrific man-made disaster unfolded.

The enforcement squad, tasked with maintaining order, shouted themselves hoarse and intervened repeatedly, still clinging to the futile hope of restoring order to the black market.

The leader of the faction controlling this section of the black market, a silver level fighter, was forced to step forward. He acted decisively, instantly slaying two iron level looters.

This restored order around him, but the overall chaos remained beyond containment.

“Get out of my way!” Xiong Ju charged forward, his aura fierce.

“Step aside if you value your life,” Spring Boxer followed closely at his side.

The two silver levels charged forward, leaving no one standing in their path.

“Lord, look over there!” an enforcement officer alerted his leader.

But the silver level fighter merely glanced in that direction before immediately shifting his gaze. He then directed the enforcement squad to begin their redeployment, moving to suppress a nearby chaotic zone.

Across Flower Skirt Island, aside from masters of gold level like Master Cai Jing, the leaders of all factions were silver level.

Xiong Ju and Spring Boxer teamed up, while the black market had only one silver level fighter in charge. He wisely chose to turn a blind eye.

The shop dealing in mithril was one of the larger establishments in the black market. When they saw Xiong Ju, Spring Boxer, and the others charging in, their faces drained of color.

Yet they didn't simply give up resistance. The shopkeeper bellowed orders to his staff, directing each to grab a batch of goods and flee separately.

“Leave the stuff behind!” Spring Boxer shouted in panic.

“Don't run! Whoever flees dies!” Xiong Ju's eyes blazed with fury as his roar thundered.

The shop's response severely disrupted their robbery. Under these circumstances, it was nearly impossible to identify who had taken the mithril.

Xiong Ju and Spring Boxer were forced to split up, intercepting the fleeing shop assistants separately.

Once intercepted, the shopkeepers wisely abandoned their cargo, hurling it far in another direction. This tactic lured the Bayonet Gang members to retrieve it, buying the shopkeepers precious escape time.

The Bayonet Gang seized multiple shopkeepers and intercepted numerous items, yet the mithril remained elusive.

Xiong Ju charged into the shop like a starving grizzly bear.

Spring Boxer climbed high to survey the area, shouting orders for his men to intercept any stragglers he spotted.

Lan Zao watched the entire scene unfold, hesitating over whether to join the Bayonet Gang's operation.

Truthfully, robbery was something Lan Zao had never engaged in before.

Though born into poverty and having served as a merchant ship's boatswain for years, he had no history of plundering others.

“To complete the task the commander assigned me, I must infiltrate the Bayonet Gang and join their ranks.”

“Now seems like the perfect opportunity. But won't joining their operation arouse suspicion?”

Lan Zao had never robbed before, but to swiftly complete the task the commander had entrusted him with, he was willing to push beyond his limits.

The problem was, Lan Zao had no experience acting as a spy. This made him hesitant when it came to making critical decisions at crucial moments.

He didn't know how to choose, lacked confidence in taking action, and was deeply worried about things going wrong.

Just as he wavered, someone quietly approached him, hiding in a shadowy corner. Through the alchemy device, they whispered urgently: "Hen Fa, what are you standing around for? Hurry up and join them for the robbery!"

Lan Zao whipped his head around to see the reminder was none other than the vendor who’d sold him the alchemy projectile cores earlier.

He recognized the vendor's identity - a member of Shuang Tu's group.

The vendor grew anxious upon seeing him turn: “You fool! Don't look back at me!”

Lan Zao immediately averted his gaze, gritted his teeth, and prepared to dash toward the shop.

The vendor whispered urgently: "Don't go straight there. You're on the outer perimeter now. Several shop assistants from that stall are running toward our direction. Go intercept them and rob the goods they're carrying. You might just find something the Bayonet Gang wants!"

With the warning, Lan Zao sprang into action.

The shop assistants who got intercepted were already panicking. Seeing Lan Zao suddenly appear, they trembled violently, as if struck by lightning.

Lan Zao actually didn't want to get blood on his hands over a robbery. So he shouted in the name of the Bayonet Gang: “Leave the goods for the Bayonet Gang!”

The clerks, intimidated by his bluff, genuinely believed Lan Zao was part of the Bayonet Gang. With no thought of resistance, they dropped the goods and fled in panic.

They were just ordinary shop clerks, earning meager wages. There was no reason to risk their lives for the shopkeeper's merchandise.

Lan Zao thus easily seized the items from the three clerks.

Luck was on his side, among the loot was the very mithril the Bayonet Gang desperately needed!

Xiong Ju ransacked the shop but found nothing. Spring Boxer, however, spotted Lan Zao seizing the mithril and rushed over immediately.

“Hen Fa!” Spring Boxer shouted, “That mithril in your hands is exactly what we're after.”

“Here!” Lan Zao didn't hesitate, tossing the pile of mithril straight to Spring Boxer.

Spring Boxer hurriedly thanked him, his face flushing with embarrassment.

Not long ago, he had just explained his vision for governing the gang to Lan Zao. Now, in the blink of an eye, he was leading a robbery, making his earlier words seem like utter nonsense.

Xiong Ju arrived just then, catching Lan Zao tossing the mithril to Spring Boxer. He burst out laughing, "Hen Fa, well done. Bringing you out of Snow Bird Harbor was worth it after all."

Xiong Ju recognized Lan Zao too.

Lan Zao shrugged. "We're all friends here. A chance like this to strike it rich doesn't come often. We can keep working together!"

This was an unusually eloquent moment for Lan Zao.

His single sentence perfectly encapsulated his actions.

Shuang Tu would likely have been pleased to hear it. This was the fruit of his earlier efforts in secretly cultivating Lan Zao.

“Hen Fa, you...” Spring Boxer started, then trailed off. He desperately wanted to persuade Lan Zao, but knew his own recent behavior left him no standing to do so.

Xiong Ju shook his head: “We have urgent business to attend to. We must get back immediately.”

Lan Zao froze.

His experience in undercover work was woefully lacking.

For a moment, he didn't know how to respond.

Lan Zao desperately wanted to join the Bayonet Gang right then and there.

But in the end, he sighed: "That’s truly unfortunate. I’ll be off to attend to my business."

Lan Zao was about to part ways to rob other places—that was his most natural course of action.

But Spring Boxer stopped him: "Don’t go operating alone anymore. Our activities have long been under the watchful eye of the black market administrator. Only our formidable strength has kept him hesitant to act."

"They likely suspect you're part of our group. If you go it alone now, they'll almost certainly come after you."

Spring Boxer didn't want to see Lan Zao continue his robberies. Before this, he had admired Lan Zao. In a way, he didn't want to see him “fall” like this.

Still, Spring Boxer's reasoning made sense.

The silver level black market administrator had already suppressed two territories, yet he never took his eyes off the Bayonet Gang members.

Lan Zao froze again.

He couldn't help but glance at Spring Boxer, feeling a surge of surprise and delight.

He hadn't expected Spring Boxer to speak up at this critical moment. This provided Lan Zao with a perfectly suitable justification to continue aligning himself with the Bayonet Gang.

“Spring Boxer is a real good guy!” he thought to himself, nodding, “Alright, I'll go with you.”

When Spring Boxer persuaded Lan Zao, he didn’t feel very confident. But hearing him agree brought immediate relief.

Spring Boxer felt he hadn't misjudged the man and was also glad he'd successfully prevented someone from falling into ruin.

He walked up to Lan Zao and excitedly slapped the latter on the shoulder: “Stay close to me!”

Lan Zao joined the Bayonet Gang members and turned to leave the black market.

Braving the relentless rain of falling rocks and stepping on precariously swaying floor tiles, the group quickly reached the exit.

They saw the staircase leading to the surface had already collapsed halfway. Amidst a pile of rubble lay the body of a transcendent.

Lan Zao recognized the man, it was the vendor from the fish stall earlier.

He had once tried to buy the elastic black silk fishing net, only to be rejected.

His eyes lit up. He quickly jogged over, bent down, and retrieved a bundle of black fishing net from the vendor's waist.

“Who'd have thought there'd be a bonus!” Lan Zao laughed heartily, genuinely pleased.

Spring Boxer glanced at him without saying much.

“Boss, the Bayonet Gang guys all got out,” a subordinate reported.

Truthfully, he didn't need the report. The black market administrator had kept his attention fixed on Spring Boxer and his crew the entire time.

His face darkened as he stared toward the exit, "Bayonet Gang... Don't think you can just grab the goods and run. This isn't over!"

He hadn't moved against the Bayonet Gang members earlier only because his forces were outnumbered.

That didn't mean he'd simply abandon his pursuit of them.

The Bayonet Gang's actions had severely disrupted the order of Flower Skirt Island and threatened his interests!

His side might be outmatched, but he could easily rally other factions to unite against the Bayonet Gang.

The Bayonet Gang's establishment of temporary strongholds across Flower Skirt Island had already raised the vigilance of nearly every silver level faction.

Now, its members were exploiting chaos to loot the black market. Such egregious behavior constituted a grave provocation to Flower Skirt Island's other powers.

The black market administrator held the moral high ground. Even silver level factions untouched by the incident would grow deeply wary and anxious, They feared becoming the next victims.

Thus, the black market administrator had long resolved to unite with other factions afterward to confront the Bayonet Gang. Only by eliminating every last one of these damned scoundrels could he vent his fury and hatred!