An Unexpected Turn

Xia De moved quickly, swiftly stopping the bleeding for several of the lightly injured before treating their various wounds.

Of course, he wasn't treating them alone; Lili was helping him as well. Although she was only bringing him herbs, seeing her trembling yet desperately suppressing her fear to stay right by his side made Xia De feel a sense of gratification.

Facing the terror of blood was no easy feat for a five-year-old child. He really hadn't misjudged her; this little girl would definitely not be an ordinary person in the future!

He certainly hadn't brought a little girl to such a bloody scene for no reason.

He knew that Sister Vanessa thought highly of him and hoped he would become the village healer.

However, he was destined not to stay in this village forever. Thus, he wanted to gradually help this little girl grow into an excellent healer so she could assist Sister Vanessa!

Soon, with Xia De's help, Sister Vanessa finished treating everyone. Fortunately, no one had died, though a few members of the guard force might never be able to move normally again.

But no one blamed Sister Vanessa; on the contrary, they were filled with gratitude. They all knew that escaping with their lives was already a great blessing amidst misfortune.

“So, what exactly did you guys run into, Uncle Greto?”

Xia De walked over to the middle-aged man who looked as though he had just walked out of hell. The man still hadn't fully recovered his senses, his pupils slightly unfocused. Only after a couple of seconds did they refocus, and he looked weakly at Xia De.

“Oh, it's Little Xia De! I'm fine, we just ran into a band of bandits! I beat them to a pulp in no time, you know! Cough, cough! I just didn't expect the other side to have an area-of-effect magic tool, which is how I got caught off guard and heavily injured! But fortunately, we've wiped them all out.”

Greto twitched the corner of his mouth. He wanted to give Xia De his usual healthy grin on his rough face to reassure him, but in his weakened state, he simply lacked the strength. He could only softly gesture that he was fine.

It was clear that he and Xia De seemed very close.

As a warrior who had stepped into Tier Two, he was the strongest person in the village and the captain of the village guard force. Normally, children would come to ask him to guide their training, and Xia De was no exception.

Without exception, however, children's interests faded quickly. Not a single one had lasted a week under his guidance—except for Xia De, who was only three years old at the time.

He had not only endured the training but had also rapidly mastered all the techniques taught to him. In just a year and a half, his technical skill was already on par with Greto's own.

If he hadn't failed to sense any magical fluctuations from him, he would have suspected the kid had already stepped into the extraordinary realm.

The way Greto forced himself to stay conscious just to brag made Xia De's lips twitch, and he couldn't help but complain in his heart.

However, he only thought this to himself and didn't say it out loud. No matter what, the middle-aged man in front of him had been injured for the safety of the village.

He would let him show off a bit to satisfy his vanity.

“Then I should go back and help my grandpa cook. I'll head out first, Uncle Greto. Get some good rest here!”

Xia De bid farewell to the settled-in Greto, then turned to the little girl who had been following him the whole time and said:

“You too, Lili. Remember to tell Sister Vanessa that I went back, or she'll definitely worry about me again.”

He paused for a moment before continuing:

“Also, Lili, you did an excellent job today. You'll definitely become an outstanding adult in the future!”

“Eh?!”

The little girl was caught completely off guard by the praise. Her face instantly turned as red as a ripe red apple, and she felt like a boiling kettle, steam practically rising from her head.

Being praised by the brother who had always been so outstanding was indeed an embarrassing yet incredibly joyful thing!

This sight immediately amused Greto. Reaching out, his broad palm rubbed Lili's small head, making her hair—which was already messy from helping out—even more disheveled.

“Hahaha, Little Lili is shy! Even though Little Xia De is still just a kid, he really shouldn't be underestimated in certain aspects!”

“Shoo, shoo. Uncle Greto, you'd better hurry up and confess to Sister Linna first! See ya!”

With his back to the two, Xia De spoke in a light tone. He casually waved goodbye as he jogged back home with brisk steps.

Walking along the path, Xia De's mind was no longer as relaxed as he had made it seem. Expressionless, he quietly pondered and decided to thoroughly scout the surroundings.

Because he wasn't sure if this matter would involve something deeper, only seeing the battlefield with his own eyes would put his mind at ease.

The next day, Xia De's figure darted rapidly through the woods, following the direction he had pried from the guard force members yesterday. Though he moved extremely fast, he made absolutely no sound.

A faint light flickered in his pupils. He was using sensory magic to perceive his surroundings. It was precisely because of this spell that he could quickly and accurately find every path, avoiding unnecessary trouble.

...

“Boss, you have to avenge the brothers! The brothers were packing up our gear at the camp, getting ready to pull off a big job, when out of nowhere, a group of people suddenly rushed out and started fighting us! Their equipment was better than ours, and their leader was a Tier Two powerhouse. We couldn't beat them! In the end, only I managed to survive to bring the intel back to you, Boss!”

“Our brothers... some are dead, and the rest are deader than dead! Boss, you absolutely must avenge us!”

A shifty-eyed man with a bandage wrapped around his head clung to the leg of the man in front of him without a shred of dignity. He wailed loudly, looking deeply aggrieved, as if he had suffered a monumental injustice.

“Hmph!”

The several scars on the man's face twitched along with his cold snort, wriggling like a cluster of maggots, hideous and disgusting.

He kicked the shifty-eyed man hard, sending him flying several meters away. The violent impact worsened his injuries, making him feel as if his body were about to fall apart.

At this moment, a person to the left of the scarred man spoke up, narrowing his eyes:

“From what you say, it was just a Tier Two, a few Tier Ones, and a bunch of ordinary people. You bunch of useless trash!”

The shifty-eyed man lay on the ground, not daring to move a muscle, but he grumbled inwardly. Yeah, yeah, they had a Tier Two and a few Tier Ones, but we had a Tier Two and three Tier Ones too! We just couldn't handle their disgusting fighting style.

Yes, a disgusting fighting style!

Thinking of the group they had encountered yesterday, the shifty-eyed man's resentment seemed to grow even stronger.

He couldn't understand where those people had learned such tactics.

Throwing sand in eyes, kiting from a distance, ganging up on people, backstabbing, cheap shots to the crotch, human shields... they were practically more shameless than bandits!

“I reckon it's the guard force of some nearby village that came after us! It just so happened that we had important business yesterday, which allowed them to take advantage of us! Boss, what's our next move?”

The person on the scarred man's right spoke up, looking at him inquiringly.

The scarred man didn't answer. He first looked at the few subordinates who had left with him yesterday, seeing the murderous look on all their faces. Then, he looked at the terrified, shifty-eyed man he had just kicked away, and pulled his lips back into a hideous smile.

“They actually dare to attack our people? Then we must fight our way back! We'll make a sweep of the surrounding villages. Every single one of them—everyone inside must pay for our brothers' lives with their own!”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

As they roared, several of them released their auras. Shockingly, they were all Tier Two, and the scarred leader's aura had actually reached the peak of Tier Two. In this obscure little place, they could be considered a formidable force!

“You there, stop playing dead on the ground! Get up and lead the way for us right now!”