Chapter 30: The Trap

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A single sentence from Aisha suddenly brought Li Mingxing back to his senses. His mind flashed through the thoughts he had entertained over the past few days. Except for the first day when he met with that young man and arranged the layout of the rumors, he had been in a state of low morale ever since.

Reflecting on his every move after arriving at the Crystal City, Li Mingxing suddenly had a realization: the leadership ability of the Crusader Lord had reached a remarkably high level. Not only could he raise the morale of his own subordinates and residents, but he could also subtly undermine the enemy’s morale without them noticing.

As an outsider, Li Mingxing was the primary target whose morale the Lord sought to sap. However, due to Li Mingxing’s identity as a merchant and the initial conflict with the Lord’s son on the first day he arrived, the Lord could not confront him directly.

Thus, the Lord resorted to these slow, subtle tactics to erode Li Mingxing’s confidence. It was only a matter of time before the Lord would come forward to discuss the matter of the gems with him openly.

Li Mingxing bore no grudge against the Crusader Lord’s actions; after all, they were done for the benefit of his own city’s development, and Li Mingxing had no reason to hate him.

Moreover, the partial loss of morale sharpened Li Mingxing’s understanding of the current situation. It allowed him to see his predicament more clearly and consider alternative strategies, ensuring he would not become complacent due to temporary success and thereby lose the final opportunity for a comeback.

Having regained his confidence, Li Mingxing nodded slightly to Aisha, who raised the present issue, then swiftly began arranging the next steps.

At that moment, good news arrived from Aisha’s side: the apprentice hero of the Light Alliance had appeared. If Li Mingxing did not seize this opportunity and allowed this individual to escape back to Dragon City, it would become even more difficult to deal with him in the future.

For this reason, Li Mingxing employed all his methods. He dispatched his harpy subordinates to inform the second-generation nobles who enjoyed reading the young man’s novels, telling them that a local from Dragon City had come to seek this youth, and it was very likely that the youth would leave together with this visitor from Dragon City.

Then Li Mingxing sent messages to the high-ranking nobles in the city, conveying the same information but in a different manner. To these elites, he explained that the people of Dragon City had heard of the youth’s talents and had sent their strongest agents to try to win him over, intending to use the youth to support Dragon City and use his novels as a weapon to undermine the morale of Crystal City.

If the belief that elves were the superior beings spread widely in Crystal City, the city’s faith would collapse in the shortest possible time.

Afterwards, Li Mingxing went to the hotel, discussed matters with the owner for some time, and then quickly left Crystal City with his forces.

Not long after Li Mingxing’s departure, a minor commotion arose within Crystal City—the young novelist suddenly vanished.

Though this seemed a trivial matter at first, with Li Mingxing’s prior rumors circulating, the people of Crystal City grew alert.

The city gates were promptly closed, and soon Li Mingxing saw a blue magical array unfold over the city. Three layers of magical shields in different colors enveloped the city walls.

Li Mingxing immediately sensed the air around him stiffen momentarily outside the city and smiled quietly. “Quite impressive—magic suppression, atmospheric shielding, and spatial lock. These three magical shields are used brilliantly.”

He was right. While these three shields might not be very effective during an enemy siege, they were exceedingly useful for quelling internal chaos within the city.

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The magic suppression shield dampened magical reactions within the city, preventing the use of large-scale destructive magic.

The atmospheric shield, placed on the outermost layer, turned the entire city into a maze. Without specialized equipment, one could not even tell if a transparent wall suddenly appeared before them.

The spatial lock prevented mages from using teleportation or spatial gates. The city was effectively segmented into countless small sections, awaiting the city’s defenders to handle the situation.

Under such circumstances, the apprentice hero of the Light Alliance and the youth who had just agreed to become his follower and study magic alongside him were both stymied.

As a mage, the apprentice hero quickly realized that his magical power was reduced to only one-third to one-fifth of its normal capacity, and the few daily uses of teleportation he had were now completely unusable.

Even if he were foolish, he now understood that the people of Crystal City had detected his presence. He also recalled the youth’s mention of a lion-scorpion—another being who had unintentionally entered this world like himself.

He turned to the youth and asked, “Has that lion-scorpion you mentioned last time come looking for you again?”

“Seems not. Why?”

“Nothing much. I just wanted to ask if that lion-scorpion has any special abilities besides sneaking in secretly.”

“Apparently, it knows a lot about the inner world you mentioned, and it also seems quite knowledgeable about the magic tower.”

Upon hearing this, the apprentice hero finally understood the situation. He exclaimed loudly, “Damn it! I was fooled. That guy didn’t come here by accident like you. He’s also an apprentice hero, and one of my enemies, no less.”

Hearing this, the youth gradually understood. After some effort, he recalled that the apprentice hero’s words seemed accurate. “That explains why he always seemed off,” he muttered. However, the apprentice hero did not hear this; he was busy contemplating how to escape. Unlike Li Mingxing, who was a free man, his identity bore the mark of Dragon City.

Had the apprentice hero heard what the youth had just said, he would have understood why Li Mingxing refused to take such a promising follower.

But without this knowledge, he did not notice the trouble his new follower was causing.

It turned out that the hotel owner had somehow appeared beside the youth. The owner spoke brusquely, “If you don’t want to die, come with me. I know a tunnel that leads out of the city.”

Upon hearing this, the youth immediately ran a few steps toward the owner, then, sensing something was amiss, slipped behind the apprentice hero. “I disrupted so much of your business; why would you help me?”

“It’s not that I want to help you. Someone from Night Elf City admires your strength and wants to recruit you. He has read your writing and came to find me. This path isn’t something I opened; it’s a secret method Night Elf City has laid in this city for years. Using it for someone like you would waste years of effort.”

The youth was greatly stirred by this revelation, but the apprentice hero asked, “Is that true? Do I get to come along?”

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“You’re out of luck; the order is to take only him. Too many people and the path disappears.”

“I knew you’d say that, but he’s mine now. Even if you want to, you can’t take him away,” the apprentice hero replied.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve been paid, and whether I can take him back is none of my concern,” the hotel owner said indifferently, looking at those before him.

The owner’s indifference contrasted with the apprentice hero’s concern. He had brought people to find the follower and didn’t want to get trapped here.

Stepping forward, the apprentice hero said, “How much did they pay you? I’ll pay you just as much if you take me with you.”

The hotel owner only smiled and ignored the apprentice hero’s words. In truth, he was already stunned. Li Mingxing had originally sent him here just to test the waters, but unexpectedly, someone was actually willing to pay him to lead them to the elusive secret passage.

However, the hotel owner was initially just an ordinary man—he had no real secret passages. All he had was an address given by Li Mingxing.

After some hesitation, the owner finally took out this address and extended his right hand. “Your money.”

The apprentice hero, eager to snatch the item, could not do so given the current situation. Instead, he tossed several golden fruits onto the ground.

These fruits grew on certain trees in this inner world and granted the consumer the ability to move freely through forests for a time.

Because their yield was limited and they preserved well, they often served as currency. The amount the apprentice hero threw down was considerable.

After glancing at the fruits, the hotel owner took a deep breath, placed the address on the ground, grabbed some fruits, and fled without looking back.

Seeing this, the apprentice hero trusted the address even more. He picked it up without hesitation and set off with the youth in that direction.

After running some distance, the apprentice hero saw the city’s military beginning to mobilize. He knew the enemy had arrived, and if he did not reach the location specified in the address within the allotted time, he would have no chance to escape.

Gritting his teeth, he forcibly used the last of his magic to cast a hastening spell on himself and the youth, speeding toward the location indicated by the address.