Night was falling.
Bloodbeard glared coldly at the tracker who hurried over. "Did you find their trail?"
The tracker didn’t even have ti to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He pointed in a direction and stamred, "Yes, boss. The thief went that way."
"Then what are you waiting for? Move out!" Bloodbeard rose to his feet, casting one last glance at the valley that had served as his base camp.
Without the crystal fish, the valley was worthless. Even the secret formulas for body-strengthening dicines had been stolen.
Not that it mattered much to him—the formulas were already morized, and the dicines themselves were useless to him now.
"Get moving, you worthless dogs!" Bloodbeard drew his long knife and roared, "Whoever dares to drag their feet—Daddy will cut them down!"
The thieves, who had barely rested three hours, scrambled to their feet in terror. Not one dared to hesitate.
"Whoever catches the thief," Bloodbeard bellowed, "will be rewarded with one hundred buckets of water and a thousand catties of dried at!"
He wasn’t stupid—he knew that after the stick, he had to offer so sweetness.
"Ohhh roar!!"
The thieves erupted in excitent. A hundred buckets of water and a thousand catties of jerky—that was over a year’s worth of survival.
"Go!" Bloodbeard waved his blade.
"This way!" the tracker barked, pointing ahead.
Torches flared. More than five hundred thieves poured out of the valley, leaving only a token few behind to guard the camp.
Bloodbeard scowled as he looked back one last ti. Without the crystal fish, this base was nothing but a liability.
His life had already known two dark betrayals—
Once, when he was discovered stealing strengthening dicine and hunted by his tribe.
Once, when his most trusted subordinate took four hundred n and betrayed him.
That man was surely still watching his camp. Better to leave bait behind than give him the chance to move against him.
"Forward!" Bloodbeard strode out, more than five hundred thieves following in a blazing line, torches raised high to ward off the beasts of the dark.
Night travel was dangerous—but so was losing the thief.
Earlier, Blood Knife had reported that the storerooms were emptied, the incubation room destroyed, every useful thing carried off. Bloodbeard didn’t even bother looking back.
If they’re carrying so much, they can’t be moving quickly, he thought. We’ll catch them within two days of forced marching.
---
Around midnight, the tracker ran forward, his face alight with excitent.
"Boss! In the canyon ahead, the thieves’ scent is thick—they must have stayed there for a long ti!"
The longer the stay, the stronger the sll—and the easier to read the details.
"Go." Bloodbeard waved him on.
The bandits filed into the narrow canyon in a long torch-lit line.
At the front, the tracker found the heaviest scent leading into a cave. He pointed at a few n. "You—go in and check."
"Yes!"
They entered cautiously, torches raised.
"This ground’s... soft?" One of them frowned, stepping onto the strange, elastic floor.
Snap!
A sharp crack echoed—the sound of spider silk snapping.
Boom!
The ground collapsed. Wooden spears, buried in the earth, skewered the unlucky thieves.
"Ahhh!"
Their screams echoed out of the cave, sending panic through the others.
"What happened?" the tracker shouted, backing away.
"Save ! There are traps!" ca the agonized cries.
"Damn thief," the tracker spat, ignoring their screams. His face turned ashen. "He rigged it before leaving."
The others, realizing it was only a trap, laughed uneasily to cover their fear.
"Scared half to death—I thought it was a beast."
"Those poor bastards. Guess they won’t get their share of jerky or water."
Their nervous jokes barely masked the dread.
But high above, on the canyon walls, white strands of spider silk suddenly snapped loose, pulled taut by hidden weights.
It was the trigger.
Boom... boom...
The rocks above began to shift.
Bloodbeard’s ears twitched. He rested his hand on his blade. "What was that sound?"
Blood Knife tilted his head. "Sothing breaking...?"
Ye Zhao and Cunning Fox froze mid-conversation, then looked up in horror.
The cliffs on either side were crumbling.
"Boss, the rocks—!"
Bloodbeard reacted instantly, yanking Blood Knife back by the collar. "Stones are coming down!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sound of snapping silk filled the canyon.
The thieves finally looked up—too late.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Boulders crashed down from both sides, smashing into the packed crowd below.
"Ahhh!"
"Help —!"
"Run—uhhh!"
The canyon beca a slaughterhouse.
Minutes later, the avalanche ceased.
The survivors wailed amidst the rubble.
"My hand—broken!"
"Help! My leg is crushed!"
Of the five hundred thieves, most were dead. The rest were maid, pinned, or bleeding.
Suddenly, a pile of rocks exploded upward.
Bloodbeard rose from the rubble, a towering figure nearly two ters tall. His bloodshot eyes burned with murderous rage.
He had narrowly hidden in a crevice at the last second. Without it, he’d be a corpse too.
"Damn thief...!" His voice was a growl. The sight of his shattered army filled him with a killing urge.
"Boss—are you alright?" the tracker asked, pale and trembling, clutching his broken arm.
Bloodbeard turned on him with murderous eyes. If not for him leading the way into the canyon...
The tracker shivered and quickly pointed ahead. "B-Boss! The thieves went that way!"
Bloodbeard’s killing intent eased slightly. The man was still useful—for now.
"Trash. Gather anyone still breathing." His voice was ice.
"Yes!" Blood Knife flinched, shaken to the core.
Cunning Fox and Ye Zhao limped over, their faces heavy with sha.
"Where’s Dali?" Bloodbeard demanded.
"He’s dead," Cunning Fox said flatly. "A rock crushed his head."
"Hmph! Then gather the rest. We keep going."
The hatred in Bloodbeard’s chest burned like fire. No matter the cost, he would hunt that thief down.
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