CHAPTER 79: CHAPTER 79: POISONED

A tall, scarred man stepped out of the tunnel, a dagger in each hand.

Behind him, the passage was packed with thieves.

He fixed his eyes on Shane, rolled his neck, and said slowly:

"Long time no see, Shane. I heard you just got back to the Ice City camp?"

"I was going to drop by and see you sometime, but I didn’t expect you to show up here."

The scarred man, who had been making small talk a moment ago, suddenly went cold. His tone turned deadly as he asked:

"So who betrayed me? Number Two? Or Number Three?"

"It has to be one of those two. Otherwise you wouldn’t have made it here."

As the scarred man, leader of the thieves, spoke, Shane took a few steps forward, just enough to block Ethan and Ryan’s view.

Shane answered with a blank face: "Take a guess."

The scarred man burst out laughing, slid his twin daggers back onto his belt, and clapped his hands.

At once, the thieves behind him parted. Two thieves who had been tortured beyond recognition were dragged out.

They dropped to their knees, sobbing and shouting:

"Boss, please believe me! I didn’t betray you!"

"Boss, I didn’t betray you either!"

The scarred man’s smile vanished. His eyes turned cold. He pointed at Shane and shouted:

"Then how did they get in?"

"There are so many forks in the tunnels, like a maze. Were they just lucky enough to stumble onto the right path?"

"Or did they happen to find a map with the routes marked out?

The two badly wounded thieves were at a loss for words and could only beg.

The scarred man moved his hands. The two daggers seemed to stick to his palms, spinning.

Swish! Swish!

Two cold flashes cut through the air. One of the kneeling thieves was beheaded on the spot.

Blood splattered everywhere.

The scarred man looked at Shane and said softly:

"Whoever worked with you is dead now. You’re next—my son."

Everyone froze. The members of Shane’s team stared at the scarred man, then at Shane, in disbelief.

They had no idea Shane and the scarred man had this kind of relationship.

Shane clenched his fists, face blank. He took a deep breath and said slowly:

"You’re a complete scumbag. If not for you, my mother wouldn’t have died the way she did."

The scarred man laughed again, gave Shane a playful look, and said:

"If I wasn’t a scumbag, you wouldn’t even be here."

"I really didn’t expect your mother, who was about to die of illness, to escape from this place."

"If I’d known, I would’ve just killed you both."

The air fell silent. Shane’s calm was gone. His eyes turned red as he stared hard at the scarred man.

Just then, Ethan stepped forward and glanced at the two headless bodies on the ground.

He wasn’t interested in the drama between Shane and the scarred man. Most likely, back when the scarred man was a thief, he had kidnapped Shane’s mother.

Right now, Ethan only cared about how to cause trouble inside the thieves.

So he cleared his throat, and in front of everyone, took a map from his [Inventory] and gave it a shake.

Ethan said slowly: "Actually, your second guess was right."

"I happened to get a map, and it happens to show the routes here. I also ran into Shane and his team by chance."

"The two you killed really didn’t betray you. You killed the wrong people."

After he finished, Ethan even let out a sigh. It sounded especially harsh.

At once, the thieves behind the scarred man widened their eyes. They looked at the two bodies, then carefully looked back at the scarred man.

For a leader, being exposed in public for a false accusation—and killing his own men—has one clear result: a loss of authority.

Many of the thieves started to look at the scarred man with growing dislike.

Quite a few of them began to whisper to their partners:

"Is that for real? The boss didn’t even ask questions—he just killed the second-in-command and the third-in-command."

"Seems real. They had no reason to betray the boss."

"Tell me, if the boss is in a bad mood one day, will he just kill me too?"

"Shh, keep it down. Don’t let the boss hear."

The scarred man’s body started to shake. He clenched his teeth, stared hard at Ethan, and said:

"Well, you’ve got guts. Quick, too. You figured out how to stir us up that fast."

"After I kill Shane, I’ll keep you alive for a while and show you what it means to want to die but can’t."

Ethan gave a mocking smile, shook the map in his hand, and shouted to the thieves behind the scarred man:

"If anyone doesn’t believe me, I can toss you the map. Take one look and you’ll know I’m telling the truth."

Right away, the thieves’ whispers grew louder.

The scarred man had to roar: "Shut up!"

"The most important thing now is to kill them, or we all die here."

"Move!"

The moment he finished, Shane sprang from his spot, leaped up to the tunnel ceiling, and swung his big hammer down toward the scarred man.

But the scarred man never meant to face him head-on. He pushed off with his legs and ran deeper into the cave.

Blinded by rage, Shane was about to chase him alone.

Ethan shouted: "Do you still want revenge?"

Shane stopped at once, eyes bloodshot, taking deep breaths.

After more than ten seconds, he calmed down, nodded to Ethan, and said:

"Thanks. He said all that just to rile me up. If I’d rushed in, I would’ve fallen for it."

Ethan gave Shane an extra look. He hadn’t expected Shane to calm down that fast.

He could guess some of the scarred man’s tactics.

In these caves, the scarred man’s thieves know the layout. If they fight hit-and-run, they have a big edge.

Only an idiot would give that up and choose a straight, head-on fight.

Ethan helped Shane cool off just to keep his own plan on track.

The grudge between Shane and the scarred man, and how awful the scarred man is, had nothing to do with him.

With his head clear, Shane led Ethan and the others, carefully tracking the way the scarred man had gone.

Soon, as they entered the next stretch of tunnel, they ran into a trap from the thieves—poison gas this time.

Ethan and Shane reacted first. They held their breath and warned the others.

Shane pulled out a few round pills, tossed them to Ethan, and motioned for him to swallow one.

Ethan first put the pills into his [Inventory], then checked their info.

[Universal Antidote Pill]

[Quality]: Blue-quality

[Requirements]: None

[Effect]: After use, removes common poisons and boosts the user’s poison resistance for the next thirty minutes.

[Note]: A must-have for anyone on the road.

After confirming the pill’s details, Ethan quickly took one.

Shane was generous: after he used one, Ethan still had three left.

Now, if enemies used poison or toxin attacks later, he had a way to deal with them.

He also knew that against the thieves’ poison, one pill was enough.

Shane gave him so many [Universal Antidote Pills], probably to repay him for the warning just now.

You can’t get revenge with anger alone.

Ethan actually liked Shane—he was a good guy, the kind you could push around a bit.

Shane didn’t know what Ethan thought of him. He was on guard, watching the area.

After a poison attack, the thieves would likely try a probing strike.

But since they had taken the [Universal Antidote Pill] and wouldn’t get poisoned, then the thieves would...

Shane was still thinking when he heard Ethan panting hard and shouting at him:

"No good! This poison doesn’t seem to be cleared. I’m too weak to resist it."

"Hurry, think of another way!"

"I can’t hold on!"

Shane quickly checked himself and felt nothing wrong.

When he saw Ethan winking at him over and over, he understood. He turned and walked toward Ethan, calling out urgently:

"Fall back! We’re retreating first. Damn it, I’ve never seen this poison before. It’s a tough one."

The other soldiers, including Ryan, had also taken the [Universal Antidote Pill] they carried, and felt no strange effects.

So they stared at Shane and Ethan, not sure what was happening.

Only when they saw Captain Shane and Ethan frantically winking did they guess what this might be.

Everyone began to fall back, as if they really couldn’t resist the poison and needed to pull out.

The next moment, the walls on both sides of the tunnel suddenly cracked open. A dozen thieves burst through, laughing:

"Hahaha! You idiots, you’re finished!"

"Go! Kill them!"

"They’re poisoned! Charge, brothers!"