Chapter 014: When a Scholar Meets a Soldier
“Whoa!”
It happened so suddenly. Chen Ran only had time to let out a cry as a patch of turf beneath his feet abruptly gave way. He couldn’t help but fall forward, tumbling into a large pit at least five meters deep, the impact making him see stars.
“Damn it! Which asshole dug such a big pit in this place? Do they have any public decency at all!”
The fall was a heavy one, and it took him a while to come to his senses. He then heard a long, drawn-out whistle. It turned out to be a carefully set trap…
Chen Ran cursed himself for being so stupid as to fall into such a crude trap. But then again, who would have thought that in a godforsaken place full of magical beasts, someone would set such a simple-minded trap.
Fortunately, there were no wooden spikes…
At that thought, Chen Ran broke out in a cold sweat.
“Chen Ran, are you okay?” Above the pit, Lia knelt at the edge, looking down at Chen Ran with concern. “Wait a minute, I’ll find something to pull you up…”
“Wait… I think someone’s coming…”
Just then, Chen Ran’s positioning map suddenly showed new activity. Besides the green dot representing Lia, a group of brown dots was rapidly approaching. This was the indicator for strangers. Chen Ran thought of the whistle from just now; it must have been that sound that drew these people here.
Above the pit, Lia couldn’t help but stand up and glance around. She saw several figures suddenly emerge from the forest, their numbers growing as they rushed toward her.
From their attire, they appeared to be local natives. They wore only crude pieces of leather that barely covered their private parts, and their bodies were adorned with various animal parts. Judging by their aggressive charge, they didn’t seem very friendly.
The leader was a burly native man, at least two meters tall. He had dark brown skin and muscles like iron knots, resembling a tower. His face was painted with various colorful patterns, and he looked quite strong.
Behind him was a group of warriors carrying various crude iron weapons. In the blink of an eye, they had surrounded Lia.
The burly native man walked over, his rippling chest muscles a testament to his strength. When he saw Lia’s beautiful face, his eyes lit up, and he froze for a moment. “A foreign woman?” Then, he nodded in satisfaction, a hint of greed in his eyes. “And a beautiful one at that!”
At the same time, several native warriors ran to the side of the pit and looked down at the unlucky Chen Ran trapped below. They frowned and said, “It’s not a wild boar.”
“…”
Chen Ran’s face was full of dark lines.
Since coming to this other world, is it really that disappointing when it’s not a wild boar?
After learning the situation below, the native warrior turned to the muscular leader and said, “Boss, it’s a foreign man down there.”
“Get him up here first!” the iron-tower-like man ordered calmly, his gaze lingering lustfully on the important parts of Lia’s female body. “Foreign woman, put down your weapon. From now on, you are my prize of war. You will become my faithful female slave!”
A flash of displeasure crossed Lia’s face, but she was outnumbered, and the native chief looked strong. She didn’t dare to act rashly and simply maintained a cautious distance from them.
Over on Chen Ran’s side…
“Hey, hey, buddy, take it easy, I’m not a wild boar…”
Next to the pit, Chen Ran was pulled up by several natives. Just as he was about to thank them, one of the natives took out a vine and began to wrap it tightly around him.
“Hey, hey, buddy, let’s talk this out, don’t do this… Hey, hey, don’t tie it so tight, help!”
There was no time to resist. Chen Ran was quickly bound like a rice dumpling by two native warriors, unable to move. He realized that these natives were not as friendly as he had imagined…
“Brothers, we mean no harm. We just came here by accident. We can sit down and talk things over…”
Chen Ran tried his best to be polite, but the natives didn’t seem to appreciate it. One of them, a man in his twenties, said viciously, “Foreigner, you have trespassed on our forbidden land and disturbed the slumber of our ancestors. You will be punished by the gods!”
“Big brother, I didn’t do it on purpose,” Chen Ran said with a wronged expression. He raised his eyebrows and suggested, “How about you untie me first…”
A heavy fist landed on Chen Ran’s abdomen, and he doubled over like a shrimp, half-kneeling on the ground. He finally understood the pain of a scholar meeting a soldier—reasoning was useless.
He raised his head, enduring the sharp pain, and looked over at Lia’s situation.
Lia was holding two swords, facing off against the tall native man. He was a little worried for her safety and couldn’t help but use his Eye of Insight to check out her opponent.
Native Man: Combat Power Evaluation Level 36, Health Potency 1000, Attack Potency 700, Action Power 400.
Chen Ran breathed a sigh of relief. The guy’s lecherous gaze clearly indicated he was no good, but in terms of combat power, he shouldn’t be a match for Lia in her Tiger King battle skirt. Although his attack and health potency were slightly higher than hers, his action power was in a different league.
The native leader strode forward, walking toward Lia as if to take her away, but the cold glint of the twin swords in Lia’s hands was pointed right at him.
The native man was forced back a few steps, a mocking look in his eyes. He grinned. “Spicy girl, I like it! Watch how I conquer you!”
The muscular native man took a spear from a companion, let out a couple of “Eeyah, eeyah” cries—apparently some kind of battle custom—and charged at Lia with powerful strides.
Lia, of course, would not sit and wait for death. She spun her twin swords, easily deflecting the incoming spear. A swift sword shadow flashed, bringing with it a white gleam. The burly native man was startled and quickly dodged, narrowly avoiding the sharp edge. A look of astonishment flashed in his eyes; he had never expected this seemingly weak little girl to be so agile. She had almost drawn blood.
Embarrassed and angry, the burly native man attacked again. Every swing carried a powerful gust of wind, but even with his fierce and valiant fighting style, he couldn’t touch the corner of Lia’s clothes.
Lia’s butterfly-like figure danced, unleashing streams of clear sword light that forced the burly native man back again and again. Seizing an opportunity, Lia executed a graceful thrust. The burly native man couldn’t dodge in time. Seeing the sword aimed at his heart, he panicked, unable to move, and even dropped his weapon. If a nearby native companion hadn’t seen what was happening and intervened in time, the man would have been seriously injured, if not killed.
However, with a rip, a gash was torn in the iron-tower-like man’s clothes, and the shock of it all made him fall and land heavily on his butt.
“Eeyah, eeyah!”
The burly native man immediately scrambled up from the ground, his eyes filled with shame and anger. He couldn’t believe he had been made to look so pathetic by a seemingly weak woman. He could no longer care about his pride and shouted to his brothers behind him, “All of you, attack!”
