From the looks of it, the enemy had likely done exactly as Shen Bai said and lured the tiger from the mountain.

He had to get back as fast as possible, hoping to reach Liangshui County before the enemy did.

But they hadn’t even gone a few hundred yards when Shen Bai suddenly called out.

"Lord Yang, wait."

Yang Feng, who was rushing back, instinctively stopped. He didn’t understand what Shen Bai meant.

"Lord Shen, if there’s something else, we can talk on the way."

The situation was dire, and he was anxious to save every possible second on the road to reach Liangshui County at once.

Shen Bai offered a smile and said, "Lord Yang, there’s no need to rush back. Let’s continue toward our original destination."

Yang Feng was stunned. "Lord Shen, what do you mean? They’ve lured the tiger from the mountain. We should be rushing back to defend the county."

He was confused. Shen Bai was the one who said they’d been lured away, but now Shen Bai was telling him not to hurry back. ’What is the meaning of this?’

Ouyang Sword, who had caught Shen Bai’s meaningful glance earlier, said, "Lord Yang, don’t be hasty. Lord Shen means the enemy is just putting on a show for us."

Yang Feng asked, bewildered, "A show? What kind of show?"

"Please, both of you, just speak plainly. The situation is too dangerous for this."

Shen Bai pointed in the direction of Liangshui County. "Lord Yang, do you think the path we’re on is the most direct way back?"

Yang Feng thought for a moment, then nodded. "It’s all mountain paths around here. Our route is indeed the most direct. A round trip for us is much shorter than a one-way trip on any other path."

Shen Bai nodded. "Exactly. Even if we make a full round trip, the enemy still won’t be able to reach Liangshui County. Therefore, the ’luring the tiger’ strategy doesn’t actually work. They just want us to *think* it does."

Yang Feng’s eyes widened. "Lord Shen, are you saying they only pretended to lure us away, hoping we’d see through it? But what if we hadn’t?"

Shen Bai said, "If we hadn’t seen through it, we would have found nothing there and returned to Liangshui County anyway."

Hearing this, Yang Feng’s brow furrowed. "Then what’s the point of this whole act? Just to make us run around for nothing?"

Shen Bai shook his head. "The things they left behind were meant to look like they’d already left, and in a great hurry at that. They even left behind their so-called research notes. But they overlooked one crucial detail."

"What detail?" Yang Feng asked.

Ouyang Sword also looked at Shen Bai, full of curiosity.

He had understood the meaning in Shen Bai’s glance, but he didn’t know how Shen Bai had deduced all this.

Shen Bai thought for a moment, organizing his words before speaking. "Though the handwriting was messy, some of the characters were written quite neatly. It’s obvious they were imitating messy handwriting to make us think they’d left. Then, by using the ’luring the tiger’ ploy, they hoped we would rush back to defend Liangshui County."

"Their goal was most likely to buy themselves some time. Xinhua Academy is all about ’research,’ isn’t it? It’s highly probable their work isn’t finished yet."

After a moment’s thought, Yang Feng slapped his palm. "Lord Shen, your analysis is spot on!"

The enemy’s "luring the tiger" strategy was clearly flawed; after all, their round trip was shorter than any other route. Since the ploy was bound to fail, their real goal in making them rush back to Liangshui County must have been to buy time for their research.

Shen Bai looked toward the thatched cottage. "That’s why I led us a few hundred yards away. It makes them think we’ve truly left and lets them lower their guard. Now is the time to go back and see."

Yang Feng nodded and waved his hand once more. "Everyone, follow me back to the thatched cottage! Capture the people from Xinhua Academy. If they don’t surrender, kill them on the spot!"

The members of the Observatory clasped their fists and acknowledged the order.

Then, Yang Feng led the Observatory members back toward the thatched cottage.

「...」

At the thatched cottage, all was deathly silent, shrouded in darkness.

The dark clouds in the sky had parted, and a bright moon cast its pale, ghostly light upon the cottage.

The corpses scattered about added to the desolate atmosphere.

Just then, a faint rustling sound came from the dense woods nearby.

Following the sound, more than twenty people in long robes emerged from the trees.

Each of them had a copper token hanging from their waist and carried various tools.

Knives, axes, and even pliers.

But these tools didn’t seem suited for combat; they looked like they were for something else entirely.

Behind this group, a middle-aged man with a goatee and a Copper Token at his waist walked out with a smile.

The middle-aged man’s face was covered in a dense network of knife scars. The twisted scars, resembling centipedes, still showed traces of stitches.

And on his hands, where the skin was exposed, metal wires were embedded, running from his wrists all the way to his fingers.

"Lord Long, they’ve left."

A Copper Member from Xinhua Academy stepped forward, clasped his fists, and spoke to the middle-aged man.

Long Lang nodded. "Continue the experiment. Hurry. We finally have an opportunity, and we can’t afford to waste it."

The Copper Member acknowledged the order and waved to his companions.

A few of them then went into the woods and dragged out an iron cage.

The cage was inlaid with all sorts of gems. Inside the cage, which stood over ten feet tall, a humanoid monstrosity was crouched.

Sensing the presence of living people, the humanoid monstrosity let out a roar.