Chapter 300
: 300 is my child.
However, how could he possibly match Zhao Lexi's speed, who was doing it on purpose? In the blink of an eye, Zhao Lexi ripped the hat off his head: "Brother Li, you're so handsome, I can't even see you with that hat on."
Li Zheyuan felt a surge of resentment and his eyes darted around in panic: to mislead Zhao Lexi, he hadn't worn a mask, and now…
“Youth is wonderful…” Zhang Lijuan watched the young couple playfully bickering with a smile. When she saw Li Zheyuan’s face clearly, her gaze turned suspicious. Suddenly, she pointed at him and gritted her teeth, saying, “It’s you! It was you who stole our fruit and killed thirteen of us!”
The people at the small base immediately surrounded them.
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else,” Li Zheyuan said, frowning as he explained.
“Admit my mistake! Impossible!” Zhang Lijuan paused. “Jiang, go and call Yulan. Even if I admit my mistake, Yulan will never admit it.”
A woman quickly left.
Li Zheyuan frowned and looked at Li Hou. Li Hou hadn't expected things to develop this way either. Just as he was about to speak, Zhang Lijuan angrily said, "Li Hou, we've always trusted you, but you brought our enemy here. What do you mean by that? Or are you all in cahoots?"
Li Hou couldn't simply push Li Zheyuan away to clear his name, because he still hoped Li Zheyuan could win over Zhao Lexi and bring the people of Jingshan Temple under his control. Compared to the power of Jingshan Temple, this small base was insignificant. He hadn't touched them before because they were good at managing orchards. Keeping them around meant he could exchange basic supplies for a steady stream of spiritual fruits, which he could then resell for a high price—a highly profitable venture.
Now, Zhao Lexi was clearly deeply in love with Li Zheyuan. Destroying this small base to eliminate future troubles was the right thing to do. She immediately winked at her own people and said with a smile, "Zheyuan is my younger brother, Sister Zhang. There must be some misunderstanding here."
“Yes, it must be a misunderstanding.” Zhao Lexi nodded. “Brother Li said that they even helped you fight off bad guys. When someone tried to steal your fruit, they chased them away, and five of their teammates stayed to live with you! If you call them out, the truth will come out.”
There was silence all around.
“Those five people have probably become fertilizer for the fruit trees by now,” Gao Jue said softly.
Zhao Lexi's eyes darted around, and she shouted at Zhang Lijuan, "How could you be so cruel as to kill someone!"
Li Zheyuan and Li Hou exchanged a glance, then shouted sharply, "Where are our teammates?!"
"Your teammates!" Zhang Lijuan laughed angrily. "Fine, fine, Li Hou, you're all in cahoots. You know everything he did. I was wondering how we could have run into you when we were looking for someone to sell our fruit. We offered the lowest price to seek protection, but we had no idea that it was all your doing from the beginning!"
"Stop wasting time talking to them!" Li Hou said quickly. "Avenge our comrades."
The atmosphere was tense between the two sides, and a major battle was imminent.
The reason they didn't act immediately was out of consideration for Zhao Lexi and her group. Zhang Lijuan's people believed that the people from Jingshan Temple would definitely uphold justice for them, while Li Hou and his group thought that Zhao Lexi, who was deeply in love with Li Zheyuan, would definitely stand on their side.
At this moment, the woman who had left earlier helped another woman back to the scene.
When everyone looked over, they saw that the woman's belly was swollen and she was pregnant, looking to be about seven or eight months along.
"Li Zheyuan, it really is you!" the woman said through gritted teeth.
“Yulan, you actually…” Li Zheyuan stared at the woman’s stomach in a daze.
"You actually got pregnant with the child of a beast in human form like you." The woman said, tears streaming down her face. "I tried to abort it, but it's like a leech, I can't get rid of it no matter what I do." "Impossible, I'm an evolved human, you couldn't possibly..." Li Zheyuan's words were cut short.
Zhao Lexi released his arm: "Brother Li, is the child in my sister's belly yours?"
"No!" Li Zheyuan immediately and firmly refused. It wasn't that he couldn't have children. There was no point in keeping this child. The one that would emerge from Zhao Lexi's belly was his bargaining chip. He made his choice without hesitation.
“But you already admitted it just now,” Zhao Lexi emphasized.
"She seduced me! I was forced! And so much time has passed, she must have seduced other men. She probably doesn't even know whose child it is, and she's blaming me! I'm so innocent! Lele, you have to believe me, it really was her who seduced me. If I liked her, I would have stayed, and like my companions, I would have been killed by them. They are the real evil demons. Let's work together to rid the people of this scourge, okay?"
"If they're no good, why do you still cooperate with them? After coming here so many times, haven't you even once thought to see your comrades? Or did you already know they were dead? If you knew they were dead, why didn't you avenge them? Was it because you felt guilty?"
Li Zheyuan wanted to explain further, but Li Hou had already begun to doubt whether Zhao Lexi had been bewitched by Li Zheyuan.
He already had doubts about what Li Zheyuan said, but now, seeing Zhao Lexi's attitude towards him and considering the strength of the forces behind her, he immediately re-evaluated the pros and cons and ultimately decided to sacrifice one pawn to save the king.
Li Hou said with great distress, "Zheyuan, were you lying to me from the very beginning?"
Zhao Lexi rolled her eyes. They were all such good actors; she had to get going, you know.
Sensing the energy growing stronger, Shui Taisui felt uneasy in Zhao Lexi's sea of consciousness. She cut to the chase and said, "You're the ones who stole their spiritual fruit and won't admit it. Li Hou, besides Li Zheyuan, who else are those people? Tell them to come here now."
Li Houhe, having never been so reprimanded by someone so much younger than him, immediately frowned and said, "Zhao Lexi, this is a feud between our Southern Bases. You'd better not interfere."
After listening to his words, Zhao Lexi turned to Zhang Lijuan and said, "Sister Zhang, Jingshan Temple wants to get involved in this matter and help you get revenge. Do you want to help? Don't worry, after we leave, Benxi Base will protect this place. We're not afraid of Jianghai Base. You can continue to trade with Benxi Base. Besides, the Xue family has some connections with us. If the Li family makes any trouble, the Xue family won't stand idly by."
"Please help us get revenge," Zhang Lijuan said immediately in a deep voice.
“Li Hou, if you behave now, I won’t take your life. At most, I’ll ask the Li family patriarch to give you a beating. If you don’t behave, you’re not innocent as someone who knows the truth. Dying here would be a fitting end for you.” She smiled sweetly. “Or do you think you can get away with this?”
Li Hou's mind went blank. He suddenly realized that he couldn't afford to offend the eighty monks from Jingshan Temple outside the base, nor could the Li family, nor even the entire Jianghai base. How could he have been so blinded by greed and said such arrogant things?
If things escalate like this, the clan chief won't let him off the hook.
He took a step back and instructed the people around him: "Contact the Li family and call everyone else over."
Li Zheyuan panicked. His abilities had always been invincible, how could he possibly fail today!
Do not!
Should not!
Will not!
He struggled to control his fear, forcing an awkward smile as he tried to cling to his last hope: "Lele, you have to believe me."
Yulan, fearing that Zhao Lexi would be bewitched by Li Zheyuan, cried out in a shrill voice, "Don't believe him! He approached me as soon as he arrived at our base, and I was bewitched by him. I believed what he said: that he would marry me and take me back to the Jianghai base after returning from the north. It just so happened that my aunt was already considering cooperating with the major base, so I told him about the spiritual fruits in the base. I never expected that this would lead to such a disaster. They went to steal the fruits at night, but we discovered them, and a conflict ensued. Five of them died, and thirteen of us died!"
"Thirteen people, not killed by zombies, but by their own kind!" (End of Chapter)