"Boss, why aren't we making a move on those three? Even if they don't have anything valuable, their hands and feet would make decent merchandise!"
A recently recruited subordinate leaned in close to the bandit leader.
Though a new recruit, his high combat strength and the crew he brought when he defected had earned him some status in this gang of over two hundred.
That was why he dared to question the boss.
Claude, the bandit boss, glanced at the newcomer. "You and your men stumbled into the Recycling Station by accident, so your experience is limited. I'll explain this just once. Never ask me such a stupid question again."
The man instantly shrank back. Though resentful, he kept his head bowed to hide it.
"Right, right. I don't know much. I still need you to teach me, Boss."
Claude pulled a piece of wheat flatbread from his shirt, took a bite, and spoke while chewing. "Didn't the scouts say so yesterday? There's only three of them, yet they took out over a dozen pseudo-vines. And they've only been in here for half a day. That means they have weapons of mass destruction. If we send our men over, we could lose more than half our numbers, or they might just snipe our leaders one by one."
He tilted his head and stared at the man. "Of course, if you're confident, I can give you ten men. But if you fail to take them down and don't die by their hands, I'll feed you to my little cuties. How about that?"
Outwardly, he smiled. "Heh, you've thought of everything, Boss. Then—could we use those little cuties—"
He stopped mid-sentence, terrified by the sudden murderous intent in Claude's eyes.
Claude raised a hand and patted the man's cheek. The force was light, but the insult was heavy.
"My little cuties are worth much more than your lives."
The man didn't dare say another word, stepping back resentfully.
But Claude suddenly remembered something. "Your subordinates said they came back. You didn't alert them, did you?"
"No, no," the man said, halting his retreat and waving his hands frantically. "They waited until those three entered the Swing Forest before going over to check. They didn't get close at all, and they came back before those three even came out."
"Oh?" Claude sensed something amiss. "They didn't wait for those people to leave so they could go scavenge monster corpses?"
He tapped his fingers on his pieced-together ergonomic chair. "Coming back without scavenging anything..."
Claude suddenly shot his hand out. His arm—nearly a meter and a half long—effortlessly crossed the distance to grab the man's throat, dragging him back. "Did your restless subordinates bring something else back? Speak!"
Claude's vicious glare erased any thought of lying. "They... they just took advantage of their absence to push their Tricycle back. But they didn't leave any tracks! They swept the path very carefully and left no traces near the Swing Forest."
As for the mud pit?
It was so far away, how could the owners possibly track it back here?
Besides, an empty Tricycle wasn't worth the effort.
So, they were just taking a little advantage.
To the man, this didn't even count as a basic robbery.
Since when was petty theft considered an evil deed in the Recycling Station?
Claude released the man and turned to another subordinate. "Old Seven, send a few guys to keep an eye on the vicinity. While you're at it, check if they actually wiped their asses clean!"
Another man, clearly much steadier and bearing a scarred face, nodded. "Yes, Boss."
Claude rubbed his balding scalp. For some reason, he felt a lingering sense of unease.
A while later, Old Seven returned. "There were wheel tracks near the mud pit, but I had someone take care of them. Also, Monkey and Dog are keeping watch over there; they'll sound the alarm if anyone approaches."
Only then did Claude nod.
He found no flaws in Old Seven's arrangements. No matter how formidable those three were, they were Priests at most.
And even Priests should understand the value of spiritual rhinoceros in the Recycling Station.
Over a Tricycle... it wasn't worth it.
"You..." Zhu Yao opened her mouth. "You picked that up very fast."
Li Ban smiled. "I'm starting to realize my talent for spells is pretty good. But it's also because I'm in a desperate hurry to go steal something."
Doing good deeds required willpower; doing bad deeds only required indulging one's desires.
The latter was much simpler.
The three of them had plunged into the Swing Forest again, though this time they were near the mud pit.
By the time Li Ban mastered World Without Me, two hours had already passed.
They probably wouldn't make it back to camp today.
But if things went smoothly, they could multiply their savings several times over tonight.
Li Ban stood, cast his spell, and approached Ed, who was on lookout duty.
Ed gripped his axe tightly, constantly looking left and right, executing Zhu Yao's orders without cutting a single corner.
Yet he showed absolutely no reaction to Li Ban standing right in front of him. He didn't even say hello.
Li Ban waved a hand in front of Ed's face. The man's pupils didn't shift in the slightest.
He was completely blind to him, or rather, his mind failed to register that he was seeing something that required a reaction.
"It worked," Li Ban nodded.
From this point on, as long as he didn't deliberately speak to or touch him, Ed wouldn't be able to see Li Ban.
Unless there was another Priest actively surveying the surroundings with their spiritual abilities.
And Priests with that kind of capability generally didn't keep their spiritual senses active all the time.
For the same reason as before.
Wasting spiritual rhinoceros just wasn't practical.
Li Ban took out a bunch of bulky items from his Cubic Space.
Including the Miniature Reader that was temporarily out of commission.
He only kept the most critical items, including the chip holding Chen Dong.
He needed to clear out space for loot.
He handed these items over to Zhu Yao for safekeeping.
Zhu Yao assured him that she wouldn't peek at or touch a single thing.
Li Ban merely smiled, waved, and turned away, heading in the direction where the wheel tracks had appeared.
Meeting Li Ban's trusting gaze, Zhu Yao gripped a spear in one hand and a blade in the other, standing guard just like Ed.
Moving alone, Li Ban soon arrived at the spot where they had previously found the tracks.
Despite maintaining the World Without Me spell, Li Ban didn't swagger right in like Xiao Suo had back then.
He cautiously approached the area, and when he was still a dozen meters away, he noticed the marks on the ground had vanished.
The thieves realized what they did and cleaned up their own tracks?
They're afraid we'll chase them?
That meant the culprits were either relatively weak, or they simply didn't want to risk exposing their location.
I hope it's a big fish.
With that thought in mind, Li Ban circled the perimeter.
Halfway around, he spotted someone hiding in the woods.
The person was concealed within a tree canopy, well hidden, and staring intently in the direction Li Ban had come from.
If Li Ban hadn't already walked right under the tree, he really wouldn't have noticed the hidden sentry.
They even have dedicated lookouts posted outside. Seems the scale of this bandit gang really isn't small.
He ignored the low-level sentry and continued to scout the vicinity.
Although doing this consumed a fair amount of spiritual rhinoceros, the entire process wouldn't even use up the equivalent of one waste element.
Soon, he found the second lookout.
Very careful placements, Li Ban noted as he studied their positions. Quite professional, too.
He grew even more certain that the organization here wasn't simple. They might not even be a regular bandit gang.
Li Ban continued along the outskirts of the woods, pressing further in.
After bypassing an inconspicuous warning stone near the mud pit, he finally arrived at the foot of the mountain west of the Swing Forest. There, he saw a compound about the size of their own camp.
Except, the outer defensive wall here was built like a mobile fortress, complete with numerous firing ports and what looked like massive ballistae mounted on the roof.
It looked more like a military base.
The fortress was pressed right up against the peak, and it wasn't hard to imagine that its interior connected directly into the mountain.
The main gates were shut tight, with guards stationed at windows both above and below.
Li Ban simply flew up and landed on the upper platform where the ballistae were positioned.
There was someone on the platform as well, but instead of keeping watch, the guard seemed to just be resting.
The door leading inside the fortress had been left open.
Mainly because the guard was sitting right against the wall next to it.
Li Ban casually strolled inside right in front of him, and the man didn't notice a thing.
The stuff these people rob and steal probably isn't kept in the fortress itself. I need to find the passage into the cave.
Fortunately, the passage wasn't hard to find. When Li Ban reached the ground floor, he happened to see two people coming out of an inner corridor.
The heavy doors to that corridor had been locked before they emerged.
It was definitely a passage leading somewhere important.
He hurriedly slipped inside through the gap before the doors swung shut.
Once inside, he found the path lined with vast amounts of Luminescent Moss, the ground covered in footprints.
The tunnels here weren't overly complex.
Following the widest path, Li Ban soon arrived at a spacious hall.
He didn't rush in blindly, choosing instead to hide outside and observe.
There were over twenty people inside.
The leader was a man with exceptionally long arms and distinct Western facial features.
The Wizard World did have people with blonde hair and blue eyes, as well as varying skin tones. However, their numbers were small; they were simply rare minority races, much like those who possessed beast blood or other unique traits.
They weren't overwhelmingly rare, but the vast majority of the population still had black hair and dark eyes.
Li Ban figured this was probably just the preference of the Wizard Lords in the Wizard World.
Li Ban didn't spend much time scrutinizing the obvious leader, turning his attention to the rest of the hall instead.
The corridor he came from had two or three branching paths, and this hall had two more tunnels leading even deeper into the mountain.
The outer tunnels had no doors built into them, but these inner ones were clearly guarded and sealed with heavy doors.
Li Ban temporarily backed away from the hall to check out the other passages first.
There were no surprises. Of the three tunnels, two were living quarters and one was for miscellaneous storage. The Tricycle Zhu Yao had rented was right there.
While hauling this stuff back would fetch some money, after seeing the sheer scale of this bandit stronghold, Li Ban was no longer satisfied with stealing everyday goods.
You guys stole from me first, so me stealing back is just an eye for an eye. Fully justified in his own mind, Li Ban reentered the hall, skirted the edges to avoid everyone, and slipped deeper inside.