ACSP: Chapter 37: Surrounded, Then Let the Slaughter Begin!
"Not good, it's a barrier. Everyone, be careful..."
City Lord Li Hongfei's expression changed drastically, and he immediately ordered everyone to be vigilant.
At this moment, an arrogant voice suddenly rang out within the barrier: "Brother Hongfei is truly worthy of being the City Lord of Jinghai City, being able to recognize this as a barrier at a glance."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice.
They saw that Chen Zhentian had already arrived inside the barrier with a group of Chen family members.
Behind them followed many people from other factions.
The Wang family members, led by Wang Li, were among them.
There were nearly three or four hundred of them.
These people were all affiliated forces of the Chen family and had always followed the Chen family's lead.
After appearing, they immediately surrounded City Lord Li Hongfei and the others, and drew their weapons without hesitation.
At the same time, Jiang Chen also noticed that there were quite a few people outside the barrier eyeing him covetously.
Clearly.
They were now completely trapped here.
"Chen Zhentian, what do you want?"
City Lord Li Hongfei looked around, then looked at Chen Zhentian with a solemn expression and rebuked him angrily.
"What do I want? Isn't it obvious?"
Chen Zhentian laughed: "Brother Hongfei, the times have changed. The City Lord's Mansion you official forces built is now in name only. How about this, I'll give you a chance: hand over that kid Jiang Chen, and then bring all your subordinates to join my Chen family. I will let you continue to be the City Lord of Jinghai City in the future. How about that?"
This guy was indeed coming for Jiang Chen.
City Lord Li Hongfei frowned tightly and gritted his teeth: "Don't dream. Jiang Chen is now a member of my City Lord's Mansion, and I will not hand him over to you."
Chen Zhentian was not surprised by City Lord Li Hongfei's answer: "Fine, since you are determined to seek death, I won't stop you."
After speaking, he looked up at the City Lord's Mansion managers behind City Lord Li Hongfei.
"Everyone, you work for the City Lord's Mansion simply to make a living in this new era. There's no need to die with City Lord Li Hongfei. If you leave the City Lord's Mansion now, my Chen family is willing to open our doors wide. Whatever resources you could get at the City Lord's Mansion before, my Chen family can give you double..."
Chen Zhentian was worthy of being a clan head; his methods of winning people over were superb.
The people of the City Lord's Mansion were now in a desperate situation.
And what he was doing at this moment was truly ruthless.
One was a certain-death situation.
The other was a better place to belong.
Between these two choices, anyone who wasn't an idiot would definitely choose the latter.
Sure enough.
As soon as Chen Zhentian finished speaking, a few people behind City Lord Li Hongfei walked out silently.
Seeing this, a smile appeared on the corner of Chen Zhentian's mouth: "A wise bird chooses its tree to nest in. It is my Chen family's honor that you have come to us."
City Lord Li Hongfei glared at him: "Chen Zhentian, you are so despicable."
Chen Zhentian smiled and curled his lips: "What? Does our great City Lord Li want to restrict his subordinates' right to choose life? How is this different from a dictator?"
While the two were talking, a few more people from the City Lord's Mansion chose to leave.
City Lord Li Hongfei knew that whatever he said now would be counterproductive.
He simply shut his mouth.
He could not control the choices of others.
But as the City Lord of Jinghai City, he himself would absolutely never bow to Chen Zhentian.
Even if he died, he would die as the City Lord of Jinghai City.
This was his resolve.
His biggest worry right now was his daughter, Li Yanran.
"Yanran, don't worry. Even if I have to risk my old life this time, Dad will make sure you escape."
City Lord Li Hongfei turned back to look at Li Yanran standing in the crowd, his eyes suddenly becoming incomparably firm, as if he had made an important decision in his heart.
And in the very next second.
Jiang Chen's mind suddenly rang with the voice of City Lord Li Hongfei:
"Jiang Chen, I will use a secret technique in a moment to forcibly control Chen Zhentian. When that happens, I will make him open a path for you to escape. Please, take Li Yanran and run. Run as far as you can. Remember, never return to Jinghai City. You must keep Li Yanran alive..."
Jiang Chen did not feel surprised.
Because he knew that City Lord Li Hongfei was currently using the [Telepathy Technique].
This was a high-level mental secret technique of the Yamanaka clan, capable of communicating with others without any devices, directly inputting one's words into the other person's mind, similar to the sound transmission in the world of cultivation.
He even already knew what City Lord Li Hongfei intended to do next.
It was nothing more than using the [Mind Destruction Jutsu] to control Chen Zhentian, and then forcing him to let them leave.
However, if that happened, City Lord Li Hongfei, as the user of the technique, would surely die.
During this time, City Lord Li Hongfei and his daughter had treated him well, and naturally, he did not wish for City Lord Li Hongfei to die just like that.
Furthermore.
The Chen family's choice to act this time was clearly intended to completely dismantle the power of the Jinghai City City Lord's Mansion.
Even if he and Li Yanran escaped.
They would only be able to live in the wilderness forbidden zones where exotic beasts ran rampant.
Unless they could find a second city inhabited by humans.
Otherwise, their lives would become extremely difficult.
"It seems this is the only way..."
Jiang Chen sighed softly, then stepped out from the crowd and came to City Lord Li Hongfei's side. He looked up at Chen Zhentian opposite them and said, "Release everyone, and I will stay."
Upon hearing this, City Lord Li Hongfei was shocked: "What are you doing? Didn't I already tell you what to do?"
Jiang Chen, however, smiled faintly: "Sorry, I'm not the type of person who likes to owe others favors, so I won't accept your suggestion."
"Jiang Chen, have you gone mad..."
At this moment, the completely unaware Li Yanran suddenly ran up anxiously from behind.
However, before she could even speak, she was knocked unconscious by a hand chop from Jiang Chen.
City Lord Li Hongfei caught Li Yanran, just about to say something more.
But Chen Zhentian's voice came from the other side first: "Jiang Chen, you think too highly of yourself. Do you really think that in your current situation, you have the qualifications to negotiate with me?"
With an expressionless face, Jiang Chen reached out and took out a scroll glowing with golden light: "This is the S-rank Space Ninjutsu, Flying Thunder God Technique. It requires level 70 to learn. I can't learn it yet, but if you don't agree to my conditions, I can destroy it right now."
"What did you say?"
Chen Zhentian's pupils shrank violently.
The high-level Ninjutsu skills obtained from secret realms all have level requirements for learning.
He had calculated that Jiang Chen was currently unable to learn this S-rank Space Ninjutsu, which was why he chose to snatch it.
If Jiang Chen destroyed this skill book now, his loss would be at least halved.
Forget it, anyway, half of the people from the City Lord's Mansion had already left.
Even if the remaining people went back, they wouldn't amount to much.
Let them live a little longer.
Chen Zhentian narrowed his eyes and looked at Jiang Chen: "Fine, I'll listen to you. As long as you stay, I won't make things difficult for the others."
Jiang Chen turned to City Lord Li Hongfei and said: "You can leave now."
City Lord Li Hongfei hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he chose to leave.
Because he could see that Jiang Chen had already made up his mind, just as he had earlier.
This was a man willing to die for a cause, and he chose to respect that!
"Trash is trash. Even when death is imminent, you still want to show off."
Seeing Jiang Chen step out to be the leader, Wang Hao couldn't help but show a look of disdain on his face: "Jiang Chen, oh Jiang Chen, so what if you were lucky enough to get the best reward in the secret realm? In the end, don't you still have to hand it over obediently?"
"You are destined to never turn things around in this life."