Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 302: The Information Gap

Li Wei thought it through carefully and settled on roughly three possibilities.

First: Chu Wushuang was staying at Scar Glenn's camp, holding firm against all comers.

Next month, Li Yue and Liang Yuzhi would settle and leave. Scar Glenn could replenish his personnel. At that point, Chu Wushuang alone might not be able to take on Li Wei's entire camp in a direct assault — but he could absolutely wreak havoc on the camp's development and production. The Small City Base might even be seized.

This was a strong possibility. In Li Wei's assessment, it was the conservative, experienced choice — the best strategic option.

Because a fighter of Chu Wushuang's caliber, if he committed to acting as an assassin and saboteur — taking random shots whenever the opportunity arose — there was genuinely little Li Wei could do about it.

Of course, that approach would also stall Scar Glenn's camp's development. Without Chu Wushuang holding things together, many operations would grind to a halt. And starting next year, raids between camps would only increase, potentially leading to Scar Glenn's camp collapsing entirely.

Second: Chu Wushuang had already been sent out right now, lying in wait somewhere along Li Wei's inevitable return route, ready to ambush him. If that happened, Li Wei's death would be nearly certain.

Kill Li Wei, and everything ended. Inherit everything he had built. The highest value play — but also the most reckless.

Though given that Scar Glenn now knew Li Wei was alone, this possibility had some merit.

Third: Chu Wushuang had also been sent out right now, but not to pursue Li Wei. Instead, he was using this window to grind mutant creatures at full speed — farming Silver and Bronze Clearance Tokens, upgrading the remaining freemen's combat capability. A quality-over-quantity approach.So which would Scar Glenn choose? Two of the three? All three? Or was he gambling that without Chu Wushuang holding the fort, Li Wei might try to take the camp by force?

Li Wei pondered this as he moved along the established route with Adai. If Chu Wushuang was also sweeping this area, they might just run into each other.

More precisely — Adai would run into him first.

Without knowing Chu Wushuang's class and full combat capabilities, Li Wei wasn't going to walk up and challenge him. A hunter could hunt a tiger — but no experienced hunter would stroll up to a tiger and demonstrate the family's signature slide tackle.

Adai soared at over a thousand meters altitude, maintaining roughly 7.5 kilometers from Li Wei — close enough for instant Vision Sharing, close enough to recall in an instant.

That safeguard alone wasn't enough. Li Wei kept the Scout Cloak on, moved at a measured pace, and used the Night Ranger's passive talent to suppress his presence as much as possible.

This was to prevent Chu Wushuang from spotting Adai first and deducing that Li Wei was nearby.

That scenario was unlikely — Adai's reconnaissance capability was now exceptional, able to identify ground-level movements in considerable detail and memorize specifics. A person as large as Chu Wushuang, without a Ranger-type class, had limited options for concealment.

Li Wei had prepared for every contingency, thought through every detail.

The result: three days of searching, nearly reaching the twenty-fifth day of the month, and nothing.

'So Chu Wushuang isn't here. Option three is eliminated.'

Li Wei was certain. Over those three days, Adai had located four more Level 5 mutant creatures that had lost control and were wandering the wasteland. If Chu Wushuang had been out hunting, he would never have ignored them.

'That leaves options one and two. But I think option two is more likely — because Scar Glenn took too much damage. People can't help the urge to gamble when they're desperate.'

Li Wei considered. His radiation level had dropped back to 50. Even without the Rat Slayer title, he could hold out for over ten hours without issue.

This meant the Radiation Storm had entered its low period again. At most, one small peak remained before month's end — possibly not even that. This year's ordeal was effectively over.

He couldn't keep wandering outside indefinitely. He had to go back. If the Head of Household wasn't present to oversee the end-of-month settlement, who knew what complications might arise.

'Alright — let's test it.'

Li Wei headed straight for Scar Glenn's camp. The moment he crossed the 25-kilometer boundary, a cascade of notifications appeared.

[You have entered Scar Glenn's territory. Your actions constitute an invasion!]

[Per the rules, within a range of 25 kilometers, your Pioneering Card will be locked onto by Scar Glenn's Pioneering Card, and you will likewise lock onto his.]

[When you are killed, or when you kill Scar Glenn, the other party's Pioneering Card will merge with yours. When you ultimately complete the Three-Star Territory Mission, you will receive an additional 5 square kilometers of land. Note: this is the maximum land grant available per Three-Star Pioneering Card upon mission success.]

—

Li Wei read the notifications while simultaneously sensing a very clear life-force signal — inside the fortress, 25 kilometers away. That was Scar Glenn. No doubt about it. A Pioneering Card couldn't be removed unless the Head of Household position was lost.

Li Wei didn't turn back. He moved forward slowly, while Adai had already reached the airspace above Scar Glenn's camp, watching closely. Any suspicious movement — especially if Chu Wushuang appeared — and it would return immediately.

Of course, what Li Wei feared wasn't Chu Wushuang alone. He feared Chu Wushuang and Scar Glenn ganging up on him.

He continued advancing. No word from Adai. Scar Glenn's position hadn't moved. So Chu Wushuang was showing this much patience?

Or — was Chu Wushuang positioned outside the perimeter, waiting for a signal fire from the camp before charging in to cut off Li Wei's retreat? A pincer attack, encirclement from all sides?

Li Wei's mind clicked. That was almost certainly it.

Scar Glenn had probably gone all in.

He walked casually to within 5 kilometers of the fortress. At this range, he could maintain contact with Adai.

He had Adai do a quick sweep of the surroundings. Everything was quiet. Not just Chu Wushuang — there wasn't even a mutant creature in sight.

Even a few faint rays of sunlight were breaking through. The Radiation Storm was finally passing.

Through Adai's vision, Li Wei could see a middle-aged man with a brutal scar across his face standing on top of the fortress, hands clasped behind his back. Scar Glenn.

He looked confident.

Well — he had reason to be.

With just himself and one other player guarding the collapsed section on the third floor, most people couldn't get in.

Li Wei smiled inwardly, reviewing every detail of that fortress in his mind — like a beloved object, every rough texture around every firing slit familiar to him.

Yes. That was his habit. The outer walls of the fortress were smooth as a mirror — but given enough time to experiment, he thought he might be able to scale them.

And at this point, the situation had become clear.

Chu Wushuang was genuinely not here. He had been sent out — positioned somewhere along Li Wei's return route, waiting to ambush him.

Scar Glenn had chosen option two. He was holding the fortress himself, confident that his impregnable defenses made him untouchable, while Chu Wushuang waited outside to intercept.

Ha. This was the beauty of information asymmetry.

Li Wei felt a quiet appreciation — and a genuine gratitude toward Adai.

Yes.

No matter how capable Scar Glenn and Chu Wushuang were, they wouldn't take this kind of risk without reason. The only explanation was that headquarters had fed them severely distorted intelligence.

Just like Zhao Guozhu and Liang Yuying — they thought Li Wei was a charming figurehead, a kept man riding on the coattails of Li Yue and Liang Yuzhi.

That was why they had dared to raid him. Lucky fools.

They had certainly studied Li Wei's combat style from the previous battle carefully.

They would acknowledge — genuinely acknowledge — that this little bastard had his strengths. The archery was extraordinary, no question. And that Five-Star Hunting Pet that could use ice magic.

And that pet had happened to trigger the explosive chain reaction from the chaos of a disorganized defense.

In the previous battle, Adai had been the MVP. The finest ice archer on the field.

That was all.

Especially since Li Wei hadn't dared to stay — otherwise, given half an hour, he could have wiped out the entire fortress.

So that was the truth they had constructed.

Li Wei finally allowed himself to smile — with the slightly guilty feeling of watching someone else make a mistake that you yourself could have made. Intelligence and information — he couldn't afford to be caught off-guard by this in the future.

As he thought this, a strange sensation washed over him — like a cold blade pressed against his forehead.

A sniper?

Interesting.

Was there also an anti-tank gun?

He bared his teeth in a grin and began to slowly accelerate. He needed one more probe.

On top of the fortress, Scar Glenn was also smiling. The cards were on the table now.

Yes — Chu Wushuang had been sent to intercept Li Wei outside his camp.

This was foolproof.

Li Wei had to return by month's end. No matter what signals that crow sent, it couldn't change his death date. The widow, the scorpion — whoever came, they couldn't save him.

Because Chu Wushuang was at the absolute peak of Five-Star capability, fresh from a successful Cross-Border Mission just six months ago.

What standing did those half-crippled women have to face Chu Wushuang?

Especially since those two old witches had joined the Pioneering Mission the moment they returned — their intelligence on Chu Wushuang was a year out of date.

That alone was enough to get them killed again.

As for the rest — he had one other player and 54 elderly, weak, and female freemen holding this fortress.

Once Li Wei was dead, everything he had built would belong to Scar Glenn. What a prize.

If you're going to be Head of Household, don't go wandering around alone. Don't blame me for camping your respawn point.

He didn't even need to kill Li Wei himself. As long as he held the third floor of the fortress, Li Wei would have to accept his fate.

Of course, Chu Wushuang hadn't agreed with this plan. The freeman casualties didn't matter — with careful management, the fortress, and the Commerce Department's continued support, there were still two years left. Everything could be rebuilt.

Or wait until next month.

But Scar Glenn knew himself. He couldn't wait. Next month would bring more variables. He was Scar Glenn — the Commerce Department's Four-Star top-seed player.

If the end-of-month settlement saw him drop to somewhere in the teens, it would be a humiliation for the Commerce Department itself.

Especially when the battle report came out — that a single person's harassment had sent them cowering into their fortress?

He couldn't afford that loss of face.

You fall, you get back up where you fell.

His blade was sharp.

He was the ninth-ranked Four-Star player in the 108th Branch of the All-Heavens Arena, backed by another Four-Star ally in close coordination, and this impregnable fortress.

If Li Wei didn't come, fine. But if he did — Scar Glenn had one question for him: how do you want to die?