Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 319: Plague Witch

Today would be a very important day.

At three in the morning, Li Wei drifted awake from sleep, feeling sharp and ready.

He washed up unhurriedly, put on his armor in silence, strapped on his weapons. His entire presence shifted — like a silent mountain. Even just walking slowly, the weight of his presence was enough to startle Adai awake with a shudder.

"Adai — time to work."

"Caw?"

Two reluctant calls. Adai didn't even dare ask for food. He just ruffled his wings and flew off. He could feel it — today's Li Wei was dangerous.

But he also knew: today there would be a battle.

So no negotiating. He needed to run the route first and check whether any brainless petty thief had blocked the road.

He also needed to scout the conditions along the way, and check the backup routes.

From here to the port camp 250 kilometers to the west, there were actually three possible routes.The highway required a detour — over 400 kilometers — and one bridge was out, requiring a stretch of back road.

There were two regular roads. One went directly, passing through the small city base. The other crossed the river south to another county town, then turned toward the port camp.

In short, for this supply run, Adai was truly indispensable.

Li Wei paid him no mind. He moved as if nothing were happening — went downstairs, shouldered a Four-Star log, and headed straight to the rooftop. No other tools needed. He began carving with his Enchanted Dagger.

This wasn't last-minute preparation. It was for receiving a distinguished guest.

Four-Star logs were precious. The arrow shafts carved from them were even more so.

From this single log, he could only carve four shafts — or rather, Li Wei chose to carve only four. Not wasteful. Simply finding the stress variations within the wood.

The numerical differences were tiny. But for an archer of Li Wei's caliber, the arrows he fired were no longer in the category of ordinary arrows.

With Full-Grid Resonance plus Destiny Resonance weapon synergy, the initial velocity of a fired arrow could approach twice the speed of sound.

700% additional power enhancement was not a joke.

At that speed, even the smallest flaw would cause catastrophic results.

So — with a Four-Star Enchanted Strong Bow, with his Hunter Destiny Grid at 56, with his maximum Strength at 45 — what he needed were at minimum Four-Star Sniper Armor-Piercing Arrows.

Three-Star or below was self-deception. An insult to the opponent.

A Second-Order Casting Witch was absolutely a distinguished guest.

Time passed. Dawn came. Li Wei hadn't noticed.

Adai returned, still carrying a trace of morning grumpiness, wanting to stir up a gust of wind to tease Li Wei. But the moment he got within thirty meters, he went completely quiet — a well-behaved, humble bird.

Li Wei ignored him, seeming entirely absorbed in his own world.

Head Chef Ellen tried to come up to the rooftop to call him for breakfast. She looked up once, and didn't dare show her face again. It wasn't that Li Wei radiated any terrifying killing intent — it was that the air around him seemed to have solidified. Getting close made it hard to breathe.

Outside the walls, Thomas, Leon, Javier, and a group of fourteen were ready to go. They hadn't waited for Li Wei to see them off — they didn't need to. They boarded the Enchanted Chariot and departed.

Speed was kept steady at 80 kilometers per hour. On this flat, undamaged paved road, they'd reach their destination in three or four hours at most.

Adai had departed a few moments earlier, leading by twenty kilometers, monitoring every road surface along the route to detect any ambush at the earliest possible moment.

Li Wei continued carving. Two shafts done. Zhao Xuanxuan came up to take them, attaching enchanted arrowheads and the highest-quality feathers currently available.

She didn't need to be told. She simply prepared what was needed. Though for now she could only forge Three-Star enchanted arrowheads — paired with Four-Star shafts, Three-Star fletching, and a special fish-glue borrowed from Li Yue, the result was a Four-Star Enchanted Sniper Armor-Piercing Arrow.

Which was, in truth, already formidable. Damage nearly double that of a Three-Star Sniper Armor-Piercing Arrow. But more importantly: stable, high-velocity, precise. The arrowhead — nearly the size of a palm, its edges gleaming with cold light — could pass for a thrown javelin.

Zhao Xuanxuan suspected Li Wei had broken through again.

Of course, she didn't actually know. She knew nothing.

Li Wei hadn't broken through. He wasn't the kind of talent who broke through mid-battle. This was simply his true strength — the peak he had reached after twenty-odd days of training with the Freeman soldiers following last month's frantic attribute gains, fully settled and consolidated.

Two days ago, he had finally earned a Free Attribute Point from consistently eating high-quality food, and had added it to Agility, bringing his base Agility to 40.

So now he had Level 2 Awakening in four attributes.

Only Defense remained. Once that hit Level 2, he'd achieve the full-attribute Level 2 Awakening milestone.

So even without dramatic stat increases, his overall combat power had taken a solid step upward.

To the point where, while carving arrow shafts, his movements were so precise and his concentration so complete that a small amount of Spiritual Power was leaking outward.

That was why Adai had been startled away, and why Head Chef Ellen had felt breathless when she approached.

Nothing mysterious about it.

At nine in the morning, Li Wei finally finished the four shafts. He called out, and Head Chef Ellen — who had been waiting on the fifth floor — rushed up with hot food. Zhao Xuanxuan arrived carrying two Four-Star Enchanted Sniper Armor-Piercing Arrows.

"Leave those two for now. Put on your armor and get ready to fight."

Li Wei said it quietly, but his voice was low and steady.

"Are you sure?"

Zhao Xuanxuan froze, completely confused. What fight? Where was the fight coming from?

But she said nothing, turned, and went downstairs.

Li Wei finished eating, closed his eyes, and settled back into the large, comfortable chair. Within moments, he was asleep.

Not at all like someone expecting a battle.

Yes — he wasn't worried at all.

That Second-Order Casting Witch thought she had been flawless. In reality, over the past few days he had detected her plague rats' surveillance on multiple occasions.

These thumb-sized little mice were completely silent. No one knew where they slipped in from — they could even get inside the building. Even Adai, remarkably, had failed to detect them.

The only one who had noticed was Li Wei. Since Liang Yuzhi's warning letter, he had been switching to the Tracker title every half hour to bring his Perception to +5.

Sometimes he came up empty. But sometimes he caught the plague rat in the act — watching it move silently through the building, spreading plague without a sound.

Right. If it could sneak in, of course it would release plague.

But this was no challenge for Li Wei. He sent a letter to Liang Yuzhi, received a medicinal formula the next day, handed it to the not-yet-graduated Isabel and her mother, and had them prepare a large batch during the times the plague rat was absent.

This morning, everyone had taken the medicine.

Which was also why Li Wei was completely certain: the distinguished guest would come today.

And equally certain: she wouldn't attack the supply convoy. Compared to the supplies, what she truly wanted was Li Wei's head.

Of course, as a precaution, he had already briefed Thomas and Leon privately: if an irresistible emergency arose, disconnect from the bus first, abandon the supplies, prioritize survival. A Second-Order Casting Witch was not someone they could fight.

And even if she destroyed the supplies — so what? Her objective still wouldn't be achieved.

Liang Yuzhi had already said in her letters that the fishing had somewhat resolved the food crisis on that end.

What they actually needed most right now was people. With enough soldiers to hold the fort, they could go out to cut wood. With wood, winter heating was solved. With the components delivered, the small nuclear power plant could be repaired. By spring, everything would be back on track. With seeds, they could farm — with river water for irrigation, 100 acres was nothing. 500 acres was manageable.

The second Enchanted Chariot was already being built. Li Wei had prepared ten units of magical energy this time — enough to build two vehicles consecutively while also forging a large quantity of enchanted weapons.

So — looking through the surface to the substance, Li Wei had essentially figured out who had sent this Second-Order Casting Witch. Not Hathaway. It was Zhao Kewu, currently ranked second.

Only he had the most urgent motive to disrupt Li Wei — or better yet, eliminate him outright.

Time ticked by. Ten o'clock in the morning. Nothing had happened.

No — they were already here.

In that moment, Li Wei woke silently, stood on the rooftop, and could see — ten kilometers to the south, at the end of the road — ten electric buses driving in at speed.

Interesting.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The duty Freeman soldiers were already ringing the alarm bells. Freemen who heard the bells followed the pre-established protocol: close windows and doors, extinguish open flames, stop whatever they were doing. Dedicated personnel directed the elderly, women, and children in an orderly evacuation to the second basement level. Others handled the final checks to ensure no one was missed.

Simultaneously, all combat squads ended their rest, quickly donned armor, and moved to their battle positions.

The 150-person reserve force assembled by group, collected weapons in an orderly fashion, or moved to their designated firing positions. The two heavy crossbows on the rooftop were pushed out from their covers. At every firing slit on every floor, siege crossbows were aimed and ready.

The entire process was orderly. Not a trace of panic.

There were standards: combat squads to battle positions within 30 seconds; elderly, women, and children fully evacuated within three minutes; all reserve forces to battle positions within five minutes.

This was no longer the broken-down camp of a few months ago. This was a dominant force with high organizational capacity, mobility, and combat strength.

Anyone hoping to pick up easy spoils would have to wait.

Among them were also the hundred Freemen brought back at the start of the month. They were still in their familiarization period and couldn't join the reserve force yet — but in another month at most, they'd be integrated, and some reserve members would be promoted into the combat squads.

Ten minutes later, ten electric buses stopped below the southern wall. A chorus of cries for help rose immediately. They had all become Level 2 Ability Users — infected with Level 2 Blood Plague. No different from Pete back in the day. Even without wind, the thick stench of decay drifting from them was unmistakable, though they still retained their reason.

Yes — upon discovering they had been infected with Level 2 Blood Plague, their first instinct was to open the doors and come begging for help.

That Second-Order Casting Witch had a real flair for this sort of thing.

A taste of their own medicine?