Chapter 15: The Awakening of the Thieves in the Kingdom of Thorns

The dragon's shadow enveloped her, guarding her on both sides like an absolute guardian. The huge dragon head lowered, leaning close obediently, its eyes full of intimacy.

Suddenly, the dragon looked straight at the others, his black round pupils suddenly straightened up, and a low beastly growl came from his throat. Hot dragon breath was brewing, and occasionally hot blue sparks could be seen splashing out.

There is no doubt that the dragon flame will burn everything in sight to ashes.

Dragons may be gentle at certain times, but this range obviously does not include thieves.

The tall thief stiffened his back, said nothing, and stared at the dragon.

Chen Shuang gave Lilitan a look, and the ferocious-looking young dragon cooperated very well by letting out a dull, threatening growl.

"You'd better make a choice quickly."

She placed her hands on the black dragon scales and said, "My dragon has a bad temper and little patience."

Lilitan roared, "Awooo!"

Chen Shuang: "He loves to play with his prey the most."

Lilitan continued to roar, "Awooo, awooo, awooo!"

He was addicted to scaring people. He opened his mouth wide and let out a loud dragon roar towards the sky. The huge sound made the stones on the ground shake.

As he roared, he shook his head and tried all kinds of terrible movements. This unreasonable madness scared the thieves so much that they all retreated.

Finally, the expressionless thief uttered his first word so far.

"dragon."

The tall thief stared at the black dragon that symbolized great power. Only this mysterious and powerful mythical creature remained in his pupils. He stood still, with an inexplicable light in his eyes.

Chen Shuang became more alert and focused her attention on the thief's eyes.

Hey, it looks like water light?

Before she could see clearly, the stubborn thief rolled his eyes, his knees went weak, and he actually fell to his knees.

Upon seeing this, Chief Hall hurried forward to support his frightened companion, his face looking a little embarrassed.

He pinched his companion's nose, trying to wake him up. "Well, I was just about to say that his name is Leander. He's not very smart, his reactions are slow, and his intelligence is only that of a four-year-old. He just looks a bit fierce, so please forgive me."

So the young dragon Lilitan scared the burly man, who only had the mind of a four-year-old, into tears.

Chen Shuang glanced up and down at the big man who was shivering in the leader's arms, and decided to get this topic out of her mind.

The evil adult who instigated the dragon to scare the child into tears averted his eyes, composed his expression, and turned back again, his eyes sullen. "You have disrupted the Dark Temple's original plan today. As punishment, everyone will pay the price."

The four awake thieves trembled all over.

What did she, she, she... say, Dark Temple?

All kinds of dark legends related to darkness, blood sacrifice rituals, and the image of evil gods who regard human lives as worthless quietly jumped into the minds of the thieves, making them break out in cold sweats.

As soon as Chen Shuang saw the expressions of this group of people, she knew how bad the reputation of the Dark God was, but this was exactly the effect she wanted.

[You are using "Divine Power Shock"]

[Mental strength determination successful, deterrence implemented]

Grant "Extreme Fear" to the thieves, then establish a link when their minds are broken.

【You are using "Witch's Secret"】

[Spiritual power determination successful, you have successfully established contact with [Ordinary Human Exile]]

The connection between the demon ants and the swamp giants was slightly different. The human mind was complex and vast, and even the mind of the unconscious thief was filled with all kinds of chaotic information.

She only opened a one-way link to the thief, and by clearing away the fear caused by the shock in her mind, Chen Shuang peeked into the deeper memories and successfully obtained some valuable common sense.

These thieves all come from the country bordering the last remnant of darkness - the Kingdom of Thorns, Oletis.

They were exiled for various reasons and gathered together to make a living.

The thieves gradually recovered from the mental shock, and they were sweating profusely and panting heavily, obviously not fully recovered yet.

Chen Shuang first looked at the pale-faced military advisor Ma Lun, sorted out her thoughts, and lowered her eyes and said, "Ma Lun, your fiancée eloped with a man, and you caught up with them and staged an accidental murder, then pretended to be a victim in an attempt to gain the guilt and support of the woman's family."

"This is obviously their fault, your Excellency. I wouldn't have done such a thing if she hadn't eloped," Maren collapsed to the ground, his eyes blank.

"Really? But you hired that man with your own money. After the incident was exposed, you were imprisoned and sentenced to death by the woman's family."

Maren pursed his lips and said nothing.

Chen Shuang turned her attention to Hall, who remained silent.

"You used your good looks to win over several marquises, and used the intelligence they revealed to repeatedly climb the ladder."

Hall's mask was exposed, and he said with disgust: "They are stupid themselves."

"What about Liv?" Chen Shuang saw the thief's expression suddenly change and continued, "You killed the only pure white girl who was sincere to you, and then exiled yourself to the Lost Land..."

Hall said in a deep voice: "Stop talking!"

Chen Shuang paused and made a "hush" gesture. "So don't even think about resisting or escaping. I believe Chief Hall knows how to lead your small group in the right direction."

“Remember, darkness is everywhere.”

Said the mysterious priest who was guarded by a dragon.

The magic ants finally went out to work around noon. In addition to the original members, there were a few strong men with ugly expressions. Each of them carried a hoe and followed the magic ant group listlessly.

Although this group of cunning thieves have many tricks in their minds, at least in the near future, they will not dare to act rashly without figuring out Chen Shuang's trump card.

"They've already left, there's no need to perform anymore, Lilitan," Shen Shuang covered her ears and looked up to remind him.

The dragon was giving full play to his performance. Lilitan was now putting all his efforts into playing the role of a cold-blooded, violent killer dragon. He closed his eyes and let himself be immersed in the performance, unable to hear Chen Shuang's voice.

The noisy "Awoo" devilish sound filled her head, forcing Shen Shuang to cover her ears even tighter.

Suddenly, the angel's silver-white giant sword fell from the sky. The warning of danger forced the dragon to fly backwards subconsciously, and a last panicked "woof" came out of his throat.

The angel opened the second-floor window and revealed a cold face: "If you scream again, I will pack you up and bury you in the Dead Swamp. Don't worry, it's definitely a place where the dragons can't find you."

The dragon hid back in fear, its huge body squeezed behind Shen Shuang, buried its nose in the dragon's claws, and said pitifully: "Shen Shuang, Shen Shuang, save the dragon."

Sandwiched between the dragon and the angel, Chen Shuang blinked. For the sake of her eardrums, she sighed deeply: "No one can influence Fei's decision. I will help you stop him. Lilitan, take this opportunity to escape home quickly, the sooner the better."

"Thank you, Lilitan will come to see you secretly again," Long said with tears in his eyes, not noticing anything wrong.

Finally coaxing the baby dragon back to its nest, Chen Shuang stretched his shoulders, went back to the room, unfolded the system map and began to study the subsequent strategy.

*

mining.

This was the task assigned to these captives by the temple priest.

Hall trudged along with the demon ants in despair. He could not help thinking of the cruel treatment of prisoners by the Kingdom's expeditionary force, and then he thought of the bloody history of the laborers mining. A deep sadness filled his heart.

Not only him, every thief who followed the Demon Ant Queen felt that he was about to die.

"I'm so hungry! We're not going to starve to death, are we?" Brandon, who used to be proud of his running speed, felt tired even after constantly moving fast. He touched his stomach and said, "Even if I die, I still have to endure hunger. It's too painful."

The colony of magic ants finally stopped in front of a large mound of earth. They had a clear division of labor and began to collect purple crystal minerals.

The leading red-antlered demon ant looked at the human thief arrogantly, then threw a black bag at Hall's feet.

"Is it supplies?" everyone was curious.

They hadn't eaten for two days and were so hungry that they felt dizzy. They were able to walk here only through perseverance.

Although I don't have high expectations for the prisoners' meals, it's better than nothing after all. As long as they can survive, it's enough.

Hall opened the bag, and first there appeared a bucket of clean water and five small red round boxes. When he opened them, he saw some kind of dry and hard pasta that he had never seen before, and in the middle were several small bags of transparent spices.

He was stunned and spread the things out for everyone to see: "The noodles smell like grease, and the small packet contains spices."

After removing the small round box, they found half a fat fish at the bottom of the bag. This time, all the thieves were stunned.

The amount of instant noodles was certainly not enough for five big men, so Chen Shuang also added half of the pan-fried fish that she had specially cut up the day before.

But whoever eats her will have to pay the corresponding price, and she strives to make it possible for these thieves to work all year round as soon as possible.

The thief, who had no idea about the future, looked at the half fish and felt extremely frightened.

"Pinch me, is this true? Is this just an illusion before starving to death?" Ma Lun stood there in a daze.

"Will there be any problems?"

The others looked at each other and thought it was really strange.

The captives could actually eat such good food. The nobles of the Kingdom of Thorns probably couldn't freely control so many spices. Those were spices priced in gold, and they were spread thickly on the fish.

"Hurry up and eat. Why would we be so worthy of that person's scheming? That dragon alone is enough to bite us all to death."

Hall opened the ingredient bag, thought for a while, and tried adding the water in the bucket. After a while, the captivating and rich aroma spread.

It smells so good!

He stuffed big mouthfuls of food into his mouth, as if the food would disappear in the next moment.

By the time everyone had finished their noodles and fish, the bottom of the bowl was as clean as new, without a single residue left.

Hall was in a trance while eating. He heard the sigh of the dog-headed military advisor Ma Lun: "This is too delicious. I must be dreaming."

I was caught stealing other people's things, but ended up eating these delicious foods. I wouldn't dare to do such a thing even in my last dream before death.

"It shouldn't be a dream," Hall pinched the military advisor's thigh hard, causing Mullen to curse in pain.

Hall murmured, "Seeing how much pain you're in, this is definitely not a dream."

"Pinch yourself, damn it!"

Hall turned a deaf ear to it, his expression dazed: "We are just lucky."

He suddenly jumped up from the ground and called out to everyone: "Hurry up and pick up your hoes. Show your worth so that he can keep us here. Think about the food we just had. We are saved!"

[Congratulations, Power +1]

Exile

Ordinary humans living in the Dark Territory often possess cunning, despicable souls and fickle, gray qualities. However, as the social foundation of a city-state, sufficient benefits will allow this group of rootless and homeless people to unleash astonishing power. As a double-edged sword, they are absolutely sharp.

Current forces:

Ant Army——Colorful Demon Ants

Fallen Angel——Fei

Dark Dragon - Supmir

Mire Giant—Only the Gods

Ordinary Humans——Exiles】

[Congratulations, your faction's stability value has increased by +500]

Shen Shuang knocked on the table.

After the initial few times of simultaneous increase in [people] and [power], some minor differences appeared, which became apparent when the mermaids appeared.

The mermaid Jialan is only shown among the [Subjects]. There are no lake-dwelling mermaids among the [Factions], which also proves that he was abandoned by his species in the past.

However, this group of thieves, unlike the mermaids, only appears in the [Force]. Does this prove that these people cannot become citizens of the Kingdom of God?

Perhaps it will develop into another force that cannot be underestimated.

Passing the notification sound of increasing power, Chen Shuang flipped through the map in the system and circled the dark forest on the west side of the temple.

The magic crystals around the Dark Temple have been mined out, and it's time to expand the territory.

Her hand suddenly stopped and her gaze moved back to the previous interface.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but it seems like there’s one less black chain on [God’s Favor].