57: Chapter 57 A Plan to Turn the Tide

"Wind-Eroded Canyon! They want to herd us in like livestock and then wipe us all out!"

When the Windwalker youth in charge of scouting said this with a pale Face, the atmosphere in the ancient ruin temple—which had just risen with a glimmer of hope due to the Alliance—instantly dropped to freezing point again.

Chen Mo's expression became extremely unsightly; he naturally knew what kind of place Wind-Eroded Canyon was.

It was a long, narrow strip tens of kilometers long, with steep cliffs on both sides that were impossible to climb. The entrance was wide, but it grew narrower the further one went, with the deepest part only able to accommodate a dozen people side-by-side—it was a natural death trap.

Once driven inside, it was equivalent to entering a dead end, leaving one at the mercy of the enemies lying in ambush on the ridges on both sides.

"This... what do we do? Li Wei is going for the kill this time, he wants to clear all of us out!" The girl from the Moonlight Priest civilization said with a hint of a sob in her voice.

Everyone's eyes subconsciously turned to Jiang Xun, the person who had just gathered them and given them hope.

However, to everyone's surprise, after hearing the news, not only did Jiang Xun's Face not show the slightest panic, but the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, revealing a hint of interest.

He walked to the projected map, his finger lightly tracing the long, narrow terrain of Wind-Eroded Canyon, and then said something that made everyone's scalp tingle.

"Since Li Wei is being so hospitable and insists on treating us to 'dumplings,' wouldn't it be failing to give him Face if we didn't go and play the part of the filling?"

"Brother Jiang Xun, you... what do you mean?" Chen Mo asked in shock. "We should immediately split up and break out, the further we run the better! Rushing into that canyon is seeking death!"

"Run?" Jiang Xun turned around and looked at them calmly. "Run where? The entire Realm of Oblivion is full of Hunter Alliance people. They want to use their numerical advantage to compress the activity space of us stragglers step by step. Even if we avoid Wind-Eroded Canyon, there's still the Wind-Eroded Mountains and the Wind-Eroded Basin. Hiding is useless."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was like a heavy hammer striking everyone's heart.

Indeed, from the start of the competition until now, they had been running around like headless flies, but what was the result? Either their Divine Power was exhausted, or they were cornered; their situation was only getting worse.

"Then you mean..." Chen Mo swallowed hard, having a wild guess.

"Beat them at their own game," Jiang Xun's eyes sparkled with a shrewd light. "He wants to wrap dumplings, so we'll let him. However, who is the dumpling skin and who is the filling—that's for me to decide."

He pointed at the map and said to the three including Chen Mo: "The three of you, what you need to do next is put on a show. Pretend to be chased by the Hunter Alliance's expulsion squad until you're in total disarray, and then flee 'in a panic' into Wind-Eroded Canyon."

"We're going to be the bait?!" the Windwalker youth exclaimed.

"Yes." Jiang Xun nodded, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "You are the 'dumpling filling' placed out in the open. You need to attract all of Li Wei's attention as much as possible, making him believe his plan is flawless and that we, these remnants, are already meat on his chopping block."

"But... but when they close the net, we..." the Moonlight Priest girl's voice was trembling.

"Don't worry, I won't let you actually be minced into meat paste." Jiang Xun's gaze swept over them with a convincing power. "Before he closes the net, I will take my people and, like an even larger dumpling skin, wrap up all those guys who think they're hunters from behind!"

He laid out his entire plan: Chen Mo and the other two would act as bait, intentionally exposing their tracks to lure the main force into an ambush in the canyon. Meanwhile, he would lead his mysterious Abomination army, using the energy-masking function attached to the Rune Energy Shield—looted and obtained through Fusion from the swamp ambush—to quietly circle around to the rear of the Hunter Alliance and deliver a fatal blow the moment they launched their final assault.

The entire plan was audacious and meticulously linked!

Chen Mo and the others were dumbfounded. They never thought anyone would dare to make such a crazy counterattack deployment under such an absolute disadvantage.

"Let's do it!" After a long silence, Chen Mo slammed his fist on the stone table, a flame of determination igniting in his eyes. "Instead of being eliminated in such a pathetic way, I'd rather take this gamble with Brother Jiang Xun! I'm putting my life in your hands!"

"That's right! Damn it, we're dead anyway, so we might as well bite a piece of meat off them even if we die!" the Windwalker youth also gritted his teeth.

Meanwhile, in the spectator stands and the commentary booth outside the arena, the atmosphere had reached a fever pitch.

The director knew exactly what the audience wanted to see. He switched to split-screen mode: one screen showed Li Wei's Hunter Alliance forming a massive arc-shaped encirclement, advancing methodically; the other screen showed the light dots of over a dozen Independent Contestants like Chen Mo and Jiang Xun, whose activity space was being constantly compressed as they fled toward Wind-Eroded Canyon in disarray.

"We can see that contestant Li Wei's tactics are being executed perfectly!" The commentator's voice was impassioned. "He is like a Grandmaster of Go, turning the entire battlefield into a chessboard, while those solo players are just helpless pieces being forced into a dead end step by step! Wind-Eroded Canyon will be their end!"

"What about Jiang Xun? Wasn't he very arrogant before? Why is he running away with the others now?"

"Probably out of Divine Power. Although his Abomination civilization is strange, it must consume a lot. He withered after just one fight."

The audience was buzzing with discussion. Most people thought the outcome was decided and that the miracle Jiang Xun created was just a flash in the pan.

In the VIP seats, a faint, cold smile appeared on Deputy Chief Referee Sun Zhiyuan's Face.

Only Old Baitou remained leaning back in his chair, a hint of expectation that only he understood flickering in his cloudy eyes.

On the battlefield, Li Wei was sitting leisurely in his mobile command center, the massive light screen in front of him clearly displaying the entire battle situation.

He watched the light dots being driven around by his subordinates, his Face full of cat-and-mouse playfulness.

"Reporting, Boss, the fish are basically in the net. That big lug named Chen Mo and a few others have already fled into the depths of the canyon."

"Where's Jiang Xun? Have you found his position?" Li Wei asked lazily.

"Reporting, according to our reconnaissance, his God Kingdom units are also mixed in with the fleeing crowd. It looks like they've consumed a lot; even their formation is a mess."

"Heh, a bunch of rabble."

He stood up, walked to the light screen, and looked at the light dots that had entered the depths of the canyon as if they were in a desperate situation, like he was admiring a masterpiece about to be completed.

On the ridges on both sides of the canyon, more than twenty of the most elite Prodigies under his command were already in position, their respective God Kingdom armies ready and waiting for his command.

"The timing is about right."

A cruel light flashed in Li Wei's eyes. He raised his hand and issued the final command in the Alliance's public channel.

"Close the net! Crush them! Tell Jiang Xun to come out and meet his death!"