Free Web NovelChapter 110: Chapter 99: Signing Another Contract
By the time they reached the bottom, the Skeleton Undead had already begun cleaning up the battlefield, piling the corpses together and collecting anything useful.
In truth, besides the bodies, there wasn’t much of use. The Headhunter Race had come to attack the fortress, so they naturally weren’t carrying many belongings. However, some of their bone weapons were usable, and the Undead seemed to quite like them.
Walking up to the pile of bodies, Li Ziyu scratched his head. ’How am I going to get these corpses back?’
’Have the Undead carry them?’
’That’s not realistic. The stench of blood is too strong; it’ll attract lots of Wild Beasts and Magical Beasts. That would be a huge pain.’
He glanced around, and his eyes suddenly lit up. ’Hey, isn’t there another fortress right here? I can just use it for transport! I’m sure Zhang Peng won’t refuse, right?’
"U-Use my fortress to transport corpses?" Zhang Peng stammered, his face paling as he asked in astonishment.
"Of course. It’s convenient, isn’t it?" Li Ziyu said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. ’I dealt with your pursuers for you. Don’t tell me I have to haul the bodies back myself, too. Where’s the logic in that?’
"W-Well, alright then." After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Peng gave a reluctant nod.
His mind hadn’t quite caught up yet. He felt that using his fortress as a temporary "morgue" was an incredibly unlucky thing to do. Yet he didn’t dare actually refuse Li Ziyu, terrified the man would get angry and offer him up to the Undead as well.
The Gophers had also come down from the mountain, trembling with fear. They kept darting glances with their small eyes at the Undead behind them before turning pleading gazes on their own City Lord. They looked just like students who’d been caught skipping class and were being escorted back to school by the head teacher.
Only when they noticed the Undead behind them had left did the Gophers return to normal. They frantically tried to rush into their carriage but were stopped by Zhang Peng.
"Sigh... Open the main gate." Zhang Peng sighed and ordered the Gophers to open the gate to the Castle Main Tower.
That was right—the Castle Main Tower of Zhang Peng’s Mobile Fortress was that very "carriage" woven together from a tangle of tree roots and vines. It was quite shabby indeed.
After pulling the large doors open, the Gophers could only watch with wide, helpless eyes as the Skeleton Undead carried corpse after corpse into the main tower, tossed them on the ground, and left, only for the next batch to follow.
"City Lord, the bodies... so many bodies," a few Gophers said, huddling around Zhang Peng, their voices both terrified and pitiful.
"My vision is just fine. I’m not blind; I can see them," Zhang Peng snapped. It wasn’t like he *wanted* to pile corpses in his main tower, either.
Once all the bodies had been moved, Li Ziyu had Zhang Peng and the Gophers walk with him, leaving just a few Gophers behind in the fortress to pilot it.
This was a precaution. If he simply let Zhang Peng go, and the man had a sudden change of heart and decided to ram him with the fortress, he would be a dead man.
’Repaying kindness with malice isn’t uncommon, and that’s even truer in the Otherworld. People will do absolutely anything for their own gain.’
’When the Headhunter Race was here, Zhang Peng depended on me to survive. Now that they’re just corpses lying in his fortress, I have no immediate value. It’s hard to say what he might do.’
’One should not have a heart to harm others, but one must not be without a heart to guard against them.’ Before they had a signed contract, Li Ziyu had no intention of fully trusting Zhang Peng. Everything would have to wait until they were back at the Undead Fortress.
On the way back, Zhang Peng and his Gophers were surrounded by the Undead. On the surface, it looked like a protective escort, but in reality, it was to prevent them from turning hostile.
Fortunately, Zhang Peng had no intention of burning his bridges. He remained docile the entire time, and his Mobile Fortress obediently trailed behind, much to Li Ziyu’s satisfaction.
Upon returning to the Undead Fortress without incident, Li Ziyu finally relaxed. He had Zhang Peng park the Gopher Mobile Fortress a short distance away and led him up onto the Bone Plate Platform.
"Boss, you’re back!" Having gotten the news, Liu Xingxing rushed over, calling out with a smile.
"Lord City Lord, good evening." Tas Tuling and Mumu, who were following Liu Xingxing, bowed to Li Ziyu upon seeing him.
Zhang Peng’s eyes gradually widened. ’There’s another City Lord here? And Minotaurs?’
’The Undead City Lord is developing much faster than I thought!’
The Gophers were led to one side and placed under the watch of the Undead. Only then did Li Ziyu introduce Zhang Peng to the group.
Excited to see a new friend joining them, Liu Xingxing ran over and started asking all sorts of questions.
"Alright, alright, there’ll be plenty of time for that later. I’m taking Zhang Peng to the main tower first. We’ll talk in a bit," Li Ziyu said, grabbing the curious Liu Xingxing by the collar and pulling him aside.
’The main tower?’
Liu Xingxing’s eyes darted, and realization dawned. ’He must be taking him to sign a contract, just like he did with me.’ He nodded, said a word to Mumu and Tas Tuling, and left with the two Minotaurs.
Li Ziyu watched Liu Xingxing’s retreating figure and smiled faintly. ’This kid is getting more and more perceptive. That’s good.’
The contract signing went very smoothly. Zhang Peng didn’t hesitate for long before signing the same type of contract as Liu Xingxing.
Zhang Peng would later state that when you’re surrounded by Skeleton Warriors practicing by hacking at each other with a Bone Saber in one hand and a Shield in the other, not to mention Skeleton Longbowmen who are constantly nocking their bows to aim around or polishing their arrowheads, you wouldn’t hesitate for long, either.
Faced with the choice of becoming a partner or an *Undead* partner, Zhang Peng decisively chose the former.
After the contract was signed, a pleased Li Ziyu clapped him on the shoulder, led him back outside, and announced the good news that they had gained another Ally.
