Volume One: Another World Chapter Nineteen: With Me in Your Net, You’re Guaranteed a Bumper Harvest

[Intelligent beings cannot be taken along.]
The system’s electronic voice was mechanical and cold.
[There is no room for negotiation; this is the law of the world.]
Li Yu’s eyes were red with unshed tears. He no longer asked questions. With Mu Yinhua on his back, he stumbled through the dense forest, each step alternately deep and shallow, struggling to move forward.
He had intended to bring Mu Yinhua back to Blue Star with him, but the attempt had failed unexpectedly. Only then did Li Yu learn that there were limits to traversing worlds.
“You shouldn’t have come back,” Mu Yinhua whispered faintly.
“What I shouldn’t have done is abandon you and run away alone!” Li Yu gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
He had no idea how far he had already carried Mu Yinhua. Above his head, towering canopies blocked almost all sunlight—only specks of light filtered through the gaps. The ground was littered with dead leaves; before each step, he never knew whether a sharp, upward-pointing branch lay hidden beneath. His feet were already bloodied and raw.
Li Yu was utterly inexperienced in traversing forests, let alone one so wild and untamed.
Lack of direction was the least of his worries; his main aim was to lose the bandits pursuing them. The real burden was the weight on his back—this posed the gravest challenge for Li Yu.
He slipped, fell hard to the ground, and didn’t twist his body to lessen the impact—Mu Yinhua was on his back, and he dared not risk her safety for his own.
“You can’t take me with you,” Mu Yinhua murmured, her voice muffled, though she was clearly less hurt by the fall. “You truly shouldn’t have come back.”
“Don’t talk,” Li Yu said through clenched teeth.
It took him a long, painful moment to struggle back to his feet, but in the corner of his eye, he caught sight of two figures—those he least wanted to see.
“Damn it, they’ve caught up,” he muttered, scrambling to his feet and dashing forward.
“There, I see them!” one of the bandits shouted, clearly having spotted the figures ahead.
“Hurry! Why is this brat so hard to catch?” the other cursed.
The brief moment when Er Gou blocked their way had allowed Li Yu and Mu Yinhua to slip deeper into the forest. The two bandits, lacking any tracking experience, had initially gone in the wrong direction. If they hadn’t stumbled upon the obvious marks left by Li Yu’s fall earlier, they might never have found his trail.
“Hell, they’re to be sold anyway. I might as well have my fun first!” snarled the long-haired bandit.
Li Yu paid no heed to the bandits’ words, pouring all his strength into running. The sounds behind him grew ever closer—a bad omen.
“Damn it!”
His foot caught on something, and his speed faltered. In that instant, the gap between him and the bandits shrank; now, less than two hundred meters separated them.
“Is heaven determined to doom me?”
A quick glance revealed what had tripped him: the carcass of a tiger-like beast.
Relief flashed through Li Yu. A single arrow was embedded in the animal’s body, and, most importantly, fresh blood still trickled from the fatal wound.
It must have just died!
That meant hunters were nearby—no matter which village’s hunting party it was, they surely wouldn’t fear two lone bandits.
With hope rekindled, Li Yu picked up his pace.
Then, his ears caught the distant, furious roar of a beast. Ecstatic, he veered toward the sound.
“Help! Help!” Li Yu shouted as he ran.
The figures behind him grew clearer, but the source of the noise seemed both near and impossibly far—his lungs burned, and still, he hadn’t reached it.
“Yell all you want, brat! No one’s coming to save you!” the long-haired bandit jeered.
Even as those words left his mouth, an arrow whistled through the air, grazing his cheek and embedding itself in a nearby tree, quivering with force.
“What are you talking about? I can save him,” a young girl’s voice rang out.
Li Yu shook his head, disappointed the arrow had missed, but he called out again for help, running toward the voice.
The two bandits exchanged a glance and continued their pursuit.
Up in the treetops stood a girl, no more than ten years old, dressed in splendid clothes and holding a long, exquisitely crafted bow almost as tall as herself. She looked down with disdain. “What’s the matter? Are your dog’s eyes about to pop out of your head?”
Li Yu’s mind reeled. When he’d first heard the voice, he’d assumed it belonged to a girl with a childish lilt, but he hadn’t expected his would-be savior to be an actual child.
“The two behind me are bandits! Run, quickly, or they’ll catch you too. Where are your elders?” Li Yu urged anxiously.
“They’re on their way,” the girl replied, tone tinged with contempt. “You lowborn scum, you’re disturbing my hunt!”
The bandits, too, had spotted the girl in the treetops. Both were momentarily stunned by her appearance, then looked to Li Yu, who was gently laying the unconscious Mu Yinhua down beneath the tree.
This girl is a bit too dramatic…
Li Yu felt helpless, but he still looked up and said, “You should run! I’ll hold these two off. Can you call your elders to come help this lady?”
“Kid, you think you can resist us?” The long-haired bandit sneered.
An arrow thudded into the ground where the bandit had just been standing, still quivering.
The girl’s brow furrowed. She drew her bow and aimed at the long-haired bandit. “The four of you, get as far away as you can. Don’t interrupt my hunt!”
“You—!” the long-haired bandit began, but the short-haired one tugged at his sleeve.
“Don’t make trouble. We just need to grab the kid and get out of here. This girl’s clearly not to be trifled with,” he whispered.
Then, raising his voice, he said, “Yes, miss, we’ll just take these two and leave you to your hunt.”
The girl gave a slight nod and ceased to pay attention to those below.
What a truly savage world, Li Yu thought with a sigh. Though unwilling, he called out, “Miss, I don’t know what your hunt is about, but if you take me back, you’re sure to come out on top!”
The bandits drew closer, but the girl showed no response, intent on scanning the woods for prey.
“Miss, I have thunder blood!” Li Yu’s nerves were taut—the bandits were less than ten meters away.
If she still refused to help, he would have no choice but to abandon Mu Yinhua and escape to Blue Star.
“Miss, catch me! I really am of thunder blood—you’ll reap a guaranteed reward if you do!”
The bandits were now within five meters. Despair crept into Li Yu’s heart.
An arrow shot out, but the wary bandits dodged.
The girl looked down at Li Yu. “If you’re lying to me, I promise you’ll suffer more than if you’d fallen into their hands.”
Even as she spoke, her hands never paused. She nocked another arrow, this time one that shimmered with a faint green glow.
The bandits had no time to react—the empowered arrows struck, and they fell dead where they stood!
The girl descended lightly from the tree. Li Yu swallowed hard. A divine path cultivator?
“If I lied, I’m a dog,” Li Yu said.
“Guards, mark these two and take them away,” the girl ordered.
From the shadows of the deserted forest, soldiers in elegant green armor emerged. One pressed a seal onto Li Yu and Mu Yinhua.
“Never mind, I’ll go along as well. I can’t find any good prey anyway.” The girl waved dismissively. “Let’s go.”
At her command, more soldiers emerged from their hiding places, forming an escort around her.
Glancing at the mark on his arm—it looked like a child’s doodle—Li Yu wondered if this was the local style. But seeing the formidable soldiers gathering around the girl, he understood at once.
He had just escaped the wolves and already landed among tigers.
If the bandits were bold enough to slaughter a whole village for him, then faced with this unmistakable “regular army,” he had little hope of escape.