Chapter 76: The Empty Fort Strategy

Chapter 76: The Empty Fort Strategy

After witnessing Hu Jiao's tragic situation firsthand, Hu Di was utterly distraught. Such inhumane abuse left him restless and uneasy day after day.

He realized that since reaching adulthood, his perspective on things had completely shifted, and he had developed all sorts of peculiar anxieties. First, he was manipulated by the female Hu Lai, which instilled in him a fear of females and even of Wen Ran, a Lesser Female. Now, after seeing the brutal abuse suffered by Hu Jiao, a young Lesser Female, he had developed a new fear—this time of males!

Males were his own gender!

Before coming of age, he would never have believed he'd one day be afraid of his own kind!

There were only three genders among beastmen, and now he feared them all—not a single one spared! Damn it, was he destined to grow old alone?!

No! This was an illness, and it needed a cure!

Otherwise, one day, his rebellious nature might flare up, and he might just try to take on the whole world. Of course, given his combat skills, the world would probably take him down instead.

Hu Di lay hopelessly on the animal hide, rolling around and squealing in frustration. Suddenly, he lifted his head from a pile of sand, his eyes filled with determination. "No, I have to go find Wen Ran!"

To ensure he wouldn’t fear females, Lesser Females, or even male companions in the future, he needed to seek Wen Ran’s advice!

He also wanted to ask Wen Ran if there was any way to save the poor young Lesser Female, Hu Jiao. Though the hope was slim—after all, the lowly status of Lesser Females was not unique to the Sand Cat Tribe; it was the same in every tribe across the beast world.

But Hu Di was also reluctant to approach Wen Ran. The shadow Wen Ran cast over him was too overwhelming. Whenever he faced Wen Ran alone, he couldn’t help but want to slip away, afraid of being caught and having his flesh sliced off.

Hesitating and procrastinating, he finally made it to the entrance of Wen Ran’s cave. After lingering for a while, and with Hu Jiao’s desperate, lifeless face flashing in his mind several times, Hu Di cursed in frustration, gritting his teeth so hard he nearly shattered them. Finally, he spat out, "Ah, whatever! If I die, I die!" and mustered the courage to charge inside.

Just as he entered the cave, the mischievous little beastman Dundun, who was crawling around everywhere, lifted his hind leg and sprayed a stream of urine on him. Hu Di’s face turned green. The courage he had mustered after psyching himself up outside vanished instantly. Under Wen Ran’s inquiring gaze, he stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence.

......

At the cost of exhausting many weaker beastmen, the Iridescent Snake Beastmen had finally reached the outskirts of the Sand Cat Tribe’s territory.

Wen Ran hadn’t expected them to arrive so quickly. Most of the male beastmen were not in the tribe at the time, as they had followed Lang Zhi and Mao Shi to collect *Dianbai* tree sap.

Speaking of *Dianbai* tree sap, Wen Ran had discovered it by accident while searching for baobab trees. It was somewhat similar to the man-eating vine but also quite different.

The commonality between the *Dianbai* tree and the man-eating vine was that both could consume humans and animals, making them among the most ferocious plants.

The *Dianbai* tree stood about nine meters tall, with many long branches drooping to the ground. Some hung like nearly broken power lines, swaying in the wind, appearing harmless.

But if anyone accidentally touched them, all the drooping branches would stretch out like demonic claws in the same direction, forming an inescapable net. They would tightly wrap around the person, coiling tighter and tighter, making escape impossible. At the same time, these long branches would secrete a highly adhesive sap that could digest the trapped prey, turning it into nourishment for the *Dianbai* tree.

Like the man-eating vine, the *Dianbai* tree consumed humans or animals because it lived in the barren desert, where water and nutrients were scarce. To survive, it evolved this unique behavior.

Wen Ran used a branch to scrape off some of the sap and found it extremely sticky. Worried about the tribe’s weak defenses, he realized this adhesive sap could be of great use.

Although the *Dianbai* tree was fierce, Wen Ran had a way to deal with it.

He used the same method he employed against the man-eating vine: he fed it leftover food or scraps from meals. Once it was full and lethargic, he quickly collected its sap.

After going out a few times to collect the sap and baobab trees, Wen Ran stopped. Although the temperature wasn’t as extreme as the peak of the dry season, the heat of around 40 degrees Celsius still made him uncomfortable. He felt he might be suffering from heatstroke and needed to rest.

Lang Zhi had never wanted him to go out in the first place, so when Wen Ran voluntarily decided to rest, his handsome face brightened considerably.

Wen Ran thought of Lang Zhi’s handsome face as he enjoyed the air conditioning, ate chilled watermelon, and occasionally teased his godchildren. This, he thought, was the life.

Just as he was feeling bored, he noticed Hu Di’s arrival. Before anyone could react, Hu Di was ruthlessly sprayed with urine by Tiedan.

Hu Di seemed frozen in place by the urine, one leg lifted and the other planted firmly on the ground, creating a comical scene. Wen Ran couldn’t help but laugh.

Mao Fei coughed awkwardly and turned to frantically chase after his mischievous son. It had to be said that male cubs in the beast world were remarkable—despite being born not long ago, they could crawl incredibly fast, and their fur was so slippery that even Mao Fei had trouble catching him.

Tiedan seemed to be teasing his father deliberately, darting one way and then another. When Mao Fei grew tired from chasing, Tiedan would rest on his hind legs, tilting his furry head to look at Mao Fei, which infuriated Mao Fei to no end. He pointed at Tiedan and scolded, "Wait until I catch you—I’ll skin you alive for peeing on someone’s foot!"

It seemed the white cat was truly furious, his voice filled with exasperation.

Faced with his father’s yelling, Tiedan showed no fear. He strutted over to Wen Ran’s feet, gently rubbing against his pants. Wen Ran was taken aback at first but soon realized the little cub saw him as a protector. Amused and exasperated, he picked up the little one and held him in his arms, looking at the white cat’s dark, scowling face with a mix of laughter and frustration.

Hu Di finally snapped out of the shock of his inhuman treatment, shaking his leg to try to get rid of the urine. Just as he was about to bring up Hu Jiao’s situation, Mao Ye and Mao Run rushed into the cave in a panic. "Sage Wen Ran," they exclaimed anxiously, "a large group of Iridescent Snake Beastmen are slithering toward our tribe!"

The situation was urgent. Most of the male beastmen were out collecting *Dianbai* tree sap, leaving only the elderly, weak, women, children, and disabled in the tribe. The scene was chaotic, and Hu Di lost the desire to discuss the matter with Wen Ran.

Thinking quickly, Wen Ran asked how long until the snakes arrived. Mao Ye urgently replied, "About an hour!"

"There’s still time! Quick, have all the beastmen bring the tumbleweeds from their caves and pile them in the tribe’s square. Then, everyone gather there!"

Wen Ran decided to stage an "empty fort strategy" for these despicable Iridescent Snake Beastmen! Let’s see if they could see through it!

Fortunately, the desert often had whirlwinds that brought in many tumbleweeds. The tribe was accustomed to collecting them for firewood, so every cave had a plentiful supply. Wen Ran would teach the tribe how to make scarecrows out of them—scarecrows that would look like real people in the dark.

When Cat Tooth and Hu Lai heard Wen Ran’s plan, their eyes twitched violently. After all, when they had taken advantage of the dark night and Lang Zhi’s absence to sneak into Wen Ran’s cave to steal meat, they had fallen victim to these very tumbleweed scarecrows. It was an exhausting battle of attrition that kept them awake for several nights straight—a sensation they would never forget.

This was Wen Ran’s first time facing an invasion from another tribe in the beast world, but having survived the harsh apocalypse, this situation didn’t throw him off balance.

In response to the Iridescent Snake Tribe’s aggressive advance, he proposed four lines of defense.

The first was the empty fort strategy: using tumbleweeds and animal fur to create dummies, creating the illusion of many beastmen in the tribe to deter the snake beastmen from attacking easily.

The second was setting traps with *Dianbai* tree sap. To prevent these despicable snake beastmen from ambushing the cubs and food supplies, he specifically ordered extra sap to be applied near the food storage and cub caves. The sap was colorless and odorless, resembling water from a distance.

Coupled with the fact that the river outside the tribe had dried up early in the dry season and now had no water, these snake beastmen, having traveled all the way from the zebra tribe, would be desperately thirsty. At the sight of what they thought was water, they would rush forward to drink, only to become stuck in the sap, immobilized and at our mercy.

The third was luring the enemy into the area where the man-eating vines grew, letting the vines thin out their numbers in several waves. This could also be used as the first line of defense, depending on the situation.

The final line of defense was long-range bow and arrow attacks using arrows coated with anesthetic and oil. Snakes were most afraid of realgar wine, and presumably snake beastmen would be too. For this, Wen Ran had purchased a large amount of realgar, mixing it with agave wine to create realgar wine. He had repeatedly confirmed with the shop owner whether realgar mixed with wine could effectively deal with snakes before paying with gold coins. If it didn’t work, he would demand a refund ten times over!

After these four lines of defense were deployed, Lang Zhi and the others should have returned.

After explaining the urgent situation to everyone in the tribe square, the beastmen grew solemn, and even the usually active cubs remained unusually quiet.

Wen Ran stood in the center of the square, hands behind his back, and said gravely, "Do you all understand?"

"We understand!"

"Then let’s get to work!"

After Wen Ran explained how to make the scarecrows, the beastmen busily set to work.

Wen Ran instructed the male beastmen to place the finished scarecrows in the open areas of the tribe and to spread the sap. Once everything was ready, he had all the beastmen who could transform into their animal forms do so and run circles around the square, stirring up as much dust as possible to create the illusion of a crowded tribe.

Amid the busy preparations, the sun set like a fireball, and the blood moon rose.

Wen Ran stood at the highest point of the Sand Cat Tribe, looking down at the ground where, aside from the shaded areas, scarecrows were densely planted. The male beastmen followed Wen Ran’s instructions diligently, running vigorously and stirring up clouds of dust, like a black dragon rolling across the desert.

Even before the battle began, the momentum was already built. Facing the powerful Iridescent Snake Beastmen, Wen Ran felt a surge of confidence.

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Author's Note: Seeing every comment, every favorite, every bottle of nutrient solution, and every tip from zero to now in the backend records is truly touching. When there were no comments or feedback before, I would just look at the clicks and deceive myself into thinking someone was still reading, forcing myself to keep updating. Now, seeing a few comments every day makes me happy, nervous, and satisfied. Grateful to have you all—your encouragement and support keep me going. Thank you, babies [heart emoji][red heart emoji][red heart emoji][red heart emoji]