Doctor Ye nodded repeatedly, startled by the Great Leader's roar.
"Alright, alright! I'll make the ointment right away."
Doctor Ye quickly put down his medical kit and helped the Second Leader with the ointment, treating the wounds on his face.
"Black Bear, your guarding of the master tonight was insufficient. Go receive your punishment of a hundred lashes later," the Great Leader said sternly.
"Yes, Great Leader!" Black Bear replied respectfully with a bow, then turned to lead the few surviving subordinates to receive their punishment.
The situation was exactly as he had guessed on the road; the Great Leader wouldn't punish them too harshly, at most ordering a few extra lashes.
After Black Bear left, the Great Leader scanned the subordinates present and suddenly noticed that their Third Leader was not there.
"Black Wolf, why hasn't your Third Leader come?" the Great Leader asked, staring intently at Black Wolf.
"G-Great Leader, the Third Leader has been feeling unwell recently, suffering from constant diarrhea. He should be in the outhouse now," Black Wolf answered guiltily.
The crowd in the main hall burst into laughter upon hearing this.
"Didn't he say yesterday that he was feeling much better after taking the medicine prescribed by Doctor Ye?"
The Great Leader was not fooled by Black Wolf. Although he appeared simple-minded, he was far from stupid; in fact, he was cunning, cruel, and suspicious.
"This, this junior doesn't know," Black Wolf stammered.
Even if he knew, he wouldn't dare to say it, because their Third Leader had gone after the Great Leader's woman. If he revealed this, the Third Leader might lose his life.
"Goudan, take a few subordinates and go look for the Third Leader," the Great Leader ordered on the spot.
"Yes!"
The small leader named Goudan immediately called a few subordinates and walked out of the hall.
As the Great Leader watched Goudan leave, a bad premonition began to stir in his heart.
He then instructed Doctor Ye and the other subordinates to take the Second Leader back to his room and care for him well, before hurrying back to his own chambers. He searched his chambers but couldn't find Lin'er. He then went to Ling'er's room to look for her, but found she hadn't returned to her room to rest either. His brow immediately furrowed, and his premonition grew stronger.
However, as he was walking out of Ling'er's room, Ling'er happened to be walking towards him.
The Great Leader glared at Ling'er as he looked at her.
"Why are you out running around in the middle of the night?"
"G-Great Leader, I just went to the outhouse," Ling'er replied, lowering her head slightly, trying to remain calm.
"Is that so?"
The Great Leader asked, staring intently at the red marks on Ling'er's neck.
"R-really, Great Leader!" Ling'er answered guiltily.
"Then come inside my room with me."
The Great Leader said sinisterly, turning around and returning to Ling'er's room. Ling'er followed him into the room, trembling.
"Close the door!"
After Ling'er entered, the Great Leader immediately ordered her to close the door.
After she shut the room door, the Great Leader pointed at her clothes and said, "Take off all your clothes."
Hearing this, Ling'er could only comply with the Great Leader's wishes, her trembling hands slowly removing her clothes one by one.
She was extremely terrified.
She thought that Liang Yan had been too rough earlier, leaving scratches all over her. If the Great Leader saw them now, she was doomed.
As expected, after seeing the red marks on Ling'er's body, the Great Leader immediately drew the whip from his waist and began to lash Ling'er with it.
"You slut, how dare you go out and cheat on me with another man? I'll beat you to death!" the Great Leader roared while whipping her.
"Ah—"
"Help! Help! Someone save me!"
Ling'er immediately cried out for help, but even though her screams echoed throughout the entire mountain stronghold, no one dared to knock on the door to stop the Great Leader from whipping Ling'er.
Later, the Great Leader's whipping grew increasingly fierce, and before long, Ling'er's flesh was torn and bloody.
"Speak! You'd better confess voluntarily. Who were you with last night when you weren't sleeping?" the Great Leader demanded, pointing at her with the whip.
"No, Great Leader, I truly did not consort with any man."
The pitiful Ling'er's face was streaked with tears, yet she remained stubborn, refusing to admit to infidelity.
"Hmph!" The Great Leader let out a cold laugh.
"Still playing tough, are you? Since you refuse to speak and like to cheat with men, I'll let a group of men give you pleasure to your heart's content."
The Great Leader smirked evilly as he finished speaking.
As soon as his words fell, Ling'er's frail body trembled in fear.
"Great Leader, no, I'll tell you, it was the Third Leader. He lured me into doing that with him under the guise of helping me escape the stronghold. Please spare me!"
Ling'er finally relented and confessed about Liang Yan.
"Hmph!"
"It was him indeed! I knew he had been eyeing you for a long time, and he finally mustered the courage to make a move on you," the Great Leader said sinisterly, looking at Ling'er curled up in the corner.
After speaking, he opened the door and loudly addressed the subordinates in the corridor, "One of you go and see if Goudan has found the Third Leader."
"Yes, Great Leader!" a subordinate replied respectfully.
"And you, you, and you, gather a group of strong subordinates and help me properly attend to the woman in this room. Heh! For a woman who dares to cuckold me, I will make her die a miserable death," the Great Leader said cruelly.
Ling'er, hearing that the Great Leader was going to have the men from the stronghold rape her, immediately turned pale with fright. She endured the pain, struggled to get up, and forcefully smashed her head against the sharp corner of the table in her room, dying on the spot.
The Great Leader, standing outside the door, heard the commotion from the room but did not turn to look at Ling'er. He simply said to the subordinates outside the corridor, "You men, immediately dispose of the body in this room!"
With that, he turned and left without looking back.
Meanwhile, after Leng Ruoli and Jun Mohan entered the stronghold, Leng Ruoli took out explosive packs from her system space and buried explosives all around the stronghold.
"Li'er, you didn't use these kinds of bags when you blew up the underground palace of that 'Madame Doll' last time, did you?"
Jun Mohan asked, holding an explosive pack from Leng Ruoli with a puzzled expression.
"The power of this explosive pack is even more potent than the small bomb I used last time."
Leng Ruoli immediately clarified for Jun Mohan.
"Then where did you get these things? In our Tianwu Kingdom, no, it should be on this entire continent, no one has ever seen anything this powerful."
"If we were to use this in our Tianwu Kingdom's military, wouldn't our Tianwu Kingdom be invincible?"
Jun Mohan looked at the explosive pack in his hand, and a sharp glint flashed in his narrow, beautiful purple eyes.
However, Leng Ruoli quickly guessed his intentions.
"Jun Mohan, don't you even think about having ideas about these things. If such things were used in the military, it would lead to heavy casualties at the least, and utter ruin for the nation at worst. It would bring immense suffering to the common people, and no one could bear the consequences." Leng Ruoli warned him.