IW: Chapter 240 - Benefiting from Both Sides, Bai Ye: Nidalee, have you thought about how you'll repay me?
"Cooperating with the Black Rose is like playing with fire."
Sitting alone in the dim light of his inn room, Bai Ye turned the tavern conversation over in his mind. He had already reached a firm conclusion about the encounter.
The Black Rose was an extension of LeBlanc's will. Whether the person he had spoken with was a high-ranking asset of the cabal or merely the Pale Lady herself wearing a flawless illusion, it didn't change the reality of the situation. When the meeting concluded, the mysterious figure had vanished without peeling back their final mask.
Bai Ye didn't waste energy trying to force an answer. If it truly had been LeBlanc, her mastery over deception meant she could effortlessly slip into an even more impenetrable disguise the next time their paths crossed. If he had caught a fleeting glimpse beneath her veil today, it was only because it was their first meeting; she simply hadn't mapped the boundaries of his perception yet.
Still, the interaction left a bitter taste in his mouth. Bai Ye understood he was operating from a dangerously passive position. Compared to a legendary, centuries-old sorceress like LeBlanc, his current leverage was minimal. Her vast magical web and sheer political weight meant any "cooperation" she offered wouldn't be a partnership of equals—it would be a beautifully gilded trap.
Yet, his objective remained unchanged: he needed to participate in the imminent invasion of Ionia. He just refused to do it as a brainwashed, disposable blunt instrument for the Noxian warmongers.
What about Jericho Swain?
Logically, aligning with Swain wasn't a bad alternative. Bai Ye knew the timeline of this world; down the road, Swain would unearth the ancient, forbidden secrets buried beneath the Immortal Bastion, overthrow the maddened Emperor Boram Darkwill, and ignite a silent, brutal shadow war against the Black Rose for the very soul of the empire.
Navigating the razor-thin margin between Swain's radical vision and LeBlanc's endless conspiracies was entirely viable. He could play both sides against the middle, but he had to ensure he never became deeply entangled with either faction. Getting too close to either fire would only end in him being burned.
The immediate issue was justification. He currently lacked a logical reason to approach Swain. Initiating contact now, before the Grand General's ascension, would permanently stamp him with a Noxian military label that would be nearly impossible to shake off later.
The political chess board brought back a sudden wave of sharp nostalgia. Thinking about his current predicament, Bai Ye couldn't help but recall how completely helpless his past self had been back in Arad. Back then, even when he possessed a perfect blueprint of the future, a lack of absolute power meant he could do nothing but watch the tides of fate wash over him.
He technically had the foreknowledge required to infiltrate the depths of the Immortal Bastion and uncover its hidden anomalies right now. But the thought made him hesitate. Dealing with the primordial entities of Runeterra was a massive gamble; the demons of Valoran wielded terrifying, reality-bending power, but they always extracted a heavy, corrupting toll from the souls foolish enough to bargain with them.
Rustle... rustle...
A faint, scraping sound outside the door shattered his train of thought, followed quickly by a sharp, demanding knock.
"Who is it?"
Bai Ye sat up on the edge of the mattress, his brow furrowing. He was a complete ghost in this sector of the Immortal Bastion. The Black Rose operative had only just departed, making it highly unlikely they would double back so quickly.
Draven?
He shook his head, dismissing the thought. Draven was far too narcissistic to chase someone down at a run-down inn, and the absolute wallop he had delivered in the arena should have left the executioner with a very healthy respect for their power disparity.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The pounding against the wood grew increasingly urgent, accompanied by a muffled, impatient murmuring. Deciding that speculating was useless, Bai Ye stood up and glided toward the entryway.
The moment the heavy bolt slid back and the door swung open, the captain of the guard standing on the threshold inflated his chest, opening his mouth to unleash a practiced display of military arrogance. He wanted this traveler to understand exactly how displeased he was to have been kept waiting in a dusty corridor.
But the words died a violent death in his throat.
Before the captain could utter a single syllable, his eyes met Bai Ye's gaze. The sheer, suffocating intensity vibrating within those pupils struck the soldier like a physical blow. An instinctual, primal terror flooded his nervous system, forcing his chin downward. He lowered his eyes to the floorboards, utterly stripped of his bravado, not daring to look the man in the face again.
Those weren't the eyes of a common gladiator. They were the eyes of an apex predator.
"Speak," Bai Ye commanded, his voice flat and cold.
The captain swallowed hard, his throat clicking in the silence.
Gulp.
The captain of the guards instinctively swallowed, a bead of cold sweat unconsciously trickling down his forehead.
His lips trembled, and he could barely speak clearly: "I-I'm from the Noxian conscription office. War is about to begin, so we need to conscript soldiers..."
Once war began, unless they were people who truly loved war, most people were actually unwilling to fight.
After all, war could kill people!
Even an empire like Noxus, which could advance endlessly through war, was no exception.
Everyone had seen how tragic the Demacian battlefield was; many people had already died, and Demacia had already stretched Noxian soldiers thin.
Not everyone within Noxus suggested opening another front, but the emperor was determined to start the war.
At this time, Noxus was under an autocratic emperor; once the emperor decided something, others, no matter how unwilling, had to accept that the war had begun.
So, the issue of soldiers was what Noxus currently lacked most.
"I am not Noxian."
With that.
Bai Ye slammed the door shut with a bang.
Outside, the soldiers looked at each other, and one of them grumbled discontentedly: "Then what do we do? That guy looks really strong..."
Although it wasn't forced conscription, and as the man said, he wasn't Noxian, so it seemed normal for him to refuse.
"Then what do you want to do?!"
The captain of the guards glared. If he couldn't deal with that man, could he not deal with you?
Didn't he know?
He could, of course, directly tell Bai Ye that this was a Noxian order and Bai Ye had to join.
But he also knew very well that if he said that, given the way Bai Ye had just looked at him, it might genuinely cost him his life.
"I..."
"By the way, what do you mean by conscription?"
The soldier hadn't thought of a solution yet when the door suddenly opened again, and Bai Ye asked curiously.
Although he wasn't Noxian, he could go along with them.
He couldn't just go there without a reason, could he?
"It's for the troops heading to the Ionian war! If you have strength, you'll be assigned to an elite unit!"
The captain of the guards quickly said, seeing the situation. In his opinion, if Bai Ye possessed the kind of strength that inspired the fear he had just felt, he should be assigned to an elite squad.
And since Bai Ye had asked, didn't that also mean he was interested in this matter?
"Do I have to follow orders, or can I act freely?"
"Huh?"
The captain of the guards heard such an absurd question that for a moment he didn't know how to answer Bai Ye.
Had he heard correctly?
Can he act freely or must he follow orders?
After he finished that sentence, he felt a bit dizzy.
As a soldier, how could you not follow orders?
"Go back and ask. If it's possible, then I'll join."
"Alright."
The soldier watched the captain of the guards honestly register Bai Ye's information, feeling shocked by his boss's gentle and refined demeanor.
Was this still the boss he knew?
Wasn't his boss famous in the military for being corrupt, betraying brothers, and seducing wives?
"What are you looking at? Look again and I'll gouge out your eyes!"
"Cough, I'm not looking, I'm not looking!"
The soldier waved his hands repeatedly, secretly thinking, 'Ah, this is the boss I know.'
How could he be the gentle and refined type?!
After registering Bai Ye's information, the captain of the guards took all the registration documents and handed them to his superior, also relaying Bai Ye's words.
After layers of screening, when Swain received Bai Ye's information, a subtle, meaningful smile appeared on his lips: "This fellow is truly interesting. He's the one who defeated Draven, isn't he?"
Swain actually quite admired people who had their own ideas.
So when Bai Ye said that, he thought more highly of Bai Ye.
"So you'll just indulge him?"
Seeing Swain like this, Darius understood him. He just agreed?
"I need to meet him. At the very least, he needs to demonstrate his value."
Value!
In Noxus, value determined everything about whether you were considered a person.
A person with no utility value had no right to sit at the table and negotiate terms.
As long as Bai Ye had value, what did it matter if he moved freely on the battlefield?
"True, that's just how Noxus is. That's why that idiot Du Couteau is so highly regarded by the emperor now!"
"There must always be Hokage's beneath the sun. That fellow seems to have discovered something."
Swain said faintly. Over the years, Swain had also discovered that beneath Noxus, it seemed there wasn't just the rule of the powerful.
And in the darkness, there had always been a pair, or even several pairs, of eyes silently watching everything in Noxus.
And these eyes were the ones controlling Noxus.
And the Noxian nobles seemed to be colluding with those people.
Compared to others, Swain was only loyal to the Noxian Empire.
Although he currently didn't fully understand the other party, he already knew a part of it.
"Whatever you say, you're in charge of this war anyway."
With that.
Darius stood up and left the meeting room. He still had to prepare to continue the war with Demacia.
At the same time, his relationship with Swain hadn't reached that point yet, and they had talked enough. After all, he and Swain were only together because of mutual interests, weren't they?
This was a very realistic thing in Noxus.
"I am Swain. Do you have time to talk?"
The next day.
Swain sought out Bai Ye. He had to immediately determine Bai Ye's value.
"I recognize your strength, but if you go to the Ionian battlefield, what will you do?"
Swain didn't test Bai Ye's strength; Draven had already done that.
What he cared most about was what Bai Ye would do if he went to the battlefield.
"Of course, I'll do what I believe is right."
Bai Ye didn't want to help Noxus invade.
After all, his connection with Noxus wasn't very deep.
So, Noxus's invasion of Ionia brought him no benefit whatsoever.
Having stayed in Noxus for a long time, he seemed to value interests more now. Why do something that doesn't bring him benefit?
Listening to Bai Ye's words, Swain's eyes were calm, but his tone carried a hint of surprise: "I thought you would come up with all sorts of excuses, but I didn't expect you to directly state your inner thoughts!"
Swain had made deductions before coming. As Noxus's strategist, he had considered that Bai Ye might make excuses.
He hadn't expected Bai Ye to be so honest and straightforward.
"Why should I make excuses? I didn't really want to join the army; I just wanted to go and observe."
"Then do you think Noxus will win or lose?"
Strange...
Why would he ask such a question?
A hint of strangeness flashed in Swain's eyes. Such a question shouldn't really be asked of Bai Ye.
But he couldn't help but want to ask.
"Lose."
Bai Ye said bluntly. Even if he went all out, and even if the Black Rose and Vladimir's Crimson Circle joined forces, they couldn't defeat Ionia.
Because Ionia had Syndra, whose energy in the real world was truly inexhaustible, plus Karma the Enlightened One and Soraka the Starchild.
Moreover, other factions wouldn't stand by and watch Noxus defeat Ionia.
"You've also seen Noxus's future."
Swain had also seen it. He knew they would lose, but he couldn't stop it.
Suddenly, he felt a sense of disgust for this autocratic system.
"To fight a war that's destined to be lost, the emperor is truly interesting."
"Who knows?"
Swain shook his head, then looked at Bai Ye and asked: "Then I agree to your request. You can go with them then, and on the battlefield, I will grant you special operational authority."
"En."
The two parties thus reached an agreement, and Bai Ye had other thoughts.
Although he had other thoughts even before reaching the battlefield, since Swain had said so, and the other party knew his intentions, Bai Ye felt there was no need for other considerations.
On the way to Ionia, Bai Ye watched Noxus brutally plunder everything along the way, and couldn't help but shake his head.
These armies truly lived up to Noxus's reputation as barbarians; wherever they marched, they left nothing behind.
It was no wonder that in the early stages of the Ionian conflict, Noxus clearly held the advantage, and many people had already stopped resisting. But under Noxus's brutal plundering,
Many people directly rose in revolt. The resistance led by Irelia directly cut off one of Swain's arms, and then the front lines continuously contracted until, after their defeat, Noxus withdrew from Ionia.
But the animosity between the two sides was established, which was why Bai Ye was unwilling to be deeply tied to Noxus.
Once he was bound to them, with Noxus's nature of constant conquest, he would offend the entire Valoran.
Then he would truly have no choice but to stick with Noxus.
Upon entering Ionian territory, Bai Ye witnessed the brutality of the Noxians.
"Hey, what are you doing?!"
Bai Ye looked at the carts of goods being transported from Ionia to Noxus, and asked, somewhat strangely.
"What are these people sending?!"
"Heh heh, these are treasures!"
The soldier looked at the insignia on Bai Ye's body, and couldn't help but grin, saying with a chuckle.
This stuff was the Noxian nobles' favorite.
"Treasures?"
Bai Ye lifted the curtain and looked, and a strange, inexpressible feeling suddenly arose in his heart.
Vastaya?
"No wonder they lost. They're even trafficking the people of Ionia."
Bai Ye said indifferently. They were already trafficking the population of the other side.
It seemed impossible for the other party not to resist.
Bai Ye raised his hand, then directly cut open all the cages here with his sword.
Seeing Bai Ye's action, the surrounding soldiers immediately went on alert, raising their weapons and pointing them at Bai Ye, asking, "What do you want to do?!"
These were the Vastaya they had so painstakingly captured.
If they brought them back, they would certainly be rewarded, but Bai Ye's action directly released all the recently captured Vastaya.
"Let them go."
"Attack!"
The internal situation of Noxus was not that harmonious; mutual fighting was very normal. Bai Ye was trying to block their path to promotion. How could this be allowed?
Immediately, a group of people surrounded Bai Ye, ready to act, but in an instant, everyone here was instantly killed by Bai Ye.
He glanced at the Vastaya who were hiding in the cages, seemingly ready to find an opportunity to escape at any moment.
"What? Don't want to leave?"
Bai Ye's gaze fell on a woman dressed relatively revealingly.
He hadn't acted out of kindness just now, but because he had seen someone among them.
"You're not from Noxus?!"
Nidalee was not very willing to believe Bai Ye's so-called kindness.
Most of the Vastaya tribe members around her centered around Nidalee.
They also held a hint of suspicion.
"No."
Bai Ye was a little curious as to why Nidalee of Ixtal would come here.
But then he thought that this was the real world, not an NPC in a game, who had to stay in one place and couldn't move.
So he didn't dwell on it too much. After seeing Nidalee earlier, Bai Ye had already made up his mind.
"I'm not stopping you from leaving. If you want to go, then go."
Did he change her fate?
Bai Ye was also thinking in his heart. Logically speaking, without his intervention, Nidalee shouldn't have been captured by Noxus.
Her background story itself didn't mention her being enslaved by Noxus.
"Thank you."
Nidalee hesitated for a moment. Although she was unwilling to trust humans, Bai Ye had at least saved them.
So after thanking Bai Ye, she immediately stopped the others and prepared to evacuate.
"Now the entire Ionia is under Noxus's control. Don't go back to your previous location."
Bai Ye kindly reminded her. If it were a man, he would only tell the other party to be self-reliant.
After hearing Bai Ye's words, Nidalee was stunned for a moment, then nodded and led the others away from here.
Leaving Bai Ye alone here, he also felt a bit troubled.
He clearly hadn't intended to act immediately, but now it seemed that continuing to follow the main force was no longer an option.
Just as Bai Ye was about to leave, he felt that he was being spied on. Was it that little leopard?
Still not leaving?
"What? Can't bear to leave?"
Bai Ye sat on the cage cart, curiously looking in the direction of the little leopard.
Nidalee, who had been called out by Bai Ye, was also a little surprised. She thought she had hidden herself well, but she didn't expect to still be discovered by Bai Ye.
In the jungle, she had a lot of experience.
To be discovered like this was truly a bit unexpected.
"I just…"
Nidalee opened her mouth, but the words wouldn't come out.
The main reason was that the other person had already released her, but she was still suspicious of Bai Ye.
"You're afraid that I deliberately let you go, and then go catch more people, aren't you?"
Bai Ye directly exposed Nidalee's little thoughts.
How could he not know what Nidalee was thinking?
"Because humans are not to be trusted…"
Nidalee's face flushed slightly. After her thoughts were exposed by Bai Ye, she couldn't say anything else.
She could only open her mouth and say that humans were not to be trusted.
But just now, it was the human she didn't trust who rescued her.
"Then you've already covered their retreat. Go."
Bai Ye also didn't argue with Nidalee.
He, of course, knew that the distrust between these tribes and humans was due to long-standing conflicts.
Changing these perceptions couldn't be done with just a word or two from him.
"I… I hope there's something I want to ask you to do…"
Nidalee looked a little embarrassed. After all, she had just said that humans were not to be trusted, but the next second she had something to ask Bai Ye for help.
The words made her blush.
"Speak."
"Some of my friends were also captured by the people of Noxus. If possible… I'd like to ask for your help."
Biting her lip, Nidalee simply spoke the words.
Since Bai Ye had told her to speak, she had nothing to hesitate about.
"Benefits."
"Ah?"
Nidalee froze in place. Although she felt that what the other party said wasn't wrong, this sudden request for benefits was something Nidalee hadn't expected.
What benefits could she give him?
"I only saved you incidentally. If you want me to continue helping, there must be benefits, right?"
Bai Ye looked at Nidalee with a smile. It was clear that she hadn't thought about benefits at all before.
But it didn't matter. Bai Ye could give her time to think about it properly.
"I don't know what you need either. If you need anything, and I happen to have it, I can find it for you!"
Nidalee bit her lip, then answered Bai Ye's question.
Although she didn't currently know what Bai Ye needed, if she had it, she would definitely give it to Bai Ye.
"Then give it to me when I think of it."
Ixtal seemed to have a lot of good things too.
And it's good to have an acquaintance to lead the way. If he ever needed to go to Ixtal or the Vastaya in the future, with their gratitude, he would be able to go more easily.
"Mhm, mhm!"
Nidalee nodded repeatedly, then twitched her nose. She had already smelled the location of her companions.
They were just a small group of people here. There were many guards over there, so she had no way to rescue them.
Although they had left a signal before being captured, it was possible that they had already been discovered and their tribe members were coming to rescue them, but she also felt it was best not to put all their hope on that.
After all, once those people left Ionia, it would be almost impossible to chase them back!
The two walked together, and relying on Nidalee's keen sense of smell, they quickly arrived at a jungle area and ambushed.
Along the way, the two also exchanged simple greetings. After learning that Bai Ye had come with the Noxian army, Nidalee was initially a little surprised.
What Bai Ye had just done was detrimental to others without benefiting himself.
But later, after learning Bai Ye's stance, she understood.
In fact, after Bai Ye walked out of the Noxian arena, he had been thinking about what he should do.
Every hero in Valoran seemed to have something to do, more or less, but he was like a rootless duckweed with no goal.
Later, he also figured it out. It would be better to be an explorer like Ezreal, then make some friends and change some things in Valoran, and after there was nothing left to do in the future, he could retire and open a small tavern, which also seemed like a good idea.
"It's Rengar, Rengar is here!"
Nidalee looked excitedly at Rengar, who was already entangled with the Noxian army in front of them, a hint of excitement flashing in her eyes.
Reinforcements had finally arrived.
But it seemed only Rengar had come. Had the main force not arrived yet?
"He's going to lose."
Rengar?
Bai Ye looked into the distance. Rengar still had his eyes, which meant he hadn't met Kha'Zix yet.
So, at this moment, he didn't seem to be a qualified hunter.
Rengar's transformation would happen after encountering Kha'Zix, when both felt that the other was a good opponent, and after that, both wanted to take the other's head.
However, in Bai Ye's opinion, Rengar's gap with Kha'Zix would only grow larger in the later stages, as Kha'Zix came from the Void and could continuously evolve.
"I'll go help."
"Are you going to make things worse?"
Seeing Nidalee charge straight in, Bai Ye couldn't help but mutter.
Just like that?
But before he could finish speaking, Nidalee had already gone up.
"Nidalee?!"
Rengar's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Nidalee.
Hadn't they said she was captured too?
"Mhm, mhm, we've been rescued!"
Seemingly noticing the doubt in Rengar's eyes, Nidalee quickly explained that they had been saved.
And after learning that they had been rescued, Rengar also breathed a sigh of relief.
The Vastayan reinforcements had already gone there to rescue Nidalee and the others, while he had come here first to block the Noxian army's departure.
Since Nidalee had been rescued, it meant that the reinforcements would arrive very soon.
But Rengar's momentary distraction allowed a member of the Noxian army to seize the opportunity, and countless spears instantly plunged into Rengar.
As the gleaming Noxian spears closed in from all sides, a primal alarm blared in Rengar's mind. Every instinct screamed at him to retreat, but just as he coiled his muscles to leap away, several airborne shock troopers thrust downwards from above. They had mapped his trajectory flawlessly, leaving him absolutely no room for escape.
"Be careful!"
With a fierce cry, Nidalee hurled her javelin through the air, desperate to pierce the formation and force a path open for him.
But her single throw was a mere drop in the bucket against a disciplined military wall. Just as absolute dread gripped her heart, a flash of blinding, frigid light arrived before the spears could pierce flesh. In a single, effortless arc, a devastating wave of sword qi cleaved through the air, splitting the surrounding Noxian soldiers cleanly in half.
The bisected armored bodies hit the dirt with heavy, echoing thuds.
From the dense shroud of the Ionian brush, a lone figure stepped calmly into the clearing. The moment Nidalee recognized the newcomer, a wave of profound relief and joy washed over her face. Rengar, however, immediately dropped into a low, aggressive hunting stance. His fur bristled, and his entire body began to tremble violently.
Was that... fear?
No! the hunter screamed internally, his jaw tightening. This is excitement!
He fought with everything he had to suppress the rising tremor in his limbs, refusing to label it as terror. He forced himself to believe that this physiological shock was simply the thrilling realization that he had just encountered a true apex predator. Yet, the fact that this overwhelming aura belonged to a mere human only deepened Rengar's instinctual displeasure.
Sensing the explosive tension radiating from the vastayan hunter, Nidalee didn't hesitate. She quickly threw herself between the two, her hands raised defensively. "Rengar, stand down! Calm yourself—he's here to help us!"
She absolutely could not allow a fight to break out between them. Bai Ye had just shattered a death trap to save their lives, and more importantly, her hunter's instinct told her a bitter truth: Rengar stood virtually zero chance of defeating him.
"A human... coming to help us?" Rengar spat, his lone eye narrowing with deep-seated suspicion.
Though their tribes shared the rich lands of Ionia, the Vastaya generally maintained a strict, isolated distance from human civilization. Trust did not come easily, especially now. If it weren't for this brutal, unprovoked Noxian invasion tearing through the continent, they wouldn't be backed into a corner like this. Prior to this slaughter, human emissaries from the Ionian provinces had approached the tribes seeking a unified alliance against the empire, but the Vastaya had flatly refused to trust the word of mankind.
Was this swordsman even an Ionian?
"Rengar, do not let your prejudice blind you!" Nidalee snapped, her voice carrying a rare edge. She knew exactly what he was feeling; after all, hadn't she harbored the exact same bitter distrust toward humans before she met Bai Ye?
"I just know that humans don't possess kind hearts out of the blue," Rengar muttered, pouting slightly as he slowly eased out of his rigid killing posture. The suffocating tension in the air finally began to dissipate.
Nidalee's judgment was ironclad. From her fiercely protective tone, Rengar's sharp mind easily pieced the puzzle together—Nidalee had undoubtedly been saved by this man before.
"They're over here!"
Suddenly, a resonant, commanding voice echoed through the trees, followed by the rapid, rhythmic rustle of dozens of boots breaking through the undergrowth.
A young woman advanced into the clearing, a mantle of deadly, razor-sharp blades hovering in a fluid, hypnotic formation just behind her shoulders. Leading a battle-hardened squad of local freedom fighters, her eyes swept the carnage with fierce intensity.
Irelia?! Bai Ye mused silently, observing the young vanguard.
Ah, so in the original timeline of this skirmish, it was Irelia who was supposed to rescue the Vastaya here.
Seeing her manifest on the battlefield made perfect sense of the layout. The fierce, rapidly growing resistance movement forged under Irelia's banner was built on a singular, unyielding vow—they would never stand by and allow the warmongers of Noxus to desecrate their land or butcher its people, human or Vastaya alike.
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