NOVPUB"We seem to have arrived?"
Passing through the dense forest, a kilometer-wide meadow in the woods came into view, with two huge trees standing at each end—one with pale leaves and branches obscuring the sky, and the other bearing sporadic dark red fruits with crystal-clear skins.
They are the Life Tree and Wisdom Tree, which exist side by side.
And between the two giant trees, there are seven or eight army-green Mongolian yurt-shaped tents stretching out.
"Swoosh, swoosh—"
The two had just stepped out of the forest when two arrows with black flames shot towards them, nailing the ground just an inch from their feet.
"Code." A mechanical, heavy voice came from the lush Life Tree.
Xia Feng vaguely saw a figure wearing a Siamese cat mask; he shook his head. "Don’t have it."
"Hmm?"
With the tree dweller’s puzzled sound, numerous laser red dots appeared on the two of them and all around.
Xia Feng took out a photo and held it up to the air. "Somebody asked us to give this photo to Big-Faced Cat."
"Photo? Throw it here."
Wei Shutong had taken several identical pictures, not missing this one, so Xia Feng tossed it as per request.
Shortly after, a person with a cat-face mask jumped from the tree, removing the mask to reveal a kind smile. "Xia Feng, my student, I didn’t expect to meet you here."
"Ms. Fu?" Xia Feng looked at Freya with some surprise.
"Follow me." Freya waved her hand and turned around, her wine-red hair fluttering.
The two exchanged glances as if they understood something and quickly followed her.
Passing by each tent, rows of unconscious injured lay on stretchers around the perimeter with cat-face masks either broken or splattered with blood.
Xia Feng recognized them as the people who were with Wei Shutong at Ping Shan Hospital.
The casualties are so heavy... Xia Feng furrowed his brow and said solemnly, "Ms. Fu, is Mushroom rescued?"
"Don’t worry, she’s alright—just not acclimated to the Evil Power environment. She ate a few Wisdom Fruits and is still unconscious," Freya spoke softly.
Xia Feng nodded, his worries somewhat alleviated. After passing two checkpoints, the three of them reached the largest tent in the center.
However, before getting close, they heard an argument coming from inside.
"Wei Shutong is a madman! Acting on his own, Director, such a person is too uncontrollable—we must not cooperate with him again! Fortunately, he acted under the identity of ’Cat’, without exposing the existence of the Holy Department. Otherwise, I’d kill him!"
"Director, we’ve just come for a routine cleaning of the Evil Beasts in the Light Evil Zone of the Evil Dragon Forest. There’s no need to bother with Wei Shutong’s unilateral actions."
"Moreover, we have a grip on Liszt’s weakness. Right now, opposing him means no good end! Do you really want to die?"
"White Dragon, Captain!" Master Chen’s displeased voice suddenly rose, "We are the Holy Department, we are soldiers of the Empire! Do you realize the nonsense you’re speaking?"
"Heh heh~" The man who had been cursing earlier in a gruff voice now spoke sarcastically, "Chen Hangdao, if you really had the guts, you’d have gone to clash with Liszt long ago. What’s with this pretense of a soldier’s spirit?"
"White Dragon!" Following an older man’s stern voice, the gruff man fell silent.
"Li Sheng, continue your report," the Director said in a deep voice.
Everyone knew that although the Director stopped White Dragon’s speech, it didn’t mean he disagreed. The Director also did not wish to become an enemy of the Prince.
Li Sheng stepped forward and said,
"The personnel who rescued Li Hongdou were all subordinates secretly trained by Wei Shutong, and now they are all in a coma with severe injuries.
According to one of them before he fell into a coma, Divine Evil Association sent three members with codes, namely Number 4 Death Hand, Number 7 String Puller, and Number 8 Vermilion Bird Armor.
Among them, Number 4 has Fourth Rank strength, while Numbers 7 and 8 combined are at Third Rank. In addition, the Prince’s men include five Third Rank Guests, and Zhao Jie was promoted to Fourth Rank last week.
The Prince’s side has a total of seven Third Rank, and two Fourth Rank powerhouses."
"And we...."
Li Sheng glanced around; the seven team captains were all at Third Rank, with only the Director himself at Fourth Rank.
"Tsk," White Dragon chuckled lowly, "Liszt has obviously made thorough preparations. Fourth Rank has already entered a non-human domain, far beyond the reach of Third Rank to challenge; there’s no point in fighting."
Silence fell around, as involving the Military Department would make dealing with the Prince a simple task.
Regrettably, a good half of the nobles and high officials in Zone 51, who weren’t very powerful but could easily climb to high positions, were the Prince’s people, and they were utterly impossible to command.
"Knock, knock, knock—" Freya, seeing that it had finally quieted inside, knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Freya entered with two people, and everyone turned to look.
Xia Feng’s eyes immediately landed on the cat face mask covered over the knees of Director Xuanwu—a conspicuously large Garfield face mask.
"Director, Wei Shutong has sent these two with a message for you."
"You are the bastards raised by that bitch Wei Shutong?" White Dragon stood up suddenly, ready to curse after hearing this.
"White Dragon!" Xuanwu’s voice was stern.
White Dragon held his breath and sat down.
Director Xuanwu looked at the two with a puzzled expression, "Speak, what does Wei Shutong want to do this time?"
Once sure that Director Xuanwu was the contact person, Xia Feng didn’t waste words and threw a pile of photos onto the table, saying earnestly, "Wei has instructed me to give these photos to you and said he has confirmed that your granddaughter is dead."
The old man who was sitting calmly in his wheelchair just picked up a photo, his pupils suddenly constricting as he stood up sharply!
The blanket on his knees and the mask slipped off, allowing Xia Feng to see that his legs were two steel prosthetics emitting a silvery glow, making a mechanical whirring sound as he rose.
The wrinkled, elderly face of Xuanwu tightened, his eyelids twitching as he stared fixedly at the scattered photos on the table.
In the photo, the small girl’s pale head was floating in a nutrient tank, with a red, tentacle-like piece of flesh inserted into the back of her brain, leading all the way up to the top of the tank.
At the top of the nutrient tank, a crimson spider with eight eyes clung, its eyes shimmering with a strange, dark glow.
That was one of the beings from the realm of dream evils, the Soul Devouring Evil, capable of constructing an entirely new Spiritual Body by devouring the memories inside a human brain. Although this Spiritual Body was frail and did not last long, it contained all the memories and personality of the original brain owner.
Director Xuanwu now understood that the granddaughter who had been video chatting with him all along was just a fake person simulated by the Soul Devouring Evil.
His granddaughter had long been dead!
Bang!!!
The old man pounded his fist on the table, causing the furniture inside the tent to vibrate and hum several times, crack— 𝒏𝒐𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
With a crisp snap, the solid wooden table instantly shattered into countless fragments, and a blast of air dispersed.
"Liszt——!!"
