Scram

With those words, Zhang Chiyuan brushed past them and walked out of the room. Fight? Right now, whether in terms of personnel or equipment, there was no way they could win. The other side had nearly a thousand men and three top combat powers. He could only rely on his title and name to escort these young people away, or at the very least ensure their safety. Zhang Chiyuan had already ordered an emergency alert sent out to several squads in the surrounding area. However, given the distances involved, reinforcements likely would not arrive anytime soon. Under these circumstances, waiting was not safe either. He had to show his identity first and take a firm stance to prevent the other side from losing patience and having the hidden clan fighters charge straight in. Inside the room, after Zhang Chiyuan left, Wen Jifei and Rusty Sister looked at each other in instinctive silence, complex emotions welling up within them. "Rusty Sister, follow him and keep watch. If anything unexpected happens, remember to protect Commander Zhang, and protect as many people as you can," Wen Jifei said with concern. "Alright," Shen Yixiu nodded, then asked, "But that Zhe whatever, would he really dare?!" "Ordinarily speaking, he shouldn't dare. But don't forget, he still has a lot of people from the hidden clans on his side. If Zhe Shouzhao decides to take a desperate gamble, he might just have them charge right in," Wen Jifei said, furrowing his brows. Outside, Zhang Chiyuan had already sent his secretary running to fetch his gear and saber, along with a megaphone. This temporary camp was tiny and rudimentary, resembling a dilapidated village with only a few households. On the dirt road through the village, the sandy gravel gleamed pale in the sunlight, crunching beneath footfalls. The dignified army commander lowered his head as he walked, blowing into the megaphone to test it. The speaker crackled with a burst of static. "Testing! One, two!" "Alright, everyone can hear me, right? This is Zhang Chiyuan. Attention, all hands." Commander Zhang lifted his head as he called out, his back straight as a ramrod. Raising the megaphone, he continued: "Azure Huaxia Front, Fourth Army Temporary Field Command Post. The first emergency response combat drill begins immediately..." "Everyone, gear up at once and assemble on the double." Zhang Chiyuan repeated the order, his voice steady, his expression composed. In his field of vision, several young girls who were clearly administrative staff dashed out from a neighboring building, running excitedly to strap on their maneuver gear. They probably were not strong fighters, and all they knew was that several wounded comrades fleeing pursuers had arrived at the command post; they had no idea one was Major Qing or some famous so-and-so. Watching from the doorway, Wen Jifei took in the scene. From behind a concealed wall, the iron armor watched. Even Zhu Jiaming, seated on the threshold, watched and listened with unwitting focus. At times, you would start to feel disgust toward Azure, yet you would forever love its other face. *** "Shouzhao, look! What's going on over there?!" The last remaining top combat power of Voyage besides Zhe Shouzhao was a bald, rotund black man, who spoke in English. At this moment, their men were still in the woods. The stout black man stood beside Zhe Shouzhao, pointing outward. Zhe Shouzhao did not answer; he was looking for himself. Along the outer edge of the village ahead, an Azure force of just over a hundred soldiers had rapidly assembled and formed ranks. One man stood alone at the very front with a saber in hand. The lieutenant general's Star Insignia on his shoulders caught the sunlight, gleaming from time to time. "A lieutenant general! In a place like this, how did a lieutenant general pop up?!" When Zhe Shouzhao had previously sent men to negotiate, framing Han Qingyu and the others as spies posing as Azure soldiers, he had harbored hopes of using the Alliance and his rank as a major general to apply pressure, forcing the other side to comply and step aside. Now it seemed that not only had that idea completely fallen through, but it had also put him in an extremely awkward bind. Had he known this would happen, it would have been better not to give any warning and just order the hidden clan fighters to charge the moment they arrived. "Are they trying to start an open battle?" the black man asked again. "I don't know." Zhe Shouzhao did not know whether that lieutenant general truly intended to wage a frontal battle against nearly a thousand men with a mere hundred soldiers. Yet he knew very well that this was an attitude. With both sides now well aware of Han Qingyu and his companions' identities and circumstances, it was the stance the other man had chosen to take: protecting those few at all costs. If Zhe Shouzhao dared to gamble recklessly, they would not hesitate to fight. This blunt, fierce style differed wildly from the Azure Council! The first thought that popped into Zhe Shouzhao's mind was to leave. If he did not leave now, once the Azure army arrived, leaving wouldn't be up to him anymore. "But if I leave like this, will Han Qingyu and the others ever let me off?!" Under current circumstances, once Zhe Shouzhao returned, he certainly couldn't reveal that he had found Han Qingyu and pursued them, since they hadn't been convicted yet. As for Han Qingyu's side, out of their need to stay hidden, they likely wouldn't expose the matter publicly either. That meant it would become a private feud in the future... more precisely, a vendetta. At the thought, he instinctively recalled the battle just now and how that group had fought... A chill pierced through his entire body. Zhe Shouzhao took a step out of the woods with the black man, coming face to face with Zhang Chiyuan. Stripping off his outer coat, he revealed his Azure uniform and shoulder insignia, and walked forward. *** "So it is Commander Zhang." After both sides stated their identities, Zhe Shouzhao stepped forward, extending a hand while glancing at the formation behind him. "Commander Zhang, what is the meaning of this?" "A drill. A live combat drill." Zhang Chiyuan ignored his hand. From just this brief exchange, Zhe Shouzhao realized that Zhang Chiyuan had no intention of exchanging hypocritical pleasantries. Since that was the case, Zhe Shouzhao couldn't keep playing a one-man show. His expression darkened, and he said with subtle undertones, "May I ask who Commander Zhang's designated enemy is for this drill?" Zhang Chiyuan looked at him and said flatly, "Everything within a hundred li ahead—whatever I see is my enemy." "Is that so?" Zhe Shouzhao stood before him, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile. "What a coincidence. When I came over just now, I happened to spot an unidentified force of about a thousand men over there. If an encounter were to happen... and Commander Zhang were unfortunately to perish here..." As the final word fell, the menacing intent in Zhe Shouzhao's eyes was undisguised. He had to test him. "Then take your men and go hack them to death." "Me?" "Yeah, you. Aren't you a major general?" Zhang Chiyuan pointed to the Star Insignia on his shoulder. "Can I not command you?!" The man had pushed right back... Zhe Shouzhao lifted his head and gritted his teeth. "You cannot." "Clang!" Zhang Chiyuan drew his saber. "Insubordination against a superior and defiance of orders in the face of the enemy. Death without mercy." Clang... The hundred-plus soldiers behind him drew their blades in unison. Zhe Shouzhao froze. Wait, I have a thousand men over there. A thousand... This man is insane. This Commander Zhang of the Huaxia Front didn't seem to view him as an equal worthy of negotiation at all. Indeed, Zhang Chiyuan did not. A man who had served as an army commander in the Huaxia Front for over a decade was not someone ordinary people could compare to in experience, courage, aura, or vision. Knowing full well the man before him was a top combat power, with another top combat power beside him, Zhang Chiyuan—whose personal strength was merely above average—still approached alone with saber in hand. "Did you just threaten me? Threaten a commander of the Huaxia Front?! Who the hell do you think you are?!" A venomous glint flashed in Zhe Shouzhao's eyes. "Even at Alliance Headquarters, Voyage is treated with great deference. Speaking like this, isn't Commander Zhang afraid of harming our cooperation?" "Wrong. That's not called cooperation. In the words of our Huaxia, that's called offering amnesty to rebels. You know what amnesty means? Calling you in to behave yourselves." Neither fast nor slow, Zhang Chiyuan stared at him. "Unfortunately, circumstances override men!" Lowering his voice, Zhe Shouzhao's gaze hardened as he glanced back, gesturing toward the thousand men under his command in the woods. Zhang Chiyuan didn't even bother looking. Taking another step forward, he said, "Try it! Try stepping over the corpse of a Huaxia Front commander!" "..." "I guarantee your Zhe family will be wiped out! Every Voyage member involved will be buried with me, and from that day on, not a single one of you will ever be allowed to touch a blade again." A sudden surge of overwhelming momentum—this was an army commander of the Huaxia Front. Standing before two top combat powers, Zhang Chiyuan held his ground. Zhe Shouzhao hesitated for several seconds. "I doubt the Alliance Council would act as Commander Zhang claims..." "I don't know, and I don't care. But Chen Buer will. The Huaxia Front will." "Is that so? Then what about those few inside? Why have they ended up like this?" Zhe Shouzhao kept his voice low, a trace of smugness showing now that he had finally gained the upper hand in their banter. "Because they slaughtered three generations of someone's family. They came out ahead. If you don't believe me, why don't you try making Chen Buer suffer a loss?!" His voice was not loud. Smiling, Zhang Chiyuan added, "Besides, you think you can even compare to that old dog Alphonse?!" He called Alphonse an old dog, and told Zhe Shouzhao he couldn't even compare. Just as Zhe Shouzhao was about to speak— "Three days ago, Alphonse led five generals from four Europa nations to Alliance Headquarters, raising questions before the Council and demanding a thorough investigation into Han Qingyu's family and squad to uncover the truth of their life or death and their whereabouts. Do you know what happened after that?! A plane from the Huaxia Front arrived overnight. The pilot brought Chen Buer's Red-Slaying Saber and set it right on the podium." Zhe Shouzhao shut his mouth. "Scram!" Zhang Chiyuan said.