The battlefield shifted from the valley floor to the mountain ridge in less than ten seconds. The sheer speed and momentum of the three blue-sheened Great Spikes sent avalanches of boulders tumbling down the slopes.
However, the groups atop the mountain were, after all, teams hailing from major factions. They had elite experts in their ranks and fought with practiced coordination. Following an initial wave of caught-off-guard casualties, they immediately organized several tactical formations and began isolating and grinding down the three blue-sheened Great Spikes.
Fierce combat erupted in an instant. The ceaseless bursts of source energy apparatuses and the sharp clashing of dead iron echoed across the entire valley.
At the edge of the battlefield, inside a shallow dirt pit, a suit of iron armor raised its head slightly, quietly watching the intense struggle...
Because the night was pitch-black and the armor was black as well, Rusty Sister’s movements had not been clearly spotted. After hurling the shuttle craft away, she had dug a hollow nearby and lay flat... hoping to wait and see if she could retrieve the metal block later.
*Once the fragment rain starts, I’ll swoosh right out. Yep. If I pick it up, great. If someone else grabs it, I'll see who it is... and rob them.*
*Han Qingqing ought to praise me this time, right? He definitely has to,* Rusty Sister thought smugly as she lay prostrate in the pit. *Besides, this really is a lot of fun.*
Meanwhile, the crowds that had halted in the valley showed two entirely different sides.
The vast majority of ordinary fighters on the ground were cheering wildly, overjoyed at their narrow escape from death. Three blue-sheened ones, this time! If not for this sudden turn of events, nearly half the people here would probably have died.
They had survived.
At the same time, they saw the figures from the major factions on the ridge locked in a grueling, bitter struggle... The pent-up frustration buried deep within their hearts finally found an outlet, venting in wave after wave of clamoring shouts.
In that moment, the warriors forgot all their dread and fears.
Their gang leaders, however, were another matter. The ability to lead a crew was not measured solely on the edge of a blade; they had always been forced to remain clear-headed and cautious, forced to consider the bigger picture.
And so, the fallout of tonight’s events... "We're done for. The people up on the mountain are already looking for gaps in the fight to glare down at us."
"What do we do?!" After tonight, none of them could afford the retribution of those major factions... Old Hugh glanced back and forth at Filio, hesitated for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth, turning his head away. "I'm sorry, but I have no choice!"
Old Hugh chose to offer an explanation to the mountain, preparing to push all the blame onto Boss Dao’s Gang.
Just as he was about to make his move, several other bosses in the valley were already gesturing and shouting up toward the ridge. But because the battle above was so ferocious and the din so deafening, they had not yet been able to make themselves understood.
"What a bunch of scumbags!" Standing beside Han Qingyu, He Tangtang saw what they were doing and cursed under his breath.
If things were allowed to unfold like this, the predicament facing Boss Dao’s Gang afterward would inevitably turn catastrophic...
Wen Jifei and Zhu Jiaming exchanged a quick glance. The stage was now theirs.
***
"Boss Hugh is awesome! Thank you, Boss Hugh, for saving my life!"
With only a look exchanged and without a single spoken word between them, Zhu Jiaming made the first move. He suddenly sprinted into the crowd and shouted at the top of his lungs.
Hardly anyone here was familiar with the Young Prince’s voice.
Old Hugh had certainly never heard it before and stood baffled. "Huh? Who's that? Why the hell is he suddenly thanking me?!"
Turning around, he saw a swarm of people grinning warmly as they rushed toward him.
"What are they trying to do?!" The scene was bizarre beyond belief, leaving Old Hugh completely at a loss. But his long-honed instinct for danger made him step back at once, refusing to let the crowd close in.
Yet—"Huh?!"
"What's going on?!"
Old Hugh suddenly realized he could not move. A hand had clamped down onto his shoulder from behind, pressing down with immense weight... "Holy fuck, you motherfucker... a top-tier expert?! Who?!"
Old Hugh exerted his strength to whip his head around. His gaze barely caught half of an expressionless, numb face before sliding past eyebrows, a forehead, and then the top of a head... and then he was airborne!
The crowd tossed him high into the sky, cheering deafeningly all at once, "Boss Hugh is awesome!" "Boss Hugh is invincible!"
In the world of source energy, being suspended in mid-air was the most utterly helpless state a person could be in... And these bastards had actually activated their apparatuses to launch him!
"Who the fuck are you people?! What the hell do you want?!"
Two to three hundred meters up in the air, the wind howled fiercely. Old Hugh's mind was a chaotic mess as he forcefully twisted his body, intending to see who was down below.
Yet as his body turned and his gaze shifted with it... he first came face-to-face with the fighters of the major factions on the mountain ridge.
"Ho... ly... shit!" Meeting their gazes, Old Hugh snapped awake in an instant. He panicked and moved to cover his face with his hands, only to realize it was already too late.
At a loss, he forced a smile, attempting to show goodwill to the people on the ridge.
With that smile, the gazes directed at him amidst their bitter struggle instantly filled with venom and murderous fury, as though saying: *Fine, keep smiling. Just you wait...*
"No, that's not it!" Old Hugh screamed in his heart, frantically waving his hands.
*Uh, will they think I'm waving goodbye? 'Bye-bye, go die'?*
*...Seems like they will.*
Sure enough, someone on the mountain raised a blade toward him.
Presumably, if they had not been pinned down in life-or-death combat and unable to pull away, they would have charged over to butcher him on the spot.
"It's over! Everything is completely ruined!" Old Hugh abandoned all struggle, dejectedly closing his eyes and letting his body plummet.
People were dying up on the mountain, and down here, he had already begun celebrating.
*What am I even celebrating? ...Waaah, I'm celebrating that the blue-sheened Great Spikes went to hack them to pieces.*
Such a celebration had been seen, seen clearly, and heard by them... In this moment, Old Hugh knew he was thoroughly doomed. Even in death, he would never be able to talk his way out of this.
When he finally fell back down, the people waiting below to catch him were already his own squad members.
His men were thrilled. Shouting with wild excitement, they raised a forest of arms to catch Old Hugh, then detonated their source energy in unison, tossing him right back into the sky.
"..." His heart already dead as ashes, Old Hugh idly tilted his head during the ascent... Less than thirty meters away, the figure of Boss Gu Zhazha was currently plummeting from on high.
As one rose and the other fell, the two bosses exchanged a brief, helpless glance.
"We seem to be dead meat."
"Yeah."
"Look to your left." Gu Zhazha pointed with a finger.
Old Hugh turned his head.
To his left, Gang Leader Storm had come up as well... His squad members were the strongest of the lot, so he had flown even higher than both of them.
Then came He Guang, boss of the Fearless Gang... one rising as another fell.
Just like that, a sudden wave of celebration swept the valley. Over a dozen gang leaders, Filio included, were launched aloft one after another, repeatedly tossed into the air by their jubilant subordinates.
The festive scene formed a stark, brilliant contrast with the gruesome slaughter raging on the mountain ridge.
Outside the frame,
Wen Jifei stepped back, lowering his head to light a cigarette. He tossed one to Zhu Jiaming as well, cupping the flame with his hand to help him light it. Standing shoulder to shoulder in the shadows, they looked up at the spectacular sight in the sky and slowly exhaled a plume of smoke.
"I remember the very first time I saw you, I felt a kindred spirit," the Young Prince suddenly remarked with emotion.
"Was it any different for me?" Wen Jifei gave a slow nod, then turned to look at him. "Every single day, I worry you'll have a sudden lapse in judgment and get hacked to death by Han Qinglou."
Zhu Jiaming chuckled, "Hahaha, Second Lieutenant Wen is joking. I know you can't help worrying, but what are a few Bones of Eternal Life compared to the brotherhood between us?"
"Makes sense." Having said that, Wen Jifei furrowed his brows slightly through the smoke... opening his mouth to softly hum a line: "How many true confidants does one meet in this life..."
"How much friendship can truly endure," Zhu Jiaming softly harmonized.
Chapter 461