Little Prince had arrived right outside the door.
Separated only by a single door, he spoke.
Zhe Qiuhong was slightly taken aback.
Alone?
Or had Yang Qingbai actually concealed an airship somewhere near the military funeral site?
"Our communication signals have been jammed," a subordinate whispered in panic.
"Yeah, it's likely a portable jammer. That tech isn't complicated... I've built some for them before." Zhe Qiuhong wore a gloomy expression. Their communications here did not go through the Rejectors, so jamming them wasn't particularly difficult.
With that, she slowly stood up.
With Wen Jifei and Little Prince around, Stream Vanguard would deduce her involvement and come knocking to settle the score sooner or later. Zhe Qiuhong had known this all along. She just hadn't expected her old friends to come this fast.
Right now, the overarching momentum had yet to form, and the grand design was still far from settled.
Even worse was that Zhe Shouzhao was also here.
This younger brother of hers, currently her sole living kin in the world, had "unfortunately" once led an ambush against the core members of what was now Stream Vanguard... and four years ago, Han Qingyu had stated with his own mouth that the next time they met, he would kill him without fail.
At that moment, a low hiss of source energy rose not far in front of Zhe Qiuhong. Her trusted aide, an expert at the peak of the top tier, had already engaged his device, blade in hand.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...*
From the shadows around the hall and from the ceiling above, more than a dozen successive ripples echoed as devices powered up.
The elite death sworn of Voyage, including the men Zhe Shouzhao had brought back, were all primed for battle.
Since Stream Vanguard had come knocking, there was no need for further words regarding the situation. The other side undoubtedly knew what Voyage had done, and they might even know Zhe Shouzhao was here. What awaited them next was Stream Vanguard's retribution...
"Take him down! And run?" the subordinate asked in a hushed voice, his eyes betraying undeniable panic and tension, yet still filled with resolve.
The most terrifying dilemma right now was not whether they could run or should run, but that Zhe Shouzhao *had* to run. Even if the rest of them stayed, they might not necessarily die, but Zhe Shouzhao...
*Shhk, shhk, shhk.* A chorus of blades unsheathing hissed in the shadows.
"Hmm?" Zhe Qiuhong tilted her head toward him, her gaze pausing before her lips pressed into a tight line. Her voice was equally hushed. "How do you know he's the only one out there?"
"I..." The subordinate turned his head, staring uneasily at the old-fashioned Huaxian double doors.
"What if Theodore is out there too? And what if Wu Xu has arrived as well? As you ought to know, Yang Qingbai's airship is probably the fastest in the world right now," Zhe Qiuhong continued.
"Wu... Wu Xu?!"
Though she had listed three names in a single breath, it was as if he had heard only one. The subordinate froze instantly, the firm fighting spirit in his eyes dimming into complete darkness.
If Wu Xu were here today, then even if all the elite fighters Voyage had cultivated openly and covertly over the past few decades stood together, the outcome would be identical: either immediate surrender, or being laid out flat.
That name belonged to the seventh rank on the Dome Leaderboard—the Wu Xu rumored to be numb and cold-blooded. Even the spear he wielded had been given a bleak, miserable name: Binggu.
In the past, after the world of source energy was revealed to the public, countless people had admired and idolized Wu Xu, especially young women. Later, when they were all forced to abandon their yearnings and cool their fervor, they had bitterly bestowed a moniker upon him: the Three-Thousand-Year-Old Block of Wood.
"Xu'er is actually quite cute," Zhe Qiuhong remarked with a light smile, then continued, "You don't understand Little Prince, but I do. That man has always been cautious and slimy. If he isn't certain of success, he would never rashly step out on his own."
Pondering the implication, the subordinate said, "So, they've all arrived?!"
"They might not have arrived yet, either," Zhe Qiuhong replied.
Subordinate: "..."
*So just how many people are out there right now? Who's there?*
"It could be that precisely because Little Prince knows I understand him, he intentionally stepped out to bluff, keeping us from fleeing."
Just moments ago, Zhe Qiuhong had indeed been preparing to leave. Due to the sudden turn of events, coupled with the absolute necessity that Zhe Shouzhao not be discovered, men outside the estate were already making arrangements to escort him away.
By this point, the subordinate was thoroughly bewildered and gave up trying to offer ideas. Glancing down at the blade in his hands, he asked, "Then what do we do?"
"We still can't take the risk," Zhe Qiuhong said.
"...Understood." The subordinate repeatedly darted his eyes toward the direction where Zhe Shouzhao was hiding, his gaze frantic.
Yet Zhe Qiuhong acted as if she hadn't noticed, continuing, "They won't kill me. Even if they know I sent someone to assassinate Qingzi, Wen Jifei most likely won't take my life. At most, they will demand that Voyage forfeit everything it owns. But if we make a move on Little Prince right now... the nature of the situation changes entirely."
Her logic was clear. Zhe Qiuhong decided to gamble—gamble that they had only come to pick a fight and had no inkling of Zhe Shouzhao's presence. Naturally, if an opportunity arose, she would also probe to see if there was any chance of sending Zhe Shouzhao away first.
"Long time no see, Little Prince. How have you been?" She turned and called out clearly toward the door.
"Not bad," came the reply from outside.
"Won't you come in and have a seat?"
"Everyone hasn't arrived yet." Little Prince didn't say that *no one* had arrived, but that *not everyone* had arrived. That slight difference in wording kept those lurking in the shadows waiting to escort Zhe Shouzhao from daring to make a move.
"Oh, then I'll wait a bit." Zhe Qiuhong sat back down.
Little Prince did not respond again from outside.
Minute by minute, time slipped away. Soon, nearly half an hour had passed.
"It looks like..." the subordinate started.
*It looks like we were tricked. They didn't actually come.*
"Yeah."
Zhe Qiuhong nodded in agreement, though doing so was utterly pointless.
At the fifteen-minute mark, she had already realized that Little Prince was very likely the only expert outside; whether it was the Stream Vanguard members who might have been deployed to Shenghai, or Wen Jifei and Wu Xu, none of them had arrived yet.
Yet at the fifteen-minute mark, who could guarantee they wouldn't arrive at the sixteenth or seventeenth minute? If they acted rashly and Zhe Shouzhao slipped out, he might run smack into them.
Just like right now—nearly half an hour had passed, and it was certain they hadn't been here earlier... but precisely because nearly half an hour had passed, they were now very likely about to arrive.
So they still didn't dare test it.
Thus, discussing it was completely meaningless.
Suddenly—*pew!*—the muffled crack of a silenced sniper rifle rang out.
A whistling bullet effortlessly pierced the door, grazed Zhe Qiuhong's cheek, and embedded itself into the wall behind her.
They had arrived. This time, they were truly here.
Wen Jifei was signaling: *I'm very pissed off.*
Relieved, Zhe Qiuhong stood up.
*Creak!*
The heavy doors were pushed inward from the outside, letting natural light spill across the floor. Little Prince stepped through the threshold, shifting one step to the right. Next, He Tangtang and Rusty Sister walked in, followed by Wen Jifei and Wu Xu.
At that moment, everyone in the hall chose to sheathe their blades and power down their devices. Once these figures appeared, whether their devices were engaged or not made no difference at all.
Finally, Han Qingyu walked in calmly, fully geared. "Long time no see, Fat Doctor."
For an instant, even Zhe Qiuhong almost believed he had fully recovered. But... impossible. Absolutely impossible.
"My surname isn't Fat."
"Long time no see, Doctor Zhe the Fat."
"..." Zhe Qiuhong ground her teeth. "Fine. Speak plainly. What terms will it take to brush this under the rug?"
"All of Voyage's hidden assets," Little Prince said with a grin. He knew Voyage kept secret hoards outside and had been eyeing them for a long time; it was just that he hadn't had a good pretext to go after them before.
"Impossible," Zhe Qiuhong refused.
"How about curing Tangtang's hair loss?" Wen Jifei smiled faintly.
The mood took an abrupt pivot. The Spike-Devouring Demon felt an odd surge of excitement, stepping forward and familiarly displaying his "condition" to Zhe Qiuhong.
Zhe Qiuhong shot him a bewildered glance. Once she got a clear look, she frowned and turned back. "How about you pick another condition?"
*So not even she can do anything about this?!*
He Tangtang: "..."
"All the classified data and modification blueprints for your airship propulsion system. I'm certain you held back on us. Otherwise, you couldn't possibly be so confident in Project Fireseed," Wen Jifei said.
"We don't have them." Zhe Qiuhong's denial this time was practically equivalent to a refusal.
"In that case, the whereabouts of Zhe Shouzhao!"
Zhe Shouzhao undoubtedly maintained contact with Voyage. Wen Jifei and Little Prince had always been certain of this, but during all the time they had spent together in the past, they had never brought the subject up with Zhe Qiuhong.
Now, circumstances had changed.
"I don't know," Zhe Qiuhong denied once more.
...About two seconds of silence fell over the room. Han Qingyu slowly raised his head and spoke:
"Except for the doctor, kill them all."
Zhe Qiuhong gasped, "You..."
"Kill!" Han Qingyu barked.
"Th-this is against the rules! Don't forget, we belong to Azure now too! If you have suspicions, you can find evidence and bring charges against us before the Council! If you do this, aren't you afraid of terrifying all the neutral factions and chilling their hearts toward Azure?!" the subordinate in front of Zhe Qiuhong couldn't help blurt out.
Han Qingyu turned his head and looked at him for two seconds before speaking slowly:
"Sorry, but we aren't Azure. So this is a personal grudge."
Chapter 749