"Damn it all!"
The man from the Wu Kingdom cried out in pain.
"I'll kill you, I'll kill you!"
The woman slammed the bandit to the ground and lunged at him with scissors, stabbing wildly at his stomach as she wailed, "Son, Mommy will avenge you."
*Thwack!*
*Thwack, thwack...*
Her son dead, the mother's mind had snapped. She thought of nothing else, just stabbing relentlessly, dozens of times, before collapsing on the ground from exhaustion.
"What the hell is going on?"
Another bandit rushed in.
"Beast, I'll kill..."
*Bang!*
Before the woman could even rise again, the bandit who had just entered shot her in the head. She fell beside her son, her last ounce of strength reaching out to grasp his cold hand!
Tragic.
Utterly tragic.
This innocent small town was a scene of unspeakable horror. The civilians had risen up to resist, but facing the bloodthirsty bandits of the Wu Kingdom, they could only be slaughtered.
Half an hour later...
The small town finally fell silent.
Almost all the men were dead. The elderly and the older children had also been killed. Only some broken women and ignorant children, over a hundred people in total, were taken away by the bandits.
A raging inferno.
Turned the once peaceful small town into ashes!
At a little past four in the afternoon, inside the command post at the northern pass, Hu Lai and Dragon City Corps Commander Lu Cheng, who were discussing the battle situation, received a report from a scout informing them of the massacre in the town.
"Damn it, beasts!"
Lu Cheng smashed the table with his palm.
"Was there any rescue? Are there any survivors?"
Hu Lai, relatively calmer, questioned the scout.
"Report, Division Commander, our men saw from the helicopter that the town was completely burned. Currently, there appear to be no survivors, but whether anyone was captured is still unclear."
"Who the hell did this?"
Lu Cheng asked through gritted teeth.
"It should be people from the Wu Kingdom."
"What's the proof?"
"There were Wu Kingdom weapons at the scene."
"Damn it, go after them!"
"Old Lu, calm down."
Hu Lai pulled Lu Cheng back, his face grim, and said, "It's too late to pursue now. The enemy is about to attack. We must prioritize the overall situation. After the battle, I will attack the Wu Kingdom."
"Bastards, beasts, sons of bitches!"
Lu Cheng was truly driven to madness. He couldn't fathom why civilians were targeted in modern warfare. Was this the Wu Kingdom's doing, or the Sunrise Kingdom's atrocity?
Or perhaps, the Xiao family?
As the atmosphere in the command post grew heavy, the coalition of three nations, reinforced by the Wu Kingdom, launched a massive offensive on the northern pass.
Artillery suppression.
Armor leading the charge.
They had the momentum to take the northern pass.
"Open fire, give them hell!"
"Defend rigorously, unleash the machine guns!"
Lu Cheng and Hu Lai shouted their commands.
In previous engagements, both sides' artillery and air support had been largely depleted. Although there were still shells, they could no longer provide comprehensive bombardment.
When the shelling stopped.
It would be a direct confrontation between man and man.
Without orders to attack, the outnumbered Northern Pass allied forces could only focus on defense. Although the generals were clamoring to go on the offensive, their requests were suppressed by higher command.
The reason was simple.
The timing was not right...
Jiangcheng!
Ye Zixiao, along with Tang Keke, Jiang Xiaoyao, and some Shura Sect warriors, launched several feints towards the Xiao family's checkpoint, killing many but retreating each time.
If it were a large-scale battle, Ye Zixiao would dare to charge into the enemy ranks and kill, but this was different. There was only one road leading to the Xiao family, with snipers everywhere. A direct assault was impossible.
One wrong move.
Could lead to a fatal ambush.
In these few feints, Tang Keke's shoulder was grazed by a bullet, and Jiang Xiaoyao's right leg was also grazed. Although neither injury was serious, it had been extremely perilous.
If anyone fell, it could trigger a trap of surrounding and ambushing reinforcements. At that point, even Ye Zixiao with his extraordinary abilities would be unable to defend against the concentrated fire of over a hundred snipers.
Helpless.
They had to retreat again.
Fortunately.
Ye Zixiao's actions were merely feints.
Night fell...
Behind the Xiao family's castle, at the base of a towering, sheer cliff on a rocky beach, a twenty-person team was searching for a stone that the fourth miss had described as resembling a turtle shell.
"Found it!"
Little Bao, with sharp eyes, called out softly.
Led by Leng Shao and Shan Ge, and with Little Bi, who came from a background of thievery, as the main climber, the team quickly approached Little Bao. Upon closer inspection, they indeed found a rock that looked like a turtle's shell.
"Can we even climb this?"
Leng Shao squinted upwards, a grin on his face.
To any normal person, the cliff face was almost vertical. While not smooth, the protrusions were few and small, offering no stable footing.
"This is nothing!"
Shan Ge curled his lip, patting Little Bi's head. "Even if it were a mirror, my brother could climb it upside down. Little Bi, come on, give them a demonstration."
"Are you crazy?"
Little Bi felt like strangling Shan Ge.
"What's wrong?"
"You climb it upside down and show me?"
"Don't you know the 'Lion Climbing the Wall' technique?"
"You can shove that technique up your ass."
"You wanna fight me?"
"I'm quitting!"
Little Bi truly regretted his decision.
After all, this cliff was impossibly steep!
"Brother, don't get agitated!"
Leng Shao pushed Shan Ge aside, put an arm around Little Bi's shoulder, and said, "As long as you can get us up there, after we're done, I'll take you to Bei Hai to play at our Young Master Ye's own establishments."
"Commander has establishments?"
Little Bi's interest was piqued at the mention of this.
"Damn, the most formidable entertainment city in all of Bei Hai City belongs to our Commander. Talk about a place with beauties! I'll arrange it, you can have as many women as you want."
"Deal!"
Little Bi turned and headed straight for the cliff face.
With a light leap, the slender Little Bi clung to the cliff, about six or seven meters from the ground, like a gecko. Another leap, and he was at ten meters.
"Holy crap, holy crap!"
"That's truly f***ing awesome!"
"Does he have suction cups on his hands?"
Leng Shao and his men were all stunned.
"What a rare sight!"
Shan Ge lit a cigarette with an air of arrogance, exhaling smoke. "Let alone a cliff with protrusions, my brother can really climb mirrors. If there's an opportunity, I'll have him climb the Burj Khalifa to entertain everyone."
"What tower?"
Leng Shao asked ignorantly.
"Khalifa, Dubai Tower!"
"Oh, oh, oh!"
Leng Shao nodded weakly.
Before he had even finished half a cigarette, Little Bi on the cliff face had vanished. It was as if his hands truly had suction cups; he had disappeared into the night.
Following this, no one spoke.
Even though they couldn't see what was happening, everyone was extremely tense.
Shan Ge's boasting was full of confidence, but in reality, he was also very uncertain. Little Bi had never climbed the outer wall of a thirty-story building before, and besides, building exterior walls had drainpipes.
Three minutes.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes...
There was no movement from above?!
"He didn't fall, did he?"
Shan Ge's subordinate, Da Xiong, said blankly.
"Are you stupid?"
Shan Ge kicked him and cursed, "If he fell, wouldn't we know? Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey... Little Bi is more agile than monkeys. Maybe he's fixing the rope."
*Whoosh—*
Just as Shan Ge was about to lose his temper.
Movement finally came from overhead.