The First Order

Ren Xiaosu did not give any serious thought as to what Luo Lan was gesturing to him. Therefore, he was unaware that Luo Lan was deeply regretting it now. He was regretting that he had been so reckless for wanting to come out to the Sacred Mountains.

As Luo Lan dwelled on it, he actually dozed off.

That night, the monster did not come near the campsite again. When Ren Xiaosu went to sleep, “Old Xu” remained sitting cross-legged outside the campsite. If any creature were to attack it, he would immediately sense it through the pain that was relayed back to him.

Although Ren Xiaosu could not control Old Xu while he was asleep, Old Xu acted like bait by sitting alone in the wilderness. If the enemy were a wild animal, who would it attack?

It would definitely not attack the campsite that was occupied by dozens of people.

After the battle was over, everyone at the campsite could only hear the commotion coming from the wilderness but not know what was going on out there. As a result, everyone suffered from sleeplessness again for the rest of the night.

Cheng Yu suddenly lamented how he had not had a single good night’s sleep since their expedition to the Sacred Mountains started.

He sat outside his tent and let the flickering campfire illuminate his cheeks. Song Qiao was sitting next to him and holding a cup of hot water to keep his hands warm. “What’re you thinking about?”

“I’m wondering if we can get out of the Sacred Mountains alive,” Cheng Yu answered calmly.

“Hehe, what’s the point of thinking about that?” Song Qiao said with a smile, “Have you ever thought that the head of the Anjing House might not even care if we survive or not?”

Cheng Yu glanced at him. “No.”

As the snoring continued, Song Qiao looked to Luo Lan’s tent and lamented, “I’m a little envious of him. That Fatty Luo is really fearless. If I had a younger brother like Qing Zhen, I would’ve gone somewhere to lead a carefree life. Why would I want to come here and risk my life? As the saying goes, ‘The son of a wealthy family does not sit under the eaves; a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall.’ With such a distinguished status, I would be cherishing my life for sure. Just what is that Fatty Luo really thinking?”

“Who knows?” Cheng Yu sighed and said, “But don’t you underestimate that Fatty Luo. Just as we’ve said before, Luo Lan must have a very powerful person backing him up in this group.”

“Let’s wait and see then.” Song Qiao shrugged.

When day broke, everyone formed into teams and hurried over to check on the battle site from last night without even freshening up.

The location where the battle took place 500 meters away was a mess. But strangely enough, there was no blood to be seen.

“Could neither side have been unable to hurt the other?” Cheng Yu frowned and said, “That’s really strange. How could no one have gotten injured when their battle caused such a huge commotion?”

“It might be that they were very cautious. After all, if they got injured in a place like this, they could end up dying out here,” Song Qiao said.

Wang Yun was standing next to a tree that had been cut down by Old Xu’s black saber. He was secretly shocked to see how neat the cut of the tree trunk was. Just how sharp did the weapon in his hand have to be to cut through a tree trunk that was so thick a person could wrap their arms around it? And the cut was made so cleanly too?

Not only did the weapon have to be sharp, the person wielding it would have to be exceptionally strong.

A young woman next to them noticed the cut on the tree trunk as well. She exclaimed, “Have you all ever seen such a sharp weapon before?”

When she said that, it alerted Cheng Yu. He was not sure if the others had seen it before, but he did!

When Old Xu killed T5102, Cheng Yu had lamented how powerful the weapon was if it could even cut down someone like a T5 combatant with a single slash.

Not just anyone could get their hands on such a weapon.

Therefore, Cheng Yu immediately realized the person who had fought here last night might be White Mask, who he encountered previously!

“I’ve once met someone who can do this.” Cheng Yu said in a low voice, “As you all know, there was a person who intercepted the Pyro Company’s convoy. At that time, I saw with my own eyes how White Mask severed a T5 combatant in half with his saber.”

“You mean to say the one who fought here last night was White Mask?” Wang Yun wondered, “But what’s he doing here?”

Cheng Yu looked at Luo Lan. “Boss Luo, any opinions?”

“No.” Luo Lan grumbled, “Fighting should be the forte of you supernatural beings. I’m only responsible for overseeing the direction of our group!”

Cheng Yu immediately wanted to curse at him. Who needs you to oversee the group’s direction?!

He looked at Luo Lan in displeasure. “Then tell us, what do we do now?”

Luo Lan gave it some thought and said, “Why don’t we retreat? I feel that this place is too dangerous. Since I’m still young, I don’t need to get my hands on the No. 001 Experimental to prolong my lifespan. All your bosses regard this Experimental to be Tripitaka’s flesh. It’s as though they think they can achieve immortality by consuming it.”

All Luo Lan could think about at the moment was that if even Ren Xiaosu could not protect him, what was the point of him staying? But what he did not know was that this was just a beautiful misunderstanding. A wink in real life was absolutely not as magical as depicted in fiction.

Luo Lan continued with his persuasion. “You all must have been sent here by the various consortiums, right? But just think about it. Even though you’re risking your lives out here, you’ll only be obtaining the possibility of immortality for others. If your boss ends up living a long life, wouldn’t you be anguished?!”

Wang Yun glanced at Luo Lan when he heard this. Wasn’t it precisely because he was worried his superior, Kong Erdong, would live for too long that he allowed Vanilla to create that “accident” and kill him?

But Wang Yun could not leave yet. He had to capture the No. 001 Experimental this time. Even if he weren’t successful, he would have to at least obtain a sample of the target’s DNA no matter what. Only then could he gain a foothold when he returned to the Kong Consortium.

Actually, it was a little risky for him to leave the Kong Consortium at this time. After all, his two competitors who stayed behind in the Kong Consortium would surely try to get rid of their dissidents. If he returned without any achievements, he might not even be able to keep his position as the director of 2nd Military Information Division.

Wang Yun said, “Since we’ve already made it all the way here, why should we leave now? Besides, it’s clear White Mask is also trying to enter the Sacred Mountains. With someone so strong around, what are we still worried about?”

Luo Lan curled his lips and said, “You make it sound as though you know the other party. Once the enemy starts a massacre, you won’t be able to avoid death.”

Luo Lan and Wang Yun started arguing at the place where the battle took place last night. One of them was calling for a retreat while the other wanted to continue heading into the Sacred Mountains. Meanwhile, the others who were happy to watch the commotion decided to wait and let them both argue for a while.

But at this moment, Ren Xiaosu opened his mouth to say something. As he still had to head into the mountains to save Yan Liuyuan, he did not have any time to waste here. “Enough nonsense, let’s keep moving forward.”

When Cheng Yu saw Ren Xiaosu speak up, he laughed. He even started fanning the flames by saying to Luo Lan, “He’s saying that you’re talking nonsense.”

Luo Lan was taken aback and looked at Cheng Yu. “Yes, I’m talking nonsense. You have a problem with that?”

Cheng Yu was confused.

But then, the way Cheng Yu looked at Ren Xiaosu changed. He realized Ren Xiaosu was Luo Lan’s backing in the group!