The vast majority of players were still busy with missions, but players in teams—essentially serious guilds or professional players—were more purposeful in their actions. They planned their developmental pathway carefully and worked steadily to advance.

But the Guild of Gods was in an awkward situation. Jupiter had dumped all the daily administrative work to the Vice President. He could not give up on the A-level mission. He had been leading a group of people to search high and low for Germinal’s bases but to no avail. Without any other means, he could only focus on the forum to see if any players were in contact with Germinal.

Despite all odds, Jupiter managed to find a lead.

“Andrea Mainland is Germinal’s base camp. Any player who arrives on Andrea Mainland can join Germinal’s side easily.”

But this lead was useless for Jupiter.

The core members of the A-level mission were all in Southern Continent, and Zero was more likely to be in Southern Continent too. However, Jupiter could not possibly bring a team over to Andrea Mainland. Most importantly, they had no access to another mainland.

In fact, they could actually take cruise ships or aircrafts, but none of the players had reached this level.

The most popular post on the forum was the battle scene recorded by the players at Big Horn Village. Jupiter had not seen it before, but he was finally opening it to take a look. He was caught off guard by shock. Just as he was about to close the post, he suddenly had an outlandish thought. He paused the video and scrutinized the scene. He finally concluded that the troop that was attacked had the Germinal Organization’s emblem on them.

He had finally found the organization!

Jupiter almost burst into tears before it occurred to him that the troop had been destroyed. His face changed suddenly. He quickly read through the content of the post, but unfortunately, the user did not elaborate on the details.

Jupiter was eager to find out what had happened, so he had members contact the players in Big Horn Village.

The guild was so efficient that he soon got to know that the troop that had been attacked was in fact an evacuating Germinal Organization unit. He was dumbfounded.

“Evacuate? Why are they evacuating? Where are they evacuating from? What is the scale of this evacuation—a single unit or a full battalion?”

Jupiter gulped nervously. He had an ominous feeling in his gut… Seems like we won’t be returning to the Germinal Organization any time soon.

This A-level mission was such a scam. Jupiter was so frustrated. Before the team could start on the mission, the organization that had issued the mission had run away.

…

In the evening, the setting sun covered the earth in a blood red glow. The outlines the moons were looming in the twilight sky.

In the woods outside Big Horn Village, Frenzied Sword was walking down the path, downcast in despondence.

“I must find him.” Frenzied Sword quickly broke away from his despondent mood and was talking to himself to boost his own spirits.

“Are you looking for me?” A voice came from ahead.

Frenzied Sword looked up. A truck was parked a few meters ahead with a man in black standing by it, staring at him intensely.

Black Phantom!

Frenzied Sword was ecstatic with excitement.

Every cloud had a silver lining!

“You, you… Have we met?” He could not be certain that Black Phantom was in fact Han Xiao. With much worry and fear, he felt like he was almost waiting for a verdict after he had asked the question.

Han Xiao smiled, revealing a tinge of amusement in his eyes. “What do you think?”

That familiar look! The look that made his hair stand on end!

Frenzied Sword was seized by joy; he was certain that this person was Han Xiao!

I’m so glad that I didn’t give up, and I finally found you! Oh, Savior!

“Come with me.” With a faint smile on his face, Han Xiao gestured toward his truck with his head. Trying his best to conceal his excitement, Frenzied Sword followed closely behind and got into the truck.

He did not care where Han Xiao was taking him as long as he could stay with Han Xiao…

Han Xiao smiled to himself. After spending some happy days together, he remembered Frenzied Sword well. But this was not the reason he chose to bring Frenzied Sword along. Frenzied Sword had great potential, and he was worth grooming.

In addition, having a player by his side meant he could send him to check out unknown and dangerous areas. Frenzied Sword would not die anyway, so he could be assured and use him well.

Han Xiao could use Frenzied Sword’s help in his next moves, so when he found that Frenzied Sword was following him, he stopped to wait for him.

Frenzied Sword did not realize that he was being treated as a lab rat again. He was full of excitement, checking out the truck with much curiosity. He remembered that Han Xiao was a member of Stardragon’s intelligence agency during the closed beta. How did he become Black Phantom out of the blue?

But that was not important. As long as he could be with Han Xiao, Frenzied Sword would be content.

“What are we going to do now?” asked Frenzied Sword after his excitement died down.

“Something evil.” Han Xiao took out a tablet and opened the map. He drew a circle around one region and threw it to Frenzied Sword.

Frenzied Sword took a brief look.

“Tedramira River, what kind of place is that?”

“A battleground,” Han Xiao replied calmly. He stepped firmly on the accelerator, and the truck raced off.

…

Tedramira River was a large river in Southern Continent connected to the sea.

In the darkness of the night, a long line of boats was cruising down the river. This was a huge fleet of ships disguised as fishing boats. The boats were actually Germinal warships, well equipped with various weapons, anti-detection jammers, machine gun arrays, and so on.

As a result of the Six Nations’ clean-up campaign, the Germinal Organization’s bases had begun to withdraw. A small number of important personnel was taking the air route. Most of the resources, transportation vehicles, and ordinary armed personnel were evacuating via a water route.

The evacuation was nearing its end. This fleet was the last remaining unit to withdraw from Southern Continent. The outer layer of frigates was guarding the barges in the center that were ferrying vehicles and armed personnel.

The evacuation plan was to go out to the sea along a tributary of the Tedramira River and join forces with other ground troops near the mouth of the sea. The ground troops would then board the ships.

The person in charge, Lin Yu, was the Chief Officer of the largest Germinal base in Southern Continent. Now he had taken the role of a commander and was also within the fleet.

Lin Yu was a middle-aged man, yet he was also an Executive Officer that was combat ready. He was analyzing the map with a solemn face in the command room. There were many links in the evacuation plan. The fleet and the ground troops had to ensure that they arrived at the mouth of the sea at the same time because the fleet could not possibly stay put.

During the evacuation, a large number of Stardragon and Hesla fighter planes were performing aerial reconnaissance. The fleet’s whereabouts had likely been exposed, and fear on the fleet was rising.

Lin Yu knew very well that Hesla and Stardragon would have set up a trap near the mouth of the sea to capture them. Their navy, air force, and army would be waiting to intercept their fleet and capture them all at once.

But from the very beginning, Lin Yu knew clearly that it was impossible to evacuate sneakily. A bitter battle was inevitable. Only by tearing past the blockade line could his troops escape alive.

“As long as we follow along the Tedramira River to the sea, we can get out of this nightmare, but don’t hold the illusion of a smooth passage. Lads, we will be facing a premeditated ambush. The Stardragon and Hesla Navy will do whatever they can to sink us near the mouth of the sea!

“I’ve been through thirteen wars. Some of them were big battles, others small. Some of you may be veterans like me, and some of you may be new recruits. Regardless, our destiny is the same. Break through the blockade line, and we can stay alive. If you are captured, even if you can survive, you will face indefinite imprisonment by Stardragon and Hesla. You can say goodbye to freedom in the sun!

“The Six Nations are a group of hypocritical and insidious villains who speak of peace and freedom but started a war. Don’t forget that your motherland was destroyed by the guns of the Six Nations. Never forget that hatred of blood!

“We have no choice but to fight till the very end!”

These words were Lin Yu’s speech for his subordinates. The armed personnel on board knew that there was going to be a fierce battle ahead, and they were all ready to fight.

There was a number of Germinal Executive Officers in the fleet, and Hila was among them. She was worried and apprehensive about the impending fight. In her opinion, it was a naïve hope to think of breaking through the blockade of Stardragon and Hesla’s ships.

Many of them would perish, and only a small number of people could survive.

However, Commander Lin Yu seemed to have it all worked out. Thus, Hila could only suppress her unease and conceal it from others. On the outside, she seemed the stoic person she had always been.

In fact, for Hila, even if every Germinal member on the fleet died, she could not care less. She hated the Germinal Organization, but she could only survive with the help of these Germinal soldiers.

She knew that her hands were covered in blood, and she had never shunned it. Self-reproach and compassion belonged to good people. These emotions were too costly for her. From the day of her Awakening, she knew that she could never be a good person.

To rule death meant that she was destined to be banished to hell.

But her sister, Aurora, was completely different. She was an angel who used her love for the world to touch everyone she met. The only thing Hila regretted was that she did not protect her sister well, resulting in her falling into the hands of the Germinal Organization.

No matter what, I have to live on…

Only by surviving and demonstrating her usefulness could she help to reduce her sister’s suffering.

Anyone that stopped her would be an enemy.

Staring at the waves of the river, Hila was cold and stoic.