Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

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A group of people wearing blue military jackets had gathered in a valley, some of them guarding the entrance.

"Tong Li, why are you doing this!? We trusted you!" Zhang Xiaohou yelled, glaring at Tong Li.

"It's what I had to do in order to achieve our goals. Unfortunately, Lin Feili isn't aware of the situation he's in. Is he seriously going to keep the secret until we bury his bones under the sand? How stubborn, just like Squadron Leader Zhou," Tong Li smiled.

"HAHAHA, they are pretty stupid too, thinking we are risking our lives to go an expedition for the sake of the others? Risking our lives for mere glory and reputation? Unfortunately, you guys had to poke your nose into other people's business. You have seen what you're not supposed to, so bad luck!" Zheng Tong burst out laughing.

"Zheng Tong, are you seriously doing this to your leader!?" Ge Ming snapped furiously.

"I'm sorry, leader. We were thinking of doing it silently, but we can't help it since Lin Feili somehow recognized me," Tong Zhuang said.

"You were the soldiers that were stationed here?" Ge Ming looked at the betrayers, his heart sinking to the bottom.

The Golden Battle Hunters had suffered a great loss after the incident related to the Black Vatican. Ge Ming was thinking of using this expedition to earn their reputation back. He had asked Tong Zhuang, whom he trusted, to find some reliable men, yet it turned out that he had been used all along!

Ge Ming looked at the soldiers and the scar-faced general. He was immediately overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness.

"Lin Feili, I will give you one more chance. Where is the Earth Pistil!?" Tong Li tightened his grip on Lin Feili's throat. His eyes were almost poking out of the sockets, filled with greed and anger.

Zhang Xiaohou looked at Tong Li, who was like a completely different person and felt extremely guilty.

He always thought things were as simple as they looked. He was so naive to believe Tong Li's words.

The man did not come for his sister's remains. He did not even care about his sister's death. He was here for the Earth Pistil, an important resource that would allow them to build a city in the desert!

"It was you that destroyed the relay station, right?" Jiang Shaoxu asked coldly.

Jiang Shaoxu had seen fragments of Lin Feili's memory when she was helping him to recover. Lin Feili was unwilling to face the past, so even when he had recovered the ability to speak and his memory, his subconscious still chose to forget about the past.

No one would have thought that the team going on an expedition would be followed by a group of soldiers. They had long been planning to return to the desert...

Tong Li did not leave because he was bringing his sister's remains back. He had gone to contact the soldiers. By the time the team realized what was going on, they were already surrounded by the soldiers.

"It was me that destroyed the relay station!" the general leading the soldiers, Shi Qianshou, declared without any expression.

"Aren't you worried that you're going to be sentenced to death by the military courts?" Zhang Xiaohou said.

As a soldier, Zhang Xiaohou found General Shi Qianshou's actions intolerable.

A soldier's job was to defend the relay stations, the towns, and the cities, yet not only did the scumbag fail to do his job, he even wiped out a relay station that once was the size of a little village.

To make things worse, the man abused his power and told his superiors that the relay station was buried by a huge sandstorm. The people simply forgot about the relay station together, with the crimes the general had committed. If Li Sichong had not discovered Tong Zhuang and Zheng Tong's secret, they would never have realized they were being used.

"That relay station is nothing compared to a city. Don't even bother saying that I'm being inhumane. There's only one rule in this desert: whoever is alive has the right to speak! What I'm asking is very simple... hand over the Earth Pistil! If you hand it to the useless government, its energy is going to deplete in no time. The relay station will forever be a relay station, worse than a little village… If you give me the Earth Pistil, I can turn this place into a city, the only city that can survive in the desert. To our north is an endless supply of ores, and further away is a natural furnace. To our west is an endless supply of mutated seeds from the demon insects. This city is going to surpass everything!" Shi Qianshou proclaimed.

"As a soldier, you're meant to hand in every resource you find, but you're misappropriating the Earth Pistil just so you can become a local tyrant here. Stop trying to justify your act of destroying the relay station. You are no different than the demon insects and maggots here!" Zhang Xiaohou retorted.

"Lin Feili, I know the captain told you where the Earth Pistil is, and I believe it's still here, but you know I don't have the patience to dig up every place just to find it. You have one last chance. If you don't hand it over, I will kill a person every minute until you're the only one left. If you insist on holding on and watching these people die because of you, be my guest!" Shi Qianshou said.

Shi Qianshou soon set his eyes on Zhang Xiaohou.

He straightened his gaze as a signal. Zheng Tong and Tong Zhuang immediately went up to Zhang Xiaohou and pressed him down to the ground!

Lin Feili immediately went berserk, yet he was pinned down by the soldiers. He could not even budge. Even a Super Mage like Ge Ming was unable to break free from their control.

Zheng Tong gave Zhang Xiaohou a powerful kick and yelled, "Hey kid, why aren't you acting arrogantly now? Didn't you have a bright future ahead of you? Humph, you're going to turn into a pile of bones soon!"

It was a pity that Mo Fan was not here! Otherwise, he would definitely enjoy torturing Mo Fan, as the man had been an eyesore to him for quite some time!

"So many years have passed, don't you feel guilty even the slightest for what you have done!?" Lin Feili snapped with bloodshot eyes.

"Guilty? The old captain should be the one to feel guilty. If he had handed the thing to me, I could have sent my men to escort the people here away. They wouldn't have been eaten by the Sandstorm Demon Locusts!" Shi Qianshou replied.

"You were the one that attracted the Sandstorm Demon Locusts here! I knew all along!" Lin Feili snapped.

"What if I did? Hurry up and make your decision! I know you're not afraid to die, but are you going to watch these people die because of you, or hand over the Earth Pistil? Your choice!" Shi Qianshou said calmly.

Lin Feili was on the verge of losing his mind. There was no way he could handle the shock if what happened eleven years ago was to repeat itself again.

He was only alive because of two reasons; he wanted to guard the Earth Pistil, and second, he wanted to tear the crazy general to pieces with his bare hands!

There had been around two hundred people at the relay station, including the soldiers stationed there and the Hunters that were resting there temporarily. There were some people that had long settled down at the relay station, too. Shi Qianshou had led the Sandstorm Demon Locusts here to force the old captain to give the Earth Pistil up. The old captain did not accept his demand. In the end, Shi Qianshou, who was in charge of transportation and gathering back then, used his Domain to block off their escape, resulting in the people being eaten alive by the Sandstorm Demon Locusts...

Lin Feili was fortunate enough to survive. The only reason he did was because he ate a poisonous snake in despair. He was supposed to be dead, and the Sandstorm Demon Locusts did not touch him since he was poisoned.

However, Lin Feili had amazingly woken up. He realized that he had to eat the same poisonous snake every day to sustain his life. It was the main reason why he could not leave the desert...

He had been living like a beast in the desert, while the others had died because of Shi Qianshou's greed and ambition!

Lin Feili thought Shi Qianshou did not mean to kill the people in the first place. He was just trying to get his hands on the Earth Pistil, but it somehow ended up in a tragedy. The man was only trying to force the old captain to hand over the Earth Pistil...

However, Lin Feili was wrong. Shi Qianshou never cared about the lives of the people. He was only interested in getting the things he wanted. He even had his own private army. He was planning to build a city in this resource-rich desert. He was planning to be a tyrant in the desert!

His private army had grown significantly after so many years. The man had never given up on the Earth Pistil, nor did he have any sign of remorse or guilt!

"Time's up. Here, say goodbye to your new friend… oh, I forgot to mention, your friend is a Commander at Qinling Mountains. He has done quite a lot despite his young age. He was also a hero of the Ancient Capital, saving millions of lives. Tsk tsk tsk, he could easily reach my rank in a few years. Such a great talent, but he's going to die here because of an idiot like you," Shi Qianshou said. He sounded like he was feeling pity for having to kill the young and talented Commander.

Lin Feili was stunned. He glanced at Zhang Xiaohou. He never thought Zhang Xiaohou was a Commander at such a young age, not to mention that he had saved so many lives.

"If I tell you where it is, will you let them go?" Lin Feili took a deep breath and said to Shi Qianshou.

"Of course."

"But they already know your crimes. I don't believe you're going to let them live," Lin Feili said.

"HAHAHA, Lin Feili, how dumb could you be? Who cares about what happened eleven years ago? Even if someone actually cared, how are they going to prove I was the one that did it? I'm a General now. The military court can't really prove me guilty without any solid evidence! So what if they heard about the incident? Telling them a story isn't going to be considered a piece of evidence," Shi Qianshou burst out laughing. He was not treating anyone seriously, including Ge Ming.

Ge Ming might be a Super Mage, but the power and influence of a mere Leader of the Golden Battle Hunters was nothing compared to his.

"Let them go, and I'll tell you where it is!" Lin Feili said.

"Sure, Zheng Tong, Tong Zhuang, release them..."

"Let the ladies go first," Zhang Xiaohou pointed at Jiang Shaoxu and Mu Nujiao.

"How gentlemanly of you, fine, let them go first," Shi Qianshou waved his hand. He had no interest in the girls, despite their glamorous looks.

Compared to the chance of building a city and acquiring the power to rule over hundreds of thousands of people, Shi Qianshou seriously could not have cared less about a few women!