1968 Behind the Curtain

Despite the protection of the iron wall, the villagers of the Village of Peace still felt as if their hearts were trembling.

Even counting the strengthless villagers, there were only several thousand of them total. It was impossible for them to defend the long red line that pierced through the entire city ruins.

There were too many sinners of dozens of villages on the other side. Although most of the sinners were bags of bones, the glimmering greed beaming out of their eyes alone was frightening enough to make them drop their weapons.

“Prepare to fight. Everybody, drop your a.s.sets and grab your weapons. Prepare to fight!” Zhao Chong and his Iron Blood Youths shouted in the city ruins on their single shuttles, distributing chainswords and sticks that were embedded with high-voltage electric arcs to the old and the young.

Li Yao vaguely overheard the fierce quarrel between ‘Sky Breaking Hammer’ Gu Zhengyang and ‘Blood Eagle’ Zhao Lie. Interested, he said to Han Te and Liu Li in a low voice, “Let’s go up there and take a look.”

While the three of them were moving, the crowd on the other side of the red line had already pressed forward quite a distance.

On the command tower, the disagreement between the village leader and the captain of the exploration team was already too intense to be hidden.

They heard Gu Zhengyang speaking loudly. “Hurry up. Throw two hundred boxes of a.s.sets over with our launchers and ask the leaders of their villages to talk to us. Tell them that if they are willing to retreat, we will offer them another two hundred boxes of a.s.sets by dawn. That’s a promise from ‘Sky Breaking Hammer’!”

‘Blood Eagle’ Zhao Lie, on the other hand, widened his eyes and bellowed, “Leader, are you out of your mind? Those a.s.sets were blown to our side by the wind. They are the gifts that the angels have given us. How can we give away the meat that we have already swallowed?”

Gu Zhengyang raised his voice and shouted in fury, “You’ve seen the situation. Those people have gone completely mad and do not care about their lives at all. How can we defend such a long red line? There will be dire consequences if they break the defense!”

“Even if they do, so what? What are the dire consequences?” ‘Blood Eagle’ Zhao Lie licked his lips and grinned hideously. “Our warriors are far stronger than them in the first place, and we have rested and prepared for such a long time. Look at them. They will fall if the wind blows harder, and they want to steal food from us? In their dreams!”

Gu Zhengyang grew anxious. “How many people will die?”

“People die in the Land of Sins every day. It is either them, or us!” ‘Blood Eagle’ Zhao Lie roared. “You think a few hundred boxes of a.s.sets are enough to satisfy them? No. It will only make them feel that you are weak and vulnerable, and they will only push further and further. The deterrence of the Village of Peace will be no more!

“I a.s.sure you that after you give four hundred chests to them today, no village will be scared of the Village of Peace tomorrow. Everybody will consider us a piece of fat meat without bones, and n.o.body will hesitate to bite us hard at the first opportunity!

“We can only keep the Village of Peace safe by making them fear us and nailing the fright deep into the bones of the son of bi*ches!”

“They will not be scared of us.” Gu Zhengyang’s voice softened. “Look at them right now. They have turned into a bunch of rabid dogs!”

“Yes. They are a bunch of rabid dogs, and they are certainly not scared of us right now.” ‘Blood Eagle’ Zhao Lie sneered. “However, by the time I crush their skulls, those rabid dogs will learn what fear is.”

“Zhao Lie…”

“Enough, leader. Indecisiveness is your greatest weakness! The rules that we do not attack until we are attacked and that whoever crosses the red line will be killed were made by you. Command of the operation was given to me by you, too. Right now, I am the highest commander, and everybody must listen to my command. Otherwise, not just you, even my own son will not be shown any mercy. Those who disobey me will be executed immediately!”

‘Blood Eagle’ Zhao Lie widened his eyes, full of fury. He picked up a bizarre-shaped cylinder and roared thunderously, “Warriors of the Village of Peace, listen up! Defend our a.s.sets whatever it takes. If the sc.u.mbags on our opposite side are bold enough to cross the ‘deadline’, just kill them all!”

“Kill them all!”

The roars established another high wall on the red line like a thunderstorm.

In the past, if they had heard the muscular men of the Village of Peace roaring in such a way, the sinners of the other villages would certainly have retreated quickly with gooseb.u.mps all over their bodies.

But today, the glamorous, b.l.o.o.d.y Flower of the Other Sh.o.r.e seemed to have injected magic into their bodies, and the roars only triggered howls that were even more ear-splitting than before.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Right then, from the depths of the ruins on the other side of the red line, dozens of feeble gunshots echoed. Dazzling fireb.a.l.l.s burst out of the searchlights on the Village of Peace’s side. Then, the entire earth was mired in darkness.

All the searchlights had been blown up in a moment!

The ruins that were as bright as day were immediately covered in a hazy, b.l.o.o.d.y fog.

“Hooo!”

The gunshots were like a trigger that stimulated the army of sinners on the opposite side to begin their charge that was practically a tsunami. The scene was a hundred times more devastating than the ‘beast tide outbreak’ in Li Yao’s memory.

The individuals in a beast tide outbreak were hideous demon beasts, but those who were charging in madness including old women and ignorant children!

The tsunami of flesh and blood crashed into the iron wall of the Village of Peace brutally.

Countless sinners were knocked away while vomiting blood, but more of them crammed in through the gaps between the caterpillar tractors and the s.h.i.+elds.

None of the warriors of the Village of Peace knew why the searchlights had suddenly died. The darkness enhanced their dread ten times over. They were immediately caught in the swirls of crazy sinners.

With everything reaching this point, the debate was already pointless. ‘Blood Eagle’ Zhao Lie and ‘Sky Breaking Hammer’ both roared and smashed into the crowd like shooting stars. The blast raised by spiritual energy easily blew dozens of sinners away.

However, after one sinner was blown away, two or even more sinners would immediately take their place.

They did not even care about witnessing the sunrise again. They only wanted to vent their anger that had been acc.u.mulated for decades on the people of the Village of Peace, even if the cost was their own lives.

“Master!”

“Dad!”

Han Te and Liu Li had never seen such a devastating scene before. They were so anxious that fire was almost bursting out of their eyes. They immediately wanted to move forward and rescue Gu Zhengyang.

Li Yao, however, a.s.sured them after a brief observation. “It’s alright. Leader Gu’s circulation of spiritual energy is much smoother than half a month ago. Those crazy villagers are far from enough to hurt him. Let’s go, we have more important things to do!”

The two little fellows were both slightly dazed, wondering what could possibly be more important than the b.l.o.o.d.y battle near the red line.

However, after half a month, they were already fully convinced by ‘Grandpa Yao’ and knew that ‘Grandpa Yao’ had his reasons. They simply jumped onto Li Yao’s body and allowed Li Yao to cruise to the other side of the city ruins by circling around the back of the battlefield.

At this moment, everybody was moving toward the red line, and none of them could see him. Li Yao boosted the tracks to limits and rushed among the debris. Still, he felt that it was not fast enough and simply attached streams of spiritual energy to the cha.s.sis, building virtual anti-gravity rune arrays.

Hiu!

The five pairs of bogie wheels were flying!

Although they were only half an inch off the ground, they got rid of the boundary of friction and the rough terrain like a hovercraft. Li Yao’s speed immediately increased almost five times over without uttering any sound. He drifted and floated to the city ruins on the other side of the red line.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The night-vision crystal cameras on his shoulder uttered feeble sounds as they were adjusted. Li Yao’s telepathic thoughts spread out like tides with the enhancement of the crystal cameras, without letting go of any tiny gap and any narrow corner.

Soon, he located his targets.

“On your right, three hundred meters away, behind the third window on the fourth floor of the half-collapsed six-floor building—do you sense anything?” Li Yao said casually. “You should have grasped something after receiving half a month of intense training from me. Consider this a special test. There are four targets in total within one thousand eight hundred meters. See how many of them you can take down!”

Han Te and Liu Li looked at each other. Crouching on a turn of a tiny building, they focused their senses and peeped at the building three hundred meters away for half a minute.

It was not until a long time later that they finally caught a feeble light. They could not help but feel awed by the keen senses of ‘Grandpa Yao’.

“Understood. Liu Li, pay attention for my signal…” Han Te licked his dry lips. The metal rings on his right arm revolved rapidly and unleashed electric arcs that looked like swirls. He took out dozens of bullets the size of pebbles from his pocket and, boosting them for a moment, shot them at the tall building brutally!

Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu! Hiu!

They were like dozens of straight lightning bolts striking the window on the fourth floor three hundred meters away.

Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!

Four gunshots echoed from the building, but because the shooting was too fast, the gunshots overlapped, and it sounded like one shot.

“Liu Li, now!”

The two little fellows rushed out.

Gunshots, explosions, exclamations, and structural collapses were echoing nonstop. The noises did not die down again until five minutes later.

With dust all over their faces, they two little fellows crawled back while breathing heavily. There were blood stains on their faces and their bodies, but the blood was not theirs.

“Forgive us, Grandpa Yao. We only took down three of them. The toughest one got away!”

Han Te lowered his head and smashed his fists in regret.

“You mean this one?”

A mechanical arm extended out of Li Yao’s torso and pulled over a body that was still warm.

It was a slim man whose face was well trimmed. His bulging temples and his muscles that felt like iron indicated his capability.

However, there was a hole smaller than a chopstick on his forehead. His eyes had already lost focus, and there was still disbelief on his face.

“Well…”

Han Te and Liu Li were both shocked. The guy had clearly been escaping to the ruins half a minute ago, and they had watched him disappearing into the darkness. How on earth was he killed by Grandpa Yao so quickly and even brought back there?

Grandpa Yao was too strong and incredible!