Chapter 602: Beginning of the War!
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
Sha Yulan found it hard to believe. "If everything is truly a scheme, the organization behind it is unbelievably appalling. You are going to start a war against them with just the two of you?"
Li Yao replied, "When I was in the periphery of the Iron Plateau Space Zone, I was all by myself, but I still won the battle! In the war today, the number of soldiers on my side has doubled. What's the reason not to fight?"
Xiong Wuji added solemnly, "As long as you and Xiao Yan are on my side, I won't hesitate even if I have to wage a war against the sea of stars!"
Sha Yulan was silent briefly, before she took a surprising action. She picked up a True Qi gun from the ground and started testing it rather skillfully.
Xiong Wuji was dazed. "Yulan, what are you doing?"
Sha Yulan smiled. She bit the band of the gun with her teeth so that her hands were freed. She then bound her hair tight into a ponytail, before she observed, "The number of soldiers on your side is not doubled but tripled!
"Stop looking at me like that. I've spent too many years on Iron Plateau and even experienced a battle of the apocalypse. There's a good chance that I've seen more dead people than you. You think I don't know how to play with guns and blades?
"I don't know what kind of scheme is behind everything or who has been concocting all this in secret.
"But I do know that the scheme is going to hurt the two men that I love most!
"Whoever wants to hurt my son and my… husband, I have no alternatives but to fight them until they are dead!"
Click!
The bullets were loaded, and killing intent was written all over Sha Yulan's face.
…
An hour later, Li Yao returned to the surface.
The six tribes had all sent guards to the temple of techniques. They searched and scrutinized those going in and out of the makeshift prison.
However, Li Yao had stored all the assets in his Cosmos Rings and gone out empty-handed.
Although the representatives of the Burning Sun Tribe were somewhat suspicious, they could only watch Li Yao leave proudly. After all, this place was within the Furious Bears Tribe's territory, and there was no solid evidence to prove that Xiong Wuji was the murderer.
As for Sha Yulan and Wu Mayan, they stayed and accompanied Xiong Wuji in the cage of the manic warriors. When the time of their deal with Li Yao come, they would act.
In the eyes of outsiders, since the Iron Plateau natives on the ground hated them very much, it was perfectly normal that the three space residents chose to hide in the underground together.
When Li Yao was walking on the street, it was already cold, late night. However, all lights in Furious Bears City were on; it was as bright as day. Chaotic crowds were everywhere.
Last night, the street had been the same, the people had been the same, but it was the liveliness of joy and harmony.
Right now, everyone was vigilant and anxious. Now and then, True Qi tanks carrying fully-armed qi-trainers would rush by. The intense atmosphere could be detonated with a single spark.
Li Yao calculated in silence. The Oasis Tribe was in the depths of the Dark Continent. Now that the report had come, the qi-trainers would definitely march out the moment all preparations were completed.
However, due to the battle of apocalypse a few days ago, all the tanks and war machines were more or less damaged. Even if the six tribes only decided to deploy the elite squads, they would still have to bring abundant True Qi containers and have their vehicles examined and strengthened. Also, since the journey was very long, it was necessary that they took rests and refilled their supplies on the way. All things considered, it would take them at least five days before they reached the Oasis Tribe.
But if Li Yao were to go there by himself riding on Black Wing, he could cross the entire continent within one day as long as he had sufficient crystals!
However, he needed to spend a lot of time in refining magical equipment and other useful tools.
After considering for a long time and settling all the details, Li Yao went to Xiong Zhenzhen and Shi Meng.
The two leaders of the best teams of the Furious Bears Tribe had indeed received the command to march toward the depths of the Dark Continent. They were preparing and training the warriors.
The three of them met in the test field of the weapon factory where they were performing emergency maintenance on the armor broken during the battle of the apocalypse.
Li Yao said nothing and simply handed over Xiong Wuji's letters to them.
They read the letters carefully. The more they read, the more they frowned, and the more thoughtful they became.
Seeing that they had finally finished reading the letters, Li Yao said coarsely, "I want the specific location of the Oasis Tribe."
Xiong Zhenzhen exchanged a look with Shi Meng and gave no reply. She suddenly changed the topic and asked solemnly, "Sand Scorpion, are you a space resident?"
Li Yao's pupils constricted, but he replied calmly, "No."
Shi Meng clenched the letter hard and gnashed, "Sand Scorpion, everybody has seen your bravery in the battle of the apocalypse. We've been through life and death together, and I consider you a real brother!
"The two of us could never have achieved what we've achieved today without the tutelage of Chief Xiong, either. I don't believe that Chief Xiong is a traitor even now!
"However, what's the point if we are the only two who believe the letters? We cannot even convince everyone in the Furious Bears Tribe, let alone those in the other five tribes!
"The most critical question right now is you, Sand Scorpion. Are you a space resident or not?
"Don't blame us for not trusting you. Your appearance was quite queer, and your talents too uncanny! Not only did you advance into the 80th level of the Refinement Stage within one short month, you could even craft such delicate armor!
"Besides the Furious Bears Tribe, there are no reports of missing warriors in the other five tries whose descriptions were even close to you. The Burning Sun Tribe encountered a space resident two months ago. I can't find a second explanation except that you are a space resident!"
Li Yao was as calm as ever. "I am not a space resident."
Xiong Zhenzhen raised her voice in anger. "Sand Scorpion, you delivered the two letters to us because you trust us, and you want us to help you and Chief Xiong, but you must be honest with us!
"I'm willing to trust you. Just because you are a space resident doesn't mean you are our enemy, but we'll have to make thorough plans if you are one!
"Blame yourself for your brilliant performance in the battle of apocalypse. Every tribe has got their eyes on you. Everything that has happened, do you think other people are all idiots and won't suspect you?
"Tell us the truth now. There's still time to make up for it. We'll figure something out together!
"If you don't tell the truth now, you will risk being revealed in front of everyone's eyes. By then, nobody will believe you anymore even if everything else you say is true!"
Li Yao smiled bitterly. He replied, "I am truly not a space resident. What can I do to make you believe me?"
Xiong Zhenzhen and Shi Meng gazed at him and said simultaneously, "You swear?"
Li Yao declared solemnly, "I swear that I'm not a space resident!"
The two of them looked at each other and both fell silent. Shi Meng heaved a long sigh of relief and said, "Alright. Now that you are willing to swear, I will believe you for now. But if I ever discover that you were lying and are a space resident, I will be the first to kill you!"
Xiong Zhenzhen said, "Sand Scorpion, you are a smart guy, and you should know that lying to us right now will do you no good. If you are really a space resident, there is no way that you can pass the test of the Truth Cabinet! I will believe your words for now. This is the map that the Burning Sun Tribe gave us. The specific location of the Oasis Tribe has been marked on it."
"I am not a space resident."
Li Yao looked them in the eye without any fear. "I will say exactly the same words if I have to step into the Truth Cabinet."
…
The unrest lasted all night. Furious Bears City seemed to be on fire everywhere. The furious flames were almost burning holes in the dark night sky. Before dawn, when the qi-trainers of the six tribes, who had been busy all night, just stopped and took a rest, a piece of shocking news came from the northwest of the city.
Xiong Wuji escaped!
He vanished together with Sha Yulan and Wu Mayan, two space residents, from the underground cage and suddenly appeared in a river dozens of kilometers away. Then, he hijacked a heavy tank and went southwards toward the desert!
As a result, Furious Bears City was even more anxious. The elite qi-trainers of the six tribes were all summoned to go after him.
The qi-trainers of the Furious Bears Tribe were unwilling to let their 'former chief' fall into the hands of outsiders. Therefore, even more people from their tribe were deployed to go south.
On the other hand, Furious Bears City, which had been excited all night, was somewhat cooled down because of this incident, like a drunk person who was fast asleep after a night of craziness.
At 6:30 in the morning, half an hour after the elites of the tribes went to chase after Xiong Wuji, a ghost-like figure slid into the warehouse of trophies.
Precious as the trophies were, they were all unrefined raw materials. Since it was a mess outside and everywhere was short-handed, there were not many guards in the warehouse.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Something rushed close in the air. Two guards fell to the ground without even having the opportunity to grunt.
The third guard realized what was going on, but he saw that a black shadow passed by him. He then felt that the back of his head was cold before he lost consciousness in the end.
The last guard was about to cry out when his voice was blocked in his throat; a stream of spiritual gas had surged out along his throat into his brain and cast him into coma.
The gate of the warehouse was installed with an extremely complicated gear password lock that could only be opened by adjusting the angles of the six gears on it. If so much as one of the gears was in the wrong angle, the siren inside the gate would shriek such an earsplitting sound that half of Furious Bears City would hear it.
Thankfully, it was also very complicated to change the password of such gear locks. Since Xiong Wuji had been very 'frank' yesterday, the three elders of the tribe did not hurry to change the password but dedicated themselves to the affairs of their tribe instead.
Click!
With a satisfying sound, the gate of the warehouse was slowly opened.
The most solid shells of apocalyptic beasts and their sharpest teeth and claws, as well as their cores that were extremely volatile but contained profound spiritual energy… All the trophies from the battle of the apocalypse were stored in the warehouse.
Was there any better place in the world than here for a refiner?
…
Three hours later, a number of the experts who had gone to pursue Xiong Wuji finally returned.
Yan Xibei, the chief of the Giant Axe Tribe, and the chief of the Feathered Snakes Tribe stood in the middle of the warehouse with gloomy expressions, as if somebody had smashed them right in their faces and left deep holes there.
The qi-trainers of the six tribes were checking the losses.
"Electric Spider teeth, Heavenly Star Insect shells, cores of the Red Horned Beetles… All the most valuable Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures with the most spiritual energy have been stolen? All?" asked Yan Xibei, his voice shaking. There was rarely-seen resentment on his face, as he gnashed his teeth.
"None were left, especially the cores of the apocalyptic beasts," replied a qi-trainer, who was in charge of the assessment, nervously.
Even the chief of the Giant Axe Tribe, who had been calm all the while, was roaring. "Asshole! The cores contain extremely violent spiritual energy. They'd been condensed by the egg of apocalypse over more than ten years with the resources it collected from underground. They would have been enough for the six tribes to start a great war!"