Chapter 177: Internal Strife

Ding Hai still wore a smile on his face as he said softly, "Xiang Wei, don't be so impulsive. I never said that it was you who led the police here!" His tone was calm, and he did not seem to feel the slightest bit of panic despite the current tense situation.

However, Xiang Feng let out a cold snort, sparks of anger flashing in his eyes. He glared fiercely at Ding Hai and gritted his teeth, saying, "Fine! I'll go see for myself exactly which group of people tired of living dares to break into my Divine Sect base!" After saying this, he turned around abruptly and strode out of the conference room, his back filled with determination and resentment.

Watching Xiang Feng's retreating figure, the corners of Ding Hai's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a subtle, cunning smile. Immediately after, he turned to look at Ding Wei beside him and suggested with a smile, "Brother Wei, why don't we go and provide some support? Who knows, we might even be able to show those uninvited guests a thing or two!"

Upon hearing this, Ding Wei threw his head back and laughed heartily, the sound echoing through the empty corridor. He patted Ding Hai on the shoulder forcefully and responded generously, "That goes without saying! With the two of us brothers joining forces, we'll make sure they never return!"

Thus, the two discussed in low voices for a moment before quickly gathering the remaining members of their respective groups. Each of these people held weapons such as stun batons and crossbows, and they marched aggressively toward Zone 1.

This base was originally an abandoned air-raid shelter, and it only became what it is today after renovations and expansions. Each zone was independent but connected to the others through existing passages. Among them, Zone 1 was located at the very edge of the entire base, and on normal days, only two members from Ding Wei's group were assigned to guard it. The other personnel were divided into four groups of two, constantly patrolling within the base. In addition, there was a mobile team consisting of two people, standing by in Zone 3 to respond to any sudden emergencies.

At this very moment, the situation for the Wei Group was somewhat tricky. Except for the three-person team currently performing patrol duties in other areas, Ding Qi and Ding Ba had already been dispatched to Zone 1. As a result, only two members and the team leader, Ding Wei, remained on the Wei Group's side.

By comparison, the Hai Group had suffered heavy losses in the previous operation, losing a full six members, but even so, including their leader, the bald Ding Hai, they still had seven people left. This was the key reason why Ding Wei was determined to pull the Hai Group into the operation. After all, he not only had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of patrolling the entire area himself, but he truly had no extra men available.

Furthermore, he harbored a selfish motive in his heart—he was genuinely worried that if he threw all the members of his own group into this fierce battle and they were unfortunately all wiped out, his status within the Divine Guard organization would plummet in the future.

Just as they successfully assembled the two Divine Guard teams—the Wei Group and the Hai Group—responsible for guarding the base and headed toward Zone 1, Gu Changzheng, who was alone in Zone 1, did not dare to be the least bit negligent; he was already battle-ready, having made full preparations to welcome the impending fierce fight.

As for Xiang Feng, who had rushed toward Zone 1 first, his footsteps were hurried along the way, but the anger in his heart gradually subsided. He had always held a high opinion of himself and possessed great self-confidence; he was by no means the type of person to act impulsively without a brain. However, just a moment ago, he had carelessly been trapped by Ding Hai's words and had fallen into a passive situation. If he didn't adopt a somewhat tough attitude and take action, he feared he would lose all face and find it difficult to wrap things up.

At this moment, Xiang Feng had already reached the entrance of the passage on the outskirts of Zone 1. He stopped to catch his breath and looked up, only to see that Zone 1 was brightly lit, as dazzling as broad daylight. The entire area looked peaceful and serene, without any signs of anything unusual.

However, Xiang Feng's eyesight was sharper than the average person's, extremely keen. Just in this moment of carelessness, he suddenly noticed that the iron fence gate between Zone 1 and the passage was actually unlocked! Not only that, but this seemingly calm interior of Zone 1 was unexpectedly silent at this moment, to the point where not even the slightest movement of wind or grass could be detected. This abnormal, quiet atmosphere made Xiang Feng feel alert.

After a brief moment of weighing his options, Xiang Feng made a prompt decision to hold his position for the time being, hiding in the shadows to closely watch the movement behind the open iron fence gate. He moved his body with light steps, silently concealing himself in the shadows beside the passage like a ghost, his eyes, sharp as a falcon's, locked tightly onto the front, not letting a single subtle change escape him.

Behind the iron fence, in Room 6, Gu Changzheng found the Zone 1 power control box. After tinkering with it for a while and locking Ding Ba and the others in Room 1, he sat quietly in Room 6, waiting for the other side to arrive.

At this moment, he only hoped that he could stall all the Divine Guards, allowing Luo Fei and the others to take the children and evacuate to a safe place sooner. Little did he know that at this very moment, inside the cave, while Peng the Donkey was out signaling for contact and Luo Fei was watching the group of children all by himself, a huge danger was silently approaching Luo Fei!

In that deep and silent nameless cave, Luo Fei sat quietly on a rock, listening to the girls' tearful accounts. Every sentence, every word, felt like a heavy hammer smashing against his heart.

As the children's narrative deepened, a hair-raising picture slowly unfolded before his eyes—the suffering these poor girls had endured far exceeded his imagination.

It turned out that it wasn't just the villain Ding Liu who had extended his demonic claws toward them; other deranged Divine Guards had also participated.

What was hateful was that as long as a girl was slightly pretty, without exception, she had been wantonly humiliated and bullied by more than one person. Luo Fei widened his eyes, his eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets, his face flushed red, the veins on his forehead bulging, and his teeth grinding together with a clatter. The anger in his heart burned fiercely, as if he wanted to burn the entire world to ashes.

If he could return to those animals right now, he would not hesitate to raise the sharp blade in his hand and hack them into ten thousand pieces!

However, just as Luo Fei was seething with rage, a faint groan suddenly came. Although the sound was as thin as a mosquito's, it was clearly audible in this deathly silent cave.

Luo Fei's heart tightened, and he hurriedly stood up, quickly scanning his surroundings. Soon, he discovered the source of the sound—in the corner of the cave, a thin, weak boy was curled into a ball, his body trembling non-stop.

He saw him pressing his abdomen tightly with his bony little hands, his face as pale as paper, his lips devoid of color, and painful groans constantly escaping his mouth.

Seeing this, Luo Fei was frantic with worry. He hurriedly turned his head to instruct Xing Yi, who was nearby: "Xing Yi, you stay here and take good care of your sister Xing Lan. I'll go over and see what's wrong with that child."

Having said that, he ran toward the boy in the corner in two or three strides. Because the cave was only illuminated by a few torches, the light was dim and hazy, and the visibility was extremely poor. Luo Fei groped his way to where the boy was. ===== CHAPTER 178 =====