Chapter 28

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Protagonist:

Xuan Ge

Ling Sha led an emergency medical team composed of Shen Wu Army soldiers and senior alchemists from the Alchemy Commission, following the energy markers left by Xuan Ge, and precisely located their position.

Her gaze swiftly swept over the six wounded placed by Xuan Ge in a relatively clean corner, as well as that puddle of humanoid black ash on the ground, and she understood immediately.

"Treat them immediately, stabilize their injuries." Her voice was cold and decisive, without any superfluous nonsense.

The alchemists behind her dispersed in a well-trained manner, the portable medical instruments they carried emitting a soft buzzing hum.

Pure herbal fragrance and life energy began to permeate, swiftly dispelling the stench of blood and despair.

Xuan Ge stood in place and saw that Qiu Han and the others' injuries were rapidly healing, then set his mind at ease.

A Shen Wu soldier approached with equipment, and Xuan Ge's projection appeared in the command rooms of every warship:

"Surround this planet. Whoever's sector dares miss even a single one, lets even a single Bai Lang slip away... then bring me their head. Did you hear that clearly?"

"Yes! General!" All commanders chorused, without the slightest hesitation.

The order issued, the massive fleet moved as if controlled by an invisible giant hand, beginning to efficiently and swiftly shift formation.

Warship after warship opened engines to full, dragging azure tail flames, like spiders weaving a net, rapidly pouncing on the planet's various orbital chokepoints.

Interceptor squadrons launched like bee swarms, patrol scanning beams like combs beginning to comb through near-planetary space.

Qiu Han and the others stood up and cupped fists toward Xuan Ge, saying: "General, we're ready!"

Xuan Ge nodded, whereupon everyone followed the General together toward the center of the battlefield.

This place resembled a magnified bandit den.

Buildings low and chaotic, utterly without planning.

Sewage flowed openly in the streets, discarded trash and unidentifiable bones visible everywhere.

At this moment, raging fires burned in many buildings, black smoke rolling straight into the sky — the advance Shen Wu cleansing squads eliminating resistance strongpoints.

The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder, blood, burning matter, and fear.

Cries, pleas, dying groans, sounds of shattering objects, and the Shen Wu soldiers' cold rebukes and weapon clashes mingled together, composing a cruel requiem.

"No! Please... don't kill me! I didn't do anything! I'm just a cook!"

"Child! My child! Spare him! He knows nothing! Ah—!"

"Run! Quick, to the tunnels! They're madmen!"

"Fight them to the death! For the Bai Lang—!"

All manner of shouts, among them men and women, old and young.

Their faces were written full of terror, despair, hatred, and that fierce light like cornered beasts honed by long struggle for survival in a cruel environment.

Xuan Ge treated all this clamor and misery as if unheard, his pace even, as if not traversing a battlefield and slaughterhouse but strolling in his own back garden.

Ling Sha followed half a step behind him, face calm, gaze sweeping the surroundings, more alert for possible snipers or traps.

The honor guard fanned out in a wedge, regulation weapons flashing cold light, any living thing attempting to approach killed instantly.

They arrived at a relatively open plaza in the center of the settlement.

Here a massive dark mass of fox-people had already gathered, numbering in the thousands.

Most in tattered clothes, sallow and emaciated, pressed tightly together, trembling, looking with horror-stricken eyes at this squad that had suddenly appeared, exuding a suffocating pressure.

They looked utterly different from those ferocious resisting "Bai Lang" warriors, more like ordinary residents or low-level vassals caught up in it all.

Xuan Ge halted, gaze sweeping over these startled birds, the corner of his mouth suddenly curling up, revealing a near-hearty smile.

He even lightly "tsk"ed, shook his head, as if finding the scene before him rather comical.

He cleared his throat, voice not loud, yet under the precise control of Mingtu Power it clearly reached the ears of every fox-person on the plaza, even overriding the distant fighting and explosions:

"Hello there!" His tone relaxed, like hailing an old friend.

"Hand over the one called Li Li, and I'll spare your lives~"

"Shen Wei! No!" Yue Yu's projected voice came with urgency.

She knew well the Bai Lang's cunning and untrustworthiness, understood even better what mercy to enemies meant on a battlefield.

Once spared, endless future troubles.

Xuan Ge acted as if he hadn't heard, didn't even turn back, merely casually raised his right hand toward the direction of Yue Yu's projection and waved lightly, signaling her to be silent.

The Marshal's projection remained silently watching to the side, not speaking.

Her deep gaze fell on Xuan Ge's smiling profile, as if already piercing through the surface, seeing his deeper intent.

Almost imperceptibly, she shook her head slightly.

In toying with human nature, Xuan Ge is only strong, never weak.

Obvious commotion arose among the fox-people on the plaza.

Fear, suspicion, will to survive intertwined in their eyes.

"You... who are you?" A fox-man, shoved forward by others, summoned tremendous courage, asked in a trembling voice.

He tried hard to straighten his waist, but trembling legs betrayed him.

"Me?" Xuan Ge seemed to have heard some interesting question.

Xuan Ge laughed heartily, even took two steps forward, letting those fox-people see more clearly that imposing armor of his.

"I'm Xuan Ge! What, you captured my people, messed with them for half a day, and don't even recognize the principal?"

"Xuan Ge... General Shen Wei! You're the Xian Zhou's General Shen Wei!" That fox-man cried out in alarm, face showing an extremely complex expression.

Initial bewilderment swiftly replaced by shock, then deep puzzlement, and finally there actually emerged a trace of twisted anger as if suffering unjust treatment.

That gaze seemed to ask: You are a general of the Xian Zhou, a big shot, why must you exterminate us pitiful people down to the last?

"Do... do you keep your word?" A timid female voice, tinged with a hint of coquettish allure, came from the edge of the crowd.

The speaker was a fox-girl who looked no older than sixteen or seventeen; her complexion was pale, her large eyes brimming with tears, her body still trembling slightly as she looked at Xuan Ge, forcing herself to stay calm.

Her voice was sweet, but if you listened closely, you could detect beneath it a tremor born of an extreme desire to survive that could not be fully concealed.

"Of course!"

Xuan Ge answered with absolute certainty; he even raised his right hand, extended three fingers, and made a swearing gesture, the smile on his face so sincere it made one's scalp crawl.

"I, Xuan Ge, swear by the arrows of the Hunt and in the name of the Divine Bow Siming!"

"As long as you hand over the person I want, if I lay a hand to kill any of you, may I be struck by heaven and thunder and die a bad death! Is that enough?"

Upon hearing this, not only did the fox people on the square erupt in an uproar, but even Ling Sha behind Xuan Ge, and Yue Yu who was listening in, showed momentary shock and disbelief.

You... you actually swore by the Divine Bow Siming?

Buddy, you're serious?!

The Marshal's projection remained silent, only his eyes, which seemed able to see through everything, narrowed slightly.

The desire to survive spread like wildfire, instantly overpowering the doubts in most fox people's hearts; they began to whisper to one another, arguing in low, intense voices.

Xuan Ge watched them with leisurely satisfaction.

He watched the expressions on the fox people's faces shift—from fear to hesitation, from hesitation to wavering, from wavering to a hint of ruthlessness.

He watched the crowd begin to divide, forming a vague opposition.

Some people's gazes toward their companions became suspicious and vicious, and they began to use looks or hand gestures to signal and force certain individuals to step forward.

He knew human nature could never withstand a test.

Especially in a group forged in an environment of living on the edge and the strong preying on the weak.

Soon, the shouting grew louder, and some even began shoving and cursing.

"You traitors! Idiots! He's lying to you! How could a general of Xian Zhou let us go?"

A sharp female voice suddenly shrieked from the rear of the crowd, filled with anger and despair.

Xuan Ge looked toward the sound.

It was a young fox woman with black hair and black eyes, being tightly held back by several fox women.

Her appearance matched the painting described by Qiu Ye to a high degree.

At this moment, her face no longer held the shy sweetness from the internet; only the anger at being betrayed by her companions, the venom of a failed plan, and the madness in the face of a desperate situation remained.

"General! It's her!" Qiu Han looked at that black-haired fox woman with icy eyes.

"Take her down." Xuan Ge said only two words.

Three Shen Wu Corps guards lunged out instantly, moving as fast as lightning.

With a few sickening "cracks," her limb joints were cleanly dislocated and shattered!

She screamed and collapsed to the ground, like a snake that had been boned, then was tightly bound by heavy specialized chains and thrown at Xuan Ge's feet.

Xuan Ge looked down at her, his gaze as if looking at a struggling worm.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he raised his head and looked once more at the fox people, in whose eyes a faint hope had reignited.

Xuan Ge's face once again showed that "kind" smile, as if reminding a friend not to forget something:

"Oh right, family, still five missing? We came with six people, six lives, oh~"

"Hehe~ just her alone isn't enough to exchange for all of your safety~~"

His tone was light as if haggling at a vegetable market.

"You saw it! He's lying to you! He's a madman! The Butcher of Xian Zhou! You traitors! Idiots!"

Li Li, despite the excruciating pain, still roared with all her remaining strength, trying to awaken her companions.

But before the naked choice of survival, her cry seemed pale and powerless.

The fox people on the square stirred again, their gazes beginning to rove over one another, suspicion and accusation spreading silently.

Soon, several stifled sobs and screams rose from the crowd.

Five fox women were pushed and shoved by their compatriots, crying and pleading, separated from the crowd, and staggered to the front.

Their faces were written with the despair of being abandoned.

The Shen Wu Corps guards stepped forward, did the same, mercilessly broke their limbs, bound them with the same chains, and threw them beside Li Li.

On the square, for the moment only heavy breathing and stifled sobs remained.

The fox people who had handed over the culprits focused their gazes on Xuan Ge's face all at once; within it was hope after fear faded, relaxation after the deal was completed, and also deep exhaustion.

The fox man who had asked first swallowed his saliva, squeezing out a smile uglier than crying, with a fawning meaning.

He carefully stepped forward half a step, his voice dry as he asked:

"Gen... General, the people, we've handed them all over... you see, now... can we... can we..."

Xuan Ge looked at him, the smile on his face unchanged, even more brilliant. He nodded, his tone affirmative:

"Of course, I, Xuan Ge, promised you all~"

Just as the hearts of all the fox people were about to settle, and some were almost going to collapse to the ground.

The next second, the smile on Xuan Ge's face, as if suddenly wiped away by an invisible hand, froze instantly, leaving only coldness and indifference as if sealed for ten thousand years.

He tilted his head slightly, with a tone almost confused and carrying obvious malicious teasing, clearly saying:

"But... what does what Xuan Ge promised have to do with General Shen Wei?"

Time, as if frozen for a second.

On the square, all the fox people's hope, fawning, relaxation... all expressions, in this instant completely froze and shattered, turning into extreme bewilderment, followed by bone-chilling cold and horror sweeping their souls!

They gaped, stared wide-eyed, their brains seemingly unable to process this sudden news.

He clearly swore to the Hunt!!!

Before this enormous shock could turn into any action or words—

Xuan Ge raised both arms, crimson ferocity flashing in his eyes.

His voice, devoid of any emotional vibration, rang out with a thunderous boom like the toll of final judgment, spreading across the entire Guang Chang and into the ears of every Shen Wu Corps soldier:

"Kill them all! Leave not a single one!"