2026-09-27 09:14:20
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Chapter 160: Run First
"Xiao Wu can handle herself. Even tricked, her raw power buys her time." Ethan hauled Heng Zhang to his feet. "We move."They stepped out of the Landlord Space. A massive vine uncoiled from the ground and whipped toward them. Ethan dragged Heng Zhang sideways, broke a teleport talisman, and was already fading when the vine's tip grazed his back. A line of fire ran across his shoulder blade. He cursed and jumped again.He didn't land beside Heng Zhang. The talisman spat him out where the locator on Qingwu Feng had pinned her, which was what he'd wanted, except that the instant he materialized he was throwing himself flat on top of Heng Zhang as another vine cracked the air where their heads had been. The thing was everywhere now. It didn't have a body so much as a network — roots and shoots woven through the whole clearing, patient as a net left to soak. Ethan dragged the scout toward cover behind a fallen wall of rock, fed him another pill through the gap in his lips, and risked one l
Chapter 159: The Fake Survivors
"Close." Ethan didn't sugarcoat it. "We've still got monsters holding the home front. We couldn't ship every soldier out. The reinforcements that came — a million of them—""A million reinforcements?" Xiao Chang sat up too fast. "What million? Nobody came here."Ethan turned on him. "There was no relief column? Impossible. A million men, split five ways, two hundred thousand each. Somebody had to reach your theater."Xiao Chang's face crumpled. "From the moment the line broke we were tricked out of the center. We couldn't get back inside. Whoever came…" His voice cracked. "Our men didn't die fighting the Aberrations. They died to their own side. Those two Gu animals. How are they?"Ethan smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "Still at the center. Want to see?"He was angry, though. It landed hard. The two hundred thousand sent to the southeast had almost certainly been butchered by Fang Gu's own hand. Twenty thousand wasn't even the number. Two hundred thousand. The time, the food, the ye
Chapter 158: Two Kinds of Pill
"I don't know." Jiu'an Du crossed his arms. "Our own healers couldn't touch it. What if it goes wrong? Commander Chang is the whole southeast theater. Losing him—""Then he dies. Eight hours, top. Then he dies." Ethan lifted an eyebrow. "You want to watch him die instead? Because I can."That landed. Jiu'an Du had no answer, because there wasn't one. Save him and he might die. Don't save him and he definitely did. The math only had one branch."Su." Jiu'an Du leaned in, quiet and hard. "If southwest and central also lose their commanders, this whole war unravels. Southeast can't afford to lose another.""I know." Ethan nodded. "I'll take him and detox him. You and your people hold the perimeter."Jiu'an Du wanted to say more. He didn't. The boy had the bearing of someone who'd already made the call, and arguing with him felt like arguing with a wall.He had the Shennong Classic. He had the materials. Brewing wouldn't take long at all — the trick wasn't making the pills, it was peeling
Chapter 157: The Peach Bait
The hundred soldiers he'd just pulled out were done. Wiped. They wouldn't have lasted another hour if Ethan hadn't dragged their whole neighborhood of Aberrations away with his treasures.The one who came to his feet was Xin Yu. He stared at Ethan's face — young, unlined, looking about as threatening as a college sophomore — and couldn't quite sort out what he felt. He'd fought his way through weeks of this war, and the boy who'd pulled him out looked old enough to be his little brother."You're drained. Rest here." Ethan didn't have time for the recognition. "This pocket's quiet for the moment. I'll leave you an array disk and some crystals. Hole up, don't wander." He pressed them into Xin Yu's hands, broke a teleport talisman, and vanished toward the valley.Jiu'an Du felt the spatial wave the instant it tore open. He was on his feet, weapon up, eyes locked on the spot.Ethan popped into the middle of the valley instead of beside his squad.He stood there for a beat, taking it in. W
Chapter 156: Trapped to Kill
"Two old bastards," Ethan muttered. "They cleared everyone out."It stank, and not because of the corpses.This war had already broken Lunguo. If they lost too many soldiers here, the whole line folded. The Aberrations on this battlefield weren't like the ones that chewed at the Walled Cities on Blue Star — they were a different, hungrier breed. Once they poured through to the home side, no city on the planet could hold. Cities a hundred years of work had built would burn. Awakened strong enough to stand might survive. Everyone else would die.Ethan had no interest in watching that happen.He didn't go looking for the Gus. He walked the center, confirmed the dead, and slipped back out.Fang Gu's senses picked up a trace a second too late. By the time he reached it, Ethan was gone. What he found on the floor was a black sphere, fist-sized, ringed with blunt spikes that didn't cut. A sea urchin that had decided to be a weapon.Fang Gu paused. Something about it made him hold back. He di
Chapter 155: A Forest of Cages
Ethan didn't step out the way he'd gone in. He peered.Two old men walked out of the command center and stopped on the scorched ground where he'd been standing a heartbeat before. Both had hair gone completely white. The taller one carried himself like a man who'd stopped having to prove anything a century ago. The other was raw around the edges, trembling with something that wasn't cold.Ethan went still, then placed them.After he'd killed Zhenhai Gu, Chairman Tang had spelled it out for him. The Gu family still had two of their own on this battlefield. One was the old ancestor, who'd outlived every rule of age. The other was Zhenhai's own father — Tian Gu. Tian Gu was the deputy commander here, the one who held the center. The old man beside him was Fang Gu, the ancestor, who rarely sat in the command post at all; he roamed the lines by himself, killing Aberrations for sport.So they'd recognized him. Of course they had. They wanted him dead.Ethan smiled, thin and cold, and didn't
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