His words were obviously the last thing that Han Tuhu wanted to hear. Every red hair of the muscular man who looked like a yaksha was jumping crazily like flames, and the veins on his temples bulged out like a tightened longbow. He turned into a black hurricane and lunged toward Suo Chaolong!
BOOM!
The two muscular guys collided brutally like two titans.
Although they did not have magical equipment or weapons, their strength was unbelievably high. Every one of their attacks broke the sonic barrier and raised an overwhelming snowstorm!
Now that the two leaders were fighting hard, naturally, their subordinates behind them would rather not idle by. They all cracked their knuckles and came at each other.
What confused Li Yao most was that many soldiers of the federal arm were showing the distinctive features of demons along with inhuman roars.
Meanwhile, many demons were surrounded by vague spiritual energy when their blood was boiling, and their muscles were bulging out.
This is… rather chaotic.
Li Yao did not even know how he should comment on the battle between the two teams of captives.
Those captives were truly strong. Judging in the standard of the Cultivators, even the weakest of them were in the high level of the Refinement Stage, and most of them were in and above the Building Foundation Stage. As for the two leaders, namely Han Tuhu and Suo Chaolong, they were even in the Core Formation Stage!
They’re almost another Nether World Watch!
Li Yao pondered for a moment and basically sorted through the origins of the captives.
The ‘Flying Tigers Legion’, commanded by Han Tuhu, and the ‘Blood Lion Battalion’, commanded by Suo Chaolong, were certainly the elite troops of the two parties in the war.
At the end of the Battle of Dawn, the coalition army of the demon race that marched into the Heaven’s Origin Sector collapsed. The Blood Lion Battalion was probably in charge of covering the retreat, and the Flying Tigers Legion was leading the charge and attacking them all the time. Both of them suffered heavy casualties in the Dark Desolate Domain.
But they did not know that the ‘Battle of Dawn’ was merely Elder Nether Spring’s scheme to get more test subjects.
The Blood Lion Battalion and the Flying Tigers Legion, both of which heavily wounded, naturally became the best prey and were fished up by Elder Nether Spring. Eventually, they were secretly shipped to this place.
Here, they had all gone through the harshest of experiments. Most of the soldiers had been killed. The lucky survivors who gritted their teeth through the multiple modifications were certainly the strongest of them.
Because of the enhancement of the weird strengthening drugs and techniques, their capability had soared exponentially. That was why such tough captives existed!
In the snow world, the captives, despite their lack of weapons, were fighting hard as if they were in crystal suits and biochemical beasts. Li Yao was shocked and curious.
The captives are too strong to be trapped by the triple defenses of the frost thorns, the high-voltage electric web, and the demonic plants. There are bound to be more restraints!
Odd. Why is the Nether World Watch not stopping the fight between the captives? There are guards everywhere on the towers around.
Right. They must be testing the battle data of the captives in a natural environment.
The captives belong to two different groups that are at loggerheads. If they are in conflict, preferably with some of them killed, it will be easier for the management of the Nether World Watch.
Classifying the captives into different groups that were hostile to each other and placing them together was an old trick in the prison to balance the prisoners in the internal strife. The pressure on the guards would be significantly reduced.
After a five-minute-long fierce battle, there was blood everywhere on the snowy land. Finally, the guards of the Nether World Watch in the towers blew their whistles lazily. Circles of electric arcs swirled fast along the spiritual stripes and spiraled from the bottom of the hundred and eight bronze pillars. When they reached the top of the pillars, they spurted out quickly and hit the locks on the necks, wrists, and ankles of the captives precisely!
Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!
The locks turned out to boast the ability of enhancing the power of the electric arcs. The electric arcs that were shot at them instantly split off into thousands more and covered all the captives like an overwhelming electric web!
With the boost of the hundred and eight bronze pillars, the electric arcs were being generated unceasingly at a higher and higher voltage. The uncanny attraction force grabbed all the captives.
The captives who were relatively weaker were already foaming because of the electric shot.
The leaders of captives that were mauling each other felt goosebumps all over their bodies, too.
Stimulated by the super high-voltage electric arcs, they were not able to launch any effective attacks at all and simply punched each other like mobs on the street.
In the end, they both collapsed and cramped while they were punching each other.
The ground of the northeast corner of the captive camp sank down slightly and split apart, revealing a pathway leading underground.
A lot of soldiers of the Nether World Watch in heavy armor walked onto the field to clean up the mess. The captives had all been electrified into cramping shrimps on the ground and put up no resistance at all.
Li Yao took the opportunity to fly Neltharion underground.
He had basically grasped the functioning mechanism of the ancient rune array. To trigger such intense electric arcs, a great number of crystals of the lightning class must have been stored somewhere below the ground as the core of the array.
He would need to find the core and sabotage it!
…
Half a day later, Neltharion returned exactly the same way as it left. After a series of soul-stirring infiltration operations, it was finally back to the interrogation chamber where the Fire Ant King was being held.
The Fire Ant King’s body was expanding like a sea cucumber that had been soaked for too long. The ‘Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle’ had been deeply embedded into his skin, which was now almost transparent.
He was in quite low spirits, like a towel that had been completely dried.
‘Mad Medic’ Lu Wuxin was not here, which was quite a relief for Li Yao.
“Are you alright?” Li Yao reestablished the communication with the Fire Ant King.
“For now,” the Fire Ant King wrote rather lethargically. “But I may be not in three days. Lu Wuxin is ten times more skilled than eight years ago. He can directly stimulate my braincells and search my soul. Within three days, I’m going to confess everything that I know, including the existence of you!
“So, cut the useless stuff and get straight to the point. What have you found?”
“I have found out why Elder Nether Spring did not reach out to you for a frank cooperation in the beginning. It is because he never meant to create ‘a third life form’,” Li Yao replied quickly. “What he has been trying to create is just a bunch of loyal slaves. Also, the death rate of the scary modification is shockingly high. It is above 95%, for both human beings and demons.”
Li Yao told the Fire Ant King everything that he had seen in the ‘Demon God Virus Research Center’ honestly.
The Fire Ant King listened attentively and gave no reply.
However, Li Yao sensed that his somewhat devastated eyes were focused again.
“What’s your plan?” The strokes of the Fire Ant King were tough again.
“At the north part of the island is a large camp of captives. Thousands of captives, including the soldiers of the Blade of Chaos, are locked inside. Altogether, there are nine layers of barriers above and below the ground. However, I may be able to find a way to crack the most important one!”
Li Yao pondered while he said, “To achieve our purpose, the captives will be the key. It will be more convenient for me to rescue you if the captives are freed first and distract the Nether World Watch’s attention. Then, we will be able to find the mainframe crystal processor and the biochemical brain of the place and figure out Elder Nether Spring’s entire plan!
“However, there are also almost a thousand federal soldiers among the captives. They are all my compatriots, and I have to get them out. It is unnegotiable.”
“Continue,” the Fire Ant King said.
“The crucial part of our escape plan is the vehicle,” Li Yao said. “To get out of the place, we will have to drive a devilish warship. But neither me nor the federal soldiers know the first thing about how to pilot a devilish warship.”
“It is not going to be a problem,” the Fire Ant King said. “Many of my subordinates know how to pilot a devilish warship. If there is no other choice, I can try my best to steer one, too.”
“That’s good.” Li Yao nodded and said, “There’s also one other problem. The thousand federal soldiers are too eye-catching in the Blood Demon Sector. They will need a place where they can hide before they find a way back to the Heaven’s Origin Sector.”
“Void Turmoil City at present is certainly in turmoil,” the Fire Ant King said. “There is no way that we can return to that place. However, the Blade of Chaos has another few secret hideouts. We can stay in one of them and lay low for a while.”
Li Yao narrowed his eyes. “Should I trust you?”
“If you have been speaking the truth, you should,” the Fire Ant King said. “Like you, I do not want my compatriots to become walking dead or slaves that are at somebody else’s mercy.
“Besides, you do not have a second choice other than to believe in me, just like I do not have a second choice other than to believe in the human expert that jumped out of nowhere, you!
“If you are with Elder Nether Spring and your appearance was but an excellent play that he drafted for the purpose to breaking into the secret hideouts of the Blade of Chaos, I have no choice but to step into the trap now!”
Li Yao laughed. The Fire Ant King did have a point.
“Alright. I have basically grasped the structure of the captive camp and the underground facilities. I will need one day to prepare the magical equipment and the weapons we need.” Li Yao told him his whole plan. “In one day, I will fly the fully-armed Neltharion into the depths of the captive camp to sabotage the pivot of the barriers and free all the captives.
“The riot of the captives will certain distract the attention of most of the soldiers of the Nether World Watch. Later, I will crawl out of where I am hiding right now and rescue you. Following which, we look for the core secrets saved in the mainframe crystal processor or the biochemical brain. I will deal with the crystal processor, and you, the biochemical brain. Any questions?”
“No.”
“Eventually, we will steal a devilish warship and blow up the remaining ones before we take off with all the captives. The critical problem is, how much of your capability can be restored?”
The Fire Ant King sniffed and said, “If I activate all the strengthening drugs inside my body, my combat ability can be restored to near the demon emperor stage. However, there will be nothing I can do if the ‘Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle’ on my body is not cracked.”
“A combat ability near the demon emperor stage is good enough. As for the ‘Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle’, we will have to try our luck. Please check your watch and activate all your strengthening drugs inside your body on time, Fire Ant King!” Li Yao cracked his knuckles. “Starting from now, in 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 58 seconds, we are going to make it big!”