Zhong Lichun had never imagined that her fate would take such a turn. Although it was not the freedom she had hoped for, from the day she was able to get out of bed, her status within the entire group changed.
The one-eyed man was called Grede Nash. He was the leader of this group—or, to put it more accurately, the head of a gang of terrorists. He had once been the second son of an oil tycoon and had been pampered since childhood. However, the rebellious young Grede had no interest in becoming a useless rich second-generation heir, so he left home and secretly enlisted in the military. During his years of service, he saw far too much darkness and became intensely disgusted with the government's obsequiousness. Because of this, after leaving the army, he joined an extremist organization. With his outstanding abilities, he quickly rose through the ranks, and after the previous leader died unexpectedly, he became the organization's new leader.
Grede's ambitions were enormous. He wanted to overthrow the existing government and establish a new regime. Of course, with the manpower at his disposal, this could only remain a wish. At most, all he could do was launch terrorist attacks and create unrest in the surrounding areas.
He was truly ruthless, and he acted decisively without hesitation. As a result, his subordinates were filled with fear and awe toward him. That was precisely why Zhong Lichun's status became extraordinary after Grede took an interest in her.
Zhong Lichun had never expected Grede to value her so highly. He even announced to all his subordinates that Zhong Lichun was his goddaughter. In this place, that identity was practically equivalent to being a princess.
Unfortunately, Zhong Lichun, who had witnessed her mother's murder with her own eyes, would never acknowledge a murderer as her father. However, although Zhong Lichun had been young at the time, she had understood one truth: if she wanted to avenge her parents, she had to stay alive.
Driven by this thought, Zhong Lichun changed. She no longer easily revealed her emotions. She became cold and developed an intense desire to learn combat skills.
Grede had only kept Zhong Lichun at first because he found the girl interesting. Given his personality, he would probably lose interest after raising her for a year or two, and Zhong Lichun's eventual fate would be miserable.
But what happened next left even Grede somewhat incredulous. Zhong Lichun learned all kinds of combat skills with a talent beyond ordinary understanding. With only a little practice, she could handle all kinds of weapons with ease. In terms of fighting techniques, she was even much stronger than boys her age. Her terrifying combat talent amazed even some veterans.
How could they have known that the seemingly tender and frail little girl before them had already been completely filled with hatred? Hatred had become the driving force that kept her alive. For the sake of revenge, Zhong Lichun had abandoned all her emotions—even her right to be considered human.
Time flew by once again. In the blink of an eye, five years passed. During those years, the Western Allied Forces launched a large-scale attack on the country, leaving it shattered. Meanwhile, the extremist organization Zhong Lichun belonged to took advantage of the opportunity to rapidly expand. It grew from a band of scattered fighters into a medium-sized military group equipped with tanks and armored vehicles.
Grede even began calling himself a general. During those years, he renamed the group he led the National Liberation Organization and planned numerous terrorist attacks. Of course, in order to cultivate the image of defending the nation and its people, its main targets were still the Western Allied Forces.
That year, Zhong Lichun turned sixteen. The once-naive girl had grown into a young woman, and she had already become the organization's second-in-command. She had gone to war at fourteen. Compared with boys her age, Zhong Lichun was braver and more ruthless. Having witnessed too many deaths, she had become completely numb to life. The enemies who had died by her hand were beyond counting, and her prestige and position within the organization were no lower than Grede's.
Grede also trusted his goddaughter more and more. However, Zhong Lichun gradually noticed that as she grew older, the way Grede looked at her became somewhat strange. He no longer looked at her like a foster father looking at his daughter. Instead, he looked at her like prey. She had a feeling that Grede was entertaining improper thoughts about her.
However, because of Zhong Lichun's strength and position within the organization, Grede did not dare do anything excessive. With Zhong Lichun carefully guarding against him, Grede had no opportunity to act.
More than half a year later, because they had frequently caused trouble for the Western Allied Forces, the organization came under a concentrated attack. It was a brutal battle. Faced with the enemy's overwhelming firepower, the organization's forces were completely incapable of resisting. They suffered devastating losses: two-thirds of their personnel were wiped out, and nearly all their heavy equipment was destroyed. Only Grede and Zhong Lichun managed to lead a small number of survivors through the encirclement and escape. After that battle, however, the organization was on the verge of collapse, and maintaining it became extremely difficult.
Grede needed a great deal of money to restore the organization. Recruiting people cost money, and buying equipment cost money as well. But as the leader of a terrorist organization, where could he get so much money? In the end, he made a decision that disgusted Zhong Lichun: he would return to his old trade and kidnap people from other countries so he could demand enormous ransoms from their governments.
Because of this, Zhong Lichun and Grede had a huge argument. Unfortunately, Grede was the organization's leader, and her position was still not high enough to oppose him. In the end, Zhong Lichun angrily refused to take part in any of the organization's operations and petulantly drove a jeep away from the temporary camp.
However, in this war-torn place, Zhong Lichun had nowhere to go. Having received military training since childhood, she was also unsuited to living a normal life. After wandering around outside for several days, Zhong Lichun reluctantly returned to the camp. When she did, she discovered that many new people had appeared there—and every one of them was a hostage Grede had captured.
Most of them were from other countries. Zhong Lichun even saw several people wearing United Nations Peacekeeping Force uniforms. The hostages included men and women, the elderly and children. Seeing those children, Zhong Lichun instinctively recalled her own childhood: her father, who had been dragged away and never returned, and her mother, who had fallen into a pool of blood after shielding her from gunfire.
At that moment, Zhong Lichun began to grow restless. An inexplicable anger gradually intensified within her. Was everything she had experienced back then about to happen all over again?
Furious, Zhong Lichun stormed into Grede's tent and had another huge argument with him. But the result remained unchanged. According to Grede, if they wanted to make the organization powerful again, they needed sufficient funding. These people were Money Trees. How could Grede possibly release them so easily? He still needed to use them to obtain enormous ransoms!
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