The battle plan had been drawn up by Xiong Bei Ming. He truly lived up to his reputation as a veteran who had endured countless brushes with death. In such a short time, he had devised an ambush so watertight that not a drop could leak through.
First, he had sent Xuan Lengyan inside to strip away Squad Leader Liu's defenses by getting him to bathe. After all, no one could be sure whether a squad leader might have some sort of defensive treasure on him.
With that possibility eliminated, they had stuck to the old routine. The Sun King's appearance would make their own arrival seem perfectly natural. Even if it didn't, Squad Leader Liu would probably be too stunned to make sense of things in the instant that followed.
That gave Gold Corpse Old Cao the chance to launch a surprise attack.
The entire battle had unfolded according to Xiong Bei Ming's plan. Only the Sun King's death seemed to be outside it, but Xu Yi knew that Xiong Bei Ming had done it deliberately. Even if Squad Leader Liu hadn't killed him, Ning Wuque would have accidentally killed him instead.
Xiong Bei Ming had told Xu Yi all of this in advance through a voice transmission. The reason was simple: Li Jia's death had left the Sun King like a startled bird. Even if the Sun King wouldn't deliberately ruin things, bringing such a frightened bird along on an operation this dangerous was a disaster in itself.
Xu Yi felt no guilt over the Sun King's death. If Xuan Lengyan hadn't reacted in time, the Sun King might already have gotten them all killed.
They had removed a menace and, while they were at it, unloaded a burden. Now they could move ahead unencumbered.
The moment Squad