Return to the Base City

"What are you trying to say?" Luo Feng frowned and looked at him.

Initially, his feud with Zhang Zehu had only stemmed from the incident with Zhang Haobai. But once the Tiger Fang Squad fired those two sniper rounds, it was no longer a matter between just him and Zhang Zehu.

Once they had gotten involved, how could backing out be that easy?

"We can compensate you." The Tiger Fang Squad's captain glanced at his four teammates and the Fire Hammer Squad, then turned to Luo Feng. "Killing us won't actually get you much. Why not let us go? We'll pay enough to buy our lives. Besides, Zhang Ke won't be able to work as a fighter anymore. Doesn't that mean he needs money even more?"

"And whose fault is it that Brother Zhang can't be a fighter anymore?" Luo Feng snapped.

"I'm very sorry, but this was Zhang Zehu's request. Besides, killing us won't bring his arm back, will it?"

"Shameless. Dumping all the blame on a dead man," Gao Feng cursed.

The Tiger Fang Squad's captain remained silent. It was indeed rather shameless, but Zhang Zehu was dead, and they were still alive.

Naturally, the living had to come first. As for Zhang Zehu, they could just take better care of his family in the future.

"What do you say?" He looked at Luo Feng.

Luo Feng was the one Wargod Dongguan valued. Gao Feng's opinion did not matter.

If Luo Feng agreed, all the better. If not, there was nothing he could do but give it everything he had when his turn came.

He refused to believe that just because Luo Feng could kill Zhang Zehu, he could beat him too.

His main reason for making this proposal was to save his teammates' lives.

Of course, there was another consideration. Luo Feng truly was gifted. Unless they could be certain of killing him, finding a way to bury the hatchet would be better.

Luo Feng looked at Dongguan.

"I don't mind either way. Decide for yourself." Dongguan spread his hands. "If you, the victims, are willing to forgive them, there's nothing wrong with letting them off."

"But I don't want to see this happen again." Dongguan turned his gaze to the Tiger Fang Squad. "The threat of monsters hangs over humanity like the sword of Dake. We should be treading on thin ice as it is. If we still insist on fighting among ourselves at a time like this..."

"It absolutely won't happen again."

"We'll focus on killing monsters from now on. We won't do anything like this again."

"If we ever do this again, may lightning strike us dead."

Naturally, the Tiger Fang Squad offered assurance after assurance, even swearing dire oaths.

In truth, they thought little of it. They were hardly the only ones fighting among themselves. What did humanity's greater interests have to do with a mere Warrior General level squad like theirs?

They had become fighters simply because the money came fast and the status was high.

"You decide." Dongguan still left the decision to Luo Feng.

He also knew that humanity's infighting could never be stopped. Ordinarily, when he encountered something like this, he would at most record the incident and turn it over to the Security Bureau.

The outcome was usually punishment, but not death.

This time, because of Luo Feng, he had gotten deeply involved. In any case, even without this duel, Zhang Zehu and the Tiger Fang Squad would have been doomed against Luo Feng, a Psychic.

Whether to choose money or revenge was the victims' right.

"I need to discuss it with my teammates."

Dongguan nodded.

In the end, they naturally let the Tiger Fang Squad go and demanded an enormous sum in compensation.

To be honest, Luo Feng himself was not certain he could win. Even if he revealed his identity as a Psychic, he barely qualified as an Intermediate War General Level, the same level as the Tiger Fang Squad's captain.

Even though Psychics had an advantage in combat against fighters, it mostly came from range and surprise. Victory was not guaranteed.

In the wilderness's complex terrain, fighting above one's level was commonplace for spirit readers. In a head-on duel, however, that was not necessarily the case.

In fact, by the time Luo Feng asked Dongguan for his opinion, this outcome had already become inevitable. All that remained was the price.

And with their lives taking priority, the Tiger Fang Squad naturally agreed to everything.

Zhang Ke's departure from the squad was inevitable, unless he could recover using the Water of Life. But its price was more than he could earn in a lifetime.

Afterward, everyone decided to head back to rest and recover.

The Tiger Fang Squad and the Fire Hammer Squad had suffered too much damage, particularly the loss of squad members.

Dongguan, meanwhile, had already accomplished what he had come out here to do.

The moment they stepped down from the rooftop, an enormous wolf, three meters tall and five or six meters long, charged out.

"A Silver Moon Direwolf." Luo Feng immediately grew wary.

"It's the one we were chasing earlier," the Tiger Fang Squad's captain said.

They had not come to the wilderness specifically to target the Fire Hammer Squad. The encounter had simply been a coincidence.

"It's injured," Wei Tie of the Fire Hammer Squad noticed.

The wolf had a wound on its abdomen. It was only because the Tiger Fang Squad had noticed this that they had dared pursue this high-level beast general, an existence close to lord level.

"Luo Feng, watch closely."

Dongguan drew the battle blade from his back, and his figure vanished.

When he reappeared, he was beneath the Silver Moon Direwolf. First, he kicked it into the air. Then his battle blade swept deftly across the wound on its abdomen. Three layers of hidden force erupted, tearing through the Silver Moon Direwolf's vulnerable waist.

He deliberately slowed his movements so they could see the strike clearly.

Not just Luo Feng, but everyone else watched intently too.

Although the fighter forums had plenty of videos, opportunities to see a Wargod act in person were still rare.

"This is the second stage of the Ninefold Thunder Blade... no, more than that." Luo Feng stared at the scene, seemingly grasping something.

He could sense the technique used in that strike. There were only three layers of hidden force, seemingly no more than the second stage of the Ninefold Thunder Blade, yet something about it was subtly different.

"The Ninefold Thunder Blade's hidden-force technique isn't just for increasing your power output. Different combinations can produce different effects, such as tearing or binding. In terms of power, they're weaker than simply stacking the layers, but sometimes they're quite useful."

After killing the Silver Moon Direwolf, Dongguan spoke beside Luo Feng.

The others also looked as though they had gained some insight, though whether it was genuine or feigned was unclear.

Naturally, Dongguan had cultivated the Ninefold Thunder Blade beyond its second stage. This had merely been a demonstration for Luo Feng.

"You can have the materials." Dongguan cared little for such a small profit. Come to think of it, the Silver Moon Direwolf had only dared approach because he had concealed his aura.

While the others cut up the Silver Moon Direwolf and collected its materials, Luo Feng closed his eyes, carefully reflecting on what he had learned.

Then he drew the Blood Shadow Battle Blade and delivered a slash.

There were still only two layers of hidden force, but he controlled them more smoothly than he had while fighting Zhang Zehu.

"Thank you."

"Just think of it as starting off on good terms." Dongguan could not help marveling. Luo Feng's talent really was extraordinary.

In the original story, Luo Feng had actually been the only one of Earth's trio who did not possess a domain at Planetary Grade. But Hong and Thunder God had cultivated for decades. How long had Luo Feng been cultivating?

Luo Feng felt certain that this Wargod had seen through his identity as a Psychic. Perhaps he had discovered it even before the fight with Zhang Zehu.

On the way back to the fighter supply base, they encountered monsters several times, but none were Lord Level. For Dongguan, each would have taken only a single move.

In fact, Dongguan did not even need to act. The two squads handled them on their own.

At the base, they parted ways.

The two squads went to deal with the monster materials, while Dongguan boarded a train straight back to Jiangnan Base City.

On the train, Dongguan slowly closed his eyes.

When he had finally met Luo Feng in person, he had recovered his past memories and understood this world of Swallowed Star.

But he had shown nothing unusual, merely expressing goodwill toward Luo Feng and establishing a friendly connection.

As for having Luo Feng fight the Tiger Fang Squad, that had simply been a spur-of-the-moment decision.

He had not undergone Possession. Something unusual had happened in the past, blocking his memories.

And...

He touched the space between his brows with his right hand. There was a vertical mark there.

Others thought it was a scar, but he knew that beneath it lay an eye.

There seems to be something wrong with my origins.

How could a normal Earthling have three eyes?

At last, he returned to Jiangnan Base City.

Leaving the station, Dongguan saw a figure he did not want to see: a man with a crew cut.

"Wargod Dongguan, I challenge you."

"I refuse."

"You can't refuse."

"I'm not the only Wargod around. Can't you find someone else, Wargod Lu Gang?"

Looking at the man before him, Dongguan felt rather helpless.

Who would have thought that the renowned Wargod Lu Gang was actually this sort of person, so shamelessly persistent about finding sparring partners?

But undeniably, he was a good man.

The Rat Tide... Dongguan recalled the plot.

The Rat Tide should not be far off, and the Wargod Lu Gang standing before him would perish in it.

Not this time. Dongguan looked up at Lu Gang.

"What do you mean, not this time? Are you refusing my challenge again? Well, I won't give up."

"I accept."

"What?" Lu Gang had grown used to Dongguan refusing him. Now that he had agreed, Lu Gang found himself at a loss.

"Let's go."

"What for?"

"I agreed to spar with you, but don't we need to go to the Virtual Space? Or were you planning to fight me in the real world?"

"The Virtual Space it is."

In the real world, Lu Gang would simply have been beaten senseless.

He was only an intermediate Wargod, while Dongguan had long since become a High-Level War God.

Combined with the gap in their power-output multipliers, unless their physical attributes were equalized in the Virtual Space, the sparring would serve no purpose.

Besides, they could spar more freely in the Virtual Space without worrying about injuries.

"Wait for me."

The next day, the Fire Hammer Squad returned to Jiangnan Base City.

After returning home, Luo Feng greeted his parents and younger brother, then went to his room, turned on his computer, and began looking up information about Wargod Dongguan.