Not long after returning to Tonglin County, Shen Ying received a message from the City God Temple.
“Snow Robe Ji has appeared at Holy Infant Mountain.”
Shen Ying’s expression turned peculiar. “Holy Infant Mountain showed heavenly anomalies and nearly collapsed. Snow Robe Ji slaughtered Ghost Head Infant’s subordinates to the last, then departed without a trace.”
Lu Zheng looked baffled. “What is going on? Were they not allies?”
Shen Ying nodded. “They were before.”
“And now they are not?”
Shen Ying nodded again. “Since Ghost Head Infant is dead, naturally they are not.”
Lu Zheng blinked. “Snow Robe Ji was present at the time. Could she have seen through the trap and chosen not to appear?”
“That is possible.” Shen Ying said. “But there is another possibility…”
Tu Yuya interjected from the side. “That Snow Robe Ji dug a pit for Ghost Head Infant.”
“Feigned cooperation, yet deliberately sent him to the yang world to die.” Tu Yuya curled her lip meaningfully. “I heard that after Ghost Head Infant returned heavily injured a hundred years ago, he instead broke through his limits and advanced further.”
Shen Ying immediately added, “That opportunity lies at Holy Infant Mountain, and it is still useful to Snow Robe Ji.”
“So Snow Robe Ji’s motives were impure from the start?” Lu Zheng said.
Tu Yuya shrugged. “Otherwise she would have at least tried to help.”
When Ghost Head Infant was trapped, she made no attempt to rescue him. The suspicion of deliberate betrayal was simply too great.
Lu Zheng patted his chest and exchanged a smile with Shen Ying, both breathing a sigh of relief.
Fortunately he had not revealed the Cloud Palace Treasure Mirror at the battle site. Otherwise he might have been targeted by Snow Robe Ji.
As things stood, it was perfect. Since Snow Robe Ji had intentionally betrayed Ghost Head Infant, she naturally would not seek revenge for him. Even if Lu Zheng and Shen Ying had appeared before her, there would be no danger.
After some more time passed, who feared whom might become another question altogether.
…
With the Ghost Head Infant matter resolved, Lu Zheng first went to Shao Tong Mountain to inform Daoist Ming Zhang. Then, instead of returning to the county seat, he soared into the clouds and flew straight to White Cloud Mountain.
Two days later, having exchanged some decent-quality items from White Cloud Mountain’s stores, Lu Zheng flew back.
…
Three days later.
Lu Zheng laboriously extricated his hands from the tangle of two pairs of soft, powdered arms. While enjoying the silky, tender sensation, he dressed.
“A gentle homeland is a hero’s grave…” Lu Zheng sighed. “Jade Seal, upgrade!”
“Buzz!”
Dozens of strands of fortune light consumed, Lu Zheng felt his true qi and vital blood surge once more. His slightly sore waist muscles immediately stiffened.
“Perfect!”
“Lu lang~”
At that moment, the two women awoke. Liu Qingyan draped the quilt over herself, revealing only a pair of autumn-water eyes. Shen Ying exposed half her body, languid and soft.
Yesterday’s gifts had deeply moved the two women, leading to devoted indulgence and a night of revelry.
Seeing them now as yielding as water, Lu Zheng could not help feeling desire stir. With a wicked grin, he turned and pounced once more.
“Lu lang~ no~”
“Lu lang~ Qingyan still has to make house calls~”
…
Back in the modern world, Lu Zheng stretched lazily and smiled smugly.
He took out his phone and called Lin Wan. “Still at work?”
“At work, but slacking off watching TV.” Lin Wan’s voice came through. “Xiaodao’s interview programme.”
“What is there to watch in that?”
“She is talking about her experiences in Tanzania.”
“What?” Lu Zheng’s eyes widened.
“The steel plant engineers posted their group photos with Xiaodao online, along with photos from the battle. Netizens discovered them and pushed it to hot search. The matter could not be hidden.”
Lin Wan laughed. “Xiaodao did not intend to use this for hype. She played dead at first, but once videos emerged, she changed her stance and started accepting interviews, focusing on promoting the horrors of war.”
Lu Zheng could not help laughing. “Very proper worldview!”
“Of course!” Lin Wan laughed. “Otherwise she would not have reached her current position. By the way, the protagonist of that video is not Zhao Xiaodao.”
“Hmm?” Lu Zheng blinked, suddenly having a bad premonition.
“Correct, you guessed right. The video’s protagonist is you. Xiaodao only unintentionally appeared at the very end.”
“What is going on?”
Lu Zheng turned on speaker and opened his browser to search.
A video over seven minutes long sat at the top of Bilibili’s hot list.
“A steel plant manager originally wanted to film evidence of the rebels attacking the plant. Halfway through filming, you appeared.”
Lin Wan said, “One man suppressing dozens, taking out their leader with one shot, forcing surrender. You now have a nickname online.”
Lu Zheng’s mouth twitched, for he had already seen the tag.
【New Century’s Lu Xingguo #】
“I cannot compare to him. He and two others captured an artillery battalion. That was the regular army of the third brother, who once claimed to lead the third world. Not comparable to African minor country rebel natives.” Lu Zheng said.
Lu Zheng clicked the video. The footage seemed shot from a three-storey building to the left of the inner area entrance, perfectly capturing the outer scene.
The camera shook violently, very unstable, with heavy breathing beside it. Clearly the filmer was terrified.
Of course, gunfire raged in the video. Dozens at the gate besieged the steel plant. Bullets flew wildly overhead, pinning the plant security so they could not raise their heads.
Just as the inner area gate seemed about to fall, new gunfire erupted from the distant main plant gate, even more intense. Heavy machine guns and rocket explosions.
Then…
The battle intensity at the inner gate suddenly dropped. A squad was dispatched outward.
Over a minute later, a few routed soldiers fled back screaming for support, taking another squad with them.
Nearly a minute later, more routed soldiers escaped. The entire force began to waver, only suppressed by the commander.
This time, three full squads departed, even bringing RPGs.
Off-screen voices were the excited dialogue of the filmer and those beside him. “Reinforcements? Have reinforcements arrived?”
At the same time, identical four characters began drifting neatly across the top of the video.
【High Energy Ahead】
In the next moment, intense explosions and gunfire came from afar. Moments later, of the three squads just sent, only four or five panicked survivors fled back.
“Reinforcements have come!”
“We are saved!”
“Hold! Hold!”
Encouraging voices rose and fell inside the steel plant.
Then came the high-energy part. Apart from one squad continuing to suppress the plant security, all rebels turned guns outward, fully prepared, finally awaiting their enemy.
And the enemy… was only one person.
