Cheng Yu was a little nervous. He carefully maintained the illusion so it would not get discovered by the Qing Consortium’s scouts. Dong Funan glanced at him. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re particularly scared?”
“It’s only normal to be scared.” Cheng Yu muttered, “The Qing Consortium must have an extremely tight defense in a place like this, and there’s only the four of us….”
Zero had used the satellites to locate this place. Based on its analysis, there were probably over 10,000 Qing Consortium troops stationed here in this mountain all year round, because the supplies transported in from outside were definitely enough to support 10,000 people daily.
Under such circumstances, it felt extremely dangerous for four people to face over 10,000 enemies.
Although Yang Anjing was here, and while Cheng Yu knew she kept a low profile but was not inferior to other legendary supernatural beings, he had never seen her take action personally. As such, he felt a little unsure.
It was rumored that the leader of the Saboteurs had once been in battle, but that was during the time when the war in the Southwest had not broken out yet, and Yang Anjing had led the Saboteurs to the Central Plains after falling out with the Yang Consortium.
A small consortium once claimed they had achieved nuclear capability, but their nuclear test site got destroyed by the Saboteurs seven days later.
There were thousands of soldiers guarding the nuclear test site, yet they still could not stop the countless paper cranes that blotted out the sky.
By now, that small consortium had been swallowed up by the Zhou Consortium.
Some people said the leader of the Saboteurs was also likely to be an expert on the level of a demigod, but up until now, no one had witnessed what really happened in that battle. The nuclear test site that had been destroyed was blown up by an explosion in the end, so everyone suspected the leader of the Saboteurs might not have reached the demigod level yet but resorted to some special means to achieve that.
Everyone knew how important this nuclear test site was to the Qing Consortium. There were probably not only troops stationed here but also powerful superhumans in the Qing Consortium.
But since Yang Anjing dared to come here, she must be confident of herself. Yang Anjing ignored Cheng Yu. She stood where she was and said to Dong Funan, “Guard my surroundings.”
Dong Funan hurriedly heightened her alertness and said, “Yes, Boss.”
With that, Yang Anjing suddenly raised her hands, and the sound of flapping wings could be heard in the wilderness. In the blink of an eye, countless paper cranes materialized through her actions and appeared like a white storm.
One of the paper cranes turned around and looked at Yang Anjing before leading the “white storm” to fly towards the nuclear test site up ahead.
Yang Anjing, dressed in a black combat uniform, stood there quietly with her eyes closed as she focused on controlling the countless paper cranes.
But Dong Funan’s expression suddenly changed. An exquisite-looking dagger suddenly slipped down from her sleeve, and her gaze drifted over to Yang Anjing, seemingly unintentionally.
Although Dong Funan seemed to be on guard as she patrolled around, she was getting closer and closer to Yang Anjing.
She confirmed that Yang Anjing’s eyes were indeed closed and that she was no longer paying attention to her surroundings.
Dong Funan glanced at Cheng Yu again but she did not think much of him. After all, Cheng Yu was not exactly a combatant.
The distance between her and Yang Anjing was almost a meter now, and that was close enough!
However, Dong Funan did not make a move. It was as though she was waiting for something.
Suddenly, a paper crane that had been hiding behind her pecked her wrist. Dong Funan cried out in pain as the dagger in her hand dropped to the ground.
Yang Anjing asked nonchalantly without opening her eyes, “When did the Qing Consortium subvert you?”
Dong Funan’s eyes widened. “Boss, I wasn’t turned by anyone.”
“Let me recall.” Yang Anjing said, “Oh, when I sent you to the Zhou Consortium previously, Fatty Luo was also there. I underestimated Fatty Luo on this. He was even able to make my people defect to his side. So the Qing Consortium must already know we’re coming, right?”
Dong Funan remained silent while Cheng Yu looked very surprised. It was obvious he was totally unaware.
“Let me ask you, what method did Luo Lan use to get you to defect to their side? He was actually able to make you work for the Qing Consortium willingly?” Yang Anjing asked.
“It wasn’t Luo Lan.” Dong Funan pursed her lips and said, “Qing Zhen personally made a trip to the Zhou Consortium.”
Yang Anjing was obviously surprised by this answer. “He still dares to step into the Central Plains?”
Yang Anjing suddenly realized something. It was no wonder Qing Zhen’s whereabouts had become so unpredictable after he had unified the Southwest. No one from outside his organization had seen him.
So it turned out Qing Zhen was trying to hide his true whereabouts by doing so.
But who could have expected the Qing Consortium’s head would actually risk his life to go to the Central Plains?
Everyone could see Luo Lan, who was open with his whereabouts, but not Qing Zhen who hid in the shadows.
In the past, Qing Zhen was the Qing Consortium’s Shadow, so he handled all of the difficult, dirty, and dangerous work.
But now their roles had changed. Qing Zhen had become the Qing Consortium’s leader while Luo Lan took over as the Qing Consortium’s new Shadow.
“So how did Qing Zhen find you and convince you to defect to his side?” Yang Anjing smiled. “A honey trap? He really is quite good-looking, but it’s real low for the head of the Qing Consortium to resort to such means.”
While the three consortiums in the Southwest were fighting each other, the other two consortiums realized something. In fact, one of Qing Zhen’s expertise was planting spies in the enemies’ ranks.
For example, the Li Consortium’s frontline commander had died at the hands of Qing Zhen’s spy. Likewise, those old fogeys of the Qing Consortium’s board had also died to Zhou Qi’s hand. Strictly speaking, Zhou Qi was also Qing Zhen’s spy.
Throughout these wars, Qing Zhen had come up with ingenious ways of using information warfare. As a result, everyone was troubled by a need to get rid of the Qing Consortium’s spies.
And now, Qing Zhen had planted a spy in the Saboteurs too.
Indeed. The Saboteurs had always been an enemy of the Qing Consortium. With Qing Zhen’s nature, how could he not have made preparations in advance?
“You won’t understand.” Dong Funan clenched her teeth and said, “I don’t think destroying nuclear weapons is that important at all. Besides, now that we’re facing foreign enemies from the North, shouldn’t we head to the front line there? Why did we come here instead? If the Wang Consortium fails in the North, the Qing Consortium’s weapons will become the Alliance of Strongholds’ trump card. How can we undermine each other at a time like this?”
Yang Anjing shook her head. “It’s impossible that we’ll lose the war in the North, so there’s no need for such weapons in the first place. Moreover, you said you don’t think destroying nuclear weapons is important. Then let me ask you this: How many people do you think will die in this war where the expeditionary army tries to migrate southwards?”
Dong Funan answered, “Even if the Wang Consortium manages to win this war, hundreds of thousands of people will still die.”
“Then do you know how many people can die in a global nuclear war?” Yang Anjing said, “7.4 billion.”
Dong Funan suddenly stopped talking, because the figure of 7.4 billion was simply too large for her to grasp.
Yang Anjing opened her eyes and said to Dong Funan with a smile, “What? Are you shocked? This is a true disaster humanity went through. A lot of people like telling me that having such weapons in hand is a form of deterrence. But what I need to tell you is that when a real disaster comes, nuclear weapons will no longer be a form of deterrence but the real disaster no one can withstand.”
