Mutated Tao

Li Huowang stood frozen in place, his gaze fixed on Qing Wanglai. He trembled, trying his best to suppress his anger.

Qing Wanglai looked so sincere that if Li Huowang hadn’t known his true nature, he might have believed him.

Although he had long known that Qing Wanglai was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, every time he revealed his true colors, Li Huowang still found himself surprised. Qing Wanglai could use his companions as bait to deal with the enemy without batting an eyelid.

“You... you!” Li Huowang shook his head, trying to say something. In the end, no words came out.

He turned away and approached Chen Hongyu’s corpse, her face a mangled mess. He reached out with his trembling hands to lift her body.

“Sister Chen, how could you just die like this? You were the Siming in charge of decay!”

“You can’t die! If you die, decay will vanish too...”

Li Huowang couldn’t help but think of the Abbess when he saw Chen Hongyu. She was now gone, just like Qian Fu. The sight of someone he had previously chatted with dying like that filled him with pain.

“Enough. Get ready, we’re moving on.”

Li Huowang felt someone pat him on the shoulder and flung the hand away forcefully. He turned to glare at the person who had tapped him—Zhao Shuangdian.

Zhao Shuangdian didn’t offer an explanation. She simply looked at Li Huowang. “What did I tell you before we started? Follow orders, no matter what happens. We don’t have time for grief.”

Li Huowang stared into her eyes and slowly laid Chen Hongyu’s body down. “All of you are the same! You’re just like the others! You’re responsible for Chen Hongyu’s death too!”

Click! Zhao Shuangdian pressed the barrel of her black sniper rifle against Li Huowang’s chest. “Don’t forget what I said earlier. Li Huowang, let me ask you one more time: are you refusing to follow my orders?

“If you refuse to comply, whether you realize it or not, you’re already one of them.”

As she spoke, her team coldly looked at Li Huowang and surrounded him. This included the two men they had recently met as well as the Ba siblings.

Li Huowang gritted his teeth and gripped his knives’ handles tightly.

As the tension peaked, Qing Wanglai stepped in and positioned himself between Li Huowang and Zhao Shuangdian.

He smiled, patting Li Huowang on the shoulder as he guided him out of the encirclement.

“Li Huowang, this won’t work. It’s alright if you offend me, but if you offend Zhao Shuangdian, you won’t have any friends left.”

Qing Wanglai’s voice was filled with sincerity. “I remember you once said we’re friends, right? So, as a friend, could you do me a favor?”

“Who the hell is friends with you?”

Qing Wanglai remained calm in the face of Li Huowang’s temper. He smiled and said, “Just don’t oppose Zhao Shuangdian for now. Let’s work together to get through this crisis. Once we’re back, we can think about dealing with her.”

Li Huowang coldly mulled over Qing Wanglai’s words for a moment. Then, he shoved him aside and wordlessly returned to the group.

The others saw the change in his attitude, and they dispersed back to their previous positions as if nothing had changed. Only Chen Hongyu remained lying lifelessly on the ground.

“Sister Zhao, I checked the two dead bodies over there. They’re poachers,” said a bearded man carrying a heavy-looking gun as he returned from the distance.

“Poachers? Using anti-tank weapons to poach?”

Li Huowang’s question went unanswered. Zhao Shuangdian knelt on one knee and quickly typed on the laptop resting on the ground. “We’re close, just a bit further.” ʀâＮộВЁꞨ

Li Huowang silently walked up behind her and peered at the screen, where a blue 3D wireframe map rapidly shifted with each keystroke.

Zhao Shuangdian closed the tablet and stood up. “We need to move quickly before their reinforcements catch up.”

“Which way do we go?” Qing Wanglai asked.

Zhao Shuangdian didn’t respond. Instead, she looked at Li Huowang.

“Why are you looking at me? How the hell would I know which way to go?”

“You do know. I have told you that you’re special. Lead the way.”

Her words drew the attention of everyone present.

Li Huowang found the situation absurd. “I don’t even know where we are! How am I supposed to lead you anywhere?”

“You don’t need to know. Just trust your instincts.”

Zhao Shuangdian’s reply left Li Huowang speechless. He thought the others would reject this ridiculous idea, but none of them objected.

“I must have been out of my mind to have trusted you all,” Li Huowang muttered, stepping into the dark unknown. The rest of the group followed closely behind.

In the pitch-black desert, Li Huowang could only trust his instincts and keep walking. Whether he trusted his instincts or not made no difference since he couldn’t see a path anyway.

Dawn slowly broke. Despite walking all night, they were still in the same desolate desert. The surrounding landscape hadn’t changed at all.

Li Huowang shoved past the others and struggled to remove his helmet, which revealed his sweat-soaked face. “I’m tired! Let’s rest for a bit!”

He lay down right where he was without waiting for a response.

Spending a night stumbling in heavy gear had drained him, especially after their exhausting journey to wherever they were.

Wu Qi walked over and handed him a bottle of clear liquid from her medical kit. “Drink this. Don’t get dehydrated.”

“What is this?”

“Saline solution for cleaning wounds.”

Li Huowang gulped it down, not caring about the saltiness. His body felt much better after that.

Li Huowang sighed deeply and looked at Wu Qi with a complicated expression. “Sister Chen Hongyu is dead.”

“I know,” Wu Qi replied.

She took the bottle from him and drank a large gulp. A hint of sadness appeared on her face as she gently patted Li Huowang’s sweat-drenched hair. “It’s okay. Don’t be afraid.”

“Sister Wu, I’m not afraid. I just don’t understand them, and I don’t understand you either.”

“If you can’t understand, then don’t try to. Just focus on yourself. Empathy can lead to depression.”

“Focus on myself...?” Li Huowang muttered.

He took another big swig from the bottle. He looked around at the barren desert and mumbled to himself, “Why is the place where god Yu’er exists so strange? Is this really the elephant where the Simings live?”

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