Chi Yao turned off his terminal, looking out at the front lines through the virtual window.

Fighter jets bombarded back and forth, shattering roads and buildings into powder that filled the sky.

In closer proximity, Lu Meng’s capable assistants were directing squads to eliminate the snake swarms one by one.

The snake swarms were agile; as long as there was a crack to squeeze into, it was difficult to completely repel them with heavy weaponry alone.

Chi Yao watched a level-three giant python choose to flee even when it was perfectly capable of attacking humans.

They didn’t seem to be hunting, but rather rushing somewhere.

Chi Yao connected to Li Yuan.

“Try provoking a mutant snake, see if it attacks you.”

Hearing this, Li Yuan: “…Just because you’re jealous I have a son doesn’t mean you can use me as a meat shield.”

Chi Yao’s voice turned cold: “Going or not?”

Li Yuan: “Going, going, going!”

There was no need to look for snake swarms; they were everywhere.

Seeing the nearest snake coming this way, Li Yuan rushed out a few steps.

“Hey ya ma hey!”

The recruits he was leading heard the shout and looked over bewilderedly: “?!!!”

Holy crap!

Chu Xiao shouted anxiously: “Li, Fa-Brother!”

Others looked at him strangely.

Chu Xiao’s ears burned: “…”

Li Yuan twisted his body coquettishly and slapped his butt at the mutant snake: “Come on~”

Chi Yao: “…”

I told you to provoke it, not seduce it.

The recruits couldn’t help but cover their faces: “…”

My eyes hurt.

Chu Xiao’s face turned completely red: “…”

The strange behavior successfully attracted the mutant snake’s attention. Ignoring the soldiers attacking it, it roared at Li Yuan and twisted its body to rush over.

Li Yuan wanted to strike another seductive pose, but looking up, the snake’s forked tongue was almost touching his head.

“Fuck!”

He rolled on the ground and ran for his life: “What the hell is the difference?!”

“Huge difference.” Chi Yao took out Xuan Feng and loaded it.

An armor-piercing round shot straight through the mutant snake’s head.

These snakes were targeting modified humans.

More accurately, they were targeting Ghosts.

Chi Yao fiddled with the gun and had Xiao Hei connect to Jing Xi.

“Xi Xi, I have a plan—”

Silver Mask was leading a group of people in ambush on a mountainside three kilometers from the battlefield.

His terminal vibrated, and he swiped it open immediately.

[Orders from above are to let Flying Dragon deal with them first, then we deal with Flying Dragon.]

A cold scoff came from under the silver mask.

“If Flying Dragon were so easy to deal with, would they still be around now?”

Moreover, Extreme Shadow’s stance was currently unclear. If they joined forces with Flying Dragon, it would be even trickier to handle.

He replied.

[If we don’t solve this now, there will be endless trouble later.]

Soon, another line of text popped up in the window.

[These are orders from above.]

Silver Mask looked at this line, his cold eyes narrowing slightly under the mask.

[Don’t you want to destroy Flying Dragon?]

This time, it took a long while for a reply.

[I want them dead more than you do!]

Silver Mask sneered and closed the terminal.

“Boss, they’ve breached Flying Dragon’s defense line!” A black mask whispered.

Silver Mask’s gaze shifted, and he looked over immediately.

The defense line Flying Dragon had held all night retreated a full kilometer!

Silver Mask tapped the sensor by his ear, and a multi-magnification scope opened before his eyes.

The situation on the battlefield became incredibly clear.

The beast swarm’s offensive was fierce. Flying Dragon’s main force was already showing signs of fatigue. Waves of mutant snakes crossed the defense line; they couldn’t hold them back at all.

If this defense line was completely lost, the chain reaction caused would be enough to annihilate Flying Dragon.

When the time comes, whether to kill Jing Xi or not would depend on his mood.

“Prepare for action!” Silver Mask issued the command.

The two red masks beside him exchanged glances.

“Didn’t they say to wait until they kill each other off before we—”

Silver Mask shot a glance sideways: “Do you listen to them or to me?”

The red mask shrank back and lowered his head: “Yes sir!”

On the battlefield, Lu Meng led a group of brothers in retreat, looking this wretched for the first time.

Catching a glimpse of Li Yuan retreating towards him, he angrily took the opportunity to punch him.

“Can you do it or not?! Who’s responsible if this goes south?”

Li Yuan took a punch for nothing and kicked back.

“How the fuck should I know?!”

“Department Head, enemy attack!”

A soldier in the crowd roared.

The two cursing men looked around in turn.

Two groups of black masks suddenly rushed out simultaneously from both sides of the street.

“Fuck!” Lu Meng couldn’t help but curse under his breath, shouting into the public channel, “Alert!”

Just as the black masks were about to rush into the crowd, Extreme Shadow’s underlings leaped down from the high-rises on both sides of the street, subduing the masked people with extreme speed.

The masked people struggled and fought back. The underlings pulled syringes from their pockets and stabbed them.

Sedatives worked on them, so naturally, they would have the same effect on Ghosts.

Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, the red masks in the rear immediately retreated, raising a hand to shout into the communicator.

“Ambush—mph!”

Before he could finish, he was flipped to the ground by a massive force.

Chi Yao walked over, grabbing his mask with one hand and lifting him up.

“Ah—!”

Forced to crane his neck, the red mask struggled up from the ground.

Chi Yao applied force with his hand, the corners of his lips turning up.

“If you hadn’t come, I would have gone to invite you personally.”

The mask groaned under the pressure, making cracking sounds.

Hearing Chi Yao’s voice, the red mask’s pupils constricted, his body trembling uncontrollably.

“I-I’m Brother Bin, Ah Yao, I’m Brother Bin!”

Distant memories surfaced before Chi Yao’s eyes.

If he hadn’t heard this voice, he would have forgotten.

This man had a kind face, always wore a frown, claimed his relatives swindled his money. He was the first person to show kindness to Chi Yao after he was captured.

Chi Yao narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze cold.

“I thought you were different from those trash.”

Enduring the severe pain on his face, the red mask’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he said nervously: “I had no choice! If I didn’t pay the debt, they would go after my family!”

Chi Yao stared at the fearful eyes behind the mask and relaxed his grip.

Seeing a chance to get up, the red mask’s eyes flashed. He drew a hidden military knife from his sleeve and took the opportunity to stab at Chi Yao’s neck.

“Ugh—!”

Vision turned crimson, hot liquid splashed onto his chin. The red mask covered the wound on his neck that was spraying blood, staring at Chi Yao in disbelief.

Blood loss was too fast; his whole body convulsed, mouth opening and closing, but he couldn’t utter a word.

Chi Yao held the military knife, blood dripping drop by drop from the tip: “Then I had no choice either.”

Chi Yao gave the red mask one last look and walked past him.

“No one is obligated to sacrifice for your happiness.”

While the masked people launched a full-scale attack, Silver Mask had already infiltrated near the temporary camp of Flying Dragon’s main force.

The main detection and monitoring equipment were all here.

Destroying this equipment would blind Flying Dragon, greatly reducing their combat effectiveness.

Perhaps due to sudden developments on the front lines, there wasn’t a single person here.

Silver Mask waited vigilantly for a moment before rushing into the control center.

Unlike the command center, the frontline control center was run entirely by AI calculations.

Silver Mask stood before the console, fingers quickly pressing keys on the keyboard.

A warning window popped up on the screen.

[Stop operation?]

Silver Mask clicked confirm, and a progress bar appeared on the screen.

He clenched his fists nervously, heartbeat unconsciously accelerating.

Progress reached 99%, the screen flashed, and suddenly Chi Yao’s smiling face appeared.

“Coming to visit without saying hello? Is that polite?”

Silver Mask’s expression changed, fingers dancing rapidly on the console, but no matter what method he used, he couldn’t release the lock state.

Cannot unlock means cannot shut down the equipment!

He slammed his fist on the console and turned to leave.

But just as he reached the door, a hover car slowly descended.

“Why not talk?” Chi Yao got out of the car, walking towards him meeting his gaze, “Mute?”

Silver Mask, enraged, drew his sidearm.

Chi Yao was a step faster, kicking his forearm with the tip of his toe, knocking the gun away.

“Really a mute, how pitiful.”

Silver Mask staggered back two steps but quickly steadied himself. Just as he was about to draw another gun, Chi Yao’s fist was already in his face.

Xiao Hei: [Ten air bullets condensed.]

Chi Yao: [Not needed.]

Even without guns, Silver Mask was being completely suppressed.

He was soon covered in injuries.

Chi Yao smiled: “Why do your moves look a bit familiar? Like some dumbass I beat up before.”

Silver Mask gritted his teeth, fists cracking as he clenched them. He punched viciously, but Chi Yao struck him flying first.

“Fuck!”

Silver Mask pushed himself up. As Chi Yao approached, he suddenly released pheromones.

The strong smell of alcohol was like cheap wine, bland and astringent, pricking into his pores like countless needles.

“What, can’t win so you want to seduce me with pheromones?”

Chi Yao looked down at him condescendingly, “I’m a taken man, not interested in an old mute like you.”

Silver Mask: “…”

Seeing the aggressive pheromones have no effect on the opponent and being humiliated, Silver Mask angrily increased the pheromone release.

[Xiao Hei: Pheromone concentration exceeds safety levels by eight times, please retreat to a safe distance.]

Chi Yao ignored Xiao Hei’s warning.

Aside from smelling bad, this level of alpha pheromones didn’t affect him at all.

Under the double stimulation of emotional upheaval and pheromones, black bristles grew on the back of Silver Mask’s exposed hand, quickly turning into a thick bear paw.

Chi Yao was waiting for this moment.

When Silver Mask pounced again, Chi Yao quickly dodged his claws, hooked his arm around his neck, and used the momentum of his turn to pin the man to the ground.

Silver Mask instantly lost combat capability and passed out.

Xiao Hei: [Could have one-shotted him, why drag it out so long?]

Chi Yao said languidly: “It’s fun.”

Xiao Hei: […]

On the front lines, Lu Meng and Li Yuan were attacked from both sides, reluctantly putting aside their grievances to deal with the external enemy first.

“Not afraid of your Ghost people.” Lu Meng wiped sweat from his face, looking back, feeling his head swelling, “What do we do about those snakes that slipped through!”

Li Yuan: “Get your people to intercept them!”

Lu Meng: “Easy for you to fucking say!”

Fang Liang retreated while fighting, saying faintly: “Look carefully.”

Lu Meng and Li Yuan turned their heads again, startled a moment later.

Li Yuan: “Holy crap! Why are they running back?!”

Lu Meng rejoiced: “Running back is good!”

Li Yuan: “Good my ass! We might actually lose the position!”

Lu Meng paused, coming back to his senses.

Thinking only about not having to catch snakes one by one, he forgot that if they came back, the pressure on the front lines would increase dramatically.

Fang Liang looked towards the direction of the Ghosts.

“No, their target is the Ghosts—and us.”

Having been busy fighting, Li Yuan only noticed the problem with this beast tide after hearing this.

Thinking of the test Chi Yao asked him to do, he couldn’t help but click his tongue: “Did Boss know all along?”

Fang Liang looked with a wooden face: “Since that’s the case—”

By the time they tied people up and returned to the front lines, the Ghosts had been pitted by Fang Liang’s group and trapped within the beast swarm, unable to get out.

Sound waves carrying strange noises entered Chi Yao’s brain, making his head ache.

“Dare to stop us and we’ll kill you!”

“Black ones, red ones, silver ones… kill them all!”

“Revenge!”

Chi Yao jumped off the car. Before long, a one-eyed snake king slithered over, roaring at him.

“Hand over the person in the car! Dare to hinder me and I’ll kill you!”

Chi Yao heard it say this.

Before being sprayed by snake spit, Chi Yao drew his gun, the dark muzzle aimed at its wide-open mouth.

“Forgot who I am so quickly?”

The Snake King paused, looking down to examine him carefully.

“You can hear me speak?! No, you, you are the one from that night—”

Seeing Chi Yao’s appearance clearly, the Snake King felt its eye twitching with phantom pain.

It unconsciously retreated a bit, avoiding the gun muzzle, saying angrily: “Hand him over!”

Chi Yao: “I don’t care what games you play, but this person is useful to me right now.”

It was the Snake King’s first time encountering someone who could converse with it; for a moment, it didn’t know how to answer.

“I have a use too!”

Chi Yao said unhurriedly: “Then wait in line.”

Snake King: “…”

That works?

Seeing its master render the Snake King speechless.

Xiao Hei: […]

As expected of you.

Soon, the beast kings of various clans were called over by the Snake King.

A group of big guys stared at the ant-sized Chi Yao and started a discussion meeting.

Chi Yao listened to their gibberish for a long time, then the Snake King looked at him again: “What use do you have for him?”

Leaning against the car door, Chi Yao took a candy from his pocket and slowly unwrapped it.

“He owes money and won’t pay it back. I want to skin him alive.”

Skin him?

The beast kings were all interested.

Lizard King: “Does skinning hurt humans?”

Chi Yao: “Hurts more than breaking your tail.”

The Lizard King nodded halfway then became angry from embarrassment: “I’m not a gecko!”

Rat King: “He owes us many, many lives, more than your money.”

Chi Yao spoke nonsense with a straight face: “But owing money is more serious.”

Rat King: “?”

Is it?

Everyone fighting discovered the beast kings ran off, and the beast swarms suddenly rested in place without any warning.

In their bewilderment, they found Chi Yao surrounded by a group of beast kings.

Li Yuan and Fang Liang wanted to rush over to save him but were held back by Lu Meng on both sides.

“The atmosphere over there is so harmonious, they won’t fight.”

Li Yuan looked at Boss, then at those howling beast kings, puzzled.

Where the fuck do you see a harmonious atmosphere? He only saw weirdness, okay?!

“Department Head, then, then what do we do?”

A second lieutenant team leader under Lu Meng asked in a low voice.

Lu Meng waved his big hand: “We rest in place too!”

Second Lieutenant: “…”

Seriously?

Marching for so many years, this was the first time encountering such a sudden brake.

Over there, Chi Yao scammed the beast kings without blinking an eye.

“I know you don’t want to touch innocent people. It’s pointless to keep fighting like this,” Chi Yao said faintly.

Snake King: “Isn’t it because you guys are blocking the way?!”

Chi Yao: “How about this, I’ll find out some issues from them. If you cooperate, I’ll consider using him faster and hand him over to you sooner.”

The Snake King was about to agree when the Tiger King roared at him.

“What good does telling you do for us?”

Chi Yao thought for a moment, shaking his head: “No good.”

Feeling played, the Tiger King lowered its body, a low growl coming from its throat.

Chi Yao raised his eyes: “But it won’t increase your kind anymore.”

Others watched as the beast kings put their heads together howling as if in a meeting. A moment later, they ran off with their clans.

The huge battlefield instantly was left with only dilapidated buildings and their bewildered selves.

“The tide… retreated?”

Lu Meng stared blankly, somewhat unable to believe it.

Eating candy, Chi Yao walked over, lifting his chin at Li Yuan and Fang Liang.

“Count the number of Ghosts, bring them under control.”

Li Yuan/Fang Liang: “Yes sir!”

Lu Meng was dying of curiosity, chasing after Chi Yao asking.

“Boss Chi, how did you make them go back?”

Chi Yao said expressionlessly: “I told them human meat is tough and tastes bad; seafood is more fragrant.”

Lu Meng: “…”

Just past dawn, Jing Xi got off the spaceship, sent the medical team to save people, and rushed to the temporary camp with Chun Qin.

“Chi Yao.” Jing Xi pushed the door open and saw Silver Mask locked in a cage at a glance.

“Here?”

Chi Yao threw him a purification mask from hand: “Wear it, stinks too much.”

There was indeed a faint smell of wine remaining in the air, very light, but highly aggressive.

Jing Xi put on the mask and looked at the cage.

“I remember who he is.”

He felt very familiar before, and the feeling was even stronger when Chi Yao fought him.

Chi Yao took the white gloves Chun Qin handed over, put them on, and squatted by the cage.

He lifted Silver Mask’s right hand, removing the terminal and communicator.

Having guessed Silver Mask’s identity, Jing Xi wasn’t surprised he had an Imperial citizen terminal.

“Check it, there should be plenty of good stuff.” Chi Yao tossed it casually onto the table.

Jing Xi picked up the terminal wrapped in a handkerchief.

“Xiao Hong, troubling you.”

The terminal flashed, Xiao Hong woke up and rubbed against Jing Xi’s face.

[Not trouble, snuggle snuggle.]

Jing Xi chuckled softly, placing the terminal into its extended metal claw.

Xiao Hong: [Cracking——]

Jing Xi walked towards Chi Yao. Just as he squatted down, he saw Chi Yao lean his face over, saying jealously: “I want snuggle snuggle too.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Chi Yao urged dissatisfiedly: “Hurry up.”

Jing Xi tilted his head, kissing him on the lips through the mask.

Chi Yao: “!”

Suddenly felt like he asked for fifty cents but was given ten bucks.

So cute.

Jing Xi touched briefly then pulled back, saying faintly: “Weren’t you thinking I’m cute?”

Chi Yao: “…”

Jing Xi expressionless: “I think the you who thinks that is also very cute.”

Chi Yao: “…………”

Why does it feel like I lost?