Just past midnight, the Flying Dragon fleet entered the airspace of Sector 820.

When Chi Yao followed Jing Xi to the command bridge, every department was already bustling with activity.

“Boss, this is the battlefield map we scanned ourselves.” The head of the Information Department tapped a few keys on the console, and an enlarged virtual screen appeared on the massive monitoring desk.

Jing Xi swiped his finger, comparing the map previously sent by the garrison troops with this new one.

“That’s quite a discrepancy,” Chi Yao remarked, standing lazily beside Jing Xi and looking up.

Jing Xi remained expressionless. “There is a time lag of about a day in the dynamic data.”

Jin Ze, the head of the Rescue Department, hurried over to report. “Based on this situation, I’ve made some adjustments to the rescue plan. Please take a look.”

Jing Xi opened the file as requested.

The area currently under attack was within two hundred kilometers north of the southern continent.

The indigenous people of this land were refugees who had fled there long ago. However, due to the constant presence of mutant beasts, those who were better off had already moved away. Those who remained either had a sentimental attachment to the land or were destitute.

The regional defense rating was only Level E—practically paper-thin.

In such a situation, it was very likely that the Legion’s speed in clearing the beasts wouldn’t catch up to the speed of the beasts’ destruction.

“This works. Proceed with this for now,” Jing Xi annotated the plan. “Take your men and set out immediately.”

Jin Ze: “Yes, sir!”

“Boss, the vanguard unit’s operational plan has also been adjusted.”

Just as he finished speaking, Lu Meng arrived as well.

Seeing Jing Xi surrounded by subordinates, Chi Yao walked to the console to check the real-time monitoring of the battlefield.

The operators couldn’t help but feel a little nervous.

Spotting something, Chi Yao patted the shoulder of the operator next to him. “Zoom in here.”

Operator: “Yes, sir!”

Only after completing the task did he realize with hindsight—why was he listening to the boss of “Extreme Shadow”?

The zoomed-in area showed a dense cluster of red dots, very similar to the situation in the southern mountain range of Sector 333.

By the time Jing Xi had finished issuing his orders in an orderly fashion, Chi Yao happened to be walking toward him.

Before he could speak, Chi Yao said, “Arrange a combat craft for me. I want to go down and take a look.”

Jing Xi frowned. “Did you find something wrong?”

Chi Yao’s expression was cold. “I hope it’s not what I think it is.”

Seeing him turn to leave, Jing Xi grabbed his arm. “I’ll go with you.”

Chi Yao tilted his head to look at him and chuckled lightly. “The war has just started, and there are too many uncertain variables. Should a commander like you be running around?”

Jing Xi understood the logic, but while Chi Yao looked fine, his susceptibility period wasn’t actually over yet.

Letting him go alone to scout the situation was too dangerous.

“Either I send troops to follow you, or we go together tomorrow.”

“The battlefield changes in the blink of an eye; how can we wait for tomorrow?” Chi Yao looked at him. “Don’t worry, I won’t be reckless.”

In the end, Jing Xi compromised. However, because of the phrase “I won’t be reckless,” he spent the whole night with his heart in his throat.

Boarding the combat craft, Chi Yao drove out of the launch chute and plunged into the atmosphere.

His terminal vibrated gently, and a certain black bean that had long been pretending not to exist flew out.

A palm-sized virtual screen appeared in front of Chi Yao.

Xiao Hei: [Master ordered me to provide real-time video feedback.]

Chi Yao glanced at it. “Are you a spy sent by the enemy?”

Xiao Hei: [Do you think I enjoy this? Hah.]

Chi Yao chuckled softly. “If you film me looking ugly—floral jacket warning.”

Xiao Hei shrank back: [……]

The combat craft traced an arc through the night sky and hovered over the northeast coast of the southern region.

Five kilometers above the ground, abnormal sound waves could already be felt.

Chi Yao checked the craft’s built-in monitoring interface.

There weren’t many mountains in the coastal area; it was covered by vast vegetation. Dense swarms of mutant beasts were wantonly destroying the forest.

Flying Dragon battleships and fighters were everywhere, and the sound of bombing was incessant.

Chi Yao shifted positions several times, but looking at the surveillance feeds revealed nothing specific. He had to go down.

Chi Yao chose a beach with relatively fewer beasts. As soon as he landed, he was surrounded by a group of mutant turtles.

Xiao Hei: [Level 4 Mutant Sea Turtles. Defense coefficient comparable to small warships.]

Turtles generally wouldn’t attack unless provoked. But the problem now was that they were blocking the hatch.

Crawling out through a crack didn’t fit his aesthetic at all.

“Bro Black, saber mode.” He reached out his hand to the Xiao Hei bean.

The black bean spun half a circle, ignoring him: [I am only responsible for monitoring.]

Chi Yao: “Floral jacket—”

The next moment, a military saber dropped into his hand.

Chi Yao: “…”

Jing Xi must be mistaken; his AI’s personality wasn’t this cowardly.

Opening the hatch, Chi Yao immediately came face-to-face with a sea turtle.

He dodged sideways, and in the moment the turtle opened its mouth to roar, he stabbed the saber into its upper palate.

With a scream, the sea turtle retreated a few steps, shaking its head constantly in an attempt to dislodge the foreign object.

Chi Yao took the opportunity to jump down, stepping on a nearby turtle’s shell and leaping to the ground in a few bounds.

“Bro Black, come back!”

Xiao Hei turned into a wet ball and rushed back, rubbing vigorously against Chi Yao’s clothes.

[I want to shut down!]

Each sea turtle was over two meters tall, with the larger ones reaching three or four meters in length. As Chi Yao weaved through them, the smell of seawater and the stench of gore made him feel ill.

“Do you still want to play with Xiao Hong?”

A turtle leg kicked toward him. Chi Yao opened his palm, and the black bean transformed into a long blade mode again.

It wasn’t that Chi Yao was deliberately teasing Xiao Hei, but the hardness and toughness of a standard military saber simply couldn’t pierce the hide of a Level 4 sea turtle.

Running to the edge of the forest, he realized the big guys were following him for some reason.

Chi Yao’s already poor mood dropped to freezing point.

Ahead came the roars of tigers and the cries of various birds. If he led this group of turtles inside, he probably wouldn’t get anything done tonight.

Chi Yao stopped abruptly, rolled his wrists, and looked behind him.

---

In the command bridge of the Flying Dragon flagship, Jing Xi’s attention was entirely on the dozens of large virtual screens in front of him.

The topmost one showed the surveillance footage fed back by Xiao Hei in real-time.

Seeing Chi Yao suddenly stop, Jing Xi’s brow twitched.

Was he going to fight the sea turtles?

Sea turtles rarely attacked proactively, but their aggression wasn’t weak, and their defense was incredibly high. They were very troublesome to deal with, especially since Chi Yao didn’t have any heavy destruction weapons on hand.

Jing Xi switched to the monitoring view of the area ahead of Chi Yao; the marker dots were densely overlapping.

If he went any further in, he would be surrounded.

Yan Kai came over to report on the garrison’s feedback and couldn’t help but follow Jing Xi’s gaze.

When he saw the person on the screen clearly, his eyes widened.

Is the boss of Extreme Shadow that hardcore?! Taking on so many mutant sea turtles solo?!

So strong!

“Boss, the main force isn’t far from there. Should we have them send a squad to support?” Yan Kai asked cautiously.

Jing Xi looked serious and shook his head. “He can handle it.”

As if to verify his words, in the footage, Chi Yao’s saber stabbed into the gap of a shell and pulled horizontally. The turtle was ripped open like a rag doll with a two-meter-long gash, blood instantly spilling all over the ground.

Seeing this gruesome scene, Yan Kai sucked in a breath of cold air: “…”

Just looking at it made him feel like he would faint from the stench.

Chi Yao was indeed irritable from the smell.

The blood of their companion didn’t enrage the other turtles. Most of them were already injured to some degree. Seeing Chi Yao approach, they retreated and quickly ran back toward the water.

Chi Yao flicked the blood off his blade, avoided the gore on the ground, and walked toward the forest.

A virtual screen suddenly popped up on the saber.

Xiao Hei: [There’s something in that turtle’s blood.]

Chi Yao paused and turned to look.

The sea turtle’s internal organs had slid out of the wound, hanging precariously. It was disgusting.

“What is it?”

Xiao Hei: [Metal reaction.]

Metal?

Chi Yao frowned and walked back, suppressing his discomfort.

He picked through the unidentified tissue with the tip of his blade, annoyed. “Where?”

Xiao Hei: [Can’t you use your own hands?!]

Chi Yao: “No.”

When he touched a certain spot, the saber emitted a beeping warning sound.

Chi Yao identified it. This seemed to be the turtle’s stomach.

The sliced-open stomach was cleaner than Chi Yao had imagined, with almost no food residue.

Several metal syringes rolled out from inside, clattering onto the ground.

He used the tip of his blade to turn one of them over. When he saw the serial number on it, his face darkened.

It was exactly the same as the syringes used to inject him when he was a child—even the serial number format was identical.

Why would this be here?

“Xi-xi, can you hear me?”

After speaking to the saber, Jing Xi’s voice came through it.

“What did you find?”

Chi Yao looked toward the coast; those sea turtles were wandering on the beach.

“Focus monitoring on this sea area and the coast where I am. This place isn’t simple.”

Inside the command bridge, Jing Xi looked at the syringes appearing on the screen and immediately recorded it, ordering Yan Kai to investigate.

“Is it possible illegal dumping caused this?”

Chi Yao continued walking into the forest.

“Can’t rule out that possibility, but the turtle’s stomach was too clean.”

For a Level 4 sea turtle to find no food in such a vast ocean was simply a joke.

Chi Yao sneered. “Unless they’re on a diet.”

Jing Xi: “…”

---

The humidity in the forest was heavy, the ground was slippery, and the wild grass grew taller than a person.

The Flying Dragon’s firepower in the distance attracted many mutant beasts, causing large herds to flee frantically through the forest.

Chi Yao took out his locator to check his position.

It was about two kilometers from here to where he wanted to go. Not a long distance, but with visibility obstructed and beasts everywhere, his speed was inevitably affected.

The closer he got, the more intense that strange yet familiar sound wave became.

Chi Yao’s expression turned grim.

He pulled out the launcher from his lower back, wrapped it around a huge banyan tree branch, pressed the retract button, and swung up onto the trunk.

Through the gaps in the trees, two hundred meters away, a group of giant pythons was coiled together. Writhing snake bodies were everywhere; you couldn’t see any gaps between them.

Xiao Hei: [Blurgh!]

Chi Yao: “…”

You’re an AI, what are you puking for?

The sound wave fluctuated in strength, incomparable to the one at Sector 333.

He didn’t know if the intensity was truly weak or if the distance was too great.

He crouched on the branch and observed for a moment, gradually moving closer.

“Chi Yao, don’t be reckless,” Jing Xi’s voice rang in his ear.

Chi Yao: “I know.”

Even closer now, the sound wave remained unchanged.

It felt very close, yet also very far away.

The squirming of the giant pythons made Chi Yao physiologically uncomfortable. He marked the location, planning to return and study it properly later.

Just as he stood up from the branch, he suddenly sensed something and rapidly jumped down.

Crack.

Hiss—

The next moment, the branch snapped, and the sound of a giant python flicking its tongue exploded in his ear.

As soon as Chi Yao landed, he flashed to the side. A pale yellow snake tail swept through where he had just been standing, snapping a row of branches.

“Chi Yao, look out!”

In the command bridge, Jing Xi stood up abruptly, his hands clenched at his sides.

There were at least a hundred Level 3 or 4 mutant pythons here, and in the middle of the snake pile, there was a Snake King!

These pythons were as thick as washbasins, with the longest reaching up to a hundred meters.

If they all chased after him, they could drown Chi Yao; he wouldn’t have time to run!

Hearing Jing Xi’s anxious voice in his ear, Chi Yao’s eyes went cold.

Why hadn’t he sensed this snake approaching at all?

All living things emitted a unique wavelength. He couldn’t describe it clearly, but he had always been able to feel it.

Yet when this snake approached, he felt nothing.

There were too many snakes. Snake blood would attract the others.

Chi Yao flicked his wrist; Xiao Hei turned back into a bean. He reached behind his back to draw his gun and chambered a round.

The giant python opened its mouth wide again and lunged at him.

Chi Yao raised his gun. The bullet went straight through its lower jaw and pierced its vital point—the seven inches.

Coagulation bullets worked on beasts just as they did on humans.

The giant python instantly lost its combat ability, its head drooping and smashing into the tree trunk with a loud bang.

It stinks like hell.

Chi Yao turned to leave.

Enduring until now just to check that thing was already his limit.

Hiss— Hiss—

Rustling sounds came from behind, seemingly something crawling.

The sounds multiplied, approaching from all directions.

Chi Yao cursed under his breath, activated the launcher, and wrapped it around a branch above the banyan tree.

Just as he jumped up, countless giant pythons lunged at the spot where he had been standing.

Chi Yao fired several shots at them in succession, and Jing Xi’s voice sounded in his ear again.

“Above you!”

Chi Yao looked up. Unknown to him, a snake had coiled around the branch he was aiming for and was slithering down the trunk toward him.

Just as the snake’s tongue was about to touch his face, Chi Yao kicked off the trunk, swinging away on the launcher’s cable, and fired a shot straight into the snake’s mouth.

“Roar—!”

The giant python fell from the branch dozens of meters high with an ear-piercing, terrifying scream, and was devoured by its companions in an instant.

Chi Yao landed on another branch, keeping an eye on his surroundings and looking toward the snake pit.

It wasn’t an illusion.

He couldn’t sense that subtle wavelength from any of the snakes here.

Was it because the Snake King had the ability to protect its group? Or was it something else?

“Come back first, wait for further monitoring,” Jing Xi’s voice urged in his ear.

Chi Yao had intended to do just that, but now he didn’t want to leave.

He had to figure this out.

Seeing Chi Yao stand up, Jing Xi thought he was preparing to return.

The next moment, he watched Chi Yao swing decisively to another banyan tree, moving toward the snake group.

“Chi Yao!”

Jing Xi tried anxiously to soothe him, “Calm down, don’t be rash.”

Chi Yao kept his eyes on the movement of the snake group. Taking advantage of the moment he landed on a branch, he quickly swapped out his empty magazine.

“I am very calm.”

Jing Xi watched helplessly as a certain brat who claimed to be very calm charged into the snake pit armed with nothing but a gun and a launcher.

The giant pythons were like vines, so numerous that Jing Xi could only catch glimpses of Chi Yao’s shadow through the gaps in their chaotic writhing.

Calm?

Calmly going insane?

Jing Xi gritted his teeth, observing the movement of the pythons to assist Chi Yao in the purge.

“Holy crap, so strong—”

Yan Kai and the officers beside him stared straight-eyed.

The launcher seemed to have become part of Chi Yao’s body. Every extension and retraction perfectly dodged the pythons’ attacks while utilizing the environment to launch effective offensives alongside defense.

“He hasn’t missed a single shot so far, right? That marksmanship is too seasoned.”

“How does he manage both offense and defense? Even if I could see some of those attacks coming, I wouldn’t have the ability to react.”

“It’s like he calculated it beforehand. Too terrifying.”

“Is this his true strength? No wonder ‘Extreme Shadow’ was so hard to deal with.”

The officers whispered among themselves, suddenly feeling very fortunate.

Luckily, Extreme Shadow went legit.

In the commander’s seat, Jing Xi was both worried and exhilarated.

He knew Chi Yao’s ruthlessness deeply.

Merciless, unscrupulous—this was the real Chi Yao.

Beneath the layers of snakes, the Snake King opened its blood-red eyes.

Its body was several times larger than the average giant python, crested on the head, and completely crimson.

Chi Yao jumped onto a branch, threw away the empty magazine, and reached for his lower back.

He was out of ammo.

Xiao Hei floated in front of him, popping up a virtual screen window.

[Do you want the big floral jacket?]

Chi Yao: “…”

The Snake King raised its body, level with Chi Yao who stood on a branch dozens of meters high.

After a brief stare-down, the Snake King’s tail swept over with extreme speed.

Chi Yao pulled the launcher tight and swung to another banyan tree, barely dodging it.

The original banyan tree, thick enough for five people to hug, was snapped at the waist.

With that power and speed, if a human were even grazed, they’d likely be smashed into pulp.

The atmosphere in the command bridge became tense.

The passing officers stared at the virtual screen above, afraid to even blink.

One blink, and Chi Yao could be gone.

“He’s out of bullets! How can he fight?!”

“Only the army knife is left, but that thing won’t even tickle them if he stabs it in.”

“Send a warship over, this isn’t a joke!”

“The warship’s blast radius is too big, what if we accidentally hit Chi Yao?”

Yan Kai listened to their discussion, suddenly feeling a bit conflicted.

Not long ago, they were discussing how to deal with Extreme Shadow. He didn’t expect to be fearing for Chi Yao’s safety so soon.

Yan Kai looked at Jing Xi.

Every time he thought the Boss was wholly focused on Chi Yao, the man would simultaneously issue orders to the frontline troops.

Multitasking like that…

Is this a necessary quality for a commander?

Soon, the surrounding banyan trees were mostly chopped down.

The tree wrapped by the launcher was snapped, and Chi Yao fell directly from dozens of meters in the air.

“Chi Yao!”

Jing Xi’s face changed, his heart pounding wildly.

“Holy shit! I can’t look!”

“How do you dodge that?!”

“No, see if he can fall somewhere with lots of branches, at least there’s a buffer.”

“The Snake King is rushing him!”

Just as Chi Yao was falling, the Snake King roared and rushed over, intending to swallow him whole.

Giant, sharp teeth were right before his eyes.

The corners of Chi Yao’s lips raised slightly. He retracted the launcher’s cable, shifted direction, and fired it directly at the Snake King’s face.

The Snake King couldn’t dodge in time; its mouth was bound by the cable, and it thrashed wildly.

Chi Yao tightened the cable, using the momentum of the thrashing to land precisely on top of its head.

“Beautiful!”

“Fuck! You can play it like that?!”

“Scared me into a heart attack!”

“No, does he think he’s playing a game? Does he have a death wish?”

“Chi Yao actually freaking smiled!”

With that kind of maneuver, one slip-up meant either falling to the ground and becoming a meat patty or being swallowed by the Snake King. Either way was death.

Yet Chi Yao was unhurried, resolving the deadly situation with a casual move.

“Bro Black, come here.”

Chi Yao crouched low, grabbing the snake’s crest to stabilize his center of gravity.

Xiao Hei: [The snake crest is highly toxic, think clearly.]

“Highly toxic?” Chi Yao chuckled lightly. “Can it be more toxic than me?”

Hearing this, Jing Xi: “…”

To kill a snake, hit the vital point. The Snake King was no different.

A saber over a meter long pierced in along the base of the snake crest.

A terrifying roar resounded through the entire forest.

In the moment the Snake King’s body went rigid, Chi Yao tied the military saber with the launcher’s cable and leaped off.

He pulled the rope tight about four or five meters from the ground. Just as the Snake King collapsed, he used the momentum to roll onto the ground and stand firm.

In the command bridge, it was instantly silent.

Such a massive swarm of snakes plus a Snake King—a mission usually requiring a hundred-man fleet—Chi Yao had slaughtered them all single-handedly.

“I don’t know why, but the top of my head hurts.”

“Me too.”

“Luckily Chi Yao didn’t stab our heads with a knife.”

“Stabbing us is much easier than stabbing a Snake King.”

“Stop talking, I’m scared.”

“The Boss can actually fight him to a draw!”

Jing Xi sat back in his seat and let out a sigh of relief.

Once he relaxed, he realized his palms were covered in sweat.

---

Half an hour later, Chi Yao returned to the warship.

Holding the metal syringes picked up from the turtle’s stomach, he got off the combat craft and immediately saw Jing Xi hurrying toward him.

The other man had a dark face, looking like that old iceberg from before.

He looked angry.

The very angry kind.

Chi Yao whispered, “Bro Black, fly out quickly and coax your master.”

Xiao Hei slowly popped up a virtual screen.

[Isn’t my master you?]

Chi Yao: “…”

What a crappy AI.

“Played enough?”

Jing Xi’s face was cold, his lip line pulled taut. “Not enough? Want to go kill another pack? It’s still a long time until dawn anyway.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Jing Xi: “So many snakes and you still charged in. If something happened, no one would have made it in time to save you! My opinion doesn’t matter at all, does it?”

He couldn’t control his worry. He had hurried over wanting to see if Chi Yao was injured.

But the other party didn’t say a word. Instead, the anger he had forcibly suppressed surged up, and what came out were all harsh words.

Jing Xi took a deep breath, his voice hoarse. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to blame you—”

“It’s okay, keep going.” Chi Yao threw the syringes wrapped in his jacket to Xiao Hei, then draped his arm around Jing Xi’s shoulder and walked toward the hatch.

Jing Xi: “…”

This attitude of “say whatever you want, I’m not listening anyway”—did he want to anger him to death in one go?

Seeing Jing Xi silent with a dark face, Chi Yao reached out and pressed his finger between Jing Xi’s eyebrows.

“Don’t frown, it doesn’t look good.”

Jing Xi turned his head to look at him. “Is the issue now about looking good or not?”

Chi Yao pecked him on the lips and laughed. “I meant—you look so cute when you’re angry, can I take a picture?”

It was like punching cotton. Jing Xi: “…”

This smooth-talking rogue really needed a beating.

But he, who actually fell for it, wasn’t much better.