Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh

Li Zhenlong's warning clearly left Uesugi Akizuki somewhat bewildered.

It seemed there was no other choice but to trust that they could rescue her husband.

Years ago, Uesugi Akizuki had chosen to settle in Yu Province and agreed to help guard the spatial gate there. It was supposed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

But over the years, she found her overseas influence and backup plans gradually disappearing.

Some were wiped out indiscriminately by the group of lunatics known as the Ghost Envoys, using revenge as an excuse. Others vanished inexplicably.

Some suddenly rejected her outright and severed ties with the Rakshasa.

Except for that one country, her fallback options were dwindling.

She often suspected it was Huaxia's doing, with the Ghost Envoys being the most likely culprits.

But there was no evidence—they had done it too well.

Because of these suspicions, her dissatisfaction with Huaxia grew.

Now, everything seemed so clear!

Who else could it be but them?

They wanted to cut off all her escape routes and bind her firmly to their ship!

"Ah-choo! Ah-choo! Ah-choo!" The Ghost Envoys' Commander-in-Chief, Pei Jun, sneezed several times in a row. He glared sharply at the landlord sitting across the table.

"I'm the landlord, so I go first," the landlord said with a laugh. "Five!"

Wang Xiang, who was on Pei Jun's team as a farmer, immediately played his card. "Big Joker!"

"Pass."

"Pass."

"Airplane!" Wang Xiang grinned, and Pei Jun chuckled too.

Both passed.

"Straight!" Wang Xiang stood up, wiggled his butt, and slapped it provocatively at the landlord, his expression twisted with glee. "I've only got one card left!"

"Bomb!" Pei Jun laughed as he slammed down four twos, making a face at the landlord.

Wang Xiang's expression instantly froze, and he sat back down with a cold face.

"Three," Pei Jun said cheerfully, completely oblivious, and then looked at Wang Xiang.

"Pass," Wang Xiang said, arms crossed, his face still cold.

Pei Jun was confused and repeated, "Three!"

"Pass," Wang Xiang turned his face away, leaving Pei Jun dumbfounded.

"Hahaha!" the landlord laughed. "Xiang, you didn't just have a three left, did you?"

"Bullshit! If I had anything else, I'd have won already!"

Wang Xiang's face darkened, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He stood up and kicked his Commander-in-Chief, Pei Jun, off the bed!

"What the hell!" Pei Jun exclaimed, scrambling up and wrestling with Wang Xiang. They pulled hair, poked eyes, pinched ribs, and tickled each other—no tactic was off the table. "Damn you, you traitor! I'm your Commander-in-Chief! At the mid-stage of Rolling Flame, I could crush you in seconds, you little punk!"

Wang Xiang punched him twice in the face. "Screw you, idiot commander! You could've won, but you had to show off!"

"You’re really asking for it now!" Pei Jun flipped him over, grabbed his ankles, and with one foot pressing against his crotch, pulled hard!

"I was wrong! I was wrong!" Wang Xiang screamed, clutching his groin in agony.

A few minutes later, Wang Xiang walked awkwardly, like a duck, to buy drinks for Pei Jun, who stood behind him with one thumb down and the other middle finger up, looking smug and triumphant.

After Wang Xiang had gone, Pei Jun kept his pose but shuffled his feet to turn toward a massive spatial gate in the distance.

Every spatial gate leads to another world, and whether the people or creatures on the other side are friendly or hostile is unknown.

When a spatial gate opens, the other side doesn’t know what kind of world this is, whether the people here are good or bad, or how many powerful forces or nations exist.

"Those who are not of our kind must have different hearts," so both sides remain wary, fearing being swallowed by the other.

Perhaps the two sides are nations in a standoff, or perhaps it’s Huaxia facing a world that has already been unified!

The Rolling Flame experts on the other side need no explanation—they would absolutely crush Blue Star!

However, they too are dealing with the opening of spatial gates in their own world, requiring them to deploy troops to maintain control. Otherwise, they would have already concentrated their forces and launched an attack on Blue Star.

The spatial gate Pei Jun was looking at was confirmed to lead to an enemy that constantly eyes Huaxia, eager to invade and plunder its resources.

Pei Jun was currently in a small town in Fuyu Province, where thirty thousand powerful Ghost Envoys were stationed.

And there was more than one spatial gate.

Zhanman was a large province where a spatial gate had opened, guarded by two hundred thousand Night Watchers, seventy thousand Ghost Envoys, and even seventy thousand Executors who weren’t particularly skilled in combat.

That world had already been unified under an emperor who constantly eyed Huaxia across the spatial gate.

The world mentioned earlier, which would have already gathered its forces to attack Blue Star if not for their own spatial gates requiring troops to maintain control, was this one.

Because the opposing forces were so massive and the number of spatial gates needing protection was so high, Huaxia was stretched thin in manpower.

But it wasn’t that Huaxia lacked capable people.

The reason Uesugi Akizuki held such a high position in Huaxia was partly due to her immense personal strength and partly because Huaxia needed to use her.

Huaxia wasn’t short of powerful individuals—if she stepped out of line, the commanders of the nearest superhuman organizations would be the first to eliminate her.

But they had to make use of Uesugi Akizuki because the power of a Rolling Flame expert was simply too great.

A small misstep could ruin the grand plan, and if the spatial gate in Yu Province were left unguarded, the consequences would be unthinkable.

To quell her suspicions and keep her in line, Pei Jun and the Ghost Envoys, under the guidance of the Executors’ intelligence, had systematically eliminated all of Uesugi Akizuki’s fallback options over the years.

Even the Ghost Envoys who carried out these missions didn’t know what they were doing—fewer than ten people were aware of this operation.

...

Jie Congrong, the president of Huaxia University, sat in an off-road vehicle, propping his chin on his hand as he gazed at the picturesque mountains and rivers.

The sheathed straight sword in his hand was repeatedly pushed out an inch by his thumb and then slid back into the scabbard.

The off-road vehicle traveled along the winding road nestled between the mountains, heading toward the spatial gate opened by Zhou Lan.

...

Su Ze held Uesugi Akizuki’s hand as they returned to the hotel.

Seeing the phone on the bed with over a dozen missed calls, he picked it up, dialed back, put it on speaker, handed it to the little airhead, and then lay back on the bed leisurely.

Ring, ring, ring...

"Are you two sent by the heavens to torment me?" came Situ Jiajia’s weak, resentful voice from the other end.

"..."

No one spoke.

Thirty seconds later.

"Are you mute? Uesugi Akizuki? Su Ze? Say something! Su Ze, I know you’re there!"

Uesugi Akizuki glanced at Su Ze, who remained unmoved, hesitated for 0.01 seconds, and leaned closer to the phone.

"Huff, huff, huff~"

"..."

"What the hell are you huffing for? Are you blowing wind into the phone?" Situ Jiajia was furious. "Uesugi Akizuki! I know it’s you with that soft, cute breathing! Say something!"

Uesugi Akizuki was utterly confused. If Su Ze had asked, she would have spoken, but she couldn’t be bothered to move her mouth because she didn’t know what to say. Speaking required thinking, and thinking was too much effort.

She continued into the phone: "Huff, huff, huff—"