Chapter 259 Blood Battle Between Baits (Part 2)
In B City, Province G, at past ten o’clock, the urgent ringing of the phone echoed in Han Guowei’s front command office.
A large-scale blood clan conflict, with members of the royal family involved? Hmm, understood. Implement the plan; immediately seal off the surrounding traffic routes. Pay attention to isolating the refugees. No outsiders should be let through. Nearby mobile units will provide immediate reinforcement!
Han Guowei hung up the phone and walked over to the massive electronic screen, his gaze sweeping across the military digital map until it settled on a coordinate at the border of Province G and Province Y.
“Commander, it seems something’s off. Wasn’t the royal family in H City before? How did they know we would ambush Liang Er near Yangji Town?”
An intelligence officer leaned in and whispered.
Another operations officer furrowed his brow as he stood beside Han Guowei: “The royal family said they would notify us two hours in advance of any actions, yet they’ve managed to stir the hornet’s nest!”
Han Guowei didn’t respond. He returned to his seat, dialed the group phone, and fell into deep thought.
The cleanup operation in the southern jurisdiction officially began twenty-four hours ago. Dozens of teams surged from east to west, steadily advancing as the frightened black blood clan or wandering blood clan members popped up like scared mice.
But evidently, the black blood clan group led by Liang Er was using a cunning tactic of decentralized chaos to confuse the situation.
Centered on H City where the Lu family is located, at least five violent incidents involving the black blood clan attacking Lu family members and even ordinary civilians were happening in downtown areas and rural outskirts, but they were all small-scale conflicts involving fewer than ten people.
Fortunately, Han Guowei had a preemptive plan, which prevented these localized disturbances from escalating into worse situations. He had also already identified the whereabouts of Liang Er and others based on intelligence from informants.
Although the bait task force had only one mixed brigade present, as long as Liang Er dared to launch a surprise attack, within fifteen minutes, several reinforcement troops would arrive via transport helicopters from all directions, surrounding the entire conflict area.
But Han Guowei hadn’t expected that the royal family had an extremely precise intelligence source and had acted ahead of time.
The large-scale blood clan conflict occurring at the border of the two provinces was assessed as a high-level emergency, meaning the total number of combatants exceeded a hundred—a rare occurrence in the past few decades.
Who else but the royal family could pull off such a large operation?
As he thought about it, Han Guowei’s mouth curled into a bitter smile.
This operation, seemingly dominated by unknown assailants, appeared to be actually controlled by Han Jielishi and the royal family. Despite clearly knowing about the royal family’s involvement, the overwhelming amount of intelligence had both true and false elements.
Han Guowei felt like he was more of an extra on set without even receiving the script, yet tasked to perform on stage.
“This kid really has taken that fateful gamble to the extreme, colluding with the royal family and keeping me completely in the dark… But why is the royal family so fixated on Liang Er? Have they given up on both sides?”
Han Guowei muttered words only he could hear, his gaze returning to the electronic map opposite him, inadvertently fixing on the southwestern border of Laos.
Notify all frontline mobile units to continue increasing drone reconnaissance efforts. Without orders from the front command, do not directly intervene! If any non-royal blood clan members leave the firefight area, intercept them immediately!
“Liu, prepare the vehicle. We’re heading there!”
After pondering for a minute or two, Han Guowei looked at his watch and issued the latest order.
In the dark mountain forest, the sudden melee had nearly been anticipated by both sides’ preparations.
The three advanced black blood clan members chasing after Zhuang Jianfei were already disconnected from Liang Er and others from the start, with even the royal family’s orthodox blood clan army finding themselves in a chaotic fight, unable to pursue their previously determined targets.
The orthodox blood clan coalition led by the royal family was outnumbered by its opponents, barely forming a large encirclement. However, in some directions, Liang Er and others had managed to break through, giving the hastily attacking royal coalition difficulty in defending.
Led by Jiang Yao, the Hyacinth was striking hard at the retreating members of the Black Dragon Association in the southwest.
At this moment, Zhu Bixian and Cao Kuang fully embodied the principles of qualified black blood clan leaders—if escape was possible, do so unless lives were at stake.
On the Hyacinth side, Jiang Yao and the royal family’s second brother represented two high-level combat forces, while a hundred meters behind, the Hyacinth’s seven knights and the royal family’s three knights were arrayed in a formation.
At the Black Dragon Association, three advanced black blood clan members, Zhu Bixian, Cao Kuang, and Lin, leading eight knights and twelve attendants, were launching a desperate assault on the hastily formed interception line of the Hyacinth.
In this encounter, the Hyacinth was slightly at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, facing three high-level blood clan members.
Among them, Zhu Bixian was even a lower baron of the Ganges, complemented by the upper baron Cao Kuang and lower baron Lin Guangtou from the Caucasus, clearly indicating superior combat capability compared to the Hyacinth.
Five bubbling waves of blood energy swept across the battlefield, causing anyone caught in them, whether knights or attendants, to exhibit signs of physical control disorder or slowed behavior. The nearby black blood clan attendants were even foaming at the mouth, collapsing to the ground.
Boom!
Liang Tai pressed the gun muzzle, the pump-action shotgun belching forth fire tongues that couldn’t be concealed, instantly turning a Black Dragon Association attendant rushing towards him into a beehive. Even as the gunfire lingered, Zheng Shaolin suddenly let out a pulse of blood energy and swung a distorted bony claw toward another black blood clan knight’s chest.
A muffled groan escaped as a knight from the royal family’s twelfth brother, who was providing side cover for Liang Tai and Zheng Shaolin, was thrown backward by a full-force impact. Clearly, this lower-tier knight had terrible luck being almost instantly killed by a stronger opponent.
A Caucasian black blood clan baron, towering at least two meters high with grotesque features, was at that moment clutching a bloody limb torn from a royal knight, letting out a cheerfully arrogant roar.
The sickening “impurity-laden” blood energy from the black blood clan caused several Hyacinth knights nearby to almost suffer cardiac arrest, even though Lin Guangtou merely used emergency drugs to stimulate his fragile baron state. The influence of breaching the blood energy threshold was still overwhelming for ordinary knights.
Another sprightly figure shot from the side, crashing with a knee thrust. Lin Guangtou’s ghastly appearance was sent flying, with multiple mutated bones and limbs breaking in the process.
“Big Brother Liang, fall back! Put some distance between you and him!”
Jiang Yao’s face turned pale; she flung out two flurries of knife blooms but didn’t seize the opportunity to pursue. Instead, she projected herself again toward the twelfth brother of the royal family.
There was no choice; up ahead, on the mountain’s cliff edge, the twelfth brother of the royal family, merely a mid-level baron from Alata, was being besieged by Zhu Bixian and Cao Kuang, thoroughly battered and besieged, on the verge of being cornered.
“Don’t come over!”
The twelfth brother of the royal family was flung away by Cao Kuang, crashing into a tree, drenched in blood and lying on the ground, still shouting at Jiang Yao, who was rushing over.
Infected by a swarm of blood insects from Zhu Bixian, and having a limb broken by Cao Kuang, the twelfth brother of the royal family could barely suppress the mutated genes inside him past the blood energy threshold. He had nearly lost all combat effectiveness, self-preservation was already an issue, let alone protecting Jiang Yao.
Jiang Yao seemed not to hear anything, using her foot to kick off a fallen tree, propelling herself into the air, diving toward Cao Kuang.
Though she couldn’t autonomously breach the blood energy threshold due to being pregnant, Jiang Yao still pulled the blood energy intensity to its peak, discarding any thoughts of controlling the threshold for prolonged battle. She was all in!
An information pheromone storm resembling a massive black hole invisibly tore through the space within a radius of ten meters, causing Cao Kuang to feel an overwhelming sense of pressure where his body could not respond.
“Old Cao, get out of the way!”
Zhu Bixian shouted, but unfortunately, Cao Kuang, just ten meters away, seemed stuck as if caught in a swamp, not making any evasive maneuvers against the approaching Jiang Yao.
Twisting his upper body, Cao Kuang slowly turned his head, his pupils constricting as terror overtook his features. Jiang Yao’s crimson eyes reflected Cao Kuang’s shadow, drawing closer, feeling a prickling pain in her back, as two grotesque black-red tentacles burst from her body, gesturing wildly with blood spraying everywhere—extremely demonic.
With a horrifying tearing sound, half of Cao Kuang’s skull above his nose flew away, and his body split in two from the chest down under the sweep of Jiang Yao’s hand, dying instantly.
Jiang Yao swayed slightly, crushing Cao Kuang’s abdomen, then raised her head, fixing a fearsome expression on Zhu Bixian.
The girl’s body, still half-crouched on Cao Kuang’s corpse due to inertia, had two bloody tentacles spreading behind her. They twisted, expanded, and undulated in the night sky, looking like blood-colored demons from hell.
Cao Kuang was almost effortlessly torn apart by the sudden onslaught of the mysterious girl, stunning Zhu Bixian into fear.
To Zhu Bixian, even though he claimed to be a lower-tier black blood baron, compared to other orthodox or wandering blood clan members of similar rank, he was still slightly weaker and was no match for Alata baron, whose powers were bolstered by both the night emperor and the night emperor’s dual abilities.
Zhu Bixian couldn’t care about his safety anymore and didn’t even think about when the royal family had added a mysterious Alata female baron, who, in full view of everyone, just jumped off the cliff into the gorge below.
In just a few seconds, with one dead, one injured, and one fled, the dynamics of the battle had radically changed. The royal family, barely maintaining their composure, had their mouths agape.
Jiang Yao rushed to the side of the twelfth brother of the royal family. Without a word, she took out a needle and plunged it into his body, revealing a cruel smile as she watched Zhu Bixian flee.
…
Bang!
In the night, clothes, shattered bones, fat, and flesh flew everywhere as Li Caiyu, a lower-tier baron from the Ganges in Vietnam, was blasted apart by Jiang Yao. That once voluptuous body, covered in blood, had now crumpled and was barely recognizable.
Having lost most of her chest cavity and an arm, Li Caiyu staggered back a few steps and then collapsed to the ground.
Li Caiyu looked up in disbelief at the Hyacinth leader standing so close, the blood in her eyes slowly fading away as if her very essence was being drawn out, causing her body to go limp.
Until her last breath, she couldn’t believe that a half-step baron from Siberia, who had been infected with countless blood insects, could actually suppress her without any apparent pain.
Jiang Yue took a few steps forward, coldly watching the shattered remains of the female blood clan at her feet.
Her blood-red eyes shone like pure gems in the night, while on the exposed skin of her back and neck, dark, thread-like blood insects wriggled out, dropping to the ground and writhing in their death agonies.
Jiang Yue casually tossed a lump of flesh torn from Li Caiyu’s body onto the corpse.
More than ten meters away, another mid-level Caucasian baron from the Sun family was entangled with Ruan Shunhong.
Long before the fight began, Pan Shangzhen had already fled, leaving only Ruan Shunhong to continue battling, while the ten Vietnamese black blood clan knights and fifteen attendants he brought had disappeared shortly after the melee began, scattered into the night.
With a ghastly, hunched figure that didn’t change its ugly appearance based on friend or foe, the Sun family’s Caucasian baron continually shot spikes from his deformed shoulders, constricting Ruan Shunhong’s maneuvering space.
Ruan Shunhong, aided by his giant lizard blood beast, was engaged in a war of attrition against the Sun family baron. After all, both the Caucasian baron’s spikes and the Ganges baron’s blood insects were finite resources.
In terms of speed, the giant lizard blood beast was not any slower than the Sun family’s Caucasian baron, consistently forcing him to switch from offense to defense at pivotal moments.
If this giant lizard blood beast landed a bite, it would either kill or leave it heavily damaged.
Previously, this giant lizard blood beast had already torn apart a lower-tier baron from the Deng family of Z City, Siberia. That lower-tier baron had lost his fighting capability in less than a minute after being swept by the tail of the giant lizard blood beast and pierced through by its long tongue, ultimately having its head crushed.
Seconds later, the giant lizard blood beast once again forced the Deng family baron back, its blood intensity still rising, its deformed form resembling a prehistoric dinosaur, standing upright on its hind legs, baring its teeth at the Sun family baron and extending its foul-smelling long tongue.
“Ha ha, you two can come at me together!”
Ruan Shunhong spat a mouthful of bloody saliva, yanked a spike embedded in his shoulder, and, with blood-red eyes, approached the blood beast, eyeing Jiang Yue and the Sun family baron with a smug grin.
Ruan Shunhong, himself a half-step baron, alongside an equally ranked blood beast, made it difficult for Jiang Yue to take them down in a short amount of time.
The Sun family baron was retreating slowly, casting questioning glances at Ruan Shunhong. Faced with such a ferocious opponent, the already slightly underpowered Sun family baron was beginning to show signs of fear.
Seven to eight coalition knights surrounded them, each wearing a fearful expression, watching the Vietnamese black blood clan and that terrifying blood beast in a near-encirclement, none daring to step forward.
Jiang Yue paid no mind to the Sun family baron, simply closing her eyes to sense the atmosphere, before opening them to glance at Ruan Shunhong. Then she strode unhesitatingly into the depths of the forest.
In that imaginary mental map formed by the sensed atmospheric fluctuations, Liang Er and his companions were trapped in extreme panic, their fighting spirit dwindling, filled with unease. Meanwhile, the royal family’s senior blood clansmen, led by Uncle Qi were a flurry of chaos, but their morale was contagious—revealing a relentless tenacity.
As for Jiang Rui, the information pheromone storm tearing through the surroundings was both clear and furious, clearly in a frenzied chase after certain individuals.
Ruan Shunhong took the opportunity to retreat at the same time. When the chaos dissipated, the Sun family baron finally sighed in relief, wiping the blood from his face, then nervously heading towards the deathly silent Deng family baron who had gone missing.
One minute later, Jiang Yue arrived by a small river and found Zhuang Jianfei, who had long since lost his life, behind a large tree.
The youth, leaning against the trunk, remained motionless, his eyes wide open to the night sky with a faint smile, his mouth and chest stained with dried blood.
Peng!
Jiang Yue crouched down, softly murmuring, only to find the youth before her was unresponsive as if lost in thought.
“Sis Wan!”
Familiar calls echoed from behind. Jiang Yue stood up, wiped away her tears, and turned around, regaining her elegant smile.
Zheng Shaolin, Liang Tai, and Xiao Ling approached.
“Cao Tong was killed by Xiao Yao!”
“The royal family’s second brother is seriously injured; Xiao Dong is taking care of him. Xiao Hai and the others are assisting Xiao Yao in pursuing Zhu Bixian…”
“Uh, this is Zhuang Jianfei? Sis Wan, you’re hurt!?”
Upon seeing the dead youth at Jian Yao’s side, Jiang Yue suddenly felt a subtle shift in her aura, a sensation reminiscent of a chaotic mix of pre-upgrade hormonal control.
Except for the grime on her clothing, the Hyacinth leader appeared as elegant and beautiful as ever, seemingly unharmed, yet radiating an unsettling feeling of precariousness.
Zheng Shaolin’s expression changed. He quickly gestured for Liang Tai and Xiao Ling to spread out and maintain their distance.
“I’m fine. Just a bit emotional… You all gather Zhuang Jianfei’s body and take it back for the Dark Arrow,” Jiang Yue averted her gaze from Zheng Shaolin, turning to walk toward the most chaotic aura.
“Old Zheng, Sis Wan’s aura is off… It’s like a chaotic mix of internal and external hormones before an upgrade?”
Liang Tai moved to Zheng Shaolin’s side, glancing at the deceased Zhuang Jianfei, a deep frown etched onto his face.
“Not sure. Maybe Sis Wan just exerted herself too much?” Zheng Shaolin replied awkwardly, signaling, “Let’s go, keep up. Liang Er and them are already in dire straits.”
Gunshots and sounds of hand-to-hand combat echoed through the pitch-black mountain forest after the rain, occasionally coupled with mournful screams.
The bloody slaughter, more brutal than the use of firearms, had become the main theme of this forest, with torn limbs, severed arms, and blurred flesh scattered everywhere, nearly every corpse mutilated beyond recognition.
Such was the fight to the death among blood clans, with each killing moment being horrifyingly bloody, with those dying under gunfire ironically being the luckiest, having suffered the least.
After the initial chaos, the coalition led by Uncle Qi had successfully suppressed Liang Er and his companions deep within a gorge. Above them, several bright searchlight beams shone while the roar of helicopter engines filled the air.
To the east, south, and west of the gorge, it was the royal blood clan coalition, while to the north, the Dark Arrow troops were gathering to form a defensive formation, blocking any attempts to cross the perimeter.
Through night vision goggles, five or six figures with significantly abnormal body temperatures darted out of the woods, stumbling forward towards the defensive position ahead.
A volley of gunfire erupted from the ranks of the Dark Arrow troops, including the metallic storm from helicopters above. In just a few seconds, several black blood clan knights or attendants were shredded.
“Report to Commander, it has been confirmed; it’s the royal family’s men engaging the black blood clan!”
A squad leader from the reconnaissance task force rushed to Han Guowei, who had just disembarked, to inform him of the latest developments.
“Heh, their equipment is quite refined; the royal family is wealthy and connected. If you didn’t know better, you’d think foreign troops were infiltrating…”
After a brief review of the live drone footage from the scene, Han Guowei smiled slightly. “Who has the upper hand now?”
“It should be the royal family. We’ve already killed eight black blood clan members attempting to break out on the periphery. We estimate there are still over twenty black blood clan members within the encirclement. Commander, shall we join in?”
The squad leader from the reconnaissance task force appeared excited, eager to leap into action.
“Let’s hold off a bit longer. If we misfire and hit the royal family, there will be more trouble… Moreover, Liang Er has several toxic agents that are yet to be used. Let the royal family know that if the fighting is still ongoing by dawn, we will conduct an airstrike!”
Han Guowei decisively shook his head, leaving the accompanying staff officers exchanging glances.
The blood clans in the gorge were slaughtering one another while the majority of the Dark Arrow forces sat idly watching the show, making everyone feel miserable.
“Report! The intelligence center from the front command has sent an urgent report that the Xuanjia team lurking along the Laos border has gone missing!”
At this moment, a staff officer ran over, his face pale with fear.
“Missing? How long ago did this happen!?”
Just five minutes ago, the front command conducted a routine communication and found that the entire Xuanjia team had vanished from their deployment location, with no communication methods reaching them!
The staff officer’s complexion was ashen, his voice quivering.
Han Guowei’s body trembled as he fixed an intense gaze on the staff officer, a look of shock mixed with some inexplicable excitement in his eyes.
In the gorge, the disheveled Liang Er finally reunited with Ruan Shunhong, Zhu Bixian, and the others.
Liang Er, He Jinguo, Ruan Shunhong, Pan Shangzhen, and Zhu Bixian were the last five blood clan members remaining, while the other four had mostly perished. As for the nearly fifty knights and attendants before the eruption of war, only a scant handful remain, most having died or scattered in the previous chaos.
“Haha, Chu Dali, Zong Rong, you guys are ruthless, truly ruthless! Only the two of them knew where we were tonight. They’ve really made their move!”
Liang Er stood amidst the crowd, laughing to the sky, despair plastered on his black face.
The people around him fell silent, each lowering their heads.
The royal family’s Uncle Qi, the Zhou family’s fourth brother, the Deng and Luo families, the Sun family… What are we doing but killing one another?
Liang Er seemed to finally regret this, tears streaming down his face, his expression dazed.
“Mr. Liang, you should consider how to escape now!”
Ruan Shunhong glanced around, stepping beside Liang Er, issuing a hoarse, low cry.
“Where can we go… like a stray dog, we might escape today, but not tomorrow. I’ve known this day would come… Remember back when we all fought against the Japanese together—Royal Family Fifth and Seventh Brothers, Zhou Family Fourth, Chu Dali? In the end, I’ve been blinded by greed…”
Liang Er had completely lost his fighting spirit and sank to the ground.
“Second Brother, we have to lead everyone to find a way out, we can’t just wait to die!”
He Jinguo approached Liang Er and forcefully grabbed the old man’s frail shoulders, shaking him until bloodshot eyes appeared, burning with renewed resolve.
“A way out? Haha… where’s there a way out?”
Liang Er’s mind seemed to drift, then suddenly turned, glaring at Ruan Shunhong with fierce light: “Brother Ruan, since the royal family has pushed us to a dead end, let’s meet the king together! One kill would suffice; two, we’d profit!”
Ruan Shunhong held a somber face, watching the increasingly deranged Liang Er, gradually twisting his lips, and nodded slowly, revealing a sinister smile.
…
…
At eleven o’clock that night, in an airport in the autonomous state of X in Province Y.
After years of military reform and strategic adjustments, this small military airport with a history of over half a century had fallen into disrepair. But now, on the cracked runway overgrown with weeds, an old early model Y-7 transport plane was startlingly parked.
The pilot stood off to the side of the empty runway in a daze, occasionally glancing down at his watch. Following higher-ups’ secret instructions, this pilot was responsible for parking the aircraft here, where others would come for transfer.
In the distance, a figure approached, clad in ordinary outdoor gear, slowly closing in with a standard military march.
Command, five stars!
The pilot drew his pistol, aiming at the tall, dark figure some ten meters away.
Response, red flag.
Meng Huai halted his steps, unhurriedly responding to the command.
Comrade, all flight tasks have been reported, and the communication transponder on board has been adjusted so it won’t be detected as an aberrant flying object by ground radar in the combat zone.
The pilot saluted Meng Huai and looked at him skeptically, appraising his ordinary civilian attire.
As a once top-tier trainee from the Dark Arrow special training unit, Meng Huai had naturally chosen a self-development mode that was versatile. During his period as a squad leader heading to another group, he also obtained a military flying license for transport aircraft.
Is everything packed?
Meng Huai nodded and gazed at the plane.
The safety mechanism is locked; it can be powered up and unlocked 30 minutes after takeoff.
Accompanying Meng Huai into the cockpit, the pilot, seeing him begin the pre-flight instrument checks with skilled proficiency, finally felt relieved.
How much fuel is left?
As Meng Huai conducted his pre-takeoff checks while putting on the flight suit prepared inside the plane, he was informed that there was enough fuel for cruising at speed for at least one thousand five hundred kilometers.
Slightly nodding, Meng Huai asked, “Do you have any other business?”
As he initiated the preheating startup for the aircraft engine, Meng Huai inclined his head toward the pilot, his expression distinctly cold.
Uh… no, wish you a smooth journey!
The pilot saluted again, obediently leaving the cockpit.
Something’s off; he doesn’t look like a real air force pilot…
Recalling several operational details of Meng Huai’s previous actions, the pilot realized the discrepancy. But at this moment, the transport plane was already leaving the parking position, slowly taxiing toward the runway.
Under the night sky, the two turboprop engines roared to life, the gray-white painted transport plane’s speed accelerating until the nose lifted, the aircraft soared into the night sky with a tremendous howl.
On the ground radar stations for long-range monitoring, a signal marked as friendly aircraft appeared, heading east toward Jing Country.
