"What's going on?"
Li Yao stretched out his finger and gently pressed on Daniel Zhang's snow-white skin. He found that his' corpse 'did not feel stiff at all. Instead, it was full of rubbery elasticity and toughness.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but Li Yao felt that Daniel Zhang's corpse was becoming shorter and fatter at a speed visible to the naked eye. It was like a rubber ball that was gradually inflating.
Not long after, the skin that had been corroded by the venom peeled off and turned into an ink-like liquid that flowed away. What appeared in front of Li Yao was a stranger with snow-white skin.
There was not a single strand of hair on his body, and his facial features were so shallow that they were almost invisible. It was as if there was a goose egg on his chest. Although he was already dead, there was a faint smile on his lips, as if he was happy that his enemy had fallen into his trap.
This person, this person is not Daniel Zhang!
Another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. Li Yao completely understood, and an unknown anger rose in his heart.
It turned out that he was the only one who had been deceived from the beginning to the end. In this soul-stirring secret battle between the Apocalypse and the Ark Foundation, he was just an ignorant chess piece.
Li Yao bit his lip hard and touched the nameless man's body. Sure enough, he felt something hard in his lower abdomen.
Not long after his heart stopped beating, this thing automatically activated and released a weak electric wave to the outside world.
If Li Yao guessed correctly, this should be a device similar to a 'locator'.
Sure enough, not long after, he heard the sound of helicopter rotors coming from the horizon. The sound came from the south. It should not be the pursuers, but the reinforcements. However, at this point, Li Yao could no longer tell who was the enemy and who was the friend, and whose side he should be on.
…
They arrived at an inconspicuous port in the neighboring country in the evening.
This was a typical 'banana republic', a failed country where politics were chaotic, the economy was failing, and the people's livelihood was declining. The government had no control at all, and could only empty the resources under the country in exchange for international leftovers.
For decades, this country had been dominated by warlords and drug lords. In other words, in this hot and chaotic land, warlords and drug lords had always been the same thing. Even the Bloody Boys in the army often relied on drugs to numb their souls and maintain their morale.
In recent years, although with the help of the outside world, the government was forging ahead and actively innovating, and there was a brief period of clarity and prosperity. However, the old forces were intertwined, and in the end, it was difficult to reverse. Earthquakes, floods, storms, and tsunamis had completely beaten the country back to its original state.
Li Yao observed the ground from the helicopter all the way. He saw that the roads were destroyed by the floods, the towns were drowned by the mudslides, and countless people were running around like ants on a hot pan. But they could only watch the natural and man-made disasters coming. The country did not have the magnificent infrastructure of its neighbor to the north, nor did it have a well-trained, fearless government army. The people in the abyss of suffering were as humble as ants and weeds.
However, such a fragmented and riddled political ecosystem was the best base for a secret organization like the Ark Foundation. Superhumans moved around in the hot and humid jungle like fish in water. They had long used various methods, both overt and covert, to infiltrate some of the warlords' organizations, and even supported their own local forces. The small port in front of them was firmly controlled by the Ark Foundation.
Since the natural disaster cut off the connection between the port and the capital, the authorities and the government army could not take care of themselves. This place had become a temporary independent kingdom. The people of the Ark Foundation could swagger around and unscrupulously load their shiny military equipment onto their barges and cargo ships.
Li Yao saw Lady Gray Mist again in a rolling military camp outside the port.
It was said that this place once belonged to a famous drug lord decades ago. The drug lord, who was as rich as a country, painstakingly operated this place as his last lair. Although it looked ordinary on the surface, the underground was a world of its own. It was an underground palace that looked like an ant's nest and a beehive.
Naturally, no matter how sturdy the underground palace was, it could not withstand the infiltration of superhumans. Now, this was the Ark Foundation's largest secret base in Southeast Asia. No, at this point, there was no need for any "secrets" at all. The Ark Foundation was already preparing for the final battle.
After not seeing her for a day, Lady Gray Mist's face was much paler. There was no trace of blood, and her breathing had become extremely weak. It seemed that she had suffered a very serious internal injury.
Behind her stood Sparda, who only had one arm left. Even his remaining arm was bandaged with bloodstained bandages. His face was also as pale as a sheet of paper.
Li Yao had been so angry that he had made up his mind to curse the Lady of Grey Mist the moment he saw her. He was even going to grab her collar and teach her a lesson before he told her, one word after another, "I'm not playing anymore!"
However, seeing that both Lady Gray Mist and Sparda were so seriously injured, he was full of resentment but did not know where to start. After a long time, he said, "Uncle Hui, where is the Seven Gods?"
"He sacrificed himself."
Lady Gray Mist said lightly, "We did not expect the hunter to have an immortal body. His strength is already above the Finesse. If Uncle Hui had not sacrificed himself, no one would have been able to escape from the hunter."
"This!"
Li Yao was speechless. The middle-aged man with a big belly, a rosacea nose, and red jeans appeared in his mind again. After a long silence, he took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and said, "You lied to me. That was not Daniel Zhang!"
"Yes, we were indeed not escorting the author of '40,000 Years of Cultivation,' but a special Awakened in the foundation called 'Phantom Face,'" Lady Gray Mist said.
"Whether you believe it or not, I only found out at the last moment. Uncle Hui did not know until the moment of his death."
"… Why?"
Li Yao asked in a deep voice.
"Don't you already know the answer to this question?"
Lady Gray Mist said lightly, "Phantom Cat."
"Undercover?"
Li Yao's eyes darted around. "You already knew that Phantom Cat was an undercover agent planted by Apocalypse in the Ark."
"In the beginning, it was only a suspicion. Besides Phantom Cat, we have a long list of suspects, including you. Don't be surprised. For someone like you who inexplicably awakened a powerful ability and took the initiative to build a relationship with Daniel Zhang, isn't that suspicious?"
Lady Gray Mist said, "Like I said, the other party has a way to accurately attack the core of our organization. If we want to deal with them, we can't be too careful."
"So …"
Li Yao muttered, "You split up into two groups, one real and one fake. Our group gathered elite troops and fled south with great fanfare through the train. It was just a trick to lure the enemy. It was to lure the hunter to take the initiative to chase after us and cover the real Daniel Zhang's safe retreat?"
"Not two groups, but three. It was not just to cover Daniel Zhang's safe retreat, but also to take the opportunity to eliminate the spies that Apocalypse nailed into the Ark," Lady Gray Mist said.
"Apart from Phantom Cat, two other undercover agents were exposed during the operation and have been taken care of by us. The rest of them proved their loyalty with their actions and are qualified to board the Ark to meet the Red Pole Star. For the final victory, this is a necessary procedure. Whether you forgive us or not, we have no other choice."
She spoke so straightforwardly that Li Yao did not know what to say. Thinking for a moment, he said, "So, Daniel Zhang has safely evacuated?"
"Yes, he has boarded the ship and will meet up with the Ark soon."
Lady Gray Mist said, "Daniel Zhang is indeed the key to the war. Both the Ark and the Apocalypse had to get him or eliminate him. Even the Red Pole Star had to expose himself and command the operation in person, which gave the Apocalypse and even the will of Earth an opportunity.
"I should've told you that the will of Earth had to be rebooted by force for some reason, probably because of a war in the grand universe. The Red Pole Star seized the rare opportunity and prepared to deal a fatal blow to the will of Earth when it was rebooted.
"According to the Red Pole Star, on the level of the war in the grand universe, the will of Earth had been stalled by the attackers from the outside world. The two parties were caught in a temporary stalemate and had to project almost all their strength to the enemy. Therefore, it was impossible to annihilate the Ark Foundation and the Red Pole Star himself by means of large-scale destruction, which would consume too much energy and lead to the total collapse of the war in the grand universe. Therefore, precise strikes and decapitation tactics similar to 'targeted drugs' could only be adopted.
"The so-called 'targeted drugs' have to be delivered to the cancerous cells precisely in order to kill the cancerous cells without harming the normal cells. If the cancerous cells cannot be located, the targeted drugs will be useless no matter how effective they are. That's why the Red Pole Star had to hide himself and lurk at the bottom of the ocean. It's also why the Apocalypse and the will of Earth tried to lock onto him by whatever means possible.
"The Red Pole Star has been hiding behind the scenes for years. Even we do not know his real whereabouts. The operation to 'escort the author of' Forty Thousand Years of Cultivation 'was almost the only opportunity for him to reveal himself. How could the Apocalypse and the will of Earth let go of it? How could we not be prudent enough to filter and screen the people who might approach the Red Pole Star?"
"Then, have you done your screening now?"
Li Yao asked coldly after hearing that.
"Almost. Mr. Li Yao, please come with me."
The lady of grey fog led Li Yao to a warehouse in a military camp.
An iron chain dangled from the beam at the center of the warehouse and tied up a woman. She was exactly the Phantom Cat who had assassinated 'Daniel Zhang' when Li Yao was unprepared in the morning.
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