Chapter 160: The Biggest Inconsistency

Countdown 6:00:00.

Six o'clock in the evening.

Inside the dark forest, twenty-five people were silently heading towards the north.

Qing Huai walked in the middle of the team, observing the surroundings with a solemn expression.

There were more than 150 soldiers in the field operations company when they first came in, but now, only Platoon 7 remained. Including Qing Huai, there were only 25 people left.

Cao Wei had disappeared for more than twenty hours. Since he still hadn't returned at this time, Qing Huai knew that the man had most likely met a mishap.

The only C-level master in the team had fallen; regardless of whether or not Cao Wei managed to kill that boy, they had to start moving.

Inexplicably, Qing Huai kept feeling a sense of danger tailing behind their team.

This premonition came without any reason or sign.

There was no suspicious sound coming from the woods behind them, but he felt as though a demon had fixed its eyes upon him.

Qing Huai signalled the leader of Platoon 7 with a wink and the man immediately took the hint, sending out two soldiers to hide behind the shrubbery they had just passed by.

Each of those soldiers was holding an antitank grenade in one hand and a dagger in the other, ready to throw the grenade at any time.

The force of the antitank grenade was very strong. In an instant, it could kill the target—as well as trigger the rules.

But as long as Qing Huai didn't personally trigger the rules, it didn't matter if his soldiers did.

The rest of them continued to slowly move forward.

Qing Huai and the leader of Platoon 7 walked at the end of the team, keeping their ears open for any subsequent movement behind them.

However, after walking for ten minutes, they did not hear any warning from the two soldiers who had been sent to lie in ambush.

"Call them back," Qing Huai said with a frown, "Seems like I've worried too much."

But after a while, a soldier ran back to tell them, "Sir, those two people have disappeared!"

"Disappeared?" Qing Huai was stunned, "What's left on the scene?"

"There's no blood, no signs of battle at all," replied the soldier.

The leader of Platoon 7 whispered from the side, "Sir, I suspect they might have deserted."

Deserted?

Qing Huai grimly looked at all the soldiers around him. The moment his gaze swept over them, they spontaneously lowered their heads.

Everyone had already figured that the killer came for Qing Huai. Now that even Cao Wei was dead, it was a given that none of them wanted to be buried along with him.

Perhaps all of them had considered this thought, but nobody dared to say it or act on it.

However, Qing Huai was feeling uncertain — did those two really become deserters, or had they been wiped out?

If it was the latter, who could've killed them so silently without even leaving any trace of battle?!

"We're moving ahead," Qing Huai calmly warned, "Everyone of you has your own family, so you better think carefully before doing anything else. If I die here, yet you're able to return to the Federation alive, how do you think the Qing Family will treat you? Alright, let's go."

On their way to the north, the soldier at the front suddenly dropped into a half-squat, raising his right hand to signal the team to halt.

Within a few seconds, the soldiers dispersed to take cover behind the tree trunks on the sides.

Soon, they heard someone speaking, "Do you think we've gotten lost? I feel like we've already walked through this path two days ago. Hey, Wang Bingxu, did you lead us the wrong way?"

A girl's voice retorted impatiently, "Go ahead and lead the way if you can find the way out. If you can't, then stop yapping your mouth. If you accidentally trigger the rules, you'll die before you know it. Also, be more polite when you talk to Wang Bingxu, got it?"

Qing Huai frowned in his hiding spot. What was going on?

He initially thought that the people hired by the Main and Second Branches had arrived to kill him, but now, it seemed like this was a completely different situation.

Moreover, the name Wang Bingxu sounded very familiar.

Wasn't he the B-level guardian of the Autumn Hunting team?

Wang Bingxu had also been an officer in the Second Army two years ago, but after his right leg was injured, he was poached by the Li Family.

"It's the Autumn Hunting team," Qing Huai instructed, "Put away your daggers and proceed normally. No one is allowed to reveal the details of this mission!"

The next moment, Qing Huai took the lead and went forward.

When the two sides met, he immediately caught sight of Li Yinuo standing at the forefront of the Autumn Hunting team.

Every single person in the team was currently looking very miserable.

Because Qing Huai was very famous among the people of the corporations, most of the scions instantly recognized him. "It's Qing Huai! We met Qing Huai! We're saved!"

After falling silent for a couple of seconds, Qing Huai asked, "Why are you guys here?"

One of them quickly answered, "We were chased by the wilderness people and only managed to shake them off after escaping to this Forbidden Land. I'm so glad we can meet you here, we're finally saved now!"

A junior from the Qing Family ran over to him, "Brother Qing Huai, please save us!"

In their eyes, Qing Huai was an outstandingly talented direct descendant of the younger generation. He was in a completely different league from these marginalized, good-for-nothing juniors.

There wasn't any visible injury on Qing Huai and the rest of his team. Furthermore, even their clothes still looked neat.

On the other hand, the members of the Autumn Hunting team had their clothes and faces littered all over with scratches. Not only that, they were constantly shifting and twisting in place, making it obvious that they were desperately holding in urine.

A bunch of good-for-nothings came across a group of army soldiers in the Forbidden Land — it was no wonder their first reaction was to think that they could finally be saved.

This meeting had also made Qing Huai form a new plan; he was going to flee from the Forbidden Land with this group of people.

The more people there were, the safer he was. Even if someone really came to kill him, the Autumn Hunting team had Wang Bingxu, a B-level master. Additionally, there were also a bunch of wastrels that he could use as shields.

As such, he could greatly increase his chance of survival.

Thinking so, Qing Huai spoke to the leader of Platoon 7, "Give them some of our sealed pouches and make sure they get one to share for every two people. Once they're done, dig seven pits in separate locations to bury the pouches."

"Yes Sir." The man led the rest of the soldiers to distribute the pouches.

Originally, the field operations company was supposed to march through the Forbidden Land for fifteen days, but after merely three days, they were already forced to retreat. Thus, they still had quite a lot of stock in reserve.

The wastrels couldn't hold back their joy upon seeing the sealed pouches, "As expected of Brother Qing Huai, you guys are really well prepared!"

It was evident that Qing Huai had prior knowledge about the rules of Forbidden Land No. 002, making them feel even more reassured.

Moreover, seeing him readily share such important supplies led them to regard Qing Huai as someone trustworthy.

The only one to realize the truth was the leader of Platoon 7. While it was true that Chief Qing Huai wanted to gain their trust, his purpose for digging the pits was not so noble.

Someone had previously dug up their landfills, so there was no way Chief Qing Huai didn't know that these people might lose their lives by leaving their used sealed pouches unattended.

Therefore, Qing Huai deliberately did this to lead on the person who was targeting him. If that person discovered the landfills, they might mistake them for the field operations company's and end up wasting time digging out the pouches.

The leader of Platoon 7 felt rather perturbed — the true elites of the corporations were really too cold-blooded.

As they were digging out the pits, the soldiers from Platoon 7 secretly looked at each other.

But nobody divulged the truth of the matter.

Everyone would rather use sacrificial lambs than to wager their own lives. They were now on the same boat as Qing Huai, so it was a given that they would help him keep this secret.

At this time, Qing Huai was talking to Li Yinuo, "Are you the leader of this year's Autumn Hunting team?"

"Yeah," Li Yinuo nodded.

"You guys don't seem to have done any preparations, why did you just break into the Forbidden Land," Qing Huai was puzzled.

"We had no other choice, entering the Forbidden Land was nowhere near our initial plan. If it was, I would have applied to my family for the classified files of the Forbidden Land's rules. It was the people from the Firepit who suddenly appeared in the wilderness and forced us to flee inside the Forbidden Land. They even wiped out the convoy of the Kamidai Family," Li Yinuo explained.

Qing Huai's brows furrowed even deeper. According to the intelligence of the Fourth Branch, the Main Branch had some connections to the Firepit. It was probably them who hired the Firepit to assassinate him.

He hesitated for a moment, "Where are those people now?"

Being able to eliminate Kamidai Family's whole entourage and corner a B-level master like Wang Bingxu into hiding meant that there was an A-level master among the Firepit team.

If he continued to head north at this time, wouldn't it be the same as jumping right into the trap? Rather than facing an A-level master, he might as well turn back and fight that ordinary boy.

Qing Huai was filled with resentment; he didn't expect the Main Branch to actually spend this much capital in order to plot against him.

Making the elder of the Firepit leave the snow mountain was not an easy thing to do!

Li Yinuo answered him, "At first, those people from the Firepit were still pursuing us, but then they suddenly disappeared without a trace."

"Didn't you guys shake them off?" questioned Qing Huai.

"Heh," Li Yinuo glanced at him, "They have an A-level in their team, do you think it'd be that easy to shake them off?"

Qing Huai breathed a sigh of relief. He could guess where they had gone. The Firepit team had certainly known about his mission target, so they had most likely proceeded straight into the hinterland with the intention to lie in wait for him.

They would've never thought that he would retreat in advance!

But Qing Huai kept this to himself and instead said to Li Yinuo, "It's alright, since you've already joined us now, I'll definitely lead you out safely. Would you like to hand over the command of the Autumn Hunting to me as well?"

At last, Qing Huai revealed his real intention.

Having the command of the Autumn Hunting team would grant him the authority to command over Wang Bingxu!

But Li Yinuo was starting to feel doubtful, "I heard you came here to carry out your task for the Fight for the Shadow, why did it end so soon?"

Qing Huai calmly replied, "With my ability, completing the task isn't a hard thing to do."

"I also heard that you came with a whole company, but why are there so few people left?" Li Yinuo probed again.

Qing Huai returned the question, "We went into the hinterland of the Forbidden Land, isn't it normal to have casualties?"

That was indeed the case, but Li Yinuo still felt like something was amiss.

He set off to this place accompanied by a field operations company. Now, even that famous adjutant Cao Wei was nowhere to be seen, yet Qing Huai and his remaining soldiers still looked all neat and tidy!

This was too big of an inconsistency.

She spoke after some thought, "The Autumn Hunting team is a bunch of good for nothings, there's no need for you to command them. I'm sure you must be very tired after completing the task, so just leave this thing to me and I'll do as you say. Also, before entering this place, I contacted the nearest station of the Li Family's army. They should be arriving here soon."

Qing Huai glanced scrutinizingly at Li Yinuo. He couldn't tell whether or not she had figured anything out.

But the news she brought was a good one; reinforcements were coming!

Translator: Zee