Five days have passed since Wang Lan, the Holy Envoy, and the others went out.

For the past five days, everyone has remained at the strangely appeared boundary, neither moving forward nor daring to retreat.

Even the wolf pack had mostly left, leaving only a group of patient giant wolves lingering in the distance, not dispersing for a long time. Wang Lan knew perfectly well that these giant wolves, which had evolved, had also evolved in intelligence. They were waiting for the group's supplies to run out, at which point they might collapse due to the lack of resources and then fight the wolf pack to the death.

Three of the white-armored soldiers went out, and so far, only one has returned. However, his white armor is stained with blood and has many tears, indicating that he is seriously injured.

According to the white-armored soldier, the area he went to explore was inhabited by a large number of unidentified creatures, which were extremely powerful and ferocious. The soldier was wearing heavy armor and had to use up all the weapons that came with the armor before he managed to escape with great difficulty.

As for the other two white-armored soldiers…

There has been no news of them.

The Holy City's positioning device also failed to pinpoint the location of the white-armored soldier. The Holy Envoy said it might be due to damage to the armor's power supply, causing the positioning system to lose power, but... it's likely that the soldier is in grave danger.

"We can't wait any longer!"

The Holy Envoy approached the crowd and said, "So many days have passed, and the other two Holy Soldiers have not yet returned. They are probably already dead. Moreover, our supplies will not last much longer. It is time for us to make a choice."

"Let's fight them!"

After the Holy Envoy finished speaking, Ding Taishun was the first to step forward and say, "Your Excellency, we are ready!"

"Yes! We are ready, and we can break through at any time!"

"That's right, we'll do it as soon as you give the order!"

To the envoy's surprise, the villagers were in high spirits and appeared to be fearless in the face of death.

The envoy was taken aback and looked at Wang Lan.

This is all thanks to Wang Lan. Although the group hadn't taken any action in the past few days, Wang Lan had been communicating with them, boosting morale, and encouraging them. He hadn't expected it to have such a remarkable effect, making the villagers so eager to fight.

In fact, neither the Holy City nor the Holy Envoy had any hope for the villagers joining the expedition, and the reasons for this were naturally not openly discussed.

However, after Wang Lan's brainwashing over the past few days, the Holy Envoy has developed some expectations for the villagers' future behavior.

"Good!" the Holy Envoy said. "Since you have such spirit, you certainly deserve encouragement. I hope I can see your outstanding performance!"

"Rest assured, Holy Envoy!" Ding Taishun stepped forward and said, "We will absolutely not let down the Holy Envoy and the Holy City's hopes."

The envoy nodded in satisfaction, but then Ding Taishun turned to look at Wang Lan and added, "I will certainly not let Mr. Wang down!"

The subtle progression in these words puzzled the Holy Envoy.

What exactly did Wang Lan say to them these past few days that gave them such determination? Not only that, they even stopped using the respectful title of "My Lord" that usually followed the Holy Envoy, and seemed to clearly place Wang Lan in a position more important than the Holy City.

The envoy suddenly regretted his decision; he should have listened to what Wang Lan had been saying to these people these past few days.

"You all heard that, didn't you? The Holy Envoy wants to see how you perform."

Wang Lan looked at the group and said with a smile, "You'd better do your best. Maybe you'll even get a reward if you do well!"

Upon hearing this, the group's eyes lit up, and they all turned to look at the Holy Envoy.

The Holy Envoy paused for a moment, then nodded. "That's for sure. As long as you perform well, the Holy City will certainly not treat you unfairly!"

The group nodded repeatedly, overjoyed.

Wang Lan also looked at the Holy Envoy with a smile on her lips, but no one knew what she was thinking.

He turned to look at the wolf pack, only to see them all raise their heads and look into the distance behind them. This sight made Wang Lan frown immediately.

Wolves have much more acute senses than humans, and any unusual behavior they exhibit will definitely indicate that something is amiss.

Just as Wang Lan was thinking this, a loud explosion suddenly came from the distant, mist-shrouded mountains and forests!

The sound was like thunder, deafening!

Its sound echoed far and wide.

The sound immediately attracted everyone's attention, and they all turned to look.

Wang Lan immediately noticed the Holy Envoy.

Coincidentally, the Holy Envoy also looked at Wang Lan.

"Your people?" Wang Lan asked.

The holy envoy shook his head. "No, even if a holy weapon were to self-destruct, it couldn't produce such a powerful sound!"

"That means there are other people involved!"

Wang Lan suddenly realized and said, "There are other humans in this place!"

"Let's go take a look!"

Regardless of the circumstances, this is a very significant discovery.

If the explosion was indeed caused by human intervention, and not by the people of Hope Village, but by other forces or other survivors from the city, then this would undoubtedly be a huge gain, far exceeding all other values!

"Prepare your equipment!" the Holy Envoy immediately ordered. "Leave the vehicle here, take all the equipment you can carry, and then proceed on foot, at full speed, towards the direction from which the explosion came.

Upon receiving the order, the soldiers in white armor turned around and began to organize their equipment in an orderly manner.

Ding Taishun and the others also looked at Wang Lan.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!