"You're too naive, aren't you?" The parrot clutched its wound, took a step back with a grim expression, and curled its lips into an ugly smile. "From the moment I changed the signal strip, I never thought of leaving this forest!"

"Are you crazy!" Yu Huo exclaimed in shock and anger, taking a big step forward and grabbing the parrot by the collar. "If you don't want to live anymore, don't drag me into it!"

"We're the ones who're crazy!" The parrot, seemingly out of nowhere, suddenly swung away Yu Huo's arm, then staggered back two steps. "We can't go back! Do you think we, who have been lurking around Mu Yanxuan for so many years, can still go back to Qin Lichang's side now!"

The parrot's pent-up emotions erupted in an instant. He retreated in despair, crashing into a tree and sitting down, tears streaming down his face. "Damn it, from the moment we decided to carry out Qin Lichang's mission, we had no way out."

"You!" Yu Huo looked at the parrot's pained and ferocious face, and felt a pang of sympathy himself. He glanced back at the dark, bottomless forest, and sat down wearily on the ground. "If I had known it would turn out like this..."

In fact, he had a premonition that even if they killed Mu Yanxuan this time, they would never be able to go back now. Qin Lichang would never accept a subordinate who had been lurking in the enemy camp for so long, whether for personal or professional reasons.

Moreover, they hadn't even killed Mu Yanxuan with their own hands yet.

"Parrot, why did we continue this mission in the first place?" Yu Huo looked up at the pitch-black surroundings and blinked with some regret.

The parrot shook its head, then stood up with a wry smile. "Have you forgotten why we came here a few years ago?"

Forget? How could he forget? Yu Huo closed his eyes nostalgically. He had joined the military with great enthusiasm, but he felt that the most passionate time of his life was when he was on missions with Mu Yanxuan and the others. If he had to say what his most painful and regrettable thing was, it wasn't joining Qin Lichang's army, but that he had to carry out this mission of betrayal.

"I still want to live." Yu Huo raised her head, her eyes momentarily clouded, then regained their resolve. But that resolve no longer held the purity it once had; instead, it was filled with confusion.

He glanced down at the parrot sitting on the ground in a daze, made a snap decision, his strong arm muscles twitched slightly, and in the blink of an eye, a large patch of flames surrounded the parrot.

"Fishing Fire, what are you doing!" The parrot stood up in shock and anger, but before it could dodge the oncoming flames, the scorching flames pierced its body, and the intense pain prevented it from even making a sound.

Looking at the parrot, whose face was now unrecognizable, Yu Huo remained silent for a moment before tearing off a large piece of his clothes and placing it on the parrot. "I'm sorry, but I want to live."

The parrot is a communication ability user. As long as he is around, they can easily be targeted by Qin Lichang and Mu Yanxuan's people. In that case, they can only keep running away, wandering and living a life worse than death.

“As long as you die, Qin Lichang will probably think we’re dead too, and then…” She should be alright. Yu Huo murmured to herself, looking down at the lifeless Yu Huo, gave a final military salute, then left the mess behind her and turned to walk into the unknown darkness.

Since there's no turning back, we can only keep going.

...

At this moment, inside the Xiyu base, Yu Zhenlong looked at the documents in his hand and happily crossed his legs.

"Zhong Ran, you're the head of the search department. What do you think of our collaboration this time?" Yu Zhenlong looked at Zhong Ran sitting across the table and handed him the documents in his hand.

“Your choice is certainly correct.” Zhong Ran smiled obsequiously, his smile deepening as he looked at the documents in his hand. “Isn’t Mu Yanxuan from the Southern Military Region already in a precarious situation? We can just continue cooperating with Qin Lichang’s side from now on.”

Zhong Jue stood beside Zhong Ran, glancing down at the document without uttering a word.

"Alright, send word to Beihuang, Donglin, and Nanxiao that Mu Yanxuan from the Southern Military Region is missing. We can all launch an attack on their troops stationed on the border." Yu Zhenlong chuckled, then lit a cigarette and smiled merrily. Their four bases had been oppressed by the so-called border troops because of the overwhelming strength of the Southern Military Region. Now it was time to get rid of these troublesome border guys in one fell swoop. Once they were out of trouble, they could expand their territory outwards, and becoming powerful would only be a matter of time.

"Who told Mu Yanxuan to be so arrogant? Now it's great, we don't have to be so subservient to him anymore." Zhong Ran, seeing Yu Zhenlong in a good mood, quickly chimed in, his forty-something-year-old man's fawning, wrinkled smile making one feel a little nauseous. Yu Zhenlong looked at Zhong Ran, who only knew how to flatter him, and his smile faded slightly.

When Zhong Ran saw Yu Zhenlong's smile fade, her heart skipped a beat, and her smile froze on her face, looking quite comical. Seeing that the atmosphere in the room was off, Zhong Jue thought for a moment, looked at the documents in Zhong Ran's hand, and suddenly whispered, "This cooperation is good, but if Qin Lichang becomes the second Mu Yanxuan, it will be a loss."

Yu Zhenlong looked up, seemingly only then noticing Zhong Jue standing to the side. He raised an eyebrow, then leaned back in his chair. "It's not impossible, you are..."

"My name is Zhong Jue, and I am the son of Zhong Ran, the head of the search department. I am currently the captain of the first squad of the search department." When Zhong Jue saw that Yu Zhenlong had his eyes on him, he quickly bowed and said.

“So stubborn…” Yu Zhenlong chuckled. “Tell me what we should do. We can’t let Qin Lichang stand above us like Mu Yanxuan does.”

Zhong Jue confidently raised his head, his words filled with the fearlessness of youth, and laughed, "What's the big deal? As long as we develop our Xiyu base to a level that Qin Lichang fears before he can develop it further, that's enough."

“Back then, we had a full ten years to develop our forces. Now, all we need to do is take advantage of the military’s internal chaos to break through the border military’s outposts, expand outwards, and actively cooperate with the other three major bases to ensure that our forces are not isolated. Even if the military restores order afterward, they won’t be able to bully us again.” Zhong Jue confidently stepped forward, speaking eloquently, while he also saw the admiration in Yu Zhenlong’s eyes.

“Zhong Ran, you have a good son.” Yu Zhenlong chuckled, standing up as if he had made a decision. “The current search department needs some fresh blood… From today onwards, Zhong Jue will be the new captain of the search department. Zhong Ran, you just need to teach your son well. After all, your son is still young and there are many things he doesn’t understand.”

Zhong Ran was stunned, unable to believe that her position had been so easily taken away by her son. (To be continued.)