"Where is your 'Guardian Angel' Zhang Hai?" He slowly got out of the car, toying with a rusty machete in his hand. "Oh, I forgot. He and his bunch of reckless henchmen insisted on provoking 'Ironclad Earth Dragon' yesterday. Now, they've probably been digested to pieces."
boom!
This news struck everyone present like a bolt from the blue.
Zhang Hai... is dead?
Zhang Wei's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. He roared, grabbed a steel pipe from beside him, and was about to charge forward.
"I kill you!"
"Overestimating yourself." One-Eyed Dragon didn't even make a move himself. One of his henchmen grinned maliciously and kicked Zhang Wei in the chest.
How could Zhang Wei's already weak body withstand such a kick? He screamed and flew backward, crashing heavily to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and then lost consciousness.
"Zhang Wei!" Meng Yao screamed, instinctively wanting to rush over.
But her steps were firmly rooted to the spot by the one-eyed man's gaze.
The single eye lit up the moment it saw Meng Yao. It was a light filled with greed and possessiveness.
Even in this apocalyptic world, with her face covered in filth and her hair dry and yellow, Meng Yao's natural beauty could not be completely concealed.
Her features were so exquisite, like those of a figure in a painting. Even under the large, tattered cloth, her tall and slender figure was still evident.
In this ruin filled with ugliness and despair, she was like a pure white lotus flower, tenaciously blooming in the mud.
"Tsk tsk tsk... I never expected that such a desolate place would hide such a gem."
The one-eyed man licked his chapped lips and walked step by step toward Meng Yao.
Meng Yao turned pale with fright. She backed away step by step, holding her younger sister even tighter in her arms.
"You...you stay away!"
"Don't be afraid, little beauty." The one-eyed man's smile grew even more sinister. "All your men are dead. From today onwards, you, and everything here, belong to my 'Sand Wolf Gang.' I will 'treat' you well. Hahaha!"
The surrounding members of the "Sand Wolf Gang" laughed unrestrainedly. They began to drag the survivors out of their hiding places one by one, like herding livestock.
Rebellion?
Before absolute power, any resistance is futile. How could these starving, emaciated survivors possibly stand a chance against these vicious thugs?
Despair, like a plague, spread among the people.
Meng Yao retreated to a corner, with nowhere left to go. She looked at the one-eyed man closing in, her eyes filled with endless fear and hatred. Her younger sister, in her arms, was already crying loudly in terror.
She instinctively reached for a sharp shard of glass hidden at her waist.
That was her last trump card.
If... if things really come to an irreversible point, she would rather die with her sister than let herself fall into the hands of these demons.
Just as the one-eyed man's filthy hand was about to touch her cheek.
Sudden--
"Buzz—"
A strange, deep humming sound from the sky suddenly resounded throughout the entire canyon.
This sound was completely different from the mournful wind in the canyon. It possessed an indescribable beauty, full of power and a sense of order.
Everyone instinctively stopped what they were doing, looked up at the sky.
Above the gray sky, which was perpetually shrouded in yellow sand, three enormous black dots, shimmering with a silvery-white metallic luster, were rapidly approaching at an incredible speed.
What is that?
airplane?
No way! How could there possibly be airplanes in this world?
As the three black dots drew closer, their outlines became increasingly clear.
That wasn't an airplane at all!
Those were three streamlined, futuristic-looking airships that people had only ever seen in movies!
Their shells, smooth as mirrors, reflect the pale sunlight high in the sky. From their bases, they emit a soft, pale blue aura of energy, allowing them to float silently in mid-air.
On the largest of the ships, an insignia composed of stars and swords, clearly visible, gleamed in the sunlight.
"What...what the hell is that?"
The one-eyed man tilted his head back, his sinister smile frozen in place, replaced by unprecedented shock and horror.
Not only him, but everyone present, including Meng Yao, stared blankly at the sky, forgetting their fear, their hunger, and everything else.
The scene before them was completely beyond their comprehension.
Just then, the hatch of one of the smaller ships slowly opened.
A beam of light descended from the sky and landed on the central open space of the gathering point.
Immediately afterwards, a dozen figures clad in pure black, futuristic power armor silently landed on the ground, following the beam of light.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized, and they landed silently, instantly forming a standard combat formation.
The weapons they held were strangely shaped and shimmered with a ghostly blue energy.
Through their completely sealed helmet visors, all that could be seen was a deep, emotionless red glow.
A cold, chilling, and almost tangible aura instantly enveloped the entire area.
Compared to these "gods" who descended from the sky, the so-called thugs of the "Sand Wolf Gang" were simply a bunch of ridiculous savages wielding wooden sticks.
The lead armored soldier stepped forward. From the loudspeaker built into his helmet came a cold, emotionless, standard Mandarin.
"According to Article 137 of the Wartime Laws of the Kingdom of Stars, any organization that takes hostile actions such as violence, looting, or insults against prospective citizens of the Kingdom will be defined as a 'hostile armed force.' We will have the right to eliminate them by all necessary means without warning."
The sound wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.
Kingdom of Stars?
Preparatory citizen?
These unfamiliar words left most of the survivors present feeling bewildered.
But the one-eyed man of the "Sand Wolf Gang" seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. After the initial shock, his inherent ferocity and arrogance once again took over.
"Ha! Playing tricks!" He spat, raised his machete, and pointed it at the armored warriors: "I don't care what kingdom you are! In this Wind-Weeping Canyon, I, 'One-Eyed Dragon,' am the law! Brothers, charge! Tear these tin cans apart! The women and spaceships inside are all ours!"
Incited by him, the group of thugs, who were already used to licking blood from the blade, also let out beast-like howls, brandished their weapons, and charged forward.
Facing the oncoming crowd, the dozen or so armored soldiers didn't even flinch.
The captain, in the lead, calmly issued a two-word order.
"wipe out."
The next second.
More than a dozen soldiers simultaneously raised their energy rifles.
There was no hail of bullets, no deafening roar.
Only a dozen or so pale blue, hair-thin beams of energy flashed by in the air.
The "Sand Wolf Gang" members at the forefront didn't even have time to scream before their bodies were instantly vaporized by the high temperature, silently turning into the most basic particles and dissipating into the air in the blue light.
The charging crowd came to an abrupt halt.
Everyone stared in horror at the bizarre and terrifying scene before them.
The arrogance on the one-eyed man's face was instantly replaced by boundless fear. He let out a scream and turned to run away.
But a beam of blue light caught up with him precisely.
His imposing figure, like his men, vanished silently, as if he had never existed at all.
In just a few seconds.
The once arrogant, ferocious, and violent "Sand Wolf Gang" was completely and cleanly "erased" from this world.
The whole process was so fast it felt like an unreal dream.
Having done all this, the armored soldiers acted as if they had merely crushed a few ants. They put away their weapons and stood in neat rows again.
The captain, who was at the head of the group, turned around and faced the survivors who were already terrified.
The red glow on his helmet softened somewhat.
His voice rang out again through the loudspeaker, this time no longer cold, but with a formulaic yet gentle warmth that was enough to bring tears to the eyes of everyone present.
"We are the Seventh Rescue Team, subordinate to the First Expeditionary Exploration Fleet of the Star Kingdom."
"By order of His Majesty King Lin Feng, I have come to receive all the fellow citizens of Blue Star who have been stranded abroad."
"From now on, you are safe."
"Welcome home."
When the words "Welcome home" were clearly heard, Meng Yao could no longer suppress her emotions.
Years of pent-up fear, resentment, pain, and despair erupted at this moment, like a flood bursting its banks.
She hugged her younger sister, knelt down, and burst into tears.
Crying is contagious.
Throughout the gathering place, all the survivors, regardless of age or gender, wept uncontrollably.
They cried and vented their emotions.
Amid their cries, the enormous, silvery-white ship slowly descended from the sky. The hatch opened, revealing a bright, clean interior filled with warm light.
A group of staff members dressed in white medical gowns, with gentle smiles on their faces, pushed down various high-tech medical devices that they had never heard of before, with light steps.
They provided emergency treatment to the injured Zhang Wei.
Deep wounds, exposing the bone, began to heal at a visible speed under a gel-like spray.
They offered the hungry children warm, fragrant nutritional paste.
Meng Xin took only a small bite, and her dim eyes immediately regained their luster.
They covered everyone with clean, temperature-regulating thermal blankets.
Meng Yao stared blankly at the miraculous scene before her.
She looked at the warriors, clad in black armor, who resembled gods.
She looked at the medical staff who had gentle smiles and were like angels.
She looked at the huge, majestic, and reassuring airship in the sky.
Finally, that name echoed repeatedly in her mind—
Your Majesty Lin Feng.
It was this man who sent heavenly soldiers and generals to save them from the brink of hell.
It was this man who gave them a... "home" when they were at their most desperate and helpless.
At this moment, an indescribable emotion, a mixture of gratitude, admiration, curiosity, and awe, surged wildly within Meng Yao's heart.
She wanted to see him.
She wanted to see for herself what kind of being this godlike man who had created all these miracles was.
Once this thought arises, it can never be stopped.
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