Main Text: Chapter 97 — Never Abandon, Never Give Up (Part Two)

The Rat was about to go mad with fury—this reckless girl was truly impossible to deal with.

"Don't push me!" The muscles in his face trembled.

Wen Wan remained unmoved: "Don't you push me!"

Everyone else could only watch as the brother and sister clashed, each waiting to see who would yield.

"What are you two doing? Get moving, now!"

From around the corner behind them, the Ox appeared with his men. They had been retreating while fighting, only to find that the people ahead had stopped, and he couldn't help but shout.

"Move it! The enemy's firepower is too intense! We can't hold much longer!"

Wen Wan's and the Rat's eyes met, and the very air seemed to drop a few degrees. In the end, it was the Rat who gave in: "You win."

Seeing the Rat release his grip on the gun, Wen Wan finally smiled. "That's more like it, my silly big brother!"

"What kind of stunt are you two pulling?"

The Ox caught up with his men, scanning the terrain while gasping for breath.

"The Rat and the Tiger have gone crazy—they told us to abandon them and run for our lives," the Snake said with a sigh.

"Impossible!"

The Ox chuckled and was about to speak when his expression suddenly shifted. "They're catching up! Move!"

"There are people on the left too!"

"And pursuers on the right!"

"They've split their forces to surround us!"

With every sentence, the faces of the group grew heavier. Suddenly, the Monkey leaped high, as if yanked from the ground like a pulled turnip, and scrambled nimbly up a tall tree, gazing into the distance.

"Just as I thought—I can see people ahead too. Comrades, I'm afraid we're surrounded."

He said it lightly, as if making a joke.

Surrounded by dozens of times their number, it seemed this was where they would all end today... After two seconds of silence, everyone leaned against the great tree or massive boulders, none speaking. When the moment truly arrived, strangely, they felt no fear at all.

The clamor of footsteps and the jabbering foreign tongue grew closer. Not far away, figures flickered in the gloom like a dark cloud descending, bringing endless shadow, inch by inch pushing them toward the abyss of darkness.

"Comrades, so long as Master Yun gets the goods back safely, our mission is complete. We still have a chance—we can still make it home." The Ox's broad face broke into a blooming smile, his tone as gentle as a breeze brushing one's cheeks. "Open a gap, and there's hope to live. Rat, I hope you'll keep leading everyone forward. Don't let me down!"

"What are you saying! You can't mean—" The Rat's expression shifted, and he blurted out.

"Haha! Remember to build me a cenotaph back home when you return!"

The Ox suddenly burst into laughter that reached the heavens, then a crimson glow enveloped him. White light blazed from his eyes, and his unstoppable momentum sent countless leaves swirling into the air.

"Kill!"

His form exploded forward, charging straight into the enemy's position, marching gladly to his death.

"No!"

Everyone's eyes tore with grief. Opening the body-forging technique twice in a single day meant severe injury and unconsciousness the moment the time elapsed—that was exactly how the Rat and the Tiger had been wounded.

Boom!

"Old Ox, how could one man be enough!" the Rooster called out at the Ox's retreating back, then activated the technique and smiled softly. "Brothers, I'm off too! Tiger, survive—next life, I'll still fight you for the top spot!"

Boom!

"Hey, you two bastards are playing hero and didn't even call me. Brothers, if you make it back alive, remember to visit my parents! I'm counting on you!" The Goat wiped away his tears, activated the technique, and walked straight into the gunfire.

Boom!

"Add me to the count! Four of us on the road—at least we can fill a mahjong table." The Boar activated the technique right behind him, then glanced at his comrades and said softly, "The rest of you, don't get involved. Get through the gap quickly. Don't let us die for nothing!"

"Old Boar is coming!"

Another figure vanished.

The others were long since drenched in tears, their hearts stabbed as if by knives, gritting their teeth as they watched beloved comrades carve a channel of hope with their own lives, aching to charge after them.

"We move. Now!"

The Rat roared. How he wished he could have been the one to go first, but now he could not betray the goodwill of those four brothers—could not let their deaths be in vain.

Everyone snapped back to attention, moving in silence, though the tears never ceased to flow.

Wen Wan picked up the stretcher, and with a burst of effort, just as she stood—a shadow tackled her to the ground.

"Watch out!"

"Sniper!"

Blood splattered.

Instinctively, everyone ducked behind cover again. When they turned, the Dragon was slowly sinking to his knees, a scarlet blossom unfurling across his chest.

Wen Wan froze for a moment, then hastily caught the Dragon's collapsing body, crying out in panic: "Don't scare me, don't scare me."

The Dragon's mouth twisted slightly, and dark red blood poured out unchecked—but he looked happy.

"So you do care about me. That's nice."

"Don't talk nonsense. Shush, you'll be fine, you'll be fine." Tears blurred Wen Wan's eyes as she pressed desperately against his wound with both hands.

"If I don't say it now, it'll be too late." The Dragon shook his head slightly, yet his voice was unshakably firm. "Dragon—I know your real name is Wen Wan. Do you know mine?"

"No. Tell me when we get back!"

"Shh! I want to say it. My real name is Di Chen. Pretty, isn't it? Please, remember that name. I—"

He spat out another mouthful of blood.

"—I'm done for. Going down ahead of you. I know I annoyed you, so you'd better wait a hundred and eighty years before you come down... Comrade Wen Wan, I'll still latch onto you in the next life..."

He smiled one last time, then his body went slack.

Wen Wan suddenly stopped crying. She laid the Dragon's body down gently, then murmured to herself: "I never owe anyone a debt. You saved my life, so I'll pay it back right now—Di Chen!"

Boom!

She activated the technique, cast one look back at the Rat and her comrades, then charged out.

"Missy is going too!"

"No! Come back!" The Rat, enduring searing pain, leapt to his feet and tried to grab her—but his hands only clutched empty air as he watched her go.

Her silhouette was like a phoenix soaring into flight.

"Heh heh, how touching. That's how you Huaxia soldiers are—one after another rushing to die. Don't you know to cherish life? But today, not a single one of you is getting away!" A cold, sinister voice suddenly rang out from above, followed by the same voice speaking in a foreign tongue: "Don't kill them—take them all alive. They carry something very important! Don't you want the secret of their superhuman arts?"

The moment the words fell, a small, dark, skinny old man with a red band around his head and a wispy mustache appeared on a branch of the great tree. A formidable aura crushed down upon the whole scene as he looked at them from on high, his small eyes brimming with mockery and greed.

A grandmaster!

"Back then, weren't you all so haughty when you bullied my great South Viet? Now you've finally fallen into my hands. Everything you have is mine—even your corpses, even your souls!"

The little old man laughed triumphantly, his tone dripping with profound cruelty.

"Is that so? Shouldn't you ask for my opinion?"

Another clear, cool voice suddenly rang through the air.