Chapter 898: Shooting

"Thanks," Li Huowang said as he quickly put on the bulletproof vest with their help. With the enemy situation unclear, wearing it made him feel much more secure.

"Don't thank us," someone said. "Qingwanglai prepared it for you; we knew you wouldn't have brought one." Seeing Li Huowang look at him, Qingwanglai, who was loading a magazine into his pistol, smiled and nodded.

"Fifth Sister, do you really trust Qingwanglai? What kind of person is he, truly? Don't tell me you haven't figured it out." Li Huowang looked at Wu Qi, who seemed more normal than the others.

"Of course, I've figured it out," Wu Qi replied, picking up a helmet and placing it on Li Huowang's head. "But don't you find dealing with people like him quite simple? As long as you understand how they operate." Wu Qi tapped Li Huowang's helmet. "Li Huowang, don't think Zhao Shuangdian is much better. There isn't a normal person among us here."

Hearing this, Li Huowang said nothing more, turning his gaze to Wu Qi's and Zhao Shuangdian's weapons. Wu Qi didn't appear to be carrying a weapon; instead, she had a medical kit, suggesting she was preparing to be a field medic this time. As for Chen Hongyu, she pulled out a spiked mace from the trunk.

"We're about to engage. Is that all you're bringing?" Li Huowang asked.

Chen Hongyu shook her head indifferently. "It's fine. I don't rely on this. I have special abilities."

Li Huowang sighed deeply, lowered his head, and moved away from her. He approached Zhao Shuangdian, watching her adjust the scope of her sniper rifle. "Where do we go next?"

"Follow her." Li Huowang followed her red-nail-polished finger and looked at the thin little girl standing nearby, whose face twitched occasionally. Unlike the others, she wasn't holding any weapon. Instead, she pulled out a tablet and quickly tapped on it.

With everything ready and everyone gathered, she reiterated to them, "Remember, from now on, everything is under my command. No questioning or contradicting. No matter what the world looks like to you now, first remember a few things. We are all in this together; you absolutely must not betray your companions. And don't be soft-hearted. Any hostile entities must be eliminated. Finally, remember this: we are now outside the Elephant; they are inside."

After saying this, Zhao Shuangdian nodded to the little girl. The girl immediately pulled out a VR headset connected to the tablet and put it on her head. Wearing the headset, she began searching the dark Gobi Desert. Although it was night, it wasn't pitch black. Everything around them was either completely invisible or vaguely discernible.

Li Huowang, weighed down by his heavy gear, walked at the front, his hands gripping his knife handle, ready to charge at the enemy at any moment. "Can this really work? Can we really use this method to go to another Elephant?" Li Huowang remained somewhat skeptical of Zhao Shuangdian's claims. Despite his doubts, he intended to give it his all, understanding that reality would be the ultimate arbiter. Until he saw tangible proof, he would treat their words as hypotheses, not facts.

What Li Huowang didn't expect was that their search would be so long. They walked for nearly an hour across the Gobi Desert without finding anything. Just then, Li Huowang suddenly spotted something. He snatched Zhao Lei's flashlight and shone it on the ground. "Wait!"

Hearing Li Huowang, everyone gathered around. "Look! There are footprints on the ground, and they're our own! We're just going in circles!"

Zhao Shuangdian lowered her sunglasses an inch, looked at Li Huowang's face, hidden by his helmet, and said, word for word, "Everything is under command."

Li Huowang said nothing more, threw the flashlight down, and continued walking, head bowed. He couldn't understand how circling outside the Elephant would get them inside.

After another hour of walking, Li Huowang began to feel tired. Even though they were moving slowly, the gear he wore was incredibly heavy. A "bang" startled Li Huowang, instantly dispelling his fatigue. He quickly turned to see Zhao Shuangdian lowering the sniper rifle she had rested on Ba Shengqing's shoulder.

Li Huowang immediately tightened his grip on his weapon and rushed towards the direction of the gunshot. A large pool of blood on the ground shocked Li Huowang. Given the amount of blood, a person would have lost almost all their blood. It was incredible that someone could escape in such a state. A finger dipped into the blood on the ground, then was inserted into Zhao Shuangdian's mouth, where she tasted it. "They know we're here," she said.

"Beware, our enemies aren't just on one side. We don't yet know from which direction they'll attack. Ling, how's it going? Are we almost there?" Zhao Shuangdian asked, looking at the little girl still wearing the headset.

"The Elephant is formless."

The moment she spoke, a bullet tore through her tongue and exited her mouth. The little girl's entire head exploded, and half of her terrified face landed directly at Li Huowang's feet.

"Get down! They have an anti-material sniper!" As the little girl's headless body fell to the ground, almost everyone immediately dropped to the ground and took cover, except for Chen Hongyu, who stood there, focusing her energy.

"Mmm-mm!" Li Huowang tackled Chen Hongyu, who was channeling her energy. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Don't stop me! Let me use my power!"

Li Huowang, pinning Chen Hongyu down, silently cursed Qingwanglai countless times. What was the point of bringing a madwoman in this situation? She was completely useless.

"Let her go. She has a way to deal with this." When Qingwanglai said this, Zhao Shuangdian repeated it. Li Huowang, still hesitant, rolled off Chen Hongyu. Lying on the ground, Li Huowang watched Chen Hongyu get back up. He desperately wanted to know how she planned to solve this crisis.

Flashlights clicked on, their beams converging on Chen Hongyu, making her conspicuously visible in the dark environment. Just as Chen Hongyu was hovering and channeling her power, another gunshot rang out, and Chen Hongyu fell.

"Eleven o'clock!" Zhao Shuangdian's voice had barely faded when everyone with a gun quickly turned and began firing in that direction. When the firing stopped, a red flare was thrown, illuminating two distant bodies.

Li Huowang looked at the motionless Chen Hongyu on the ground, then glared at Zhao Shuangdian and Qingwanglai, gritting his teeth. "So your 'way to deal with it' was to use her as bait, wasn't it?!"

"No, she has special abilities. I chose to trust her," Qingwanglai said with a smile to Li Huowang.