Chapter 63: The Rear Wheel of a Racing Chariot

"Get in!"

Dai Longmei stared intently at the female warrior in the driver's seat. A baseball cap bearing the Dragon Soar insignia was particularly striking. A mask concealed her face, but it made her striking orange eyes all the more prominent, carrying a hint of heroic spirit within them. Her bangs, resting just above her eyebrows, added a playful touch to her appearance.

"Huh?"

Dai Longmei and Lily were stunned for a moment by this moving immortal war chariot and the unusual woman driving it. It felt as though divine soldiers had descended directly from the heavens. Even though the two of them had grown accustomed to strange sights over the past month or so, they were still thoroughly shocked.

"What are you standing there for, dazed?"

"Gr..."

Xuanwu coughed, swallowing the formal title back down into her throat. "Commander Dai, Lady Li. I have come entrusted by the Jade God!"

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

Behind the two of them, the arrows of the White Lion Cavalry continued to rain down. Glancing at the muzzle of the heavy machine gun atop the vehicle, which was spitting fire, Dai Longmei nodded and shouted to Lily, "Get in the car first!"

He turned and rushed through the rain of arrows toward Zhuifeng. Gathering his inner strength into his dantian, he activated his storage ring.

*Guide the breath with the mind... Guide the breath with the mind...*

Dai Longmei tried to use his willpower to control the ethereal energy and open the storage ring. However, he had never tried to store an object as large as a horse inside a storage ring before.

"Zhuifeng, my boy~ Zhuifeng, my boy~"

While soothing Zhuifeng, Dai Longmei concentrated with all his might, trying to widen the opening of the storage ring within his consciousness.

"Hurry up, Dai Longmei!"

Accompanied by Xuanwu's shout, the sinister roaring of the White Lions grew even closer. Even though the vehicle-mounted machine gun on the armored car kept firing, the bullets lacking ethereal energy still could not pierce the bodies and thick ethereal shields of the White Lion riders.

"Kill them! Don't let a single one escape!"

Under the command of Solna, the shield-bearing hags reorganized their formation and lunged toward the three armored vehicles!

"Hurry!"

"Hurry!"

"Hurry up, Dai Longmei!"

"Roar!"

Seeing the sharp claws of a White Lion about to lunge at Zhuifeng's throat, Dai Longmei used his mind to guide his breath at the very last moment.

He successfully widened the opening of the storage ring in his mind. The ethereal energy from the ring surged outward, swallowing Zhuifeng entirely into the storage ring. The White Lion, missing its target and unable to stop in time, crashed headfirst into the cold concrete ground, almost knocking out two of its teeth.

"Meizi! Come quickly!"

Kicking the Nine-Tailed Spirit into the cabin, Lily spat out ethereal energy bullets, attacking the White Lion riders who were lunging forward one after another.

"Hah!"

Dai Longmei stood up and blocked the White Lion master's slash with his sword, then delivered a flying kick that knocked the hag off the lion. He then quickly turned and leaped onto the armored vehicle.

"Let's go, let's go!"

"Falcon Three, Falcon Four, move out!"

"Proceed along the main city road toward the White Tower!"

"Advance in an echelon formation!"

Accompanied by the squealing sound of tires scraping against the ground, the three armored vehicles surged forward quickly, leaving the lunging White Lion riders choking on exhaust fumes and gravel.

"Haha! Those hags probably won't be able to keep up now~"

Wagging her fox tail, Lily collapsed heavily onto the fairly comfortable seat of the armored car.

"You... Miss, who on earth are you..."

Sitting in the front passenger seat, Dai Longmei finally noticed that besides Xuanwu, there was another warrior wearing a Dragon Soar Special Forces uniform and a Kevlar helmet inside the vehicle. However, like the ghost soldiers, this warrior was nothing more than a skeleton.

"I told you, I was sent by the Jade God to assist you."

Xuanwu kept a relaxed grip on the steering wheel while watching the situation in the rearview mirror. It seemed the White Lion riders had not caught up yet.

"Teacher sent you to help us?"

Dai Longmei glanced again at the skeleton warrior standing at the machine gun position.

"Rest assured, these brothers are all from the Dragon Soar Special Forces. Their souls have not been corrupted by the power released by the White Tower."

Xuanwu reached out her right hand and patted the warrior's leg bone.

"Sister Xuan, it hurts~"

The warrior's accent was as hoarse as those of the ghost soldiers, but it clearly carried much more human emotion.

"Oh..."

Although he had many questions to ask, Dai Longmei was well aware of their objective.

"Since you were sent by Teacher to help, Big Sister, you should know that this time we are going to Peace Square to find..."

"Heh~ To find this little fox's true form, right?"

Xuanwu's heroic eyes glanced at Lily, who was pouting in protest. "Don't worry, we are clear on that. Our group has been lurking near the West Gate for months, all to carry out the mission entrusted by that fool."

When mentioning "that fool," Xuanwu's tone grew slightly heavy. "Once you meet your demise in these Dragon City ruins, we are to step in and help you complete the mission."

Hearing Xuanwu's firm words, Dai Longmei's gaze shifted to the rearview mirror, watching the withered trees and tall buildings receding into the distance.

"So, the ones who attacked the big monster in front of the gate back then were also you?"

The sight of more than a hundred javelin missiles striking the giant sandworm was still echoing in Dai Longmei's mind.

"Yes! Along the way, we have been following closely behind you, protecting your safety. However, it seems the brothers on the eastern side ran into some trouble, actually letting those lion-riding bastards in."

Xuanwu vaguely guessed that someone must be helping these White Lion riders who had bypassed the East Gate blockade team and charged into the city.

"You guys are so powerful, able to wield immortal weapons~"

Lily looked around the brand-new interior of the vehicle and the 14.5mm heavy machine gun operated by the special forces member. "Then why didn't you show up when we were in the desert to help intercept those sandworms? Our family's brothers wouldn't have..."

Lily did not continue, because she saw that Dai Longmei had already furrowed his brow, and she did not want to make him sad.

"The movements of sandworms are unpredictable, and the speed of that tunnel-boring machine is extremely fast. The only way to disperse it was to ambush and lure it away when it attacked the invaders in front of the West Gate," Xuanwu said calmly. "Besides, you Jade people don't know that we souls of the past are unable to leave Dragon City."

"Unable... to leave?"

"During the decisive battle at the White Tower back then, we failed to close that White Tower. That fool... led people charging into the tower back then... wanting to disarm those three neutron bombs... but..."

Xuanwu's originally calm orange eyes filled with rage. "That damn evil god!"

Xuanwu's right hand slammed fiercely against the steering wheel. "That damn evil god!"

Dai Longmei did not know what this "immortal" of the past had experienced, but he had heard rumors of the "Evil God."

"The Evil God... is he the guy holding iron weapons and wearing a strange iron helmet?"

Lily's repetition made the anger in Xuanwu's eyes even more obvious. "It's him... it's him!"

"Hehehe, did you miss me?"

That familiar, Demonic Voice rang in Lily's mind right on cue.

"Tsk tsk tsk~ This Fenrir, she can't even handle a small task like catching you..."

The Demonic Voice spoke Stardust language with a Yangji accent, maintaining the same bewitching and maniacal tone.

"Such a useless piece of trash..."

Even though her soul was trapped inside a fox's body, Lily could still feel that gaze staring at her.

"Such a lovely key... If it's not used quickly to open the ethereal gate... What a pity, it's such a—such a—pity—"

The same damned Demonic Voice rang in Xuanwu's mind as well.

"This beast is using dream-manipulation arts to weaken our consciousness again," Liu Huaxi's voice echoed in Xuanwu's mind. Immediately afterward, Xuanwu seemed to see the beastly form of the White Tiger appear in her mind, biting apart the yellow ethereal thread that was reaching toward her soul.

"Help big sister lift that curse as well."

Xuanwu glanced at Lily, who was wearing a terrified expression in the back seat.

"Sigh, my dream-manipulation arts have become much sparser compared to before. My skills are not even as good as the Nine-Tailed Spirit's now."

Sitting beside Lily, the Nine-Tailed Spirit did not seem affected at all. This "heartless" spiritual beast was now comforting Lily, who had fallen into an illusion.

"Tsk tsk tsk~ It seems that dealing with you guys requires more than just a little dream-manipulation illusion... Far from enough!"

*Boom! Boom!*

*Hum~*

From behind the echelon formation, the roaring of car engines sounded once again. Shrapnel and stone fragments were whipped up as dozens of military-green Hummer jeeps charged forward at high speed.

"This is Hunter 5-5. We have caught up with the Dragon Soar infiltration team, over... roar."

"Overlord receives!"

In the earpieces of the Rangers came Overlord's command, which sounded identical to the voice of the Evil God. "All vehicles, intercept and annihilate the enemy infiltration team. This is an order, execute it without fail!"

The roar of the Hummer engines grew even more intense. Dozens of Hummers reinforced with armored plating, charging like rapidly running rhinoceroses, closed in from both sides of the main road.

"Open fire! Roar!"

The roaring of the 12.7mm vehicle-mounted machine guns exploded on the road like thunder. In an instant, a torrential downpour of massive steel bullets slammed into the three advancing Dragon Soar vehicles.

"Falcon Three, hold the left flank! Suppress enemy vehicles with machine gun fire!"

"Falcon Four, move to the right lane..."

The large-caliber machine guns of both sides roared one after another, and the sound of dense gunfire echoed across the road.

Seeing that three Hummers in the right lane had caught up and were about to close in on Falcon Four's rear, the sound of steel-core bullets striking the vehicle body ringing constantly, Xuanwu felt a calm sense of desolation rise in her heart.

"Prepare for sacrifice!"

"Understood!"

There was not a moment of hesitation on the radio. Accompanied by the screeching sound of tires grinding against the ground and dense suppressing machine gun fire, the Tiger armored vehicle carrying Falcon Four veered right directly in front of the Hummers.

"Shoot! Shoot! Don't let a single Yangji devil go!"

The machine gunner of Falcon Four pressed his finger down hard on the trigger with hands that had long since turned into withered bones. The armored vehicle blocking the path of the Rangers stood like a city wall, barring the way of the pursuers on the right.

*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!*

The chaotic sounds of machine guns and rifles firing crackled through the earphones. Dai Longmei poked his head out and looked back at Falcon Four, which had been left behind.

"Are these... Dragon Soar soldiers?"

"No different from you, Commander Dai. They are simply driven by the belief to defend their homeland."

A slight crack appeared in Xuanwu's calm heart, but she still slammed her steering wheel to the left, ramming straight into a Hummer that had pulled up alongside them.

"Xiaoshun! Keep firing! Don't let a single Yangji soldier get close!"

"Yeah! Guaranteed..."

The skeleton team member named Xiaoshun had barely replied when his skull was smashed to pieces by several large-caliber machine gun rounds. His body slumped into the cabin, causing the timid Nine-Tailed Spirit to let out a miserable shriek.

"He..."

Lily, still trapped in the terrifying illusion, caught a glimpse of the warrior's bones gradually turning into orange crystals and scattering inside the vehicle compartment.

"Return, O soul! Ascend to heaven, O soul!"

Dai Longmei was very familiar with this eulogy; he would also recite these lines when paying tribute to the millions of Lianshan soldiers who had died in battle.

However, as Xuanwu chanted the eulogy, she retrieved a red metal canister from the storage ring on her hand. The absorption port on the metal canister opened automatically, quickly sucking in the scattered orange crystals inside the vehicle.

"Dragon Soar perished over a thousand years ago. Those who fled do not know where they went, and those who died could not even have their corpses buried in the earth. To be able to die in one's homeland is already quite fortunate."

Tears welled up in Xuanwu's eyes, but they quickly vanished.

"Xiaoshun has died once more... This means he has finally gone home."

Dai Longmei looked at the crystals inside the metal canister, suddenly feeling a sense of sorrow.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"

The pursuing evil spirits did not afford him the time for reflection.

"Ah ah! There are also those freaks with guns! Big Sister!"

Dai Longmei climbed from the front passenger seat up to the machine gun position. Some crystal powder still lingered on the machine gun trigger.

"How do you use this bronze contraption?"