Open Scheme

Lu Su and Wen Jing hurried back to Jizhou Town.

After handing over the Blood of Sublimation, the two of them had no other missions for the time being.

Before long, the other squads also returned to Jizhou Town one after another.

However, missions always came with risks. Not every squad had gone as smoothly as theirs.

Some convoys even had Demon Army Elite Cadres among them, causing quite a bit of trouble for certain squads.

But injuries and even death were common in the Shuběi Army, so the atmosphere in the city was not particularly grim.

Still, Lu Su began to doubt his earlier judgment. "Could it really have just been a coincidence that the convoy Wen Jing and I encountered was relatively weak?"

Over the past few days, he had also made some inquiries. Some of the other squads, like them, had seized Blood of Sublimation, but others had found materials for different Demon Army experiments instead.

"Forget it. There’s no point thinking so much about it."

Lu Su let out a soft breath and buried his doubts deep inside.

In the end, these were matters Kuang Shou Zheng and the others should be considering, not a mere Commander of the Gendarmerie like him.

Just then, Lu Su’s phone vibrated.

It was an internally encrypted message ordering all Jade Grade Card Masters in the city who could still move to report to the camp.

Seeing that there were two or three fewer Jade Grade Card Masters in the camp than last time, Lu Su tugged on Wen Jing’s sleeve. "Wen Jing, this time’s casualties should count as fairly low, right?"

Two or three Jade Grade Card Masters were nothing to a border stronghold the size of Jizhou Town.

But elsewhere, even the weakest Jade Grade Card Master could easily suppress a small city as long as there was no opponent of the same rank interfering.

Yet upon hearing him, the short-haired woman, who usually acted carefree, grew serious for once. "No. Every Jade Grade is valuable talent to the Shuběi Army. Even losing one is a tremendous loss."

"But this is the Shuběi Army. No one can say whether they’ll live to see tomorrow’s sun."

"Besides, Xiao Luo, why do you think we’ve been shrinking the defensive line?"

Great Ming and the Demon Army had been locked in a standoff for many years, maintaining a dynamic balance in the past. But with secret realms appearing more and more frequently in recent years, Great Ming was beginning to struggle to maintain its original sprawling defensive line.

With a sigh, Wen Jing said quietly, "Actually, it also has something to do with Ye Diantang."

"If a Hall of Fame Grade Secret Realm hadn’t appeared in the Shu Region, our Shuběi Army wouldn’t be under such strain."

After saying that, she returned to her previous indifferent manner, as though she had said nothing at all. "Ah, Xiao Luo, don’t think so much about it. That sort of thing doesn’t have much to do with us."

"We only need to follow orders."

Lu Su silently nodded.

At that moment, Commander-in-Chief Kuang Shou Zheng saw that everyone had arrived and spoke. "Everyone did very well on the last mission."

"However, yesterday I received another intelligence report saying that the Demon Army has another batch of experimental materials about to be transported."

As he spoke, the bald man swept his gaze across the people present.

Lu Su, however, was somewhat puzzled.

"So soon?"

In his view, if he were a Demon Army commander, there was no way he would arrange two escort missions in quick succession.

After all, they had lost so many convoys last time. The Shuběi Army had practically made it clear that they could intercept the relevant information.

Just as Lu Su was preparing to report his guess to Kuang Shou Zheng, he heard him continue, "But this time, I hope everyone will be more vigilant."

"There’s a strong possibility that this is a trap laid by the Demon Army, but we have no choice but to go."

Hearing that, Lu Su was first stunned, then inwardly relaxed.

Right. If even he could think of it, how could Kuang Shou Zheng, the Commander-in-Chief, fail to?

And the bald man was right.

This time, the Demon Army was using an Open Scheme.

They were openly telling them: so what if you can intercept our information? Are you coming or not?

If they came, then they would fight it out for real.

If they did not, then the Demon Army would transport away the experimental materials.

The Shuběi Army did not dare gamble that there was nothing important among those materials.

At that thought, Lu Su could not help sighing inwardly. In the end, it all comes down to whose fists are bigger.

At the same time, Kuang Shou Zheng’s final words reached his ears. "The groupings remain the same. Go back and make your preparations."

Lu Su had no objections to still being paired with Wen Jing.

Not only had she taken good care of him during missions, but the two of them, having worked together for some time, would certainly have better coordination.

He just did not know whether Wen Jing’s previous partner had died or been transferred elsewhere.

As he was thinking that, Wen Jing casually slung an arm over his shoulder. "This time, we might run into Demon Army elites. Are you really going to be okay, Xiao Luo?"

"Don’t force yourself. If anything happens to you, I won’t be able to explain it to Lord Zhang."

Lu Su naturally knew the short-haired woman was concerned for him. He deliberately put on a profound expression. "Before us, there are no enemies."

"?"

Wen Jing shuddered and immediately moved away from Lu Su, then began whistling as though she did not know him.

A light breeze swept up the snow on the ground, while tire tracks from snow-ready vehicles carved lines across the earth.

At the center of a large convoy, a humanoid demon with a Leopard Face quietly reported to the three Demon Army cadres before him, who were resting with their eyes closed. "My lords, we are nearing the place where the incident occurred last time."

The cadre seated in the middle answered casually without opening his eyes. "Understood. Tell those below to keep an eye on the surroundings."

"Yes."

In the distance, Lu Su and Wen Jing lay prone atop another hill.

Buried beneath thick snow, they looked completely unremarkable from the outside. Moreover, Wen Jing had used a card ability to conceal their presence.

"Three."

"Wen Jing, should we make our move now?"

Wen Jing shook her head slightly. "Wait until they’ve gone farther and let their guard down."

As she spoke, she could not help glancing at the large belt around Lu Su’s waist.

After hiding there for so long, she had secretly looked at it several times, yet still could not make sense of it.

Before setting out, however, the youth had confidently claimed that it was his life-saving trump card, though nothing had changed after he put it on.

Lu Su had done so, naturally, to learn from General Duanmu’s fine tradition of never taking off his belt.

As the convoy gradually traveled farther away, Wen Jing withdrew her gaze and shouted softly, "Move!"

The next moment, Ulquiorra had already appeared behind the distant convoy.

But unlike last time, the black-and-white, emotionless Soul Reaper had not claimed many lives before someone stopped him.

Boom!

The earth-shaking blast sent snow flying into the sky.

"So it really is you, high-risk target Four-Winged Demon, Unnamed."

A voice came from behind the falling snow.

Ulquiorra also recognized the speaker as Yeru, the one he had fought during the previous siege battle.

With a casual throw, he hurled the emerald-green Spirit Spear in his hand, instantly carving a hollow streak through the snow.

Ignoring the attack that grazed his body, Yeru turned to the other two Demon Army cadres beside him. "My authorization to use my ability should have come through by now, right?"

"Go all out. The lord has approved it."

Upon hearing that, Yeru smiled.

Thump!

A dull heartbeat rang out. The low-ranking demons present clutched their hearts one after another, looking painfully at Yeru not far before them.

Then, countless streams of blood gathered in Yeru’s hand.

Behind him lay desiccated corpses drained completely of blood.

With no warning at all, a scarlet Blood Blade instantly swept through the spot Ulquiorra had just occupied, leaving a long, narrow scar in the ground. The bloodstains stood out starkly against the white snow.

"You think such tricks can shake me?"

An emotionless voice sounded. Ulquiorra’s unharmed figure appeared instantly beside Yeru, his Spirit Spear viciously stabbing toward him.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Emerald and scarlet intertwined.

The two had already exchanged many blows in just a few seconds.

Naturally, the other two Demon Army cadres wanted to go help Yeru, but unfortunately, Wen Jing’s cards had already entangled them.

"As expected of a high-risk target. You really are troublesome."

The Blood Blade swept across. Ulquiorra raised his Spirit Spear, intending to block it.

But to his surprise, the instant the two weapons made contact, the Blood Blade suddenly broke apart, then re-formed against the inside of his arm.

The next moment, a pale right arm flew high into the air, landing in the snow and sending up a spray of flakes.

"What a pity."

Seeing this, Yeru smacked his lips and looked with some irritation at Ulquiorra, who had revealed himself in the distance.

In the demons’ eyes, Ulquiorra’s severed right arm was regenerating at high speed, already fully restored within a few breaths.

"That’s why cards like yours with such absurd regeneration are just cheating!"

Yeru attacked Ulquiorra again in frustration, the Blood Blade in his hand swinging wildly in every direction.

Scarlet light scattered everywhere. Trees for several kilometers around had been cut in half by Yeru’s attacks, and the surrounding snow was littered with specks of blood.

But after suffering once, Ulquiorra naturally would not fall for the same trick a second time.

Since he could not defend against the opponent’s attacks in close combat, he would simply switch to long-range mode.

Dodging the incoming Blood Blades, Ulquiorra tapped lightly with his index finger, firing several Black Ceros through the air toward Yeru.

It was not that he did not want to use the Thunder Spear, but with an attack of that scale, any experimental materials would have long since been reduced to ashes.

As the two fought, the snow gradually vanished, exposing dark brown frozen soil.

Watching Yeru continuously spray blood in every direction from afar, Lu Su muttered in confusion, "Can someone really bleed that much?"

At the same time, Yeru’s previously irritated expression instantly calmed. A bloodthirsty smile spread across his lips. "Do you really think I’ll just remain locked in a stalemate with you?"

"Got you!"

As his words fell, the scarlet bloodstains that had gradually spread across the battlefield since his fight with Ulquiorra suddenly transformed into blood arrows and shot toward Lu Su and Wen Jing.