Under normal circumstances, assassinations were rarely used when the political arena was mature. If someone were discovered to have resorted to such methods, their political career would be tainted.
But it seemed that Wang Shengzhi was not afraid of being labeled with such infamy as he resorted to the most direct method to achieve his goals.
Of course, these assassination attempts were only made possible due to the existence of supernatural beings. If this were the past, how could it be that easy to achieve?
After the strength of the individual had surpassed a certain bottleneck, it would be very difficult to ensure the safety of leaders. This was also the reason why Qing Zhen moved into the military camp. He was more cautious than anyone else. Furthermore, he did not have any vices like Kong Erdong.
However, Ren Xiaosu was not particularly concerned about the conflict between the Kong Consortium and the Wang Consortium. He asked, “What about the rest of the intel?”
“Another piece of intel was provided by the middle-aged man standing to our 7 o’clock.” Wang Yun said, “I’m quite sure he’s from the Zhou Consortium, because I saw him during an operation. He said many of the businessmen on the Northwestern trade route are actually retired soldiers from the Wang Consortium. You should also know that the Wang Consortium has mandatory military service for its citizens. When it becomes necessary, everyone can be called up for military service. So he feels the Wang Consortium might harbor ill will against the Northwest.”
Ren Xiaosu nodded. He was wondering why the people working for the consortiums would betray their own organizations and supply intelligence to Wang Yun for 500,000 yuan. No matter how he thought about it, it seemed quite improbable.
But now, he finally realized these people had only supplied intel about other organizations. Their main motive was not only to obtain the black medicine but also to annoy the other organizations.
For example, the middle-aged man from the Zhou Consortium obviously wanted to sow discord between the Wang Consortium and Fortress 178.
In any case, there were no good intentions.
Wang Yun continued, “Another piece of intel regards the Qinghe Group. It was told to me by the young man standing on the left. He said Xu Ke’s likely to leave office within a year. Afterwards, Xu Zhi, the rising star of the Xu clan, will take over the Qinghe Group entirely. He said this matter might be directly related to the battle in Luoyang City.” Ren Xiaosu nodded nonchalantly. Although he had a very good relationship with the Riders, he did not care about their change in leadership
The two remaining pieces of intel regarded the mobilization of the Zhou Consortium and the Wang Consortium’s troops. Ren Xiaosu was even less concerned about this.
After Wang Yun finished sharing his intel, he suddenly looked at Ren Xiaosu. “Since we’re working together now, may I at least know what your name is?”
Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, “Sure, my name is merci.”
“Mercy?” Wang Yun was puzzled. He felt this name sounded a little strange.
Honestly, Wang Yun was unable to react for a while. He was wondering what kind of surname it was as he had never heard it before. He asked in a serious tone, “This isn’t your full name, is it? What’s your full name?”
Ren Xiaosu pondered things for a moment before saying, “My full name is merci beaucoup.”
Wang Yun was stunned. ‘If you fucking didn’t want to give your name, then so be it. You’re even trying to take advantage of me? What did you help me with that I have to say merci beaucoup to you for?!’
Even if you didn’t want to give your name, could you at least be a little more euphemistic and choose a more decent name?!
On that very night, everyone climbed onto the tree branches to sleep. As they were worried about the danger that might come at any time and it being a very cold and windy day, it was really difficult to fall asleep.
All except for Luo Lan, who was even snoring as he lay on the branches. This made it even more difficult for the others to get some sleep.
When Ren Xiaosu was keeping watch during the night, he stayed especially wary of that strange plant in case it attacked. However, nothing happened throughout the night.
The next morning, everyone was overwhelmed by an unprecedented sense of fatigue. Heading into the wilderness would already slowly exhaust them even if they had tents since they would definitely not sleep as well as at home. Now that they had to sleep in the trees, it was even more tormenting. Cheng Yu was a little worried when he saw everyone looking exhausted. In this condition, most of their combat prowess would probably be reduced greatly even if they managed to get into the interior of the Sacred Mountains. In the other group, Zhou Yingxue came out of her tent in high spirits and took the little red flag from Li Shentan’s hand. “Alright, stay within a radius of 10 meters from me even if you’re washing up. We’ll be setting off in another half an hour, so don’t waste any time. If you’re slow, we won’t wait for you…”
Li Shentan, Vanilla, and the others had also passed through the canyon. After passing through it, they encountered an encirclement from the Pyro Company as well. But unlike the other groups, the result of the encirclement by the Pyro Company ended up with several Pyro Company members dead while Li Shentan’s number of slaves increased by several dozen people.
Meanwhile, there was no change in the other aspects of the group.
Vanilla was already numb to this. Yesterday, Li Shentan said they would have to adjust their plan of march and suggested meeting up with Cheng Yu’s group on the other side first before exploring the core region of the Sacred Mountains.
Li Shentan had a very good reason for that: “There is strength in numbers!” But Vanilla felt a little helpless. By suggesting to meet up with the people on the other side, it was as though the Pyro Company members in the core region of the Sacred Mountains were nonexistent.
This meant they would have to pass through the Pyro Company first and join up with their other teammates before heading back to beat up the Pyro Company again.
‘Isn’t this plan too careless?!’ It felt like they were totally belittling the Pyro Company that way!
At that time, Li Shentan told him with a smile, “That’s the general idea. If we encounter any difficulties along the way, we can just improvise and make the necessary adjustments. Based on the route, we won’t really have to pass through their research base directly. We’ll still be some distance from it.”
“Mhm,” Vanilla replied with a blank expression, “As long as you’re happy.”
“Very good,” Li Shentan said with a smile. “You’ve mastered the art of getting along with me. Keep it up!”
Then, when they set out again, they also encountered the same problem as Cheng Yu’s team, which was the strange underground plant that grew in the forest.
Although none of them were killed, some of the Pyro Company members that came to eliminate them suffered casualties. As such, Vanilla and the others were greeted by the sight of the plant devouring the corpses. Initially, Vanilla thought the plant would trouble them greatly. In the end, Zhou Yingxue took the little red flag from Li Shentan and became their new tour guide.
Using Zhou Yingxue’s own words, any problems related to plants were not problems at all.
Therefore, the crisis of crossing the canyon was easily solved by Li Shentan.
While the crisis of passing through the forest was easily countered by Zhou Yingxue.
At some point, Vanilla even felt sorry for the Pyro Company. They clearly had created such a dangerous environment for their enemies, yet they had to encounter Zhou Yingxue and Li Shentan of all people.
The problems the other groups were troubled by did not seem to pose a problem to Li Shentan and Zhou Yingxue. What left Vanilla most helpless was that the A-rank hitmen in the group had seemingly gotten used to relying on the two powerful superhumans to get through the difficulties.
At the beginning, everyone was very much against Li Shentan joining them. But now, they realized their survival rate was maxed out with Li Shentan as part of their group. When they thought about what the other groups might be facing at this moment, they even felt a sense of inexplicable superiority.
While others had to sleep in trees at night, all they needed to do was to gather around the campfire to watch Li Shentan perform his magic and exclaim, “Wow, that’s awesome!”
“Hey, that guy over there!” Zhou Yingxue looked at Vanilla. “What are you daydreaming about? Keep up with the group.”
Vanilla was on the verge of tears. He was considered pretty famous everywhere else and was widely admired by his fellow hitmen.
How did he end up becoming “that guy” now that they had arrived in the Sacred Mountains? It made him sound like he was just some minor character.