Chapter Sixty-Three: The Pot

Night fell.

The pale moonlight reflected upon the pristine snow, granting the icy plains a remarkable clarity even in the darkness.

The battlefield, once fierce and brutal, had regained its calm. Yet corpses lay strewn across the ground in chaotic disarray, blood melting the ice beneath and winding into a river of crimson.

The bodies were not solely human; many belonged to ferocious avian beasts of war.

Caw! Caw!...

From high above, flocks of birds descended, settling atop a towering iceberg. On the summit, more than a thousand meters high, a pair of fierce eyes surveyed the carnage below.

It was the golden beast bird.

Yet at this moment, the golden beast bird remained perched in its nest, merely watching. Surrounding it were numerous companions—some at the bronze rank, others at silver.

Below, a dozen greedy silver-ranked evolvers clad in white combat ghillie suits were busy collecting the bodies.

This battle had cost the Immortal Palace dearly; nearly a thousand strong, their force was almost entirely wiped out here.

But the Greedy Wolf legion had suffered as well. All those who came were silver-ranked evolvers, but in the course of the fierce battle, fifty or sixty fell. Now, their bodies were laid neatly aside, forming a stark contrast to the scattered carnage of others.

The sole exception was a headless corpse—already thoroughly decayed, with venomous black fluid oozing ceaselessly from within. No one dared approach within dozens of meters.

It was the ‘Poison Arrow’ gene bomb. The black liquid seeping out was deadly poison—should a silver-ranked evolver touch it carelessly, they would be gravely injured if not killed.

A trench had been dug several dozen meters away to prevent the poisonous fluid from spreading.

On the battlefield, people rummaged through the bodies. Nearby, a large pile of firearms, weapons, backpacks, and personal items—anything of value—had been gathered together.

The pile had grown substantial.

The Greedy Wolf members worked silently to clean up the battlefield.

Though more than a dozen survived, each bore wounds of varying severity. After all, the silver-ranked members of the Immortal Palace had not gone down without a fight.

“I wonder if Deputy Commander Zhou and the others caught up...” Yin Qian wiped sweat from his brow, paused to catch his breath, and instinctively looked towards the direction Zhou Potian and his men had pursued their target an hour before, worry flickering in his gaze.

“Don’t overthink it. That target already went ‘berserk’—if not dead, then gravely wounded. Our mission is considered accomplished. As for the other two, if they survived, it’s just their luck.”

A silver-ranked fist fighter beside him heard his words, pondered briefly, and replied.

Yin Qian was momentarily stunned, frowning but saying nothing.

The other spoke true—after a ‘berserk’ outburst, the target would be either dead or seriously injured.

Yet the key point was clear: the sponsor had only one requirement—kill the target!

Not merely force them to ‘berserk’.

In that sense, their mission had actually failed.

---

He could not help but glance again toward the glacier crevice.

His mind recalled the news Shen Tian had shared with him—Shen Tian had judged the target not to be from the Immortal Palace. Yet how had such a catastrophe come about?

Even Deputy Commander Wang had lost his life because of it!

At this thought, Yin Qian cast a glance at the not-so-distant ‘poison corpse,’ now utterly rotted, and his mood weighed heavy.

One could say the Greedy Wolf operation was a complete failure; once they returned to the battlefield metropolis, the commander would surely seek accountability.

And as the direct supervisor of Chang Le, Shen Tian, and several other gun fighters, he could not shirk responsibility.

He now hated the gun fighter who had sabotaged the operation to the core, but also felt a bitter sense of regret.

Clearly, there had been a mistake in the planning. If only a single close-combat fighter had been assigned to guard those gun fighters at the glacier crevice—things would never have escalated so disastrously!

He felt the injustice deeply but could not voice it.

How could he speak? Though a squad leader, he was not the main planner for this operation—four deputy commanders were.

Deputy Commander Zhou had been especially adamant; he argued manpower was already stretched thin, and with the glacier crevice so far from the battlefield, it was impossible for Immortal Palace members to discover the gun fighters there. Thus, no protective force had been assigned, and all close-combat fighters were ordered to the front lines to battle the Immortal Palace.

That led to the current tragedy.

But the opposing party was a golden-ranked evolver, a deputy commander of the legion, high in rank and authority. What could Yin Qian possibly say?

He would have to shoulder the blame himself—he wouldn’t even have a chance to defend himself.

A bitter smile crept onto his face.

He knew Deputy Commander Zhou’s character: stubborn, arrogant, and cruel—quick to kill at the slightest provocation.

As a mere silver-ranked evolver, could he dare to argue?

Tell the commander that it was Zhou’s obstinacy that caused the operation’s failure?

That would be suicide!

In the end, Yin Qian sighed softly.

“Forget it, I’ll take the fall... At worst, I’ll lose a bit of money...”

Though the sum would cause him heartache for a long time, at least it wouldn’t cost him his life.

“I just hope Deputy Commander Wei didn’t kill the culprit outright... Otherwise, it would be letting him off too easily!”

---

At this thought, Yin Qian’s fury focused entirely on the gun fighter who had ruined their operation. He looked again toward the glacier crevice.

Deputy Commander Wei Lin had been gone for over an hour.

Though no word had come from Wei Lin, Yin Qian felt no anxiety.

He simply didn’t believe a gun fighter could do anything in the face of a golden-ranked berserker.

Especially recalling Shen Tian’s assessment—the target was likely just an ‘iron-ranked’ gun fighter. There was no other possibility.

Against a golden-ranked berserker, the target was utterly trapped.

Killed or captured—there could be no third outcome.

As for Deputy Commander Wei not returning—nothing could be more normal.

The battle was over; as a golden-ranked deputy commander, he was under no obligation to report his actions to a mere squad leader.

“Deputy Commander Zhou and the others are back!” someone exclaimed, eyes lighting up.

Yin Qian’s spirits lifted; he looked up quickly.

Sure enough, Zhou Potian’s massive figure appeared on the distant plain. Behind him was the fourth and last deputy commander—a golden-ranked ‘fist fighter,’ Yang Hong.

The Greedy Wolf members hurried to greet them, their silver evolvers bowing respectfully.

“Deputy Commander Zhou, Deputy Commander Yang...”

The two nodded as they approached.

Yin Qian greeted them as well, secretly observing their expressions.

Seeing their brows tightly furrowed, his heart sank.

It seemed they hadn’t caught up?

Just as he thought this, Zhou Potian and Yang Hong walked to the edge of the battlefield, glanced around, and Zhou Potian suddenly spoke in a deep voice, “Where is Deputy Commander Wei?”

The group exchanged looks before someone answered respectfully, “Deputy Commander Wei went to the glacier crevice and hasn’t come out since. He should still be there.”

Zhou Potian frowned slightly, nodded, then suddenly scowled, anger flashing across his face as he demanded, “Where is Yin Qian?”

Yin Qian’s heart skipped a beat—he knew what was coming.

He dared not delay and hurried forward, “Deputy Commander Zhou...”

“Hmph, you selected the gun fighters, you were responsible for those four. And what happened? You let someone slip through the back, directly causing the mission’s failure—even Deputy Commander Wang died because of it! What do you have to say for yourself?”

Zhou Potian’s gaze was dark and oppressive as he bore down on him...