Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Charge

Zuo Tian looked from face to face, then chuckled. “Seems my research was right. A dead end really can force out potential.”

He turned to Wang Jie. “Two years ago, eight people tried to assassinate me. There were over a hundred orphans in that batch. A handful surviving to become ‘elites’ isn’t bad.”

Qing Zheng tensed, ready to lunge, but Wang Jie stopped him with a hand.

Not yet.

Zuo Tian’s smile widened. “Shou Qing Group’s young boss—you weren’t one of them. Why are you helping?”

“Because you’re a beast,” Qing Zheng snarled.

Zuo Tian laughed softly. “Winners climb on the bones of the losers. Didn’t your father teach you that?

“I already went easy on you.”

“I didn’t need it!” Qing Zheng roared.

Bai Yuan glanced over. “Zuo Tian. Enough.”

Zuo Tian’s eyes lingered on Wang Jie. “Give the best resources to the most suitable people. Let some get strong first. That’s the only path for humans.

“I’m about ten years older than you. You should thank me.”

Wang Jie stared at him, then nodded once. “Not just me. The orphans you burned alive should thank you too.

“I’ll send you to meet them.”

Zuo Tian’s smile vanished. He said nothing more.

Wang Jie turned to Wen Zhao. “You’re sure it’s Chong Ruo Ruo?”

Wen Zhao nodded, eyes fixed on the distant tide. “She’s intimidating you.

“That’s a common trick of Heaven-Insect People. Humans fear insects. An insect sea terrifies the base, spreads panic, makes it easier for her to get what she wants.”

“What does she want?” Sister Tang demanded.

Wen Zhao narrowed her eyes. “Either the base… or me.”

Bai Yuan looked to Wang Jie.

Wang Jie gave a short nod.

“How do we deal with her?” Bai Yuan asked. “And what exactly are Heaven-Insect People?”

Wen Zhao explained as quickly as she could.

Bai Yuan and the others listened, stunned.

They’d thought humans were just humans.

They hadn’t imagined there were people who could control insects—or that the universe held countless other strange bloodlines and powers.

Zuo Tian’s eyes brightened with something like hunger.

So this was the universe. The sea of stars.

Blue Star really was just a forgotten corner.

Sister Tang’s voice stayed hard. “So you’re saying we can’t deal with Chong Ruo Ruo? What if she sends the insect sea against the base? How strong is she? Can we take her head?”

Wen Zhao considered. “She probably won’t attack the base.”

No one answered.

No one believed her.

Wen Zhao had estimated the insect sea would intimidate them for two days while it gathered more insects.

Bai Yuan’s side debated whether to attempt a decapitation strike right now.

But the “intimidation” ended almost immediately.

Chong Ruo Ruo appeared.

She rode a gigantic centipede and lifted her chin at Shang Jing City like she owned it.

“Listen up, people inside! You’re surrounded. Hand over Wen Zhao and I’ll spare your lives. Otherwise, you’ll face endless doom!”

Bai Yuan flexed his fingers. At this range, he could try.

The centipede’s upper body suddenly rose, perfectly blocking Chong Ruo Ruo from the base.

Bai Yuan eased off.

That centipede was strong. He wasn’t confident he could kill it in one blow.

And the insect sea held multiple Eighth Seal insects.

This tide dwarfed any beast tide they’d ever faced.

Sister Tang and the others looked at Wen Zhao.

So it really was about her.

Wen Zhao’s voice stayed calm. “You have two choices. Keep me here and wait for the insect sea to dig me out.

“Or let me leave. Your choice.”

No one spoke.

They were analyzing Wen Zhao’s power. Slow as it was, if they kept her contained, they might eventually understand it—and change how Blue Star cultivated.

But if they kept her and the insect sea attacked, they’d lose everything.

“If we let you go and you join Chong Ruo Ruo,” Zuo Tian said coolly, “we’re finished. How do you prove you’re her enemy?”

Wen Zhao shrugged. “Believe it or don’t. I’d rather stay inside. It’s safer.”

Zuo Tian couldn’t argue that.

Bai Yuan’s eyes went to Wang Jie.

Wen Zhao couldn’t be released. It could be a play—a staged rescue.

But she couldn’t be kept, either. If it wasn’t a play, then Shang Jing City would face the insect sea.

Zuo Tian spoke through a drone, his voice carrying across the distance.

“Wen Zhao can be given to you. But not alive. Only dead.”

Chong Ruo Ruo erupted. “What use is a dead one?

“I need to prove to Brother Xiao that this woman is nowhere near me!

“Natives—if you dare kill Wen Zhao, I’ll flatten your base!”

Wang Jie frowned.

That sounded less like revenge and more like a rescue.

Zuo Tian looked back at Wen Zhao. “Miss Wen Zhao. Based on what you know—would her insect sea slaughter Shang Jing City if we refuse?”

Every eye turned to Wen Zhao.

No one wanted to face a tide like this.

Wen Zhao’s answer was immediate. “No.”

She stared at Chong Ruo Ruo in the distance. “She isn’t kind, but she isn’t pure evil. Heaven-Insect People can enter Jia Yi Sect’s inner court directly. She’s here to crush me and prove herself—not for the trial.

“So even if you keep me, she won’t slaughter the base over it.”

Sister Tang snorted. “Say it like that and we really won’t let you go.”

Wen Zhao didn’t care. “That’s your problem.”

Wang Jie spoke instead. “Even if she doesn’t attack, if the insect sea surrounds us, how long can the base hold? Outside aircraft can’t get in. We can’t get out. We’ll be trapped to death.”

He swept his gaze across the wall. “And the other bases will face the trialists alone. When the third batch arrives, we won’t have the strength to resist.”

Zuo Tian nodded. “Now that we’ve torn with the trialists completely, the only path is raising strength. Hunting mutated creatures—not wasting ourselves against the insect sea.”

He looked at Wang Jie. “You sound like you have a plan.”

“I do,” Wang Jie said. “I take her out.”

Wen Zhao turned, startled.

Qing Zheng and the others stiffened. “Old Boss—”

Wang Jie cut them off with a raised hand and stared at Zuo Tian. “If I’m watching her, then even if Chong Ruo Ruo is here to rescue her, I can kill or cripple one of them before I die.

“And I don’t think this is an act. Wen Zhao told me long ago she had an enemy among the Heaven-Insect People. She couldn’t have predicted she’d be trapped inside Shang Jing City.”

Bai Yuan’s voice dropped. “Once you leave the base, you may not come back alive.”

“No choice,” Wang Jie replied.

Wen Zhao stared at him as if she didn’t recognize him.

“But I have two conditions,” Wang Jie said.

He pointed at Zuo Tian. “First. He goes too. With us.”

Zuo Tian’s eyes narrowed.

Bai Yuan frowned. “The bigger picture—”

“Don’t give me that,” Wang Jie snapped. “My grudge doesn’t wait. He stays with me outside for three days. After that, whether he lives or dies depends on him.”

Qing Zheng and the others tried to protest, but Wang Jie silenced them. “Stay in the base. Don’t follow.”

Zuo Tian exhaled once. “Fine.”

Wang Jie held his gaze. “And if you can’t last three days?”

“Then Bai Yuan kills me,” Zuo Tian said. “And he must kill me.”

Bai Yuan’s eyes sharpened under Old Five’s murderous stare.

He nodded.

“So what’s your second condition?” Bai Yuan asked.

Wang Jie glanced back at his three brothers. “From now on, as long as my brothers don’t betray Blue Star, no one touches them. No excuses.”

Old Five clenched his fists. “Old Boss, we go with you.”

“I’m fast,” Old Nine said. “I can run.”

Qing Zheng bared his teeth. “I’ll pull every resource Shou Qing Group has and smash the insect sea. I refuse to believe we can’t catch her.”

Wang Jie shook his head. “Even if you break the insect sea, you won’t break the war slave fate. I have my own way.”

Their faces dimmed.

Wang Jie didn’t want to be a war slave. He wanted Blue Star free.

Wen Zhao’s answer kept echoing in him.

Fight.

If the world wanted to turn Blue Star into hell, then he’d fight.

The insect sea was danger—but also endless disaster materials.

And with the Basic Fitness Routine converting Imprint Power into strength, he had a path.

Even without the insect sea, he’d planned to break out into the danger zone and hunt.

Against this tide, against the danger zone’s endless mutated creatures, he still had a sliver of a chance.

But if he ended up on an interstellar battlefield… he would have none.

He wasn’t even strong enough to destroy a city, let alone resist powers that shattered stars.

And dragging Zuo Tian outside was, at the very least, dragging him into the same mud.

Wang Jie looked to Wen Zhao. “Let’s go.”

“We’ll die,” Wen Zhao said.

“I know.”

Wen Zhao nodded once. “Fine.”

She stepped to the edge of the wall, placing herself where the insect sea could see her.

Chong Ruo Ruo spotted her instantly. She sprang up on the centipede, yelling like she’d lost all composure.

“Little Zhao Er! You’re still alive! Hahaha! Come on—let my little bugs greet you. You can’t run!

“Brother Xiao will see how pathetic you look!”

Wen Zhao looked down at her, expression cool. “You brat. Your chest is small, but your mouth is big.”

Chong Ruo Ruo froze.

So did half the wall.

The insult was vicious.

Chong Ruo Ruo’s scream ripped across the city. “You’re dead! Wen Zhao, you dead woman, you’re dead! I’ll kill you! I will kill you!”

The insect sea hissed and surged forward.

Bai Yuan’s expression changed.

Wen Zhao glanced back at Wang Jie. “Time.”

Wang Jie looked at Zuo Tian.

Zuo Tian drew a breath. “I still don’t regret anything. Resources have to be used by some people first.”

“Spare me,” Wang Jie said.

He vaulted over the wall.

Wen Zhao followed.

They hit the ground in front of the vast insect sea and turned—running.

Zuo Tian jumped down after them.

That was the deal.

Otherwise, he could’ve run in another direction and avoided the insect sea entirely.