Chapter 359 Xu Wutong (3k)
A dozen kilometers outside the International Hospital, Yela’s main base in the western region.
Inside a vast estate temporarily serving as a military base, in the most heavily guarded area, four figures were present, one of whom was grilling. The aroma of roasted meat wafted from his hands, while the other three stood watching.
“Commander Kyoungde, where is Lin Yusheng, our reporter from the People’s Daily?”
As the monster meat sizzled and dripped, an Oriental mixed-race woman in a beige shirt frowned and looked at the tall white man grilling, speaking first.
The man was wearing a light shirt with his sleeves half-rolled up, and had curly hair parted at seven o’clock. He didn’t look like a commander, more like a foreign poet from a literature textbook, but in reality, he was Kyoungde, the undeniable Western Front Commander of the Yela Army, a High-Rank Battle King!
“Editor Wutong, please be patient. Yela would never do anything to harm our international friends.”
On the other side, a middle-aged man in a yellow military uniform lit a cigarette and took a puff. His eyes swept over Xu Wutong’s khaki plaid short skirt, a strange light flashing in them.
“Heh heh, Lin Yusheng lost contact with us in Yordlo City, east of Aers, during the Yela Army’s ground operation…”
Sensing the aggressive gaze of the middle-aged man, Xu Wutong frowned involuntarily again. Just as she was about to say something, Commander Kyoungde, who was grilling, shook the oil off his skewer and offered it to her, saying softly, “As the Colonel said, we Yela would never attack your newspaper’s reporters, nor would we harm civilians.”
“No harm to civilians? Heh heh, then what about the evacuation of nearly a million people in one day? Or is Commander Kyoungde also fond of lying with his eyes open?”
Xu Wutong did not take the tempting skewer. She sneered. These reporters contacted each other privately using alchemical items. The last time Lin Yusheng contacted her, he only left half a sentence – “The photo is in the reporter’s ID…”
After that, the alchemical equipment was likely suppressed and blocked by a special formation, allowing her to hear only “buzzing” static.
Xu Wutong knew that evidence of war crimes was within Lin Yusheng’s reporter’s ID, which was why she risked coming to the Yela Army’s nearest main camp to question them, relying on the alchemical device that could sense life and death, which she, as an editor for the People’s Daily, possessed.
In fact, she knew that reporter Lin Yusheng was likely already lost, but that reporter’s ID had to be obtained, and the truth could not be buried because of it.
Kyoungde, the Commander, did not get angry at Xu Wutong’s reprimand. He continued to smile and eat, saying, “Editor Wutong, this is slandering a good person. Our Yela Army only kills terrorists and those associated with them. As long as civilians do not associate with terrorists, we will never act…
He then smacked his lips and praised the others, “This Patrol Eagle from Aers tastes good. Everyone try it; these things were used by those terrorists to deliver explosives.”
Except for Xu Wutong, the other two stepped forward and picked up skewers of roasted meat to try. The man in the alchemical attire next to the yellow-uniformed officer glanced at Xu Wutong with narrowed eyes, a strangely different gleam flashing in his own eyes as he licked his lips.
Sensing their strange gazes, Xu Wutong glared back fearlessly and smiled faintly, “Terrorists? Since when is protecting one’s home considered terrorism? Can’t Commander Kyoungde speak freely in such private gatherings?”
“Do you not think this is open enough, Editor Wutong?”
Kyoungde raised his head slightly, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Xu Wutong and asked indifferently. His face showed no joy or sorrow, and an oppressive aura from a Battle King erupted from him. It was clear that she had said something that angered him.
Facing the pressure of a Battle King level head-on, Xu Wutong, who was only at the Initial Stage Battle General level, had not yet opened her Energy Shield to defend herself. She retreated two steps, let out a muffled groan, and then looked up, sneering, “Am I wrong?”
The atmosphere immediately turned tense. The alchemist also began to study Xu Wutong’s slightly pale blue pupils, a strange smile appearing on his face, as if he were looking at a beautiful work of art.
“Heh! Editor Wutong, please be aware of your own identity. If you don’t want to spark an international dispute, please speak cautiously and prudently.”
Kyoungde snorted lightly, then waved his hand and turned to the yellow-uniformed officer beside him, saying, “Colonel, escort her out of here. After we’re done dealing with the International Hospital harboring terrorists, we’ll help them find that reporter named Lin Yusheng.”
Xu Wutong wanted to say more, but the man in alchemical clothing gave her a strange sense of intimidation. She bit her lip but said nothing further, realizing her words had indeed overstepped.
But what happened at the International Hospital? How could it be possible for them to harbor soldiers… She had to go and see before their army arrived.
“Yes!”
The officer nodded, saluted smartly, and then smiled faintly, making a “please” gesture to the helpless-looking Xu Wutong.
“Commander Kyoungde, please remember your words – you will not lay a hand on civilians.”
Xu Wutong took a deep look at the grilling Kyoungde and left the hall with the officer. Before leaving, she paused and dropped a parting remark.
Only Kyoungde and the alchemist remained in the hall. As the charcoal fire crackled, Kyoungde broke the silence, speaking quite seriously to the alchemist, “You Ravens cannot touch her. She has alchemical items that can sense death. If she dies nearby, the People’s Daily will know.”
“Her eyes match the requirements of a certain Big Shot… and it’s just a newspaper, what are you afraid of? The energy they possess is at most that of a few Battle Generals,” the alchemist said, waving his skewer and licking his lips, as if thinking about something, then suddenly laughing.
“Heh heh, a few Battle Generals? The nature of this newspaper is different. Although its founder is a foreign woman, that woman participated in the war to defend Huainan from sea monsters in Dragon Country and knew many high-ranking officials in Dragon Country, including that black-clothed organization that is like yours,” Kyoungde glanced at him and said lightly.
“Yela has no need to provoke that behemoth, and Xu Wutong doesn’t have evidence of our crimes. That male reporter was dealt with cleanly.”
The alchemist paused slightly upon hearing Kyoungde’s words, as if recalling something terrible. His eyelids twitched, and he suddenly whispered, “A newspaper can be connected to the Night Watcher? How is that possible?”
“How is it impossible? It is said that the ultimate strongman from Huainan helped this newspaper kill the leader of a foreign organization that intended to murder a reporter…”
After speaking, Kyoungde fell silent for a moment, then continued, “The bodies promised to you by the International Hospital will not be lacking, but you must guarantee that you provide a quantitative supply of alchemical weapons.”
“Report!”
The alchemist nodded, and just as he was about to speak, a hurried soldier ran in. Kyoungde gestured for the alchemist to stop, glanced at the soldier, and said lightly, “Speak!”
“The place we set up for handling the corpses and those people has been burned. The fire is huge; the smoke can be seen by the Aers refugees on the road.”
Swallowing hard, the soldier said with a look of panic on his face.
“If it burned, it burned. We were going to dispose of it anyway.”
Kyoungde was initially worried when he heard it was the place for dealing with corpses, but his worry quickly turned into inexplicable relief. After all, they had planned to “dispose of” the place in the end. He then waved the soldier away.
As long as the contents inside were not leaked, they only needed to spend some money to control public opinion. The most important thing now was to take down the International Hospital. As for whether there were any Aers soldiers…
Heh heh, if he said there were, could anyone say there weren’t? If those international organizations hadn’t sent them back sooner, something would have eventually been exposed.
In the desert.
As the night gradually darkened, the horizon was filled with an endless stream of people. Cold winds blew intermittently in the desert, and occasional sand waves surged, obscuring the crowd, making it appear somewhat lonely.
“Harboring soldiers…”
Looking back at the merchants heading towards the port, Su Jiu’s eyes also became somewhat somber. She couldn’t quite understand why Yela was surrounding the International Hospital. Knowing Yuko and the others, they wouldn’t truly harbor soldiers.
“Miss, we need to speed up. Most of these walking refugees are not seriously injured and can be roughly healed with the Spring Bloom Technique in the car.”
Then, Bairnis tapped her arm and reminded her. She also looked towards a distant place and suddenly, as if discovering something, exclaimed in surprise, “That’s a lot of smoke, the military base from before must have caught fire.”
Upon hearing this, Su Jiu stopped treating the slightly injured and looked over, only to see a fierce fire blazing in that direction, as if it were burning something away. She narrowed her eyes slightly, “Is it the old man who carved tombstones from before?”
“Alas…”
The fire was so intense that it dyed half of the darkening sky red. After standing and watching for a moment, Su Jiu agreed with Bairnis’s suggestion. The two of them used the Spring Bloom Technique in the car, heading towards the International Hospital.
After advancing at a relatively slow speed, about half an hour later, Su Jiu and the two gradually approached the location of the International Hospital.
As the distance to the International Hospital grew closer, Su Jiu also found with some surprise that the paths leading to this city were becoming increasingly crowded. Among them were mostly injured children and the elderly, clearly all heading towards the hospital for aid.
Finally, as the two continued to treat people and move slowly, at the end of the dusty, blowing sand, the silhouette of a huge city gradually appeared in Su Jiu’s and the two’s line of sight…
