After several hours of flight, Jiang Yu deboarded the plane at Genghis Khan International Airport and then took a half-day car journey to reach a place that didn't even have a highway.
Jiang Yu wasn't sure whether to call it a village or not, but on the plain under the night sky, a dozen or so tents were gathered together, not far from a few sheep pens.
In addition, there were quite a few off-road vehicles parked next to the tents, their industrial characteristics clashing with the surrounding landscape.
As soon as Jiang Yu got out of the car, he smelled the mutton odor and heard the intermittent bleating of sheep.
He scratched his head and asked, "What are we doing here? Eating roast whole lamb?"
Neither Ye Wenjie nor Chu Xu answered, and both walked toward the tents with grave expressions, while Jiang Yu also clearly felt that several pairs of eyes were staring at them.
Then Jiang Yu belatedly realized that there were no people or lights around the tents, making both the tents and the sheep pens appear eerie in the night.
It was only after the three of them had walked a few steps toward the tents that the curtain of the nearest tent was suddenly lifted, and two people emerged.
One of them excitedly said, "Commander! I never expected you to come in person!"
Ye Wenjie smiled and said, "The matter at hand is of great importance, I wouldn't be reassured without coming myself."
With the exchange between the two, lights were turned on in the tents one after another, as if bringing this place back to the world of the living.
In the light, Jiang Yu saw that the man who had spoken to Ye Wenjie was a middle-aged man dressed in casual clothes.
Following the middle-aged man was a Mongolian in traditional attire, with a broad face and wheat-colored skin, sporting a semi-automatic rifle hanging on his chest.
One by one, people emerged from the tents and gathered around excitedly; their expressions were just shy of shouting "Long live the Commander."
Ye Wenjie, like a leader visiting the grassroots level, shook their hands warmly, thanked them for their hard work, and even shouted the slogan "Down with the tyranny of Humanity."
Jiang Yu hadn't expected Ye Wenjie's prestige among the ETO members to be so high.
These ETO members, hiding in this remote corner and up to who knows what, were as excited as meeting their idol when faced with Ye Wenjie, some even seemed a bit overwhelmed.
The middle-aged man who had spoken with Ye Wenjie now expressed his concern, "Commander, why did you only bring two attendants? It's not too peaceful here; you should have brought your guard!"
Jiang Yu thought, "You're the attendant, your whole family is attendants!"
Chu Xu sneered, "Captain Wu, do you not trust me?"
The middle-aged man quickly said with a placating smile, "Not at all! Who doesn't know Miss Chu's marksmanship is divine and has always been highly valued by the Commander?"
Ye Wenjie smiled and said, "What does an old lady like me need a guard for? Besides, don't I have you all! I trust that you can ensure my safety too!"
The more than twenty strapping men around her instantly became even more excited, their grip on their weapons seemingly strengthened.
Jiang Yu thought that this old lady knew how to win hearts with just a few words.
"Alright," Ye Wenjie became serious, "Where are they being held? Take me to see."
The man known as Captain Wu quickly led the way.
As they walked, Ye Wenjie kept asking about the current situation, and through the conversation between the two, Jiang Yu understood that the armed forces of the Redemptionist faction had found clues to the research base of the Adventist faction.
Although on the surface, both the Adventist and Redemptionist factions maintained sufficient restraint, such clues were definitely not to be missed.
Following the clues, they made their way here, but once they arrived, the trail went cold.
Hundreds of armed militants were divided into squads of about twenty people and were secretly searching in the surrounding area; Captain Wu's squad was lucky enough to capture eight Adventists en route to the research base.
This further indicated that the base was in this vicinity.
However, the captured Adventists were stubborn, none of them would speak up, and continuous days of interrogation yielded no new leads.
Several armed personnel dragged out eight Westerners with obvious Caucasian ancestry, five men and three women, from the sheep pen and kicked behind their knees to force them to kneel before Ye Wenjie and the others.
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They all had their mouths stuffed with rags, and their faces or bodies bore wounds, showing some panic upon seeing Ye Wenjie.
They all knew that the Commander had always been trying to mend the relationship between the Adventists and Redemptionists, and they also knew just how cruel the Commander could be to achieve his goals!
Ye Wenjie sighed, "Among them are two world-renowned scientists who were once our comrades; they should not be subjected to this treatment."
Captain Wu hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, from now on I'll have them sleep in tents."
Ye Wenjie gave Chu Xu a look, and Chu Xu pulled out a pistol from her waist, saying to Jiang Yu, "I don't speak English, you help me translate."
Jiang Yu was curious when Chu Xu had managed to bring the gun, scratching his head, "Why does it feel like a little Japanese is commanding a traitor to do the work?"
Chu Xu shot Jiang Yu a glare, and he quickly stepped forward, "You speak, I'll translate."
With a sweet smile, Chu Xu pressed the gun barrel against the forehead of the middle-aged man on the far left, "I'll only ask once, will you talk or not?"
After Jiang Yu translated, the middle-aged man shook his head, and Chu Xu immediately fired!
The skull of the middle-aged man was flipped open by the bullet, with brain and blood spilling everywhere.
The sudden gunshot left everyone present stunned, especially Jiang Yu, who normally didn't see guns; the sound frightened and amazed him, causing a piercing pain in his chest.
He tried not to look at the corpse on the ground, "Could you give a warning before you shoot? You scared me to death!
"And he couldn't have said anything with the rag still stuffed in his mouth! What could he have said?"
Chu Xu smiled sweetly, "Sorry, I forgot to take it out for him."
Jiang Yu glanced back at Ye Wenjie and saw that she had no intention of stopping anything. What happened to "should not be subjected to this treatment" from just a moment ago?
Jiang Yu adjusted his mindset; this was the Commander of the Redemptionists. For the sake of her goals, she wouldn't even care about her husband's death!
If it hadn't been for her indifference to this man's life tonight, Jiang Yu would have almost forgotten that fact.
By now, Chu Xu had already placed the gun against the forehead of the second person, and Jiang Yu, despite feeling sick, quickly removed the rag from the person's mouth, "Speak up quick, what base is more important than your life?"
In front of the gun was a woman in her thirties; the horrible death of her companion had left her in silent tears, but she kept shaking her head, unwilling to answer Chu Xu's question.
Chu Xu blew her brains out with another shot. The third person, a man in his fifties, bent down to dodge the gun barrel in fear, a sight that tugged at the heartstrings, but he still refused to divulge the location of the base.
Chu Xu decisively fired again.
Click.
Only the sound of the firing pin could be heard.
Chu Xu smiled sweetly, "I forgot; there were only two bullets in the gun."
She said "forgot," but it was obviously intentional.
The old man kneeling on the ground was paralyzed with fear.
Seeing that the old man was still not willing to speak, Chu Xu replaced the magazine and handed the pistol to Jiang Yu, "Your turn, at the same time get used to the blood."
Jiang Yu took the gun and froze for a few seconds.
On one side were Ye Wenjie, Captain Wu, and others watching, and on the other, the old man paralyzed on the ground and several others sobbing in muffled voices.
Jiang Yu's thoughts raced, and he made a decision quickly, shoving the gun back into Chu Xu's hand, "Thanks to you, I've already seen blood."
Then he walked briskly to Ye Wenjie and whispered in her ear, "All these Adventists are ideologically extreme and not afraid of death, killing them all is pointless."
Jiang Yu paused, then added, "I have a way to make them talk."
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