"Hurry up and work!"
"No laziness!"
It was midday, and the sun was blazing. It was a rare sunny day in the Black Star Fort area. The weather was extremely hot and humid, and the ground was like an oven. The heat rising from the ground was so intense that even the scenery was distorted when viewed from a distance.
Near this road, groups of refugees were carrying heavy objects and following instructions to go to designated locations. Further away, a large number of refugees were digging the land and piling up loose soil like a high wall.
These refugees were forcibly recruited from nearby settlements. All males, ranging from those in their sixties or seventies to those as young as eleven or twelve, were used as coolies.
They have to work nearly 18 hours a day, and the heavy workload is too much for the refugees. Every day, some refugees die.
Black Star Fort didn't care about all that. They just gathered the dead together and burned them with fire.
The non-commissioned officers who supervised the refugees wielded long whips soaked in oil. If any refugee was slow, they would be ripped of skin and flesh.
In the eyes of these officers, refugees were even lower than pigs and sheep, so no one would be lenient or pity them. They would just squeeze the refugees' blood and sweat to the maximum extent until they died.
At this time, a refugee shouted: "I quit! I will die anyway, I would rather die now than continue working like this!"
He threw away the things on his back and ran towards the outside of the construction site, shouting and screaming. A supervisor cursed, swung a long whip, wrapped it around his feet, and pulled hard.
"ah-"
The refugee screamed and fell to the ground, his face covered in blood. He got up and reached out to untie the whip. The overseer rushed over, stepped on his face, and pinned him to the ground.
"Lowly thing!"
The supervisor scolded: "Who do you think you are? You are just a pile of garbage. You should be thankful that you are given work to do and food to eat! If it weren't for Master Beichen giving you work to do, you would probably only be picking up tree roots to eat now!"
He cursed and beat the refugees.
The refugees were beaten to pieces and screaming. Suddenly, they pulled the supervisor hard and made him fall. The refugees shouted, "We are human beings, not animals. You can't do this to us!"
The refugee rushed forward fiercely, hugged the overseer, and bit his shoulder hard, causing the overseer to bleed. The overseer roared, pulled out a dagger, and stabbed it into the refugee's stomach.
The refugee screamed, no longer able to bite, and was pushed away by the supervisor.
The supervisor got up and kicked the refugee vigorously: "You bastard, you dare to bite me, I will beat you to death!"
He raised the whip and was about to strike.
A red chain blade flew over and wrapped around the overseer's hand. The overseer looked and saw a girl standing not far away.
The girl has dark purple hair, red eyes, and a dazed and confused look, as if she hasn't woken up yet.
But the second lieutenant badge on her shoulder made the supervisor swallow the dirty work that was about to be done.
"What are you doing?" The girl's voice was soft, as if it came from a very far away, with a vague sound.
The supervisor quickly said, "Report to the commander, this bastard tried to escape and bit me."
"is that so?"
The girl nodded: "I understand, please let him go."
"But... "
"But what?"
The supervisor shook his head quickly, "Nothing, everything is up to you, sir."
He snorted,
He glared at the refugee fiercely and said, "You got a bargain."
The refugee could hardly believe his ears. After a moment, he knelt down in front of the girl and said, "Thank you, sir. Thank you for saving me..."
Puff.
A soft sound.
The refugee widened his eyes, looking at a purple chain blade on his chest, going in and out of his chest.
"Wow-"
The refugee coughed up a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground helplessly. In his gradually blurred vision, he saw the expressionless face of the girl.
"Why... "
The last question was also the doubt in the supervisor's mind. He didn't understand why the lieutenant let the other party go and then killed him.
Retract the chain blade.
The girl said softly, "If you violate the rules, just kill them. Don't waste extra energy."
For no apparent reason, the supervisor felt a chill on his back and quickly agreed, "Yes, sir!"
The girl then walked away.
When passing by a big tree, I saw someone leaning against the trunk under the shade.
The woman, wearing a dark uniform, with a proud figure and brown glasses, has an invisible temptation.
"I didn't realize that Lieutenant Qian Hong is actually such a good person."
The woman under the shade of the tree was smiling.
The lieutenant named Qianhong stopped and looked at her indifferently, his eyes always sweeping across her chest intentionally or unintentionally.
Then, he glanced at himself unconsciously.
Well, I can't compare, I can't compare...
Retract your gaze and keep moving forward.
A light breeze blew behind me, and a faint fragrance came over. A tall female lieutenant wearing brown glasses walked over.
"I heard that Lieutenant Qianhong came from the wilderness?"
"Um."
"No wonder you sympathize with that refugee."
Qianhong stopped, looked at her female companion with a blank look.
Black Butterfly spread her hands and said, "Isn't it? If you hadn't helped, he would have suffered so much before he died. So, you showed him mercy, and I was so moved that I almost cried."
There was no emotion in Qian Hong's voice: "There is no point in torturing him. Since he has to die, why not just kill him? Am I wrong to do this?"
Black Butterfly narrowed her eyes slightly: "That's right, so that's what you think. I thought you sympathized with him."
Qianhong looked at the endless land: "The wilderness is a place where the strong prey on the weak. The weak can only become stepping stones for the strong to survive. Why should I sympathize with a weak person?"
"Also, I'm only here to assist you in your mission, so don't get too close to me."
"I don't like women with bigger breasts than me."
The girl spoke in a calm tone, as if she was talking about something insignificant, and she left, leaving her companions with surprised expressions.
It took Black Butterfly a while to react, then she smiled and said, "So you have something to mind, thank goodness, at least you act like a little girl. Otherwise, I always feel like you're more like a robot."
"A rank 4 hunter, the only one in the entire fortress with a special physique, a little girl from the wilderness, how come she has such good luck."
"It's really enviable."
At this time, a majestic voice sounded from the earphone communicator: "Everyone assemble."
A moment later, Heidi saw Qianhong and several other members of his team again.
Among them, Lusen Shang
School, and tanks with many mechanical parts.
Colonel Lusen said in a deep voice: "We just received an order from the fortress. We have to speed up the construction here. Jingtao Fort and Qingtian Fort actually joined forces. This is very surprising. Even Lord Beichen did not expect this. At present, Jingtao Fort has gone around to our rear, swallowed up Gray City and Dragonmaw Territory, and is approaching other important cities in the hinterland."
"Our military strength is limited, and we cannot fight on two fronts at the same time. So Lord Beichen has decided to leave our rear area to Jingtao Fort, and then concentrate all our efforts to fight a decisive battle with Qingtian Fort under Black Star Fort."
"But because Jingtao Fort came too suddenly, the super-level evil spirits that were originally intended to be lured from Wangyue City to Black Star Fort now need to re-select their routes to avoid being intercepted by Jingtao Fort. Therefore, we must try to delay the advance of the main force of Qingtian Fort. The area we are in now is the only way to our fortress. That's why we laid mine arrays and set traps here. But..."
Black Butterfly took over his words: "However, Skyfort will definitely send out a reconnaissance team to discover danger in advance so that the main force can evade it."
Lu Sen nodded heavily. "That's right. If nothing unexpected happens, the enemy's reconnaissance team is probably already nearby. So I ask you to lead the reconnaissance team away, whether it's by induction or by surprise, and not let them notice what we are doing here."
"The project here will probably be completed tonight, so you must at least delay the enemy reconnaissance team until night."
"Understood."
Tank stood up and bumped his fists together: "Let's go now."
Lu Sen nodded and shouted, "Move out!"
... ... .
The stream was gurgling, and a few small fish were swimming happily in the water. Suddenly, a pair of hands sank into the water, and the small fish were startled and swam away quickly.
The hands scooped up a handful of stream water and poured it onto a handsome young face.
Tianyang closed his eyes, feeling the cool stream water flowing over his face and taking away the heat.
"It's too hot and stuffy today. I'm already missing our fortress."
Sitting on a rock by the stream, Ji Yu unbuttoned her collar, revealing a shallow groove. She held a kettle in one hand and fanned herself with the other.
Kunlan had already taken off his uniform and even his protective armor, wearing only a vest, and was biting into a food stick.
Han Shu yawned, drank some water, and then bit a cigarette in his mouth: "We have about 20 minutes to rest, and then we have to continue on our way. Next, our main force will approach Black Star Fort, and they will definitely try to stop us."
"So the military hopes that we can act as a reconnaissance team to detect danger in advance and avoid damage to the main combat force."
Cang Du wiped the heavy sword and said, "Captain, do you think Black Star Castle will surrender? Now that we have joined forces with Jingtao Castle, they should have no chance of winning, right?"
Han Shu lit up a cigarette and took a puff. "Who knows, but the people in Black Star Castle are all crazy. Just look at the battle in Falling Star City. It's clear that there's no chance of winning. We even intercepted their supplies. But did they surrender?"
"So, it's likely that it will be a fight to the death..."
Tianyang came back from the stream: "If that happens, our casualties will be heavy, right?"
Han Shu said in a deep voice: "I believe the city lord will find a way. After all, if our casualties are too heavy, even if we win the war, our situation will be very difficult."
"You know, the golden flag will not be flying on our fortress indefinitely."