At night, Li Tianlan finally got in touch with Bai Youming again.
When all the elite fighters from Zhongzhou State hidden in East Island had been either hunted or killed, making contact was not easy at all. In the week when Li Tianlan was hidden in Changdao, he had only contacted Bai Youming once.
When Tianhai Wuji, Liusheng Cangquan and a huge amount of Special Warfare elites from East Island got stuck in Zhongzhou State, East Island started to use high-pressure means for the first time in the past dozens of years. Although right now, it looked like a conflict limited to the Dark World, East Island, who had the home advantage, had endless resources that they could use.
The satellite monitoring, the Search System, the centralized Intelligence Force, and the secret weapons of East Island were revealed one by one. Many superiors from different systems had entered the Special Warfare System to join the battle.
In their own homeland, if a country had the willpower to do something, then there was nothing that couldn’t be done.
So while Bai Youming’s group was being hunted, making contact with them would only make it easier for the two parties to get exposed.
But this time, it was Bai Youming who contacted Li Tianlan.
The phone rang when Li Tianlan was about to go out for dinner. After looking at the caller’s name, Li Tianlan closed the room door without any hesitation, then answered the phone.
“Tianlan?”
At the other end of the phone, Bai Youming said in a weak voice, and there was some intense agitation in the voice. “How’s it going at your side?”
“It’s going fine.”
Li Tianlan stayed silent for a while, then opened the curtains and looked outside the window.
It was still raining in Changdao.
The raindrops covered the dusk, and the people on the street were pa.s.sing quickly. Everything was quiet and peaceful, nothing unusual.
“For now, I’m safe here.”
“Ok…”
Bai Youming muttered, and she seemed hesitant.
But Li Tianlan went straight to the topic. He was well aware of how precious the calling time was, so he asked very directly, “Sister Bai, how’s everything at your side? What can I do for you here?”
After staying silent for a short while, Bai Youming let out a bitter laugh. Her voice was husky and tired. Li Tianlan could even picture how pale this young lady of the Bai family would look. “Things aren’t very great here. Twelve hours ago, Ye Fengcheng and I got separated. When the two hundred elites rushed through Juban with me, we lost about fifty people. Right now we’re still three hundred kilometers away from Changdao. As for other people, they’re no better than us.”
“The force on the homeland of East Island is too strong, and a lot of us got separated. Tribulation is still watching Shinichi Miyamoto at Fuyo Peak. Our force is scattered everywhere.”
Li Tianlan frowned heavily, and his heart sank with her words.
Bai Youming was one of the high-leveled leaders of this East Island operation. But obviously, her current state could no longer represent this force as a whole. Frankly, all the elites that sneaked into East Island had been broken up into many small teams, and there was no entirety anymore.
It would be completely different for the Special Warfare System of East Island to encircle and eliminate a whole big group and to encircle and eliminate many small scattered teams.
Meanwhile, the hunting kept going on.
Li Tianlan didn’t forget about the tight dragnet that surrounded the whole Changdao.
On Bai Youming and the others’ way forward, there were still many hardships. The Special Warfare System of East Island was hunting them all along. When they cornered the Zhongzhou State elites to Changdao, how many people would be left of this elite team of two thousand?
“Sister Bai… Have you heard from Baitian and Qiancheng?”
Li Tianlan stayed silent for a while, then asked again suddenly.
“No, I haven’t.”
Bai Youming’s voice grew deep and depressing.
Li Tianlan felt irritated inside.
In a week, he had made contact with Bai Youming, Tribulation and even Ye Fengcheng. But he failed to make contact with Li Baitian’s squad of six, even once.
Li Baitian’s squad were the second group of partic.i.p.ants of the Hunting Operation, and they were in charge of killing those who were not so important on the list. In less than twelve hours after Li Tianlan left, they also left the Azure Pool Hot Spring Club.
Li Baitian, Ning Qiancheng, Xu Chu, Yu Qingyan, Ye Huayu… and Dongcheng Rushi, who joined their operation!
It had been almost a whole week since the team of six were lost.
Li Tianlan took a deep breath, trying to suppress the negativity surging in his heart, and then asked directly. “Sister Bai, is there anything I can do for you?”
“I have a map here. Director Han lost dozens of elites in Changdao to get this. Tianlan, right now, everyone is in a bad place. When we rushed into Changdao, the tight dragnet around Changdao would definitely harm us a lot. So we hope that you could do something for Zhongzhou State. It would be nice for you just to protect some of our elite fighters.”
Bai Youming said in a soft voice.
Li Tianlan’s eyes suddenly lit up. “That map…”
“This is the map of all the defense in Changdao and the strength evaluation of some related superiors. Tianlan, I know you’re with Jiang Shangyu right now. If you two can work together, it would be a great help for us. As for this help, we could report it to the Zhongzhou State Army and Kunlun City, by then…”
“Sister Bai, no need to say that much.”
Li Tianlan interrupted Bai Youming. “As a matter of fact, we’re planning to do this ourselves. It’s just we’re still doing investigation on the defense around Changdao. Jiang Shangyu and I are gonna have a try tonight. If we have your map, things would be much easier.”
“In that case, it’s perfect.”
Bai Youming’s voice finally sounded a little relaxed, and then her tone got discreet soon. “But Tianlan you have to remember, just do your best, even if you can create little chaos for them, it would help us a lot.”
Li Tianlan promised her. In fact, he didn’t need all that lecture from Bai Youming; he was well aware of how much was his life worth. But in this case, once Bai Youming’s people got into Changdao, wouldn’t it be exactly what East Island wanted?
“Sister Bai, are we really gonna have the final battle in Changdao?”
Li Tianlan asked in a low voice.
Bai Youming stopped for a second, then sighed slightly and said calmly, “We don’t have a choice, just like the elites of East Island in Huating. East Island chose Changdao as the spot of the final battle, so we have to go even if we don’t want to. Now the situation is very complicated; Changdao is the only place where we have a chance of survival. Where else are we gonna go? But now we are scattered apart, so we’re weak. East Island would probably eliminate us all on the road. But they don’t leave many people in Changdao. So right now, East Island chose Changdao as the battlefield. It’s good for our victory and survival, and we have to go there.”
She laughed, pretending to be relaxed, and continued to say, “If this is a war, right now you and Jiang Shangyu are basically the vanguards who have penetrated the enemy’s rear. Tianlan, take care of yourself, please be careful.”
Li Tianlan nodded and promised her.
“Relax, our situation will get better soon. It has been so long since the battle of Zhongzhou State, and it’s time for all the dark superpowers to make up their minds.”
Bai Youming said something in return, then hang up the phone.
A few seconds later, a map in high definition was sent to Li Tianlan’s phone.
Li Tianlan stared at the phone in silence, thinking about something.
It was time for all the dark superpowers to make up their minds?
Indeed.
After the battle of Zhongzhou State, there was no need to hide the scheme of Zhongzhou State anymore. The two superiors of the Invincible Realm and a lot of elites of East Island were stuck in Zhongzhou State. The Special Warfare System of East Island was unprecedentedly weak. Even some allies of East Island wouldn’t give up a good chance like this.
Not only the Dark World but also allies in any field were united because of the joint interest. It would be completely normal to overturn the alliance because of separate interest. It didn’t matter if it was an enemy or an ally; what mattered was the interest.
While East Island was weak inside, all the superpowers availed themselves the opportunity to get in. Turning the Special Warfare System of East Island into dark chaos like the one in Northern Europe, was good for all the dark superpowers.
The whole world against East Island?!
In that case, they would indeed be in a better position.
In front of the whole Dark World, even the rampant East Island had to think twice before making a move.
There was a light knock at the door.
Li Tianlan opened the door and saw Jiang Shangyu standing outside the door. Before he could say anything, he nodded and let him in.
Jiang Shangyu felt confused while walking in. He looked at Li Tianlan and asked, “What happened?”
“Look at this first.”
Li Tianlan handed him the phone with the map in it. “I just made contact with Sister Bai. This is the map of all the defense around Changdao. Let’s study this, and we can take action tonight.”
There was a bit of killing intent flashing through his eyes while he was talking, burning hot and firm.
“Really?”
The surprise in Jiang Shangyu’s face disappeared quickly, and then he lowered his head to look at the phone screen.
He zoomed in and out the map on the phone, looked at it for almost ten minutes, then he let out a soft laugh and said, “This was a very detailed map. It even has marked all the people we need to kill. We just have to go through the names on the list; this is easy.”
“It isn’t that easy to go through the names.”
Li Tianlan said calmly, “Would you please look at how many superiors of the Thunder-shocking Realm are there on the map?”
“Apart from a few tough ones, we could take a chance to fight the rest.”
Jiang Shangyu shook his head and said calmly, “Your 24 Moves of Sword is matchless, plus me, we work together, it will definitely be a surprise to everyone.”
Li Tianlan was about to say something, but suddenly, he lifted his head.
He narrowed his eyes and stared straight at Jiang Shangyu in front of him.
Jiang Shangyu’s face looked calm, but there was something complicated in his eyes.
“The 24 Moves of Sword?”
Li Tianlan narrowed his eyes.
“You’re really the successor of the Li family.”
Jiang Shangyu stared at Li Tianlan and said while thinking about something, “If that’s the case, then Gu Hanshan has a deadly enemy now, and w.a.n.g Shengxiao won’t have an easy life anymore.”
Li Tianlan stared at Jiang Shangyu in silence, suddenly opened his mouth and said, “How did you find out that?”
“I didn’t think about it that way before, because the Li family has been quiet for so long.”
Jiang Shangyu shook his head. “But the battle between the Master of Samsara Palace and the Governor of Kunlun City reminded the whole Dark World that, the relationship between you and the Samsara was no longer a secret. In that case, it’s easy to figure out your ident.i.ty. I think I’m not the only who’s guessing, and the other groups have the same theory. But I can confirm it right now.”
Li Tianlan started to zone out.
His heart continued to sink, and he was thinking about the consequence if his ident.i.ty got exposed.
Intense killing intent appeared suddenly beside them.
Li Tianlan was shocked and instantly switched places with the shadow. When he showed himself again, he appeared behind Jiang Shangyu.
Meanwhile, Jiang Shangyu already took a step forward calmly at that moment. He was less than a meter from the shadow.
“Since you know my ident.i.ty, you should understand that I’m against Kunlun City and the so-called Phoenix Pavilion. Even if you do everything for that woman in Phoenix Pavilion, it has nothing to do with me. Do you want to kill me?”
Li Tianlan frowned, and his eyes had turned cold completely.
“You are mortal enemies, but why should I believe you have nothing to do with her?”
Jiang Shangyu tilted his head and stopped trying to hide the coldness in his eyes. “Senior Brother Li, do you know how did your father die at the time?”