Everyone's hunting for treasure: I'll give you 100 times the loot and hand it over to the

The troop carrier's brakes emitted a violent screeching sound.

The heavy, anti-skid tires emitted a burnt rubber smell as they scraped against the smooth cement road.

As soon as the car door was pushed open halfway, the damp, cold morning air from the airport rushed into the stuffy car.

On the asphalt track not far away, a bent-over veteran was waving a large bamboo broom.

The old man's old Night's Watch uniform was faded from washing, and there were two coarse cloth patches sewn on at the elbows.

He wore a bronze badge with its edges smoothed down on his left breast, which gleamed with a dull yellow light in the morning light.

Hearing the door close behind him, Wang Gui straightened his aching back and slowly turned around.

His gaze swept over Lu Yan and the others, finally settling on Lin Chuxue.

With a snap.

The old bamboo broom, bound with wire, slipped from the old man's hand and crashed heavily onto the cement floor.

Wang Gui stumbled forward half a step, as if he had been pricked by a nail.

His cloudy old eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at the Blood Pool Staff that Lin Chuxue was holding.

"How did this staff end up in your hands?"

The old man's voice trembled violently, and his withered lips quivered.

He quickly approached Lin Chuxue, his cloudy eyes scanning the girl's face.

"They look so alike...it's like they were made from the same mold."

Wang Gui raised his calloused, rough fingers, wanting to touch it but not daring to.

"Girl, what was your relationship with Lin Jianguo back then?"

Lin Chuxue was chewing on a sweet orange hard candy, her cheeks puffed out.

Upon hearing the name Lin Jianguo, she froze on the spot.

In all her life, she had only ever seen that man's face in an old black-and-white photo inside a martyr's pension envelope.

"Do you know my father?"

Lin Chuxue spat out half a candy stick, her round eyes wide open.

"It's more than just knowing each other!"

Wang Gui's eyes instantly reddened, and his voice rose a few decibels.

"Back when the first gate of Xichuan was blown open, I was the one handing him the battle flag!"

Before the old man could wipe away his tears, a dull thud of leather boots came from his side and behind him.

"What are you doing? All unauthorized personnel, stay away from the special plane!"

The newcomer was carrying a wide-brimmed flight cap, and there wasn't a single crease to be found on his uniform.

He is Zhang Changhe, the captain of the special plane, wearing the silver Winged Medal for Second-Class Pilots on his chest.

Zhang Changhe stopped and glanced at the members of the first squad. His brows immediately furrowed into a deep knot.

The training uniforms worn by the men were almost entirely covered in dried blood and charred acid stains.

"Wow, you're so filthy, how dare you step on the special envoy's plane?"

Zhang Changhe pointed to the gangway, his tone filled with strong disdain.

"Before boarding, brush off the stench and mud from your body. The cabin interior is newly replaced with imported goods."

He stared coldly at the heavily armored shield riddled with holes, and gave a lukewarm snort.

"Also, don't bring any of that superstitious nonsense from outside onto the plane. Soldiers need to be scientific."

"All these claims about gods appearing and demons knocking on the door are just superstitious nonsense."

Zhao Leiguang, who was fastening his tactical belt, burst out laughing upon hearing this.

boom!!

He flung the two massive, door-like shields to the ground.

The hard concrete track was smashed into two deep craters, and gravel bounced up and down with a crackling sound.

The violent shockwave lifted the corner of Zhang Changhe's clothes, forcing him back two large steps.

"It's good to talk about science. Captain Zhang is really enlightened."

Zhao Leiguang grinned, revealing a large, stubble-covered mouth, and raised his hand to rub his aching wrist joints.

"If you encounter some winged deity when you fly up into the sky later, don't be so scared that you wet your pants."

Zhang Changhe's face turned pale and then red, and he was so choked that he couldn't utter a word in response for a long time.

"Ignore these office charlatans, girl, come with me!"

Wang Gui glared at Zhang Changhe, then grabbed Lin Chuxue's sleeve and headed towards the terminal duty room.

It was a brick and tile house of less than ten square meters, with a few dry, scorched leaves still on the roof.

The old man closed the wooden door behind him, squatted down, and dragged an old wooden box with peeling paint out from under the iron bunk bed.

The wooden crate lid was covered in dust, and the latches were worn smooth and shiny.

Wang Gui carefully lifted the box and took out a tin can wrapped tightly in red cloth.

"Here, take it and use it."

The old man shoved the tin can into Lin Chuxue's arms, a deep smile etched on his face.

"These are sesame crisps I fried myself a couple of days ago. I used plenty of oil, so they're crispy and sweet."

"Back in the day, after every tough battle, your dad loved to squat at the entrance of the air-raid shelter and chew on this."

"I was originally planning to keep it for myself to have with my drinks, but it's perfect for you, little girl."

Lin Chuxue hugged the cold tin can tightly, and her nose suddenly felt a little sore.

She lowered her head, bit her lip, and didn't say anything, but just held the tin can tightly to her heart.

The door was gently pushed open, and Su Yunqing stepped in carrying a medical kit.

"Uncle, roll up your pants so I can take a look."

Su Yunqing took out a portable blood pressure monitor from the box, her tone gentle but leaving no room for argument.

Wang Gui paused for a moment, then waved his hand: "Hey, it's an old problem, no need to bother."

"Roll it up."

Without wasting words, Su Yunqing half-squatted down and deftly cut open the old man's stiff trouser leg at the right knee.

There was a noticeable indentation on the outside of the kneecap, with bluish-black necrotic scars on the skin.

"The old gunshot wounds from when I was guarding the second line of defense in Xichuan still had shrapnel removed."

Su Yunqing pressed her fingertips on the wound, and Wang Gui couldn't help but gasp.

She pulled out two boxes of military-grade black tiger plaster, tore open the packaging, and carefully applied them to the old man's knees.

"This medicine can relieve bone pain on rainy days. Change it every three days and avoid contact with cold water."

Wang Gui rubbed his rough hands, his eyes a little moist, and kept saying thank you.

On the tarmac, Zhang Changhe, with a dark expression, directed the ground crew to move supply boxes into the cargo hold of the transport plane.

He glanced sideways at the group of people chatting and laughing at the entrance of the duty room and gave a cold laugh.

"They're just a few greenhorn soldiers who got lucky and got away with it twice."

"Those old fools up there insist on treating them like gods."

Zhang Changhe spat and slammed the registration board in his hand onto the supply box.

call--!

The cold wind at the end of the runway suddenly and strangely changed direction.

The originally biting and dry north wind suddenly became wet and sticky.

A pungent, irritating smell, a mixture of rotting flesh and cloying cherry blossoms, wafted in through the vent.

Shen Xinglin abruptly stopped in his tracks.

His usually expressionless eyes suddenly narrowed, his gaze sweeping across the terminal building rooftop like a razor's edge.

A soft click.

The latch on the thruster behind Shen Xinglin automatically popped open, and his right hand firmly gripped the handle of the lance.

Wen Yue, who was standing by the cabin stairs, moved even faster.

Without even turning around, the World-Destroying Thunder Crossbow in her arms was already raised diagonally.

The thermal imaging eyepiece locked onto the top of the lightning rod on the terminal building, a kilometer away, within half a second.

Within the dark blue lens, the energy spectrum, interwoven with red and white, was violently distorted.

A pale, ethereal figure in a silver kimono was standing on the sharp tip of a lightning rod.

The figure had no face, only a swirling cloud of black mist.

It slowly raised its wide sleeves, and several thin, silvery rays of light emerged from its fingertips.

The silver threads, like living maggots, slid down the mottled walls of the terminal building.

Then, the silver thread silently burrowed into the depths of the crisscrossing cement cracks on the tarmac surface.

"Enemy attack, underground."

Wen Yue's voice was as cold as an iron bar just pulled out of an ice cellar.

Xiao Qianyu shifted her toes slightly, transforming into a dark golden afterimage, and silently moved to Lu Yan's side.

The bronze array plate hidden under her trench coat suddenly became incredibly hot.

The originally dull copper patterns gradually lit up, emitting a faint golden glow.

"Team Leader Lu, something is crawling up the foundation towards the array's core."

Xiao Qianyu drew the Dragon King Halberd with her backhand, its tip pointing diagonally at the ground, exuding a murderous aura.

Lu Yan walked calmly from the duty room back to the track.

He reached into the tin can that Lin Chuxue had just opened, picked up half a piece of golden-brown sesame brittle, and stuffed it into his mouth.

A crisp snapping sound.

He casually brushed away crumbs of pastry that clung to the collar of his black training coat.

The aroma of crispy sesame seeds is subtly mixed with a slightly bitter, burnt flavor.

But deep on the tip of his tongue, he tasted a nauseatingly sweet and fishy flavor carried by the morning breeze.

That was the aura of the gods of the East Sea.

In front of the duty room, Wang Gui was still holding Lin Chuxue's wrist and chattering on and on.

"Back then, your father guarded this airport and never retreated an inch."

"Back then, he was afraid that the outer gates wouldn't be able to hold, and that the monsters would sneak into the city through the air-raid shelters."

"Lao Lin worked through the night to embed a whole set of anti-aircraft copper piles into the base of the terminal building to serve as the foundation."

The old man pointed to the dark cement ground beneath his feet, his eyes filled with pride.

"As long as the array foundation he left behind remains, no matter what kind of demons or monsters they are, they won't be able to fly over here!"

In the distance, Zhao Leiguang was carrying two boxes of military self-heating rice, striding onto the tail door of the transport plane.

He slammed the heavy cardboard box onto the cargo hold floor with a loud thud.

"Old Shen, hurry up!"

Zhao Leiguang patted his belly and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Get on the plane and quickly add water and heat up the food. That bowl of wide noodles was already completely digested by stomach acid, and I'm starving again!"

Before the words were finished, a muffled, explosive clanging sound of machinery snapping together suddenly came from deep within the tarmac.

Click!

Those silver death lines, violently drilling into the ground through the cracks in the cement, crashed hard into a giant bronze pile in the depths of darkness.

That was the anti-aircraft array base that Lin Jianguo personally injected into the earth's veins with his own blood twenty years ago!

boom!!

A violent burst of silver light erupted from the cracks in the cement, tearing dozens of spiderweb-like cracks across the entire helipad.

And high in the sky, the silver crack on the top of Xichuan City, which had not yet closed, suddenly burst out with a blinding and ferocious light!