# Chapter 982: One More Step Forward! And You Die
In front of Outpost 097, charred vines lay everywhere, and massive craters dotted the ground!
As far as the eye could see, utter devastation!
The high wall at the main entrance of Outpost 097 had collapsed and been repaired countless times already!
Clearly, an incredibly fierce battle had taken place, the air thick with the smell of scorched earth!
At this moment, over four thousand Dragon Abyss Dark Night soldiers stood within the border line, their eyes filled with exhaustion!
Their uniforms were caked with mud and bloodstains, and some even had bandages wrapped around their bodies!
Their faces were sallow, yet even so, their spines remained ramrod straight!
Standing like pine trees within the border line!
At the forefront was a man two meters tall, powerfully built, with a resolute face and a golden beard!
A tourniquet was tied around his left arm, and a wound deep enough to reveal bone ran across his upper arm!
The flesh had already rotted, and there was hardly any color left in his arm!
This man was the commander of Outpost 097! Guan Tai, codename Golden Lion!
"I'll say it again! You're not welcome here! Get the hell out!"
And facing Guan Tai stood seven to eight thousand members of the Brahma Society!
All of them watching with interest!
At their head was a man one meter eight tall, bare-chested, with a gleaming bald head!
The chest hair on his torso was incredibly thick, like he was wearing a black sweater!
His rank was also Diamond Six Star, and his name was Elva!
Elva shrugged: "I told you, we're just trying to go over and help you deal with the vine problem, right?"
"All these Fog Swamp Blood Vines, can you handle them? Half a month already, quite a few of you have died, haven't you?"
"Why are you so stubborn? You're taking kindness for ingratitude!"
The Brahma Society members behind him also chimed in, jeering.
"We're giving you face, you should accept it. Toughing it out? How long can you last?"
"Haha! Doesn't feel good being infected with parasitic spores, does it? Look at that arm rotting off! Might as well cut it off, you might just save your life!"
"You can't deal with these blood vines, so just retreat and let us handle them!"
As they spoke, the crowd pressed forward, as if they might charge across the border at any moment!
Guan Tai's spirit power erupted like a volcanic explosion!
He directly underwent half-beast transformation, turning into a lion-headed humanoid half-beast, roaring up to the heavens!
The low lion's roar shook everyone's eardrums painfully!
"You dare?!"
"Brothers! If any of these bastards dares to set foot across the border line, beat them to death immediately!"
"At all costs! Protect our Hua Xia territory!"
The soldiers standing on the border line spread their arms wide, forming a human wall!
Their eyes bloodshot, killing intent surging, they roared loudly!
"With our bodies, we build the Great Wall, defending Hua Xia's land!"
"With our shoulders, we bear the responsibility! Safeguarding the people's safety!"
"The hidden dragon emerges from the abyss, its claws shall tear apart any who come!"
"In the darkest night, our fangs shall crush the mighty enemy!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Three cries of "kill," each word piercing the ears, killing intent running rampant!
The Brahma Society members' faces turned ugly, forced back several steps by this ferocious momentum!
Because these madmen truly dared to fight with their lives!
Elva's expression stiffened, then he sneered: "With just this many of you? Who can you stop?"
"Not letting us through, huh? Fine! Those Fog Swamp Blood Vines on your side all came from over here! Even though they're plant-type spirit beasts, they're still property of the Fan Kingdom!"
"I'm demanding you return them to us now! If you don't, we'll just have to come over and collect them ourselves!"
As he spoke, he reached out to grab Guan Tai!
But just then, a figure covered in glazed armor, steaming with white mist, suddenly appeared in the middle of the scene!
Holding a halberd with both hands, the blood-red blade slashed down like a heavenly sword!
"Boom!"
With an explosive sound, Jiangnan slammed heavily into the ground!
And Elva's arm was severed by Jiangnan's halberd, blood spurting wildly!
It all happened so fast that Elva didn't even feel the pain yet!
Jiangnan slowly stood up, flicking the blood off his halberd, the helmet covering his head dissolving into spirit mist!
His eyes gleamed with cold light: "Sorry! Your arm crossed the border!"
The Dragon Abyss Dark Night soldiers guarding the border stared in shock at this figure!
Is that Southern God? Hiss—
Southern God came to Outpost 097 too? So fierce? He just chopped off Elva's arm like that?
Guan Tai's eyes lit up brilliantly, his fist clenching so hard it created a sonic boom!
"Haha, good! Beautifully done!"
Elva's eyes turned bloodshot, clutching his severed arm, his expression twisted!
"You dare touch me? Believe I'll cripple you right now?"
Jiangnan's face was icy cold, his hand pointing straight at the border line!
On the border line stood a boundary marker, engraved with two bright red characters!
Hua Xia!
"Look at where you're standing. The boundary marker stands tall! Behind it is Hua Xia's territory!"
"If you come as a friend, Hua Xia welcomes you with courtesy! If you come as an enemy, Hua Xia meets you with drawn blades!"
"One more step forward! And you die!"
The voice carried a bone-chilling killing intent, as if coming from the depths of the Nine Nether Hells!
[From Elva, resentment value +1000!]
Elva's face contorted: "You have no right to speak here!"
With that, his body lunged forward!
Two of his underlings behind him also charged forward, the battle about to erupt!
But at that moment, Elva's steps suddenly halted, stopping dead in front of the border line!
Only because he saw the ten thousand Dragon Abyss Dark Night soldiers arriving behind them!
The two underlings panicked!
Whoa?
Boss faked us out? Weren't we charging? Why did you brake?
The Platinum Peak underling used all his strength to skid to a stop just before the border line!
He had just breathed a sigh of relief!
But then the other underling who had been charging behind him crashed into him!
Accidentally pushing him across the line!
Before Jiangnan could act, Guan Tai beside him smashed down with a heavy cannon punch!
The man was shattered!
The underling's face turned white with fear. His body tilted forward at a 45° angle, his arms spinning wildly trying to regain balance!
But Jiangnan grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him behind!
What awaited him were ten thousand Dragon Abyss Dark Night soldiers. Needless to say, his fate was sealed!
Elva exploded with rage. Throwing him over like that? Seriously?
Even though his upper body had crossed the line, if he could spin around a bit more, he might still have made it back!
[From Elva, resentment value +1000!]
Behind him, the Brahma Society members all looked at Elva with strange expressions!
Boss like this is really screwing over his underlings!
Braking mid-charge? Those two brothers just died quite unfairly!
Guan Tai and the Dragon Abyss Dark Night soldiers, seeing the arrival of ten thousand reinforcements, brightened up!
Has the support finally arrived?
Elva's face turned incredibly ugly: "Damn it. You sure are willing to throw people here!"
Then he sneered coldly!
"But so what? Just delivering more fertilizer for the blood vines!"
"Guess how many of these people will be left in half a month?"
"Just an arm. I'll give it to you!"
As he spoke, blood-colored vines burst through the skin of his back, plunging into the ground to absorb nutrients!
His severed arm quickly regenerated under the supply of the blood vines, fully restored!
Then he looked at Jiangnan provocatively. You dare come over here?
See if I don't chop you into a human stump!
But Jiangnan didn't say a word. Instead, he pulled something white and nondescript out of his alternate dimension!
Hugging it in his arms, he started fiddling with settings, producing a "beep beep beep" sound!
Elva was stunned, and when he saw what Jiangnan was holding, he shuddered!
"You... what are you doing?!"
Jiangnan shrugged.
(｡•︠～•︡｡) "I'm lighting a firecracker. As a kid over two hundred months old, it's not too much for me to play with a firecracker at my doorstep, is it?"
Elva: !!!
It's not too much, but your firecracker looks an awful lot like a hydrogen bomb!
"Are you crazy?! Here?! Setting off a hydrogen bomb? You carry hydrogen bombs on you? Don't you want to live?!"
Jiangnan didn't look up: "As a Colonel, carrying a dozen hydrogen bombs on me seems quite fitting for my rank, doesn't it?"
Guan Tai's eyes went wide!
You're actually lighting it?
One disagreement and you set off a hydrogen bomb? You have that much fire?
Liu Mang's scalp went numb: "Damn! Southern God still has some in his pocket? How many did he haul out of Warehouse Number One?"
"Brothers! Fall back! Retreat!"
Guan Tai quickly led the Dragon Abyss Dark Night soldiers in retreat, while Elva's face turned white!
The seven to eight thousand Brahma Society members behind him also broke out in cold sweats. That thing looked like the real deal!
Even with blood vines attached, no one wanted to get blasted by a hydrogen bomb!
They all turned and dived into the blood vine forest behind!
Elva's face turned the color of pig liver, retreating while turning back to curse!
"Fine! You're tough! But thinking you can wipe out the blood vines with hydrogen bombs? Dream on!"
"Such a large area of blood vines can't be cleared with hydrogen bombs. They'll grow back quickly!"
Jiangnan glared: "You talk way too much!"
With that, he pressed toward the detonation button, and Elva immediately vanished into the shadows!
Jiangnan sneered coldly and put away the hydrogen bomb!
Indeed, hydrogen bombs wouldn't do much against such a large area of blood vines with their extremely tenacious vitality!
Even if they bombarded the area extensively and successfully killed all the blood vines, without the Fog Swamp force field, these people wouldn't survive either!
He was just using it to threaten Elva, making them temporarily retreat and avoid direct conflict!
After all, the Dragon Abyss Dark Night soldiers guarding the border didn't seem to be in good shape!
If a conflict broke out, going up against those troublesome plant people would definitely result in many casualties!
Guan Tai looked at Jiangnan, his eyes full of gratification, but then his gaze dimmed!
"Ah... you're being foolish! Why did you come in too? Isn't Dalei wasting resources? Throwing all those treasures here?"
Jiangnan forced a smile onto his face and scratched his head!
"Brother Tai... your arm injury... can't it be healed?"
Guan Tai glanced at his arm, looking disgusted: "It's all because of those damned parasitic spores!"
—
Author's note: