Snow Crow Ji no longer bothered to argue with the youth.
With her blood boiling, she slashed Leiye to the ground and shoved aside the soldiers who tried to stop her.
She pressed her blade against the man’s throat, her gaze chillingly indifferent.
"Order your soldiers to cease fire."
"Do it, Your Excellency Family Head," Leiye replied, hot blood streaming from his forehead into his eyes.
"I already gave them my orders in advance.
If I die, they will not stop; the command will continue to be executed."
A fanatical fervor never seen before appeared on the man’s face.
"Executing orders is a soldier’s duty.
Everything is for the glory of Red Heaven!
If you want us to stop, then kill us all and step over our corpses!"
Looking at his nearly provocative gaze, Snow Crow Ji’s fury flared uncontrollably.
"Leiye!"
Leiye rose to meet the blade, facing all the soldiers.
The battlefield before him was riddled with craters, and smoke filled the air.
"And this Family Head Snow is clearly shielding that damned bug.
Chi Chuchun has undoubtedly lost the ability to control her own actions.
I am merely making a more rational judgment."
"Look at what she’s done! Wake up!
That girl is no longer the little family head; she is a member of the hetero-race attempting to disguise herself.
Everything just now was nothing more than a facade, a base attempt to make us feel pity for her."
"As for me, my conscience is clear.
If I must prove my loyalty, then let my blood be spilled upon this battlefield!"
Snow Crow Ji decisively cut down the maddened Leiye.
Just as the man had said, even with their commander fallen, the soldiers of the Liberation Wings did not stop their outpouring of firepower.
These extremist lunatics had two fires burning in their eyes: one was the fire of executing orders, and the other was hatred.
Watching the girl’s life flicker like a candle in the wind amidst the shelling, her body swaying on the verge of collapse, Snow Crow Ji understood that logic could change nothing at this moment.
Even if she cut down the gunners, someone else would surely take their place soon after; she could not truly bring herself to massacre thousands of her own soldiers.
And so, Snow Crow Ji did something reckless.
She unleashed her divine endowment, ignored the protests of her subordinates, and walked straight into the bombardment zone.
She let the shockwaves of the explosions buffet her, while flaming iron fragments flew like arrows, striking her body and occasionally slicing her skin.
Step by step, under the stunned gazes of the soldiers, she braved the frantic shelling to reach Chi Chuchun.
The latter was still in a state of loss of control, curled up into a ball.
Her mangled body was little more than a skeleton, as new flesh was torn away by flying shrapnel before it could even finish growing.
This incomplete insect-like shell had actually become an external organ maintaining the girl’s life signs at this moment.
Its silhouette shrank by a certain proportion every second, transforming into flesh and blood to fill the girl’s frame.
Her crying was as faint as a flickering candle, something a slight force could extinguish.
It wasn't until she felt someone embrace her, warmth spreading from her shoulders to her chest, that Chi Chuchun looked up blankly.
"Sister Snow, it hurts so much.... I feel so awful......"
Even though her world had long been occupied by the storm, she had still heard the previous conversation.
Her brother’s words had pierced through her like cold knives.
The shelling continued.
Broken, beautiful, and chaotic memories flooded her mind.
She remembered sitting in a cold corridor as people in white lab coats ran from afar, a man collapsing before her.
She remembered a young figure searching for her in a spring garden, and how she had run out from behind the flower bushes.
The sounds of a childhood promise and a weak, final wish echoed in her ears at the same time.
'Regardless of where you hide, I will find you.'
'You aren't a scourge; you are a child who makes me proud.
Fly out from here and forget everything; the vast world that belongs to you is waiting ahead.'
These conflicting memories made it impossible for her to distinguish reality.
Her already crumbling sanity plummeted toward an even deeper abyss.
"If you dare lose control again now, no one can save you.
Wake the hell up!" Snow Crow Ji struck Chi Chuchun across the face with an expressionless punch.
The latter’s eyes trembled; her thoughts evidently cleared significantly as she clutched her face and hung her head in silence.
The first round of shells was exhausted, and the second volley arrived immediately after.
The woman was not particularly skilled in direct combat, and as a grade 5, maintaining her divine endowment field to block such an attack was a significant drain.
She raised her blade above her head and thrust it forcefully into the ground.
Her barrier expanded completely as the shells slammed into its surface.
The shockwaves split at the blade’s edge and surged to both sides, making the woman’s long hair flutter wildly.
Initially, the barrier could fully withstand the bombardment, but eventually, the overall silhouette began to dim, showing signs that it could no longer be maintained.
Undoubtedly, once the domain was torn apart, the woman’s body would be instantly swallowed by the fire.
The soldiers following her could no longer bear to watch, yet these military men could not bring themselves to turn their cannons on their own kind.
Finally, someone roared out:
"These bastards are taking it too far!
Drive the tanks in! Get the tanks in there!"
Those words were like a spark to a powder keg.
The soldiers, who were already harboring a deep sense of fury, responded in unison and moved with maximum speed.
Looking out, countless military tanks and armored vehicles across the battlefield were started at once.
A rolling iron torrent ground over the landscape, driving toward the same direction—the bombardment zone!
Before long, a steel wall was built in front of Snow Crow Ji.
The fires on the treads were extinguished, and the rusted armor plates connected into a single line, stretching for a hundred meters.
The lion emblems roared under the blood-red sunrise as all the vehicles activated their energy shields simultaneously.
When one vehicle’s energy shield was destroyed, another would take its place to block the shelling.
The strength of a single vehicle was not enough to withstand the thunderous fire, but when hundreds of vehicles converged, they formed an indestructible steel wall!
At this moment, the only thing harder than this wall was the battle-hardened will of the soldiers from the Devil City Military District.
Eventually, even the radical Liberation Wings, faced with this magnificent scene, were unsure if they should continue firing.
They were radical, yes, but they were also unwilling to point their cannons at their allies, especially when their own relatives and friends were among those soldiers.
The two sides entered a standoff, and the situation instantly flipped into a stalemate.
Everyone’s nerves were taut, holding a resolve to face death as they stood their ground.
"This is...." A glimmer of light appeared in Chi Chuchun’s clouded eyes, deeply shaken by the scene before her.
"Heh, these brats... they didn't let me down when it mattered most.
I guess my daily training wasn't in vain," Snow Crow Ji let out a long breath.
"Didn't you used to shout every day about wanting to protect more people and let them go home?" Snow Crow Ji looked back.
"Now, the people you protected are protecting you."
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