Both parties reached a consensus, and Nuobai finally decided to abandon the kidnapping, embarking on another path of survival with Su Mo.
She rode the motorcycle with Su Mo, turned around, and headed towards Rust Wind Ridge in the southern part of the Wind Plains.
Along the way, Su Mo constantly guided Nuobai based on his memory, ensuring she did not stray from the planned route to avoid encountering company forces or being delayed by road conditions.
They arrived at Rust Wind Ridge at dusk, taking 4 hours and 41 minutes, only 2 minutes slower than Su Mo's calculated time, which was an acceptable error.
However, the situation was not as smooth as imagined.
When they arrived at Rust Wind Ridge, there was already a company force stationed there.
Su Mo hid behind a hill and used binoculars to observe the troops.
There were more than thirty people on the other side, firmly guarding the only entrance and exit of Rust Wind Ridge, with steep cliffs all around, there was no way to bypass them.
Su Mo punched the ground unwillingly and frowned: "I was too optimistic. I thought they would only defend the north, but I didn't expect the south to be blocked too."
Nuobai typed to inquire:
[Should we change places?]
Su Mo shook his head: "Changing places now might not be in time. The company must have realized we disappeared, they'll soon react... This place is our only hope... Let me think... Let me think about what to do..."
Just as Su Mo was tense, Nuobai gently poked him.
Su Mo turned his head to look, and her phone displayed a line of text:
[Why not just go through here?]
Su Mo was stunned: "But there are people defending over there."
Nuobai placed her hand on her knife handle.
"Swish——" The Tang Blade unsheathed.
[Just cut through]
...
The Rust Wind Ridge garrison had 36 soldiers, who were holding guns, some chatting, some smoking, some yawning on top of armored vehicles, the atmosphere was very relaxed.
Clearly, they thought the enemy was in the north, there was no need to worry here, they just needed to clock in casually.
Among them, a tall and a short soldier were sitting on an armored vehicle watching the sunset.
The short one yawned, sleepy-eyed: "Hey, when can we finish? We've been squatting here for three days, I feel like I've started to stink."
The tall one said lazily: "Whenever they catch people up north, we can finish. Anyway, the fieldwork pays triple, and we don't have to fight and bleed, I'd rather squat a few more days."
The short one sighed: "That's easy to say, but we're eating dry food every day, sleeping in sleeping bags. Don't you feel it's torture? I'd rather have the roast turkey and single bed back at the base than triple pay."
The tall one pointed at the sunset: "Once it gets dark, we can swap shifts and sleep, and all worries will disappear once asleep."
The short one squinted his eyes due to the sunset's glare.
He smiled lightly, teasingly saying: "Hey, have you heard that some experts with rich combat experience can use common things to their advantage, including the sun?"
Tall one: "What do you mean?"
Short one: "For example, when two people are fighting, the expert will make sure to face their back to the sun, so the enemy facing the sun won't be able to open their eyes, and their vision is impaired, putting them at a disadvantage."
He said this, rubbed his eyes stung by the sun, joking: "What do you think, if someone were to ambush us now, would they use this trick?"
The tall one pushed him: "Get lost, don't be a crow..."
Unexpectedly, a ghostly black figure suddenly emerged from the dazzling sunlight.
"Chh—" As the blade reflected a hot glow, the tall one's head instantly separated, showering blood into the sky.
The short one froze, his pupils reflected his comrade's flying head, the sunset, the white-haired masked girl, and the blood-stained Tang Blade she held.
Just as the short one wanted to scream, the Tang Blade swiftly slashed through his neck.
The blade's edge, like fire, was fiercely dazzling.
All sounds from the short one were blocked in the throat, a blood mark first appeared on his neck, followed by a spray of blood, his head and body fell off the armored vehicle, twitching lifelessly.
Nearby soldiers smoking saw the corpses and blood, their faces immediately changed.
They hadn't had time to warn others when Death God appeared before them.
Nuobai charged out of the shadows, her body pulling into a twisted afterimage during the high-speed rush, and she tore through the distance between her and the soldiers like lightning.
She cut off the panicked rifle aiming at her, then swiftly twisted her right leg high like a snake wrapping around the opponent's neck, simultaneously grabbing his wrist with one hand.
"Crack!" Along with a pull of the arm and press of the right leg, the sound of bones breaking rang out, the soldier's head was twisted fiercely around by the force, spine breaking inch by inch.
Nuobai, having completed the strangulation, didn't pause, her body spun like a startled dance, the Tang Blade along her movement slashed at another enemy, the blade unhindered cutting from his left shoulder to right waist.
"Schluk!" His upper and lower body were directly sliced open, blood splattered the ground.
Four kills happened just in a split second!
The nearby soldiers, no matter how slow, realized something after four deaths, suddenly the noise rose:
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!"
"Walker! Be careful! They're coming your way!"
"Weren't the enemies supposed to be in the north? How did they come here? Damn the intelligence department of *Civilization Dawn*, worthless things!"
The soldiers hastily organized a counterattack, but it didn't change the situation.
The blockade's focus on Wind Plains was in the north, all elites had gone there.
The soldiers left in the south were ordinary, part of a second-line security force, doing patrols or dealing with theft gangs was manageable.
Facing someone like Nuobai, they could be said to shatter upon contact.
Nuobai's figure was seen flashing back and forth in the enemy ranks, each slash bringing a blood mist, occasionally eliciting soldiers' heart-wrenching screams, many dying without even uttering a sound.
One soldier pulled the trigger as hard as he could, frantically firing at Nuobai nearby, the latter wielded the Tang Blade, sprinkling a spray of blade glow in front of her.
"Clang clang clang—" Having been strengthened by the Blood Code, Nuobai's nerves far exceeded that of ordinary humans, directly deflected all bullets with the blade, seeing how sparks densely fell in the air.
However, being the Hegemony Company's formal army, the enemy indeed had good tactical coordination.
As the soldier suppressed Nuobai with gunfire, his companion already completed a flanking move, squeezing the trigger facing Nuobai's back.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The unexpected shots from behind caught Nuobai off guard, her front and rear waist pierced with several bloody holes.
"Hit! Finish off!"
As the scholar sneaking shot yelled out, what happened next froze his expression.
Only to see Nuobai's waist wounds undergoing some form of mutation, as intricate blood threads constantly branched from the injury, intertwining, aggregating, forming complete tissues at a visible speed, filling the blood holes.
As the epidermis continued healing, the wound was fully covered by fair skin, her injuries restored completely, not even a scar left, only the clothing's hole indicating the gunshot.
Witnessing this, the sneaking soldier's face turned white: "She has a Blood Code inside! This recovery ability... It's the 'Crimson Rose Blood Code'!"