163: Chapter 163 Three Sentences Tearing Off Three Layers of Skin

Silence maintained for about seven or eight seconds.

Xun Bai stood up from his grand tutors chair.

His movements were extremely disciplined; he lifted both hands from the armrests, shook out his wide sleeves, and took a step forward, alternating his feet.

Just one step, no more, no less.

He raised his right hand, palm facing up, with his five fingers slightly spread.

"Little friend, according to the rules we discussed."

Xun Bai's tone was still that unhurried pace.

"Take it out and let this old man have a look."

Before his voice had even settled.

A dull metallic clank came from the left; it was the sound of a rifle bolt being pulled to the half-open position.

Captain Gu tilted his chin, and the muzzles of the eleven people in the Scientific Expedition Team simultaneously rose fifteen degrees, pointing at the open space between Jiang Feng and Xun Bai.

Captain Gu's voice was as heavy and coarse as someone banging on an iron barrel.

"Leave the item."

His tone dropped several notches, becoming so heavy it could crush a pit, leaving no room for negotiation.

"This mineral maintains the magnetic field balance beneath the entire town. You forcibly pried it from the vein, and the structure below has already begun to collapse."

Captain Gu took two steps forward, stepping directly into the buffer zone that separated them.

"Once the magnetic field dissipates, Wuyin Town's shield won't last long. When that happens, no one will be able to get out."

The side on the right also began to move.

Zhou Sui pulled her hands out of her pockets and made a pushing gesture with her left hand.

Dozens of people from the Mutual Aid Society surged forward two large steps with a clatter. Iron chains scraped against the ground, making an ear-piercing sound, and the flat sides of the machetes reflected a cold, grayish-white light.

Zhou Sui tilted her head, her smile returning.

"Little brother, don't listen to those two."

She spread her hands in a very friendly gesture.

"It's not safe to keep that thing on you; someone will always be eyeing it. You won't be able to sleep soundly tonight if you're carrying it."

She took another step forward.

"Hand it over to me, and I'll guarantee you leave this town safe and sound."

Three directions, three tones, three sets of rhetoric.

But ultimately, they all meant one thing.

Hand over the item.

The distance was closing; the encirclement was tightening.

Short staves, rifles, machetes—firepower from three sides pressed in simultaneously, squeezing the central space smaller and smaller.

Jiang Feng stood his ground, his left hand resting on the pocket above the zipper of his windbreaker, while his right hand hung naturally at his side.

During this standoff, he had already roughly calculated the motives of the three parties.

He looked at Xun Bai first.

He looked for three seconds.

"Have a look?"

Jiang Feng didn't raise his voice, but in this space with its intense sense of confinement, every word was delivered clearly.

"Sir, you said 'have a look'."

He swept his gaze over the twenty or so disciples behind Xun Bai.

"The short staves in the hands of those disciples behind you are nearly slick with sweat from their grip. Their preparation for a fight is far more thorough than a preparation to 'have a look'."

Jiang Feng's speaking speed increased a notch.

"If I were to take the item out and hand it to you, do you think your disciples could restrain themselves from acting?"

"Or rather, could you restrain yourself?"

Xun Bai's fingers froze in mid-air, neither withdrawing nor extending further.

A few low sounds of commotion came from behind him.

The Thin-faced Disciple quietly retracted the hand gripping the short staff into his sleeve.

Jiang Feng gave him no time to react and turned his attention to Gu Yuanshan.

"Captain Gu."

He used the title formally.

"You say the magnetic field can't dissipate because you're afraid Wuyin Town's shield won't hold."

Jiang Feng took two steps, facing Captain Gu directly.

"But what you're truly afraid of isn't the shield collapsing; it's that once it collapses, people from the outside will be able to come in."

He paused.

"The world outside has changed for fifty-two years."

"If these eleven men under you walk out, they won't be facing the era they remember."

"You stay here not because you can't get out, but because you don't dare to lead them out."

Captain Gu's jaw muscles tightened, and his cheeks hollowed inward.

Among the veterans holding rifles behind him, two lowered their muzzles by half an inch.

Jiang Feng turned and finally looked at Zhou Sui.

He didn't even bother to step closer.

Standing where he was, across a distance of five or six meters, he scanned the fifty or sixty members of the Mutual Aid Society.

"As for you."

Jiang Feng's tone was airy.

"You're going to protect me as I leave with those machetes?"

"If your people really had the guts to leave, would they still be huddled in this wretched town eating expired instant noodles?"

"Your Mutual Aid Society can't even produce a valid ID card. Once you leave this fog zone, the first thing you'll encounter isn't freedom, but a police checkpoint."

"What are you going to protect me with? Those few-dollar expired instant noodles in your pocket?"

The smile on Zhou Sui's face finally crumbled completely.

The corners of her mouth twitched, and her eyes darted quickly to the left and right.

Rustling sounds came from the crowd of the Mutual Aid Society. Several people in the back row retreated half a step, and their machetes had unknowingly lowered.

A fat man wearing a blue jacket muttered in a low voice, which was still heard by Jiang Feng.

"What he says seems to be true..."

Zhou Sui turned and glared at the fat man, who immediately shut his mouth.

But that glare precisely exposed her lack of confidence.

The atmosphere on the scene was now completely different from before.

Ten seconds ago, the three major forces were standing on the same line, all pointing their spears at Jiang Feng.

Now, that line had shattered into three segments.

Xun Bai's disciples were exchanging glances, unsure whether they should continue to stand their ground under their master's command.

Captain Gu's Scientific Expedition Team still maintained their combat formation, but their muzzles were lowering, and the gazes of four or five men were no longer on Jiang Feng; they were looking at the Mutual Aid Society.

The back row of the Mutual Aid Society began to loosen, their positioning shifting from dense to sparse. Someone even switched their machete to their left hand to wipe sweat with their right.

Jiang Feng took a step back, his back leaning against the ruined brick wall next to the Abandoned Well.

His left hand rested on his windbreaker pocket, his fingers hooked on the pull tab of the anti-theft zipper.

His posture was casual, but the signal was clear.

No one was going to take this bag from him.

The leaders of the three parties all looked at him.

Xun Bai's right hand finally withdrew, resting at his side.

Captain Gu didn't speak, but he gave a hand signal to those behind him, and all muzzles were lowered to the ground.

Zhou Sui's smile was gone, her entire face contorted into an expression of someone gritting their teeth with effort.

But no one moved.

The encirclement was still there, the weapons were still there, and the people were still there.

It was just that the momentum of shared enmity from moments ago had been torn to shreds by Jiang Feng's three sentences.

These people had transformed from a pack of collective predators into isolated islands of mutual suspicion.

At that very instant, the long-awaited notification sound rang out in Jiang Feng's mind once again.

[New Mission Issued]!