Chapter 91: Time Is Tight

Chapter 91: Time Is Tight After taking his seat, Dunro tore into chunks of beast meat with big bites, then raised his wine bowl in gesture: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Come! Let’s drink a bowl!" Dunro’s gaze locked on the brown-robed figure’s mask. He was dying to know who this person really was—a Psionic from Rock Sand City who had the guts to venture deep into the camp. After all, even with their previous cooperation, both sides had been really careful, mutually wary, never entering each other’s territory to prevent accidents. "This..." The brown-robed figure fell silent, raising the wine bowl but showing no intention of drinking. They absolutely couldn’t reveal their identity, unless this traitor leader before them had principles and would never leak information to the outside world. But expecting traitors to have standards was like believing in fairy tales. "Leader Dunro, our lord is already really ticked off with your experimental progress! I’ve come this time on our lord’s orders to personally check on the experimental progress! Time is tight—could we go now?" The brown-robed figure brought up the real purpose of this visit, dodging this ’ill-intentioned’ toast. "What’s the rush? The laboratory is right downstairs. We’ll go after eating." Dunro remained unmoved. Having arrived on his turf, everything had to go according to his rules. Today, that mask was coming off for sure! "Drink! Not drinking means not giving me face!" His attitude was rock-solid, clearly indicating nothing would proceed without drinking. "Sigh, then I’ll go along with your wishes!" The brown-robed figure was stuck. Under Dunro’s glaring tiger eyes, they could only slowly lift their face mask... Then revealed a layer of black face covering underneath. The mouth area wasn’t covered, showing bright red lips slightly parted as the brown-robed figure picked up the wine cup and downed it. "..." Dunro’s thick eyebrows twitched. This person was really careful—another layer of covering under the face mask? But this only made Dunro more curious about what this person actually looked like. After drinking, the brown-robed figure put down the wine bowl, replaced the face mask, and spoke in mechanical tones: "Leader, the wine is finished. Don’t you think we should..." Who knew Dunro’s eyes would turn nasty, smiling without warmth: "Forgot to tell you—in our camp, there’s a rule that you must show your true face, otherwise..." Crack! He applied slight pressure with both hands, breaking the beast bone in half and loudly sucking the marrow inside! The brown-robed figure cursed internally. This damned traitor—they absolutely couldn’t reveal their true appearance. No longer being polite, they said ice-cold: "Dunro, Bishop Haswith of your faction also knows the purpose of my visit. What are you trying to pull by repeatedly blocking me?" At the word "Bishop," Dunro’s face flashed with fear. His flesh trembled, and he immediately didn’t dare casually mess with this brown-robed figure anymore. "Hahaha, just joking! I’ll take you there now." Putting down the broken bone, Dunro’s attitude became much gentler. He stood up and walked outside. The brown-robed figure felt nothing but contempt internally—truly a bully who picked on the weak and kissed up to the strong. Silent, they quickly followed... ... On the other side, in the shield guards’ formation, the two traitors near death from thirst finally got their lifeline. They had received water bags thrown in by the Tulip Shield Guard and were desperately pouring water into their mouths. "Gulp! Gulp!" "I’m alive!" The gray-robed man drank happily while tears wet his eyes. He had never drunk such delicious water—it was like the legendary water of life, bringing his dying vitality back to life. But after Shia tilted her head back and drank several mouthfuls, she frowned. "Wrong! Wrong!" The taste was too bland. The fresh water diluted the blood, and that intoxicating feeling immediately faded big time. Fortunately, after getting water back in her system, her reason barely came back somewhat. Survival instinct prompted her to keep drinking. The nearby Tulip Shield Guard immediately left the formation after finishing its mission... until reaching a black shadow in the distance. Carlos landed and recalled the Tulip Shield Guard. Notifications of Spiritual Essence gains kept popping up in his mind. [Spiritual Essence +0.3] [Spiritual Essence +0.2] ... The monster tide had now shrunk by a quarter. The remaining monsters still attacked the shield guards like crazy. [Spiritual Essence: 2887/12000] Everything went according to Carlos’s plan—killing monsters and traveling at the same time. "Getting a bit tired. Find a place nearby to rest." Having flown for quite some time, Carlos decided to take a breather. The Tulip Shield Guard would stand guard while he rested enough to catch up with the formation again... Time quietly passed, and the monster tide was finally completely wiped out. [Spiritual Essence: 7657/12000] The shield guards’ advance speed picked up again, kicking up sand dust as they traveled rapidly... Around the fifth day after departure. In the iron cage, Shia was pressing her flat stomach with her arm when suddenly familiar terrain appeared before her eyes. She quickly called out: "My lord! Keep going forward! Ahead! Ahead is our camp!" The gray-robed man reacted half a beat slower, feeling absolutely steamed: "Damn, beaten by this crazy woman!" Besides brief annoyance, his heart was filled more with fear and dread. The camp was about to be reached. His greatest value was about to disappear, but he had thought of no escape method. "What to do? What to do?" Compared to the gray-robed man’s chaotic mind and anxious agitation, Shia was much calmer. She had figured it out—in her current state, escape was a pipe dream. Given the masked man’s brutality, if she couldn’t escape, she had even less chance of making it out alive. After thinking it through, Shia’s thoughts changed: "I’ll definitely cause you trouble!" It could only be trouble, because she knew that with the camp’s strength, they definitely couldn’t match these terrifying monsters. Madness flashed briefly in her eyes as her arm sneakily moved to her belt, where there was a signal rocket. "Wait a bit more." Once they got close to the camp, Shia would immediately set off the rocket skyward to warn the camp. This would definitely cause trouble for the masked man! This was the consequence of underestimating her! ... In mid-air, after learning the traitor camp was ahead, Carlos summoned a storm and instantly hit the gas, flying forward at breakneck speed. Soon he saw a giant sand dune appear below. Around the giant sand dune, dark brown quicksand slowly rolled, capable of drowning any creature that had the nerve to venture in. This was actually a quicksand area that naturally blocked outsiders from entering. However, this could only be called a ’ground-level’ natural barrier, completely unable to stop aerial enemies. Wings flapping, Carlos easily flew over the quicksand without running into any obstruction—not even a human or monster shadow. Carlos guessed the traitors were probably way too confident in their quicksand barrier. Flying over the giant sand dune, he looked down. The top of this giant sand dune was actually a funnel-shaped cavity. "The traitor camp should be inside here."