170: 170. Servant

He really didn't want to be here anymore.

Within this terrifying cage, time was infinitely stretched; there was no day or night, no hunger, no death, but it was precisely this absolute solitude—stripped of all sensory stimulation, devoid of any hope, and without any response—that became the most cruel punishment.

At first, the colonel roared like a trapped beast, desperately trying to escape.

He slammed his head against the walls, clawed at the rock with his nails, until his throat was hoarse and bleeding, and his fingertips were a bloody mess, but it was all in vain.

This enclosed space, less than ten square meters, simply could not be destroyed.

As time passed, anger was replaced by boundless fear; he was afraid of this eternal silence, afraid of the constantly replaying phantom images of the dead he had slaughtered in his mind.

He cried bitterly, confessed and begged for mercy to the void, praying for any sound, any change.

Later, even fear became numb, leaving only bone-chilling despair.

He was like a body without a soul, most of the time just sitting blankly, or curled up as he was now, his eyes unfocused, his mouth unconsciously uttering meaningless syllables.

He was truly going mad, or rather, in the face of eternal solitude, madness itself became a luxury.

Just as he thought he would sink into endless oblivion, Lu Feng's familiar and calm figure, like a god descending, appeared silently within the cage, bringing him hope.

Lu Feng calmly looked at the completely broken soul at his feet.

He mused, “It seems that even the most resolute Fei Country colonel cannot withstand the dream cage. But then again, a hundred years of solitude is not just a figure of speech.”

This fear and submission, stemming from the depths of the soul, was far more solid than any military conquest or binding by interests.

The time was ripe, and Lu Feng slowly spoke, “Remember your oath from this moment. Your life, your authority, everything you possess, belongs to me. Should there be the slightest disobedience, this will be your eternal resting place.”

The voice was not loud, yet it clearly entered the colonel's mind like a divine decree, carrying an unquestionable authority.

“I wouldn't dare! Absolutely not! Your will is the meaning of my existence! I, Bowang, am your humblest servant!” Bowang kowtowed repeatedly, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Good. Hand over everything I want to Lin Shaohui of Tingfeng Mining. He is also my man…”

As his voice gradually faded, the cage slowly receded like melting ice and snow, and the suffocating sense of absolute solitude also began to ebb like a tide.

Bowang seemed to hear sounds from the outside world, faintly drifting in.

He trembled with excitement, prostrating himself like the most devout believer. When he looked up again, the deity had vanished from his sight.

The real world.

In the capital of Fei Country, inside the only luxury private hospital that met international standards.

The intensive care unit was filled with the scent of disinfectant, and various precise medical instruments emitted regular beeping sounds.

The warlord colonel, who had just taken control of Fei Country, now lay lifelessly on the hospital bed, his bronze skin appearing dull, his body covered in tubes and sensors sustaining his life.

Several top doctors, hired at high salaries from Europe, stood at the foot of the bed, their brows furrowed, discussing in low voices while examining the latest brain scans and full-body examination reports, their faces filled with confusion and solemnity.

“Brainwave activity is abnormally weak, but it’s not brain death… Body function indicators are stable, yet he simply cannot wake up… This completely defies medical common sense!”

The chief doctor, a white-haired Caucasian professor, scratched his sparse hair, his tone filled with frustration.

They had been tirelessly examining and consulting for several days, trying every known arousal protocol, yet they couldn't even determine the cause of his condition.

The situation was too bizarre, unheard of.

The corridor outside the ward was even more oppressive, with dozens of heavily armed, fierce-eyed soldiers surrounding it, their bodies still carrying the scent of battle smoke.

The adjutant in charge, a burly man with a scar on his face, stared intently at the doctors inside through the glass window with a wolf-like, ruthless gaze, as if to say: if you can't cure the general, you will all be buried with him!

The attending physician wiped the cold sweat constantly seeping from his forehead, under immense pressure. He felt he wasn't treating a disease, but walking a tightrope, with an abyss beneath his feet.

Just as this desperate atmosphere was about to solidify, he suddenly noticed the colonel's eyelids on the bed twitch violently!

Immediately after, to everyone's astonishment, his eyes, which had been closed for several days, suddenly snapped open!

His pupils contracted sharply the moment they met the light, as if breaking free from an extremely long and terrifying nightmare.

Then, like a drowning person finally surfacing, his chest heaved violently, greedily, gulping down the medicated air in the ward, each inhale carrying the tremor of surviving a catastrophe, as if it were the most delicious nectar on earth.

“I’m out… I’m out… Haha… Wuwu…”

He first let out a strange laugh, full of wild joy and extreme lingering fear, whose meaning was unclear. Then, as if remembering something utterly terrifying, he began to sob uncontrollably, tears streaming down his face, forming a horrifying contrast with his usual cold and violent demeanor.

“General! You’re awake! Oh my god… This… This is truly a medical miracle!!!!”

The chief doctor was the first to react, excitedly wanting to step forward and examine him: “How do you feel? Is anything uncomfortable? Do you remember before you lost consciousness…”

“Get out!”

The colonel suddenly swung his arm, roughly pushing away the approaching doctor with a force completely unlike a patient newly recovered from unconsciousness.

His eyes were filled with the daze of a survivor, and a disdainful, almost transcendent attitude towards these mortals before him.

“This is not a medical miracle, but… a miracle of the gods!! You are not worthy to know! None of you… are worthy to know what happened!”

He struggled, disregarding the tubes still attached to him, and directly rolled over, stumbling from the hospital bed onto the cold floor.

This action startled everyone.

However, his subsequent behavior left everyone even more dumbfounded.

The newly awakened warlord leader, struggling, turned to face the East, and with an incredibly devout posture, knelt on both knees, bowing deeply.

His forehead pressed against the ground, he mumbled indistinct words in his native tongue, vaguely audible phrases like “Sovereign,” “forgiveness,” and “servant,” as if expressing the humblest gratitude and submission to some supreme, unseen entity.

“General!”

“Colonel!”

The ward door was suddenly pushed open, and the adjutant, along with a group of soldiers, rushed in. Seeing the awakened colonel kneeling on the ground, they were first overjoyed, but then stunned by his bizarre actions.