177: Chapter 177 You're not Lin Mo?

Gu Yunting ignored this misunderstanding, tightened his grip on the sword hilt, stood beside Ji Wuchen, and pointed the tip of his sword at Aiken.

"That punch just now, you didn't use your own ability, did you? Was it technology or something else?"

Aiken's eyes finally changed.

It wasn't a change caused by being threatened, but a wariness of having a nerve touched that shouldn't have been touched.

Munro cut off the topic: "Don't waste your breath with them. Let's capture them and talk later."

The two of them simultaneously activated the overclocking mode of their energy cores.

The blue light of the thrusters suddenly brightened, and the air in the abandoned trench buzzed from the high-frequency vibration of the armor shells.

In overclocking mode, the speed of the two power armors more than doubled, and the figures of Munro and Aiken left afterimages among the ruins.

Ji Wuchen took the first wave of attacks. The condensed fire sword held up for a few breaths under the high-frequency vibration field of Munro, but was ultimately shattered, and blood from the web of his hand dripped onto the ground.

Using the momentum of being knocked back, he rolled to the side, dodging a fatal blow, but Munro's tactical sword followed closely behind, the back of the blade slamming into his shoulder and pinning him to the ground.

Munro didn't kill him; his goal was to capture him alive, not to kill.

Gu Yunting tried to cut in from the flank to rescue him, but Aiken had already anticipated his route.

The power gauntlet smashed into the sword blade. This time, Gu Yunting couldn't hold on; the sword flew out of his hand, embedding itself into the scorched earth several yards away, the hilt still buzzing.

"Peak Fifth Rank." Munro sheathed his sword and looked down at the two subdued men. There was no joy of victory in his tone; it sounded more like a post-battle assessment.

"To be able to hold out against me for so long, you two must rank among the talents of Daxia. Unfortunately, Daxia's top talents are nothing more than this."

Ji Wuchen raised his head, blood still hanging from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were as cold as a blade just drawn from its scabbard.

Being looked down upon by a mid-Sixth Rank Knight, he showed no sign of fear.

"A Sixth Rank fighting a Fifth Rank, and using a mech on top of that? Are you not ashamed?"

Munro frowned slightly. Before he could speak, Aiken said coldly: "On the battlefield, there is only life and death, not rank."

"Well said." Gu Yunting coughed, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, and looked up.

"So, your victory over us proves nothing. A Sixth Rank fighting a Fifth Rank—winning is hardly glorious. If we were to fight at the same rank, you might not be standing here talking right now."

Aiken's hand tightened slightly, but Gu Yunting wasn't finished.

He glanced at Ji Wuchen, then looked at Munro, his tone flat: "Besides, the two of us don't even rank among the talents of Daxia."

Munro paused, instantly becoming alert.

The intelligence system's assessment of Ironwall City clearly stated that Lin Mo was the core of this reinforcement army, possessing Sixth Rank lethality despite having Fifth Rank early-stage cultivation.

A talent of this level doesn't even rank in Daxia?

The next second, Munro immediately reacted, staring at Ji Wuchen and asking: "What is your name? You are not Lin Mo?"

Ji Wuchen chuckled softly, his eyes even carrying a hint of pity, as if looking at two prey about to step into a trap without knowing it.

"Listen well, I am Ji Wuchen!"

"Also, you got one thing wrong. The two of us really don't rank among the talents of Daxia! If Lin Mo were here, the ones lying on the ground right now would be you two."

"Insolent!" Aiken stepped forward abruptly, the dark gold runes on his power gauntlet suddenly lighting up, causing the scorched earth beneath his feet to crack. Ji Wuchen's words had not only pierced his pride but also the invincible faith of the entire Holy Temple Knights on the Northern battlefield.

Munro reached out to stop him, but his eyes had also turned cold. "You are deliberately provoking us. Don't fall for it!"

"Provoking you? Sorry, I have no interest in such boring things. I am just stating facts." Ji Wuchen's tone remained flat.

The abandoned trench was silent for several breaths. The wind, carrying scorched ash, passed through the broken walls like some kind of silent countdown.

Aiken lowered his voice and said to Munro: "Since these two aren't the main targets, if we go back like this, how are we supposed to explain it to Lord Augustus?"

Munro did not answer immediately, but his silence was an answer in itself.

They had infiltrated thousands of miles, not to capture two insignificant talents to turn in.

"Change the plan."

Munro pulled his tactical sword back out, the blade pointing at Ji Wuchen, but he didn't strike again.

"Rest in place. Use these two as bait, send a signal, and let Ironwall City know we have them. He will come to us himself." He turned and looked toward the direction of Ironwall City deep in the wilderness, his tone certain.

Meanwhile, in the Northwest Sector.

Old Zhou crouched on the ruins of a guard station that had been half-destroyed by an explosion, adjusting the frequency of the sensor in his hand toward the southeast direction several times.

The screen remained deathly silent, and even the background noise of the communication channel had disappeared. The Third Squad's communication had cut off about half an hour ago, and it hadn't been reconnected since.

"Still can't get through." Old Zhou put down the sensor and glanced at Lin Mo.

Feng Ping was lying on the wreckage of a scrapped mech, checking the remaining data of the energy core. Hearing this, he looked up: "The area the Third Squad is responsible for is the Southeast Sector. There are many abandoned trenches there, and the signal is poor to begin with. It might just be temporarily shielded."

"The probability of what you're saying is very small!" Shen Yi's voice came from the side.

She was crouching on a concrete slab unearthed from the ruins, with the half-marked defense map spread out in front of her, her finger pointing at an area in the Southeast Sector.

"The Third Squad's last signal coordinate was here, in the abandoned trench area, the location with the underground hangar. After that, the signal cut off. There was no fading, no frequency shift, which means it wasn't interfered with; it was shut off."

Lin Mo stood a few steps away, his gaze falling on the horizon of the wilderness in the southeast, distorted by heat waves. The calmness in his eyes was being replaced by a deeper, heavier composure. It wasn't worry; it was the realization of the worst-case scenario after mentally arranging and combining all possibilities.

"How many people are in the Third Squad?"

"Seven." Shen Yi didn't check the roster and reported directly: "Ji Wuchen, Gu Yunting, two Ironwall City veterans, plus three scouts."

Lin Mo stood up. He unbuckled the longyuan blade from his waist and hung it on his back in a position more convenient for drawing the sword.

"Let's go. We're going to the Southeast Sector to take a look."

Feng Ping was stunned: "But—"

Shen Yi had already stood up, closed the map, turned the communicator to maximum power, and said only two words: "Direction!"