168: Chapter Ends Internal Strife

"Brother, what are we waiting for? They're already dead or injured; they can't beat us anymore, can they?" Gong Qiumu didn't understand why they had to wait when they had such an advantage.

"Don't be in a hurry. An informant once passed on a message that Ming Chengde absorbed an energy stone and awakened a very powerful Superpower. One mistake could lead to the annihilation of our entire force. Naturally, Father and I must be cautious. When he exhausts his energy, that will be the time for us to capture him."

Gong Qiuqiu answered Gong Qiumu's question while watching the Superpower Ming Chengde was performing.

"It is indeed powerful!" Seeing the Light Screen he had cast shatter before it could even last two seconds, Gong Qiuqiu sighed deeply.

"Oh, so you're planning to capture him without losing a single soldier!" Gong Qiumu looked on in amazement. His brother's brain was truly sharp; he had calculated everyone's moves and could even predict what was about to happen.

To have such a formidable person as his brother—Gong Qiumu expressed that having such a brother made him proud!

Gong Qiuqiu nodded, his face calm as if this were a trivial matter of no consequence.

Ming Chengde's gray smoke broke through the Light Screen and continued forward, instantly enveloping the small building.

Everywhere the smoke passed, it dissolved at a visible rate. Moments later, the entire building vanished.

Ming Chengde panted and laughed towards the sky. "Haha, Kid Gong, you've gone on ahead. I'll send your beloved sons down to accompany you right now!"

Just then, Ming Tao suddenly regained consciousness. Ignoring his blood-smeared features, he shouted excitedly, "Dad, save me! I'm being held hostage by them!"

Hearing this, Ming Chengde abruptly turned to look where Gong Qiuqiu's group was located.

Seeing they had been discovered, Gong Qiuqiu stopped hiding and walked out openly from their hiding place.

Gong Qiumu followed behind Gong Qiuqiu, holding Ming Tao.

"Grandpa Ming, I didn't expect your Superpower to be so powerful. You certainly hid it well!" Gong Qiuqiu said with a gentle smile.

"Hmph, you brat, you can still smile? Your father was just ground to dust by me! What an ungrateful wretch; Kid Gong wasted his effort raising you!"

Ming Chengde found his confident look irritating.

"As for what kind of person I am, I won't trouble Grandpa Ming to lecture me. My father will teach me well how to behave."

"Your father? Haha, that's right, you'll be seeing him soon. From now on, the Songzhou Safety Tower is mine! Haha..."

"Uncle Ming, I'm afraid I can't let you have your way." A gentle and wise voice rang out.

Chief Gong appeared with a faint smile, followed by a group of capable men in black, walking over from another direction.

Ming Chengde's face darkened as he looked at his captured son and then at the very much alive Chief Gong.

"You set me up?" Ming Chengde seemed to realize something, and the smugness on his face vanished.

"I didn't expect you to fall for it again," Chief Gong said, shaking his head with a smile.

"So, does that mean my people at the other strongholds in the base have all failed?" Ming Chengde asked, emphasizing every word.

"That's right. They've all been captured!"

Ming Chengde's face turned ashen. His Superpower was exhausted, his son was captured, and presumably, the rest of his family had been caught too. He had lost!

He had lost completely and utterly!

"Kid Gong, spare Ming Tao. Leave a descendant for my family, will you?" Ming Chengde's lips trembled for a long time before he squeezed out the request.

Chief Gong's smile faded, and he said solemnly, "If I were the one who failed today, would you have spared my descendants?"

A flash of ruthlessness crossed Ming Chengde's eyes. He understood; the winner takes all, and his entire family would meet a bad end.

He secretly used his own flesh and blood to forcibly refine a wisp of gray smoke, which he suddenly hurled at Gong Qiumu, lunging forward himself as well.

Gong Qiuqiu's intuition warned him. Before the gray smoke arrived, he grabbed Gong Qiumu and threw him backward, while he himself lunged at Chief Gong like a cannonball to knock him down.

The gray smoke brushed past Ming Tao and dissipated on the ground beside him. Wherever the smoke touched, it instantly dissolved.

At that moment, Ming Chengde reached Ming Tao, pushed him away, and shouted with a distorted face, "Run! Run quickly!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned into a pile of white bones right in front of Ming Tao. Ming Tao, terrified, stumbled backward repeatedly.

Gong Qiuqiu raised his hand to kill Ming Tao, but Chief Gong pressed it down, shaking his head with a sigh. "Forget it, let him go. Leaving him a chance to live can be considered honoring the friendship our families have shared for generations."

Hearing this, Gong Qiuqiu silently lowered his hand.

Cheng Siyu's face was full of malice. She hadn't expected the Gong Family to still talk about "friendship" and let them go when things had already reached a life-or-death stage.

She would never allow anyone who threatened her to exist in this world.

Without much thought, the moment Gong Qiuqiu lowered his hand, Cheng Siyu decisively raised hers and unleashed a flurry of Ice Blades.

Sharp Ice Blades pierced through the fleeing Ming Tao. With terror etched on his face, Ming Tao collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide open as his breath left him.

The gentle smile that had been on Chief Gong's face slowly faded as he turned to look at Cheng Siyu, who had killed Ming Tao.

Seeing everyone looking at her, Cheng Siyu lowered her hand and asked innocently, "Aren't we supposed to kill him?"

Chief Gong looked at Gu Xiheng beside her and regained his smile: "Young friend Gu, I must properly thank you for today. If you hadn't led your people to help us, this farce wouldn't have ended so easily."

"You're too kind. Helping you was also helping ourselves. I wouldn't dare take the credit," Gu Xiheng replied with a nod.

The two engaged in a round of polite business-like praise.

Chief Gong did not mention the matter of Cheng Siyu killing Ming Tao again.

Afterward, Gu Xiheng questioned Cheng Siyu privately.

"Why did you kill Ming Tao? Didn't Uncle Gong already say to let him go?"

"I didn't hear clearly what they were saying. I just... saw our enemy trying to escape and attacked subconsciously. I didn't do it on purpose," Cheng Siyu explained with a look of sincerity.

"Really?"

"Of course it's true!"

"Ming Tao said earlier that you killed his son. What was that about? Did you really kill him?" Gu Xiheng asked seriously.

Cheng Siyu gave a bitter smile. "Xiheng, you overestimate me. Don't you know my strength? How could I possibly have the ability to kill over a hundred people?"

"So it really wasn't you?"

"It really wasn't me. I don't know why Ming Tao said I was the killer the moment he saw me."

On the surface, Cheng Siyu looked helpless.

Internally, she knew that almost everyone who knew about that matter was dead. As long as she didn't admit it, no one could prove she killed Ming Yao and his subordinates.

Seeing how sincere Cheng Siyu sounded, and based on his understanding of her, he also felt that Ming Yao's death had nothing to do with her.

The next day, Gu Xiheng's group bid farewell to Gong Qiuqiu and the others and set off on their journey back to the Yingjin Safety Tower.