Hearing the deputy’s shout, Xie Jianxun immediately realized that something had gone wrong!
But the wind and sand were fierce, and he couldn’t even open his eyes.
The violent wind nearly lifted him off the ground entirely. He was only held in place by the stone pillar in front of him and One, preventing the young human from floating lightly into the sky.
The wind came quickly and left just as fast. Moments later, the surroundings returned to calm—they had temporarily entered the eye of the storm.
Once the wind died down, Xie Jianxun looked back and saw that the room where they had been was now half-collapsed. If he had stayed inside, he would surely have been crushed to death by the falling sand and stones.
He said in confusion, “That didn’t feel like an earthquake.”
One gave him a clear answer: “It was the sound of explosives. The underground tunnel has been detonated.”
Xie Jianxun sucked in a breath and instinctively started running toward the tunnel entrance.
But before he could take a single step, his eyes fell on the pile of scattered debris blown everywhere by the wind.
The gale had sent these things flying all over the place, but it had also conveniently cleared them away. Xie Jianxun spotted his target at a glance:
Wire! Thin rope!
“I saw on Star Net that rescues in mine shafts always need safety ropes,” he muttered to himself. Whether they needed it or not, he picked it up anyway.
He gathered everything he could find and, pulling One along, dashed to the tunnel.
He saw several patrol troops working together to pull their brothers up from the tunnel. The deputy stood nearby, pressing his earmic as he anxiously communicated with the captain below.
“You can’t stay down there anymore,” he shouted excitedly. “Please come up first, sir. The brothers are still waiting for your command!”
“…I’m the highest-ranking officer here!”
The Patrol Army Captain’s name faintly came through the comm buckle. “Shut up and pull people out.”
Xie Jianxun began twisting the hemp ropes with all his might.
His arms were too short, and the tunnel was too deep. As the human ladder dwindled, the people at the bottom could only rely on safety ropes to escape the danger.
He asked the deputy, but there were no sufficiently long items nearby to reach the bottom.
The sand bandits’ ropes were too thin—clearly meant for tying packages or boxes. But they were long enough. Xie Jianxun folded them double, knotted them, and wove steel wire into them to increase their strength.
Suddenly, his waist tightened as someone covered his mouth and nose, plunging his vision into darkness.
“Mmph!”
He struggled in panic for a moment before being pinned behind the stone pillar. Lips pressed against his forehead: “Relax.”
One said calmly, “The next wave of wind is coming.”
Along with the wind came… intense gunfire!
Xie Jianxun was initially baffled, but he quickly realized: These were the sand bandits who had fled first, using the wind to obscure vision as they sneaked back for revenge!
Gunfire erupted almost right beside his ears. He was held firmly in someone’s arms, unable to move. The mechanical puppet stood like a heavy stone statue, unmoved by the gale.
“The sand bandits are back!!!”
The deputy bellowed at the top of his lungs: “You few stay here and assist the captain. I—I—I have to go to the front and hold off the sand bandits. We can’t let them get here!”
If the sand bandits sneaked up on the tunnel entrance, no one below would be savable, not even immortals!
“Yes, that’s right.”
To his surprise, the captain praised him over the comm buckle. “I’m fine. Go eliminate the sand bandits. We can’t let any more of them escape. They’ve harmed Golden City’s property and people for years!”
“…Captain.”
The deputy took a sharp breath, his face obscured by his helmet, expression unreadable.
Moments later, he rallied the patrol troops waiting in the rear and joined the forward reconnaissance and counterattack team.
Xie Jianxun’s head was covered with One’s jacket as they huddled in the wind-sheltered side of the stone wall, unable to see a thing.
But his hands were still free.
After a brief pause, Xie Jianxun resumed weaving the steel wire, twisting out two lengths of several meters each.
As he worked, he said to One, “See, this is the same technique I used for the built-in steel cable in the nail gun. It’s fast, sturdy, and could hold ten oxen without breaking.”
The mechanical puppet’s voice remained steady: “You can’t see. You’ll hurt yourself.”
But Xie Jianxun insisted, “My eyes can’t see, but my heart can.”
Once finished, he stuffed the long hemp ropes into One’s hands.
“Alright, I can’t see, so please deliver the ropes for me, sir?” He pressed his palms together with a beaming smile. “I’ve left ring loops at both ends—gloves can slip right in for pulling. Super convenient. Hurry, saving people comes first.”
The mechanical puppet hesitated for a moment but ultimately took the ropes and stood up.
It said, “You always surprise me.”
One left the stone wall and stepped into the windstorm.
The raging gale tousled its hair and clothes wildly, but it couldn’t obscure the mechanical puppet’s eyes.
It scanned coldly and clearly spotted Krimus hunched over, miserably hiding behind a stone wall, inching toward the exit as if trying to slip away from them.
The mechanical puppet took note but showed no reaction.
One delivered the ropes to the tunnel entrance, where two patrol troops remained to assist.
Seeing the safety ropes, the patrol troopers sighed in relief. They quickly used them to rescue the remaining team members.
Someone below grabbed the other end of the rope, and a weary voice came up—he was the last one. “Alright, pull me up.”
The patrol troops shouted excitedly, “Captain! Slip your gloves into the rope and hold tight—we’ll pull you up!” His voice was swallowed by the wind, forcing him to yell at the top of his lungs.
One group pulled desperately on the rope while the other climbed up using its strength.
One stood nearby and politely asked, “Need any help?”
The patrol troops hurriedly replied, “No, no—you take shelter from the wind first!”
As he spoke, he suddenly shivered.
How had this person walked straight into the windstorm without any protective gear to deliver the ropes?
Xie Jianxun sat behind the stone wall, One’s jacket over his head, hands clutching the hem tightly to keep the “veil” from blowing away.
He sat quietly, ears perked alertly.
The gunfire grew distant, then close, then distant again.
He wondered if they were fighting a guerrilla war, darting back and forth through the ruins.
Suddenly, someone bumped into him from the side, nearly knocking Xie Jianxun out from behind the wall. He pressed a hand to the ground to steady himself.
He heard a panicked voice nearby: “Who’s there? How is there someone here?”
Xie Jianxun lifted the jacket hem and identified Krimus by his voice and silhouette.
Visibility was poor, eyes gummed with sand. In the windstorm, he couldn’t see clearly even half a meter away—Krimus had mistaken the motionless figure for a pillar! How was it a person?!
Without thinking, Krimus lunged, gripping Xie Jianxun’s shoulders and threatening in a low voice: “Don’t speak! Don’t make a sound. I won’t hurt you. Just let me go, and all matters between us are written off…”
Xie Jianxun winced in pain, sucking in a breath and spitting out a mouthful of sand. “Pah, pah.”
As he spat, he mumbled, “Even if I let you go, the patrol troops won’t.”
The wind buried other sounds, only the whistling bullets piercing through clearly.
Krimus said anxiously, “As long as you let me go, that man won’t hack me with his knife. I saw it—he listens to you… As for the patrol troops…”
His eyes lit up. He pulled a dagger from his waistband.
The dagger wasn’t particularly sharp—just for show.
In the original plan, he would use it to cut the shock rings off several adventure group members, pretending to fight fiercely but ultimately overwhelmed by the sand bandits, left gravely injured in the desert. After enduring hardships, he would return to Golden City.
That way, even if any Joint Group members survived the desert, they would acknowledge his contributions and welcome him back without reservations.
This was his “backup plan” for the act.
Now, it could serve the same purpose again.
He lunged forward, showing Xie Jianxun the dagger to prove he meant no harm: “I’ll use this to hijack you, and then I can escape safely!”
Xie Jianxun: “…”
He opened his mouth, stunned by the audacity, but before he could speak, Krimus clamped his neck forcefully, pressing the dagger tip against him with terrifying strength.
Oblivious to his own abnormality, unaware his power had changed.
“Now, walk slowly with me… Good boy…”
With that, he draped the jacket back over Xie Jianxun’s head and pushed him step by step out from behind the wall.
Over there, One suddenly turned its head toward the stone wall.
Krimus took two steps and kicked something in the debris pile. Irritated, he meant to kick it away, but upon looking down, he recognized the familiar shape: a firework.
No, not an ordinary one. He bent to pick it up, forcing Xie Jianxun to bend with him.
After inspecting it, his mood lifted.
This was a signal flare firework with a clear designation!
If he launched it here, it would summon Jack’s group. The patrol troops would prioritize protecting their captain, ignoring his escape!
Perfect!
“…Loosen up a bit,” the little repairman in his arms struggled, tugging his arm. “I can’t breathe…”
Krimus’s mind was full of the firework. He would guide the sand bandits to the patrol troops’ weakest position!
Bang—
The firework shot into the sky, its trajectory slightly off, the flames scattered by the wind.
