Chapter 261: Beneath the Statue, Regroup and Rescue

Chapter 261: Chapter 261: Beneath the Statue, Regroup and Rescue

The entrance to the statue had opened and then vanished.

Just as Liang He was trying to figure out how to find the mechanism again, Lick simply shifted the totem in the statue’s hand.

"Did Ao Ke tell you this too?" she signed.

"Yeah!" Lick nodded confidently.

Thanks to him, Liang He didn’t need to waste time on this.

"Let’s hurry and go in," she signed back.

While they communicated via hand gestures, the statue’s mechanism activated. The seawater rippled once more, making it easy to guess what kind of commotion was happening on the ocean surface.

"Let’s go!"

Liang He led Lick into the statue’s internal mechanism. Watching the passage close behind them, she knew they had no way out. They focused solely on swimming forward until an expansive area appeared before them, and Liang He realized there was a whole other world hidden inside.

"There’s actually a cave in here?"

Surfacing from the water, Liang He and Lick no longer needed to use hand signs to talk. She climbed ashore in surprise, looking at the pitch-black passage ahead. It looked like the gaping maw of an abyss, full of profound, mysterious danger.

"Could Ao Ke, Leila, and the others have gone in here?" Lick shrank back beside Liang He in fear, craning his neck to peer at the passage, hesitant to approach.

In the end, Liang He took the lead to scout ahead. Terrified she would leave him behind, Lick had no choice but to follow her footsteps.

"Perhaps the missing sailors are all here too," she said. Since there was a hidden space here, they had to investigate. Besides, Leila and the others were missing, and Liang He had to find them.

The two carefully made their way down the passage. Suddenly, they spotted a small point of light ahead. Lick pointed forward as if he had found his savior.

"Liang He, could that be the place you just mentioned where the sailors might be held?"

"Let’s go take a look."

Following the direction of the light, the two sped up now that they had a target. However, after walking for nearly twenty or thirty minutes, they still hadn’t reached it.

"...What’s going on? Could we have run into something strange?" Lick grew more frightened as he spoke, his voice starting to tremble. The fact that their submarine had actually been pushed by some unknown creature earlier only added to his panic.

"No, it’s like trekking through the mountains. You always think the opposite peak is close, but in reality, it’s very far away."

Hearing Liang He’s explanation, Lick finally quieted down and focused on following her.

"Liang He, do you hear a strange sound?" Lick suddenly asked, gripping her arm tightly as if he were terrified. "Didn’t Leila say earlier that a bizarre voice was calling out to her? I think I just heard it too. Did you?"

"No, stop scaring yourself." Realizing that Lick had a habit of letting his imagination run wild, Liang He found herself unusually impatient and quickened her pace in frustration. "Leila and the others are still waiting for us to rescue them. Let’s not waste time here."

"Oh."

Realizing Liang He was a little displeased, Lick finally learned to shut his mouth. However, his footsteps grew much heavier, echoing loudly throughout the quiet passage.

Finally, after walking for another half hour or so, they arrived at the source of the light.

"Ao Ke, you take the lead and guide the others back! I’ll cover the rear!"

It was Leila’s voice.

Liang He and Lick exchanged a glance, quietly hiding at the entrance of the passage to peek inside. Aside from Leila’s group, they saw several semi-conscious, heavily wounded people who were likely the missing sailors. But more importantly, standing opposite them was a group of Rebel Army soldiers, brandishing Photon Guns and exuding murderous intent.

"Why is the Rebel Army here too?" Lick whispered in confusion. Hadn’t Ace’s men blown up along with their warship?

"Maybe they aren’t the same group." Liang He guessed this second wave of the Rebel Army was stationed here specifically to guard the missing sailors.

"Then what do we do now?"

It seemed Leila was planning to have Ao Ke evacuate the wounded first while she and the Federation Army held off the Rebel Army. However, the disparity in both numbers and firepower was too great. Furthermore, with the unfamiliar terrain, the narrow passage, and the burden of the injured, their chances of a successful escape were slim.

"I’ll go help Leila. You back up Ao Ke and leave with them." Seeing that a firefight was about to break out and Ao Ke’s group was getting closer to the passage, Liang He made a prompt decision to join the fight against the Rebel Army.

"Liang He!"

Unable to stop her in time, Lick accidentally blurted out her name. The Rebel Army squad leader, who had been in a standoff with Leila, instantly locked onto Liang He’s position.

"Quick! Capture that woman alive! You’ll be heavily rewarded when we get back!"

To the Rebel Army, the name Liang He represented wealth and status. After several failed attacks, the bounty on her head had only skyrocketed.

"You want to catch me? Then let’s see if you have the skills for it."

Instantly becoming a bullet magnet, Liang He shared a knowing look with Leila. Then, she pulled out her dagger and began the slaughter. Exploiting the fact that they were afraid of being punished by their leader for killing her and thus couldn’t spray fire with their Photon Guns, Liang He attacked without mercy. By the time they realized capturing her was impossible, their previous numerical advantage had completely vanished.

"Damn it! We can’t even get near her!"

It wasn’t exactly that they couldn’t get near her; it was more that getting close meant instant death. Who would dare charge forward under those circumstances?

"Boss, why don’t we let them out?" one of the squad leader’s subordinates pointed in a specific direction, his face riddled with anxiety. "We can let them drain Liang He’s stamina first, and then we’ll..."

They all still remembered Liang He’s feat of single-handedly taking out half a Fierce Beast Army. They didn’t think she would die from this. Moreover, there were no Beastmen around to interfere, so the Fierce Beasts would follow their orders.

"Will... will that work?" The squad leader hesitated at the suggestion, but watching Liang He slice her way closer and closer, he had no time to deliberate. "Hurry, hurry! Let them all out!"

At the squad leader’s command, the cages holding the Fierce Beasts were instantly thrown open. The creatures roared and charged wildly toward Liang He and the others.

"Leila! Take the others and leave first! I’ll deal with the Fierce Beasts!" Liang He wasn’t sure exactly how many Fierce Beasts there were. She wanted everyone to retreat into the passage so that she only had to guard the chokepoint by herself.

"No! That’s too dangerous! I’ll fight alongside you!"

As a Federal Colonel, there was no way Leila would retreat in the face of danger. She stood back-to-back with Liang He, battling the Fierce Beasts together using the methods Liang He had taught her. It wasn’t that Leila was being soft-hearted; it was just that the Fierce Beasts fought to the bitter end. Killing them one by one would be too time-consuming and exhausting. Simply incapacitating them was much easier.

"Ao Ke! Hurry up and take them away!" Just as Leila finished dealing with a Fierce Beast, she turned and saw Ao Ke and his men still clustered at the entrance of the passage. She immediately yelled at them.

However, it wasn’t that Ao Ke didn’t want to leave. They simply couldn’t.

"Colonel Leila, you are free to go, but she—must stay."

A figure slowly emerged from behind Ao Ke, and behind that figure stood even more people.