Eastern continent, Sand City.
The light is blinding.
The weather is stifling hot, with the sun casting its blistering rays upon the abandoned old building.
This is the most desolate and barren region of the East, where various forces contend, with corpses scattered everywhere, emitting a foul stench.
As several brown military pickup trucks wade through the yellow sandstorm and park under a few abandoned buildings, the visibility is skewed, and the temperature continues to rise.
"Chief, they are here." A hushed husky voice comes through the earpiece, the sound of vehicles rumbling across the yellow sand can be heard, but no one knows how many forces are hidden in these abandoned buildings.
"Hmm?" A low voice drenched in intimidating prowess resonates.
The atmosphere becomes quiet, the temperature soars, cold sweat rolls down the man's cheek, his pale hand tightens, the black pupils of his eyes are filled with calmness, cold and silent.
Just then, the car door opens, outside the old building, dozens of neat and respectful black-clothed followers await, a slender black figure exits the car, her skin is fair, not like the people from the region of Sand City.
She tightens her lips, her black hair gets disrupted in the sandy wind, a black chiffon headscarf covers half of her face, revealing a pair of cold clear eyes, casting a glance at the high building in the distance.
The next moment, a sonorous voice rings out, "Greetings, Miss!" Their expressions are serious, suited and booted, singing in chorus to greet the girl as she emerges from the car, the large group makes for an impressive sight.
Shen Chaoxi's gaze is retrieved from a few abandoned high rises opposite her, her eyes are indistinct and deep, her lips lightly curl up, her eyes look towards the crowd with amusement.
"What's with all the noise?"
Her voice is slow and the emotions in her eyes are indistinguishable. At this moment, the wind stirring up grains of sand, ruffles the soft lustrous black hair of the girl.
You're bothering her.
"Bring everyone to me."
Shen Chaoxi put on her sunglasses, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly as she instructed the people beside her.
"Yes!" The men in black answered in unison.
Not until she led her people into the abandoned building, did the red dot of the sniper rifle from afar move away from her face.
It was as if, had she waited another second, a bullet would pierce her skull, splattering blood on the spot.
"This Miss W Corporation, what could have drawn her to Sahara City? Captain, it seems that Sahara City really is hiding a lot of W Corporation's dirty secrets!"
They had infiltrated Sahara City in order to gather evidence of the crimes committed by the W Corporation; however, an accident occurred three days ago. Their advance team was pursued and two of their members had been captured.
"Captain, they are inside now, should we...?"
Chen Yu, who had been closely monitoring the movements within the abandoned building, posed the question.
The city was already covered in yellow sand. The noon temperature was exceptionally high, and the heat wave slapped their faces like it was trying to melt a layer of skin.
Their clothes were soaked with sweat; even the palms of their hand that held the guns were damp and sticky.
"There's no hurry," a man commanded, his dark eyes and ashen fingers tightly gripping the gun, his voice was cold.
His gaze fell on the abandoned building, specifically on the fourth floor. The place was heavily fortified, everywhere was reinforced with steel bars and half-built concrete frames, and not a hint of decoration.
And now, the people under his command had brought the captives they had caught over the last two days to Shen Chaoxi.
"People from Y country?"
Shen Zhaoshi harbored a faint smile, her gaze lightly sweeping across the four or five men dressed in black uniforms who were brought in, before finally settling on the man wearing a unique black outfit.
"Heh." She let out a restrained laugh.
Such attire was only available to the special forces of the Yunzhou Empire, with 'Y' serving as an abbreviation for Yunzhou.
Leaning back against the couch, she removed her sunglasses and lazily appraised the man standing in front of her, a hint of fatigue in her movements.
"Miss, it's him. After undergoing our rigorous interrogation by day and night for the past three days, he's been subjected to all sorts of hellish tortures, but he still refuses to confess anything!" It was a clear act of defiance.
"Is that so?"
Shen Zhaoshi gave a noncommittal smile.
Covered in blood, and bearing wounds so severe there wasn’t a patch of undamaged flesh on his tormented arm. Even through this, he gritted his teeth and remained defiant. Indeed, a tough nut to crack.
"But in my eyes, there are no tight-lipped men that can't be cracked, only mute corpses."
Abruptly, she stepped closer, slightly bending towards the man, "Tell me, your identity, your origin, and what you and your comrades intended to accomplish by infiltrating the city of sand. Hmm?"
Shen Zhaoshi slowly raised her hand to grasp the man's chin. As blood trickled from his lips, her eyes darkened.
"This way, you might suffer a little less."
Her demeanor was soft, her voice hushed. A pair of clear eyes, so placid they were like a still pool of water, a slight purse of her red lips, her skin seemingly glossed by pale frost under the sunlight.
The man looks up, catching sight of a large part of the intricate tattoo that was just visible on her neck. It resembled a red spider lily, blooming like a fire in the desert.
Enthralling and stunningly beautiful, the two extremes of beauty were perfectly combined in her, coiling around her fair neck.
"Not willing to talk?" Shen Zaoxi raised an eyebrow at the man's expression.
"You vile woman, if you dare, go ahead and kill us!"
As Shen Zaoxi continued her questioning, an angry outburst came from the side. Accompanied by a flicker of cold light in Shen Zaoxi's eyes, her gaze swiftly moved to the man who had yelled.
"Don't try to act tough and scare me, I have never been scared since I was a boy!"
Shen Zaoxi's eyes seemed uninterested, as if she was contemplating something.
Her finger came to a halt.
The warmth in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by a tinge of cold aloofness that seeped through the layers of her being, chilling one's soul to the core.
Without a hint of anger, Shen Zaoxi chuckled and asked, "You guys are accomplices, aren't you?"
Without waiting for a reply, she took a dagger from one of her subordinates and immediately placed the sharp edge against the throat of the man who had been cursing at her, chuckling as she did.
"You're all in identical uniforms with your umpire badges already taken off. You men from country Y's special forces sneak into other's territory but are afraid of being recognized, it appears your forces aren't that impressive eh?"
"What did you just say? You bi—" But he was cut off by Shen Zaoxi.
The man was glaring at her, clearly enraged. As he was about to scream out his curses, Shen Zaoxi's gaze turned icy cold, piercing him like a razor-sharp icicle.
"Ahh!" A shrill scream ruptured the silence, blood gushing forth in an instant. The dagger had found its way deep into the man's chest, piercing off-center of his heart.
"Captain!" Chen Yu saw the situation in the sniper rifle scope, his brows furrowed in urgency, a panicked expression on his face. He immediately turned to the gun-clutching man not far away.
If they didn't shoot soon, their captured comrades are going to be in life-threatening danger.
"As far as I know, just half a month ago, a special forces team from Country Y infiltrated Shacheng with the aim to surreptitiously acquire evidence from the local experiment base here. They wanted it to serve as a negotiation term in the Dongzhou war zone, and that team includes you guys, correct?"
Dongzhou is a vast territorial area located between Dongguo and Country Y, while Shacheng is one of the borders of Dongzhou.
Here, chaotic battle, robbery, gunfights, cold-blooded murder, and incineration of corpses were commonplace.
Meanwhile, Shacheng is a tiny part under the multinational conglomerate W Corporation.
Shen Chaoxi chuckled.
At her signal, a few men dressed in white sterile laboratory suits squat down and inject a prepared serum from a password-protected case into the severely injured man, causing him to open his mouth weakly: "What are you doing?"
"Hush." Shen Chaoxi gave him a silent gesture.
Her beautifully captivating red lips curved up in a pleasing arc. Born with an enchanting charm, her entire being radiated an oppressive aura that is hard to ignore.
"Of course, you get to taste. Taste what you guys from Country Y risked lives to infiltrate Shacheng and our experimental base for. Won't that be interesting?"
"It's going to be absolutely delightful."
As she spoke, her voice trailed at the end, her tone soft and a bit coquettish.
The smile at the corner of her mouth came to a halt when a light shadow fell upon her.
"Bang!"
In an instant.
The gunshot echoed throughout the abandoned old building area of Shacheng. Shen Chaoxi furrowed her brows as drop by drop of fresh blood... fell to the ground.
She lowered her gaze to look at her chest.
