Every breath carried a choking sulfur smell, as if the entire world had become an overexploited mineral factory.

No scent of flowers, nor could one hear the chirping of birds or the buzzing of insects.

Instead, sometimes in the ears rang the barely audible roars of monsters, blurring the line between reality and dreamscape for a moment.

What a familiar scent!

Is this a dream?

Was everything that just happened... also a dream?

Tang Fei opened his eyes and found himself staring right into a pair of blood-red pupils.

"Bro, you're awake?" Little Fatty said with a wide grin, but as he smiled, his eyes began to moisten.

"Crying for what? Ain't I alive and well?"

Tang Fei feigned anger as he scolded.

He stretched his hand to wipe away Little Fatty's tears but, recalling how salty the tears were and how dirty the round face was, he withdrew his hand.

Little Fatty had grown up; it wasn't polite to wipe his hands on someone else's clothes.

"Bro, I ain't crying, it's just... I just felt like crying..."

Little Fatty wiped his tears with the back of his hand and looked up at Tang Fei admiringly, "Bro, it's good you're okay, I was just so scared."

"Scared of what?"

"Scared you were dead... if you were dead... if you were dead..."

Little Fatty couldn't continue.

He didn't know what he would do if Tang Fei really died, but he knew he would feel worse than death itself.

Living previously was because he had the company of family.

Now that there was no family, where was his purpose in living?

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm fine."

Tang Fei tried to get up, managing to lift half his body, when he felt a tearing pain in his chest.

Uncle Biao's axe hadn't split open his chest, but it had severely damaged his internal organs.

The Evil God Cloak could only protect him from fatal wounds, powerless against the collision of Yin Yang Qi...

His bones were fractured.

After killing Uncle Biao, when he tried to escape, he encountered the Shen Family Army, who had come to support Uncle Biao, blocking and chasing him.

Tang Fei fought against a multitude, entangled with them for quite a while.

At a critical moment, Bai Wuxin emerged from nowhere, and that was how he was taken out of the Hundred Beast Garden.

He didn't know what happened after that.

"Hisss..."

Seeing the pained expression on Tang Fei's face, Little Fatty hurriedly went forward to support his shoulder and said, "Bro, don't move... The doctor has seen you, said your injuries are very severe, with more than twenty wounds all over your body, and your chest bones are fractured. You need time to recover..."

Tang Fei lay back down, surveyed the surrounding environment, and asked Little Fatty, "Where is this?"

"Old Land." Little Fatty looked at Tang Fei, "Bro, we're back..."

They had lived on this abandoned planet for over a decade, having already become accustomed to it.

And then, because of a woman, they had left by a stroke of fate for a few years.

Years later, they returned to their homeland.

It felt as though many things had happened, yet as though nothing had happened at all.

Little Fatty didn't know whether coming back was a good or bad thing, and he didn't care.

What he cared about was that he and his big brother were still together.

"I know it's Old Land..." Tang Fei said.

The house made of stones, the solid wooden beams, and the bark roof...

Those materials are not used on New Star.

"I am asking... what part of Old Land is this?"

"Hate Mountain." Little Fatty said.

"Oh." Tang Fei responded softly.

They had returned, returned to the Old Land.

Returned to Hate Mountain.

He was familiar with every blade of grass and every tree here, but, was the current Hate Mountain still the same as it was in the past?

Or rather, are they... still the same as they were before?

Returning to the Old Land was one of the contingency plans that the old man had established a long time ago.

If Shen Wuxiang cared about Empire public opinion, was wary of the Shen Family reputation, and wanted to take control smoothly, he would accept their negotiation terms.

At the very least, they were willing to 'prioritize peace,' creating a temporary stability through mutual tug of war and undermining each other.

That was the outcome Tang Fei and his group most wished to see.

Because in that case, they would have time and space to grow and strengthen stealthily.

Although during this period, the Shen Family would certainly seek ways to weaken their power.

Similarly, they would do the same.

The worst-case scenario was if Shen Wuxiang became reckless, determined to win at all costs, to break and then reinvent, following in his predecessor Cao Family's footsteps playing a game of 'rather let me down the whole world than let the world down me'...

What public opinion?

What reputation?

What political stability?

First, wipe out all enemies, then deal with other issues.

If problems can't be solved, then solve those who bring up the problems.

In that case, whether it's the old man who went alone to negotiate at the Hundred Beast Garden, the Phoenix Palace where they were trapped, or Lu Ban Mountain that the Lu Clan had been operating for many years, all would be in grave danger.

If one couldn't win a regional war, then erase that region from the map.

As the Imperial Military Minister, Shen Wuxiang commanded more than one-third of the Empire's forces; he had the capacity and the ruthlessness to do such a thing.

During the Extermination of Tang campaign, beheadings were rampant, blood flowed like rivers, and even the groundwater beneath Phoenix City turned red...

What sort of cruel act couldn't such a person commit?

Don't think that just because a tiger has aged, it's lost its ferocity.

They've just become better at forbearing, more calculating.

The thickness of Phoenix Palace's walls was inversely proportional to Shen Wuxiang's thick skin—if Shen Wuxiang became shameless, the walls of the besieged Phoenix Palace would become like thin sheets of paper.

So, at that time, they had to evacuate.

After Tang Fei replied, he looked up at the sky and was silent for a long time, lost in thought.

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