Starforce Warriors-Chapter 573: The Flame Of Vengeance

The city gates of Liuhe Base City

The corpses of men and women, young and old, were hanging beneath the city walls. Some wore school uniforms and were clearly students. They had been in the springtime of their youth. Yet, they had been slaughtered.

Exposed to the sun and wind, the bodies had begun to dry out and decay.

Xie Renyu's body was pierced through by barbed hooks, leaving him suspended among the corpses. His arms and legs were gone, and his hair disheveled and unkempt. He drifted in and out of consciousness.

When awake, he would gaze at Liuhe Base City. He had only lived in this small border town for two years, a fifteenth of his life. But he had given it everything, including his life, which was now slipping away.

A massive concentration camp had been built in the ruins. The rebels had herded over a hundred thousand residents of Liuhe there, where they were corralled like livestock.

Every day, white slave-trading teams came to select captives. Many young and strong individuals were forcibly taken away.

Cries and wails frequently pierced the skies as families were torn apart. Homes were destroyed and lives shattered. These scenes played out repeatedly. Any hint of resistance was met with ruthless beatings from the rebels. Some elderly individuals knelt on the ground, begging for their sons or daughters to be spared, only to have their heads cracked open by iron rods as they were left to die.

It became clear to everyone. The rebels did not see people as humans; they treated them no better than livestock.

Xie Renyu's eyes wept blood.

Why had such a calamity befallen the Great Xia realm, the land of Liuhe's people? Is Earth destined to succumb to a blood-soaked apocalypse?

Humanity had collapsed. Darkness had risen. Alive, he could not slay the demonic chaos wreaking havoc. Dead, he would not see the heavens restored, nor the people live in peace and joy. But death was closing in. How bitterly unwilling he was to accept it.

Drip. Drip.

Drops of blood and tears fell to the ground. Below, the cries and wails of the people of Liuhe filled the air. Xie Renyu had long forgotten pain, dismissed thoughts of life and death, and felt only a searing anger swelling in his chest.

He thought of the youth who had once changed Liuhe City. He had obliterated the five great families under his sword. Monsters and specters vanished like smoke before his blade. The powerful crumbled and the corrupt fled in terror. The young man’s fiery passion had ignited the skies over Liuhe. As a member of the Dragon Group, Xie Renyu had learned of Li Xiaofei’s deeds in Xiajing City and Haijing City.

But alas... That youth, whose dragon-like roar shook the world, had met his end in Haijing City. He had died... under his own blade.

Xie Renyu once suspected that this was the Dragon Group's way of secretly protecting this extraordinary prodigy, preserving the spark of martial arts greatness for Great Xia. But the youth had never reappeared again.

Could he truly have met his end? If Li Xiaofei was still in Liuhe, the people here would never have endured such suffering.

Countless scattered and fleeting thoughts flitted through Xie Renyu's mind. His vision blurred. Suddenly, he saw a lone blurry figure standing atop the city wall, gazing down into the city. A towering, upright figure. Short black hair. The silhouette was hauntingly familiar.

Ah. He has come. Did Li Xiaofei, already departed to the underworld, return to escort me?

A sorrowful sigh echoed in Xie Renyu’s heart. But soon, he realized something was amiss. That figure did not seem illusory. The autumn wind that swept through the city caused the figure's garments to flutter.

A living person?!

Xie Renyu’s mind suddenly jerked back to full consciousness. He gathered his remaining strength and strained to see clearly. But in the next instant, the figure was already before him. It was a familiar face and a familiar gaze.

More than two years had passed. The once fiery boy had shed the naivety of his youth and gained a weathered maturity.

"What happened to you? How did you end up like this?" The youth spoke.

Xie Renyu could feel the faint warmth of his breath as he spoke. He tried to respond, but only a muffled whimper escaped his lips. His tongue had been cut out.

The youth gently placed a hand on his head and said, "Don’t speak. I’m here now. I’m sorry... I came too late." freewebnoveℓ.com

Xie Renyu’s body trembled violently. His wounds reopened as blood spilled freely.

"Rest assured, leave everything to me."

Li Xiaofei placed one hand on Xie Renyu, channeling the energy of the Dual Sacred Body of Blade and Sword into his body. The energy stabilized Xie Renyu's heart and life force while temporarily sealing his wounds.

Slash.

The severed iron hook clanged against the city wall as Li Xiaofei hoisted Xie Renyu onto his back.

"This time, we’ll fight side by side," he said.

Xie Renyu felt the searing pain within him dissipate. He could feel his vitality return as his mind became startlingly clear. At that moment, the guards below were alerted.

"Who’s there?" A rebel commander bellowed, "Daring to rescue a criminal? Seize him at once!"

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Six elite rebel experts of the Meridian Expanding Realm leaped into the air, their swords slicing through the wind toward Li Xiaofei.

Li Xiaofei's eyes turned icy as sword intent erupted. The six Meridian Expanding Realm experts were reduced to a shower of blood in a flash. Their remains thudded loudly on the ground.

"What?!" The rebel commander was shocked.

This intruder’s strength was terrifying. An ear-piercing alarm blared across the camp. Li Xiaofei’s rusted sword shot into the air with a thought.

Shhhk, shhhk, shhhk.

Wherever the crimson streak of light passed, rebel experts fell like harvested wheat. Many rebel fighters inside and outside the concentration camp hadn't even registered what was happening before darkness consumed their vision, their consciousness swallowed by an endless abyss.

"Is there no one left who can put up a fight?" asked Li Xiaofei as he hovered in midair above the concentration camp, carrying Xie Renyu on his back.

The rusted sword darted through the air like a flash of lightning. One by one, it destroyed the devices that suppressed the inner qi of captured warriors, the surrounding power cannons, automatic guns, and self-destruct slaughter mechanisms.

Inside the camp, the people of Liuhe stared blankly at the scene before them. The five days of hellish torment and suffering had long since broken them.

Li Xiaofei, floating in the air, looked down at the crowd and shouted, "Protect the elderly, women, and children. Follow me, and let’s take revenge together!"

The people in the camp lifted their numb faces. They stared at Li Xiaofei in a daze, their eyes devoid of excitement or joy. Only confusion remained.

"Don’t be afraid," Li Xiaofei said again, his voice steady.

"I’ve returned."

"It’s me."

"I am Li Xiaofei."

He repeated himself once more, louder and firmer.

"I am Li Xiaofei!"

The final four words struck like a thunderclap, exploding within the shattered, desensitized hearts of the Liuhe people and reigniting the life within them.

Li Xiaofei. The legend of Liuhe Base City. The eternal beacon of hope for the people of Liuhe.

"It’s President Li!"

"The Alliance Leader! It’s really the Alliance Leader Li!"

"It’s that boy!"

Someone in the crowd shouted it first, though it wasn’t clear who. Countless pairs of eyes immediately lit up with hope, and people began shouting all kinds of names for him. The chaotic voices and hoarse cries blended into an indistinguishable wave of sound, yet it carried the most genuine and passionate emotions of the Liuhe people.

Li Xiaofei! He has finally returned.

In the past, Liuhe City had faced several great disasters. Star beasts had surrounded the city multiple times, with no reinforcements in sight. Just as the city was on the verge of falling, it was always Li Xiaofei who had appeared to turn the tide.

Now, the son of Liuhe, the hero of Liuhe City, had finally come back. In an instant, the despair and numbness evaporated.

"Let’s fight our way out with President Li!"

"Revenge!"

"Let’s take on those rebel scum!"

The flames of anger ignited. The people in the concentration camp, who had been like a lifeless sea of silence, transformed into a stormy ocean of rage and defiance. The accumulated hatred and fury, built up over days of torment, exploded outward like a volcano charged with a thousand years of pressure.

"Fellow townsfolk," Li Xiaofei’s voice was clear and warm as it reverberated through the sky. "Protect the elderly and children beside you. Don’t let them be hurt again. Then follow me to seek vengeance on the rebel commander. Today, they will pay their debt with blood."

He soared through the sky. The enraged crowd poured out of the concentration camp, armed with whatever weapons they could find, and followed him, surging toward the central city leader's office building where Rebel Grand Marshal Xie Qingzhi was currently stationed.

Li Xiaofei’s rusted sword streaked through the air with the Sword Harnessing Technique.

Every rebel they encountered, be it an ordinary warrior, a power armor soldier, or a high-ranking officer, fell instantly, unable to withstand even a single strike. The rebels had no time to react before they turned into frozen corpses, collapsing into the dust.

Xie Qingzhi, who was in the middle of a video conference in the city leader’s office, faintly heard the distant roar of angry shouts.

He ended the call and walked to the window, where he was greeted by a raging tsunami of humanity. An ocean of vengeance had come to exact their price.