Ultragene Warlord

this motion for consideration.
Let Qi live or die by its own hand.”

Amurong's eyes widened.
“Hong, are you certain? You—”

Amurong was about to continue trying to persuade Hong Tianqi when the doors to the meeting room were suddenly pushed open, and a scout rushed in.

“Urgent news— Qi has won a great victory against the sura, and Zhang Lie's captured the invading sura king alive!”

“What?! The humans won?!”

“They caught the sura king alive…
I can't be dreaming, can I?”

Amurong and the other representatives gaped in shock while Hong Tianqi roared in laughter.
“Ha, haha, hahaha! I can't believe Zhang Lie actually managed to capture a sura king alive.
I couldn't do the same in the second realm; he's going to usher in an era of prosperity for us humans, I'm sure.”

Amurong's face was pinched as he asked the scout, “Is this information credible?”

“Yes, sir! I heard the news straight from the wounded governor of Qi himself!

When he heard that Xiao Zhengyang had been injured, Hong Tianqi frowned.
“And what of Zhang Lie? Is he badly injured?”

“No,  Zhang Lie wasn't injured at all!”

The representatives glanced at the scout in shock.
How could Zhang Lie have subdued the sura king without taking injuries? That was ridiculous! They had to ascertain just what had happened for themselves, but one thing was clear: they could hardly become enemies of mankind now.

With a grin, Hong Tianqi continued, “Where's Zhang Lie now?”

“Well, he's…”

“Stop mumbling and speak up!” Amurong called out impatiently.

He had almost succeeded in forcing Hong Tianqi's hand, so the sudden reversal in the humans' fortune had been a nasty surprise.

“Zhang Lie, along with three thousand hunters from Qi, has…
counter-invaded the sura lands!”

Amurong: ? ? ?

The gathered representatives: ! ! !  

Even Hong Tianqi was agog now.
 

By then, the sura capital was completely under Zhang Lie's control.
He and the members of Team Zenith walked through the gigantic palace of the sura king.
When he pushed open a door from which a nauseating smell was emanating, his face turned dark.

The room was akin to a dungeon in which thirty or so human males and females were kept.
Their bodies were nude, and quite a few of the females were pregnant.
Rather than humans, they seemed more like livestock.
Their eyes were glazed over, and they seemed more like walking corpses than anything else.

They had already given up hope, and they barely stirred upon seeing the doors open.

Hong Xi felt a pang of pain in her chest, unable to bear such cruel torture.

“Don't worry, we're here to save you!” she cried out.
“The sura have been defeated, and you're all free.”

However, her words had almost no effect on the prisoners.
Most of them began to bleat and cry out like pigs, with only a single middle-aged man revealing a hint of an unusual expression.
Unfortunately, he was simply so frightened that, despite opening his mouth, he ultimately closed it and instead squealed and bleated like the other prisoners.

Only when Hong Xi repeated herself did the man ask hoarsely, “I-I'm free?”

“Yes, you're free!”

“Have the, the sura b-been destroyed?”

“We've killed the ones that fought and let the rest flee.
It's over!” Hong Xi confirmed.

The man's eyes slowly grew wide as he processed her words.
“Truly?”

Hong Xi pointed at Zhang Lie.
“This is my master, Zhang Lie from the Zenith Dojo.
He, along with three thousand brave hunters from Qi, freed these lands from the oppression of the sura!”

The man asked, “What of the sura king?”

When he mentioned the sura king, everyone in the dungeon shuddered, as though their fear of him had been emblazoned in their very soul.
Zhang Lie could hardly imagine just what they had suffered. 

Despite seeing Zhang Lie in the flesh, the men and women in the dungeon still couldn't believe their new reality.
It seemed far more likely that they were still dreaming.

Zhang Lie turned around.
“Walk outside and you'll understand.”

Hong Xi broke apart their chains as they stepped toward the entrance to the dungeon, but they hesitated before the boundary.
They were afraid that, the moment they stepped out, they would find that they had been in a dream all along.

Hong Xi and the others had to plead and cajole them before they reluctantly drummed up their courage and took their first tentative step outside.

Blinding rays of sunlight impinged on their faces.
Because they had been kept away from the sunlight for so long, their eyes were unable to adapt, and they threw up their hands and averted their gaze.

The next moment, however, despite the overwhelming pain, they forced themselves to glance out of the palace and toward the capital.
The buildings all around had been destroyed, and the only people on the streets were human scouts.
Flags of Qi fluttered wherever they looked; one hung right above the top of the palace, visible all throughout the capital.
Those humans who lived in darkness and despair cried on seeing it as they dropped to the ground and sobbed.

How long they had suffered in interminable pain! How long they had lay desolate in the icy-cold dungeon, how long they had hoped to be rescued as they watched their companions die!

They had hoped, but never truly expected, that they would see sunlight once again.