The sound of prayers from outside kept drifting into everyone’s ears, making the atmosphere inside the temple grow increasingly strange and mysterious. They all stared in confusion at Xu Ze, whose eyes had suddenly narrowed, wondering what was happening now.
But gradually, Xu Ze’s expression grew more and more serious. Bai Qi and the other battle-hardened soldiers also began gripping their weapons tighter, as if sensing some inexplicable danger about to descend upon them…
And then, suddenly, a familiar yet urgent and faint alarm sounded in Xu Ze’s mind: “Warning… crackle… current coordinates… zzz… marked as primary… system… crackle… designated as… high-risk danger zone of unknown origin… surrounding energy fluctuations detected… rapidly escalating… danger, danger… evacuate immediately… evacuate immediately…”
Hearing this voice, Xu Ze was first overcome with overwhelming joy—but that feeling was quickly eclipsed by the terror of what followed. The system, which had been completely unresponsive all this time, had suddenly popped up with an urgent danger warning telling him to flee. What else was there to think about?
Without a second thought, he shouted urgently to Bai Qi and the others who were setting up defenses ahead: “Run!” And with that, he grabbed Jida and bolted.
Bai Qi and the others stared in shock as Xu Ze waved his arm and came sprinting toward them in panic, dragging Jida along, yelling for everyone to run—without any intention of putting up a fight. Their minds went blank. Forget about forming a defensive line—if even the lieutenant colonel was this terrified, there was nothing to think about. Just run!
They scrambled, grabbing their guns and rushing out, following closely behind Xu Ze, pumping their legs as fast as they could.
Jida ran alongside Xu Ze, completely bewildered but just as frightened. As he ran, he shouted into his walkie-talkie: “Prepare to retreat… prepare to retreat!”
But no matter how many times he yelled, the radio gave no response—just a mess of crackling static.
Jida gave up trying to figure out what was going on, tossed the dead radio aside, and charged toward the temple entrance.
They weren’t far from the entrance—just a few dozen meters. Everyone was well-trained, and it took them less than ten seconds to burst out of the temple.
Outside, the dozens of soldiers on guard duty had been curiously watching the guardian tribe’s prophets and warriors praying. They never expected the people inside to come bursting out in such a panic, looking like they were fleeing for their lives, waving frantically and shouting: “Run! Run!”
The officer in charge saw something was wrong and was about to signal the helicopters overhead to lower ropes for extraction, but then he saw the lead foreigner waving them off, signaling for everyone to just run.
Xu Ze was genuinely panicked. The system hadn’t given any clear explanation—just a vague “danger… run.” Who knew how bad it really was? They’d made it out of the temple, but there was no telling whether they were still in the line of fire. With so many people, there was no time to wait for ropes from the helicopters—better to just get the hell out of there first.
Seeing Xu Ze wave them off, Jida quickly shouted to the officer: “Just run!”
And so it went—Xu Ze leading the way, followed by Jida and the Wolf Fang squad, with the four guides surprisingly fast on their heels, and finally the sixty or seventy escort soldiers bringing up the rear. All of them, scared out of their wits, scrambled down the paths on both sides of the mountain.
Meanwhile, the tribal warriors who had been prostrating themselves in prayer saw these people suddenly fleeing in terror. Though they didn’t fully understand what was happening, they were overjoyed. They believed their prayers had been answered—that the gods had punished these desecrators and sent them running in fear.
The helicopters circling overhead hadn’t reacted in time to what was happening below. It wasn’t until they saw the officers leading their troops in a rapid retreat down the side paths that they snapped to attention. Just as they were about to follow, their instrument panels and indicator lights began flickering wildly, as if being hit by severe electromagnetic interference.
The helicopters started shaking violently in midair, totally out of control, as if they might crash at any moment.
The higher-flying transport helicopters fared slightly better, managing to wobble forward unsteadily. But the four attack helicopters that had been hovering and circling below were hit with severe interference and became nearly uncontrollable—two of them even began tilting and plunging toward the mountainside.
The fleeing soldiers witnessed this too—seeing the helicopters malfunctioning in unison like that, they were utterly stunned. They truly believed the gods were enraged, and it only made them run faster, racing nonstop down the mountain.
But thankfully, after the two helicopters had dropped perilously for several dozen meters and seemed destined to crash, the prophets and tribal warriors outside the temple stopped their prayers. The severe electromagnetic interference quickly faded away as well. The helicopters, mere meters from the ground, were barely pulled back under control by their terrified pilots, who then climbed back into the sky.
None of the helicopters dared to linger—they flew straight out over a thousand meters away. Only after confirming that no more interference occurred did they cautiously turn back to catch up with the still-panicked troops fleeing below.
The group ran for two or three kilometers, their legs weak and hearts pounding, before they dared to climb the rope ladders into the helicopters. They only relaxed after watching the choppers safely leave the sacred mountain far behind.
Jida took a deep breath, remembering the terrifying sight of the helicopters losing control in midair. Suppressing his lingering fear, he looked at Xu Ze and asked: “Xu… what exactly happened? Was it… was it really the gods’ wrath?”
Xu Ze, for his part, no longer looked as dejected as he had on the way up the mountain. Though some lingering fear still showed on his face, he was now filled more with excitement and surprise.
It took him a moment to snap out of it when Jida asked the question. He thought for a bit, then shook his head in bewilderment: “I don’t know… I really don’t know.”
Seeing that Xu Ze didn’t seem to be pretending, Jida sighed softly. Recalling how all eleven helicopters had simultaneously lost control in midair, he shook his head, still shaken: “When I get back, I’m definitely going to advise the general never to show any disrespect toward the sacred mountain and temple again. That kind of power… I can’t imagine anything but divine intervention being capable of that…”
Xu Ze, too, was full of doubts and speculation. But he still couldn’t determine what had really happened. Was there truly a god in this world? Or was it some other kind of power beyond human understanding?
Still, Xu Ze believed that if Xiaodao could ever be restored, then one day, this mystery would be solved.
Right now, what filled Xu Ze’s heart was mostly surprise and hope. He had come to the sacred mountain, risking unknown dangers, only because Xiaodao had malfunctioned. The mountain might have been the only place where he could find a solution—so he went.
But now, although the system’s automatic response module had remained silent and unresponsive all this time, it had still managed to sound an alarm at that critical moment. That meant it was still there.
As long as the automatic response module existed, there had to be a way to fix the system crash. Whether it could actually be done or not was another matter—but at least there was hope. And with hope, Xu Ze no longer felt so desperate and heartbroken.
What Xu Ze feared and grieved over wasn’t the immense loss of Xiaodao and the entire system. Even without Xiaodao, he could still rely on everything Xiaodao had taught him before, plus the energy cycle that still flowed within his body. He would still possess abilities beyond ordinary people.
What he truly feared was losing Xiaodao—losing that cheerful, mischievous companion who was always by his side, always supporting him, always helping him through tough times, even if he was a bit petty and stingy sometimes.
Now that there was hope of restoring Xiaodao, Xu Ze was no longer so desperate and sorrowful. Right now, all he could think about was getting back to his country as quickly as possible, settling down, focusing on cultivating the energy cycle, replenishing the system’s energy, and restoring the automatic response module first.
Although the automatic response module wasn’t the main system, it was still an auxiliary system. If it could be restored, then restoring Xiaodao afterward might not be entirely out of reach.
Xu Ze took the helicopter back to the capital, Lima, and after a brief rest, immediately requested permission from General Zuma to return to his country. General Zuma had just finished his final dose of the medicinal liquid that day, and after Xu Ze confirmed he was fully recovered, the general naturally had no reason to keep him any longer.
Regarding the harrowing encounter on the sacred mountain that morning, General Zuma had received Jida’s report. Though he hadn’t fully believed it at first, after questioning the pilots and hearing their accounts, he came to accept that the temple did indeed possess some kind of mysterious power.
He also understood the impact this had on Xu Ze and his team. The general had been genuinely alarmed himself—if anything had happened to Xu Ze in Lima, not only would he have been deeply saddened, but it would have been difficult to explain to the Chinese government. So even though he didn’t fully understand why Xu Ze had insisted on going to the sacred mountain to look for or obtain something, now that Xu Ze wanted to leave, the general was more than happy to see him off.
But just before Xu Ze departed, General Zuma smiled and handed him a small personal gift—a half-foot-long wooden box.
He said to Xu Ze quietly, with a smile: “I know you only get a small share of the income from that diamond mine. But the larger share was originally meant by me as a gift to your government. So this… this is a personal gift from me to you… my friend.”
Seeing the warmth and sincerity in General Zuma’s eyes, Xu Ze accepted the gift without refusing. After carefully putting it away and sharing a warm embrace with the general, he turned and walked toward the plane.
