In the wilderness, the tall and short figures of Lin Lei and Leisijing walked side by side.
"What the hell is going on? Can't find a single person around," Leisijing couldn't help but curse, his eyes blazing with fury as he scanned the surroundings. "Those weaker commanders hiding away is one thing, but what about the powerful ones? When I was with Leihong before, we ran into plenty. Now there's not a soul to be found."
Beside him, Lin Lei remained silent.
Lin Lei was feeling anxious too. He couldn't help but scan the Planar Battlefield, but it was desolate and empty with no sign of anyone. "The Planar Battlefield seems to have suddenly become much more barren — can't see anyone around. When Bei Bei and I were together before, using the Death God Puppet to lure people out, we discovered quite a few." Lin Lei couldn't understand it either. In the three years since killing that elven man 'Orcal威尔', they hadn't managed to find a single person.
Three whole years, and they hadn't obtained a single additional gold badge!
It wasn't that Lin Lei and the others had gone soft — there simply weren't any targets to go after!
During these three years, they had encountered 'people' on occasion, but they were either Death God Puppets or truly extraordinary powerhouses — existences the four of them couldn't do anything about. There had been one instance where they ran into a group. Lin Lei and the others had prepared to strike since the other side only had two people.
But just as they were about to make their move and summoned Bei Bei to come over, they discovered... the other side also had three reinforcements arriving.
That team turned out to be a five-person squad! And in terms of strength, two of them were on Leisijing's level. If a battle broke out, they might be able to kill one or two of them, but they would likely lose one or two of their own. It wasn't worth it.
"Lin Lei," Leisijing suddenly said with a grin, "if we don't manage to get any more commander badges during this Planar War, Leihong and I are going to be at a huge loss! After all, we already gave you one commander badge upfront."
Lin Lei froze for a moment, then could only laugh awkwardly.
"Just kidding." Leisijing pulled out a purple fruit and started eating it. "How could we possibly not get any more commander badges? Hmph... worst case, when the Planar War reaches its final stage and the great decisive battle comes, the four of us join forces and take down a few more commanders. With our combined strength, grabbing some gains in the chaos shouldn't be difficult." Leisijing looked quite confident.
Lin Lei also nodded slightly. They had obtained two commander badges so far, but compared to his goal, they were still a ways off.
"Boss, there's a target!" Bei Bei's voice suddenly echoed in Lin Lei's mind. Lin Lei's eyes lit up, excitement surging through him.
"Leisijing, there's a target." Lin Lei immediately shot forward toward Bei Bei's location.
"Oh!" Leisijing hurried after him.
When Lin Lei and Leisijing arrived, they found Bei Bei and Leihong standing before a dark-robed figure. The dark-robed figure's shoulder had been severed, and the broken stump revealed a metallic material underneath. Bei Bei turned around and said helplessly upon seeing Lin Lei and Leisijing approach, "Boss, it's a Death God Puppet."
Lin Lei and Leisijing were somewhat disappointed but had prepared themselves mentally. After all, this was the most common encounter over the past three years.
"This Death God Puppet isn't even trying to run," Lin Lei said with a smile.
"Run? Where would I run to? Can't escape. It's just one Death God Puppet — I've got plenty of those. Besides, I'm very curious about the second God-Devouring Mouse among the countless planes," the metallic puppet said from its mouth, then turned its gaze to Bei Bei with great interest. "May I ask — what is your relationship with Beirute?"
Lin Lei was startled. How did this person know Bei Bei was a God-Devouring Mouse?
"How did you know?" Bei Bei asked in surprise.
The Death God Puppet replied, "Of course I know. You've used your innate divine ability several times, manifesting that phantom image of the God-Devouring Mouse. A great many people have seen it. At first, everyone thought it was Beirute. Later, they realized it was a straw-hatted young man. Seeing you wearing that straw hat, I recognized you at once."
"Oh." Bei Bei was stunned. It was his straw hat that had given away his identity.
"I see now. No wonder they've all gone into hiding and won't show themselves," Leisijing said furiously.
"Of course they won't show themselves. Everyone knows what Beirute's temperament is like. Even knowing he entered the battlefield, they wouldn't be too worried. But this unknown young man who can also use that ability — nobody dares gamble with their future," the Death God Puppet said casually. If they got caught by that ability and were done for, then even if they had clones outside, they would be knocked from the pinnacle.
"Scram, then. I won't bother destroying your Death God Puppet," Leisijing said impatiently. "This is so frustrating. I wanted to go after those people, but they've all gone and hidden themselves. What a bunch of cowards!"
It wasn't cowardice — it was vigilance. Those commanders had all exhausted countless efforts to achieve what they had. The Planar War — even if they didn't earn any merit this time, they could always participate in the next one. After all, it happened once every trillion years, and each occurrence had five rounds of Planar Warfare. To them, merit came second — their lives came first!
Once their strongest clone was destroyed, it was all over.
"So what do we do now?" Leihong, who rarely spoke, also recognized that things weren't looking good.
"What can we do?" Leisijing bit his lip. "I finally had Bei Bei's help and was looking forward to crushing that bunch, but they've all gone into hiding. Hmph... fine. Let's all find somewhere to rest up properly. Once we've recovered, when the final decisive battle comes and everyone's forced to show themselves, we'll hit them hard! Score a bunch of merit."
"Guess that's all we can do," Bei Bei said helplessly.
Lin Lei's brow furrowed slightly. Other commanders might not care too much about how much merit they earned — if they didn't get any this round, they could try the next one. But Lin Lei couldn't afford to waste time. He needed to earn enough merit in this Planar War.
But if everyone was hiding, what could he do?
"How about this — while we find a place to rest, we can also use the Death God Puppets nearby to lure outsiders. If we can attract even one or two commanders, that'd still be a good thing," Lin Lei suggested.
"Mm, that's true. There are still about eight hundred years left until this round of the Planar War ends. Eight hundred years — there's a decent chance we could attract someone," Leisijing agreed with a nod.
"Alright, enough moping around. Let's go find a place to rest," Bei Bei said, taking the first big stride forward.